Poisoned Silver

At that moment, Zhu Xiaowan realized almost instantly that she had been poisoned, though she had no time right then to figure out how it had happened. In truth, Huang Donglai's method was not complicated. When Zhu Xiaowan had toasted them, her attention had been entirely fixed on whether the pair would drink down the knockout drug. She had paid no mind to whether her own cup had been tampered with, which gave Brother Huang his opening. Of course, Zhu Xiaowan had never imagined back then that these two—who looked so young and green in the ways of the jianghu—would unleash a whole succession of black-eats-black underhanded tricks without batting an eye. From playing the smitten fools, to making bathroom excuses, to faking unconsciousness for an ambush, and then poisoning and blinding powder... Was this the sort of thing two kids of seventeen or eighteen could pull off? Even if you brought in two hardened veterans of the jianghu, they couldn't have pulled it off without an extraordinary degree of shamelessness. Yet it was too late to regret her carelessness now. Zhu Xiaowan could only hurry to seal off several of her meridians with internal force to keep the poisoned blood from rushing to her heart, bracing herself to fight them in this crippled state. Still... that did not mean she was utterly without a chance of winning. Zhu Xiaowan’s martial arts were the strongest of any enemy Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had faced so far. Not only had she trained from childhood, but her innate talent was exceptional. A realm that took someone like Ma Si ten years to reach might take Zhu Xiaowan only five, or even less. Ma Si had practiced the saber for ten years and was still using his master’s techniques, but Zhu Xiaowan had integrated Soft Fist, Iron Sand Palm, and finger arts to create her own unique chopstick skill. This kind of gap in natural talent was the most despair-inducing thing of all. It was the chasm standing between a grandmaster and a legend of the martial world, carved out by Heaven itself. So long as you walked the orthodox path of martial arts, there was simply no crossing it. In that split second, Zhu Xiaowan reached inside her collar, pinched two fingers together, and drew out a pair of iron chopsticks held upright. Immediately twisting and thrusting with her right hand, she sent a flash of cold light tracing through the air, lunging straight toward the closer Sun Yixie. One second, Sun Yixie was marveling at her novel way of concealing weapons; the next, seeing the tips bearing down on him, he scrambled into a reverse kip-up, flopping onto his back before rolling backward away from her. Clumsy though the movement was, it worked like a charm, putting a good ten feet between them in an instant. At the same time, Huang Donglai kicked off the wall and leaped into the air, both clearing a path for Sun Yixie's backward roll and giving himself high ground to loose his hidden weapons. "Hmph... petty parlor tricks." Zhu Xiaowan sneered coldly after seeing just a couple of their moves. That was how masters of a certain caliber operated: they genuinely needed only a glimpse of a stance or two to take your measure. Unless your realm surpassed hers by a wide margin, she was unlikely to misjudge. *Clink, clink, clink—* The very next second, an unbelievable sight unfolded. Zhu Xiaowan's figure blurred as her pale arm whipped out. In the blink of an eye, she flicked her chopsticks three times in succession, incredibly snatching all three hidden weapons Huang Donglai had thrown straight out of the air. "Huh?" Huang Donglai, who had just landed steadily atop the stove, craned his neck in disbelief. Only now did he realize this woman’s martial arts were far higher than he had anticipated. Combined with those unorthodox weapons, she was practically at the level of a quasi-first-rate expert. What kind of level was that? Roughly on par with the sect leader of a minor, run-of-the-mill sect; in an elite, prominent sect, her strength would fall somewhere between a vice leader and a head disciple. If someone like her had walked the righteous path, she could have easily made a name for herself as a lone wandering hero even without joining an organization. Regrettably, Zhu Xiaowan was ruthless and heartless by nature. In her earlier years, she had committed countless misdeeds in the jianghu until the orthodox sects could no longer tolerate her, forcing her to hide out in these wild mountains and run a black inn. Crossing paths with her today could only be described as rotten luck for Sun and Huang. "Brother Sun! The mark is tough!" Seeing things take a bad turn, Huang Donglai shouted an urgent warning to Sun Yixie. "Damn it all, what good does telling me now do?" Sun Yixie barked back. "And why hasn't your poison kicked in yet?" "She must have sealed her meridians with internal force!" Huang Donglai answered. As the two traded shouts, one had already backed into a kitchen corner, while the other kicked a cleaver up off the stove and snatched it into his hand. Seeing their reaction, Zhu Xiaowan merely sneered. Unhurriedly, she raised the hidden weapons pinched in her chopsticks to inspect them. "Oh? Hidden weapons of the Huang Clan?" Pausing for half a second, she chuckled. "Then this is easy. No matter what poison a member of the Huang Clan uses, they're bound to carry the antidote on them... So, will you hand it over yourself, or should I break your limbs and take my sweet time questioning you?" She was now seventy percent confident in her victory, believing that even with some of her meridians sealed, her odds remained strong. Across from her, Huang Donglai was feeling a touch of regret... He had seen earlier that this woman possessed solid martial arts, but he hadn't imagined she would be this formidable. Consequently, he had only used an ordinary poison. Had he known her inner strength was great enough to fight two-on-one and still hold the upper hand with her meridians sealed, he certainly would have chosen a far nastier concoction. As matters stood, he and Sun Yixie had two choices: The first was to run. The chances of pulling that off were relatively high, as Zhu Xiaowan might not bother chasing them. If she had the antidote, the poison in her system would be cleared immediately, but even without it, she could purge sixty to seventy percent of the venom simply by taking the time to meditate and force out the poisoned blood. The remaining thirty percent was not fatal; taking some common detoxifying herbs and recuperating for a few days would gradually eliminate it. Therefore, rather than risking a pursuit, letting them go was her safest bet for survival. The second option was to finish it quickly by escalating the fight. Taking advantage of her sealed meridians and her inability to unleash her full strength, they could launch a furious offensive to accelerate the poison’s spread, or simply beat her to death. But that plan was extremely risky and difficult... There was a very good chance they would be killed first. "Hold on a second!" In the face of danger, Sun Yixie, now backed against the wall, spoke up decisively. "Let's be reasonable here!" He said this aloud, but his beady eyes kept darting toward the trident not far away—the butcher had carried the weapon in along with their baggage earlier. "You're the one who tried to harm us first today, so we were merely acting in self-defense. Now both sides have taken losses..." Sun Yixie declared with righteous indignation, his face steady. "How about this... We give you the antidote, and you let us go on our way. We'll treat this as a misunderstanding and part as strangers..." "Hmph..." Zhu Xiaowan scoffed, her face turning savage. "You killed my man, and you want to call it a misunderstanding?" "Heh..." Sun Yixie chuckled at that. Did she think he couldn't see through her? "Proprietress, as the saying goes... out with the old, in with the new." He glanced down at the cook's corpse, then back up at Zhu Xiaowan. "With your charm and beauty, are you really afraid you can't find someone better than this?" He paused briefly. "Besides... it didn't look to me like your feelings for him were deep enough to die together. How about this... on top of the antidote, I'll throw in two hundred taels of funeral expenses to soothe your heartbreak, big sister. Fair enough, wouldn't you say?" Sun Yixie understood human nature inside and out. Shameless though his words sounded, every single syllable struck right at the heart of this equally shameless woman. Zhu Xiaowan had never harbored much affection for her butcher husband to begin with. She frequently went into the city looking for handsome young men anyway, so there was nothing to mourn. What was more, running a black inn out here was only ever about money. Sun Yixie’s proposal not only guaranteed her survival, but ensured she wouldn't walk away empty-handed from this job, all while saving her some face. Naturally, she was tempted. "Heh..." A moment later, Zhu Xiaowan’s expression softened, the ferocious snarl vanishing entirely to make way for a flirtatious charm that crept back into her brow. "Aren't you a clever little brother? Every word speaks straight to my heart..." She purred, then cast a sidelong glance at Huang Donglai. "The only question is, is this little brother from the Huang Clan of one mind with you?" "You bet I am!" To Zhu Xiaowan's surprise, Huang Donglai also changed his expression in an instant, agreeing with a beaming smile. "Brother Sun's idea works for me! Come, come, to show my sincerity, I'll set the antidote right here. How does that sound, sister?" Zhu Xiaowan was astonished. *These two are utterly shameless,* she thought to herself. *Even I have to bow before them...* Little did she know... she had fallen into a trap once again. Could Sun Yixie's words ever be trusted? A misunderstanding? Until you had the strength to kill your opponent, everything was a misunderstanding; by the time it ceased to be one, your opponent was already dead. Huang Donglai understood Sun Yixie better than anyone, which was why he played along without missing a beat. He knew full well what Sun Yixie was actually after. "Fine. Since we have a deal..." Zhu Xiaowan stared at the medicine bottle, but just as she reached out, she hesitated. "Hold on. How do I know this bottle contains the antidote for the poison in my veins?" Asking that question meant she had taken the bait. Because this bottle of antidote was nothing more than an inconsequential diversion designed to lower her guard... "Then... how would you like me to prove it?" Huang Donglai asked. "Take a sip first," Zhu Xiaowan demanded. Her reasoning was simple: if someone who wasn't poisoned drank from it, even if it didn't prove it was the antidote, it would at least prove it wasn't poison. "Sure~" Huang Donglai agreed without the slightest hesitation, reaching out to take a sip. "Wait!" Zhu Xiaowan barked, stopping him again. "Something isn't right... I have to ask first: why were you two completely fine after drinking my drugged wine earlier?" She truly was an experienced operator of the jianghu; in a moment like this, she still managed to recall that detail. It was a crucial question, because if Huang Donglai and Sun Yixie possessed some method to ward off poison, it meant they would dare to drink from this bottle even if it were lethal, and walk away unscathed. "We took an antidote beforehand while we were in the latrine," Huang Donglai replied smoothly without breaking a sweat. "How did you know what drug I used? And how did you have the cure?" Zhu Xiaowan pressed. "Heh." Huang Donglai gave a calm laugh. "I am the young master of the Huang Clan. You think I couldn't identify a cheap knockout drug like yours, let alone neutralize it?" His reasoning was sound, and Zhu Xiaowan found it convincing. Yet it was precisely this answer that made her even more wary of accepting the bottle before her... "Hmm... I know a thing or two about your Huang Clan's methods," Zhu Xiaowan said after a moment's thought, her tone turning grave. "As for this antidote... I think I'd better pass. I will purge the poison myself. Leave the silver, gentlemen, and take your leave." She was no longer looking at them as greenhorns, which made her exceedingly cautious. Even if Huang Donglai had offered a genuine antidote, she wouldn't dare touch it... Circulating her own energy to expel the poison remained the safest course. And so, the three kept their distance, watching each other tensely as they moved slowly... A few minutes later, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai left two hundred taels of silver on the kitchen stove, gathered their baggage and the trident, and backed out of the tavern under Zhu Xiaowan's watchful gaze. Only after the two mounted their horses and rode far away did Zhu Xiaowan retreat inside, immediately barring the door shut. She was no fool; she had to guard against the possibility of them doubling back while she was busy meditating. Rather than lingering in the building, she grabbed a cloth bundle, packed the two hundred taels of silver left on the stove, swept up all the banknotes and loose change from the counter, and slipped out through the back window. After running along a forest path for a long while, she arrived at a desolate, secluded spot. Setting down the bundle, Zhu Xiaowan crossed her legs and began to circulate her inner energy. By now, both her physical stamina and her willpower were pushed near their limits. If she didn't begin meditating right away, the poisoned blood would invade her heart in a matter of moments. Yet, the instant she gathered her first breath of true qi... *Spurt—* As if some strange switch had been tripped, a mouthful of blood sprayed violently from her lips. Before the bloody mist could settle, Zhu Xiaowan went entirely limp and collapsed backward. "How... is this... possible..." she gasped, her bloodshot eyes wide with sheer shock across a face that had turned a ghastly purplish-black. Before drawing her final breath, she belatedly looked down at her hands—and saw that the palm of the hand that had held the silver had turned jet-black. The poison had seeped in from there. "He... held the silver too..." Those were the last words Zhu Xiaowan left to the world before dying with unclosed eyes. The Three Wonders of the Huang Clan were not famous for nothing; this invisible, formless art of poisoning was their true specialty, the very foundation of their standing in the martial world. Red Chopstick Tip thus perished in the barren woods. The bulky sack of silver beside her could not buy back her life. In her lifetime, she had turned countless people into meat buns, and in death, she became food for the wild beasts. Such was the retribution of this world. Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai returned to the tavern merely half an hour later. They did not find Zhu Xiaowan, but seeing the silver missing from the stove, they knew she was as good as dead. Without another word, the two set a torch to the cannibalistic tavern, burning it to the ground before resuming their journey once more.