The Young Man from Miaojiang is a Black Lotus Chapter 32

He Sui’an instinctively thanked him, to which he seemed amused. “Aren’t you helping me stay awake? Why are you thanking me?”

She realized he was right and didn’t dwell on the detail, instead focusing on observing the ice chamber.

The chamber was empty, with only a few ice walls. Though seemingly sealed, they could breathe, indicating there was a ventilation hole somewhere. They could start by finding this vent.

She remembered she had a fire starter in her sleeve.

He Sui’an decided to use the flame to find the direction of the airflow. She had Qi Buyan move to the center of the chamber, waiting for a moment to see which direction the flame moved.

It pointed southeast.

She then had Qi Buyan move to the southeast side of the chamber. He Sui’an prodded a tiny, barely noticeable hole in the ice wall. It was too small to fit even a finger, seemingly useless.

Qi Buyan, however, smiled.

He stepped back a few paces and said, “That’s enough.”

Several threads of Heavenly Silkworm silk flew from Qi Buyan’s wrist guard, entering the small hole. The silk, newly sharpened, needed only a point of entry. He pulled to the left, and it sliced through a thick piece of ice.

With a loud “crack,” a large ice block fell, shattering on the ground. Fragments scattered near Qi Buyan’s boots and onto He Sui’an’s skirt hem.

They had forcefully created an exit from the otherwise impenetrable ice chamber.

She quickly climbed down from him.

With joy in her eyes, He Sui’an grabbed Qi Buyan’s hand and hurried towards the exit, fearing any delay might bring unforeseen complications. “We can get out!”

After a few steps, she abruptly stopped.

Ahead was a large pool made of human bones, eerily unsettling.

And there was someone there.

A strikingly handsome young man sat at a natural stone table, with a fine guqin made of top-quality rosewood, its body intricately carved and adorned with red tassels.

Dressed in white, the young man exuded an ethereal aura, untouched by the mundane world. Noticing them, he lifted his head, scholarly and gentle, like a refined gentleman.

He smiled and asked, “Do you know what happens to those who trespass in ancient tombs?”

His long fingers plucked the strings of the guqin.

The sound was soft and gentle.

The young man pressed down on the strings, his lips moving slightly as he gave the answer: “Death.”

He Sui’an studied him and spoke from the heart, “We fell into the ice chamber. You had the chance to come in and kill us, but you didn’t. You don’t actually want to kill us, do you?”

The young man slowly resumed playing his guqin, his voice blending with the melody like the sound of a forest stream, “Little girl, don’t try to guess my intentions. However, I will now give you a chance to leave.”

She bowed to him.

“Sorry, elder, we have important matters and must stay in the tomb.”

The young man’s hand paused slightly on the strings, and he sighed softly, continuing to play, “In that case, I cannot let you stay.”

“Kill,” he murmured.

At his word, several people appeared. They were not puppets but living men, his subordinates.

Unlike the young man’s slender figure, these men were rugged, tall, and muscular, each one seemingly three times the size of He Sui’an.

They looked fierce, each wielding a large broadsword weighing dozens of pounds—so heavy that she might not even be able to lift it and could be crushed under it. He Sui’an grabbed Qi Buyan, intending to run.

If she couldn’t fight, she would flee; she wouldn’t act tough.

Usually, she couldn’t win fights, so she had become quite skilled at escaping.

But these men reacted quickly.

Two of them reached the exit first, and the sharp wind from their blades cut off a lock of her hair and a few ribbons. The hair and ribbons spun in the air before falling to the ground.

The young man leisurely played his guqin.

It seemed he would no longer interfere.

He Sui’an’s heart raced as another blade swung at her, clearly someone unskilled in combat.

She pushed Qi Buyan aside and didn’t wait to be cut, rolling smoothly to the side. If she couldn’t escape, she could at least dodge.

Qi Buyan, unperturbed, picked up the hair and ribbons that had been cut off, his tone like a child whose toy had been broken, “Why did you cut her hair?”

He Sui’an found his reaction odd.

It’s just hair.

As long as she was alive, why care about some lost hair?

Qi Buyan continued, “I really like her hair… I’ve taken care of her for so long, so her hair should count as something I’ve nurtured. Can you put it back?”

Naturally, these men wouldn’t pay attention to him and moved to eliminate Qi Buyan first, surrounding him quickly.

The broadswords in their hands moved as fluidly as water.

Qi Buyan lifted his leg and kicked away a broadsword that was about to strike his neck.

In a flash, Qi Buyan spun around and stepped onto the shoulder of the man attacking from behind, then kneed another man wielding a broadsword in the head, causing a ringing sensation in his skull.

His moves were swift and difficult to defend against.

“I asked you, can you put her hair back?” he repeated.

“I’ll put your mother back!” the man, who had been kneed in the head, gritted his teeth against the pain and grabbed Qi Buyan’s ankle, trying to pull him down.

Unexpectedly, Qi Buyan was incredibly flexible.

As the man grabbed his ankle, he bent his body at an unusual angle, holding a dagger, and sliced towards the man’s head.

The man felt a chill on his head as his hair and scalp were shaved off.

Qi Buyan landed safely, holding a rough patch of the man’s hair and a bloody piece of scalp in his palm, with fresh blood dripping between his fingers.

He had a Buddha-like face, but his eyes were filled with extreme excitement and fervor. “Very well. Since you can’t put her hair back, it’s not excessive for me to kill you all, is it?”

“Madman!”

The man whose scalp had been shaved off grimaced in pain, glaring at him angrily.

Qi Buyan tilted his head slightly.

His dark hair hanging at his waist shifted with the motion, and the silver ornaments clinked together. “Madman. It’s been a while since I’ve heard that name.”

“You…”

The man tried to speak but couldn’t.

Qi Buyan had somehow gotten behind him, using a thin thread of Heavenly Silkworm silk to strangle his neck from behind, snapping his neck with a “crack.” The young man smiled. “What a nice sound.”

Seeing the situation turn against him, the young man left the guqin.

He walked up to He Sui’an, raising a long sword to her. “Tell him to stop.”

Why did they always like to use her to threaten Qi Buyan? He Sui’an couldn’t understand. She glanced at the young man’s long sword, feeling fear but refusing to obey his words, and turned to jump into the pool.

The young man had thought she looked gentle and easy to control, but she turned out to be a tough one, daring to jump into the Gu pool.

What courage.

Was she willing to die rather than be threatened?

Seeing Qi Buyan about to finish off everyone, the young man pondered for a moment and then left the scene.

He had misjudged one thing.

Before jumping in, He Sui’an had assumed it was just a regular pool.

But upon seeing the insects and snakes swimming at the bottom, she struggled to climb out. Just as her hand touched the edge, a snake with the ability to paralyze climbed up her ankle and under her skirt.

She almost cried out but managed to hold it in.

With Qi Buyan fighting the others, she had to rely on herself to get out.

Still in the water, it was hard for her to shake the snake off, so she mustered all her strength to climb onto the shore.

However, just as she reached the shore, the snake bit her. The paralysis took effect immediately, but at least she had managed to get out. The snake was still under her skirt.

The snake’s venom only caused paralysis and was not life-threatening; she would recover once the venom wore off.

Even her tongue was paralyzed.

She saw Qi Buyan approaching after having killed the others.

The young man first meticulously washed the blood off his hands with clean ice water, puzzled as to why He Sui’an was lying motionless on the ground. Initially, he thought she was simply exhausted from climbing out of the pool.

But then he realized something was wrong.

“He Sui’an?”

Qi Buyan’s gaze swept over her and noticed something moving under her skirt.

A snake.

He reached in and pulled the snake out, getting bitten in the process. The snake’s venom had no effect on him, let alone this one.

He Sui’an was a beat slow to react.

Qi Buyan… he had just reached into her skirt? He Sui’an knew Qi Buyan didn’t see her in that way, treating her like a pet to be nurtured, but she still felt embarrassed.

The hem of her skirt moved again.

It seemed like there was still something crawling, but only He Sui’an knew it wasn’t. The skirt had gotten wet in the pool and was sagging due to the weight.

However, since Qi Buyan had just pulled out a snake, he naturally assumed there might be another one inside. Holding the snake in his left hand, he reached in again with his right hand. Slowly, his fingers touched something, which then bit him.

It didn’t feel like a snake, more like a clam.   (TL: I tried hard not to comment but… 💀 I’m dead)

So it wasn’t a snake.

And it didn’t feel like an insect either. So what was it?

The way it bit his finger was strange, more like it enveloped him. Qi Buyan’s stunningly beautiful face showed confusion. Even though he knew He Sui’an couldn’t answer him at the moment, his gaze still seemed to ask her a question.

He Sui’an’s face flushed, feeling both embarrassed and helpless.

Her earlobes were as red as they could get, and she closed her eyes in utter embarrassment.