Xiao Man's soul slowly sank. She didn't know how long she had been falling until she stepped onto a lake. She stood in the center of the lake, watching the ripples her toes parted spread and disappear. The water reflected her slightly confused face.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
Xiao Man heard a voice from beneath the lake. She saw the face reflected in the water, her own mouth opening and closing as if saying something. She crouched down, her hands resting on the surface of the lake, and leaned forward. Only then did she hear clearly what the person inside was saying.
Xiao Man found the bizarre scene before her incomprehensible, but she couldn't help but reply, "I can hear you, I can hear you!"
The reflection beneath the lake suddenly split open its mouth, the corners of its lips stretching almost to its ears, letting out a piercing laugh. "You can hear me, you can hear me, you can hear me!"
It repeated itself again and again, then suddenly reached out. A pale arm pierced through the lake surface and grabbed Xiao Man's ankle, dragging her fiercely into the abyss.
"Then, it's your turn to be buried at the bottom of the lake. I want to get out, I want to get out!"
A mad laugh echoed through the silent space. Then, the lake began to boil, and the space started to crack. Just as half of Xiao Man's body was being dragged to the bottom of the lake, and the other figure at the bottom surfaced, suddenly, clapping sounds came from all directions.
"Clap~"
"Clap~"
"Clap~"
Xiao Man felt the force dragging her to the bottom of the lake weaken. Her body slowly floated out of the water. She saw the person with her face cradling their head, covering their ears, emitting a silent scream.
"Whoosh!"
Xiao Man suddenly opened her eyes. The clapping sound was still in her ears.
Seeing Xiao Man wake up, Nan Shiying stopped. Chi Zu was, at some unknown time, held by the neck by Ying Yi. Her face was so swollen and red, as if she had been slapped a hundred times.
Xiao Man blinked and glanced at her young lady's slightly reddened palm, pursing her lips.
So the clapping sounds she heard earlier were her young lady slapping this person?
Nan Shiying's eyes were dark and deep. Any light that fell into them was instantly swallowed and submerged. Xiao Man had just fainted and didn't know what had happened. To be honest, apart from Nan Shiying and the others who had directly faced Gongzi Xun, the people in the inn hadn't clearly seen what had happened.
They had only seen that when Gongzi Xun didn't answer her question, she suddenly lashed out, flinging several silver needles from her sleeve. Those scales, which even a soft sword couldn't penetrate, were easily pierced by the silver needles.
Everything happened in a flash. By the time they looked again, Chi Zu had fallen into the hands of someone who was presumably that person's guard, and then, as if having a seizure, that person was slapping Chi Zu's face repeatedly.
"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" Nan Shiying asked, a little nervously.
Xiao Man shook her head. She had just had a bizarre and strange dream. Apart from feeling a bit listless, she didn't feel uncomfortable in any way.
"No, Brother, what happened?" Xiao Man asked.
Nan Shiying explained, "The worms on his body, through their wriggling, produced some kind of hypnotic effect in the patterns on his body. You were likely hypnotized just now!"
Xiao Man nodded, as if she understood but not quite: "So that's why I dreamed of those strange scenes?"
Strange?
Nan Shiying suppressed the doubt in her heart. She turned and gave Ying Yi an order: "Kill them all!"
With her veins sealed by the silver needles, Gongzi Xun's body worms disappeared without a trace as they moved. His complexion, stripped of its grayish hue, was as pale as a blank sheet of paper.
"Do you truly intend to be mortal enemies with my Wan Ku Lou?" Gongzi Xun's eyes were wide with fury. Only now did he feel the fear of death.
He still couldn't understand why his worm-egg armor had been penetrated by silver needles!
"Mortal enemies?"
Hearing Gongzi Xun's words, Nan Shiying merely let out a cold laugh.
"Kill!"
Ying Yi swung his sword, and the soft sword instantly slit Gongzi Xun's carotid artery. Then, he tightened his fingers and snapped Chi Zu's neck.
In the final exchange, the onlookers still couldn't comprehend why Gongzi Xun and Chi Zu, who had been evenly matched moments ago, were captured in an instant and had lost all ability to resist.
"Young Master!!"
"No, this is impossible, how can this be!"
The remaining two maids broke down.
Nan Shiying waved her hand, and Ying Yi instantly dealt with them.
Looking at the corpses lying in pools of blood, the crowd found it difficult to describe their feelings at that moment. Four second-rate experts, one first-rate expert, one peak expert, no desperate struggle, no final counterattack... they just died so easily?
They died so easily that it gave the onlookers the illusion that they themselves could have accomplished the same.