Miss Donggong Ruoshu stepped back several paces and stood still for who knows how long, her eyes glistening like water-polished lychees, round and rolling.
She remained dazed for quite a while.
After a mont, Miss Donggong Ruoshu touched her flushed cheeks and muttered:
"I must be drunk. Why would Chen Yi be here?"
She managed to straighten her stance, wobbling as she shuffled forward, brushing past Chen Yi and heading toward the door.
As she walked, Miss Donggong Ruoshu murmured to herself, "Drunk, too drunk! Drinking until I see hallucinations…"
Just as she reached the door, her wrist was suddenly yanked back. She couldn't even scream before Chen Yi clamped a hand over her mouth and kicked the door shut behind them.
Miss Donggong Ruoshu reached for the hilt of her knife, pulling it free along with its scabbard and whipping it horizontally toward Chen Yi's head. His head tilted slightly, and the scabbard grazed past his cheek. Then, in one swift motion, he grabbed her wrist in midair and pushed her deeper into the chamber.
Off balance, Miss Donggong Ruoshu staggered several steps before crashing heavily to the ground.
She shrank back several paces, rubbed her eyes, and saw Chen Yi standing there, smiling at her once again.
Chen Yi asked, "Still playing dumb?"
Miss Donggong Ruoshu jolted in surprise and, after a long pause, awkwardly tried to grin. She stamred:
"You… why are you here…"
Chen Yi didn't rush to answer. Instead, he pointed toward the theater behind him and asked, "I should be asking you instead—why are you using my na to bully people here?"
Miss Donggong Ruoshu imdiately clasped her hands together in a gesture, her cheeks flushed deeply with red, beads of sweat glinting in her hair. She pursed her lips and muttered for a while before finally explaining: "I didn't an to…"
"You didn't an to?"
Miss Donggong Ruoshu could see the disparity in their martial arts prowess. Now that she had been caught red-handed doing sothing dubious, she couldn't help but feel a rising panic.
Adding to the tension was Chen Yi's peculiar identity, as he was soone she had once stood before the altar with—a man who skipped out on the bridal chamber and eloped. What would you even call such a person? An ex-husband?
Miss Donggong Ruoshu stared at Chen Yi for quite so ti before finally blurting out:
"You… you usually bully people too, don't you?"
"So what?"
Miss Donggong's voice softened as she murmured, "If a man doesn't live in fa, then he must perish in infamy…"
Chen Yi replied with a chuckle, "Oh, so you're helping build my reputation?"
Miss Donggong Ruoshu thought about it for a second and nervously nodded.
Chen Yi had already started to sneer.
After fleeing the Capital City, he had traveled west, using aliases along the way to avoid drawing attention to himself. Who would have thought Miss Donggong Ruoshu had been impersonating him right here in Shantong City? And to top it off, he happened to also be in Shantong City.
So, hasn't his true location been exposed now?
Chen Yi closed the distance between them step by step, forcing Miss Donggong Ruoshu to retreat repeatedly. She backed herself into the corner of the room, looking up to see his silhouette towering over her.
"If you don't explain everything properly, don't even think about leaving," Chen Yi said coldly from above.
Miss Donggong Ruoshu imdiately responded, "I-I was working for Xique Pavilion! Helping them fish out spies from Western Jin."
"Fishing out Western Jin spies has nothing to do with , does it?"
"If they operated directly under the na 'Dong Gong Ruoshu,' those Western Jin spies wouldn't take the bait. Logically speaking, Xique Pavilion should have already captured her. But if they use the na 'Chen Yi,' then those spies might think I'm simply creating a false front, trying every possible way to contact them."
Chen Yi finally understood. So, it turns out Xique Pavilion had borrowed his na as bait. After all, given his unique and controversial identity, any charges frad against him would dance between certainty and ambiguity.
Thus, his identity hadn't been thoroughly exposed. Unless…
Chen Yi scanned Miss Donggong Ruoshu with a aningful glance.
The lady from the East Palace felt a chill but managed to steady herself and said, "I was wondering why I heard soone nad Min Ning was here. Turns out it's you—why have you co?"
Chen Yi didn't bother to address her question. Instead, he pondered aloud, "Aren't you from Western Jin? Why are you helping Xique Pavilion against your own people?"
Miss Donggong Ruoshu, now sowhat more sober, rubbed her cheeks and explained, "Though I am from Western Jin, those spies are protecting the Lone Smoke Sword. His surna is Wanyan, and his na is Jing. He belongs to the Wanyan Clan."
Chen Yi had indeed heard rumors about the political struggles between the Wanyan Clan and the Chen Family within Western Jin. He paused in thought and asked, "But isn't he your master's junior—technically your martial uncle?"
"Yet my master killed my grandmaster…"
"Then no wonder." As he spoke, mories of the Broken Swordsman began to piece together in Chen Yi's mind.
The Broken Swordsman's turn from sword to dagger stemd from his ntor—the Loulan Sword Emperor—losing to Wu Buxu. Following that defeat, the Loulan Sword Emperor spiraled into madness, leading to eventual conflict between master and disciple.
If that were the case, the Lone Smoke Sword lightly tapping his own scabbard when they crossed paths must have been because he discerned Chen Yi's thod of swordsmanship originated from the Broken Swordsman's lineage.
Seeking vengeance, perhaps?
Chen Yi couldn't help but lower his gaze as his hand instinctively rested on the hilt of his blade.
Jianghu vendettas—stormy and perilous—were always far too many.
Lifeng Pavilion mistook him for Min Ning. Wei Wuque did the sa. Yet Lone Smoke Sword had only needed one encounter to discern his technique. Why? Because, in Jianghu, crossing disciplines creates barriers, where so truths remain inescapable and others are plain deceptions.
Having explained all she needed to, Miss Donggong Ruoshu cautiously observed Chen Yi. The latter returned to reality, his lips curling into a smile as he gazed at her. Slowly, he said: "I don't want my identity exposed, Miss Donggong. So, what do you suggest I do with you?"
Miss Donggong Ruoshu startled. Surely he wasn't planning to silence her for good?
She raised her fingers as if forming a sword gesture, and the Sword Intent left behind by her master seed ready to burst forth.
"Regardless of whether you can even kill with one strike, let first remind you—this is Taihua Mountain's territory," Chen Yi said with apparent foresight. "Relax. I have no intention of killing you."
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