After being pulled into the man’s embrace, An Jin tilted her head and leaned against his powerful, sculpted chest. As if by chance, she reached out and touched the small bottle tucked into a pocket at her waist.
Inside was the venom Mi Yin had given her, to which only he and she were immune.
Back when she couldn’t defend herself, Mi Yin would often give her his venom. Even after she grew stronger, he continued the habit.
The venom would lose its potency about half a month after leaving his body.
It had been three or four days since he last gave her a fresh supply, but the venom should still have seventy to eighty percent of its strength.
An Jin flung the venom into the man’s eyes with incredible speed. Even "Mi Yin" didn’t have ti to react.
"AHHH—! Jin’er, what—what are you doing? What did you do to ?!" he roared.
He shoved her aside. "Mi Yin" freed his hands to clutch at his eyes, stumbling back several steps in agony.
An Jin kept her distance, twirling the bottle between her fair fingertips. Its jade-green surface glead like fine jade under the moonlight.
", unable to see in the dark? What a joke. Is my spiritual power just for show? The real Mi Yin would never be unaware of that."
She smiled sweetly. "This is the snake venom he gave . If an impostor like you gets it in your eyes, I bet you’ll go blind, right?"
"AGGGHHH—IT HURTS—" The second impostor went berserk. "You damned female, I’m going to kill you! I’ll tear you to shreds!"
Once its identity was exposed, Impostor #2’s face twisted into a hideous, terrifying mask, and just like Impostor #1, it moved in to kill her.
Two figures clashed violently in the forest. Nurous trees were snapped in half, and a shower of leaves rained down.
With a loud BOOM, An Jin was viciously slamd into a tree by a black snake tail. Her back, scraped and bleeding, slid down the rough trunk.
"Ugh..." She swallowed the coppery taste of blood in her throat and wiped the corner of her mouth, her gaze hardening as she stared at the frenzied, serpentine monster before her.
The second impostor was clearly much stronger than the first.
She had been able to slay the first one easily, yet against this one, she was at a disadvantage in every exchange.
The monster swayed its long, thick, black tail, its ghoul-like claws extended as it rapidly closed in on her wounded form.
"You damned, disgusting thing! Who said you could touch her?"
As the cold, furious words faded, a handso man with black hair and red eyes appeared in the moonlight. He shot out a hand, sharp fingers clamping tightly around the monster’s neck, his expression dark and dangerous.
With a series of sharp CRACKS, the monster’s neck was snapped. A long, black-and-red snake tail coiled around the monster’s body, which had gone as limp as mud.
It squeezed until the body exploded into a spatter of gore.
After dealing with the monster, Mi Yin swiftly moved to her side and gathered her into his arms. He lowered his head, inhaling the familiar scent of his female, and said with heartache, "I’m sorry, Jin’er. I’m late..."
An Jin stared at him intently, reaching out to touch his chiseled face. "...Another impostor?" she asked hesitantly.
A hint of a smile broke through his worried expression. "You’ve mistaken for soone else again."
"The necklace around your neck was made from my heart’s blood. I gave you this Venom Bottle, and your spiritual power allows you to see in the dark."
An Jin shook her head. "I’ve already used all of those as tests. As long as the impostor isn’t a complete idiot, he could have figured them out."
"Alright, then what do you suggest?" ’He suddenly realized he had no way to prove he was the real one.’
"Or," Mi Yin added with a smile, "you could ask sothing that only the two of us would know."
"The fact that you’re suggesting it ans you must be confident you have a way to pass," she said, as wary as a rabbit. "Maybe you can use your spiritual power to read my mind and know the answer ahead of ti."
"The two of us are trapped in an Illusion Realm. After I realized you were missing, I ca looking for you imdiately. I never thought I’d be mistaken for an impostor..."
He sighed, but a faint smile touched his lips as he placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "Still, it’s a good thing to always be on your guard."
"Stop trying to distract . Why don’t you tell , how did you find ?"
Having been deceived twice, An Jin’s nerves were stretched taut. She pressed her pale lips together. "The mate bond was severed, so how did you find ?"
"The mate bond was indeed gone. I found you by your scent," he said with a knowing chuckle. "Besides, your scent is mingled with mine. There’s no way I could mistake it, Jin’er."
"..." An Jin’s face flushed. ’This rogue snake.’ "Alright, you’re the only one who would say sothing like that." Only then did she finally relax her frayed nerves.
"But those two impostors were incredibly realistic. If not for a few minor details, even I wouldn’t have been able to see through them easily." She sighed, feeling ntally drained from being deceived again and again.
"The phantoms adapt." An eerie red light flickered in the man’s eyes. He let out a soft laugh, his gaze landing on her face as he spoke aningfully, "It learns the reason it was exposed from your reactions, becoming more realistic each ti. It infinitely approaches the real person in your mory, so the next one is always harder to expose than the last, making it impossible to defend against."
"That’s terrifying..." ’No wonder after she’d said Impostor #1 lacked love, Impostor #2 was so unbelievably gentle.’
"But don’t be afraid. I’m here." Seeing the flash of panic in her expression, Mi Yin gently pinched her cheek and chuckled. "As long as I’m by your side, those impostors won’t dare to show up again."
"Aren’t you worried that I might be a fake, too?" An Jin asked suddenly.
He froze for a mont, then shook his head with certainty. "No." He pressed his lips together. "Although we are both King Beasts, its power is lower than mine, so it would be difficult for it to fool . Besides, I rember your scent perfectly. I would never mistake it."
"Alright." An Jin was now even more convinced that he was real.
"So, where should we go now?" ’Since his power allowed him to see through this Illusion Realm, he should have a way to get out.’
Mi Yin looked around, and after a mont of thought, he looked back down at her. "Did they... the impostors, I an. Did they say anything to you before?"
He continued, "For a lie to be convincing, it must be mostly true. There must be so truth in their words that we can use as clues."
So, An Jin told him everything they had said, down to the last detail.
"Hiss... Strange. Both impostors seed desperate to take you over there." He looked at the only path before them, his red pupils narrowing with interest. "Why don’t we go and see what they were planning? The exit might be there."
There were no other good options at the mont.
An Jin nodded. "Okay."
The dense forest blocked any route for flight, so the two could only choose to walk.
But strangely, the forest path seed to stretch on forever. Luckily, Mi Yin was carrying her; otherwise, she would have collapsed from exhaustion.
They walked for a long ti, yet the endless night showed no sign of yielding to dawn. Everything here seed to have quietly co to a standstill.
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