The suffocating mental pressure that had enveloped Cheng Yao receded as swiftly as the tide.
Cheng Yao let out a long breath inwardly. Her entire body felt as though it had been drenched in water.
She stood there blankly for several moments before seeming to awaken from a dream. Blinking, she said, “I’m so tired… Why do I feel as though I fell asleep while standing?”
Seeing Gu Wangchuan’s grim expression, she asked in confusion and concern, “Valley Master Gu? You don’t look well either. Did you suddenly grow drowsy, as I did?”
Gu Wangchuan slowly opened his eyes. His gaze upon Cheng Yao was complex and inscrutable, anger at his failed attempt buried deep in his eyes, along with an even deeper curiosity.
After a long pause, he waved a hand. His voice carried the exhaustion and weakness of someone whose strength had been utterly drained.
“It is nothing… Perhaps an old ailment has flared up. Miss Cheng, please make yourself at home. You may admire the scenery in the valley as you please.”
He no longer looked at Cheng Yao, instead instructing the maidservants behind him, “Attend to Miss Cheng properly.”
With that, he turned and headed back the way he had come, his steps somewhat unsteady. There was even a hint of haste and discomposure in his retreating figure.
Cheng Yao watched him leave. Only after he disappeared from sight did the tension in her nerves finally ease, leaving her limbs weak and unsteady.
Gu Wangchuan was not only highly skilled in martial arts and versed in formations and pharmacology—he also possessed such bizarre mental arts! That had been close.
Had she not reacted quickly, and had her willpower not far surpassed that of ordinary people, she would have fallen into his trap.
Dealing with him was no different from seeking the hide of a tiger!
“Miss Cheng, would you like to continue sightseeing?” The respectful voice of a maidservant interrupted Cheng Yao’s thoughts.
Cheng Yao withdrew her gaze, her gentle, harmless smile returning to her face. “Thank you for your trouble, sisters. Let us… take a look over there.”
She pointed in the direction opposite to the one Gu Wangchuan had taken—toward the Hundred Herbs Garden, one of the restricted areas of the Valley of Heartlessness.
The two maidservants hesitated. The Valley Master had instructed them to attend carefully to Miss Cheng, but he had not said whether she could enter the Hundred Herbs Garden. Not only did it contain rare medicinal herbs seldom found beyond the valley, it was also where many of the valley’s secret prescriptions and cultivation experiments were kept. Even ordinary disciples were forbidden from entering without permission, much less an outsider.
Cheng Yao noticed their hesitation.
Yet she did not press them. She merely gazed toward the area glowing with a faint radiance, her face filled with curiosity and longing as she softly sighed, “It smells so lovely there, and it’s so beautiful. If I could see it for myself, I’m sure it would be most enlightening.”
The two maidservants exchanged a glance. They recalled that the Valley Master seemed to treat this young woman rather differently—he had not only personally accompanied her on her tour, but had also gazed at her so tenderly for such a long while, as though she were the woman he loved.
After weighing the matter, the older maid finally gritted her teeth and said quietly, “Please follow this servant, Miss Cheng. Some areas within the garden are protected by restrictions, however, so please do not wander about or touch anything at will.”
Cheng Yao smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. She looked sweet and utterly harmless. “Thank you, sisters. I will be careful.”
Meanwhile—
Shao Yutong, who had dressed with great care and was waiting to share breakfast with Gu Wangchuan, waited and waited, but he never came. Her anticipation gradually gave way to impatience and displeasure.
She sent her maid to inquire, only to overhear two servant girls sweeping the corridor whispering among themselves:
“The Valley Lord personally accompanied that newly arrived Miss Cheng on a stroll through the gardens today!”
“They even went to the Herb Garden! That’s a restricted area!”
“It seems this Miss Cheng is held in higher regard by the Valley Lord than the lady in that room.”
“She has such spiritual aura about her—like a mountain spirit, pure yet alluring. I like her too.”
Their words pierced Shao Yutong’s ears like poisoned needles.
Cheng Yao was already another man’s wife—so why did the servants speak so highly of her?
And Gu Wangchuan had actually left her behind to accompany Cheng Yao!
He had even taken her to the Herb Garden!
Hadn’t he promised to spend the day strolling with her?
Shao Yutong’s chest heaved violently. Jealousy, fury, and a fierce sense of impending danger surged within her, devouring what little reason she had left.
Cheng Yao was a ghost that simply would not go away. Whether on the exile march or here in the Valley of Severed Affections, she always had to steal what belonged to Shao Yutong—steal the attention that should have been hers!
“She was born to thwart me!”
Shao Yutong swept the tea set from the table in one abrupt motion. The sharp crash of shattering porcelain rang through the room.
She could not sit still any longer. Taking her two personal maids with her, she stormed toward the Herb Garden. She was determined to see what sort of sorcery Cheng Yao had used to make Gu Wangchuan treat her so differently!
…
Gu Wangchuan forced himself back to his study, his steps unsteady and his face frighteningly pale.
The instant one foot crossed the threshold, the dizziness and weakness he had been suppressing erupted like a mountain flood. His vision went black, and he pitched forward stiffly.
A shadow flashed into view like a phantom and caught him.
“Get lost!” Gu Wangchuan flung out an arm, his voice hoarse and vicious as he rejected the support.
The hidden guard withdrew. Gu Wangchuan braced himself against the doorframe, struggling to steady his body before staggering behind his desk. Concealed behind an unremarkable book was a small raised button. He pressed it three times.
With a soft click, a hidden compartment in the wall behind the desk slid open.
Gu Wangchuan removed an exquisite jade vial shimmering with a soft violet glow. His hand trembling, he poured out two black pills the size of longans, each giving off a strange, delicate fragrance. Without so much as a glance, he tipped back his head and swallowed them.
The pills entered his stomach, and a warm, pure medicinal energy swiftly spread through his limbs and meridians, nourishing the nearly depleted spiritual power and damaged channels he had suffered from forcibly using the Heart-Peering Art.
He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing for roughly the time it took to burn one incense stick. Only then did some color gradually return to his face, and the bone-deep exhaustion eased somewhat.
Leaning back in his chair, he tapped his fingers absently against the smooth tabletop. His mind replayed every detail of his confrontation with Cheng Yao.
Her shock, her guilt, her bewildered murmurs after being “bewitched”... Every reaction had appeared flawless and entirely reasonable, without the slightest hint of pretense.
Even with his mastery of the Heart-Peering Art, he had failed to directly detect any thoughts suggesting that she was lying or concealing something.
Yet the instincts he had honed through countless storms and tempered amid schemes and conspiracies were screaming at him: this woman was putting on an act!
Deep within those clear, limpid eyes lay an absolute calm and cunning that even the Heart-Reading Art could scarcely detect.
“Cheng Yao…” Gu Wangchuan murmured, savoring her name. Rather than feeling thwarted, the corners of his lips slowly curled into a smile brimming with aggression and curiosity.
The more inscrutable she was, the more it proved she was extraordinary—and the more he wanted to seize complete control of her and dissect every secret she held.
After a moment’s contemplation, Gu Wangchuan suddenly raised his hand and clapped softly three times.
The shadow guard appeared once more, soundless as a phantom, dropping to one knee.
Gu Wangchuan’s gaze was unfathomably deep. “Find a way to let it ‘naturally’ slip out that the mysterious group which wiped out the Black Armored Guard was made up of Zhan Haoting’s shadow guards. Make sure everyone who needs to know hears it.”
He intended to stir these troubled waters into an even murkier chaos.
