Shi Wenliang was ultimately forced to swallow the poison pill with Lin Shuguang's hand clamped around his throat.
"Come find me tomorrow. Without the antidote, you won't live to see tomorrow night. Of course, you can also try finding the antidote yourself. But if eating things at random causes the poison to mutate, even my antidote won't be able to save you. Then you'll have no choice but to accept your fate."
Hearing Lin Shuguang's words, Shi Wenliang's entire face turned green. "What kind of poison is this?"
"Come find me tomorrow before Mo Changxiong does." Lin Shuguang's voice was flat.
Shi Wenliang's heart pounded with fear.
Lin Shuguang looked at him. After a moment, the corners of his mouth curved upward, but the sight sent a chill through anyone who saw it. "If you want to live, do as I say. You still have a use to me, so I won't kill you—unless... you refuse to behave."
Shi Wenliang took a deep breath and struggled to calm himself. He silently climbed up from the ground, ignoring the dust on his body, then gritted his teeth. "I'll come find you tomorrow. You really won't kill me?"
"Only by saying less and doing more can you stay alive." Lin Shuguang's voice was indifferent. "You may leave."
Shi Wenliang's heart gave several disobedient thumps. He turned around, and his entire figure melted into the darkness.
Lin Shuguang's face was expressionless. After standing there quietly for a moment, he returned indoors.
Tomorrow, Mo Changxiong, the left-hand man of Ninth Prince Gu Changhe, would secretly come here. The appearance of a Nirvana Realm expert in Black Prison was undoubtedly a major event. No wonder Gu Changhe, despite being furious, had still warned Mo Changxiong to keep a low profile.
"If Mo Changxiong dies, Gu Changhe will have one fewer trump card..."
"Eternal Night is about to descend. If I'm going to play, I might as well play for something big!"
Lin Shuguang once again sat cross-legged and began cultivating. Before the time it took to burn a stick of incense had passed, footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
Lin Shuguang had just opened his eyes when the other party seemed to know the way, making straight for the room next door. Everything seemed perfectly natural...
Lin Shuguang fell silent.
He rubbed his brow.
From what he had sensed just now, the other party had made no attempt to conceal her aura. She had even collided head-on with his probing senses as a greeting. Thus, Lin Shuguang recognized her identity with ease.
Leng Yueyan!!!
"Why has this woman come again?"
What left Lin Shuguang utterly baffled was that Leng Yueyan truly seemed to regard his house as her own.
This time, she did not even bother opening the door when she came home, simply vaulting over the wall. And after vaulting over it, she openly went to the room beside his.
Lin Shuguang's brows twitched twice despite himself.
After thinking it over, he did not get up. He simply closed his eyes and continued cultivating.
Perhaps because Lin Shuguang was thinking about tomorrow's plans, he simply did not want to have anything more to do with this woman. This place had been found by Ji Feng, so from now on, he would leave it to Ji Feng to deal with her.
While he was cultivating, a mental fluctuation came from the room next door. To Lin Shuguang, it felt as though someone were lying beside his ear and whispering.
Lin Shuguang opened his eyes. "You're peeping at me in the middle of the night?"
Leng Yueyan asked in surprise, "I was being this careful, and you still sensed me?"
There was even a hint of astonishment in her voice.
Lin Shuguang's face remained expressionless. His mental power surged forth, blasting away every trace of mental power Leng Yueyan had sent into the room.
Right afterward, a clattering crash came from the room next door.
Lin Shuguang ignored the startled cry from the adjacent room and continued cultivating cross-legged. But in the blink of an eye, Leng Yueyan rushed out of her room, deftly climbed through the window, and stared straight at Lin Shuguang.
"You're such a strange person. Your cultivation is clearly inferior to mine, so how is your mental power so strong?"
Lin Shuguang had no intention of opening his eyes. "You're really not afraid that I'll kill you?"
Leng Yueyan froze, then smiled. "You don't look like a bad person, and I'm not a bad person either, so you definitely won't kill me. Besides..."
She glanced around Lin Shuguang's room. It was just as crude and empty as the room where she had stayed, bearing the unmistakable style of a bitter martial fanatic.
She could not help looking at Lin Shuguang strangely. Is this guy even human? Does he really have no selfish desires at all?
"Besides, do you think I went out sightseeing during the day? I've already found out who you are. This is Black Prison, and you're a member of Black Prison. I think you definitely can't bring yourself to kill me. Otherwise, your little secret won't be known only by me."
Lin Shuguang slowly opened his eyes and looked over. His tone was flat. "Are you threatening me?"
Leng Yueyan seemed amused by his reaction and could not help giggling. "So you can be afraid too. All right, I'm not joking with you anymore. Help me with something, and I guarantee that your ability to travel between the two places will be buried in my stomach."
In truth, Leng Yueyan had not wanted to meddle in other people's affairs either. Since Lin Shuguang possessed a means of traveling between two places, she felt that his background could not possibly be as simple as it appeared. She had escaped with great difficulty herself, so why would she stir up trouble and add more headaches?
She had merely put on this act deliberately, so that Lin Shuguang, this ruthless man, would be wary of her.
"What kind of help?" Lin Shuguang asked after a moment of silence.
Seeing this, Leng Yueyan felt slightly relieved inside, but said on the surface, "It's like this. My family wants to find me a man, but I don't like him. It's not that he's a bad person; I simply don't like him. I'm doing perfectly well on my own, so why do I have to get married and have children? I found a chance to escape this time, and I never planned to go back. Help me cover for myself..."
"Cover for you? Is that necessary?" Lin Shuguang did not understand.
Leng Yueyan replied, "When I followed you here, Uncle Jie already sensed your aura. He'll probably find this place soon. Take me with you."
Lin Shuguang frowned. He did not want to invite trouble, yet somehow he had still drawn other people into this.
But the matter he was about to face was far more enormous. If he could stir this martial world into even murkier waters, there was no reason he could not do so.
He sized Leng Yueyan up without revealing anything and asked in a low voice, "What kind of background do you have?"
"Me? I don't really have much of a background..." Leng Yueyan did not want to say more.
Lin Shuguang glanced at her and let out a scornful laugh. "Since you want to work with me, then be a little more open. If you're going to be evasive, go find someone else."
Seeing this, Leng Yueyan hurriedly said, "It's not that I'm deliberately hiding things. The main issue is that even if I told you, you probably wouldn't know. My family rarely goes out and has always stayed in the imperial capital."
Hearing this, Lin Shuguang realized that he truly knew nothing about the matter, but he still maintained an icy expression on the surface.
Leng Yueyan continued, "Let me put it this way. In my family, there are only three or four Nirvana Realm experts worthy of being brought out."
Lin Shuguang was silent for a while before asking, "What about those who aren't worthy of being brought out?"
Leng Yueyan looked at him as if she found the question strange. "If they aren't worthy of being brought out, why would I remember them? Don't worry. My family is quite reasonable, so they won't hunt you down just because you abducted me."
"Wait, what do you mean, 'abducted'?" Lin Shuguang could not help interrupting her. "If your Uncle Jie isn't blind, he should be able to tell that you were the one who insisted on grabbing me, right?"
"Is that so?" Leng Yueyan paused. Her bewildered, adorable expression probably made it impossible for anyone to get angry. She even tilted her head at Lin Shuguang, confusion written across her face, which looked even younger than his. "Isn't it the same?"
Lin Shuguang's lips twitched. "I'll help you. What will you give me in return?"
"In return?" Leng Yueyan froze. "Why do you need something in return for helping someone?"
Lin Shuguang: "Heh."
Leng Yueyan: "..." She tilted her head and pondered for a moment before taking a bottle of pills from her bosom. "How about this?"
"What is it?" Lin Shuguang reached out and took it.
"Nine Revolutions Golden Core," Leng Yueyan said casually.
Lin Shuguang was just about to open the bottle when his hand suddenly stopped. "Nine Revolutions Golden Core?"
Is this the same kind of Nine Revolutions Golden Core Old Man Chen from Baojian Sect gave me before?
"Yeah. One should be enough, right?" Leng Yueyan said casually.
Lin Shuguang blinked at the young woman and replied without the slightest change in expression, "Not enough..."
Leng Yueyan: "..."
She gazed at Lin Shuguang with quiet resentment. "Do you think I'm naive and adorable?"
Lin Shuguang was utterly confused. "???"
Leng Yueyan said irritably, "Even if I'm naive and adorable, you can't take advantage of me so shamelessly, can you? One Nine Revolutions Golden Core isn't enough??? You'd make a fine profiteer."
"Ahem." Lin Shuguang coughed dryly.
Well, I've met my match.
Without changing expression or missing a beat, he put the Nine Revolutions Golden Core into his possession and changed the subject. "I think you're overcomplicating things. If your family is pressuring you to marry, just tell them directly that you don't want to. State your demands first, then take the next step."
"But they took it upon themselves to find me a partner. I don't like him." Leng Yueyan had indeed been distracted by the change of subject.
Lin Shuguang stood up and said casually, "Then tell them you already have someone you like. Find a reliable person to pretend later. That should at least fool them for a while..."
Leng Yueyan sank into thought when she heard this. After a moment, she looked up hesitantly. "What if my family doesn't like him?"
"Cry, throw a tantrum, then threaten suicide. If your family truly cares, they'll definitely back down. Then tell them you can't let go just yet and need some time to think. If it really doesn't work out, you'll break up later. Going back and forth like that will buy you another stretch of time."
"Good idea. But what if my husband is assassinated because of me?" Leng Yueyan's eyes lit up, but after a while, she could not help asking curiously.
Lin Shuguang glanced at her. "Then choose someone capable, at least someone with passable strength. Most importantly, he has to be quick-witted."
Leng Yueyan nodded thoughtfully.
Just as Lin Shuguang lowered his head and toyed with the Nine Revolutions Golden Core, she quietly raised her head and studied him a few times. Lin Shuguang remained completely unaware, his entire mind focused on the Nine Revolutions Golden Core.
Back then, Old Man Chen had agonized over handing over this Nine Revolutions Golden Core. He had never expected Leng Yueyan to be so generous, producing one without the slightest trace of reluctance. Her family's wealth was clearly substantial.
I wonder how much I could sell her for if I tied her up?
While Lin Shuguang was deep in thought, Leng Yueyan's voice suddenly came from behind him. "Why are you holding a rope?"
Lin Shuguang froze. He lowered his head and saw the rope in his hand, then turned back without revealing anything. "Nothing. I was playing with a snake... Right, what realm are you in?"
Before you continue