https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-346-Confronting-the-Celestial-Immortal/12536570/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-348-A-Fifty-Fifty-Chance-Against-Ye-Gucheng/12536574/
Chapter 347: Su Shaoying: Say Thank You! Gongsun Dame:
Chapter 347: Su Shaoying: Say Thank You! Gongsun Dame:
After Su Shaoying removed Gongsun Dame's disguise and unblocked her acupoints, she panted heavily, recovering from her fear, like a drenched cat pulled from the water.
"He wants to kill me!" Gongsun Dame said in a low voice, "This has nothing to do with some crazy hobby of his; he intends to murder me!"
"Why would he want to kill you?" Su Shaoying asked.
"I have no idea!" Gongsun Dame was equally baffled. "He has absolutely no reason to want me dead!"
"So, it's just a personal preference, just like how you enjoy killing under the full moon," Su Shaoying said with a smile.
"Pfft!" Gongsun Dame scoffed and spat at Su Shaoying. "The reason I gave for killing under the full moon was because I was disguised as Granny Bear at the time. I'm not insane; why would I randomly choose to kill on a full moon otherwise?"
Su Shaoying blinked, "That's what a messenger named Zhang Fang claimed."
This was the original plot from Gongsun Dame's first appearance in Gu Long's Legend of Lu Xiaofeng. It couldn't be wrong.
Gongsun Dame pouted, "If I wanted to kill him, do you think he'd still be alive? I intentionally let him live a little longer to give the Six Gates a target to chase."
"Why did you want to kill them?" Su Shaoying asked.
Gongsun Dame snorted, initially disinclined to explain, but then she recalled that Su Shaoying had just saved her life, so she relented and said, "They were escorting a rather secretive shipment, which in itself isn't unusual, but they shouldn't have taken a peek midway through the journey."
"Killing them was to silence them," Su Shaoying realized.
"Exactly," Gongsun Dame agreed, shrugging. She wasn't a good person, and she had taken many lives, but she didn't want Su Shaoying to misunderstand her as a deranged killer.
"But do you know what that shipment was?" Su Shaoying asked.
"You're saying that Ye Gucheng wanted to kill me to silence me as well?"
Gongsun Dame took a deep breath, understanding Su Shaoying's implication and remembering something, "Was that message you had Fourth Sister give me a premonition of today's events?"
"But you obviously didn't take it to heart." Su Shaoying laughed.
"I did!" Gongsun Dame argued, then couldn't help but blush, feeling ashamed, "But Ye Gucheng's sword was still on the table, and..."
Gongsun Dame sighed, "I never expected such an extraordinary swordsman to resort to a sneak attack from behind."
Forget about Gongsun Dame; even Su Shaoying wouldn't have expected it if he hadn't read the original story.
He had only met Ye Gucheng three times—twice at Pingnan Wang's mansion and once within the Zhang family estate. Regardless of the perspective, Ye Gucheng was a proud and peerless swordsman, and perhaps only two or three people in the world would even catch his attention.
Who would've thought that such a person would resort to petty tricks to lower others' guards and then strike from the shadows?
If not for Gongsun Dame's near-death experience, she probably wouldn't have believed it even if she heard it from someone else!
"But I don't know anything!" Gongsun Dame exclaimed in frustration, "I know that his duel with Ximen Chuixue involves a lot of people and interests, but that's not a secret. I know, the honest monk knows, and many others know as well."
"Pingnan Wang asking you to deliver the message was obviously part of a scheme as well," Su Shaoying hinted, "There must be some secret that you're aware of."
"But I don't know!" Gongsun Dame emphasized again.
"Or perhaps you do know, but you overlooked it, thinking that you didn't," Su Shaoying suggested.
Of course, Gongsun Dame couldn't think of anything because she truly knew nothing. Ye Gucheng's reasons for wanting her dead were twofold: to prevent her from inadvertently guessing something, and to shift the blame onto her.
"You've had a tough life," Su Shaoying said, stroking his chin. "Lu Xiaofeng is the hidden hand behind the killings, and you, Gongsun Dame, are the pot they use."
One is the borrowed knife that kills, and the other is the pot that takes the blame.
Gongsun Dame noticed the pity in Su Shaoying's eyes and immediately glared at him, her anger rising. "What's that look for?"
"Pity," Su Shaoying admitted. "And here you are, the leader of the Red Shoes, with your ability to transform and your unmatched swordsmanship. Yet, that Ye Gucheng wants to kill you, and others could too. How did you end up like this?"
"What do you mean, 'end up like this'?" Gongsun Dame retorted angrily. "As for Jin Jiuling, she colluded with Er Niang, and Ye Gucheng resorted to a sneaky ambush."
"And you thought that by asking for eighteen bushels of pearls, Pingnan Wang would just hand them over," Su Shaoying added nonchalantly.
Gongsun Dame: (⊙‵⊙)
There was no point in continuing this conversation. Gongsun Dame seethed with anger but also calmed down. She realized that Pingnan Wang's request for her to deliver a message to Ye Gucheng was a ruse, and his true intention was to have Ye Gucheng kill her. Therefore...
The one who wanted her dead was not Ye Gucheng but Pingnan Wang himself!
What secret had she inadvertently stumbled upon that made them so determined to silence her? Gongsun Dame racked her brains but couldn't come up with an answer.
"Forget it, don't think about it anymore," Su Shaoying said. "The fact that they lured you into a trap shows that you weren't suspicious of them. So, no matter how hard you try, you might not be able to figure it out."
Gongsun Dame glared at Su Shaoying, her eyes flashing with annoyance. "And whose fault is that?"
Su Shaoying chuckled. "You make it sound like you're not curious."
Gongsun Dame huffed, "You're just stirring up trouble. This is a natural talent that women are born with."
Su Shaoying shook his head. "You're wrong again."
Gongsun Dame blinked, then continued, "And I'm a beautiful woman."
"Congratulations, you've mastered the art of interrupting," Su Shaoying said with a nod and a smile.
Gongsun Dame laughed, her mood finally lightening. She had just escaped a near-death experience, and only now did she realize she was still lying in Su Shaoying's arms.
Instead of getting up, she relaxed into his embrace and asked, "Why did you follow me? Did you suspect that Ye Gucheng wanted to kill me?"
Su Shaoying, of course, wouldn't admit it. "I just felt that something was off, so I wanted to meet Ye Gucheng again. Since I ran into you, I couldn't just stand by and watch him kill you."
Gongsun Dame fixed her gaze on Su Shaoying's eyes. "Ye Gucheng's 'Heavenly Sword Descends' is an unparalleled sword technique. No one can be absolutely sure of blocking that move, yet you saved me from it."
"I'm not stupid," Su Shaoying said with a smile. "Why would I try to block it directly?"
Gongsun Dame was a skilled warrior herself, and she understood the difficulty of rescuing someone from Ye Gucheng's grasp. Although Su Shaoying made it sound casual, she could imagine the peril they had faced in that fleeting moment of their clash.
"So, don't you think you should say thank you?" Su Shaoying asked with a smile.
Gongsun Dame smiled but remained silent. Instead, she raised her hands and wrapped them around Su Shaoying's neck, pulling him down for a kiss.
(End of Chapter)
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