Chapter 4 What use are you? What use are you?

A sword light pierced through the air and struck the fangs of the python's mouth.

With a clang, a burst of cold, fine sparks erupted before Lu Qing's eyes.

Lu Qing gasped in shock; this python demon had incredibly sharp teeth. But before she could finish inhaling, the python demon had already dragged her to the ground. Its head nimbly engaged the flying sword, while its body unconsciously tightened its grip, tightly coiling around Lu Qing.

Lu Qing was choked so badly that her eyes rolled back violently. With the last breath she had left in her chest and abdomen, she shouted, "Wu Chen!"

"You might as well call me instead of him!" someone shouted.

The bamboo lantern fell to the ground, rolled twice, and then went out.

Lu Qing couldn't see anyone, but she could clearly hear Yu Jitang's voice, though she was already being strangled and couldn't breathe.

Yu Jitang summoned his sword and slashed at the python demon.

The python demon was enraged and opened its mouth to bite him.

Yu Jitang's swordsmanship was good, but the python demon's scales were exceptionally hard. When Yu Jitang's sword struck them, it only left shallow marks and could not harm the python in the slightest.

Lu Qing, on the other hand, was being dragged along by the python demon, staggering about and looking utterly disheveled.

This fish and chicken soup looks unreliable, and it really is. As for the one that seemed reliable, who knows where it is now. These guys are always there when you don't need them; when you do need them, none of them are trustworthy.

Lu Qing roared in his heart, "What use are you all?"

Men are unreliable, so find your own way to survive. Dizzy and disoriented from being dumped, Lu Qing suddenly remembered that Wu Chen had mentioned the white jade bell could ward off evil and protect the wearer. Fine, I'll give it a try.

Lu Qing shook her arm vigorously.

Huh? There's no sound.

In the midst of the chaos, Lu Qing grabbed the bell with her bare hand and touched it with her fingers. Good heavens, this bell is solid, how can it ring!

Lu Qing screamed in anger, "Wu Chen, you liar!"

This shout, filled with rage and fury, soared straight into the sky, creating a truly earth-shattering effect in the night.

Yu Jitang and the python demon both glanced at her in astonishment.

The sudden silence was the most frightening thing. When the python demon's strange yellow eyes fixed on her, Lu Qing froze.

No matter how she stopped moving, Bai Yuling continued her momentum, swaying in the wind on her own.

The clear, crisp sound of the white jade bell rang out at a leisurely pace.

The python demon's nimble movements suddenly slowed. She looked at the string of white jade bells in surprise, her demonic eyes narrowing sharply, a surge of ferocity rising within her. "Damn it..."

Yu Jitang seized the opportunity, plunging his sword into her throat, then pressed down hard on the hilt with both hands, slicing the python demon in two.

The python demon let out a miserable cry, no longer caring about Lu Qing, and released her. Then it curled up into a ball on the ground and rolled around incessantly.

Lu Qing kept shaking the white jade bell and calling Wu Chen's name, as if that would save her life.

The python demon moved slower and slower until it finally collapsed into a ball and stopped moving altogether.

Yu Jitang stepped forward and chopped off the python demon's head with a single sword stroke.

Lu Qing was so frightened that she closed her eyes tightly, not daring to look at it at all.

Sometime later, the night wind blew away the clouds that were obscuring the crescent moon, and some light fell around them.

Yu Jitang picked up the bamboo lantern, relit it with a tinderbox, and handed it to Lu Qing. He mocked, "I thought you were so brave, but this python demon scared you like this."

Lu Qing retorted, "If it weren't for Bai Yuling's help, you would be in the same boat now."

Upon hearing this, Yu Jitang glanced at her wrist and said, "He even gave you this. Are you really his person?"

Lu Qingxin thought to herself, "Heaven knows," avoiding the question, and instead squeezed the white jade bell in her hand. "Why are you here?"

Yu Jitang rolled his eyes. "If you can come, why can't I?"

Although the guy was unfriendly, he did save me after all. "Thank you for saving me."

Yu Jitang was naturally arrogant, but he couldn't very well treat a young girl like Lu Qing the same way he treated Wu Chen. "Why are you all out in a place like this in the middle of the night?"

Lu Qing relayed what the clothing shop owner had said.

Upon hearing this, Yu Jitang immediately lost interest. "So it's about catching demons." With Wu Chen's skills, such an obscure demon would be easy to capture. He had even thought Wu Chen had obtained some clues.

"Aren't you going in to help him?" Lu Qing glanced in the direction of the small temple, which was still pitch black inside, with no movement whatsoever.

Yu Jitang chose a flat spot to sit down. "I'm not going. Isn't he a better fighter than me? If he can't beat me, there's no point in me going."

Lu Qing blinked. "I think what you said makes a lot of sense."

Huh? Yu Jitang was taken aback, feeling a little strange. "You really are one of his people. In the past, anyone around him, if he liked them, even if they were rotten, they seemed sweet; if he didn't like them, even if they were sweet, they seemed rotten. If someone touched a single hair on his head, those lunatics would fight to the death."

He'd been tricked by Wu Chen many times, but the way those people looked at him convinced it was all his fault. People like Iced Lotus Root Starch Dumplings who still had a shred of reason were truly rare. "Hey, what's your name?"

“Lu Qing. The 'Lu' in 'sika deer,' and the 'Qing' in 'early morning.'”

“My name is Yu Zhen, courtesy name Jitang. Where are you from? I’ve never seen you before.” Yu Jitang looked her face up and down again. Although she was cute and pleasing to the eye, she was really not beautiful. “With your looks, you probably aren’t a disciple of the Divine Palace.”

"When your Divine Palace selects disciples, do you prioritize looks first?" Lu Qing raised an eyebrow. "I've never seen you before either." "What's your relationship with him?"

Yu Jitang thought to himself, "We were enemies in our past lives, and we're adversaries in this one." But if he said that, it would make him seem petty. "We are both divine servants."

"Huh?" Lu Qing didn't understand.

“A priest’s attendant is a candidate for priesthood. If the current priest abdicates, the next priest will be chosen from among us.”

"Heh, heh heh." Lu Qing made no attempt to hide his disdain, glancing meaningfully at the python demon beside him. He practically wanted to point his finger at him and ask: "With your level of skill, what kind of divine servant are you?"

Yu Jitang was so angry his nose almost twisted out of shape. "What do you mean? Didn't I kill this python demon?"

"If it weren't for the bell, could you have killed it?"

"I haven't even used my full power yet; dealing with her is just a matter of time..."

Lu Qing thought to herself, "By the time you've been using, she'd probably already been reincarnated." "Alright, alright, I know you're amazing. Getting back to the point, you divine servants and officials, you wouldn't happen to be from that Shuoming Lord's divine palace..."

Yu Jitang frowned, somewhat incredulous. "Where did you come from? How come you don't even know these things?"

Lu Qing touched her nose. "I don't know what happened to me. I woke up a couple of days ago and forgot a lot of things."

Yu Jitang only grasped one key point: "Then how did you know you were Wu Chen's man?"

“He said it!” Lu Qing didn’t know why he kept bringing this up.

Yu Jitang was heartbroken. "Then you absolutely mustn't believe him! This guy looks like a gentleman, but he's actually full of schemes and plots. He always leaves things unsaid, making people misunderstand. When you realize you've been fooled and go to confront him, he'll just shrug and say, 'I never said that!'"

Good heavens, how many times must he have been tricked to remember this so vividly? Lu Qing suppressed a laugh and continued to probe, "He's actually that kind of person!"

"That's right, that's right! You really have to be careful. You really can't remember anything from the past?"

How could Lu Qing tell him the truth? She just shook her head and said, "I only remember my own name."

Yu Jitang scratched his head. "I heard that Wu Chen went on a long trip last year, and no one has seen him in over a year since I met you all today..."

With a bang, a huge object carrying a foul stench flew towards Yu Jitang, interrupting his words.

Yu Jitang let out a strange cry and drew his sword to slash at the enemy.

Lu Qing had already slipped away to the back.

Yu Jitang's sword struck the unidentified object precisely, with such force that it split the object in two. After being cleaved, the object splashed out a lot of foul-smelling liquid, which landed all over Yu Jitang.

Just as Yu Jitang was somewhat bewildered.

Wu Chen emerged from the temple gate, carrying in his hand a flickering candle he had picked up from somewhere. The flame swayed precariously in the night wind, barely extinguished.

Lu Qing happily ran over, "Are you alright?"

Wu Chen smiled slightly, "I'm fine."

Although she was terrified by the python demon, Lu Qing's curiosity was piqued now that Wu Chen had emerged unharmed. She stood on tiptoe and peered over Wu Chen's shoulder into the small temple. "What's in there? Is it a monster too?"

Wu Chen turned his body to let her see inside. "It was also a python demon, which I killed. The scene is a bit bloody. Are you sure you want to see?"

Lu Qing hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "Never mind, I'm scared."

Wu Chen blew out the remaining candle and casually put it aside. Then, he took the barely surviving bamboo lantern with one hand, put his arm around Lu Qing with the other, turned her around, and pushed her forward. "If you're scared, don't look. Tomorrow, we'll tell the people in town to burn the corpses of these two python demons."

Are you sure it's just these two monsters?

Wu Chen hummed in agreement.

Lu Qing was about to ask again when she heard Yu Jitang roar angrily, "Wu Chen, are you doing this on purpose?"

Wu Chen's gaze shifted imperceptibly from Lu Qing's face to Yu Jitang's. "What's wrong?"

"You deliberately kicked that python's head out, didn't you? You deliberately drenched me in your stinking blood, didn't you?" Yu Jitang was a germaphobe, and being drenched in the stench made him almost vomit.

Wu Chen smiled faintly, "I'm sorry. I just severed its head with a sword. I only know that it flew away, it didn't mean to go for you."

"What kind of slashing technique can sever a head off like that?" Yu Jitang was so angry that he rushed up to him, wanting nothing more than to expose his true colors.

Lu Qing immediately hid behind Wu Chen, pinching her nose. "Ugh, why don't you go find a place to wash up first? This smell is just awful..."

Yu Jitang couldn't stand it anymore, gagged, and turned to run away.

Wu Chen watched his retreating figure, his eyes turning cold for a moment, but he blinked slightly, instantly concealing that slight emotion.

Lu Qing shifted to a more advantageous position. "Oh my god, if everything's alright, let's leave here. It's really scary."

"Okay." Wu Chen looked down at her and smiled faintly. "Let's go back."

The moon was bright and the breeze was gentle. The man gazed at her tenderly and attentively. In that very moment, Lu Qing understood the meaning of "charm" without any instruction.

A note from the author:

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