"Junior sister, say something! Is it true or not?"

Qiu Qianqian shrugged: "If everyone thinks that way, then so be it. Anyway, nobody believes me."

His words were full of self-deprecation and helplessness.

"Junior sister, I believe you, but my master and Prince Jin don't! Especially since you even managed to lose the Moon Palace Token, who would believe that? If you tell your senior brother the truth, I promise to put in a good word for you with the sect leader and try to get you out of this place of solitary confinement as soon as possible!"

But Qiu Qianqian remained unmoved: "Thank you for your kindness, Senior Brother. What I just said is the truth."

"you--"

The young man was exasperated: "Qianqian, your senior brother is genuinely trying to help you. If you don't cooperate, being locked up in seclusion is the least of your worries. What will you do if you really anger Prince Jin and he refuses to give you the antidote when the poison takes effect in ten or fifteen days?"

Qiu Qianqian did not answer, but muttered to herself.

Will he?

"Why not? Prince Jin gave us the Half-Month Powder when he told the sect leader to make us obey! Now that you're disobeying, what reason does he have to keep you around?"

This time, Qiu Qianqian didn't answer. She smiled, closed the door, and went inside.

The young man stood outside the door for a while, his eyes gloomy, then turned and left.

...

After a while, once he was sure no one was around, Jing Zhe flew out of the darkness and knocked on Qiu Qianqian's door.

"Senior brother, I've said everything I needed to say. Please don't ask any more questions. Go back now!"

An impatient voice came from inside the house, and there was no sound of her getting up or walking, clearly indicating that she did not want to open the door.

Jing Zhe remained silent and continued knocking on the door.

I didn't mean—

The moment Qiu Qianqian pushed open the door, she froze.

The expression in his eyes was quite rich, showing surprise, but even more so, joy.

Why are you here?

"Didn't you send me?"

Jing Zhe said.

At this moment, Qiu Qianqian remembered that before she left, she told Jing Zhe to come to Tongtianque to find her when he arrived in Jinxi.

Then he asked, "How did you get in? How long have you been here?"

So Jing Zhe recounted what had just happened, concluding, "That man was no good."

Qiu Qianqian narrowed her eyes, a half-smile playing on her lips.

"Oh? He's my senior brother, Xue Dianzun, our sect leader's prized disciple!"

"So what? I clearly heard your Qingyang Sect Leader telling your master not to make things difficult for you and that he would let you out tomorrow. But he exaggerated and tried to scare you, trying to get something out of you. He's so mean."

After hearing Jing Zhe's complaint, Qiu Qianqian laughed instead.

Without even caring why Xue Dianzun had tricked her, she suddenly tilted her head and asked, "Are you... worried about me?"

Jing Zhe was taken aback for a moment. "I'm just reminding you that you're always in the same place as bad people, so you need to be careful!"

"oh."

Qiu Qianqian gave a soft reply, her expression indifferent to joy or sorrow.

Jing Zhe quickly reached into his robes and pulled out the crescent-shaped token. According to what Xue Dianzun had just said, this token seemed to be called the Moon Palace Token and was quite precious.

How did they know your Moon Palace Decree was gone?

According to Jing Zhe's understanding, Qiu Qianqian was such a powerful figure in Tongtianque, who would bother to check her token? If even hers were checked, how could Tongtianque possibly keep up with all the people checking everyone?

"There aren't many of these Moon Palace Tokens in Tongtian Palace. With a Moon Palace Token, you can travel freely in Jinxi without being stopped by the soldiers. So, any disciple who goes out with a Moon Palace Token will have it checked when they return."

Jing Zhe recalled the looks in the eyes of the soldiers when they saw the token when they entered the city. If he had this Moon Palace Token, he could do a lot of things in Jinxi. No wonder Tongtian Palace valued it so much.

He quickly handed over the token.

"Then you'd better put it away quickly!"

Qiu Qianqian hesitated for a moment, but still took it.

"I initially thought that if I failed my mission, the Prince of Jin would be furious and send the rest of us from Tongtianque to kill you. He would find out as soon as you entered Jinxi, so I gave you a Moon Palace Token to ensure your safe entry into the city, as a way to save your life. But fearing you wouldn't come, I exchanged other tokens for this one..."

After saying that, he gave a self-deprecating laugh: "It turns out I was overthinking it. Although the Prince of Jin was furious after hearing about the mission's failure, for some reason, he never mentioned sending someone to kill you again..."

After listening, Jing Zhe finally understood Qiu Qianqian's good intentions; she took his token and the Emperor's Sword only to protect him.

As for why the Prince of Jin didn't kill him, it must be because Su Xinping wrote a letter to the Prince of Jin saying that he had been poisoned by a "self-destructing pill" and would explode and die without an antidote. How could the Prince of Jin dare to touch him?

"Thank you very much, Miss Qiu!"

He continued, "Miss Qiu went so far as to defy Prince Jin to protect me, for which I am deeply grateful! Didn't Miss Qiu really consider the consequences if she angered Prince Jin?"

Qiu Qianqian sneered: "Right now, he needs me! The martial arts tournament is coming soon. Even if I don't say anything, he will release me tomorrow. After all, he still needs me to win first place!"

Even being confined to the wall didn't affect Qiu Qianqian's shrewdness. Looking at her confident expression, Jing Zhe found Xue Dianzun somewhat ridiculous. Even without his presence, he couldn't have fooled Qiu Qianqian at all.

After hearing her finish speaking, Jing Zhe took out the Moon Departure Sword again, handed it over with both hands, and prepared to return it intact.

This time, Qiu Qianqian didn't take it. Instead, she looked into his eyes and asked, "You rushed over here so urgently just to get your token and that dagger, right?"

"..."

Jing Zhe remained silent for a moment, then finally admitted it.

"Yes."

He knew that, given Qiu Qianqian's current state, telling the truth would definitely hurt her, but if he didn't tell the truth, what if she really refused to give it to him?

He was about to see Qingqiu, and in the not-too-distant future he would also see Liu Jinghong. Without a token, wouldn't he be making them sad?

One is less than two, so he chose to tell the truth.

As expected, after hearing this, Qiu Qianqian gave a bitter smile, her eyes filled with desolation, followed by some anger.

He pulled the three tokens out of his clothes and pretended to throw them off the cliff below, startling Jing Zhe.

But she held back and threw it heavily at Jing Zhe's feet.

Jing Zhe quickly bent down to pick it up. Seeing this, Qiu Qianqian sneered and felt a sudden surge of inexplicable bitterness. She then pulled out the Emperor's Sword and threw it away.

With a "whoosh," it landed precisely in front of Jing Zhe's hand, less than two fingers' width away, as he picked up the token.

Jing Zhe broke out in a cold sweat. After putting away the token and the Emperor's Sword, he still cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Miss Qiu!"

"Men, they really are all big pigs!"

Thinking back to the not-so-warm but unusually passionate scene in bed, her mouth slightly open, she politely uttered a single word.

"roll!"

"..."

————