## AST 1893 - No retreating route?

“Grand State Master? What evidence do you have? How strong is he compared to you?” Qing Shui asked the woman after a moment of thought.

Qing Shui saved the woman and hence, up to a certain extent, he could be considered to have offended the Grand State Master. Of course, this was if the Grand State Master was truly the one who inflicted the poison. Qing Shui would also not want to be remembered by a poison expert. Though he didn’t fear poison, the people around him was different. If a poison expert like him was to remember him, they would truly be in danger.

“The Grand State Master may seem to be a very righteous person, but I know that deep down, he is an evil person. When it comes to his strength, he is a lot more powerful than me before. Even the current me may not necessarily be a match against him. As to why he poisons me, I know that there was a time when he wanted me to be his woman but got rejected by me. I don’t know if this has to do with it.” The woman explained slowly after thinking for a while.

Qing Shui looked at the woman with a weird look. Deep down, he felt very weird. Could it be that the reason he poisoned her was so that she would listen to him?

Wouldn’t it be better if he chose to rape her instead? Could it be that the Grand State Master didn’t like such kind of method? Or could it be that he was not confident he could do it? After all, some people would never give in even if they died. But could he be so sure that this poison would work well?

The Beauty Fatal Death, just as its name implied, would speed up the rate of a woman getting old. Some woman didn’t fear death, but instead, they feared to lose their young look. Could it be that this Grand State Master intended to use this method to push the woman?

The Five Poison Immortal Palace, Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace, and the Great Confucian Empire... How are they interwoven with each other? Which of the three forces are more powerful? Prior to this, the woman had once said that it was a coincidence that she became the State Master of the Great Confucian Empire. She did so just to broaden her horizon. Putting it that way, the Great Confucian Empire and Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace shouldn’t have many things to do with each other. In fact, the people of the Great Confucian Empire might not even know that the woman was from the Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace.

“The Grand State Master is aware that I am from the Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace.” The woman carried on and said.

The person must have had some hidden agenda doing so despite knowing about the woman’s identity. Could it be that he wanted the Five Poison Immortal Palace and Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace to make enemies with each other? Qing Shui didn’t hold back and asked.

“They don’t hold many grudges with each other, nor can they be considered enemies. However, the Five Poison Immortal Palace has always been considered to be neither a righteous nor evil group. Though we can’t just declare them as evil just because they walked the path of poison, but the majority of poison users won’t be anyone great either.”

The people who used poisons all started off with good characteristics. But as time passed, their nature would slowly become darker and darker. A lot of the poisons could never be used in the light, which caused the people who used them to slowly nurture the darker character and became adapted to sneak attacks and stealth.

This was also why the majority of people who used poison, or at least, people who often used poisons, wouldn’t really possess a good heart.

“Is the Grand State Master the only member of the Five Poison Immortal Palace in the Great Confucian Empire?”

“I am not sure about that. But even if there are more, he should still be the strongest one. No, I must leave this place, otherwise, I might bring disaster to you guys.” The woman stood up and said in worries.

“It’s too late. If the person wanted to know where you are, he would have known it by now. Sit down and finish the dinner. We will think about a way later. Could a living person still be choked to death by their own urine?” Qing Shui was too quick with his words and said something vulgar.

Lan Lingfeng couldn’t help but chuckle. The other girls all lowered their head and pretended like they didn’t hear it.

The woman, on the other hand, blushed and didn’t know what to say. She could do nothing but slowly sat down. She knew that the Grand State Master was very powerful, if a fight was to break out, it was likely that everyone here would be in trouble.

The woman was absent-minded while she was eating. As for the others, actually, they were a bit worried. After all, back then, the Second Young Master Hua was already very powerful, but compared to this woman, there was still a huge gap between them. To this woman, the Grand State Master whom she said she wasn’t a match against was also an expert in poison…… It would be weird if they weren’t worried.

Qing Shui however, was very calm. As long as he was here, it was nothing to be worried about even if they were poisoned, let alone he also had things like the Poison Avoidance Pill. It was just that it had been a long time since he used it. Qing Shui immediately took it out and shared it with the people. He had a lot of it.

“We still have some with us.”

Qing Shui has already given the girls quite a lot of it in the past. All this time, they had yet to use it. However, Qing Shui still exchanged it with them. After all, the quality of the medicinal pills now was significantly better than before.

“What plans do you have? Is the empire asking you to go back?” After having dinner, Qing Shui sent the woman to a courtyard in the Imperial Cuisine Hall.

Initially, the woman didn’t plan to stay here. But now that the offense had been made, it would be better if she stayed behind instead. At least if the Grand State Master really appeared, she could still hold him off for a while.

“He won’t kill me, but he will absolutely not allow me to go back. If I forcefully leave him, it’s very likely that he won’t let me alive. He doesn’t want to let the Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace knows that he poisoned one of their members.” The woman said after a while.

“If that’s the case, that means he is also worried about the Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace. It seems you hold a high position in the Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace.” Qing Shui has managed to receive some pieces of information from what she said.

“If he really did provoke a conflicting view between the Five Poison Immortal Palace and the Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace, it’s highly unlikely that the Five Poison Immortal Palace will let him go. I think it is a great thing for me to be a part of the Heavenly Chess Immortal Palace.” The woman said.

“If… I am saying if… we killed him… What will happen?” Qing Shui asked after a moment of thought.

“The Grand State Master has had a very stable foundation in the empire. He has been in the empire for many years. There are many experts around him. A lot of troubles will emerge once we killed him. Unless we let him die in a dubious way, or actually, making him disappear is all it takes and everything would turn out fine.” The woman looked at Qing Shui with a surprised look yet still insisted on saying.

To the woman, it was basically impossible to kill a Grand State Master.

“It’s still quite easy to make a person completely disappear.” Qing Shui was aware of the mysterious perception which existed in this world. Once a person died, the others would no longer be able to sense their qi. This was the equivalence of a person stopping their breath, which also came to say that the person was dead. There was also another alternate scenario where the person was still breathing but then disappeared.

There were multiple possibilities for the disappearance of a person. The first thing was the distance… Once a certain distance was achieved, due to the factor in strength, a person’s aura would no longer be traceable. The second one was by first isolating the person’s aura before eventually annihilating him. But if the person wasn’t skillful at isolating the victim’s aura, he would end up leaving some openings instead.

The woman thought about it for a while, “We are not a match against him.”

“We don’t necessarily need to be a match against him in order to kill him. We are not competing for the level of our strength here.” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“*Sigh* to think that I would drag you guys into this matter. I am sorry about it, I really don’t know how to deal with this. Running or staying won’t really help solve anything.”

This was how the world worked. Sometimes, once a person ran into troubles, he or she wouldn’t be able to find a place to stand on his own even if they ran to the edge of the world. Let alone sometimes, he might not even have the opportunity to do so. This was just like the world from his previous incarnation. One of the most famous quotes in the world was “you have to adapt yourself to the dusty world since you were born”. It was impossible for a person to abandon their life as an outlaw and stopped asking about the things happening around the world. Only a dead man could truly escape from it.

By now, though Qing Shui hasn’t reached the point where he had nowhere to go, he could still feel a bit of danger approaching. Stronger than this woman… And he wasn’t alone… If a fight was to truly break out, they would need to plan wisely.

Qing Shui also had some weakening abilities, the strongest person here was the woman… He had his own killer-moves and formations… The Battle God Halo…….

In conclusion, this could still be a fight that was worth fighting. It felt like it has been a long time since he had a decent battle.