As Jiang Qiao turned his head to speak to Li Wentian, he suddenly felt a trace of cool breeze on his neck, like a willow leaf gently brushing against his skin.
Within his line of sight, a blade flashed a bright arc through the air.
"Watch out!"
Jiang Qiao screamed at the top of his lungs.
Li Wentian also felt the strange sensation at the back of his neck, but before he could turn his head to think, the uneven stone slabs tripped him up. As he tumbled off the edge of the bridge, he happened to brush lightly against the blade.
A thin smear of blood oozed from his skin.
Stumbling, he hit his teeth against the stone slab, causing his gums to bleed. He quickly scrambled to his feet, touched his neck to check the strange sensation, and then saw a masked figure with a fierce look in his eyes standing before him, drawing his blade.
"Holy shit!" Li Wentian gasped in astonishment. He always prided himself on never crashing in the Black Market; how could someone have a grudge against him today?
In the Black Market, he had never offended anyone—at most, he would dupe a few independent cultivators with no status or backing. As for the big shots of the Black Market, he always greased the wheels properly, so it was impossible he had made enemies.
"Run! Run quickly! If you don't leave now, it'll be too late!"
Jiang Qiao had expected the Black Market to be extremely dangerous, but he hadn't anticipated such a tricky situation arising so soon after entering.
That shout actually made Mu Qinggan freeze in her tracks.
The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Although the person had spoken in a great rush just now, she felt that his usual tone should be like a clear spring flowing effortlessly through the crevices of mountain rocks—crystal-clear yet magnetic.
She sensed the location of Jiang Qiao's waist token. When he first entered, she had planted a tracking rune on Jiang Qiao's token so that, no matter where he was, she would be able to detect it.
Mu Qinggan closed her eyes and focused, discovering to her surprise that her junior brother was right nearby. Her junior brother had actually come to the Black Market...
He had always been a good boy who followed the rules; why on earth would he come here now?! Why would he come?! Was someone about to tell him some kind of secret?
Suddenly, panic began to creep into Mu Qinggan's heart, and her shoulders shook violently. She wanted her junior brother to love her with all his heart; if he were to learn of her filthy and pathetic past, her junior brother would surely despise her.
More often than not, she couldn't help wanting to hurt the people she loved, but regarding Jiang Qiao, she had secretly sworn to herself that they would have a wonderful future.
Yet all of this depended on Jiang Qiao remaining ignorant of her past.
It seemed she had no choice but to kill the person who wanted to leak the secret. Her grip on the sword in her hand tightened with grim determination, and slender vines suddenly sprouted from it, firmly grasping Li Wentian's legs as the barbs on the vines dug deeply into his flesh.
Jiang Qiao felt a heavy, echoing pain in his legs, rendering him completely unable to move a step. Yet, if he didn't save someone, he would die himself. He never wanted to experience a cold death again; this time, he was going to live well.
The first step to living was to ignore the physical pain and find the optimal solution for the moment. He had to grit his teeth and push through.
Every single cell seemed to be screaming in agony as Jiang Qiao stepped forward, blocking the oncoming blade that was merely inches away from Li Wentian. He activated the first level of the Stone Body Incantation. Although this spell could only maintain its effect for about three seconds, it was still better than nothing.
As it turned out, it was very effective; the blade could not pierce Jiang Qiao's body.
Furthermore, the enemy was stunned for a few seconds upon seeing Jiang Qiao rush forward.
The blade fell to the ground with a clatter.
Mu Qinggan suffered a complete breakdown.
She recalled the other junior brothers she had killed in the past, every single one of whom had begged her with their dying breaths not to kill them, because they didn't want to die.
In her agitated state, how could she care about such things? Where passion runs deep, slaughter naturally follows—this was a habit she had retained over all these years.
When killing them, as they lay on the ground gasping for air while suffocating, making those final struggles just before their breath gave out—she simply loved it too much.
Preserving their skin and flesh to admire forever was equivalent to having them stay by her side eternally.
Yet, Jiang Qiao was different.
Mu Qinggan had even planned a wonderful future with him. Originally, she had only wanted to treat Jiang Qiao infinitely well so that he would grow to like her in return.
But now, she had almost killed Jiang Qiao—almost personally shattering her idealized future.
If Jiang Qiao hadn't activated some kind of magic just then that rendered her unable to hack through him, snapping her back to her senses and making her pull her strike in time, her blade would likely have already pierced Jiang Qiao's heart, sending blood splattering everywhere with no turning back.
She didn't want this at all...
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In the end, she abandoned her sword and fled.
Back on Jiang Qiao's side, the crisis had just vanished, yet he was left gasping for breath due to the massive energy drain of the Stone Body Incantation.
Meanwhile, Li Wentian was puzzled by the assassin's bizarre behavior. "Since that person's target was me, why did they just leave like that? It's so weird, I can't figure it out at all."
"I didn't even need you to save me. That guy's skills were on par with mine; we could have fought while retreating. I hadn't even had time to launch an attack when I saw you charge right in."
"Whether your strength is real or fake... anyway, I saved you."
Running out of physical strength, Jiang Qiao collapsed against the stone railing of the bridge, his head suddenly spinning dizzyingly.
Li Wentian used a healing spell to mend the wounds on his body caused by the vines, which in turn healed Jiang Qiao's injuries as well.
"This is the first time I've ever seen the Stone Body Incantation in action. Fine, let's just say you saved me."
"Is it really that reluctant?"
After saying this, Li Wentian picked the sword up from the ground. Selfishly, he didn't want to acknowledge this "savior" of his; however, Jiang Qiao seemed to be naturally pure-hearted. Such a person should be slowly butchered to maximize the benefits.
"Since I'm your savior, first take me to the most famous elixir shop in the Black Market, and then you can take care of your own business."
"Fine, savior, seeing as you're not a bad guy, I'll lead you to the most famous elixir shop."
"Help me walk; I have no strength left right now."
Jiang Qiao realized that besides Mu Qinggan trying to slash him, unexpected crises always seemed to trigger elsewhere too, and these crises arrived far too swiftly, catching him completely off guard.
Still, matters had to be resolved step by step; he couldn't afford to rush.
After crossing the bridge and walking a few steps into a dark alley, they reached the elixir shop.
The bitterness of herbs drifted out from the shop, smelling remarkably like traditional medicine.
"Oh ho, we have a customer! Just tell me what kind of medicine you're looking for."
The proprietress slowly walked out of the pharmacy, her voice gentle and alluring.
"I heard you can do custom elixir concoction here, is that right?"
"Custom concoctions? Yes, we can, but we don't bargain here—all prices are fixed. For the more expensive ones, what kind of pill do you want?"
"An elixir that can turn someone into another person."
"Ah, that kind of elixir is very difficult to make, and the cost is very high. It's been lost to the ages. However, I do have similar medicines, like pills that make people beautiful. I'm quite adept at making those, and many people come to buy them, though they do have a certain time limit and aren't permanent."
"Appearance is innate; changing it also requires paying a certain price, doesn't it?"
Jiang Qiao pondered for a moment before finally asking, "Do you have any pills that make people ugly?"
"Huh?" The proprietress looked somewhat surprised.
"The effect doesn't need to last very long—half an hour is enough. Make twenty of them first for me to try," Jiang Qiao carefully explained his request.
"Alright, I understand. Uglifying Pills with an effect lasting half an hour, right? Is there anything else you'd like to add?"
"No, that's all."
"Very well, 4,361 Spirit Stones. Come back here in ten days to pick up the medicine."
Jiang Qiao: ?
How could he possibly wait ten days? There was no way he wouldn't be dead within ten days.
"Can you make the timeframe shorter? I really can't wait that long."