Chapter 47: This Woman Actually Dared to Play Him

Xia Jiujiang's bold actions made the man in black feel that this person before him was even more audacious than the people of the Southern Kingdom, perhaps due to excessive blood loss... The man's face flushed with embarrassment as he hesitantly pulled open his clothing, revealing three wounds: one on his chest, one on his arm, and another on his back.

Xia Jiujiang stepped behind the man, poured the wound medicine onto the gash on his back, and said, “I’ll tend to the one on your back, you can handle the rest yourself.” After applying the medicine, she tossed the jar to him. The man in black gritted his teeth, enduring the pain, but the bleeding was finally staunched.

Not long after the man in black entered the room, a commotion erupted in the courtyard.

At the entrance, the guards shouted, “Who dares force their way in? Princess Anya resides here!”

A member of the Embroidered Guards produced his token and declared, “There’s an assassin in the palace. We’ve chased him all the way to the Dali Kingdom’s temple and saw him enter this courtyard. Regardless of who lives here, we must search the premises.”

Hearing the noise outside, the man in black immediately tensed, clutching his dagger and turning it on Xia Jiujiang once more.

He eyed her suspiciously. “You’re actually a princess?”

Since the man had misunderstood, Xia Jiujiang decided to let the misunderstanding persist. She said, “I am Princess Anya of the Dali Kingdom. Now do you see I wasn’t joking when I said I could help you escape Panhong Mountain?”

At that moment, Granny Chun knocked on the door. Hearing no response from inside, she anxiously pounded and called, “Princess? Princess? Has something happened?”

While the man in black was still confused, Xia Jiujiang replied calmly, “It’s nothing, Granny.”

Granny Chun let out a sigh of relief at the door. “If all is well, please open the door. The Embroidered Guards are at the entrance. For your safety, Princess, you must allow an inspection.”

Xia Jiujiang turned to the man behind her. “The guards hunting you are already at my door. If you don’t make a decision now... you might not even make it out of this room.”

The man in black asked suspiciously, “You really mean to help me distract them?”

Xia Jiujiang said, “If I truly meant you harm, I wouldn’t have given you wound medicine. I could have simply shouted for help. That’s proof enough of my sincerity. If you don’t let go now, and they see I haven’t opened the door, you truly won’t escape alive.”

Yet the man remained wary. “But I don’t trust you.” Then, without warning, Xia Jiujiang felt a sharp prick on her neck, a slight pain flaring up.

The man released her viciously, spitting, “I doubt you’d dare play tricks. Come to the pavilion halfway up the mountain in an hour. I’ll give you the antidote if you help me escape. Otherwise, wait for your guts to rot and your belly to burst.” With that, he slipped out of the room like a shadow.

Watching the fading figure, Xia Jiujiang’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Guts rotting and belly bursting?” Who would suffer that fate remained to be seen—if there was one thing Xia Jiujiang didn’t fear, it was poison.

Regaining her composure, Xia Jiujiang went to the door and opened it. Granny Chun frowned, “What took you so long?”

“I was just about to sleep,” Xia Jiujiang replied.

She followed Granny Chun as the Embroidered Guards and their men searched the courtyard. After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, they left without causing much disturbance.

“Rest early, Princess,” Granny Chun advised.

A faint smile played on Xia Jiujiang’s lips. Though she had no intention of going to the mountain pavilion, she did plan to send that man in black a “gift.”

Meanwhile, after the man in black left the courtyard, he found himself unable to get closer. The Embroidered Guards’ presence had forced the guards to tighten security. Still, since he had already poisoned Princess Anya, he was certain she would come to the pavilion for the antidote.

But just as he moved away, a searing, bone-deep pain suddenly shot through his wounds, contorting his features. He tore off his clothing, only to find his previously staunched injuries now red, swollen, and burning.

What was happening? He had applied wound medicine—how could his wounds have worsened?

Sensing something was wrong, he sniffed the medicine jar, then hurled it to the ground in fury.

What wound medicine! That woman had tricked him.

She had mixed “Soaring Powder” into the medicine—once the effect of the wound medicine faded, the powder took hold, making the wounds burn with excruciating pain, amplifying his suffering several times over.

Clenching his fists in rage, the man cursed. That wretched girl wasn’t afraid of his poison at all? When she came to the pavilion for the antidote, he would make her pay.

He hurried to the pavilion, seated himself cross-legged, and sealed the meridians around his wounds. Only after breaking out in a cold sweat did the burning pain subside a little.

He waited in the pavilion, confident. The bite of the venomous insect would surely threaten her life if she didn’t take the antidote in time. Having poisoned her, he was certain she would come—yet instead of Princess Anya, it was the Embroidered Guards who arrived.

The sound of approaching footsteps was nothing like that of a single person. Warily, the man in black leapt into a large tree beside the pavilion, but his movements had already been spotted.

“There he is!” someone from the Embroidered Guards pointed in his direction. “Fortunately someone tipped us off about the pavilion, or we might have missed this place entirely.”

Hearing this, the man’s face changed dramatically. Damn it! Not only had the wretched woman failed to come, she had even revealed the location of the pavilion.

He turned to flee, his lightness skill extraordinary, slipping away without a trace. Yet no matter where he hid, someone would always point him out.

Hiding in the grass—“He’s here!”

Hiding in a tree—“There!”

How strange. It was as if something was constantly exposing his position.

He soon noticed that every time he turned his back, he was easily found.

Furious, he tore off his clothing and discovered a faint, glowing pattern: several large characters formed by luminescent insects spelling out “Here I am.”

The man trembled with rage. No wonder he was always found—such a glaring sign on his body would alert even the blind.

Princess Anya, was it? Well played.

He sniffed his clothing. It was doused in an insect-attracting potion, forming those words with glowing bugs, betraying his location in the night.

She must have done this while tending his wounds.

He clenched his fists and threw the garment to the ground in fury. That damned girl had tricked him three times—first with the wound medicine laced with Soaring Powder, second by revealing the location of the pavilion, and third by making him a glowing beacon for his pursuers.