Chapter 248.1: Skin Cage Grub
Baili Yu didn’t respond to him and simply closed his eyes. Then he turned to look towards the distant full moon and sighed softly. It was the fifteenth again.
In the end, Jun Xin did head back. He first snuck into Bai Lianhua’s room and drugged her, then commanded someone to throw her into the sea. Of course, he told them to give her the antidote to the knockout drug before throwing her in.
They had grown up together after all, so there was no way he could let her drown to death in the sea.
After finishing this, he put on the silver mask that he hadn’t worn for quite a long time, changed into black clothing and started heading towards the prison.
Qing Moran was being held in a rather clean room inside the prison. If it weren’t for those strange torture instruments, this room was actually even more luxurious than the side rooms of some nobles.
There were two hidden guards keeping watch at the entrance. When they saw Jun Xin, they bowed and saluted him.
“You guys withdraw,” said Jun Xin coldly.
After the guards left, he placed his hand on the lock over the door. With a slight vibration, that steel lock turned into fine powder and spilled onto the ground.
He pushed lightly to open the door, then walked in, stepping over the dust.
“Who are you?” Qing Moran had never seen Jun Xin in this appearance before. Her face immediately turned pale due to his oppressive chilling air and she looked at him warily.
Jun Xin didn’t speak and simply continued approaching. His emotionless cold eyes swept over her as he sized her up.
Inwardly, he concluded that if Tang Doudou was wearing these clothes, she would look way better than this woman.
“What do you want?” Qing Moran saw that he was sizing her up without a scruple and became afraid. The way he was looking at her was completely different from the lusty way normal men looked at her. His gaze was bone-piercingly cold.
“Stay away!” As he soundlessly approached, panic appeared on Qing Moran’s face and she started retreating backwards.
Underneath the mask, Jun Xin’s lips curled disdainfully. He reached out and pulled off the cord around Qing Moran’s neck. How pretty did she imagine herself to be? Did she think he wanted to do something to her?
Tch, stupid ugly woman. He was just curious about this cord.
“Give it back!” Qing Moran had thought that this man was going to do something to her and was distracted, so it inadvertently gave the man the opportunity to pull off that cord. She immediately pounced forward to grab the cord back as if a fire had been lit in her.
However, how was it possible that Jun Xin would let her snatch it back? He moved slightly to the side and Qing Moran hit empty air. When she turned around, Jun Xin was already studying the thing the cord was tied around.
It was a bead but he couldn’t tell what material it was made of. It was sparkly and translucent with a faint purple glow. In the very center there was a tiny character. It seemed like it was someone’s name.
Jun Xin carefully put the bead in his sleeve and turned around to say coldly, “This doesn’t belong to you.”
“How do you know?” Although Qing Moran was a courtesan, she was very good at reading people’s expressions because she had seen too many types of people before. She was especially good at figuring out what men were thinking. When she saw Jun Xin put that item away, she seemed to realize something. “Indeed, this doesn’t belong to me, but I hope that you will look on the behalf of the owner of this object and release Moran.”
“Release you?”
“Moran will not breathe a word about anything you guys are doing.”
“But in this world, only the mouths of the dead are the most secure.” What a foolish woman. Since they had already chosen to act, how was it possible for them to let her go so easily?
Moreover… He gave a cold laugh. “If I took into consideration the owner of the bead, you would have already died a couple hundred times. You should be grateful that I didn’t take it into consideration and left you alive.”
His words instantly made Qing Moran’s blood run cold. “Mountain’s Clouds is only effective in my hands. If you guys kill me, then Mountain’s Clouds will end up useless!”
“Speak, what are your conditions?” Jun Xin boldly sat down in the middle of the room. Even though he had sat down, Qing Moran still felt like he was towering over her.
In reality, there wasn’t much of anything that she wanted. She was just worried that they would kill her to silence her after she helped them.
As long as she kept delaying things and refusing to help them question that black-clothed person, she would be able to stay alive for the time being. Once that person got to Ocean City and found that she was missing, he’d definitely search everywhere to save her.
The only thing she had to do now was buy more time.
However, she definitely couldn’t resist them head on. Baili Yu was truly way too incomprehensible. She had played over ten songs tonight, but hadn’t managed to enchant him for even a few moments. It must be known that she had aimed all of that enchanted music towards Baili Yu. Jun Xin had fallen to the spell from just being hit with the aftermath of the music, yet Baili Yu was completely fine despite the full force of the music being directed towards him.
If it weren’t for the fact that something had suddenly happened to that woman, causing Baili Yu to walk out from Orchid Fragrance Pavilion, she would have already been heavily injured by the rebound.
If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have accepted that employer’s task and attacked Baili Yu. She had been too naive.
Jun Xin didn’t disturb her when she lowered her eyes and sank into her own thoughts. He simply sat there quietly as if he was waiting for her to speak.
When Feng Long went over, this was the scene she saw. Jun Xin seemed to be sitting there and scrutinizing Qing Moran. A self-mocking expression flashed across her face. From the looks of it, he still liked normal girls more.
As she thought about this, she leaned into the shadows nearby and stayed there silently to watch Jun Xin.
The interrogation seemed to have sank into a stalemate. Qing Moran didn’t speak and Jun Xin also sat there extremely patiently. Due to the mask, one couldn’t see his expression, but the chill in the room grew increasingly intense and pressured Qing Moran to the point she could barely breathe.
“If you want me to help, that’s not impossible,” said Qing Moran.
Jun Xin didn’t even lift an eyelid. “Speak.”
“The only reason I’m not helping is because I want to live. As long as you guys guarantee my safety, of course I’d be happy to help Baili gongzi.”
“And then?”
“As long as you guys promise not to kill me after I help, I’ll help you guys question that person!”
Qing Moran was laying the most important issue on the table, which was that they couldn’t afford any mistakes in this matter. However, Qing Moran had to die. The only difference in the outcome was whether her death would be a little less tragic.
So if what she wanted was to live… Jun Xin gave a cold laugh without replying.
Qing Moran also knew that there was no way they would easily agree. However, right now she was only working on buying more time. She didn’t really expect them to agree.
How was it possible for Jun Xin to not know what she was thinking? From the looks of it, it wouldn’t be possible to complete the task Baili Yu gave in a refined way.
“Very good.”
Qing Moran looked towards him in confusion. What was very good?
“It’s a very good request,” Jun Xin continued. “But, it’s not possible.”
“I’ll give you an hour to think about whether you’ll agree to do it or not. If you don’t agree, you’ll die. If you agree, you’ll still die.” Jun Xin cruelly declared that death was her inevitable fate.
Qing Moran’s face paled even more. Her lips trembled but she didn’t dare to question it. This person definitely wouldn’t say things as a joke.
“An hour…” Jun Xin flicked his finger and a blue flame ignited on the special candle attached to the wall. It would burn for half an hour, then go out. “I believe you’ve heard of the Skin Cage Grub?”
The sentence Jun Xin said right before leaving successfully caused Qing Moran’s face to turn as pale as the color of paper.
Skin Cage Grub? Wasn’t he Baili Yu’s subordinate? How does he know of the Seven Great Saint Tribes’ methods? Could it be…
Qing Moran didn’t dare to continue thinking about this. The more she learned, the more tragically she would probably die.
She slumped to the ground. Could it be that this was it for her?
__________
Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
Chapter 248.2: Skin Cage Grub
After leaving the prison, Jun Xin stretched his waist. Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted Feng Long who was staring at him without blinking.
“Are you pretending to be a ghost? With how you look, you’d be able to scare a person dead just by standing outside their window, so is there any need to go through this much trouble?”
Feng Long licked her lips as an unreadable expression briefly flashed through her strange eyes. She remarked softy, “I’ve stood outside your window for so many years, so how come you still haven’t died from the shock?”
“Tch, who do you think this little master is? Even real ghosts die by my hand, so how could I possibly be afraid of a fake ghost like you?” Jun Xin expressed his disdain.
Feng Long smiled. “You’re planning on letting her stay like this?”
“Something’s a little off.” As Jun Xin spoke, he pulled out that bead and showed it to Feng Long. “Guess who this belongs to?”
“Who?” As Feng Long spoke, she took that bead and examined it. She soon noticed the word inside. Her eyes were different from those of normal people and she was able to see the word with one glance. She immediately realized what it was about and almost cried out in shock.
Luckily, she wasn’t a normal person and was able to quickly suppress her shock. Then she asked in a low voice, “The scope of this matter was actually that broad?”
“From the looks of it, it wasn’t as simple as we thought. Go bring this to Baili Yu and let him decide for himself.” Jun Xin let go of the cord and the bead fell into Feng Long’s palm. “I only left her an hour to make her decision. If he doesn’t reply within an hour, I’ll be using the grub on Qing Moran.”
After Jun Xin finished speaking, he sat down in the hidden guards’ resting area and took off his mask to rub his eyes.
The hazy light was bright enough to light up his perfect features. It had only been a year since they last saw each other, but his looks were much more mature and his features had become even more solid.
A trace of a smile appeared on Feng Long’s lips and her eyes sparkled. Jun Xin, you’ll belong to me sooner or later.
Even if your heart currently harbors someone else.
Since, what does it matter?
Following that, she went off to find Baili Yu. She got to the location Jun Xin had told her but she didn’t see Baili Yu anywhere. After a brief moment of thought, she concluded that he had probably gone to climb onto a certain person’s bed again.
She was just about to head to a particular window when she saw a black figure move past out of the corner of her eye.
Who was it?
Feng Long looked back in alarm as her body smoothly moved backwards. Suddenly, her brows furrowed and she abruptly turned around to shoot a blade from her eye. There was only a single ‘clank,’ then there was no more sound.
She turned around but still didn’t see anyone.
The person’s martial arts was better than hers. From the looks of it, it wouldn’t be easy to deal with him.
After just a brief probe, Feng Long had been able to analyze that person’s strength. He was stronger than her, and it wasn’t just by a little either.
It seemed like she had no choice but to alert Master.
As she was thinking this, she shot another blade from her eyes towards that window. However, before it could cut through the window, a jade-like hand reached out from inside and flicked it away. Following that, with a flash, a figure dressed in crimson red appeared in the night.
At the instant he appeared, the sky filled with countless flower petals. He didn’t move at all, but several muffled groans came from the darkness.
Feng Long looked over, following the sound, but saw no survivors.
When she returned to that side, she saw Baili Yu lift his hand. The countless petals immediately gathered at the tip of his finger and turned into an enormous Chinese dragon that faced ahead.
__________
Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
Chapter 248.1: Skin Cage Grub
Baili Yu didn’t respond to him and simply closed his eyes. Then he turned to look towards the distant full moon and sighed softly. It was the fifteenth again.
In the end, Jun Xin did head back. He first snuck into Bai Lianhua’s room and drugged her, then commanded someone to throw her into the sea. Of course, he told them to give her the antidote to the knockout drug before throwing her in.
They had grown up together after all, so there was no way he could let her drown to death in the sea.
After finishing this, he put on the silver mask that he hadn’t worn for quite a long time, changed into black clothing and started heading towards the prison.
Qing Moran was being held in a rather clean room inside the prison. If it weren’t for those strange torture instruments, this room was actually even more luxurious than the side rooms of some nobles.
There were two hidden guards keeping watch at the entrance. When they saw Jun Xin, they bowed and saluted him.
“You guys withdraw,” said Jun Xin coldly.
After the guards left, he placed his hand on the lock over the door. With a slight vibration, that steel lock turned into fine powder and spilled onto the ground.
He pushed lightly to open the door, then walked in, stepping over the dust.
“Who are you?” Qing Moran had never seen Jun Xin in this appearance before. Her face immediately turned pale due to his oppressive chilling air and she looked at him warily.
Jun Xin didn’t speak and simply continued approaching. His emotionless cold eyes swept over her as he sized her up.
Inwardly, he concluded that if Tang Doudou was wearing these clothes, she would look way better than this woman.
“What do you want?” Qing Moran saw that he was sizing her up without a scruple and became afraid. The way he was looking at her was completely different from the lusty way normal men looked at her. His gaze was bone-piercingly cold.
“Stay away!” As he soundlessly approached, panic appeared on Qing Moran’s face and she started retreating backwards.
Underneath the mask, Jun Xin’s lips curled disdainfully. He reached out and pulled off the cord around Qing Moran’s neck. How pretty did she imagine herself to be? Did she think he wanted to do something to her?
Tch, stupid ugly woman. He was just curious about this cord.
“Give it back!” Qing Moran had thought that this man was going to do something to her and was distracted, so it inadvertently gave the man the opportunity to pull off that cord. She immediately pounced forward to grab the cord back as if a fire had been lit in her.
However, how was it possible that Jun Xin would let her snatch it back? He moved slightly to the side and Qing Moran hit empty air. When she turned around, Jun Xin was already studying the thing the cord was tied around.
It was a bead but he couldn’t tell what material it was made of. It was sparkly and translucent with a faint purple glow. In the very center there was a tiny character. It seemed like it was someone’s name.
Jun Xin carefully put the bead in his sleeve and turned around to say coldly, “This doesn’t belong to you.”
“How do you know?” Although Qing Moran was a courtesan, she was very good at reading people’s expressions because she had seen too many types of people before. She was especially good at figuring out what men were thinking. When she saw Jun Xin put that item away, she seemed to realize something. “Indeed, this doesn’t belong to me, but I hope that you will look on the behalf of the owner of this object and release Moran.”
“Release you?”
“Moran will not breathe a word about anything you guys are doing.”
“But in this world, only the mouths of the dead are the most secure.” What a foolish woman. Since they had already chosen to act, how was it possible for them to let her go so easily?
Moreover… He gave a cold laugh. “If I took into consideration the owner of the bead, you would have already died a couple hundred times. You should be grateful that I didn’t take it into consideration and left you alive.”
His words instantly made Qing Moran’s blood run cold. “Mountain’s Clouds is only effective in my hands. If you guys kill me, then Mountain’s Clouds will end up useless!”
“Speak, what are your conditions?” Jun Xin boldly sat down in the middle of the room. Even though he had sat down, Qing Moran still felt like he was towering over her.
In reality, there wasn’t much of anything that she wanted. She was just worried that they would kill her to silence her after she helped them.
As long as she kept delaying things and refusing to help them question that black-clothed person, she would be able to stay alive for the time being. Once that person got to Ocean City and found that she was missing, he’d definitely search everywhere to save her.
The only thing she had to do now was buy more time.
However, she definitely couldn’t resist them head on. Baili Yu was truly way too incomprehensible. She had played over ten songs tonight, but hadn’t managed to enchant him for even a few moments. It must be known that she had aimed all of that enchanted music towards Baili Yu. Jun Xin had fallen to the spell from just being hit with the aftermath of the music, yet Baili Yu was completely fine despite the full force of the music being directed towards him.
If it weren’t for the fact that something had suddenly happened to that woman, causing Baili Yu to walk out from Orchid Fragrance Pavilion, she would have already been heavily injured by the rebound.
If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have accepted that employer’s task and attacked Baili Yu. She had been too naive.
Jun Xin didn’t disturb her when she lowered her eyes and sank into her own thoughts. He simply sat there quietly as if he was waiting for her to speak.
When Feng Long went over, this was the scene she saw. Jun Xin seemed to be sitting there and scrutinizing Qing Moran. A self-mocking expression flashed across her face. From the looks of it, he still liked normal girls more.
As she thought about this, she leaned into the shadows nearby and stayed there silently to watch Jun Xin.
The interrogation seemed to have sank into a stalemate. Qing Moran didn’t speak and Jun Xin also sat there extremely patiently. Due to the mask, one couldn’t see his expression, but the chill in the room grew increasingly intense and pressured Qing Moran to the point she could barely breathe.
“If you want me to help, that’s not impossible,” said Qing Moran.
Jun Xin didn’t even lift an eyelid. “Speak.”
“The only reason I’m not helping is because I want to live. As long as you guys guarantee my safety, of course I’d be happy to help Baili gongzi.”
“And then?”
“As long as you guys promise not to kill me after I help, I’ll help you guys question that person!”
Qing Moran was laying the most important issue on the table, which was that they couldn’t afford any mistakes in this matter. However, Qing Moran had to die. The only difference in the outcome was whether her death would be a little less tragic.
So if what she wanted was to live… Jun Xin gave a cold laugh without replying.
Qing Moran also knew that there was no way they would easily agree. However, right now she was only working on buying more time. She didn’t really expect them to agree.
How was it possible for Jun Xin to not know what she was thinking? From the looks of it, it wouldn’t be possible to complete the task Baili Yu gave in a refined way.
“Very good.”
Qing Moran looked towards him in confusion. What was very good?
“It’s a very good request,” Jun Xin continued. “But, it’s not possible.”
“I’ll give you an hour to think about whether you’ll agree to do it or not. If you don’t agree, you’ll die. If you agree, you’ll still die.” Jun Xin cruelly declared that death was her inevitable fate.
Qing Moran’s face paled even more. Her lips trembled but she didn’t dare to question it. This person definitely wouldn’t say things as a joke.
“An hour…” Jun Xin flicked his finger and a blue flame ignited on the special candle attached to the wall. It would burn for half an hour, then go out. “I believe you’ve heard of the Skin Cage Grub?”
The sentence Jun Xin said right before leaving successfully caused Qing Moran’s face to turn as pale as the color of paper.
Skin Cage Grub? Wasn’t he Baili Yu’s subordinate? How does he know of the Seven Great Saint Tribes’ methods? Could it be…
Qing Moran didn’t dare to continue thinking about this. The more she learned, the more tragically she would probably die.
She slumped to the ground. Could it be that this was it for her?
__________
Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
Chapter 248.2: Skin Cage Grub
After leaving the prison, Jun Xin stretched his waist. Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted Feng Long who was staring at him without blinking.
“Are you pretending to be a ghost? With how you look, you’d be able to scare a person dead just by standing outside their window, so is there any need to go through this much trouble?”
Feng Long licked her lips as an unreadable expression briefly flashed through her strange eyes. She remarked softy, “I’ve stood outside your window for so many years, so how come you still haven’t died from the shock?”
“Tch, who do you think this little master is? Even real ghosts die by my hand, so how could I possibly be afraid of a fake ghost like you?” Jun Xin expressed his disdain.
Feng Long smiled. “You’re planning on letting her stay like this?”
“Something’s a little off.” As Jun Xin spoke, he pulled out that bead and showed it to Feng Long. “Guess who this belongs to?”
“Who?” As Feng Long spoke, she took that bead and examined it. She soon noticed the word inside. Her eyes were different from those of normal people and she was able to see the word with one glance. She immediately realized what it was about and almost cried out in shock.
Luckily, she wasn’t a normal person and was able to quickly suppress her shock. Then she asked in a low voice, “The scope of this matter was actually that broad?”
“From the looks of it, it wasn’t as simple as we thought. Go bring this to Baili Yu and let him decide for himself.” Jun Xin let go of the cord and the bead fell into Feng Long’s palm. “I only left her an hour to make her decision. If he doesn’t reply within an hour, I’ll be using the grub on Qing Moran.”
After Jun Xin finished speaking, he sat down in the hidden guards’ resting area and took off his mask to rub his eyes.
The hazy light was bright enough to light up his perfect features. It had only been a year since they last saw each other, but his looks were much more mature and his features had become even more solid.
A trace of a smile appeared on Feng Long’s lips and her eyes sparkled. Jun Xin, you’ll belong to me sooner or later.
Even if your heart currently harbors someone else.
Since, what does it matter?
Following that, she went off to find Baili Yu. She got to the location Jun Xin had told her but she didn’t see Baili Yu anywhere. After a brief moment of thought, she concluded that he had probably gone to climb onto a certain person’s bed again.
She was just about to head to a particular window when she saw a black figure move past out of the corner of her eye.
Who was it?
Feng Long looked back in alarm as her body smoothly moved backwards. Suddenly, her brows furrowed and she abruptly turned around to shoot a blade from her eye. There was only a single ‘clank,’ then there was no more sound.
She turned around but still didn’t see anyone.
The person’s martial arts was better than hers. From the looks of it, it wouldn’t be easy to deal with him.
After just a brief probe, Feng Long had been able to analyze that person’s strength. He was stronger than her, and it wasn’t just by a little either.
It seemed like she had no choice but to alert Master.
As she was thinking this, she shot another blade from her eyes towards that window. However, before it could cut through the window, a jade-like hand reached out from inside and flicked it away. Following that, with a flash, a figure dressed in crimson red appeared in the night.
At the instant he appeared, the sky filled with countless flower petals. He didn’t move at all, but several muffled groans came from the darkness.
Feng Long looked over, following the sound, but saw no survivors.
When she returned to that side, she saw Baili Yu lift his hand. The countless petals immediately gathered at the tip of his finger and turned into an enormous Chinese dragon that faced ahead.
__________
Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
