Chapter 88: Unpredictable Mindset
Liu Xunyi followed Xunzhen and Abaolu to leave Yulong Palace and go down the mountain under the hazy moonlight. The three of them had their own thoughts and did not speak a word all the way until they reached Ye Zilin.

"If you want to kill me, then kill me. Don't even think about turning me into your puppet." Liu Xunyi couldn't bear the doubts in his heart anymore, and finally spoke to break the silence between the three.

At this moment, Liu Xunyi was tied up with Abaolu's scimitar on his neck, looking like he was being controlled by someone.

Xunzhen, who was leading the way, slowly stopped and looked at Liu Xunyi with a strange expression, saying, "I didn't kill you, shouldn't you be grateful to me?"

Liu Xunyi frowned and shook his head, "But some things are more humiliating than killing me."

"Do you mean……"

"You don't kill me, you just want to treat me like you treated Lord Jia, and use me to achieve your goals." Liu Xunyi said seriously, "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated. I, Liu Xunyi, would rather die than compromise."

"boom!"

Before Liu Xunyi finished speaking, Abaolu suddenly smashed his head with the handle of the knife. With a dull sound, blood immediately spurted out. Abaolu shouted angrily: "You got the advantage and still act like a good boy? Don't think I dare not kill you!"

"Then go ahead..."

"Liu Xunyi." Xunzhen suddenly spoke, a look of contempt in his eyes, and sneered, "Lord Liu, do you really think you are some great person? Do you overestimate yourself? Or underestimate us?"

"Then... why don't you kill me?" Liu Xunyi was stunned and couldn't help but look suspicious.

Xunzhen smiled but did not answer. Instead, he looked around meaningfully and said to Liu Xunyi with a half-smile, "It's the middle of the night, in the wilderness, and there are only three of us here. With your martial arts skills, if you fight to the death, you should have a chance of winning."

After saying that, Xunzhen winked at Abaolu. Although Abaolu was unwilling, he slowly moved the scimitar away from Liu Xunyi's neck.

"Now if you just break free from the ropes, you'll have a chance to kill both of us, and then leave Huodu without anyone noticing." Xunzhen raised his eyebrows slightly, and urged in a strange tone, "If I were you, now would be the best time to act. Lord Liu, what are you waiting for?"

"you……"

Xunzhen's words shocked and puzzled Liu Xunyi. He really couldn't figure out what Xunzhen was up to. Xunzhen had taken great pains to lure him into the game, but didn't kill him at the last moment. Not only did he rescue him from the dangerous situation, but he also deliberately gave him the opportunity to counterattack and escape.

Xunzhen's various actions were all strange and bizarre. Although Liu Xunyi didn't know the truth, he was sure that this matter would never be as simple as Xunzhen said. Although he had not had much contact with Xunzhen, Liu Xunyi had experienced this woman's vicious methods.

"What are you hesitating about?" Xunzhen asked in a puzzled manner, "Are you unable to break free from the ropes? Or are you worried that you are wounded by the arrow and cannot fight two people alone?"

"What exactly do you want to do?" Liu Xunyi frowned and asked in a serious tone, "You plotted to harm me but didn't kill me, and now you are encouraging me to resist. What exactly are you thinking? Or, how do you want to play tricks on me?"

"Do you men in the Central Plains like to talk so much flowery nonsense?" Xunzhen snorted coldly, suddenly stepped forward, pulled out a dagger from his waist with a "swish", and swung it back and forth in front of Liu Xunyi's eyes. The blade emitted a faint, cold light in the moonlight that made people's hearts frightened.

Xunzhen asked casually: "Are you resisting or not? If you resist, I will give you a chance. If you don't resist, I will kill you now!" At the end, Xunzhen suddenly swung the dagger towards Liu Xunyi's eyebrows, which frightened Liu Xunyi so much that he subconsciously shrank his neck, but Xunzhen couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Are you scared?" Xunzhen gently placed the cold dagger on Liu Xunyi's cheek. "Since you are so afraid of death, then choose to live! Use your inner strength to break free from the ropes, and then kill me and Abaolu, and put an end to it all."

"I won't kill you..." Liu Xunyi felt the chill coming from the dagger, stared at the "cynical" Xunzhen with doubtful eyes, and subconsciously explained, "I can leave, but I won't kill you."

"Leave?" Xunzhen flipped his wrist and slid the dagger downwards. The sharp blade immediately pressed against Liu Xunyi's neck. He asked with a smile, "Can you leave..."

"Of course!"

Before Xunzhen finished speaking, Liu Xunyi's arms, which were originally tied tightly behind her, suddenly exerted force and broke the hemp rope in an instant. Before Abaolu could react, he stretched out his right hand at lightning speed, grabbed Xunzhen's white wrist, and gently pushed and hit Xunzhen's shoulder with his left hand, forcing her back two steps. At the same time, Liu Xunyi's right hand, which was holding Xunzhen's white wrist, suddenly swung in the opposite direction. After all, Xunzhen was a woman, how could her strength compare with Liu Xunyi? Therefore, she was unable to struggle, and in the blink of an eye, the dagger in his hand was pressed tightly against her jade neck.

Since Liu Xunyi was holding Xunzhen's pulse point, Xunzhen could hardly exert any strength even if he tried his best, and could only let him restrain him.

"Liu Xunyi, you dare..."

"Don't move!" Before the furious Abaolu could make a move, Liu Xunyi suddenly shouted and pressed down with the dagger. Xunzhen's brows suddenly frowned, and Abaolu was so frightened that he hurriedly stopped his actions, glaring at Liu Xunyi with a pair of bloodshot eyes in anger and hatred, wishing he could skin him alive.

Xunzhen, on the other hand, was calm and showed no fear. Except for the moment when Liu Xunyi suddenly attacked her, she was no longer in a state of panic.

"I knew you had the ability to do this." Xunzhen said calmly, "Kill us now, and then you can leave."

Facing Xunzhen, who was neither humble nor arrogant, a strange look flashed in Liu Xunyi's eyes. The two of them just stared at each other quietly, one calm as water, the other hesitant.

In the forest on a moonlit night, Liu Xunyi and Xunzhen were in a stalemate for an unknown period of time.

Suddenly, Liu Xunyi sighed and slowly loosened his grip on Xunzhen. Under the gazes of Xunzhen and Abaolu, he raised his hands in front of his chest and slowly took two steps back, indicating that he would not attack Xunzhen again. At the same time, he said, "You didn't kill me in Yulong Palace, and I won't kill you now." As he spoke, Liu Xunyi smiled bitterly at Xunzhen and said jokingly, "I don't know whether we Central Plains men are elegant or not. But we must know right from wrong and grudges. Although you designed to harm me, you saved me from Ding San after all, so I won't kill you, but I won't continue to be held hostage by you. This is fair!" "You wish!" Abaolu moved sideways to protect Xunzhen behind him, and then shouted coldly, "Why don't you show up?"

With a shout, hurried and noisy footsteps could be heard from all directions in the pitch-black forest, followed by flames that quickly lit up around Liu Xunyi. In the blink of an eye, at least a hundred Western Region swordsmen holding torches rushed out of the forest and surrounded Xunzhen, Abaolu, and Liu Xunyi.

Liu Xunyi looked around in surprise and asked in shock, "So you guys had an ambush?"

"Otherwise, how could I dare to try so easily?" Xunzhen walked out from behind Abaolu with a smug look on his face and chuckled, "Liu Xunyi, you have been fooled by me again."

Facing the speechless Liu Xunyi who was full of thoughts, Xunzhen smiled more and more brightly and asked jokingly: "Do you regret letting me go so easily just now? Do you regret not killing me?"

"If you wanted to kill me, you could have done it in the Jade Dragon Palace. Why wait until now?" Liu Xunyi was no longer confused this time. He stood righteously among a group of wolf-like Western Region swordsmen and sneered, "You just calculated that I would not kill you, and now I also calculate that you will not kill me either."

"Are you so sure?" Xunzhen asked back with a sly look.

"Yes!" Liu Xunyi said in a firm and resounding tone.

"Take him!"

Following Xunzhen's delicate shout, four figures suddenly flew out from the crowd and approached Liu Xunyi in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this, Liu Xunyi wanted to fight back, but the martial arts of these four people were far beyond his expectations. He thought they were all reckless men who could not withstand a single blow, but these four people were actually top masters.

Liu Xunyi, who underestimated his enemy, was caught off guard and was forced into a panic by the four men in just three or five rounds. In addition, his injuries had not yet healed, so after a brief fight, he was firmly captured by the four men.

"No wonder you weren't afraid that I would resist or even kill you." Liu Xunyi said breathlessly, "It turns out that you had already ambushed masters waiting for orders. Even if I was determined to kill you just now, they would have rescued you before I made a move. Xunzhen, Xunzhen! I really underestimated you. You had already left a way out for yourself in case of an accident."

"It doesn't matter if you make a mistake once or twice. You might as well guess again now." Xunzhen said with a smile, "Will I kill you?"

Facing the unpredictable Xunzhen, Liu Xunyi could already vaguely sense that he was being teased on purpose.

Xunzhen was still brooding over the incident at Yanmen Pass, so he had been looking for an opportunity to take revenge, and he enjoyed trampling on Liu Xunyi's "dignity". In this situation, Liu Xunyi knew that even if he guessed Xunzhen's thoughts correctly, he would deliberately change his decision, just to prevent Liu Xunyi from succeeding.

Thinking of this, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but smiled bitterly and shook his head, pretending to let life and death be decided by fate, and said weakly: "Kill me if you want, I... can't guess!"

"Have you given up?"

"I can't beat you, I've given up." Liu Xunyi nodded and admitted with bitter eyes.

"Then tell me, you were Liu Shaobao of the Tianji Pavilion in the East Palace before, why did you suddenly become a member of the Xianwang Mansion?" Xunzhen asked, "Don't try to make up some excuses to evade me. The Xianwang Mansion is the Xianwang Mansion, and the Tianji Pavilion is the Tianji Pavilion. Although I am not from your Central Plains, I also know that the court officials and the underworld forces have always kept their distance from each other and it is impossible to confuse them."

Liu Xunyi was shocked. What he feared most was that Xunzhen would ask about this matter, but now what he feared came true.

"Just kill me!" Liu Xunyi turned his head away suddenly, showing a stubborn attitude of refusing to surrender even in death.

"I can guess something even if you don't say it." Xunzhen said with a smile. She walked slowly to Liu Xunyi, whispered to Liu Xunyi in front of everyone, and said slowly in a very gentle voice, "Liu Xunyi, you are hiding a huge secret that you cannot tell anyone. Remember to keep it secret. Even in your dreams... don't talk nonsense." After that, Xunzhen slowly retreated with a smile on her face under Liu Xunyi's surprised and horrified gaze, and waved her hands to signal her left and right to let Liu Xunyi go.

"you……"

"You can go now." Xunzhen said, and then added in a mysterious tone, "Return to the Xianwang Mansion in Luoyang."

"I……"

"Don't worry, not only will I not embarrass you, but I also hope you can help me pass on two gifts to Lord Luo." Xunzhen said, "Tell him that this is a small gift from the Young King of Qin. I hope you will accept it even if it is not a token of respect!"

"Young King Qin?" Liu Xunyi had never heard of this name and was a little curious.

"You don't need to know too much. Tell Lord Luo and he will know." Xunzhen said, "The first gift is a piece of news. On the day when Mo Cen retired from the underworld, the traitor who colluded with Cao Qin in the Lu Mansion in Jiangnan was Song Yu from the Golden Sword Dock."

"Hiss!" Liu Xunyi was shocked when he heard this. Such a shocking secret was told by Xunzhen so casually that Liu Xunyi found it difficult to accept for a moment.

"Since you already know that I have a close relationship with Yulong Palace, you should also know the origin of this second gift..." Xunzhen ignored Liu Xunyi's reaction and continued to speak. As she spoke, she slowly pulled out the black bamboo tube that Ding San gave her from her sleeve, and then threw it to Liu Xunyi, saying with a smile, "The second gift is this 'Wind and Rain Picture' that Yulong Palace just gave me!"

……

(End of this chapter)