Those words struck like a whip. Huo Ling Long’s body trembled, as if the lash had struck her flesh.
– But was the pain in her body or her heart?
Shao Ji Zu finally turned and began walking away.
Under the sunset, his silhouette resembled that of a proud yet forlorn god.
The farther he moved from her, the sharper the pain in his chest grew. A consuming madness welled within him, tempting him to turn back with every step, yet urging him forward at the same time.
He hated so much!
Suddenly, a clear yet tightly controlled voice called from behind him:
“Wait!”
It was her voice!
Shao Ji Zu suddenly seemed to sink into a dream from which he would never wake, his body frozen stiff. Her voice had turned him into a statue, unable to take another step.
His eyes blazed as though they were filled with fire.
Huo Ling Long’s eyes, too, seemed to burn with flames, their intensity mirrored in the fiery glow of her face under the setting sun.
She waited for Shao Ji Zu to turn around, then slowly reached into her robe and withdrew a piece of yellow silk.
At once, Shao Ji Zu’s entire body began to tremble uncontrollably, his breath caught in his throat.
– Staring at the yellow silk was like staring at his very life. The flickering ice and fire in his eyes revealed doubt, confusion, and a faint glimmer of excitement.
His expression twisted into something unspeakably grotesque. After a long pause, he finally forced out his words, his voice strained: “So, the treasured relic of the Chong Xiao Tower is really in your hands!”
Huo Ling Long spoke slowly, her tone light yet cutting: “What I hold in my hand—whether it’s your lifeblood or your Prince’s—I can’t say. But beneath this yellow silk lies a Pill of Thunderfire from the Tang Clan. You, of all people, should know how this marvelous treasure came into my possession.”
Shao Ji Zu’s face turned pale, yet his eyes brimmed with a mix of viciousness and fear.
– It was as if the five words ‘Pill of Thunderfire’ carried an overwhelming and deadly power, stripping him of his very soul.
Huo Ling Long’s tone became mocking: “Don’t blame Little Tang. It amused me, so I asked him for it as a toy. Who would’ve thought it’d prove useful today?”
Her voice grew colder, void of sympathy: “You know as well as I do that no matter how fast your hands may be, they can’t match the speed of the Huo family’s lightness techniques. And though your swordsmanship surpasses mine, if you want to catch me, you’ll need to practice for another thirty years.”
Shao Ji Zu asked, “What do you want?”
Huo Ling Long replied, “You already know, so why ask? I’ll put it plainly: Do you want to make a trade?”
Shao Ji Zu, almost choking on his breath, blurted out a foolish question: “Trade for what?”
– Perhaps he already understood her meaning perfectly but wanted to delay the moment, hoping to buy time to assess his own cards and hers.
Huo Ling Long said, “I’ll trade you the thing you want most for the person I want most.”
Her voice carried no trace of hesitation: “One thing for one person.”
Shao Ji Zu hesitated.
His chest grew inexplicably hot. Pressed against the fabric of his inner robe lay his custom-made signal token to summon the warriors of Jin Shi Hall.
For a brief moment, the token seemed to leap against his chest.
– But he couldn’t tell if it was the token moving—or his own heart.
* * *
By twilight, the sky began to drizzle once more.
With a faint creak, a small, flat-bottomed boat emerged from the misty rain near the riverside ferry dock.
Soon, a figure appeared through the rain—a young girl in yellow, holding a bamboo umbrella, standing at the edge of the small dock.
The damp breeze stirred her long hair, as though carrying the dreams of the heavens or the fleeting currents of fallen blossoms drifting downstream.
Her jet-black eyes, bright beyond description, seemed to carry a faint trace of sorrow within their luster.
From the rain came the muffled sound of carriage bells, growing steadily clearer.
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