Chapter 47 Unexpectedly, there were more than ten visitors, besides the two in the lead…
There were more than ten people who came. Except for the two in the lead, whose clothes were slightly different, the rest of them were all dressed in the uniform of the disciples of the Divine Palace.
The two leading figures were Qi Ying and Qi Zhi.
Luo Du'an had already gone over and was talking to Qi Ying. The two seemed quite familiar with each other, suggesting they knew each other well. Qi Zhi, on the other hand, stood silently to the side with a cold face, her gaze darting around the crowd. Soon, her eyes met Lu Qing's.
Lu Qing raised an eyebrow and glared at her defiantly. Qi Zhi sneered and turned her gaze away.
After exchanging pleasantries, Qi Ying and Luo Du'an decided to stay and rest. The disciples of the Divine Palace were all injured, and Luo Du'an, being generous with other people's money, "asked" Lu Qing and Luo Sen to treat their wounds.
The aunt and nephew cursed Luo Du'an in their hearts, but still walked over with smiles.
Qi Ying was somewhat surprised to see them. "Where are your elders?"
Lawson recounted their experiences during the day. Qi Ying said, "Why don't you leave with me tomorrow? I'll take you to find your elders."
Lu Qing nodded repeatedly, "Thank you, thank you."
Qi Zhi heard this and let out a sneer.
Hearing her sarcastic laugh, Lu Qing turned to look at her and asked, "What do you mean?"
Qi Zhi glanced meaningfully at the cloak of the Flame-Slaying Platform she was wearing, "Since you already have someone you love, shouldn't you keep your distance from other men?"
Lu Qing glanced at the cloak she was wearing, initially not quite understanding what was going on, but then, seeing the mocking smile on Qi Zhi's lips, she realized that Qi Zhi was sarcastically referring to her ambiguous relationship with other men.
Lu Qing laughed in exasperation. "Miss Qizhi, when it comes to being sharp-tongued and making baseless accusations, I truly concede defeat. I haven't brought up what happened that day to spread it around, so why are you in such a hurry to smear me?"
Qi Zhi's face was frosty. "Young lady, when you're out in the world, you need to know when to advance and when to retreat, and you need to be careful with your words. When you ask for help, you should act like you're asking for help. Being sharp-tongued and good with words is useless. If you don't have any ability yourself, you need to have someone to rely on by your side. Otherwise, you'll suffer the consequences."
Lu Qingyi pouted, "I'm young and don't understand roundabout talk. If you want to threaten me, why not be more explicit?"
One of the Divine Palace disciples who wanted to speak up for Qi Zhi had just stood up when Qi Ying glared at him and stopped him, saying, "Qi Zhi, aren't you tired? You should go and rest."
Qi Zhi snorted and said sarcastically, "She already has someone she likes, so your flattery won't help."
Qi Ying's face darkened. If there hadn't been someone nearby, he really would have wanted to risk everything and fight her, then take her back to Nukun Peak and lock her up first.
Qi Zhi ignored his expression. Ever since that night when she abandoned Lu Qing and the others, the two of them had argued countless times. Now, all she wanted was to get rid of Qi Ying and wished he would turn his back on her and leave. She simply walked over and sat down to the side.
Qi Ying apologized to Lu Qing, "She wasn't like this before."
Lu Qing wasn't going to take this lying down. "Could it be that her sweetheart did something to her, started something and then abandoned her? If she has any grievances, she should take them out on him. Why is she attacking me? I'm not a pushover."
Qi Ying explained, "That's really not the case."
Lu Qing said "Oh," and then continued, "That's because she couldn't have what she wanted, so she felt resentful. If you ask me, a woman might hide her feelings for the person she loves for a while, but no one can pretend forever. You should keep your eyes open and be wary of someone as extreme and petty as her."
Qi Zhi jumped up, drew his sword, and said, "Don't be so quick to judge with words, let's settle this with our hands."
Lu Qing crossed her arms. "No. How old are you? How old am I? You bully the weak and take advantage of your age. I can't beat you, so why should I go looking for trouble?"
Many of the surrounding cultivators started laughing. One of them, whose head and face were covered, laughed particularly loudly, as if he were convulsing.
Qi Zhi was embarrassed and stared at Lu Qing.
Qi Ying's face darkened, and she warned, "Qi Zhi!"
"So it's Miss Qi Zhi from Nukun Peak. I've heard so much about you." Luo Du'an, who had been watching the drama unfold, finally spoke up. "Is there some misunderstanding? This Miss Qi is kind-hearted and outspoken. If she has offended Miss Qi Zhi in any way, I apologize on her behalf. Oh, by the way, since both of Nukun Peak's top disciples are here, where is the Witch God Attendant?"
"Witch God's Attendant? Nukun Peak?" Lu Qing's eyes sharpened instantly. "Are you disciples of the Divine Palace?"
Qi Zhi finally got her chance to stand tall and be superior. "What, didn't you say you didn't want to know who I am? Isn't it a little too late to be scared now?"
Lu Qing gave her a strange look, scrutinizing her from head to toe several times. "Heh. Good, very good. I can't beat you, but someone else will stand up for me. I'll have my man step in for me. What do you think?"
Qi Zhi sneered, "Just because you're a country bumpkin who's never seen a beautiful woman before?"
Lu Qing nodded firmly, "Yes, my country bumpkin who's never seen a beautiful woman before. Do you dare to agree?"
Qi Zhi thought to himself, "Who cares what background that villager has? Can he possibly be more powerful than the Divine Palace? A word once spoken cannot be taken back."
Lu Qing nodded, "Alright, everyone here is a witness. You absolutely mustn't change your mind and say you don't want to fight. If you go back on your word and change your mind at the last minute, you can stand at the main gate of the Divine Palace and shout three times in front of all the disciples of the Divine Palace, 'I am narrow-minded and have gone too far!'"
"We haven't even started the competition yet, and you're already so arrogant. You really don't know your place. What if your partner doesn't dare to or isn't willing to fight me?" Qi Zhi retorted.
“I’ll cut him into eight pieces and serve him to you as a snack with your drinks!” Lu Qing said decisively.
All the men around felt sorry for the "country bumpkin." What had he done to deserve this? If he hit him, he would offend the shrine; if he didn't, his future wife would tear him to pieces. It was truly a case of misfortune befalling someone sitting at home.
Only Yu Jitang, hiding in the crowd and "twitching," was trying so hard not to laugh that he looked like he was having an epileptic seizure.
Wu Chen sighed and rubbed his forehead, pulling his face mask up a little. He continued to keep an eye on that direction out of the corner of his eye.
After watching the show to his heart's content, Lawson dragged Lu Qing to another place to rest.
Luo Du'an was secretly hoping Lu Qing would clash with the people from the Divine Palace, so she wouldn't leave with them. After chatting with Qi Ying for a while, he went back to comfort Lu Qing, "Miss Qi, is there some misunderstanding between you and Miss Qi Zhi? Miss Qi Zhi is the most trusted right-hand woman of the Divine Servant Wu Chen, you'd better not offend her. Otherwise, I'll act as a mediator and clear things up for you."
Lu Qing remained silent. No matter how unreliable Qi Zhi was, he was still Wu Chen's disciple, which was somewhat of a family scandal. She was happy to trick Qi Zhi, but she had no interest in airing family dirty laundry in public.
Lawson explained with a smile, "We've only met twice tonight, there's no misunderstanding. They just don't get along."
It turned out the girls didn't like each other. Luo Du'an was too lazy to dwell on it anymore. "Since that's the case, you should stay away from them. It's common for disciples of the Divine Palace to be arrogant. Once they leave, everything will be fine."
"What, aren't they traveling with you?"
Luo Du'an tentatively asked, "They're after the Spirit Fruit, how could they possibly take us with them?"
Lu Qing disliked his endless roundabout probing and said, "Since you've all come for the Spirit Fruit, taking us along would only be a burden. We won't continue with you tomorrow. We're only here to gather herbs, and our skills aren't up to par; going any further would probably just be suicide. Otherwise, tomorrow morning, we'll head back and leave the wasteland with the other cultivators who are preparing to depart. We can always go home and wait for my sister and brother-in-law. If you happen to run into them, just give them a message for us."
Luo Du'an's smile faded slightly, but quickly returned. "It's alright. If you insist on leaving, I'll talk to those cultivators and ask them to take better care of you."
Lawson quickly thanked him.
Luo Du'an said a few words and then left.
A short while later, the old man from the Flame-Slaying Platform asked them to go and heal the injured disciples of the Divine Palace. Despite the argument, Lu Qing had no intention of taking it out on innocent people. Without giving it much thought, she went over.
But to everyone's surprise, in the middle of the night, the few Divine Palace disciples who had been treated by the two of them turned blue-purple, vomited blood, convulsed, and lost consciousness.
Qi Ying and Qi Zhi were both alarmed. Although these Divine Palace disciples were not from Nu Kun Peak, they were the two of them with the highest seniority among the Divine Palace disciples present, so someone immediately came to them to make a decision.
Luo Du'an also arrived. "Weren't these wounds treated? How could they still be like this? What kind of demonic beast injured these people? Was the beast's claws and fangs poisonous?"
One of the disciples of the Divine Palace immediately shook his head, "Impossible, I was also injured by that monster. It's just that my injuries weren't serious, so I bandaged myself up without even taking any antidote pills, and I'm perfectly fine."
"Those who didn't receive treatment are fine, but those who did are experiencing problems. What's going on?" Luo Du'an frowned deeply. "Could it be that the medication was incorrect?"
Qi Ying asked his disciple, "What kind of medicine are they using?"
"It's the same wound medicine we use regularly. I use the same medicine for bandaging myself. It shouldn't be a problem with the medicine."
Qi Zhi remained silent for a moment, then said to Luo Du'an, "Fellow Daoist Luo, may I speak with you in private?"
Luo Du'an calmly followed her to a secluded spot.
"Fellow Daoist Luo," Qi Zhi said, still maintaining her icy demeanor, "it was you who did it, wasn't it?"
Luo Du'an raised his eyebrows slightly, "What are you saying, Miss Qi Zhi? Our Zhan Yan Tai and the Divine Palace are closer than brothers, how could we possibly drug a disciple of the Divine Palace?"
"Because you want to keep those two people here." Qi Zhi looked ahead, a mocking smile on her face. "You must have heard the rumors too."
Luo Du'an, having his purpose exposed, showed no embarrassment whatsoever. "Rumors are just rumors. Nothing about them is credible. But I have long admired Miss Qizhi's name and was truly unhappy that someone had offended her, so I was just standing up for her."
Qi Zhi's expression grew even colder. "Since that's the case, then give me the antidote."
“That won’t do,” Luo Du’an said with a smile. “I did this entirely to avenge Miss Qi Zhi. Even if I did something wrong, it was all because of my feelings for her. If I were to be cured of the poison now, how would I face her? Wouldn’t Miss Qi Zhi feel sorry for me?”
Qi Zhiwei was slightly angry and turned around to glare at him.
Luo Du'an showed no remorse whatsoever. "I've been to the Divine Palace several times. Ever since I saw Miss Qizhi at Zhanghua Terrace, I've been instantly smitten with her, and I've been thinking of her day and night ever since. I've kept these feelings deep in my heart, never daring to confess them easily. Today, that girl was so outspoken, and although you were kind enough not to hold it against her, I felt very uncomfortable. That's why I thought of standing up for you. Don't worry, I'm just going to teach her a lesson; I won't do anything to her. I just want her to understand that compared to you, Qizhi, she's nothing but a fish eye compared to the bright moon. You're someone I value, and no one can easily offend you."
Luo Du'an was affectionate and could easily utter sweet words.
Qi Zhi understood his plan, and at this moment she felt quite conflicted, not wanting to fall out with him.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 10:39:32 and 21:30:09 on July 2, 2020!
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Repigon (20 bottles);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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