The Vicious Beauty Faked His Death Three Times [Transmigration] - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Choice

 

“Clan Leader, it was this junior’s incompetence and underestimation of the opponent. Please give me another chance to atone for my mistakes.”

 

Su Nianhuan knelt respectfully on the ground, waiting anxiously for the Clan Leader’s judgment.

 

The man on the seat propped his head with one hand while the other caressed a girl with a beautiful face. Beside him, a young boy held a tray of plump, full grapes.

 

These two were the very Su family disciples who had appeared at the Sihai Hall during the day.

 

The girl leaned shyly into the man’s embrace, then turned her head to look at Su Nianhuan kneeling on the floor. She let out a light laugh, the mockery in her tone impossible to hide.

 

“Sister, you are being dishonest.”

 

“Today, Brother and I witnessed Sister’s match at the Sihai Hall. Sister was beaten by an ordinary, lowly demon slave until she had no strength to fight back.”

 

A sharp glint flashed in the girl’s eyes. “How is it that when you come before the Clan Leader, it becomes a lapse due to underestimation? Could it be that Sister intends to deceive the Clan Leader?”

 

The moment the girl’s words fell, a wave of pressure descended. Su Nianhuan’s spine was instantly pressed down.

 

Her face turned pale, and she clenched her hands tightly. The piercing pain of her nails puncturing her palms allowed her to regain a bit of focus.

 

“This junior would not dare,” Su Nianhuan said, almost trembling as she finished the sentence.

 

But the pressure did not withdraw; instead, another layer was added, forcing Su Nianhuan to cough up a mouthful of blood almost instantly.

 

“Oh my, Sister is spitting blood. Clan Leader, look.”

 

The girl let out a small cry of surprise, the secret joy in her words revealed without any concealment.

 

“Please, Clan Leader, give me a chance to atone for my mistakes.”

 

Su Nianhuan endured the paroxysms of pain, forcing herself to hold her breath to finish the sentence, her teeth chattering as she spoke.

 

Silence filled the room, broken only by the girl’s bell-like laughter.

 

Slap!

 

Just as Su Nianhuan was about to lose consciousness from the shock of the pressure, the weight on her back lightened, and an invitation was flung in front of her.

 

“If you cannot kill him, you need not return to the Su family.”

 

A majestic voice fell.

 

“Thank you, Clan Leader.”

 

Su Nianhuan breathed a sigh of relief. The dizziness following the intense suppression of her realm surged up, and waves of faintness washed over her vision. She gritted her teeth and reached out a trembling hand to grab the invitation before her, as if clutching a life-saving straw.

 

“Since Sister has received her benefit, she should withdraw. Do not spoil the Clan Leader’s mood.”

 

The girl raised her hand to grasp the man’s palm, stroking it gently as she spoke disdainfully to Su Nianhuan.

 

“This junior takes her leave.”

 

Su Nianhuan endured the agonizing pain to straighten her body and performed a salute to the Clan Leader lingering on the seat.

 

The moment she turned around, her expression abruptly turned cold. The gloom between her brows almost condensed into a faint black mist that silently merged into her body.

 

Su Nianhuan gripped the invitation in her hand deathly tight. The face wearing the half-mask flashed through her mind, and the hatred in her heart surged like a violent tide.

 

Longhu Villa.

 

Xu Ji sat before a bronze mirror, her glamorous face reflected on its surface. One of her hands rested atop the head of a maid kneeling at her feet, while another maid carefully applied balsam to her fingernails.

 

“How is the Young Master’s condition?”

 

Xu Ji slanted her eyes toward the guard standing respectfully before her.

 

Upon hearing this, the guard abruptly knelt on the ground, his voice muffled and trembling as it came through.

 

“Young Master… Young Master has not yet awakened…”

 

Snap!

 

Before the guard could finish, his neck was directly twisted by a powerful spiritual force, his bones displacing with a terrifying sound.

 

Xu Ji’s expression remained normal, but the two maids beside her began to shudder because of this tragic scene.

 

Bright red balsam was applied to her fingertips, and instantly, the atmosphere in the room turned cold.

 

Terrified, the two maids scrambled to kneel, kowtowing repeatedly, “Please, Madam, spare our lives! Spare our lives!”

 

Xu Ji looked at the smear of red on her fingertip, her brow slightly furrowed.

 

In an instant, the two maids clutched their mouths in horror. Blood flowed down through the gaps between their fingers, and then they fell to the ground with their eyes wide open, their palms clutching a piece of blood-stained soft flesh.

 

“Noisy.”

 

Xu Ji stood up and stepped over the corpses in the room. She pushed open the door, and the guards outside immediately dropped to one knee.

 

“Prepare the carriage. We are going to Tianhai Pavilion.”

 

When Lin Qinghan emerged from his room, his rationality had not yet fully returned. He only knew that he had run into Shen Miaomiao upon exiting, giving her a fright, and then Ye Chaoyan had come over with a cold face to reprimand him while bandaging the wound on his wrist.

 

By the time he came to his senses, he was sitting in a bath barrel, the smell of blood already removed from his body.

 

Lin Qinghan raised his right hand, looking at the thick layer of gauze wrapped around his wrist. Bursts of stinging pain reminded him again and again of what had just happened.

 

He looked at the clear water, his frown deepening, and then he irritably slapped the surface of the water, causing droplets to splash onto his face.

 

Lin Qinghan recalled the sky-shaking rage and killing intent in his heart just moments ago, and his heart sank bit by bit.

 

He had been influenced by Ling Yanhe; he had actually wanted to kill the other party.

 

This was not a good sign.

 

He was not a moral person, but he did not accept losing control of himself, much less an induced loss of control by someone else.

 

Thinking of how Ling Yanhe’s dead-silent eyes had rippled because of his words, Lin Qinghan felt even more displeased.

 

Originally, Lin Qinghan had wanted to test the waters slowly. He needed to figure out Ling Yanhe’s temperament before gaining the other’s trust to ensure the completion of the side quest.

 

But now, he had rejected this idea. Such a gentle method was not suitable for Ling Yanhe.

 

Ling Yanhe was a lunatic. In the original novel, he was a paranoid and crazy person who, due to the original host’s second betrayal, would tear the person’s limbs off alive while leaving them a single breath—only to throw them directly into a raging fire just as they felt a spark of hope for survival.

 

And now, even if Ling Yanhe did not trust him, upon seeing someone else approach him, Ling Yanhe would use the Symbiotic Gu to torture him alive for two hours, making him wish for life as much as death, just to give him a lesson.

 

“Tsk.”

 

The feeling of being forced by a task to break his own principles made Lin Qinghan very unhappy.

 

Perhaps his initial positioning of the relationship between himself and Ling Yanhe was wrong. He thought that because both were in the same predicament and shared the same enemy, they were in a cooperative relationship.

 

But in Ling Yanhe’s eyes, Lin Qinghan was a dog from beginning to end, only able to grovel and wag his tail at his feet, his life or death depending solely on his whim.

 

Ling Yanhe did not care about his life or death. In Ling Yanhe’s eyes, he was merely an object—if it couldn’t be obtained, it could only be destroyed and must not fall into the hands of others.

 

This relationship was wrong. The previous advantage had already tilted the moment the Symbiotic Gu was planted. He had to find a way to change this situation.

 

He needed to make Ling Yanhe realize that he, Lin Qinghan, could not be controlled.

 

Lin Qinghan leaned against the bath barrel, looking at the clear water surface with an unreadable expression.

 

“System, I want to see all the data you have.”

 

Compiling the complete plot for the host.

 

Lin Qinghan scanned the text rapidly until his gaze stopped abruptly at a certain point.

 

“Everspring Ivy, can cure all diseases and suppress evil things. Perhaps it is a key to breaking the deadlock…” Lin Qinghan murmured unconsciously.

 

He didn’t even notice that while his attention was focused on the panel, a crimson-black flower bud appeared on his chest, vanishing again in an instant as if it had never existed.

 

In these three days, Lin Qinghan hardly left his room. He read through the limited plot of the entire text countless times. During this period, Shen Miaomiao and Ye Chaoyan took turns bringing him food. Likely, the two of them felt he had been traumatized and didn’t dare disturb him, leaving the food at the door before departing.

 

Therefore, on the day of the Tianhai Pavilion auction, Lin Qinghan was somewhat surprised when he emerged from his room and saw Ling Yanhe standing up.

 

In the original novel, he remembered that Ling Yanhe only stood up after obtaining the divine medicine, Everspring Ivy, at the auction.

 

“Young Master Lin has a sturdy constitution; even I did not expect you to recover so quickly, but you must still be careful for a while,” Ye Chaoyan explained as if she had sensed Lin Qinghan’s confusion.

 

“Thank you, Miss.” Lin Qinghan thanked Ye Chaoyan and then sized up Ling Yanhe.

 

Previously, this man always carried a sickly aura mixed with an unerasable gloom between his brows, like a death god coming to claim a soul. Now that the sickliness had dissipated, his youthful air was revealed, though his expressionless face still made him seem somewhat distant.

 

Now, Ling Yanhe was wearing a dark blue robe, his black hair falling to his shoulders, standing tall and straight—the very image of a refined young master.

 

When Ling Yanhe looked toward him, Lin Qinghan retracted his gaze. After bidding farewell to the two ladies, he prepared to head toward Tianhai Pavilion.

 

“Lin Qinghan.”

 

Before Lin Qinghan could board the carriage, Ye Chaoyan called out to him. He turned around, somewhat surprised, to look at her.

 

“When you return, I want to talk to you.”

 

Ye Chaoyan stood at the door, quietly watching him. Shen Miaomiao hid behind Ye Chaoyan, peeking out at him from time to time before timidly withdrawing her movements.

 

Lin Qinghan nodded to Ye Chaoyan.

 

He had indeed frightened them the other day; he should give them an explanation.

 

Lin Qinghan lowered the curtain of the carriage and sat opposite Ling Yanhe.

 

The carriage gradually began to move.

 

“Remember to return safely!”

 

After traveling some distance, Lin Qinghan heard the girl’s shouted instructions. Hearing this, he lowered his eyes, a trace of a smile touching the corners of his eyes, but he quickly reined in his expression.

 

The inside of the carriage was silent. These two, who were at each other’s throats just a few days ago, now sat peacefully in the same carriage without saying a word.

 

This eerie atmosphere lasted until the carriage came to a halt.

 

Lin Qinghan was the first to step off. He looked up at the Tianhai Pavilion before him.

 

Tianhai Pavilion was a five-story building, exceedingly luxurious. Under the hot sun, the entire pavilion actually shimmered with golden light, looking like a celestial pavilion descended from the heavens.

 

Tianhai Pavilion was the largest trading venue in the Immortal Realm. Its magical artifacts and treasures were unique and countless; one could even say it was the treasure house of the entire Immortal Realm.

 

The treasures inside could not be bought with money alone. It was heard that the Pavilion Master was a whimsical person who only traded treasures with those he felt a connection with. Even if an Immortal at the True Immortal stage came, if they didn’t catch his eye, they could forget about entering Tianhai Pavilion.

 

This auction was also a chance the Pavilion Master gave to everyone to enter the pavilion. He would send invitations to those he favored whether they were beggars or heads of great clans, all had a chance to receive one. Those who received it could enter Tianhai Pavilion and use a price of equal value to bid for the items on display; this price was not limited to money.

 

In the original novel, after Ling Yanhe and Ye Chaoyan received invitations and entered Tianhai Pavilion, they happened to encounter a great chaos inside. By a stroke of luck, Ling Yanhe fell into the basement of Tianhai Pavilion and obtained the remains of a divine tree the Everspring Ivy.

 

This item could not only cure all diseases but also suppress evil and foul things. It could be called the most practical treasure in the “newbie package.”

 

Ling Yanhe used this to cure his previous leg disability, and the item also helped him suppress the restless Heavenly Demon Bone, assisting him in breaking through the Foundation Establishment stage. Furthermore, after that, it took him only ten days to reach the middle stage of the Golden Core.

 

As for the various details within, Lin Qinghan did not know.

 

This was indeed the starting point of Ling Yanhe’s road to a counterattack; he just didn’t know if the other party would be so lucky this time.

 

Lin Qinghan slanted his head to look at Ling Yanhe, who had just stepped off the carriage. He looked at the other with a faint smile, “Young Master, shall we?”

 

Ling Yanhe raised his eyes to look at him, slightly arching an eyebrow. Responding to his words, he took the lead and walked toward Tianhai Pavilion. As he passed by his side, Lin Qinghan heard a light chuckle fall into his ear.

 

“You should remember who your master is.”

 

Ling Yanhe watched as the person before him stepped forward, raising a hand to rest on his lapel. Slender fingers brushed across the edge of the fabric, carrying a hint of warmth.

 

He only had to lower his eyes slightly to see the other’s long, fair, jade-like neck through the collar. Clearly a man, yet the neck was so slender it seemed as though it would snap with a gentle squeeze.

 

In the next instant, the fingers that had been resting on his lapel hooked, tugging him to lean down slightly until he met Lin Qinghan’s half-smiling peach blossom eyes.

 

“Naturally, it is you, Young Master.”