Du Juan had many things she didn’t know.
And Chen Yi had many things he didn’t know.
For instance, at first, Chen Yi didn’t know the Naless Old Mother would co. He didn’t know the true situation in the palace, nor did he realize that Xique Pavilion was behind the scenes sowing chaos.
But slowly, in various ways, he turned the unknown into the known.
For example, when Du Juan asked him how he found out Xique Pavilion was besieging the Prince of Annan.
Chen Yi replied he had learned it from the West Factory.
It seed to reveal a flaw—but at the sa ti, from the startled expression of the adjutant, Chen Yi confird his suspicion.
The two factories and the guard didn’t know that the target of the siege was the Prince of Annan.
There were many similar flaws.
All the way, he kept revealing flaws, and Du Juan played along, turning them to her advantage.
Du Juan had a lot she didn’t know, but she thought she knew a lot.
Believing the Naless Old Mother had her back, she showed no fear of death. Yet those unafraid of death often devalue their lives, losing many inhibitions.
With fewer inhibitions, there ca less thought.
She didn’t know the Princess of Annan could disguise herself as the Empress Dowager, simply because Zhu E, as the Princess, had once visited the capital and t the Empress Dowager.
She didn’t know the two factories and the guard could be deceived like this, nor did she realize that Chen Yi was familiar with all of Xique Pavilion’s aliases.
In the end, she thought she had prepared an extra safeguard by handing over poison, yet she didn’t know the Princess wouldn’t let Chen Yi die so easily.
And this revealed to Chen Yi exactly what she didn’t know.
Chen Yi knew more than her, and he also knew there were things he didn’t know.
So, he countered her counterstrategy.
And at the mont, it wasn’t the ti for Du Juan to reflect on her mistakes.
She had already leapt forward, attacking.
She called herself Du Juan, yet her figure now seed like an eagle. Her twin sabers glead in the forest like cold flashes of light.
Agile and bloodthirsty.
The Prince of Annan swung his spear horizontally, forming a circular defense. His broad robes flapped in the wind.
Du Juan tried to break through the circle, thrusting a saber toward the spearhead. Relying on her petite fra and nimble movents, she darted inside like a venomous snake—crafty and ruthless.
Qin Qingluo’s left arm had been wounded, and the saber bore poison. Even after treatnt, his movents were slower, and his spear couldn’t complete its arc in ti. Du Juan sidestepped, sliding along the spear’s shaft, her blade flashing cold as it pierced forward!
The tip of her blade was jet black like ink—poisoned—and aid straight at Qin Qingluo’s throat.
Qin Qingluo’s eyes narrowed into snake-like slits.
At that very instant, the Brocade Spring Blade nad "No Distraction" arced from behind Du Juan.
Du Juan didn’t intend to dodge. Even if it ant trading her life for his, as long as Qin Qingluo died here, it would all be worth it.
But she noticed the Mandarin Duck Double Sabers in her hands had beco sluggish during the thrust.
In that fraction of a mont, she realized it was a Taoist technique to manipulate objects with energy.
The twin sabers seed to be pulled off course, their direction skewed. If she pushed on with brute force, her movents would slow for just a beat.
If that happened, Chen Yi’s blade would pierce her first.
Whiz!
Du Juan propelled herself upward with one foot, leaping a full zhang high. Her figure was like a swallow, turning into a fleeting shadow among the treetops. In the blink of an eye, she landed behind Chen Yi, one saber guarding her and the other slicing toward his neck.
Chen Yi’s reaction was astonishingly quick.
The saber edge almost grazed his neck as his long blade ca crashing down on Du Juan from above.
The blade’s light curved like a crescent moon, accompanied by the forceful montum of its aura, slicing the wind into a tragic howl.
Du Juan blocked Chen Yi’s No Distraction saber with the blade in front of her.
Chen Yi gripped his blade with both hands, while Du Juan held hers with one hand. As the blades collided, even though they were both martial artists of the fourth rank, Du Juan’s hand seed as if it was about to shatter from the tremor.
Blood stread from her palm, spilling across the ground as she staggered back.
Qin Qingluo was already charging with his spear.
The spear angled downward, sweeping across—a glowing arc cutting through shadows. Its movent was calculated, concealing its deadly intent behind swift silence!
Du Juan raised the tip of her tongue.
Swoosh!
A silver needle shot forth from her tongue, speeding like lightning.
Chen Yi manipulated the object’s energy again.
The silver needle veered off course, brushing past Qin Qingluo’s hair before striking straight into the thick tree trunk, burying itself nearly a foot deep.
It was unimaginable what havoc the needle would have caused had it hit a person.
The spear’s edge swept toward Du Juan.
Du Juan raised both arms to desperately brace against the spear’s edge, but Qin Qingluo withdrew the spear mid-flight. Its arc shifted in the air, losing so of its force, but suddenly twisting into an upward strike.
Du Juan, even as she was, broke out in a cold sweat.
Yet because she was a disciple of the Naless Old Mother, this move didn’t take her life.
Twisting her form, Du Juan used one foot to withstand the spear’s edge; her boot’s blade clashed against the spearhead. She then used the montum to leap higher once more.
Chen Yi shot upward, his figure resembling a jet-black flying fish. The blade flashed like a dragon, sweeping horizontally.
This strike aid to bisect Du Juan in midair.
Du Juan flung her saber straight at him.
Blade collided with blade, bursting into sparks resembling bolts of lightning. Chen Yi landed, his blade missing its mark, while Du Juan’s foot stepped onto the treetop as though preparing to escape.
For a brief mont, the forest fell into an eerie stillness.
Qin Qingluo planted his feet—one forward, one back—a surge of energy radiating outward. His rear foot sank nearly halfway into the soil, muscles taut like a bow pulled back to its maximum tension.
The spear in his hand shot forth like an arrow from the bowstring. The tip pierced through the air, tracing a white streak accompanied by spiraling gusts. It seed even the scenery ahead would be torn apart!
Du Juan was already out of options, left with only her twin sabers to defend.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion shook the air, its shockwaves snapping willow branches and rippling the lake with successive waves. The spear struck like a rainbow piercing the sun, the eight-foot figure erupting with imnse force that slamd Du Juan heavily to the ground.
Under such force, the spear shaft cracked at its center, splitting apart like a blooming flower.
Qin Qingluo’s gaze turned inexplicably lancholic as he watched the scene unfold.
After all, this wasn’t the Purple Electric Gun—just a weapon casually grabbed. Though it had been forged by skilled craftsn, it was still nothing more.
She turned to glance at the culprit behind the broken spear.
The figure turned his back to her, slowly heading toward Du Juan.
Qin Qingluo lowered her head, staring at her hands. If not for the poisoned saber wound she sustained earlier, she would have driven her fist through his back at that mont, shattering his heart pulse.
She clenched her fist, her stifled anger and bone-deep hatred simring inside.
Her eyes locked on Chen Yi’s retreating figure as she lifted the tip of her foot.
Chen Yi slowly approached Du Juan, as the Naless Old Mother’s direct disciple, now bloodied in both arms, managed to smile desolately.
Du Juan rasped, "Kill , make it quick."
Chen Yi raised his blade, preparing to strike.
In that instant, Du Juan’s tongue flicked upward, revealing a glimr of cold silver.
Qin Qingluo’s silhouette blurred as she charged forward, delivering a fist toward Chen Yi’s back.
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