Even Long Feiye didn’t realize that his eyes were looking on in admiration as he took out a money pouch and threw it at Han Yunxi. Despite this, Han Yunxi tossed it back and said, “It’s not too late if I take it after I see and treat the poison.”
She was an avaricious woman, but not covetous.
Long Feiye said nothing as he turned and left, with Han Yunxi following afterwards. Gah! The wind was fierce outside. Long Feiye walked very fast, forcing her to run in order to keep up. She couldn’t help but think that they’d get a carriage when they left the gates. And yet they’d only reached the doors of the Hibiscus Courtyard before Long Feiye stilled his steps. Han Yunxi ducked behind him to avoid the wind as she trembled. “What is it?”
Long Feiye turned around and opened an arm to lift up his spacious cloak. His voice was as cold as frost. “Come in.”
The gale made his cloak shudder and dance in the wind. His features looked firm and staunch in the darkness, those eyebrows resting as knives across his brow. He was like some god of the shadows, looking down at her with in seeming disdain. Han Yunxi was dumbfounded. For a moment, she couldn’t figure out what he meant. Long Feiye was impatient and used a hand to pull her into his embrace. His arms enveloped her until she was wrapped tightly in his cloak against the winter chill. In that moment, Han Yunxi’s heart started thumping wildly as she was left in a fluster…
Heavens! His body was so warm and exuded a sort of sleepy fragrance. Was this the so-called warmth of an angel’s wings? It was so cozy! Before Han Yunxi could recover her senses, Long Feiye held her close and took a few light steps before soaring into the northwestern skies…
Han Yunxi was covered by the cloak as she nestled snugly in Long Feiye’s embrace, flying through the air with him faster than any horse! She couldn’t see anything clearly in the dark beyond the occasional lantern and had no idea where he was taking her. Still, she felt at ease.
—
Though her body was warm, the wind was still fierce and cold like knives cutting against her skin. Very soon, Han Yunxi found herself unable to stand it. She tried to turn her face to the side, then lower her head, but couldn’t find any way to hide. In the end, she had no choice but to try and carefully shift her body. When she saw that Long Feiye had no reaction, she boldly wrapped her arms around him and completely shifted sideways, burying her head against him.
Finally, she was completely warm.
It would be a lie to say that she wasn’t nervous. She kept stiff for a long time before seeing that Long Feiye didn’t seem to mind her being this close. Only then did she relax and enjoy the body heat. He kept his eyes forward as he sped along, although a slight curve crept onto his lip unawares. He might have disdained her cowardice, but he also puzzled over her courage. Still, those dark and depthless eyes remained elusive and enigmatic.
He held on to her as they leapt over walls and across rooftops into the wilds beyond. She only felt the wind whistling past her as she remained ignorant to it all, slowly growing sleepy in his arms. It was only after Long Feiye descended to the ground and stood her upright that she recovered her senses. Once she drew out her head, she realized that it was early morning and they were on a tall cliff.
Long Feiye looked down. “You can let go now.”
Ehh…? She gave a start before realized he’d already released her, but she was still hugging his waist! Her face red, Han Yunxi let go as if she’d been electrocuted and struggled free of his cape. As soon as she left the shield of his cloak, the winter wind assailed her from four directions. Still, Han Yunxi felt that her face was very hot. She did her best to ignore the awkwardness and asked without looking his way, “What are we doing here?”
Long Feiye glanced at the colors of the sky. “Waiting a quarter of an hour.”
Strange, why did this guy bring her here? Wasn’t it to treat poison? Is someone coming in a quarter of an hour?
Han Yunxi didn’t ask anything more, but sized up her surroundings. She realized that they were surrounded by lofty ridges and towering mountains, making it impossible to tell where they were. Beneath the cliff’s edge in front of them was a mist-covered abyss that made it impossible to see the bottom. The sun had already risen, illuminating the gray dawn with glittering gold in a magnificent sight. It had been a long time since she’d seen the sunrise. Just when she was spellbound by the sight, a sudden dootdootdoot, dootdootdoot appeared in her consciousness.
There’s poison?
Judging from the rhythm and volume of the warning, this was an extremely potent type! Han Yunxi grew vigilant as she turned towards Long Feiye, who was also enjoying the sunrise. “There’s poison around here, what’s going on?”
Long Feiye was astonished. “How did you know?”
“This poison is very strange. Quickly tell me, what’s going on?” Han Yunxi turned serious.
Only now did Long Feiye look towards the abyss. “A poison fog fills the air down there throughout the year. At night, it sinks to the valley floor, but at sunrise, it rises up.”
Han Yunxi didn’t expect that the poison wouldn’t come from human or animal sources, but the air itself. “You want to go down?” she asked.
“There’s a Northern Li Country agent hiding down there skilled in the use of poisons,” Long Feiye explained lightly.
So that was it. He came to capture someone but couldn’t descend because of the poison fog. Han Yunxi studied the wisps of fog that floated up, eyebrows knitting minutely. The situation isn’t anything like Long Feiye thinks at all!
“Can you deal with it?” he asked.
By now, the quarter of an hour had finished. A faint cloud of black appeared within the fog, setting off the sensor in Han Yunxi’s head to max alert. Yet just as quickly, the black mass floated towards the mountain valley and disappeared.
“See that? The black fog is the most poisonous bit,” Long Feiye murmured.
Yet Han Yunxi replied, “This isn’t poison fog.”
Long Feiye’s so-called poison fog was another word for miasma, filthy air from the depths of the mountain forest. It showed up from the end of spring until the end of autumn, when temperatures turned too cold to create it. Right now it was winter, so the sun-kissed mountaintops were freezing, but what about the darkness of the mountain valley?
“Then what is it?” Long Feiye asked in surprise.
He’d once sent a team of troops into the valley. Half of them were injured or dead before ever finding the target. Those who escaped said there was some sort of miasma before poison overtook their lives. The agent hiding in the valley had in possession important military secrets from Tianning Country. An escape would have unimaginable consequences. He’d chased this agent for over a month now and gotten poisoned by the same person the last time he tried to search. This agent was extremely crafty and only released poison at the last second. Before that, he didn’t expect him to use poisons. Long Feiye cornered him here, where the agent hid himself and refused to come out.
“It might be a poisonous mosquito swarm.” Han Yunxi was doubtful as well, never expecting to meet such things. But many ancient texts had records of foul fogs that floated past and left poisoned people in its wake. Thus, they were branded as miasma. The truth of the matter was, these clouds of black hide something very common: mosquitoes flying in large swarms that made them seem like sentient gas. These mosquitoes carried vicious strains of malaria that infected humans and livestock, killing them quickly without treatment in a similar way to poison.
The current climate was incapable of creating poisonous miasmas, but the fog in the valley could very possibly harbor poisonous bugs.
“Poisonous mosquito swarm?” It was the first time Long Feiye had heard of such a thing.
“The white fog isn’t poison. That black mass is actually a mosquito swarm, but looks like fog in bad lighting and tricked you all,” Han Yunxi explained, before adding, “Take me down there, I need to get closer to that black mass to see what type of mosquito it is.”
The modern era alone had countless strains of mosquitoes, much less ancient history. Many of them had become extinct, so even more varieties might have existed in the past. Han Yunxi had to verify whether she could identify the species before creating an effective mosquito repellant.
Since they’d confirmed that the white fog was harmless, things were simple for Long Feiye. He said nothing more and pulled Han Yunxi in by a hand on her waist before leaping into the abyss. As soon as they entered the mountain valley, her poison sensors started setting off alarms again. Very quickly, she determined it location.
“On the right.”
Long Feiye held her tight as they approached the poison, before her sensors alerted her to more toxins on the left.
It couldn’t be…that there was more than one swarm?
Han Yunxi was surprised. Who knew that right at this moment, another alarm went off to tell her of poisons in front and behind them. Heavens, with poisons approaching them from four ends, weren’t they being encircled?
“We’ve been surrounded,” she said in a low voice. Her words had hardly finished when Long Feiye saw a miasma-like mass of black flying towards them from four sides. He didn’t expect there to be four swarms either, but remained calm. “How close do you need to be to guess the poison?”
“Hurry and go, it’s too dangerous! They’re extremely fast,” Han Yunxi said, deciding on escape.
But Long Feiye’s voice remained cold. “Answer your lordship’s question.”
“Ten steps, at least ten steps and I’ll be able to identify the poison!” Han Yunxi said truthfully.
Ten steps. Judging by the speed of the poison swarms, it’d take them a second to reach them from ten steps away. In addition, they were surrounded on all sides. Han Yunx didn’t dare think about it. She didn’t even know what kinds of poisons the swarms were carrying or whether it could be analyzed and resisted. If she was poisoned, what then? In the midst of her panic, Long Feiye only replied with two words.
“We wait.”
“We can’t!” Han Yunxi shouted, staring as the swarms drew closer and closer. She could almost hear their annoying, terrifying buzz.
“Prepare to examine them,” Long Feiye commanded.
This wasn’t an ordinary poison, but a poison swarm. Four of them on all sides closing in was much more horrifying than a single swarm. They’d be swallowed up and torn to pieces.
Han Yunxi admitted that she was a coward. “We can’t, I’m scared!”
But Long Feiye suddenly drew her into his embrace with a cold tone. “Your lordship is here and forbids you from being scared!”
So strong and forceful!
Han Yunxi hated arrogant and conceited men who swaggered around without reason, but she didn’t feel that way this time. Her heart thumped in her chest as she suddenly calmed down. The power of this man made her feel safe.
At this moment, the four swarms drew even nearer.
“Are you ready?” Long Feiye asked in a low voice.
Calmer now, Han Yunxi adopted a professional air and activated her scanner to continuously sweep the surrounding areas, before lowering her voice in turn.
“Ready.”