For an instant, her heartfelt tightly gripped, unable to breathe.
Standing before her was a youth in black martial attire, the fabric indiscernible. The upper half of his face was covered by a blue-black mask, revealing only the bridge of his straight nose and pale thin lips.
He clutched at his chest where they had collided, and when he glanced over, his eyes beneath the mask holes were slightly raised, conveying indifference and coldness…
Even with just half a face showing, Yu Lingxi recognized him instantly.
So… so similar!
Such thin lips and jawline contour—she would recognize them even if she were reduced to ashes!
The youth emanated coldness, his ice-black eyes swept over Yu Lingxi, his gaze fixing on the prescription lying face-up on the ground.
A dark color flashed in the depths of his eyes.
Yu Lingxi hurriedly picked up the prescription and Nine Abyss Incense, hiding them behind her back.
The resentment and grievances she had tried so hard to forget in her previous life came flooding back like a broken dam. Yu Lingxi’s knees instinctively weakened, the words “Your Highness” almost escaping her lips.
Her body trembled instinctively, yet her eyes couldn’t suppress anger.
Stay calm, Yu Lingxi.
Even if this person was Ning Yin, he wouldn’t recognize her. There was nothing to fear!
Yes, nothing to fear.
With this thought, Yu Lingxi gained more confidence, and despite the chill pervading her body, she held her ground in a visual standoff with the black-clad youth.
“You’ve come?”
The shopkeeper seemed to know the black-clad youth and broke the silence with a laugh: “Able to walk about so soon? You are tough.”
Only then did the black-clad youth withdraw his cold, probing gaze and walk to the counter to collect medicine. He paid not with silver but by tossing a bloodstained iron pendant onto the counter before turning to leave.
His steps were quick; as he brushed past, Yu Lingxi could feel a cold gaze sweeping over her, chilling her to the bone.
Yu Lingxi clearly remembered that in her previous life, he had an ailment in his left leg, always with a walking stick, moving very slowly.
Was he… Ning Yin?
Yu Lingxi hesitated, but that bone-deep oppressive feeling told her she couldn’t be wrong.
Just as she was thinking, the guard beside her changed expression: “Young miss, you’re bleeding.”
Yu Lingxi followed his gaze downward and indeed saw blood staining her sleeve.
Tang Buli was startled too and quickly pulled her over: “Are you alright, Lingxi? Where are you hurt?”
Yu Lingxi checked her arm and, finding no injury, calmly said: “It’s nothing, not my blood.”
Then it could only have come from Ning Yin during their collision.
He was the same in her previous life too, always covered in the blood of various unfortunate souls, and in the end, she had to suppress her disgust to wipe his hands clean one by one, while Ning Yin looked down at her from above, smiling and enjoying her frowning yet helpless expression.
Though she had obtained the medicine, Yu Lingxi’s heart remained in turmoil, filled with unease.
She couldn’t help but wonder: could it be that during those years Ning Yin disappeared, he was spending his time in debauchery at the Immortal City of Desire?
No wonder no one could trace his whereabouts during his exile in her previous life.
A thousand questions surged in her heart.
Yu Lingxi decisively bit her lip, thrust the medicine into Tang Buli’s arms, and said: “Ali, please keep this for me for now.”
With that, she quickly turned and hurried in the direction Ning Yin had gone.
The guard, concerned, hastily bowed to Tang Buli and followed.
Tang Buli was left standing bewildered with the medicine in her arms, muttering: “Gone to settle scores with that person?”
In just that brief moment, the familiar thin figure had not gone far.
The lantern light cast orange and voluptuous shadows, courtesans danced in the street, and people wearing colorful masks shone brilliantly, but only his black robe was darker than the night.
Yu Lingxi moved against the restless crowd, following with great difficulty.
Turning a corner, she pursued him to a magnificent seven-story building where Ning Yin had disappeared.
Yu Lingxi looked up and saw a dazzling golden plaque hanging on the beast-carved door of the grand building, inscribed with the words “Beast Arena.”
She was about to enter but was stopped by her guard.
Qing Xiao, an honest and loyal man, bowed with a troubled expression: “Young miss, such a place is not suitable for you.”
Yu Lingxi asked: “Why not?”
Guard Qing Xiao glanced at the nobles entering and exiting, lowering his voice: “In the Beast Arena, they don’t pit beasts against each other, but people. Various noble families keep fighting slaves, making them kill each other on stage while betting for entertainment…”
Qing Xiao said no more.
Yu Lingxi recalled Ning Yin’s deranged, malevolent demeanor in her previous life, thinking he must have enjoyed such bloody entertainment—this might be his hiding place.
Yu Lingxi surveyed the extravagance and absurdity of this gilded cesspit, understanding in her heart: indeed, he had been pleasure-seeking from a young age, not a good person!
Recalling the desolation after she died in her previous life, a thousand thoughts surged in her mind…
Despite several impulses, rationality slightly prevailed.