Chapter 18 Birds and Fish (VI) Beautiful beyond words. Lian Qiangyi...

Maybe she was overthinking and particularly sensitive to such words. In Lian Qiang's opinion, there was a difference between Huai Xu's initiative to visit the queen and sending someone to visit her afterwards.

It had been almost an hour, and even if Huai Xu was busy pacifying the rioting sea beasts and had no time to visit the queen, he would still want to know about the queen's recent situation. Otherwise, he could have left in time instead of simply saying "I guess".

Unless, unless... He was not as deeply in love with the queen as he appeared to be, but the scene of the wedding banquet that day was still vivid in his mind... If he liked the queen, all kinds of details would reveal their strangeness; if he did not like the queen, how could he explain this marriage?

Huai Xu needs strong support, but his queen is a woman whose origin is unknown to anyone. At least until now, no one knows her background, and she has not shown any extraordinary talents or beauty in front of everyone.

What went wrong? Lian Qiang pressed her forehead, her intuition telling her that Huai Xu must have a reason to marry Qing Ji, but it definitely wasn't because of love.

"What are you thinking about?"

Lian Qiang was startled and rubbed her chest. Chi Xingji stood still and looked at her calmly. Only then did she realize that she had been so engrossed that she didn't even notice when everyone in the room had dispersed.

"Do you still remember our argument about the Mermaid King that day?"

Chi Xingji was slightly surprised. Lian Qiang saw this and patiently explained, "I didn't think Huai Xu was particularly fond of Qing Ji at the time, and you said everyone has their own opinions."

Since there was no one around, she simply used bolder words. After hearing this, Chi Xingji pondered for a moment. Just when Lian Qiang thought he was about to express some insightful opinion, he slowly said, "So we were just arguing."

Lian Qiang was speechless. She had never expected his attention to be here, so she could only repeat, "If you think it doesn't count, then it doesn't count. Just remember that this happened. Now, I am even more certain of this matter."

"Why do you say that?" Chi Xingji did not refute her and pretended to listen attentively.

Lian Qiang then laid out his previous inferences and added, "He loved the queen to death that day and was willing to perish together if anything happened. But today, after such an accident, he doesn't seem to care much about the queen. It seems that what we see is only what he wants them to see."

Chi Xingji thought thoughtfully: "That makes sense. Thanks to you, I never noticed any of this."

Lian Qiang smiled smugly after receiving the affirmation, but Chi Xingji then added, "You've only met them twice, yet you're able to observe them so meticulously. Do you have any secret?"

The look on his face when he asked the question was too sincere, and because of this, Lian Qiang's smile froze.

The reason why she could perceive these things was naturally because she had experienced the same state of mind before. However, she could not tell Chi Xingji directly about these things.

"There's no secret," Lian Qiang decided to brush it off. "You'll understand more after you see more people and things."

Chi Xingji obviously disagreed with this statement, but seeing Lian Qiang's expression and the dismissive tone in her words, he did not ask any further questions.

The two of them stood in opposition for a while, each with their own thoughts. Chi Xingji suddenly spoke up, "Just waiting might not be a good idea."

"What do you mean?" Lian Qiang understood and confirmed.

"Didn't the king say that there was a sea monster riot?" Chi Xingji said as if he was talking about something unimportant. "Then let's go and find out whether it's true or not."

What he said was not very obscure, but Lian Qiang was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice that her eyes were staring at him so wantonly.

Chi Xingji didn't like this kind of gaze. He felt like Lian Qiang was looking through him at someone else—this feeling came out of nowhere, but Chi Xingji was certain he wasn't making it up. He tilted his head and reminded her, "What do you think? If you don't want to, I'll do it alone."

"I don't mean to be unwilling to go along." Lian Qiang said calmly, "What is the Immortal Lord's plan? Tell me."

She changed the subject very naturally, treating the turmoil in her heart just now as a false alarm.

Chi Xingji used to be stubborn, but not rigid. He let her take advantage of many loopholes and occasionally gave her some surprising advice, such as helping her skip a lot of unimportant classes. Just now, he seriously mentioned this not-so-honest matter, which reminded Lian Qiang of the past.

But I just think about it, I don’t miss it.

"I've figured out their patrol shift system these past few days. We can take advantage of the shift change, have one of us disrupt their rhythm, and the other go deeper to investigate."

The two of them only collaborated briefly, and Lian Qiang naturally assumed that Chi Xingji wanted to investigate on his own and leave the other task to her: "Okay, I'll go and disrupt them then..."

Unexpectedly, Chi Xingji looked at her and shook his head after hearing this: "No, I'll do it."

"Why?" Lian Qiang was puzzled. It was unreasonable for Chi Xingji to let her take the risk and let her get a bargain.

"My cultivation level is higher than yours, so it will be easier for me to escape. The longer I deal with them, the longer you will have time to investigate," Chi Xingji added. "I don't mean to underestimate you. Whether there are ambushes deep inside, we don't know yet. If you are in there, the danger you will encounter may not be less than mine."

So that's how it is. Lian Qiang nodded in understanding, without further pretense: "Then I'll trouble you, Immortal Lord."

"You too, be careful in everything you do." Chi Xingji warned. Lian Qiang just smiled and didn't seem too concerned.

-

The opportunity came quickly. The next day, when Lian Qiang was about to go to sleep, she saw the piece of jade left by Chi Xingji on the bedside shining brightly. In an instant, she realized that the time he had set had come, and she quickly left the room.

Over the past few days, she had a rough idea of ​​the heavily guarded areas, though she hadn't said she was completely familiar with them. A closer look revealed that the defenses were indeed lax. Even so, Lian Qiang had to put in a lot of effort to break through them.

There were one or two times when she was about to be discovered. It was so dangerous that Qiang didn't even breathe a breath. When she had enough strength to calm down, she could see the way ahead clearly - the tunnel in front of her was deep and long, and in the narrow corridor, only two inconspicuous night pearls faintly illuminated the way ahead.

Lian Qiang took two steps at a time, having a premonition that she might discover something, but soon she stopped.

——There is nothing ahead, this is a dead end.

Time was running out. Chi Xingji couldn't delay for that long... Lian Qiang didn't have time to think. Even if it meant losing everything, she should go back. She wanted to turn back, but as she turned around, she froze again.

She turned her head and looked thoughtfully at the dim blind spot in front of her. Her route could not be wrong. She also didn't believe that the place where Huai Xu had spent so many troops to garrison was just such a place without any mystery.

...Something was wrong. Lian Qiang calmed his mind, which had been shaken by the sudden changes, and looked carefully, only to find something strange.

It's a sleight of hand!

She concentrated the demonic energy at that point without hesitation. Apparently, something was stirring inside. Lian Qiang thought to herself that something was not good and was about to step back when the front of her suddenly became brighter. The strong light made her close her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, Lian Qiang was extremely alert, but at that moment, she was severely shocked.

What stood before her was a magnificent and enormous cage.

Lian Qiang bit her lips hard to prevent herself from screaming out. It was more like a birdcage than a cage.

Everything appears to be gorgeous, but the railings rising from the ground and gathering at the top, and the things in the cage look like a neat room, are even more chilling.

Exquisite, yet devoid of warmth, Lian Qiang instinctively shuddered, as if disturbing the object—no, the person—within it.

"You're here." She spoke, and it was clearly a female voice. After a long time without any response, she became confused.

There was a person who had been integrated with all this, but at this moment he seemed to be startled and slowly turned around. It turned out to be a side profile with smooth lines, followed by a frontal face.

Indescribably beautiful. This was the only adjective Lian Qiang could think of for a moment.

Her snow-like long hair lingered at her feet as she turned around. Her emerald eyes stared at Lian Qiang, their beauty far surpassing all the jade in the world. What made people feel even more ashamed was her noble temperament. The girl was not very old, but her every move and gesture exuded this temperament so naturally that it seemed to be natural.

Lian Qiang sighed, saying that this was something that could not be compared even with more jewels piled up in the future.

Her long snow-white eyelashes slightly raised, and she stared at Lian Qiang intently. Lian Qiang read some surprise from her calm eyes, but she couldn't bear to touch this beauty.

But there was something about her that broke this noble and distant beauty. Lian Qiang's gaze moved to the handcuffs made of black iron on her wrists, and combined with the huge birdcage in front of her, she understood almost instantly.

——Someone deliberately dragged the goddess into the mortal world.

"Who are you?" the two asked almost in unison.

The girl tilted her head slightly. "There's a restriction here that can suppress most spiritual and demonic powers. How did you... I see, you're a demon cultivator. That guy actually allowed a demon cultivator to appear here."

Although it was a topic of inquiry, there was no emotion in the girl's tone. She was just stating the facts, like the innocent words of a child without any likes or dislikes.

"This is a long story. I want to know, who are you?" Lian Qiang seized the opportunity and did not care whether her words were offensive or not. She was determined to find out her identity.

"It's a matter of courtesy. Shouldn't you state your own name before asking for someone else's?" The girl tilted her head. Lian Qiang had no choice but to obey, but she also kept a word of caution: "My name is Lin Qiang. As you can see, I am indeed a demon cultivator. Right now... I was looking for someone and accidentally stumbled into this place."

She spoke briefly and to the point, then looked at the girl's back. Chi Xingji had told her that the winged people could never leave their wings throughout their lives. If one day, the wings left the body, they would die. Similarly, when every winged person passed away, their relatives and friends would fold their wings for them and pray for a safe and smooth next life.

The wings of the winged man cannot be folded up on a normal day and can only be gathered behind the back. However, the girl's back is empty. Even if the wings are folded up, there should at least be traces.

"I understand." The girl nodded dignifiedly. Lian Qiang waited for the girl to continue, but the atmosphere remained stagnant for a long time. She finally realized something was wrong: "You haven't told me who you are yet."

"But," the girl raised her head and looked at Lian Qiang with half-closed eyes, "I never said that if you did, I would exchange names with you."