"Uncle, would you like some osmanthus cake? Here you go."
The soft, sweet voice reached his ears, and Mo Zhanli, seeing that it was just a little child, didn't put up much of a guard.
He moved closer, pinched the little boy's cheek, and teased, "Little one, what's your name? Whose child are you?"
The little boy tilted his head: "I won't tell you. My mother said I can't tell my name to strangers, what if you're a bad person?"
Mo Zhanli smiled kindly and said, "Your mother is right. You should listen to your mother, understand?"
The little boy nodded obediently.
Mo Zhanli was completely charmed by his cuteness and reached out to hug him.
"Hiss..." A slight pain came from his fingertip. Mo Zhanli looked down and saw that his finger had been cut and was bleeding.
Then she looked at the little boy's fingers; his nails were sharp and pointed.
Mo Zhanli held the little boy's hand and said, "You need to trim your nails, otherwise they'll hurt people, you know?"
The little boy nodded, seemingly understanding, and wiped the blood from Mo Zhanli's wound, asking curiously, "What is this? Is it candy?"
As she was about to put it in her mouth, Mo Zhanli grabbed her wrist.
He said softly, "This isn't candy, it's dirt. Here, let Uncle clean it for you."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the little boy suddenly broke free from his embrace, clutching his blood-stained hand to his chest, and playfully cried out, "No! This is candy, you can't take it away!"
After saying that, he turned and ran away, disappearing from sight.
Mo Zhanli simply laughed off this little incident and didn't take it to heart. He rubbed the wound on his hand and turned back to continue catching up and chatting with Zhuge Hongming.
The little boy was none other than Shen Xun. At this moment, he walked up to Mo Junqian with one hand covering his face and stretched out his bloodied hand.
Mo Junqian tried his best to suppress his laughter and carefully collected the blood in a porcelain bottle.
Shen Xun whispered through his fingers, "You promised me you wouldn't tell anyone."
Mo Junqian put away her smile and repeatedly assured him.
Shen Xun slowly lowered his hand, his face flushed, and muttered, "How embarrassing."
After obtaining the Heart's Blood, the two quickly arrived at the Imperial Lake to meet Qinghe. Mo Junqian quietly handed her the porcelain bottle, and their hands accidentally touched. Mo Junqian was stunned for a moment, then immediately withdrew his hand.
Qinghe's attention was entirely focused on the porcelain bottle. She gripped it tightly, winked at Shen Xun, as if to say, "I knew you could do it."
Shen Xun turned his head away, pretending not to see.
With the heart's blood in hand, the rest would be easy. Qinghe planned to use the same trick again, hoping to get Changping to sleep again.
Before anything could be done, a loud "boom" suddenly broke the peaceful night.
The group looked in the direction of the sound and saw a bright red light shining in the distance, illuminating half of the night sky.
The fire raged on, and screams of terror echoed intermittently, adding an unsettling atmosphere to the night.
Someone stumbled and ran towards them. Mo Junqian stopped one of them and asked what had happened.
The man was clearly terrified, pointing tremblingly at the firelight. It took him a while to get his words out: "The monster... the monster has gone berserk! It keeps breathing fire and has already burned several people to death..."
Qinghe's heart sank. Such a commotion would inevitably attract Mo Zhanli and Zhuge Hongming. Once they arrived, it would be much more difficult to obtain the Divine Pearl.
People started running towards them, some of them injured. After thinking it over, Qing decided that saving them was the priority.
The fire was still raging relentlessly, burning down one small palace and then climbing up to another.
Flames billowed into thick smoke, and surrounded by the flames was the culprit—the Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix.
The raging flames spread outwards, and its scarlet eyes, illuminated by the sparks, appeared even more ferocious and terrifying. The fireballs constantly spewing from its mouth seemed to tell everyone about its current volatile and restless state of mind.
Surrounded by flames, the palace servants panicked and fled in disarray. Most of them were ordinary people without any cultivation, and they were completely powerless against such a powerful high-level magical beast.
Qinghe stood at the edge of the outer fire, coldly watching the scene before him.
The Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix is fierce and powerful. It usually keeps to itself and prefers a static environment. Few people would use this magical beast as a mount. Once it goes berserk, it is difficult to control.
Qinghe pushed Changping and Shenxun aside, exchanged a glance with Mojunqian, then clapped his little finger. The Great Light Spell came out in response, turning into a nine-foot-long whip that wrapped around the tall tree that had not yet been burned. Qinghe took a step forward and rushed into the sky. With a tap of his toes, he landed on the back of the nine-headed Fiery Phoenix in the next instant.
The Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix clearly sensed someone on its back and became even more agitated, flapping its enormous wings in an attempt to shake Qing off.
Qinghe steadied himself, raised his long whip, and the Great Light Spell seemed to consciously want to teach this monster that hurt people at will a lesson. Before Qinghe could even make a move, it struck first.
With a lash of the long whip, the Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix cried out in pain, its violent outburst intensifying, nearly throwing Qinghe off balance.
Mo Junqian quietly circled around to the back and rescued the people trapped inside the house one by one. The intermittent noises made Mo Junqian worry about Qinghe.
The fire was getting bigger and bigger, and this couldn't go on. The only thing to do was to put out the fire. Qinghe's mind raced, and then a plan came to mind.
Under Qinghe's instruction, the Great Light Mantra suddenly produced crimson feathers all over its body, slowly transforming into a phoenix with golden wings spread and fiery red flames soaring into the night sky.
The phoenix's cry was loud and clear, instantly attracting the attention of the nine-headed Fiery Phoenix. Like humans, magical beasts also have emotions and desires. Their primary concern is naturally the survival plan of procreation. So when it saw the phoenix transformed by the Great Light Mantra, it did not hesitate to fly up into the sky to try to perform a double phoenix flight, ignoring even Qing and the phoenix on its back.
The instant he soared into the air, Qinghe circulated all his spiritual power, his spiritual sea churning, and the surging, icy spiritual power transformed into a torrent of clear water, gushing downwards like a flood, instantly extinguishing the tense flames.
This was the first time Qinghe had used the power of his water elemental root, and he felt that its power was quite good.
At this moment, the two phoenixes were circling in the air. She stood on the back of the nine-headed Fiery Phoenix and looked down at the sky. The crowd was dense. Mo Zhanli and Zhuge Hongming had arrived.
Looking at the burned-down houses, Mo Zhanli, as expected of the ruler, remained relatively calm, though his lips twitched slightly.
Zhuge Hongming frowned for once, then raised his hand, and a vast amount of spiritual energy surged toward Qinghe, but its target was the Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix.
The speed was too fast. Before Qinghe could jump down, she was surrounded by powerful spiritual energy. A strong wind suddenly rose around her, unexpectedly blowing her hair ornament away.
Her blue ribbons fluttered, her clothes billowed, and a strong wind lifted her hair. A golden-red phoenix, transformed from the Great Light Mantra, circled behind her, its wings spreading, and golden light radiated from her body, making her appear like a goddess descending to earth.
Changping, who was tending to the wounded in the distance, glanced back casually and happened to see this scene. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Shen Xun hid behind her, stretched his neck to look at Chang Ping, and then shrank back.
The Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix had completely calmed down. Qinghe landed, smoothed her long hair, and calmly withdrew the Great Light Spell.
Zhuge Hongming instructed his disciples to bring back the Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix, and then took out a bottle of pills to distribute to the injured palace servants. After the wounded had dispersed, he carefully examined Qinghe in front of him.
Qinghe stood still, calm as still water, letting him scrutinize her.
After a moment, he said, "Young man, you are neither arrogant nor impatient; you are a promising talent."
Even Luo Fan, who was standing to the side, was momentarily surprised by these words.
Qing nodded slightly and said calmly, "Senior is too kind."
Having heard too much flattery, Zhuge Hongming was a little unaccustomed to meeting Qinghe, who only said one sentence and then stopped talking. He was unusually flustered.
After standing there awkwardly for a while, he waved his hand and turned to walk away. Luo Fan, who was standing to the side, glanced at Qing He a few more times before turning and leaving as well.
Mo Zhanli, on the other hand, seemed more approachable. He nodded approvingly and said, "Young lady, your plan is excellent, and your skills are also quite good. May I ask who your teacher is?"
Qinghe: "Just an unknown nobody, not worth mentioning."
Mo Zhanli smiled and didn't ask any further questions.
Mo Junqian ran over from a distance, not paying much attention to Mo Zhanli, and asked Qinghe with concern, "Are you alright?"
Qinghe shook his head.
Mo Junqian was relieved and turned to meet Mo Zhanli's gaze.
For some reason, when Mo Zhanli saw Mo Junqian's face, his heart stopped for a moment, and fear flashed in his eyes, but he quickly returned to normal.
He asked casually, "This young man has a handsome appearance. May I ask your name, where you are from, and how old your parents are?"
The question was direct. Mo Junqian frowned and simply said, "Just a person from beyond the Great Wall, without father or mother."
"Orphaned..." Mo Zhanli repeated the sentence, then changed the subject, saying, "Both of you have done a great service in saving lives and are friends of Changping. I will personally host a banquet to invite you on a chosen day. You two must come."
Qinghe: "Definitely."
After Mo Zhan left, only Qing and the other two, along with Changping, remained.
Changping remained frozen in place until Qinghe walked in, at which point she came to her senses and managed to ask with difficulty, "You, are you a woman?"
Qinghe nodded.
Changping recalled: "Then these past few days..."
Qinghe said, "I won't tell anyone."
Changping nodded blankly, then suddenly glared at her angrily: "You lied to me!"
Qinghe said apologetically, "I'm sorry."
Changping was still very angry. He spun around in circles, muttering to himself, "You actually lied to me...you actually lied to me..."
Qinghe wanted to comfort her, but didn't know what to say, so she raised her hand and then lowered it again.
Finally, Changping glared at her fiercely, then turned and ran away.
As Qinghe watched her figure disappear into the darkness, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
Shen Xun reminded her from the side, "Romantic feelings are not your style. Don't forget the mission."
Qinghe looked away, unusually refraining from refuting him.
With no one around, now is the perfect time to retrieve the divine pearl.
The three returned to the forbidden area. Qinghe took out his heart's blood from the porcelain bottle and applied the blood droplets to the area where the incantation was concentrated. After a moment, the incantation seemed to come alive and began to writhe. The blood droplets thickened under the incantation's influence and flowed outwards.
Qing and the other two slowly retreated, and the crimson color quickly enveloped the entire house. The veins were clearly visible, and under the moonlight, it looked like a living, beating heart!
This is probably what is meant by the so-called "heart-connecting mantra".
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