After being forced by Lady Yan to copy books all afternoon, ng Qianqian finally got a break when Lady Yan had to step out for so errand. By then, it was already dark.
She hastily ate a few bites of food and, under the cover of night, slipped away to the courtyard with the hidden chamber.
Even though she had already deduced that the other lantern bore the birthdate and ti of her past life, an intense intuition urged her to visit again.
She released the Hunting Eagle first to ensure no one was in the courtyard before climbing over the wall to enter.
Unlike the last ti, as soon as she set foot in the courtyard, a wave of familiarity washed over her.
Revisiting a place from the past truly has the power to awaken forgotten mories.
Suddenly, a crucial realization struck her.
The Thousand chanism Pavilion of old was not located in Liang Country’s Imperial City — the pavilion before her was rely a reconstruction of the original.
The place she had truly visited in her past life was the Thousand chanism Pavilion near West City.
According to Shang Wuyou, this location was a near-exact replica of the one at Lingshan. That’s why after moving twice, Gongsun Yanming rebuilt two identical Thousand chanism Pavilions.
"What a peculiar man."
ng Qianqian pressed a hidden chanism and entered the cellar.
She leapt onto the beam and inspected the other lantern. Indeed, it displayed the birthdate and ti of her past life.
Now that she had reclaid her Life Chart, it signified that the Array’s power had already dissipated.
She hung the lantern back in its original place and began searching around the cellar.
Suddenly, a sharp pain gripped her head, and a long-buried image flashed through her mind.
"Be good, drink this brown sugar water, take a nap, and your mother will be done soon."
"Not good! She’s awake!"
"Who are you?! Mother — I want my mother!"
In her childhood mory, she was locked in a claustrophobic hidden chamber. Awakening, she found herself lying on a strange stone platform, with two masked n in black standing before her. They pricked her finger, letting her blood drip into a golden vessel.
The mory abruptly ended there.
ng Qianqian broke into a cold sweat.
They extracted her blood — was it to alter Gongsun Liuying’s destiny?
Her brother had once said that when Xiao Rong’er gave birth to Gongsun Liuying, it was a perilous labor. To save Xiao Rong’er, their mother took her to the Thousand chanism Pavilion, and that rescue lasted three days.
So, the conspiracy began as early as that.
No, perhaps even earlier.
Wait a mont — the stone platform from her mory?
Could it be that this hidden chamber contained deeper secrets?
ng Qianqian took out her fire striker and carefully examined the walls. Eventually, she found a chanism.
It was a candelabra embedded in the wall.
ng Qianqian turned the candelabra.
With a rumbling sound, a stone door seamlessly integrated into the wall slowly opened, revealing another dimly lit hidden chamber.
A thick dicinal scent wafted out, assaulting her senses.
She stepped into the second hidden chamber.
The interior decor matched the fragnts of her broken mories.
She saw the very stone platform she had once lain upon. However, at this mont, a disheveled man sat cross-legged on the platform.
He was gaunt, almost skeletal, his oversized robes draping loosely over his fra.
His head hung low, and his long hair obscured his face.
ng Qianqian could barely detect his breathing.
A dead man?
Suspicion flickered across her face as she cautiously approached.
Just as she neared the stone platform, a bony, claw-like hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Her heart leaped as she instinctively twisted his wrist in retaliation.
At that very mont, the piercing cry of the Hunting Eagle ca from the rooftop.
Sothing was amiss!
ng Qianqian released the man’s wrist, brushed aside his hair, and caught a quick glimpse of a weathered, bearded face.
Without pausing for a detailed look, she exited the hidden chamber in haste.
The Hunting Eagle, upon seeing her erge, soared into the sky and flew toward Lady Yan’s courtyard.
Over there, a fierce battle was unfolding.
A dozen masked n in black were present, each moving with eerie agility and wielding profound internal energy — they were clearly not from the Thousand chanism Pavilion.
Shang Wuyou, besieged by many, was gradually losing ground.
Gongsun Ziyu said irritably, "Can you people even manage? All this effort for a single person, and you still can’t take him down? Mother, that last move he used — I’ve never seen it before. Where did he steal it from?"
"That is the Thousand chanism Pavilion’s unique Hand Technique, reserved only for the future Pavilion Master to learn," Xiao Rong’er replied coolly. "Your father is so biased, teaching him all his skills without reservation."
Gongsun Ziyu scoffed, comforting herself, "He must’ve stolen it! Father would never teach him."
Just a bastard, and he thinks he’s the Young Master just because we call him that? Pathetic! He should take a good look in the mirror and recognize his place!
Xiao Rong’er didn’t respond.
She kept her gaze fixed on Shang Wuyou, who was locked in combat.
Despite his nurous injuries, he refused to fall — he truly resembled his unyielding father.
A blade slashed into Shang Wuyou’s knee.
Using a stolen longsword as a crutch, he propped up his near-shattered body, determined not to kneel before his enemies.
Xiao Rong’er signaled to one of the masked n.
The man understood and gestured toward three others. They swiftly shifted formation, pressing Shang Wuyou into a three-way assault.
The masked man seized the opportunity to thrust a blade into Shang Wuyou’s back.
The mont the blade pierced flesh, three silver needles flashed through the air, striking the masked man’s key acupoints.
His body imdiately went limp, dropping the knife as he collapsed to the ground.
Everything happened so quickly that the others had no ti to react. The three masked n surrounding Shang Wuyou were also hit by the silver needles.
One was struck between the brows and fell lifelessly to the ground, while the other two were hit in the abdon, collapsing in agony.
ng Qianqian leapt into the fray, stepping across the heads of several masked n. She grabbed Shang Wuyou by the shoulder, pulling him out of the encirclent and landing steadily at the doorstep.
"Wuyou!"
He was losing too much blood.
ng Qianqian hurriedly applied pressure to his pressure points.
In an instant, Shang Wuyou suddenly turned to embrace her and spun them around.
Splack—
A blade pierced through, the tip erging from Shang Wuyou’s chest.
ng Qianqian’s eyes sharpened. She swiftly drew the dagger from her waist, spinning it in her palm, and sent it flying like a blazing wheel toward the enemy.
Its edge sealed lethal fates!
After slaying one man, the dagger continued its path, felling another two before its montum waned.
Gongsun Ziyu watched as the cold gleam hurtled toward her. It was too fast to evade.
Xiao Rong’er yanked her back just in ti.
The spinning dagger grazed Gongsun Ziyu’s cheek, buried itself in a pillar, and flew back into ng Qianqian’s hand.
Xiao Rong’er stared in shock at the corpses scattered on the ground.
In just one exchange, this girl had left four dead and three crippled among these elite fighters.
Chills ran down Xiao Rong’er’s spine.
She lifted her gaze toward ng Qianqian.
Holding the blood-drenched dagger in one hand and cradling Shang Wuyou with the other, ng Qianqian’s eyes glead like those of a vengeful lone wolf.
Xiao Rong’er took an involuntary step back.
"Ah—my face—"
Gongsun Ziyu touched the blood dripping from her wounded cheek and shrieked in rage.
Furious, she pointed at ng Qianqian. "How dare you scar my face?! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!"
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