"Mingyue, you scared me to death! I thought you'd been captured by Shangren Qinglan!
Are you injured? Sit down quickly, I'll tend to it for you."
It was Mingyue who collided with Ji Shiyou.
Seeing she was unharmed, Ji Shiyou was overjoyed and hugged her tightly.
He then carefully examined Mingyue's body and found a wound on her left arm.
He immediately made Mingyue sit on the brocade cushion and began to treat her.
"It's nothing, just a minor injury, inflicted by the white-haired monster's hidden weapon.
You say he's called Shangren Qinglan? Who is he?"
At this moment, Cui Mu, Yan Liu, and the ten thousand households all woke up.
They, along with Nanny Yang, gathered around, looking at Mingyue's wound with concern.
Mingyue paid no mind to her own injury, but was instead very interested in Shangren Qinglan, who had attacked her.
With things having escalated to this point, Ji Shiyou no longer hid anything from Mingyue.
While treating Mingyue's wound, he told her everything.
Mingyue's wound was not large, a scratch from a dart, only an inch long.
It cut through the skin and flesh but was not deep.
Seeing that Mingyue was fine, Nanny Yang led Cui Mu and the others out to clean up the messy courtyard.
They carried away the dead guards, leaving the two of them space to talk.
"Mingyue, how did you escape from Shangren Qinglan?
Did he flee? Did you defeat him?"
Ji Shiyou finished explaining his connection to Shangren Qinglan, but concealed the matter of the Love Devouring Pill.
He didn't want Mingyue to worry, and then he curiously asked how she had escaped.
As far as he knew, he himself couldn't resist Shangren Qinglan's cultivation.
Furthermore, this person was relentless and would not give up until he achieved his goal.
Now that Mingyue was not captured and was safe and sound,
it meant that Mingyue must have defeated him, causing Shangren Qinglan to leave.
Therefore, he was very curious as to when Mingyue had become so formidable.
"Thanks to my prior preparations, I managed to achieve victory against the odds and severely wounded that old fellow.
However, he still injured me when he fled."
Mingyue gestured to her injured arm, a hint of embarrassment on her face.
Because her preparations were all meant to kill Ji Shiyou.
She had just learned in the Imperial Study what Ji Shiyou had done for her.
Her heart filled with sweetness, she happily returned to Lanyue Palace.
She was discussing with Nanny Yang and the others what to prepare for Ji Shiyou's dinner.
Suddenly, she heard the shouts of guards in the courtyard.
As she went to see what was happening, Shangren Qinglan barged in.
Seeing that he was hostile, the two brothers of the Ten Thousand Households rushed forward to stop him.
However, they were each struck down with a palm by Shangren Qinglan and knocked unconscious.
Cui Mu also had some martial arts skills and quickly moved to intercept.
But she didn't even touch Shangren Qinglan's clothes.
She was kicked away, while Yan Liu and Nanny Yang
were instantly subdued by Shangren Qinglan and fell to the ground.
Before Mingyue could react, Shangren Qinglan had subdued everyone in the room.
She knew that the intruder's cultivation was far superior to hers.
If they had fought in the room, Nanny Yang and the others might have been accidentally injured.
Mingyue suddenly ran towards the door, intending to lure Shangren Qinglan away.
Shangren Qinglan's target was Mingyue. Seeing her flee towards the door,
he unleashed a palm strike into the air. However, Mingyue's movements were swift.
The palm wind grazed her back and struck the door.
The door collapsed with a roar, and Mingyue escaped the room.
She ran towards the backyard of Lanyue Palace. She wasn't fleeing blindly.
She went to the backyard intentionally.
Because a while ago, she had meticulously designed a trap in the backyard.
It was meant to lure Ji Shiyou there and kill him.
However, Ji Shiyou had been returning quite late, so it had never been used.
Shangren Qinglan, seeing Mingyue flee, pursued her closely.
He chased her all the way to the backyard of Lanyue Palace, which was a small garden.
There were several tall osmanthus trees and scattered flower bushes.
Just as Shangren Qinglan was about to catch up, reaching out to grab Mingyue's back,
Mingyue suddenly leaped forward, jumping up to create distance.
Then, she heard a loud rumbling sound behind her as the ground collapsed.
A deep pit appeared beneath Shangren Qinglan's feet.
Caught off guard, he fell straight down.
This was a pit that Mingyue and Yan Liu had spent three days digging.
The pit was seven feet in diameter and twelve feet deep.
Furthermore, the bottom and walls of the pit were lined with sharp blades.
Even with supreme cultivation, without preparation,
falling into it suddenly would result in death or severe injury.
After leaping out, Mingyue didn't stop. She immediately darted sideways.
She went to a tall osmanthus tree, where several ropes were tied to the trunk.
She reached out and yanked one of the ropes hard.
A bag of bright red contents fell from the sky.
It all landed in the pit. Violent coughing sounds came from within.
"He's not dead yet, as expected. Fortunately, the trap I designed wasn't a single attack."
When designing the trap, Mingyue feared that Ji Shiyou's cultivation was too high.
A mere pit and blades might not kill him.
So, she and Yan Liu brainstormed and turned a single trap into a chain reaction.
Ensuring that once Ji Shiyou fell in, he would have no escape and would perish.
What she had thrown into the pit was Yan Liu's idea.
It was twenty pounds of chili powder, thrown into the narrow pit. Even if he wasn't dismembered by the blades,
he would have difficulty breathing and would choke to death.
Mingyue's actions didn't stop. If this were all, it wouldn't be a chain reaction.
After the chili powder fell, a bag of lime was dropped,
followed by a large bucket of water poured in.
Shangren Qinglan in the pit suffered greatly.
As soon as he entered the pit, he discovered the gleaming blades lining its walls.
However, his cultivation had reached a profound level, and ordinary blades couldn't harm him.
He took a deep breath and was about to leap out of the pit.
Suddenly, a red mass descended from the sky.
The pungent smell immediately filled the pit.
Shangren Qinglan began to sneeze uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face.
The inner energy he had gathered in his dantian immediately dissipated.
His body, which had already leaped up, fell back to the bottom of the pit.
Furthermore, with his power dispersed, his body was cut by the blades at the bottom of the pit.
His wounds, contaminated with chili powder, caused him to let out beast-like roars of pain.
But he was a seasoned warrior, and he quickly regained his composure.
Holding his breath, he gathered energy in his dantian again and leaped up.
A bag of lime then fell from the pit's edge. This bag of lime weighed nearly a hundred pounds.
Unlike the mere twenty pounds of chili powder, it immediately smashed Shangren Qinglan back to the bottom of the pit.
The immense impact from the falling weight caused the bag containing the lime to rupture.
The lime, filling the air, enveloped Shangren Qinglan.
None of this was the worst, but the lime entered Shangren Qinglan's eyes.
The burning sensation caused his tears to flow.
And he couldn't see anything, as if he were blind.
In times of greatest danger, one must remain calm. Shangren Qinglan understood this well.
What he needed to do now was endure the intense discomfort.
And quickly get out of this pit. Only by getting out could he reverse the situation.
So, he calmed his mind and energy, and for the third time, leaped towards the pit's edge.
Unexpectedly, a bucket of water poured down like a celestial river, drenching him.
The water itself had no destructive power, but remember, he had just been covered in lime.
When lime encounters water, it generates heat. Shangren Qinglan's skin was covered in blisters.
In severe areas, the flesh had been cooked and peeled off, revealing the white bone.
"He's dead, right? Under my chain reaction attack.
Even a celestial being would find it difficult to survive."
Mingyue listened for a while. There was no more movement from the pit.
She cautiously approached the pit's edge, wanting to verify the results.
Just then, Shangren Qinglan's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.