90: Being too clever may lead to mistakes! [Please give me five-star praise!]

"I know you are the Sword Saint, and I also know you are a sickly person!"

Beef Soup said with a smile, "You have to take medicine every day. Century-old ginseng, Tianshan snow lotus, loquat, mint, fleeceflower root... I can't hide these herbs from my nose."

"You are truly very intelligent!"

Lu Jiuyuan sighed, "You've gone to such great lengths to come to my side. What are you after? What do you want?"

"Curiosity!" Beef Soup raised her eyebrows:

"I'm just very curious what Lu Jiuyuan, the Sword Saint known as the World's Greatest Swordsman, looks like.

It's a pity that meeting you is not as impressive as your reputation. You are just ordinary, not even as good as my Senior Brother, who values you so highly for no reason."

"Curiosity?" Lu Jiuyuan's voice was calm and unruffled: "Just out of curiosity, you dare to sneak into this Listening to the Waves Garden alone and play with fire right under my nose?"

He slowly sat up straight. Although his face still carried a deliberate paleness,

the Aura, as deep as an abyss and as unmoving as a mountain, suddenly spread out, instantly suppressing the playful atmosphere Beef Soup had deliberately created.

"It's true that I am injured, but even with injuries, it's not a place where ordinary rats can come and go as they please!"

"Hahahaha! You don't need to scare me!" Beef Soup laughed heartily:

"Others consider this place a Dragon's Den, but I only see it as an ordinary pond.

Without leaving the Central Plains, you don't know the vastness of the world, nor the breadth of the four seas.

Your martial arts might make you supreme in the Central Plains, but you don't know that on an island overseas, there are many people with strength like yours.

You are the true frogs at the bottom of a well."

"Frogs at the bottom of a well?" Lu Jiuyuan's lips curved into an extremely faint, cold arc. "What a boastful tone. The more ignorant, the bolder.

Does your Senior Brother Gong Jiu dare to say such words?

Does old man Wu Ming dare to say such words?"

"You..." The sweet smile on Beef Soup's face instantly froze, and for the first time, genuine shock and doubt flashed in her eyes.

Lu Jiuyuan not only saw through her identity but also exposed her Senior Brother Gong Jiu, and even seemed to be fully aware of her Master's existence!

This was by no means as simple as an intelligence leak; it was more like a mastery that saw through everything.

This indicated that all their movements were under surveillance.

"You know my Master? And you know my Senior Brother?"

"I also know that old man Wu Ming is your godfather, and I know your headquarters are on a small island in the East Sea."

The sweet smile on Beef Soup's face completely froze. She subconsciously took half a step back, her spine hitting the cold door frame, making a faint sound that was particularly jarring in the dead silence of the inner room.

"You..."

"You even know he's my godfather? Who betrayed us?"

If the Sword Saint knew, it meant the Imperial Guards knew. If the Imperial Guards knew, it meant the Emperor knew.

They had just prepared to rebel, and the Emperor had already received accurate intelligence.

Was there anything more terrifying in the world than this?

If all their actions were under the Emperor's surveillance, then the so-called rebellion was a joke, a joke that would lead to their own destruction.

Fear, like cold vines, instantly wrapped around her heart.

But immediately after, this fear was replaced by an even stronger killing intent, born of anger and humiliation at having all her cards exposed!

This person absolutely could not be allowed to live! Knowing so many secrets, he must die!

"So what if you know!" Beef Soup shrieked suddenly, "No matter how much a dead person knows, they are just dry bones in the yellow earth!"

Before her voice faded, her right hand, hidden in her sleeve, shot out like lightning!

A red light, like a venomous snake that had been lurking, screamed through the air and struck directly at Lu Jiuyuan's face!

It was no ordinary weapon, but a dark, heavy soft whip covered in barbs, the Spirit Snake Whip!

The whip's shadow was like a venomous Dragon emerging from its lair, vicious and cunning, instantly sealing off all of Shangguan Xueer's escape routes.

"I'll handle it!" Shangguan Xueer was already on full alert. The moment Beef Soup drew her whip, her petite figure moved forward instead of retreating, gliding across the ground like a nimble swallow!

At the same time, several poisoned silver needles, held between her fingers, transformed into cold stars, shooting with pinpoint accuracy at Beef Soup's whip-wielding wrist and several vital acupoints on her body!

The needle shadows were dense, soundlessly cutting through the air, cunning and vicious. Her skill in hidden weapons was truly inherited from her elder sister, Shangguan Feiyan.

"Petty tricks! Do you dare to show off before an expert?"

A hint of disdain flashed in Beef Soup's eyes. Her wrist merely gave an extremely subtle flick and tremor.

The Spirit Snake Whip seemed to come alive, its body tracing a strange arc in the air, like a Spirit Snake wagging its tail.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Several crisp popping sounds rang out almost simultaneously!

Shangguan Xueer's poisoned needles were precisely struck and shattered in mid-air by the dancing whip's shadow!

The whip's tip continued its momentum, carrying an even fiercer whistle, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, striking at Shangguan Xueer's waist and ribs at an impossible angle!

Its speed was far beyond Shangguan Xueer's reaction!

Shangguan Xueer's pupils constricted. She felt a 腥風 (a 腥風) rush at her, and a cold killing intent instantly locked onto her!

She twisted her body with all her might, but there was no escaping! The poisoned, barbed whip tip was about to tear her clothes and pierce her body!

"Hmph."

An extremely faint, cold snort rang out,

it was Lu Jiuyuan.

He did not get up, nor did he even look at the deadly whip tip.

He merely extended his left hand casually, two slender fingers, like plucking a flower, gently pinching the still fragrant Beef Soup in the bowl before him.

The soup held at his fingertips, under the stimulation of Internal Energy, transformed into an ice shard.

The next moment, Lu Jiuyuan's wrist made an imperceptible flick of his finger.

"Whoosh—"

An extremely faint, yet incredibly sharp sound of something cutting through the air rang out!

That small ice shard, under the extreme compression and urging of True Qi from his fingertips, instantly flew out, faster than lightning!

There was no dazzling light, no earth-shattering momentum.

In mid-air, it split into three, transforming into three streaks of ultimate light, yet condensed with deadly Sword Intent and cold killing intent!

One streak of light accurately struck the weakest point of the Spirit Snake Whip, the buckle connecting the whip tip and the whip body, where the force transitioned!

"Clink!"

An almost inaudible crisp sound.

The vicious and cunning Spirit Snake Whip, capable of splitting stone tablets, seemed to have all its ferocity and power instantly drained, its tip falling limply, like a dead snake whose seven inches had been severed!

And the other two streaks of light, while shattering the whip tip's point of force, had already silently pierced the body!

"Ugh..."

The sweet smile and killing intent on Beef Soup's face instantly froze.

She maintained her whip-wielding posture, but her body suddenly stiffened, as if nailed to the spot by an invisible nail.

On her brow, a tiny, almost invisible red mark quietly appeared.

In the same position on her throat, there was also an almost identical red mark.

There was no gushing blood, no screams or wails.

Only a deathly silence.

Beef Soup's wide eyes, still filled with shock and disbelief, stared fixedly at Lu Jiuyuan, who remained seated on the bed, his face pale but his gaze as indifferent as ice.

She seemed to want to say something, her lips moved with difficulty, but only a blurred, hoarse sound, like an old bellows, escaped.

The strength in her body seemed to be instantly drained, and she slumped softly to the ground along the door frame, making a dull thud.

Lu Jiuyuan slowly withdrew his fingers, a trace of moisture from the soup still lingering on his fingertips.

His Internal Energy circulated, and that trace of moisture instantly dried.

He didn't even look at the corpse on the ground, his gaze falling on his fingertips, then he shook his head. Ice and fire, two diametrically opposed Internal Energy, were indeed not that simple.

Even with the Ice and Fire Palm as a reference, just a rapid circulation would cause conflict and the danger of chaotic Meridians.

It was fine for research normally, but using and switching rapidly during combat was playing with one's own life.

He lowered his fingers, gripped his sword, and slowly said:

"Beef Soup, merely a fool who thinks herself clever! Your Excellency, since a strong person like you has already arrived, why do you not show yourself?"