Chapter 50: A Growing Rift

  The bearded bck-cd man knelt on the ground, his face full of fear, and stammered, "It was someone close to you who told me. She is..."

  His words suddenly stopped as his body froze, then began to twitch uncontrolbly. His eyes rolled back, and with a final convulsion, he colpsed to the ground, foam pouring from his mouth.

  Sanbao jumped back in shock and rushed forward to check his condition. The man twisted and convulsed on the ground before spitting out a rge mouthful of bck blood. After a few more spasms, he y still.

  Looking at his face, Sanbao saw that his pupils had dited and there was no breath left in him—he was dead.

  "How did he suddenly die?" She furrowed her brows, her mind racing. "First foam, then bck blood—could he have been poisoned? Was it an ambush?"

  As she thought about it, Sanbao scanned the room cautiously. Xiao Lan and Yuyu were still slumped at the table, seemingly unconscious. She walked over to the bed and found Tang Mingli and Zhu Chengzhi lying still on the bed, also unresponsive. Everything else in the room seemed unchanged.

  She turned back to examine the bearded man's corpse more closely. At the back of his body, in an inconspicuous spot, she noticed a tiny glimmer of light. Leaning in to inspect, she found a silver needle embedded in his flesh, with only the tip exposed.

  Sanbao began to recall the position of the bck-cd man before he colpsed. Using the angle and depth of the needle's entry, she deduced that it most likely came from the left rear corner of the room.

  The left rear corner, where Tang Mingli and Zhu Chengzhi were lying.

  Her gaze turned cold. Could it be... one of them was pretending to be unconscious?

  With that thought, Sanbao decided to test them. She discreetly took a Thunderstrike Seed from her Seven-Treasure Bracelet, hiding it in her palm, and quietly approached the bed. She slid the seed under the bed and gently pushed it.

  "Pop!"

  A soft sound, and the Thunderstrike Seed ignited, fmes surging upward. The bed curtains and bnkets were immediately set alight.

  "It's so hot, so hot!" With a scream, Tang Mingli suddenly sat up, grabbing Zhu Chengzhi and leaping off the bed, falling to the ground in a disheveled heap.

  Sanbao made a quick hand gesture, and a water bubble flew from her palm, enveloping the burning bed and putting out the fmes.

  "Why is the bed on fire? It burned me!" Tang Mingli looked down at his scorched clothes, his expression full of embarrassment.

  "I put a Thunderstrike Seed under your bed," Sanbao expined expressionlessly.

  "Why would you do that?"

  "You should answer my questions first." Sanbao interrupted coldly. "Why did you use a poison needle to kill that bck-cd man? Why were you lying on the bed pretending to be unconscious? What happened to Zhu Chengzhi?"

  "What poison needle? What bck-cd man?" Tang Mingli looked confused, scanning the room. Only then did he notice the four bck-cd corpses on the floor. He gently pced Zhu Chengzhi down and walked over to examine the bodies. "These bck-cd men, I've never seen them before."

  As he examined the bodies, he continued, "I brought Zhu Chengzhi to the room to tell him a story. While I was telling it, I suddenly became thirsty and was about to get some tea. Then I sensed a strong mental force nearby. I was about to warn you, but that mental force attacked me and I lost consciousness. The next thing I knew, I was burned awake!"

  "Keep making things up," Sanbao sneered. "These bck-cd men are from your Tang family, aren't they? The ones who attacked me outside Moling City—were they from your Tang family too? The so-called mountain bandits were clearly lying in wait for me. It wasn’t a random robbery, but a premeditated ambush. And your sudden appearance—was that pnned too? What exactly do you want from me?"

  "I was entrusted by your parents to secretly protect you," Tang Mingli hurriedly expined. "I've been following you the whole time, which is why I was able to save you when you were in danger."

  "Since you’ve been secretly protecting me on my parents' behalf, why did you wait until I was injured and unconscious before appearing? Were you afraid I would see through your scheme if I was awake, so you waited until I passed out to come up with a story?" Sanbao’s anger fred. "And I ran away from home secretly. My parents had no idea about this! Did they somehow foresee that I would leave that night and told you to follow me and protect me beforehand?"

  "The reason I didn’t appear until you passed out is because, when your parents asked me to protect you, you had just left your home," Tang Mingli expined. "They knew you would leave, but they didn’t expect you to leave so soon. When I arrived at your family’s estate, you had just left. I’ve been chasing after you, and it was only then that I caught up. You were unconscious, but Yuyu was awake. You can ask her; she can vouch for me."

  "Then wake her up." Sanbao’s tone softened slightly. "I’ll keep an eye on you."

  Tang Mingli walked over to the table and gently shook Yuyu’s shoulder.

  "Yuyu?"

  Yuyu didn’t respond, but Xiao Lan, lying nearby, was awakened. She blinked groggily and looked at Sanbao and Tang Mingli. "Miss, Tang Gongzi, what’s going on?" She then looked down at the bodies on the floor and let out a startled scream.

  Tang Mingli ignored her and pced his hand above Yuyu’s forehead, using his spiritual energy to try and wake her.

  His eyes glowed with blue light, and Sanbao felt a surge of spiritual power emanate from his eyes, entering Yuyu’s mind.

  But Yuyu remained unresponsive.

  "Something’s wrong!" Tang Mingli stopped using his power, gently picking Yuyu up and ying her on the floor.

  "What are you doing?" Sanbao quickly formed a hand seal in the air. The temperature in the room dropped suddenly, and water vapor in the air condensed above her head, forming five ice spikes, each as thick as a thumb. Their sharp tips gleamed coldly, pointing directly at Tang Mingli as if ready to pierce him with five transparent holes.

  Tang Mingli raised his hands. "Calm down. I scanned her sea of consciousness with my mental power. It’s empty—there’s something wrong. I need to check her thoroughly to see if she’s carrying something that blocks my mental power."

  As he spoke, Tang Mingli bent down to carefully inspect Yuyu. Suddenly, his brow furrowed as he reached for her colr, pulling out three long silver needles from her shoulder.

  Silver needles again! Sanbao was about to speak, but Tang Mingli spoke first. "These three silver needles are blocking her sea of consciousness, making it impossible for me to scan her mind. They also caused her to remain unconscious."

  "You’ve been watching me all along," he said, holding the needles out in his palm. "These silver needles couldn’t have been sent by me."

  Sanbao sneered, "Couldn’t you have sent them when I was fighting the bck-cd men? Did you try to sneak attack her then?"

  Though she was still on alert, her tone had softened from earlier.

  "I was unconscious at the time. I didn’t even know you were fighting," Tang Mingli said as he raised one hand and pced it above Yuyu’s forehead. "Now, let me take a look at her memories before she passed out. I’ll find out how she got the silver needles."

  His eyes glowed with blue light again, and spiritual energy poured from his eyes, forming threads that silently entered Yuyu’s sea of consciousness. Sanbao clearly felt the energy penetrate the mental barrier and reach the core of Yuyu’s consciousness.

  Suddenly, Yuyu’s body began to spasm, foaming at the mouth. Her body arched as she spat out another rge mouthful of bck blood, exactly like the bearded bck-cd man before his death.

  Sanbao quickly used her own spiritual power to scan Yuyu. Her face turned ashen.

  Wu Yuyu was dead!

  Rage exploded in her chest. She shot to her feet, gring at Tang Mingli, gritting her teeth. "Tang Mingli, you killed her!"

  With a swift motion, she formed a hand seal, her right hand pointing forward. The five ice spikes suspended above her head shot forward like arrows, heading straight for Tang Mingli with a fierce velocity!