Chapter 418

Chapter 418: You Are Playing with Fire
It was late at night.

Jin Yuan raised the ends of her brows as she looked at the figure slowly walking in from outside and said: “I thought you wouldn’t come.”

Yu Zhao tossed the spent teleportation talisman onto the table and sat down unhurriedly as she said: “You don’t dare touch me, so what do I have to be afraid of?”

Jin Yuan narrowed her eyes. Her sharp gaze fell on Yu Zhao’s face, as if she wanted to find proof that Yu Zhao was only putting on a brave front.

After a while, she suddenly laughed.

She leaned forward and said with open mockery: “Hahaha, those arrogant guys would never dream that they’re the real fools being kept in the dark.”

Jin Yuan suddenly leaned in, her upper body pressing forward until the tips of her nose and Yu Zhao’s nose were almost touching.

Their breaths tangled in the small space between them.

Jin Yuan’s breath was soft and fragrant as she asked: “When did you find out?”

Yu Zhao met her eyes and calmly fought back: “Why should I tell you?”

Jin Yuan straightened up and said, her tone smooth: “Because I can help you get away from them.”

She leaned back and sat down again.

Right now, there was no forced arrogance on her face, only true confidence and certainty from deep inside.

Yu Zhao looked at her and asked: “No matter how you look at it, you and they are the same kind of people. Why would you help me?”

This was what Yu Zhao could not figure out the most.

In fact, from the very start, Yu Zhao had never felt real malice from Jin Yuan.

Jin Yuan had even given her several vague warnings, telling her to stay away from Feng Jiu Si and that group.

Yu Zhao had accepted the teleportation talisman that Jin Yuan passed to her today because she wanted to know what Jin Yuan’s true goal was.

Jin Yuan propped her chin on one hand and said in a serious tone: “I’m not helping you. I’m helping myself. We started from the same line, but they want to take a shortcut and pass me. How could I allow that to happen?”

She looked straight at Yu Zhao and continued: “Since you’re so smart, you must have guessed why Feng Jiu Si wants to marry you.”

Yu Zhao’s thin lips moved slightly as she said: “As a furnace?”

Jin Yuan smiled faintly and said: “That’s right. You really did guess it.”

The corner of Yu Zhao’s mouth lifted just a little.

It wasn’t because she was especially smart.

It was because Feng Jiu Si and the others were acting far too obvious.

A group of Heaven’s Chosen fighting and competing over a Nascent Soul young woman. They dared to put on the act, yet she was supposed to believe it?

Besides, while she was following Tu Xiao to learn arrays, she had never stopped collecting information. In the end, she really did find some very interesting things.

For example, in the last few hundred years, the heads of many famous wind, fire, earth, and water clans had all taken Immortal Maidens from Auspicious Palace as their dao companions.

And those dao companions, some died after only a little more than ten years, some after a few decades, all from all kinds of “different reasons”.

Feng Jiu Si’s mother, for instance, had grown seriously ill and died in the forty-eighth year after marrying into the Feng Clan.

Huo Shao Yan’s and Shui Qiu Bai’s mothers were twin sisters. They had died in an even stranger way, both on the same day.

When you added up so many “accidents”, only someone careless to the point of being heartless would still think it was a coincidence.

On top of that, there was the Jade Ruyi on Yu Zhao’s body. She could not take it off, yet it made her glow with health and beauty.

From that time on, she had begun to suspect that Auspicious Palace was actually an evil group that specialized in supplying furnace vessels to the great clans.

The famous Immortal Maiden Liu Yun that everyone praised so highly was, in their eyes, nothing but a furnace that could be sold to the highest bidder.

Jin Yuan looked at Yu Zhao and said: “From the day you arrived at the Feng Clan, we already knew you weren’t Immortal Maiden Liu Yun. Her portrait had already been spread around in their hands. Do you know why no one stepped out to expose you?”

Yu Zhao’s eyes flashed with cold light as she said: “Because they don’t care if I’m Liu Yun or not. All they want is a furnace that can raise their cultivation level.”

Yu Zhao had only thought of this after she guessed the true face of Auspicious Palace.

The Jade Ruyi was not only a magical artifact. It was also a special symbol.

Whoever wore it was the most suitable furnace.

Jin Yuan’s eyes showed open praise as she said: “You’re even smarter than I thought.”

At first, she had thought Yu Zhao was just like the other female cultivators from Auspicious Palace, a fool blinded by the fake image that Feng Jiu Si and the others showed.

Just like her own mother.

Even at the moment of death, her mother had not dared to believe that the dao companion who had promised to grow old together with her, to share joys and sorrows, had been using her from beginning to end.

Jin Yuan had watched with her own eyes as her mother was drained of all her blood essence by the “father” in name only, and died. From that moment on, the seed of hatred had taken root in her heart.

She had rejected her father’s plan to pick a man from Auspicious Palace as her furnace. She had also refused all marriage ties with other great clans.

Jin Yuan wanted to see if she could reach the highest position by relying on her own strength.

She was telling all this to Yu Zhao not because she was suddenly feeling kind, but because she did not want to see Feng Jiu Si and the others break the rules she had set up by taking shortcuts.

Yu Zhao thought for a moment and then asked: “How are you planning to send me away?”

Jin Yuan answered calmly: “There is a teleportation array in the back courtyard. You can activate it now and leave for the Metal Realm. There, someone will help you erase your tracks. After that, you can go anywhere between the Southern Sea and the North as you like.”

Jin Yuan had thought that after she said this, Yu Zhao would rush to leave.

But Yu Zhao shook her head and refused.

She stood up and said: “I won’t go yet.”

Jin Yuan’s expression turned sharp in an instant as she asked: “What do you mean? You want to stay?”

Yu Zhao met her eyes without flinching and answered: “Yes.”

Jin Yuan clearly saw in Yu Zhao’s eyes an ambition that was not weaker than her own.

She froze for a moment, then thought of a certain possibility. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she asked: “You want to keep acting?”

Yu Zhao did not answer her question. She lowered her gaze and spoke more to herself than to Jin Yuan: “I guess there is an agreement between them, or maybe a wager. They are betting on who can win Liu Yun’s favor. The prize is Liu Yun herself.

“Now the person has changed, but it doesn’t stop them from keeping that wager going.

“Before the final answer is revealed, they will use every method they can to raise their chances of winning and show off their charm with everything they have.

“That is their fun.

“It is also my chance.”

In a way, they were all benefactors to Yu Zhao.

Feng Jiu Si had helped her quickly blend into the Middle World. Tu Xiao had taught her arrays. Huo Shao Yan and Shui Qiu Bai’s uses hadn’t shown yet, but Yu Zhao believed they were also holding back something big.

Since they were using her, why could she not turn it around and use them?

Who would win and who would lose would depend on whose skills were better.

Jin Yuan frowned slightly and warned: “You’re playing with fire.”

Yu Zhao’s face stayed calm as she said: “I know very well whether I’ll burn myself or fan the flames with the wind.”

No one could see that her blood was racing inside her body and every nerve was buzzing with restless excitement.

Ever since she became a Nascent Soul cultivator, it had been a long time since she felt this boiling, burning feeling.

It was only now that she realized she did not like a peaceful, stable life. She liked danger, challenges, and the unknown.

Even if there were crises and thorns everywhere ahead, she would still choose to push forward.

She smiled and said softly: “Dancing on the tip of the blade. That sounds fun.”

At first Jin Yuan had thought Yu Zhao was dreaming too big. But after thinking about it, she felt that this way of playing was even more interesting than her own original plan.

A group of Heaven’s Chosen who thought they were standing above everyone else, and in the end they would find out that they had been tricked by a furnace they looked down on. Their faces would be worth watching.

Jin Yuan’s eyes shone with interest as she said: “Since you insist, let me see what you can do.”

Yu Zhao’s gaze was steady as she said: “I don’t think I’ll disappoint you.”

Jin Yuan smiled slowly and said: “Then I’ll wait and see.”