Inn.
In the quiet afternoon, in a simply furnished room, a handsome and upright figure sat upright on a couch, his eyes closed, his hands placed on his lap, surrounded by white mist that swayed in the wind.
The window was opened, and the noise of the street blew in with the breeze, but it did not affect the people inside the room at all.
After an unknown amount of time, hurried footsteps came from outside, growing louder as they approached. The next moment, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Mu Dong shouted, "Senior brother, something bad has happened! That woman has woken up!"
Li Jiang slowly opened her eyes, got off the bed, and looked at Mu Dong with her deep brown eyes.
"Qinghe has pretended that she has entered Fusheng Pavilion. We absolutely cannot let her wake up now and ruin our plans."
Mu Dong nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Mmm."
Li Jiang sighed and walked outside. "I'll go take a look."
As he reached the door, Mu Dong stopped him. "No need to go, Senior Brother. I've already taken care of it. She won't wake up again."
Li Jiang suddenly looked at him, frowned, ignored Mu Dong's pleading expression, and asked, "You killed her?"
Mu Dong waved his hand: "How could that be? I just knocked her unconscious."
Li Jiang looked him up and down: "What did you use to hit him?"
“Here,” Mu Dong said, taking out a scabbard: “her sword.”
Li Jiang: "...You."
Glancing at him sideways, Li Jiang left the room and walked towards another room.
The door was still open. Li Jiang walked to the bedside and saw Ji Yue lying on the bed, motionless, her body still in the position she had just gotten up. There was a conspicuous bump on her forehead, which was still red and swollen, obviously she had just gotten up.
He glared at Mu Dong again and ordered, "Bring me medicine to treat bruises and swelling."
Mu Dong stood dejectedly by the bedside. "Oh," he said, turning around to take the medicine and handing it to Li Jiang. "Here you go."
Li Jiang glanced at him and said, "You apply the medicine to her."
"Huh?" Mu Dong looked at Ji Yue with disdain. "I don't want to."
Li Jiang coldly replied, "This is an order."
Mu Dong took a few steps back and stubbornly said, "I won't listen."
Li Jiang sneered and said lightly, "Choose one: apply the medicine or not eat dinner."
Mu Dong was struck dumb, frozen on the spot.
As expected, his senior brother knew his weakness. Not being allowed to eat dinner was worse than death for him, but applying medicine to that woman would be worse than letting him die.
He struggled internally, looking at Li Jiang with pitiful puppy eyes, trying to persuade him to retract his decision.
Unfortunately, Li Jiang ignored him.
After weighing the options for a long time, Mu Dong gave up and said dejectedly, "Fine, I'll just apply the medicine. I'll just wash my hands a few more times."
Mu Dong grabbed the ointment and sat on the edge of the bed, painstakingly applying it to Ji Yue under Li Jiang's watchful gaze.
"Is that enough?"
Li Jiang, still with a playful smile on her face, glanced at the bump on Ji Yue's forehead, which was noticeably better than before, and nodded slightly.
Having gained Li Jiang's approval, Mu Dong immediately put down the ointment and quickly ran back to his room, as if someone was chasing him.
Inside the room, Li Jiang listened to the steady breathing of the person on the bed. After a moment, she raised her hand, a flash of blue light appeared at her fingertips, and she quickly formed a sleeping talisman, which she then flicked into Ji Yue's body.
After finishing, Li Jiang didn't linger. She turned and left, gently closing the door behind her.
...
Jade Pendant Space.
When Qinghe entered, he felt a scorching heat. Upon closer inspection, he saw the Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix fiercely spewing flames at the demon ghosts in the cage, attempting to turn the ghosts into barbecue food.
Before a magical beast of the same caliber as the Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix, the demonic ghosts were like lambs to the slaughter, utterly powerless to fight back. Several of them huddled together in a corner of the cage, trembling, their only eye tightly closed. Their bodies were pitch black, but under the attack of the raging flames, they became increasingly transparent.
Qinghe stepped forward, bent down and peered into the cage. The ghosts had lost the last bit of color on their bodies, so Qinghe couldn't see their faces at all. He could only say to the cage, "Little guys, confess and you'll be treated leniently, resist and you'll be punished severely. Tell me honestly, why did you appear at the foot of Qingshan?"
The atmosphere was silent; apart from the trembling sounds, there was no other noise.
The nine-headed Fiery Phoenix, panting heavily, saw this and opened its mouth wide, about to spew a ball of fire at the ghost.
Qinghe stopped it: "Don't be so violent, we should win people over with virtue."
The nine-headed Fiery Phoenix withdrew its flames, its scarlet eyes glancing sideways at Qing He, as if it disdained the so-called "winning people over with virtue."
Qinghe thought for a moment and said, "Since the ancient war, the Three Realms have paid a bloody price to reach an agreement and have maintained peace for many years without ever overstepping the bounds. Your unbridled harm to humans will make the Demon Race a target of everyone's hatred. I don't think that's what you want to see."
The ghost in the cage finally reacted. Qinghe raised an eyebrow and thought to herself that she really had the potential to be a persuader; even the demons were convinced by her eloquent words.
Just as Qinghe was immersed in the beautiful wish of winning people over with virtue and saving the common people, the ghost in the cage suddenly turned around, its eyes wide open in anger, revealing sharp and terrifying fangs, and with a "poof" it spat out a mouthful of venom from its chest cavity straight towards Qinghe.
The venom touched a layer of golden light outside the cage and was bounced back, shooting towards the ghost's eyeball. It roared "Ah!" as excruciating pain swept through its body. The venom instantly corroded it into a pool of black substance, which turned to powder with a gust of wind.
Qinghe: "..."
If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. It's not worth committing suicide. Now look what's happened, you've really become a barbecue.
The others, witnessing their companion's tragic state, trembled even more violently, covering their eyes with their tails in an attempt to offer themselves some psychological comfort.
Since capturing these ghosts, Qinghe has specifically looked up information about them and knows that their eyes are the most vulnerable part of their bodies. Although they use venom as a weapon, they are usually careful and will not get it in their eyes.
Thinking of this, Qinghe smiled and looked at the nine-headed fire phoenix: "It seems they won't surrender unless we fight them. Little Red, I'm leaving you to them."
The Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix arrogantly turned its head away, gurgling in its chest, showing no respect to Qinghe whatsoever.
Didn't you want to win people over with virtue? What do you need me for?
Qinghe's lips twitched. She almost forgot that this proud phoenix had an extremely strong sense of self-respect. Her act of stopping it from breathing fire had seriously violated its dignity as a magical beast.
Clearing her throat, Qinghe said to it, "Little Red, I was wrong just now. I shouldn't have been so arrogant, talking about winning people over with virtue." She reached out and stroked the fluffy hair on Little Red's head. "Now I know you were right. When you encounter stubborn criminals like these, you have to use force. Only by using violence to suppress violence can you pry the truth out of their mouths."
She spoke with righteous indignation, and the Nine-Headed Fiery Phoenix shook its head, finally looking at Qing He directly, as if to say, "You can leave now; I'm about to begin using force."
Qinghe, with a heart as clear as a mirror, glanced with pity at the ghost in the cage, then turned and drifted away.
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