"Heartless girl, might as well have lied and said it was a gift," Yun Yi muttered under her breath with a slight constriction in her heart, yet still extended her hand to take the Thousand Paper Cranes.
She scrutinized the paper crane carefully in her palm.
After giving the paper crane to Yun Yi, Gu Zhiqi started to form hand seals. With her fingertips lightly moving, a formation diagram appeared between her hands.
Yun Yi glanced sideways and caught sight of the floating formation diagram between her hands, momentarily stunned before a smile curled on her lips, "So, Xiao Zhizhi, you know how to use formations too?"
As she spoke, she gently lowered her gaze to the paper crane lying in her palm, poking it with her finger while murmuring to it, "Knowing how to use the formation, yet still asking me to lead the way."
It was as if the paper crane in her palm was Gu Zhiqi herself.
Gu Zhiqi paid no heed, casting the formation diagram outwards. The formation expanded at a visible rate and soon formed a large circle.
Gu Zhiqi’s eyes flashed blue as she scanned her surroundings, finally fixing her gaze on a stone not far away.
Having marked the target, Gu Zhiqi stepped towards the stone, and seeing this, Yun Yi immediately followed suit.
The stone lay quietly on the ground, surrounded by wild grass, among which trembled a purple flower.
Yun Yi surveyed the surroundings, then turned to Gu Zhiqi to ask, "Wasn’t there a murder here?"
This place didn’t look like the scene of a murder at all.
"It was a murder from a few days ago," Gu Zhiqi explained, squatting down and reaching out to pluck the purple flower.
"Wait, don’t pluck that flower!" Just as Gu Zhiqi’s hand touched the Purple Flower, a coquettish female voice rang out, her tone commanding.
Upon hearing this voice, Yun Yi frowned displeasedly, turning her head to look in the direction of the sound.
Then she saw six people, five of whom were dressed in ancient-style uniforms with a dagger at their waists. The leader was a girl in red with a whip at her waist, her expression full of arrogance. The one who had spoken was undoubtedly the girl in red.
Seeing the person who spoke, Yun Yi’s brows filled with even more displeasure.
Gu Zhiqi heard the girl’s voice too but ignored it, plucking the Purple Flower with her bare hands and standing up while holding it.
The girl in red, seeing Gu Zhiqi pluck the Purple Flower, was furious, "Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear me? I said not to pluck that flower!"
While speaking, she drew the whip from her waist and lashed it straight towards Gu Zhiqi.
Just as Gu Zhiqi stood up, the sound of the whip cutting through the air reached her ears, followed by the whip itself, slicing towards her.
Gu Zhiqi’s expression turned cool, her beautiful eyes narrowing slightly, a hint of icy color spreading in their depths.
With one hand holding the Purple Flower, she enveloped the other in Vital Energy and grabbed the incoming whip firmly.
As she was about to yank the whip from the girl’s grasp, an additional force acted upon her waist, and the whip in her hand was abruptly severed into two pieces.
It had been cut by a dagger, flung by Yun Yi.
"Ah! My whip!" The owner of the whip screamed, holding onto it with a look that was a mix of shock and heartache.
Yun Yi, after wrapping her arm around Gu Zhiqi’s waist and dodging the whip, quickly let go of her.
She stepped aside and glanced at Gu Zhiqi’s hand which was holding a piece of the whip, asking, "Is your hand okay?"
"It’s fine." Gu Zhiqi nonchalantly tossed aside the piece of the whip, somewhat out of sorts.