Flower Stealing Master

Chapter 737: Lurking

“Actually…” Seeing the look of shock on her father’s face, Huang Rong suddenly felt a strange sensation. Since she had successfully drawn their attention, she cleared her throat and added in a low voice, “That person had previously done something that consumed an enormous amount of inner strength. Out of ten parts, less than one remained.”

Huang Yaoshi and Zhou Botong exchanged glances, momentarily stunned, before shaking their heads in unison. “Impossible!”

What kind of joke was this? If someone had only a tenth of their strength left yet could withstand over a dozen moves from the Eastern Heretic without losing and still evade the Old Imp, just how terrifying would they be at full power?

Huang Rong was quite satisfied with their reaction and smiled slyly. “Believe it or not, it’s the truth.”

“Rong’er, Rong’er, tell me quickly—who is he?” Compared to the composed Huang Yaoshi, Zhou Botong was far less patient. He fidgeted anxiously, pressing her for an answer.

“Didn’t I already say? I don’t know who he is,” Huang Rong replied hurriedly.

“If you don’t know who he is, then how do you know he only has a tenth of his strength left?” Zhou Botong, though naive about worldly matters, was no fool—he immediately seized on the key issue.

“Uh…” Huang Rong was momentarily speechless. After a long pause, she finally found an excuse. “He said so himself.”

“I don’t believe it! No way!” The Old Imp waved his hands vigorously. “He’s definitely bragging!”

Huang Rong felt a surge of urgency, wanting to argue back, but then she suddenly realized—what did Song Qingshu have to do with her? Why was she defending that scoundrel? With that thought, her emotions quickly settled.

Not wanting to discuss the mysterious man any further because of his daughter, Huang Yaoshi deliberately changed the subject. “Rong’er, how is Jing’er?”

At the mention of Guo Jing, even Zhou Botong turned his attention over—after all, Guo Jing was his sworn brother.

Thinking of the constant fear and worry of the past few days, Huang Rong finally felt safe enough to relax completely in front of her father. Her eyes instantly reddened. “Brother Jing was poisoned by Ouyang Feng…” She sobbed as she roughly recounted what had happened.

“Unbelievable! That venomous old snake is too cruel! If I run into him, I’ll beat him every time I see him, just to avenge Guo Jing!” Before she had even finished, Zhou Botong was already hopping mad with anger.

Huang Yaoshi, however, remained much calmer, though the occasional flicker of cold light in his eyes betrayed an intense killing intent.

“Rong’er, you mentioned earlier that you already obtained the antidote. Let me see it.” As his name suggested, Huang Yaoshi was a master in medicine, ranking among the very best in the world. Given Ouyang Feng’s expertise in poison, he naturally had to be cautious.

Huang Rong took out the bottle of antidote she had obtained earlier but did not hand it to Huang Yaoshi. Instead, she casually tossed it aside. The porcelain bottle shattered upon hitting the ground, and the pills inside scattered everywhere.

“Rong’er, what are you doing?” Huang Yaoshi frowned in confusion.

“We actually got the real antidote long ago, and Brother Jing has already been cured. This ‘antidote’ must have been tampered with, so there’s no need to keep it,” Huang Rong explained.

“‘We’?” Huang Yaoshi’s brow furrowed. “You and that man?”

A trace of awkwardness flashed across Huang Rong’s face before she reluctantly nodded.

It turned out that in Song Qingshu’s plan, he had predicted that Wanyan Liang would certainly try to swap out the real antidote with a fake one. So, Song Qingshu had secretly kept watch on Wanyan Liang and, sure enough, caught him swapping the antidote. Once the switch was complete, Song Qingshu took the real antidote from Wanyan Liang using the Minute Ice Ripple Step and cured Guo Jing before secretly escorting him out of the city, then quickly coming back.

As for why they still had to go through the elaborate charade of Huang Rong retrieving the antidote, it was to ensure that Song Qingshu—disguised as Tang Kuo Bian—could be ‘rescued’ by Wanyan Liang in a way that made sense. If Tang Kuo Bian had suddenly reappeared after being missing for so long, Wanyan Liang would have surely grown suspicious. Disguises were not flawless—if people scrutinized him with suspicion, he would eventually slip up.

With his Qinggong, Song Qingshu was confident he could rescue Huang Rong and still make it back to the hiding spot where “Tang Kuo Bian” was supposed to be, waiting for Wanyan Liang’s men to “save” him. However, things nearly fell apart—his energy was severely depleted, and running into Huang Yaoshi and Zhou Botong afterward almost led to disaster. Luckily, Huang Rong was willing to help and let him go at the last moment.

Thinking about all this, Song Qingshu couldn’t help but smirk slightly. However, he had no time to revel in his success—after being delayed for so long, he now had to muster all his remaining strength to rush back to the ruined temple where “Tang Kuo Bian” should be hiding.

Just as he arrived and put on his mask, Wanyan Liang arrived with his men. Hearing the commotion outside, Song Qingshu hesitated for a moment before taking out a needle stained with poisoned blood and pricking his own arm.

Almost instantly, a visible black aura spread along his arm. Even though he had prepared for it, he couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

When Wanyan Liang entered, he saw Tang Kuo Bian slumped weakly against the wall, barely clinging to life. A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes.

Now was the perfect chance to get rid of Tang Kuo Bian. He was already on the verge of death—he could simply give him a random pill, let him die, and then blame it on Huang Rong. He could claim that she had poisoned him… Even if the imperial court had suspicions, without concrete evidence, they couldn’t do anything to him.

Noticing the fleeting murderous intent in Wanyan Liang’s gaze, Song Qingshu’s heart sank. ‘I accounted for everything, but I never expected Wanyan Liang to have a sudden change of heart!’

At this moment, Wanyan Liang was surrounded by a large number of guards, with experts like Ouyang Feng and Murong Bo standing nearby. A cold sweat broke out on Song Qingshu’s back. If Wanyan Liang really decided to kill him now, there was little chance of survival in his current state.

He regretted underestimating the danger, but there was no time for regret now. His mind raced for a solution. Suddenly, inspiration struck—without betraying any sign of his intentions, he locked eyes with Wanyan Liang and instantly activated the Soul Capture Technique.

Under normal circumstances, using the Soul Capture Technique on Wanyan Liang in broad daylight, in front of so many people, would have been nearly impossible. However, Wanyan Liang had already been hypnotized by Song Qingshu before. On top of that, he was furious over Huang Rong’s escape, leaving his mental defenses vulnerable.

Even so, Song Qingshu couldn’t exert full control like usual—he could only implant a subtle suggestion in Wanyan Liang’s mind. Fortunately, Wanyan Liang was already wavering, unsure whether to kill Tang Kuo Bian. With just a nudge from Song Qingshu, Wanyan Liang suddenly “realized” that he had invested so much effort into saving Tang Kuo Bian that killing him now would be a waste.

Unaware that his decision had been subtly influenced, Wanyan Liang waved his hand and ordered his men to bring Tang Kuo Bian back to the regional command headquarters.

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