IWOL Chapter 340: Close Combat

Cui Zuojing stayed in the yellow room for a long time.

This room looked like a showroom. Behind the glass on the counter were things he was very familiar with—the Afternoon Tea Party’s identification bracelets, the clothes Victor was wearing when he was turned into a cat, Cui Zuojing’s long lost La Saville dagger, Luo Yan’s little daisy hairpin, and Fu Zhe’s pen…These were things they’d lost in the boxes, now reappeared in front of him once more.

There are some picture frames hanging on the wall, displ‌aying their five portraits. Fu Zhe looked down somewhere from the lower left corner, the tear moles under his eyes extremely vivid. A smiling Luo Yan looked straight ahead, her long hair tied in a loose braid that hung down her chest. Victor wore a tactical suit with a white coat over it. He had on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and the violet eyes behind those frames were gentle. Cui Zuojing himself seemed to be talking to someone outside of the painting, his lips curved into a bright smile.

The painting of Cheriyu Nana was deliberately blacked out with paint and only the collar of her kimono could be seen from the bottom of the painting.

Cui Zuojing stood in front of the painting for a long time. Those memories back then…How beautiful.

But now, Cheriyi Nana had become an enemy.

Cui Zuojing took a deep breath. The objects of the past could not shake his determination. Since Cheriyu Nana had chosen to serve the queen, there was no longer any possibility of them dealing amiably with each other.

He walked out of the yellow room and stepped into the grassy path of the maze. Even if he’d been here before, everything was still somewhat strange to him.

Cui Zuojing tried to locate the correct path, but he found no indication of which that might be. The only sound to be heard was the rustling of his shoes on the grass as he walked. After fifteen minutes of walking, Cui Zuojing stopped.

He looked at the empty path in front of him and said coldly, “Come out.”

A few seconds later, the emptiness 30 meters away from Cui Zuojing suddenly twisted to reveal Cheriyu Nana. She had a hand on her katana, and her hair was loose around her waist. She looked at Cui Zuojing and lightly said, “We meet again.”

In order to display the beauty of a woman’s neckline, the back collar of the kimono was splayed open somewhat to reveal the slope of the shoulders and the entire back of the neck. Therefore, the mark on the side of her neck was uncovered, looking like an ugly bug clinging to her.

“It seems that you don’t want me to pass,” Cui Zuojing said with a smile, but his eyes were cold. “Back then, you blocked Tang Ji in order to buy time for me and Uncle. Why? Now you’re coming to obstruct me?”

“Yes, only I can really stop you.” She slowly drew out her katana from its scabbard. The long and narrow blade gleamed with a cold light. Cui Zuojing knew all too well how fast it could kill and how cruel it could be in its thirst for blood.

“Then I hope you’re as good as your words.” The smile on Cui Zuojing’s face disappeared in an instant. His eyes flashed with an orange light, and the power of time gathered around him. In response, the power of chaos in Cheriyu Nana’s body rose up to rival him.

It was clear that Nana’s seals had been unlocked. As the Queen’s heir, Nana naturally no longer needed to be curtailed. Cui Zuojing slowly narrowed his eyes, and Nana’s every movement became slow in his eyes. In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of her.

——

It was only after he was far away from the white flowers in full bloom did Lin Hangzhi finally dare to take a breath. His whole face was beet red from having to hold his breath for so long. Now, he propped his hands on his knees and panted for breath. The feeling of vertigo had largely disappeared and his eyeballs and nose no longer felt so strange.

So scary…He ran his fingers through his hair in lingering fear and continued to walk forward. He didn’t know where he was, nor did he know how to get out of the maze. He didn’t expect that they would enter God’s Back Garden so quickly, and so he’d used all his accumulated luck on the Rose Chapel box. At this moment, he didn’t know how much was left.

He walked vigilantly, always paying attention to the smallest movements around him, such as snakes, cats, or things that might indicate that an heir was near.

Lin Hangzhi’s sense of direction wasn’t bad, and as he walked, he tried to create a mental image of the map. After walking for about half an hour, he saw a shiny object in the grass in front of him.

This shocked him and he moved closer, only to recognize that it was Xia Qiongyun’s blue diamond necklace. It was lying quietly in the grass, reflecting beautiful crystalized lights under the sun.

Xiao Xia’s necklace? Why was it here? She’d never allowed it to leave her body before.

Lin Hangzhi crouched down. He picked up the necklace and found that the silver chain was clasped. In other words, if it was deliberately discarded, Xia Qiongyun must have clasped it again after taking it off.

But wasn’t this unnecessary? Lin Hangzhi didn’t understand, and he didn’t think Xia Qiongyun would take the initiative to throw away the precious necklace that her family gave her.

……In the end, what had happened?

Thousands of speculations surfaced in his mind, and Lin Hangzhi tightened his lips. His heart gradually sank. He held Xia Qiongyun’s necklace tightly. The crystal clear blue diamond was wrapped in sterling silver, like a tear in the deep sea.

If something bad had happened to her, he might find her by following that direction!

Lin Hangzhi took a determined step. The necklace was held tightly in his hand, and the coldness of the metal gradually sank into the temperature of his palm.

Ten minutes later, Lin Hangzhi was forced to stop. He stood between a fork in the road, and the background on both sides were the same. This was already the seventh such intersection he had passed.

He was utterly lost.

Choose any one? With his shit luck, he would walk directly into the arms of an heir and die… Lin Hangzhi couldn’t decide, and finally, he helplessly took out the tarot cards from his pocket and allowed it to decide his fate.

Boom—!

Just after Lin Hangzhi set out the card spread, he heard the crisp sound of metal colliding not far away. An unknown energy fluctuation sent out a gust of wind from afar, causing the bushes to shake wildly.

Cui Zuojing!

Such a big movement, he must be fighting against Cheriyu Nana.

Should he go there? What if he wasn’t strong enough and ended up getting in Cui’er’s way instead? But if he didn’t go there, what if Cui’er fail to beat Cheriyu Nana?

Lin Hangzhi hesitated, but his feet took a step all on their own and he began to run in the direction where the wave came from. He reached a dead end, turned, and finally saw Cui Zuojing and Cheriyu Nana.

They were both engaged in a fierce battle, moving so fast that their movements could hardly be seen with the naked eyes. The sound of blade colliding followed the phantom afterimages of their movements. Time and chaos power intertwined, creating a blast of powerful and violent energy that sent leaves scattering and blew bushes bare.

Lin Hangzhi opened his mouth in shock. He had never seen such a fierce battle. The wind blew a leaf into Lin Hangzhi’s mouth, and he nearly choked on it before quickly spitting it out.

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