After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 58

“I understand, I just…” Cen Ran paused, burying her face in her palms.

“I understand, Senior Sister. You rest well. I’ll come and see you off tomorrow morning.”

“No need. I’m afraid I’ll be leaving very early. You should go back quickly; it’s already time for bed,” Cen Ran looked at the sky and said softly.

Ning Songwu nodded and bid farewell to Cen Ran.

Cen Ran sat alone on the high rooftop, her lips tightly and seriously pressed together. The hand resting on her lap slowly clenched into a fist. Her gaze suddenly turned towards the direction of the Illusory Realm, and she let out a faint sigh.

Ran Fanyin remembered what Ning Songwu said—don’t sleep, wait for her to come back. So, she and Lin Yuxue sat under the tree brewing tea. The medicinal pot in her hand slowly warmed up. She lifted the lid, and a cool, refreshing scent drifted into her nostrils, like peppermint grass added for flavor.

Ran Fanyin took a small sip. There was a sweet, rich flavor inside, suggesting a generous amount of honey had been added to mask the bitterness of the other herbs completely. She smiled imperceptibly and slowly drank the medicine.

Lin Yuxue sat opposite her, propping up her head. Her eyelids were drooping, but she kept a close eye on the tea on the stove rack. Although the tea surface was already bubbling, Ran Fanyin was in no hurry, showing no intention of scooping the tea out.

“If you are tired, you should go back and rest,” Ran Fanyin said lightly.

Lin Yuxue pondered for a moment and said, “Very well, you should also go to bed early.”

Lin Yuxue covered her mouth and yawned, then slowly walked back to the Illusory Realm.

Not long after she left, Ning Songwu returned. Ran Fanyin stood up, walked towards Ning Songwu, and took her hand.

“You were gone for so long. It’s cold outside; be careful not to catch a chill.”

“Master, you really didn’t sleep.” Ning Songwu pulled Ran Fanyin, walking inside. “It’s late. Don’t wait up for me if it’s this late again.”

Ran Fanyin did not speak, only looking at Ning Songwu quietly.

The two entered the room. The bed was still messy. Ning Songwu let go of Ran Fanyin and went to tidy the bedding. Her long hair fell behind her, subtly highlighting her well-proportioned and attractive figure. Her slight bending motion caused her long hair to spread over her back, appearing extremely soft and smooth.

Ran Fanyin stood nearby, watching quietly. After a moment, she spoke softly, “The feeling of having someone by your side, someone you can care for and be cared for by, turns out to be this delightful. No wonder the world is willing to indulge in love between men and women.”

“Living alone can sometimes be very boring, and you don’t know what to do when you’re bored. But if you have a person in your heart, you can think of her when you’re bored, and the time doesn’t seem so hard to pass.” Ning Songwu responded with a soft laugh. Her movement of making the bed suddenly stopped. Her eyes widened slightly as she stared at a spot of crimson on the bedding.

That was from last night…

Ran Fanyin and Ning Songwu took a detour around the small mountain. They easily used their qinggong to jump over the small mountain and landed behind Taihu Pavilion. Because Taihu Pavilion looked as if it was embedded in the mountain when viewed from the front, it was built right against the mountain. The gap between the pavilion and the mountain was narrow, and conveniently, there were no people from the Heaven Incineration Gate guarding this area.

The night was deep, and there was no one around, but they could faintly hear sounds from the front of Taihu Pavilion. Lin Yuxue happened to be leading Wu Ji and the two others, talking to the people at the entrance, their voices reaching them indistinctly.

Ning Songwu fumbled along the row of windows. It was too dark, and she couldn’t clearly see where the hidden window Lin Yuxue mentioned was located. This corner must have been forgotten for years; the space was narrow and dirty. After touching only a few, her hands were covered in grime.

Ran Fanyin said softly, “Don’t search. It’s dark, you won’t find it, and besides, these windows are old. Opening or closing them will definitely make noise.”

“Then what do we do?” Ning Songwu rubbed the dirt from her hands, her brows tightly furrowed.

Ran Fanyin drew her Luoshuang (Falling Frost) sword. The pale-blue blade pressed against a window in front of her. With a few skillful applications of force, she easily dislodged the entire window. Ning Songwu quickly caught the window panel and placed it aside.

Ran Fanyin leaped into the window first, followed closely by Ning Songwu. Taihu Pavilion had five floors. According to Lin Yuxue, that group of people should all be on the fifth floor. Thus, floors one through four only had light near the stairs, and the area they had just entered was pitch black.

No sooner had the two entered than they heard a commotion at the entrance. It seemed someone was leading Lin Yuxue inside.

Ran Fanyin whispered, “We need to go up first, stay ahead of them. Quick.”

With that, Ran Fanyin used exquisite qinggong to leap onto the stairs, her toes touching the ground without making the slightest sound. Ning Songwu closely followed her, moving rapidly upward. If she were slow, she would run right into the group of people accompanying Lin Yuxue.

Floors one through four were all empty, quiet to the point of being eerie, allowing them to pass unimpeded.

On the fifth floor, the top of the stairs led to a long corridor, elegantly and simply decorated with antique furnishings. Presumably, the end of this corridor was where those people were staying. The structure was simply too basic, so simple that there was nowhere to hide, without even a dark passageway.

Ning Songwu and Ran Fanyin had no choice but to walk along the corridor. Just as they turned a corner, they heard two people talking at another corner further ahead in the corridor, walking toward them. The steady sound of their footsteps instantly brought the atmosphere to a peak of tension.

They couldn’t be discovered, and they couldn’t kill them; they had to hide.

Ran Fanyin decisively pulled Ning Songwu back, intending to retreat to the single corridor they had come from. But before they could retreat, they heard the sound of a group of people walking up the stairs there. It must be Lin Yuxue and her group ascending.

They were trapped between two groups, and the footsteps from both sides were gradually drawing nearer. Their predicament was truly awkward.

Ning Songwu bit her lip anxiously, looking around, but this was just one corridor; there was nowhere to hide.

Ran Fanyin suddenly grabbed Ning Songwu’s clothing, tapped her toe, and effortlessly leaped straight up, jumping onto the ceiling beam where she squatted steadily.

Ning Songwu let out a long sigh of relief.

But before she could fully exhale, her nerves immediately tensed up again. She drew a sharp, sudden breath, and her scalp nearly exploded.

There was someone else squatting on the beam directly opposite the beam they were on.

That person was dressed entirely in black, wearing a black mask, with only a pair of eyes visible. The gaze directed at them held a thick intent to kill. He held a small, unknown object in his hand—it was too dim to see clearly—but he reacted quickly and was about to raise the small object toward them.

Ran Fanyin leaped lightly, quietly flipping over onto the opposite beam. With lightning speed, she drew Luoshuang and swung it towards the man in black. The man in black rolled agilely on the beam, narrowly avoiding Ran Fanyin’s sword, and once again nervously raised the small object towards Ran Fanyin. This time, Ning Songwu saw it a little more clearly: it was a bamboo object resembling a small whistle.

Ran Fanyin pressed closer, but the long sword in her hand was not very useful in the narrow space. Her sword moves couldn’t be fully deployed, so she could only exchange punches and kicks with the man.

At that moment, the three Heaven Incineration Gate disciples led Lin Yuxue and Wu Ji’s group up. Lin Yuxue was wearing the half-face white jade mask she had been playing with, presumably to avoid being recognized. Ning Songwu’s heart leaped to her throat. She watched the group walk toward them while Ran Fanyin was still fighting the man in black on the beam opposite. The white and black figures flickered constantly, subtly accompanied by the sound of sleeves cutting through the air.

Ran Fanyin’s eyes narrowed. She rolled across the beam, covered the man in black’s mouth with one hand, and with the other, the Luoshuang sword flashed like lightning against the side of his neck. With a fierce slash, she severed the man’s major artery, and he died instantly.

Ran Fanyin took the bamboo object from the man in black’s hand, clenching it tightly. One hand firmly covered the man’s neck, and blood slowly seeped out through her palm.

The people below were slowly passing by. Lin Yuxue was the very last one in the line, looking around and observing as she walked.

Ran Fanyin’s palm still couldn’t completely stem the wildly flowing blood. A drop of blood suddenly dripped straight down from her hand, about to fall onto the ground near the Heaven Incineration Gate disciple. Ning Songwu’s eyes widened. She desperately wished she could fly down and catch that drop of blood.

It was over; they were about to be discovered.

If they were discovered…

Lin Yuxue suddenly snapped her folding fan open. The moment it opened, that single drop of blood landed on the plain white fan surface.

Ran Fanyin only lowered her head, intently watching the situation below.

Lin Yuxue sensed the anomaly and paused, then looked up, seeing Ran Fanyin holding a dead man in black on the roof beam, with Ning Songwu’s face utterly pale beside her. She was stunned for a moment.

Ran Fanyin raised the bamboo object in her hand toward her. Their eyes met, conveying all the necessary information in an instant. Lin Yuxue’s expression, hidden behind the mask, couldn’t be seen clearly, but she simply calmly closed her fan and continued walking without a sound.

The two people who had previously been walking towards the stairs happened to meet this group. One of them whispered, “Hurry inside, the Master has been waiting so long that the tea is cold…”

“We’re already moving fast,” another Heaven Incineration Gate disciple mumbled, leading Lin Yuxue towards the deeper part of the corridor.

The footsteps gradually faded. Ning Songwu’s tightly strained muscles slowly relaxed, and she let out a long sigh of relief.

Ran Fanyin hung the man in black on the beam. She tore a strip of cloth from his clothes to tightly bind his bleeding neck. Then, she leaped back to Ning Songwu’s side, her expression serious.

“Master, who do you think… this person is?” Ning Songwu kept her voice very low.

“If there is no mistake, he should also be a person from the Heaven Incineration Gate.”

“Why? Why would someone from the Heaven Incineration Gate need to secretly hide in this place?”

Ran Fanyin picked up the small bamboo tube in her hand and showed it to Ning Songwu. “Look, what is this thing?”

Ning Songwu squinted her eyes to examine it carefully. It was a tiny bamboo mechanism, somewhat like a pushing needle, but the back, where the plunger should be, was a smooth mouthpiece. The working principle was not difficult to deduce: this small tube must contain something. As soon as someone blew into the mouthpiece, the contents inside would shoot out.

Ran Fanyin fiddled with the thing, taking it apart along a seam. Inside were a pile of small black seeds, looking odd and strange.

“What is this thing? Why was that person guarding here with it?”

Ran Fanyin pondered for a moment and said, “This is Gu poison.”

“Gu poison?!” Ning Songwu was astonished.

“Mm. Do you remember the previous mention of Miss Duanxi that one person in this group was wearing Miao attire?… The Miao region specializes in witchcraft and Gu. The most famous Gu poison in the Heaven Incineration Gate is called ‘Yellow Spring Gu.’ It is likely that there is a Miao person skilled in Gu within the Heaven Incineration Gate.”

Ning Songwu thought about it again and suddenly realized, “No wonder they said that those who exited this area looked dazed and couldn’t remember what they had said…”

“They must have been poisoned by Gu. And the process of being poisoned must have involved the man in black, lurking on the beam, blowing the contents of this bamboo tube into their bodies as they passed through this corridor.” Ran Fanyin said grimly.

“We also passed through here…” Ning Songwu panicked slightly and pressed Ran Fanyin’s shoulder. “Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

“Don’t worry, we shouldn’t have been poisoned by Gu,” Ran Fanyin reassembled the bamboo tube and put it into her sleeve. “I would definitely notice if a foreign object approached me. Let’s go to the room at the end of the corridor first, find a place to wait, and act according to the situation.”

“Mm… Be careful yourself.” Ning Songwu’s brow was furrowed with worry, and she pressed closer to Ran Fanyin.

“You just take good care of yourself,” Ran Fanyin’s gaze softened. She stroked Ning Songwu’s hair reassuringly.

“Master… does it hurt?” Ning Songwu turned her head, her gaze light and gentle, fearing that looking at the woman with a little too much force might damage her delicacy.

Ran Fanyin immediately understood what she was referring to. Her face flushed, and she half-closed her eyes. “It’s fine.”

“…Come, lie down. I’ll apply some external medicine for you.”

Ran Fanyin bit her lip, slowly climbed onto the bed, and leaned diagonally against the headboard. “Didn’t I just drink medicine?”

“That was to regulate your internal energy. The place there is still… probably… swollen…” Ning Songwu’s voice grew smaller and smaller until it was almost inaudible. Her own face was thoroughly red. She retrieved the ointment she had brought back from the medicine hall during the day from her sleeve, nervously rubbing it in her hand.

“Mm,” Ran Fanyin gently responded. She slowly untied her robe herself, slipping off her outer garment until she was only in her underclothes.

Ran Fanyin suddenly didn’t dare to continue. She quickly glanced at Ning Songwu and said softly, “Give me the medicine. I’ll do it myself.”

Ning Songwu gave a small laugh. “Master, do you know where to apply it?”

“You… impudent.” Ran Fanyin frowned and glared at Ning Songwu. However, her face still carried an unmistakable flush, making that glare look somewhat like a coy reproach.

She suddenly stood up from Ran Fanyin’s side, staggered slightly, and ran out. She ran to the snowy ground outside the Illusory Realm and threw herself down face-up.

Ning Songwu grabbed a handful of snow nearby with her right hand, clenching it tightly, feeling the snow solidify into a lump of ice and then slowly melt into water. The cold sensation gradually calmed her down.

She felt like she was suppressing herself so much that she could spit out blood.

But Master was in pain. She couldn’t bear for Master to be in pain even for a moment. She would rather suppress herself until she coughed up blood.

Ran Fanyin ignored the mess. She casually put on clothes and wrapped herself in her outer robe, following Ning Songwu out.

She saw Ning Songwu lying in the snow. She slowly walked over and crouched down, lovingly reaching out to brush the scattered snow from Ning Songwu’s face. She said softly, “Why must you suppress yourself so hard…”

“Master,” Ning Songwu quickly interrupted Ran Fanyin, grasping Ran Fanyin’s hand. “No, I didn’t. Don’t worry.”

“…The ground is cold. Don’t lie there.”

“Master, I love you.” Ning Songwu held Ran Fanyin’s hand and gently kissed it by her lips. She closed her eyes, feeling a slight ache at the corners. She loved this woman too much—to the extent that it not only brought her joy but also pain.

“…” Ran Fanyin gently curled her lips inward with restraint, watching Ning Songwu in silence, her gaze deep.

Ning Songwu opened her eyes, looking at the beautiful, ethereal face in the darkness, and said in a slow, drawn-out voice, “If the day of danger ever comes, I am willing to die for you.”

“…” Ran Fanyin met Ning Songwu’s eyes seriously, revealing an extremely faint, soft smile.