Chapter 222: The Scent

The Scent

Silence settled over the courtyard.

Even the wind seemed to quiet, leaving only the faint rustling of leaves.

"Us?"

Seana stared at Lothe, shocked.

Lothe nodded slightly. "That was the question I asked myself. Why us?"

His voice remained calm, but the killing intent around him was unmistakable.

He took a step toward Zhao.

"Who are you working for?"

Purple Soul Energy gathered around his fingers. "Don’t worry. I have plenty of ways to make you talk."

He glanced at Seana.

"Love, unseal his voice."

Seana walked over and struck the same acupoint beneath Zhao’s chin. The restriction immediately lifted.

Before Zhao could speak, Lothe continued.

"Don’t waste time feeding me lies. Judging by your swordsmanship and the precision of your movements, whoever trained you is no ordinary person. Someone capable of raising a cultivator like you must possess considerable strength."

Zhao stared at him for a moment.

Then he burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

His head lowered, and his disheveled hair fell across his face.

"How foolish of me. Young Master Lothe, you’ve been playing with your prey all along, making me believe I was still the hunter."

He slowly raised his head.

"You deliberately allowed me to think everything was proceeding smoothly. You made me believe there were no loose ends."

A strained smile appeared on his face.

"Who would have thought that one small doubt would make you this suspicious?"

Even through his disheveled appearance, Lothe could see it.

Fear.

And beneath it, a trace of respect.

Zhao shook his head.

"But how did you know I would come here?"

"Simple."

Lothe smiled faintly.

"For what it’s worth, your concern for the children didn’t seem completely false. I began to suspect that one of them was someone you genuinely cared about—perhaps someone you had been protecting."

His gaze shifted toward the children’s chambers.

"So I assumed you would eventually return to check on them."

He paused.

"But there was another reason."

Lothe’s expression became serious.

"During our fight, my sharp sense of smell happen to perceive perculiar scent beneath the scent of blood and mist. A faint fragrance."

His eyes narrowed.

"Sweet. Almost impossible to detect."

Zhao’s expression changed slightly.

"Then I remembered the herb Seana once showed me."

Lothe looked at her.

"The Graveveil Orchid."

Seana’s complexion changed.

She stepped closer to Zhao, and Crimson Blood Qi swept across the courtyard. Something slipped from beneath his clothing and floated before her, held in place by her Qi.

A small herb.

It had five ivory-white petals, each marked by delicate crimson veins. Its stem was dark green, almost black, with three narrow leaves.

Seana’s eyes narrowed.

She would never mistake it.

"Love," Lothe said, "you once told me that the Graveveil Orchid resembles the Dawnheart Orchid, the vitality-restoring herb. Wasn’t that right?"

Seana continued examining the plant.

"Yes. Their flowers, stems, and leaves are remarkably similar. They even grow in the same environments."

Her expression turned cold.

"Many inexperienced herbalists mistake Graveveil Orchid for a beneficial medicinal herb."

"Exactly."

Lothe turned back toward Zhao.

"Now imagine someone secretly placing it inside the children’s chambers."

His voice remained calm.

"At first, nothing would seem wrong. The children might even appear to be recovering. But by the following morning, their vitality would have been severely depleted. Some might already be dead."

He looked directly at Zhao.

"And who would everyone suspect?"

Seana’s eyes widened slightly.

"The two people responsible for treating them."

"Precisely."

Lothe smiled faintly.

"We took responsibility for their recovery. If the children died under our care, the Four Great Sects would demand an explanation. Since Graveveil Orchid can be mistaken for a beneficial herb, there might be no obvious evidence of foul play."

He shrugged.

"That would leave us as the main suspects. The Four Great Sects would hunt us down."

"How cruel..." Seana murmured.

It was a frighteningly careful plan.

Once the children died, who would believe their explanation? The Four Great Sects would have every reason to blame them.

Seana’s Crimson Blood Qi began to fluctuate.

"Calm down, love."

Lothe moved beside her and placed an arm around her waist.

"Let me finish."

Seana took a slow breath and suppressed her anger.

Lothe turned back toward Zhao.

"You were even willing to risk your life. How vicious."

A faint smile touched his lips.

"But after watching us, you must have learned something about our personalities. You knew I wouldn’t allow anything to happen to Seana or myself. You were confident I would find a way to escape."

His gaze briefly shifted toward Seana.

"You also understood her compassion. She wouldn’t abandon someone who had helped treat the children, especially if that person appeared to be in danger."

Lothe’s smile faded.

"So even if we escaped, we would probably take you with us."

He chuckled.

"Then consider what would happen. The Four Great Sects would have to answer to the children’s families. Their reputations would be at stake, so they couldn’t allow the matter to remain unresolved."

His eyes returned to Zhao.

"They would hunt us. They would issue bounties, send disciples after us, and mobilize powerful cultivators. Even if we escaped the first wave, more would follow."

He spread his hands.

"Eventually, we would become exhausted. We wouldn’t know where it was safe to rest, and we’d have to watch our backs every night."

Lothe tilted his head.

"Then your plan would succeed."

Zhao’s body trembled.

"Let me guess what happens next," Lothe continued. "While we were being hunted, the person you serve would appear at the perfect moment. He would offer protection, shelter, and a way to escape the Four Great Sects."

A soft chuckle escaped him.

"A savior would appear."

He looked at Seana.

"After everything we had supposedly gone through together, we would feel indebted to him. We might even join his organization willingly."

Lothe shrugged.

"Seana, especially, would feel grateful. Neither of us would realize that the entire situation had been arranged from the beginning."

He leaned back slightly.

"Marvelous. The Four Great Sects would be led around by the nose, while we walked willingly into the hands of the people behind everything."

Lothe laughed softly, though his expression had grown colder.

The thought of Seana being hunted and forced to depend on strangers had angered him more than he wanted to admit.

"It hasn’t happened, love."

He lowered his head and kissed her hair.

"And I won’t allow it to happen."

His gaze returned to Zhao.

"After hearing all this, I’m suddenly interested in meeting your master. Anyone capable of arranging so much must be dangerous."

He paused.

"But that raises another question. Why us?"

Lothe tilted his head.

"If he wanted to recruit us, he could have approached us directly. Though we wouldn’t have agreed, so he must have known that."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Which makes this even more interesting. He went to all this trouble just to bring us into his organization."

He placed a hand against his chest.

"I feel honored."

Seana nearly choked.

"Lothe..."

"I’m serious, love. Someone spent so much time planning everything just to recruit me. I’m touched."

His playful expression vanished.

His fingers twisted.

"ARGHHHH!"

Zhao screamed.

Pain tore through his Soul as the system flashed with warning notifications. Dense purple Soul Energy wrapped around Lothe’s fingers as he manipulated the formation.

Lothe’s expression had become frighteningly cold.

"If this scheme only involved me, I wouldn’t care much."

His fingers tightened.

"But the moment Seana became part of it, everything changed."

Fine cracks appeared across Zhao’s skin.

"ARGHHHH!"

The pain felt as though countless invisible hands were tearing his Soul apart.

Then Seana placed her hand over Lothe’s glowing fingers.

She looked directly into his eyes.

Lothe turned toward her, momentarily confused.

A second later, the purple glow faded. The pressure within the formation disappeared.

Zhao collapsed, gasping. The cracks stopped spreading, though his body continued to tremble.

Seana withdrew her hand.

"For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re completely heartless."

Zhao slowly raised his head.

He stared at her, unable to believe what she had said.

"How ironic..."

Blood spilled from his mouth.

"You can deny it, but I know your concern for the children was genuine," Seana continued. "Perhaps helping them was your way of giving yourself some peace. For once, you were using your knowledge to save innocent lives instead of harming them."

Zhao lowered his head.

After a moment, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"You’re quick to judge the organization I belong to."

Lothe raised an eyebrow.

"Isn’t it?"

He seemed genuinely amused.

"If you’re a killer, admit it. Why pretend otherwise?" He shrugged.

"It’s better to accept what you are."

"It’s easy for you to say!" Zhao suddenly shouted.

"Not everyone is as carefree as you! Not everyone can live without caring about anything!"

His voice shook with anger.

"Do you think I wanted to do this?"

He raised a bloody hand and pointed toward the children’s chambers. "Do you think I wanted to kill those children? I didn’t!"

His voice cracked.

"But I had no choice!"

His shoulders began trembling.

"He took my little brother hostage. My younger brother is sick, and he has him!"

Zhao’s fingers curled into a fist.

"It was either them or him. What else was I supposed to do?"

His voice broke into sobs.

Hot tears rolled down his cheeks, mixing with the blood around his mouth.

The courtyard fell silent.

Zhao remembered a young boy with a pale face and weak smile.

His little brother. Xin’er.

He remembered the promise he had made before leaving.

’I’ll definitely get you out of there, Xin’er.’

Zhao lowered his head.

’Xin’er... I’m sorry.’

His lips trembled. ’Big Brother won’t be able to save you in this life. But if there’s another, I’ll find you.’

He had already accepted his fate.

Strangely, death no longer frightened him as much as it should have.

For some reason, he feared Lothe more than anything else at the moment.

And he was certain that after everything he had revealed, Lothe would never let him leave alive.?