Chapter 51 And just like that, the fish took the bait!

"Anticipation?" Su Yunqi furrowed her brows as she looked at the smiling woman before her, longing to strike her down.

"Indeed. See, the fish has taken the bait!" She had originally planned to deal with her today, lest the presence of the Crimson Guard on the road made it inconvenient to act.

"Su Yunking, I'm afraid I might still disappoint you. Knowing you aren't easy to deal with, I naturally didn't come alone." She suddenly flashed a confident smile, her gaze carrying a hint of contempt as she looked at Su Yunking.

In any case, everyone had watched her leave the Su residence. Even if she died today, it would have nothing to do with the Su family in the slightest.

After all, far too many people wanted a place in the sect, so it was hardly strange for anyone to eliminate someone else in the process.

With this thought, the murderous intent in her eyes grew even more intense.

Hearing this from the side, Su Yunking suddenly grew excited. "Could it be that you called Xiao Jinghuai here?"

In Su Yunqi's eyes, however, this was misinterpreted as Su Yunking still harboring romantic feelings for Xiao Jinghuai, prompting her to immediately pour cold water to dampen her spirit. "You can forget about that. Since you made a public spectacle of him, he will never fancy you. Such hard-to-get tactics of yours are bound to fail with him."

Hard-to-get? She could only respond with a cold internal laugh. The imaginations of these two were truly boundless, driven entirely by self-righteous assumptions.

Seeing Su Yunking's smile and mistaking it for disbelief, she pressed on, "Don't believe me? Hmph, he'll be here shortly, and you'll find out soon enough."

"You really are overthinking things." She was indeed glad Xiao Jinghuai was coming, but only because it meant she could eliminate him as well.

Her original targets had been both of them to begin with, so their deaths would be a thoroughly wonderful outcome for her.

However, to avoid startling the prey, she could not let her satisfaction show too clearly. If they grew vigilant, wouldn't this exceptional opportunity slip through her fingers?

Noticing Su Yunking's pensive expression and assuming she was still plotting to win over Xiao Jinghuai, Su Yunqi grew even more incensed.

What she loathed most was anyone casting covetous eyes on what belonged to her. Xiao Jinghuai was her fiancé now, yet Su Yunking was actually lusting after him—how could she not fly into a rage?

At this moment, she had completely forgotten that she had once lusted after Su Yunking's fiancé herself, as she was only ever capable of finding fault in others.

From her current perspective, Su Yunking had not only stolen the spiritual sword that originally belonged to her, but was still scheming to snatch her fiancé. With these two grievances compounded, the fury in her heart could no longer be suppressed. Furthermore, since the two of them were alone here, she no longer felt any need to deliberately mask her intentions.

Dropping all pretense, she channeled her spiritual energy and lunged straight toward her. "Today, I will have you die right here!"

"Then by all means, try." She would love to see who exactly would end up dead in the end.

Her cultivation realm was already superior to Su Yunqi's, and she naturally suppressed her opponent with a barrage of attacks. Yet, she neither grew careless nor arrogant, leaving Su Yunqi utterly devoid of any opening and forcing her into a continuous retreat.

It was precisely at this moment that Su Yunqi painfully realized she was no match for her opponent. A flash of panic crept into her eyes while she desperately wondered just when Xiao Jinghuai would arrive.

She truly feared that if this continued, Su Yunking would beat her to death, for her body was already marred by numerous injuries—two minor wounds and three severe ones.

"What's wrong? Didn't you say you were going to kill me?" Su Yunking caught the rare trace of fear in her opponent's eyes and let out a cold laugh.

"Don't get cocky, he'll be here any second!" She stubbornly lifted her chin as she spoke, refusing to yield easily, especially not to her.

Su Yunking paid no mind to her attitude; instead, she suddenly flashed a smile at her, instantly striking a deep sense of foreboding into Su Yunqi's heart. "What are you planning to do?"

Before her voice had even faded, she felt a wave of oppressive spiritual pressure crushing down upon her. She froze in place, and weakened by her injuries, she found it all the harder to break free, causing her complexion to turn ghastly pale.

At that very moment, she watched as her opponent smilingly produced a small white porcelain vial and forcefully pried open her mouth to pour its contents down her throat.

She desperately wanted to struggle, but before she could spit it out, a surge of spiritual energy struck her oral cavity, forcefully driving the liquid inside her down.

By the time she felt the oppressive, suffocating spiritual pressure vanish, the liquid had already been swallowed. Before she could even channel her spiritual energy to force it out of her system, she saw her opponent draw out the Azure Ridge sword and charge at her.

Terrified, she scrambled out of the way. It went without saying that the Azure Ridge was a spiritual sword of immense sharpness, capable of easily tearing through their defenses, so she dared not meet it head-on.

Because of this, she had zero time to induce vomiting, and could only glare at her with seething hatred. "What on earth did you make me drink, you wretched bitch?"

"A wonderful thing," she replied with a wicked smile.

Just as she finished speaking, as if sensing something, she sidestepped abruptly, narrowly dodging an incoming strike. Su Yunqi, however, lacked such swift reflexes; the streak of spiritual energy landed squarely on her body, drawing a piercing shriek of agony, "Ah!"

Simultaneously, another voice rang out from the distance, "What are you doing!"

Glancing sideways, Su Yunking saw that Xiao Jinghuai had arrived, and could not help curving her lips into a smile. "You're finally here."

She had just finished crippling Su Yunqi, so his arrival posed no threat to her ability to handle the situation.

Seeing that smile, Xiao Jinghuai assumed she was trying to curry favor with him, and a look of utter disdain immediately crossed his face.

He quickly turned his gaze toward Su Yunqi and found her lying miserably on the ground, wearing an expression of intense suffering.

Hurrying to her side, he asked with deep concern, "Yunqi, are you alright?"

"My stomach hurts so much!" At that moment, she felt as though her abdomen was being battered by a barrage of heavy punches, a visceral pain that robbed her of the strength to stand.

"What on earth is going on here?" Xiao Jinghuai furrowed his brow, looking at her as he pressed for answers.

"She poisoned me and refuses to return my sword! That sword clearly belongs to me. I originally wanted to use kind words to persuade her to give it back, but she resorted to such venomous cruelty against me." Even now, she did not forget to put on a show of fragile vulnerability to draw Xiao Jinghuai's sympathy and paint Su Yunking as a malicious vixen.

True to her intent, the ruse succeeded brilliantly. Enraged, Xiao Jinghuai snapped, "Su Yunking, don't go too far! Hand over the antidote immediately and return the sword to Yunqi!"

"Hah, that sword originally belongs to me, why should I return it? As for the poison—pardon me, but I have no antidote. Even if I did, I wouldn't give it to her!" She longed for nothing more than for this woman to die, so how could she possibly provide an antidote?

"Are you certain you want to persist in this?" Xiao Jinghuai's patience had worn thin.

Enduring excruciating pain, Su Yunqi whimpered, "Your Highness, she said she wants both the sword and you. I thought I could let go of the sword, but I couldn't bear to part with Your Highness. I never imagined this would provoke her wrath. I did nothing wrong at all—why must she try to kill me?"

These words sent a series of sharp, wrenching pains through Xiao Jinghuai's heart. When he turned his gaze back to Su Yunking, his eyes were filled with absolute revulsion. "I've told you before, I will never fancy you. I gave you a chance before and you failed to cherish it, and now you're still playing these pathetic games with me? It's too late!"