Flower Stealing Master

Feeling Qi Fang tremble, Song Qingshu patted her back gently. “There is no reason to grieve over a man like that.”

“Mm.” She looked at the composed, dignified man beside her, then back down at her husband grovelling below, and felt something settle quietly in her chest. She wiped the corner of her eye and turned her attention back to the scene below.

“Young Master Wan has such a sweet tongue,” Lan Fenghuang said with a charming smile.

Wan Gui could only answer with hollow agreement. He noticed the back of his hand shifting from red to purple, purple toward black, a red line creeping slowly up his arm — and felt a surge of panic. “Honoured leader — I beg your magnanimity. Please give me the antidote first, and once the poison is dealt with, we can talk at our leisure.”

Lan Fenghuang regarded him with a half-smile. “Don’t worry — the line won’t kill you until it reaches your chest. There’s still time.”

Wan Gui nearly choked with fury. Once I’m cured, I’ll make you pay for every second of this. But then the image of that pale, silken skin concealing heaven knew how many venomous creatures made him shudder, and the thought evaporated completely.

As the poison crept higher and the dizziness began, Wan Gui steadied himself. “Honoured leader — what has brought you to our household tonight? Name your terms. My grandfather is currently the foremost minister of the court — his reach goes far beyond any wulin sect. Please speak freely.”

He was not a stupid man. Simple pleading wasn’t going to work on this smiling, flower-faced woman, so he shifted to displaying leverage — both demonstrating strength and implying that if she harmed him, the Minister’s power would come down on the Five Poisons Sect.

Lan Fenghuang gave a cold laugh. “No need to try to frighten me. The Five Poisons Sect is far away in Yunnan — outside Great Song’s borders entirely. Your grandfather’s reach doesn’t extend that far.”

“A poor choice of words on my part,” Wan Gui said with a conciliatory chuckle. “Still — a late-night visit from the honoured leader suggests you want something. Why not simply say what it is?”

“You have sharp eyes. Yes — I’ve come looking for something.” Lan Fenghuang had been confined in the net long enough that she was growing uncomfortable, and shifted position as she spoke, showing two stretches of snowy ankle. Song Qingshu watched with private amusement. ‘The heroines of martial arts stories — always barefoot, always spotless. One of the great unsolved mysteries of the genre.’

“Please say the word.” The red line was approaching Wan Gui’s armpit and he was beginning to panic in earnest.

Lan Fenghuang spoke without haste. “You’ll know that our Five Poisons Sect has always taken a keen interest in poisons of all kinds. Not long ago, I heard that even the invincible Golden Serpent King had been brought low by your Heavenly Devil Flower — I was curious, and came to ask Young Master Wan if he might spare one or two plants for our study.”

Song Qingshu felt a jolt of recognition, followed swiftly by understanding. Lan Fenghuang was Dongfang Muxue’s person — this visit, looking for the Heavenly Devil Flower, had almost certainly been made at her instruction. She was hoping to find an antidote.

“The Heavenly Devil Flower?” Wan Gui was momentarily startled, then smiled. “That’s easily arranged.” He crossed to a cabinet and carefully withdrew a sealed wooden box, which he placed on the table. “There is one plant in this box. Give me the antidote to your Spotted Poison Scorpion, and I’ll hand it over gladly. How does that sound?”

He watched Lan Fenghuang closely, afraid she might refuse.

“Agreed.” Lan Fenghuang gave him a sweet smile. Wan Gui let out a long breath.

“Although — you’ll have to let me see what’s in the box first. Otherwise, if you pass me anything other than what you’ve promised, I’d have no one to complain to.” She smiled pleasantly.

Wan Gui shook his head urgently. “The honoured leader is an expert in poisons and will understand — the Heavenly Devil Flower is lethally toxic in every part, including its pollen and its fragrance. The moment I open that box, we both suffer.”

Lan Fenghuang laughed. “What are you talking about? Someone who works with poisons has no fear of them. Just have the antidote ready.”

On the roof, Song Qingshu smiled to himself. Lan Fenghuang had taken an elaborate route to her real goal — tricking Wan Gui into producing the antidote to the Heavenly Devil Flower. The whole sequence had been elegant: she had achieved her purpose without raising his suspicion at any point. A genuinely sharp mind.

Wan Gui gave a bitter smile. “The Heavenly Devil Flower — the Demon’s Flower — has no antidote. There is none in existence.”

“No antidote!” Lan Fenghuang’s voice went sharp, and her colour drained. She could tell Wan Gui had no reason to lie at this point — if he’d wanted to use the flower against her, he could simply have done so, then demanded the scorpion antidote under duress.

She and Dongfang Muxue had both been holding onto the slim hope that some antidote existed. Hearing Wan Gui say this, that last thread was gone. It had already been some time since Song Qingshu was poisoned — if there was truly no cure, he was almost certainly dead by now.

She thought of Dongfang Muxue’s instructions before she left, and the carefully concealed worry in her eyes, and felt a quiet ache. Her feelings for once in her life genuinely engaged, and in the end — this. If she hears this news, there’s no telling what she might do.

The old Dongfang Muxue — Lan Fenghuang would not have worried so much. That woman had been invincible, the leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult, feared by everyone. But now she was severely injured, her strength barely a fraction of what it had been, her position lost, her identity something that could not be revealed. If something happened to her now, there might be no good outcome.

Wan Gui was a man of deep calculation. He saw Lan Fenghuang’s colour drain and her composure crack at the mention of the flower having no cure, and something clicked into place. He stopped, turned, and looked at her in the net with a cold smile. “I almost walked into your trap. You came for Song Qingshu’s sake.”

Lan Fenghuang knew her reaction had given her away. She was still caught in her own worry, and offered only a cool sound in response.

“That man really does have extraordinary luck with women,” Wan Gui said. “I’d heard he had not only a wife of matchless beauty but a whole retinue of devoted women besides — I half disbelieved it. Then I saw it for myself and had no choice. In Yangzhou, the Li family’s daughter sacrificed her reputation in front of everyone to save him. Then some woman who looked like she’d stepped out of heaven carried him away. And now here’s the leader of the Five Poisons Sect —” He looked at Lan Fenghuang’s pale complexion with a peculiar smile. “Truly the kind of luck to make a man envious.”

“Since there’s no antidote for the Heavenly Devil Flower, you can forget about the antidote for your scorpion too,” Lan Fenghuang said coldly. “Wait for death at your leisure.”

Wan Gui smiled and shook his head. “The Heavenly Devil Flower may have no cure — but the Spotted Poison Scorpion certainly does. And the antidote should be somewhere on your person.”

“And what of it? Come and take it, if you think you can.” Lan Fenghuang gave a contemptuous sound. “No man has ever touched me without my consent and come out unscathed.”

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