Chapter 46: Assassination

Jin Lin opened his arms to catch Yun Qingxue. “How about repaying me with your hand in marriage…”

“Marry your sister!” Yun Qingxue pushed him away forcefully and ran off without looking back.

“Plop.” Something fell into the water, but Yun Qingxue didn’t turn around, continuing to run toward the southeast.

Behind her, Jin Lin climbed out of the babbling stream, his gaze fixed intently on the direction she had gone.

After running for a while, Yun Qingxue slowed to a walk.

Though she had learned some cultivation techniques from Jin Lin during her days in the Dragon Palace and had been practicing them herself—barely stepping into the threshold of cultivation thanks to her innate celestial physique—her current level of power was still far from allowing her to soar through clouds or transcend worldly needs.

Thus, she couldn’t run for long without exhausting herself.

Moreover, with an uncertain journey ahead, she needed to conserve her strength to handle any potential dangers or troubles along the way.

Walking slowly southeast for about two hours, she found herself still surrounded by desolate wilderness as noon approached.

“There’s a tree over there. A-Dai, let’s go rest for a bit.” Yun Qingxue raised her wrist, where the sentient snake A-Dai kept her company, dispelling much of her loneliness in this deserted place.

“Hiss~” A-Dai flicked its tongue, responding in its own way.

Yun Qingxue smiled and quickened her pace toward the shade.

Once there, she simply sat on the ground.

After walking all morning, her stomach soon protested its emptiness.

She retrieved some prepared food from the storage ring Jin Lin had given her, along with a delicate porcelain vial. Unscrewing the cap, she handed the vial to A-Dai before starting to eat.

A breeze swept by, carrying an inexplicably sweet fragrance.

Suddenly, drowsiness overwhelmed her. She leaned her head against the tree trunk, her eyelids growing unbearably heavy.

In her dazed state, a slender figure appeared before her in the blink of an eye. She struggled to open her eyes and see who it was, but her lids felt like lead…

Under the shade, a short dagger gleamed with cold-blooded sharpness, inching closer to Yun Qingxue’s sleeping face.

“Hiss—”

In a flash, a purple streak shot from Yun Qingxue’s wrist, landing on the pale hand holding the dagger.

“Ugh!”

A muffled groan followed the clatter of the dagger hitting the ground. Yun Qingxue’s eyes snapped open, clear and alert.

She looked down at the woman kneeling on the ground, bitten by A-Dai.

She was beautiful—delicate as a white lotus swaying in the wind, yet with a hint of alluring charm. Her appearance perfectly blended innocence and seduction.

Now, due to A-Dai’s venom, her skin was slowly turning a faint bluish-black.

“Why did you try to kill me?” Yun Qingxue’s gaze was icy as she studied the woman, speculating about her origins—and her motive.

Was she sent by Tong Yun?

If A-Dai hadn’t bitten her before she lost consciousness, this woman might have succeeded!

“Kill you?” The woman sneered, her hateful glare burning as if it could bore a hole through Yun Qingxue. “Because you deserve to die!”

“I don’t think we’ve ever met before,” Yun Qingxue said innocently, deliberately baiting her into revealing the reason.

“You seduced Brother Jin! Shameless wretch! You deserve to die! Ugh—!” The woman spat blood as the venom spread uncontrollably.

Yun Qingxue stepped back to avoid the spray.

“Brother Jin?” She smiled faintly. Having only recently arrived in this world, the only “Jin” she knew was Jin Lin.

The woman’s condition worsened—A-Dai’s venom ravaging her body, her once-lovely face now darkening further.

She glared at Yun Qingxue with stubborn defiance.

Then Yun Qingxue noticed something on her neck—patches of faint, flickering scales amidst the bluish-black hue.

“You’re from the aquatic clan!” Yun Qingxue declared.

“Hmph!” The woman panted heavily. “Yes! I am of the noble aquatic lineage! You vile creature dared to seduce our king! Every member of our clan has the right to slay you!”

Yun Qingxue smirked, her smile radiant yet mocking.

“Don’t mask your jealousy with excuses. If I’m so deserving of death, why does your ‘Brother Jin’ treat me so well? Hmm?”

“Ugh!” The woman spat blood again, enraged.

Yun Qingxue watched coldly. She had no sympathy for someone who would kill out of petty jealousy.

“You—you’re shameless!” the woman hissed through gritted teeth.

“Shameless?” Yun Qingxue scoffed. “That’s not for you to decide. But you—just because Jin Lin doesn’t like you, you’d kill every woman around him without question? Do you really think eliminating them all would make him love you?”

She leaned closer. “Wake up. Your malice will only disgust him further. Maybe one day, he’ll even kill you himself for it.”

“No… you’re lying!” the woman gasped. “He will marry me—he has to!”

“Loving someone isn’t wrong, but losing yourself to obsession and malice is a sickness. You should get that treated.”

“You’re the sick one!” The woman suddenly lashed out with a palm strike.

Thanks to her brief cultivation training, Yun Qingxue dodged just in time.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Three sharp projectiles embedded themselves into the tree trunk where she had stood.

“Hiss—!” A-Dai lunged again, but three ice spikes shot toward it mid-air, forcing it to veer away.

Seizing the moment, the woman mustered her remaining strength and fled into the distance.

“Yun! I won’t forget today’s humiliation!” Her hate-filled voice echoed from afar.