The Vicious Beauty Faked His Death Three Times [Transmigration] - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Betrayal?

Every exhibit at the auction was stored in an individual room. The maid led Lin Qinghan and Ling Yanhe past them one by one.

As they ventured deeper, the doubt in Lin Qinghan’s heart grew, and his irritability intensified. His body was resisting going further into the depths.

This was not a good omen.

The current Lin Qinghan was a demon who naturally sought profit and avoided harm. He was more aware than anyone else of the thick demonic energy permeating the corridor it was so intense it almost made him nauseous.

By the time they reached the final room, Lin Qinghan’s body was actually trembling slightly.

Lin Qinghan looked up at the door before him. This was the room housing the great demon with five hundred years of cultivation; the dense demonic energy inside nearly crushed him, making it difficult to move.

The demon inside was incredibly powerful.

But at the same time, he caught a whiff of a faint, sweet fragrance drifting through the crack in the door.

“We have come to check on the condition of this exhibit by order of Young Master Qi. Let us in.” Lin Qinghan suppressed the fear in his heart, raising the command token and holding it before the maid.

The maid stared blankly at the carvings on the token, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face. Ultimately, she bowed to the two of them and turned to leave.

Seeing this, Lin Qinghan reached out to open the door, but his movement was pressed down by a hand.

He looked up; Ling Yanhe was looking down at him.

“Is the Young Master regretting his decision now by stopping me?” Lin Qinghan suppressed the strong urge to fling the other’s hand away, arching an eyebrow as he looked at Ling Yanhe and asked in return.

Ling Yanhe looked down at him, a flash of playfulness in his eyes, and then the hand resting on his wrist was withdrawn.

Lin Qinghan opened the door without the slightest hesitation.

Almost instantly, a wind blade lunged straight for his face.

Zheng,

The Black Bone Fan flew out, catching the wind blade with sheer force.

Lin Qinghan’s face turned pale; the great demon inside was at least at the early stage of Soul Transformation.

Once the wind blade dissipated, Lin Qinghan saw the massive iron cage in the room and the gargantuan creature within.

The creature looked toward him. Those platinum-gold eyes pinned him to the spot. In an instant, an intense chill rose up his spine, and his entire body screamed at him to leave.

Lin Qinghan gritted his teeth, the thick taste of rust spreading in his mouth. The stinging pain on the tip of his tongue allowed him to snap out of that powerful pressure.

Truly worthy of being a five-hundred-year-old great demon at the Soul Transformation stage.

He had no possibility of retreat. The maid hadn’t truly believed them, and he didn’t have much time left. He had to end this quickly.

Fortunately, the great demon was trapped in the iron cage and could only launch long-range attacks with its magic. This was good news for him.

Looking at the great demon, a nearly imperceptible spark of excitement flashed in Lin Qinghan’s eyes—the thrill of encountering a strong opponent.

Seizing the gap before the next attack arrived, Lin Qinghan yanked Ling Yanhe into the room, and the door was slammed shut.

“What are you doing?” Ling Yanhe looked down at his tightly gripped sleeve, his deep black eyes filled with inquiry.

Lin Qinghan raised his hand to block another incoming wind blade. Ignoring the numbing sensation in his arm from the impact, he directly grabbed Ling Yanhe’s lapel and pulled the man toward him. “I want its demon core.”

“Does the Young Master not want it?”

Ling Yanhe merely arched an eyebrow, looking at his unmasked ambition. Those eyes, which had been silent for so long, seemed to be infected by him, lighting up with scattered sparks. At the same time, Lin Qinghan saw the undisguised suspicion in his gaze.

In the next instant, Lin Qinghan pushed Ling Yanhe away. He hurriedly raised his hand to block, but only managed to deflect the wind blade slightly. Instantly, a stinging pain came from his cheek.

“Tsk.” Lin Qinghan raised his hand to wipe away the blood. A streak of bright red appeared vivid against his fair face. He slanted his eyes toward Ling Yanhe standing at the door, his gaze indifferent. “Since the Young Master doesn’t dare take it, then I shall politely accept.”

Without giving Ling Yanhe a chance to react, Lin Qinghan stepped forward and charged straight toward the massive iron cage.

An aged hunting hawk was imprisoned within. It had completely lost its human form, its massive demonic body caged. Iron chains pierced through its grey wings, pinning it deathly still. Dried blood clots clung to feathers that had long since lost their luster.

Lin Qinghan met the hawk’s eyes—those turbid platinum-gold eyes devoid of spirit.

In a flash, several wind blades lunged at him. Lin Qinghan frowned and raised his hand to block.

Fire and wind blades collided, blooming into brilliant fireworks in the air.

Lin Qinghan gritted his teeth, braving the blades as he hurried toward the cage. More than one place on his body was sliced open by the sharp edges, and blood soaked his clothes, but he didn’t care at all. His gaze was fixed only on the hawk inside the cage.

The raging flames devoured the wind blades. Lin Qinghan gripped the Black Bone Fan and swung it abruptly; the hardened iron cage was forcibly sliced open with a gap.

His movements were nimble and decisive. Almost the moment the cage broke, he twisted his wrist, and the bone fan lunged straight for the hawk’s heart.

The hawk, which had long since lost its vitality, showed a spark of clarity in its turbid eyes before its heart was pierced.

The Black Bone Fan pierced through the hawk’s chest. Blood splashed onto Lin Qinghan’s somewhat pale face. He withdrew the bone fan with an indifferent expression, pulled a handkerchief from his robe, and frowned as he wiped the blood from his face and the fan. With the massive demon corpse lying at his feet, the scene made him look exactly like an Asura claiming a life.

Lin Qinghan knelt down and brushed his hand over the hawk’s eyes; those platinum-gold eyes closed forever.

Just as he was about to reach toward the corpse’s dantian, a fine thread appeared in the air and wrapped around his waist. In an instant, he was pulled out, his back hitting a broad, hard chest.

Bursts of bloody light suddenly appeared within the iron cage. The corpse on the ground began to melt, its flesh and bone flowing through the room like water. The smell of blood permeated the air, making one instinctively cover their nose.

If he had still been standing there just now, he likely would have been refined into bloody water by this array.

Lin Qinghan frowned at the scene before him, a wave of nausea rising in his heart. For a moment, he didn’t realize his current situation.

Ling Yanhe looked down at Lin Qinghan, who was effectively leaning in his arms. The other’s warm body temperature seeped through the fabric onto him.

The fine thread wrapped around Lin Qinghan’s lean waist was rubbing restlessly, as if constantly caressing him.

Lin Qinghan was a bit dazed when he was suddenly pushed away. He frowned at the dark-faced Ling Yanhe behind him. It wasn’t until the fine thread around his waist was slowly withdrawn, causing him to stiffen in surprise, that he realized.

I was actually leaning in Ling Yanhe’s arms just now?!

In an instant, Lin Qinghan’s expression became somewhat distorted. Seeing the distance the other had retreated, displeasure surged in his heart.

We’re both straight men; is it really necessary to retreat two miles as if facing a great enemy?

The flickering demon core inside the iron cage interrupted Lin Qinghan’s thoughts.

The platinum-gold demon core stood in the pool of blood, emitting a faint glow. Even from a distance, one could feel the powerful spiritual energy contained within—it was an exquisite treasure for breaking through realms.

As Lin Qinghan prepared to step forward, a fine thread coiled around the demon core and yanked it out of the blood pool.

Lin Qinghan turned back to see Ling Yanhe holding the demon core in his hand.

“This is indeed a fine item.” Ling Yanhe toyed with the core in his hand, looking mockingly at Lin Qinghan.

Rapid footsteps came from outside the door, and anxious shouts could be vaguely heard.

“Does the Young Master not intend to give it to me?” Lin Qinghan stood his ground, looking up at Ling Yanhe.

Ling Yanhe said nothing. He looked down at Lin Qinghan, his dark eyes waiting as he sized him up, teasing him mischievously as if wanting to see how he would react.

The demon core in Ling Yanhe’s hand emitted a strange red light.

“You must strangle everyone inside the room! Leave no one alive!”

A harsh shout came from outside.

Lin Qinghan looked at Ling Yanhe leaning against the door and suddenly smiled. A command token was flung out, landing on the floor with a clang.

“Since the Young Master wants it, then explain yourself to the people outside alone.”

In a flash, countless osmanthus petals surged from various parts of the room, surrounding Lin Qinghan. He gave Ling Yanhe a bold, provocative smile, and then disappeared from the room along with the petals.

The shouting outside drew closer. Ling Yanhe looked down at the object on the floor, his eyes swirling with dark tides as if brewing a terrifying storm.

He bent down and picked up the token. The three characters “Qi Bocang” were vivid, as if they had been fed blood.

“Is this your scheme?” Ling Yanhe narrowed his eyes at the token in his hand. His eyes were as black as ink, and a sky-shaking black mist churned in the depths of his gaze.

Bang!

The door was kicked open. In an instant, dense fine threads sprouted from behind Ling Yanhe. Before the person at the door could react, they pierced through his heart.

Fine threads entwined with black mist flew out from Ling Yanhe’s side; ghostly wails and miserable screams mixed together.

“Very well, Lin Qinghan.” Ling Yanhe gripped the token in his hand. He looked at the hellish scene before him with a dark expression and terrifying eyes. His cold words suppressed a deep rage. “This is the second time.”

On a bed with hibiscus canopy curtains, one could vaguely see a man in black lying through the thin gauze.

When Lin Qinghan opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the crimson canopy above him. The vivid color made his eyelids twitch. He realized belatedly that he had been brought to this bed by those damn petals.

Previously, Lin Qinghan had only intended to provoke the great demon into a bitter fight with Ling Yanhe while he went to find the Everspring Ivy alone. It wasn’t until he smelled the faint scent of osmanthus in the demon’s room that he realized.

In the original novel, the key to finding the Everspring Ivy did not lie in the demon’s chaos, but in Qi Bocang.

Originally, he only thought it strange; based on Qi Bocang’s personality, it wouldn’t end with just a withered branch for peeping. When he saw that great demon, he suddenly pieced together the complete plot of the original text.

Qi Bocang had intentionally led Ye Chaoyan and Ling Yanhe to the demon’s room back then. When the two fought the demon, he could seize the opportunity to take Ye Chaoyan away.

The great demon was already near death, and Tianhai Pavilion had long been at its wit’s end. Ling Yanhe, left behind, became the scapegoat who delivered himself to the door.

Only now, the person abducted had been swapped for him.

Thinking of Ling Yanhe’s look as if he wanted to eat him alive when he left, Lin Qinghan’s mood improved quite a bit.

Ling Yanhe didn’t lose out either a demon core with five hundred years of cultivation, and he shared the same Wind spiritual root. In the short term, it could at least help him break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

Moreover, the other had the protagonist’s halo. The people of Tianhai Pavilion wouldn’t be enough to take his life; at most, he’d suffer some injuries.

He believed Ling Yanhe could handle this minor trouble.

At this thought, Lin Qinghan was in a great mood, his eyes lighting up with a smile. He got up, intending to get off the bed and scout the surroundings.

Clang!

The heavy iron chains let out a loud sound due to his movement.

Lin Qinghan froze, slanting his head to look at the chain fastened around his left hand. His expression distorted for a moment.

The other end of this chain was connected to the stone wall at the head of the bed. Lin Qinghan estimated the length; the chain only allowed him to move within two or three steps of the bed.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the Black Bone Fan suddenly appeared in the air and slashed fiercely toward the chain. The blade met the dark iron, sending out dazzling sparks.

Once the sparks died in the air, not even a single mark was left on the chain.

Lin Qinghan’s face turned dark instantly.

A gust of wind blew, bringing the familiar fragrance of osmanthus, lingering around Lin Qinghan.

Suddenly, Lin Qinghan’s body stiffened, and the Black Bone Fan abruptly flew behind him.

The expected smell of blood did not come.

Lin Qinghan’s wrist was gripped tightly. The other’s fingers rubbed gently against his wrist bone. The unfamiliar touch made his body stiffen instantly.

“You truly chose me.”

The sweet fragrance of osmanthus forcibly plundered the air around Lin Qinghan, enveloping him aggressively.

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