Jiagu Qing wandered around the Ice Bamboo Forest for a long time, but no matter what, he could not find the entrance he was looking for.
"Where is it? I remember it was here. Have I been drinking too much lately? Is my brain not working right anymore?"
"Ah, I think i need yelling ." Losing patience, Jiagu Qing rolled up his sleeves, tightened his belt, steadied his stance, and was just about to open his mouth.
"What kind of wind could possibly blow a wandering idler like you all the way to my place?" came Liao Yin Shangshen's voice from behind him.
The sudden voice startled Jiagu Qing. When he turned and saw that it was Liao Yin Shangshen, he quickly straightened his sleeves and walked over with a serious face.
"I finally come here once, and this is how you welcome me?" Jiagu Qing complained, pointing at her as he walked closer.
"No one comes to a sacred hall without a reason. If something made you come in person, it cannot be simple, can it?" Liao Yin Shangshen did not respond to the complaint. She slowly turned and walked deeper into the bamboo forest. With a light wave of her hand, a hidden gate in the barrier opened among the bamboo. Jiagu Qing immediately followed her inside.
"I knew it. The entrance was probably right there. If you had not shown up, I would have gotten in by now anyway,"
Following her, he came to the stone table in front of her courtyard. She sat down and poured him a cup of tea.
"You came this time for that Qingxin Fuchen Ding, did you not?" Liao Yin Shangshen asked.
Jiagu Qing drank the tea in one gulp and wiped the corner of his mouth as he nodded again and again.
"What exactly did you put into that ding? Your little disciple has been acting strangely lately."
"The Qingxin Fuchen Ding can only refine the demonic cultivation within the Moonshadow Dan. As for everything else Li Minghan left inside it, Ning'er will have to refine that within himself. If his mind is unstable, he will naturally still be affected to some degree,"
"So what you mean is, if Little Medicine Fool cannot control himself, he could easily become the next Li Minghan?"
Liao Yin Shangshen gently nodded.
"Oh, come on. Why did you not say so sooner? He is your last disciple. Are you really just going to watch him lose control, fall into demonic ways, and do nothing?" Jiagu Qing was so anxious he nearly jumped.
"Ning has been protected by the Chixi Dan since childhood. Now that it has been removed, the strong cultivation still left in his body cannot be borne by ordinary inner cores. The Moonshadow Dan was originally nourished by the bloodline of the Li family, so naturally it will not reject Ning'er's body too strongly. Besides, both brothers still have unfinished matters of their own. There are some fixed fates even I cannot decide."
"Oh? From the sound of that, you knew all along, did you not? And you still did not save him. You just stood there watching the excitement?"
Liao Yin Shangshen glanced at the pool nearby. Curious, Jiagu Qing leaned over to look. There, a white lotus was slowly blooming, carrying a faint golden glow.
Jiagu Qing looked at the lotus in confusion, then looked back at Liao Yin Shangshen.
"What does that mean?"
"All things have cause and effect. Ning'er has his mission in this world, and you also have what you are meant to do." As soon as Liao Yin Shangshen finished speaking, the lotus fully opened. Inside it lay a sleeping Bingguo.
At the ruined Li residence,
"Master, which is more important, revenge or survival?" Mie Xingzhe asked.
"Revenge," Li Luoning answered in a flat voice.
"Then even if your cultivation is lower than your enemy's, should you still go and seek revenge?"
"Then do not go,"
"But what if this revenge must be taken? Even if it costs your life, should you not at least try?"
"You are not his match."
"But he killed Miss Ruoying. Should I not seek justice for her?" Mie Xingzhe stood up angrily.
"You may, but I will not let you go." Li Luoning threw out the short reply and rose to leave. At this point, all he wanted was to live safely with Mie Xingzhe in the human world. He no longer wanted to be drawn into anyone else's grudges or feuds.
"What if I insist on going?"
Li Luoning's steps stopped. He turned, and there was a rare severity in his gaze, along with a flash of coldness. His voice grew heavier, and he spoke each word slowly and firmly.
"I promised Qingyi that I would protect you well. I will not let you do something so dangerous. Hua Ruoying's revenge will naturally be sought by Hua Qiuyuan. If you dare to go seek revenge on your own, I will break your legs."
Startled by that sudden look, Mie Xingzhe felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the back of his neck. For a moment, he could not tell whether his Master truly meant to break his legs, or was only trying to frighten him. While he was still dazed, a pale blue cord flashed in the corner of his eye and wrapped itself around his ankle.
"Master, what is this? No way, Guiling again!"
Li Luoning knew Mie Xingzhe too well. The more he was forbidden from doing something, the more he would want to do it.
The only way to barely feel at ease was to bind him tightly with Guiling. Now that Yun Qingyi was no longer by his side, he did not have to worry about anyone undoing it for him.
"From today onward, you are not to leave the range of my sight. Guiling is only ten zhang long. If you go beyond that range, it will activate on its own and pull you back. If you do not believe me, you may try it." Li Luoning lifted a hand and gestured toward Mie Xingzhe.
"I will try then. It is only Guiling. How strong could it really be?" Mie Xingzhe muttered stubbornly. He pushed off the ground and flew toward the distance.
"I knew it. It is only some Gui— ah! Ah!"
He had no time to celebrate. Guiling yanked him out of the air and slammed him to the ground.
Mie Xingzhe got up again, dusty and unwilling to admit defeat.
"That was an accident. I do not believe it. My cultivation has improved so much now. A little Guiling cannot possibly trap me." As soon as he finished speaking, he ran toward the main gate. As expected, he was dragged back again.
Li Luoning paid him no attention. He somehow found an old book, sat down by the door, and leisurely flipped through it.
"Master! How is this any different from making me into one of those stone guardian lions at the gate?" Mie Xingzhe complained bitterly.
Li Luoning still did not reply. He merely moved one hand through the air in front of him, tracing and drawing with his fingers, then sent a spell toward Mie Xingzhe.
"This is today's lesson. Memorize it before sunset." After saying that, he stood up and went inside.
Mie Xingzhe made a face at Li Luoning's back to vent his dissatisfaction.
"Copy the heart method fifty more times," Li Luoning's voice came from inside the room.
Mie Xingzhe jumped in fright. He had thought his Master could not see him, but he was caught anyway.
"But there is not even any paper or ink here. What am I supposed to copy it onto?" Mie Xingzhe asked helplessly.
"Write it on the ground with water!"
Back at Wuming Demon Mountain, Shen Tu Zhuojia stared blankly at the blue snow flower in his hand as he rubbed it between his fingers.
"Did Qiuyuan really go to seek revenge? Or did he use this chance to leave Wuming Demon Mountain? If he truly meant to leave, then perhaps he feared I would not agree and worked with Nan Zhe to stage this whole scene in front of me. That would at least make sense. But then who killed Ruoying?"
He thought it over from every side, yet still could not make sense of it.
"When did Qiuyuan come to know Nan Zhe? If he truly wanted to leave Wuming Demon Mountain, why go to such trouble? But if he truly went to seek revenge on that person, the gap in their cultivation was so great that Qiuyuan should have had the upper hand." No matter how Shen Tu Zhuojia thought about it, nothing fit together. Then he suddenly felt the blue snow flower in his hand grow hot.
"Tss—"
The flower, whole just a moment before, suddenly burned into ash in his palm.
"Lord Demon Lord, Miss Guiji has arrived," a demon soldier announced from outside.
"I know. Let her wait in my bedchamber," Shen Tu Zhuojia answered casually, dusting off his hand. He did not take that small burn seriously at all.
At the market, the Tianzhong Festival was near, yet the streets showed no sign of preparing for celebration.
The street, once noisy and full of people, now had many shops barred shut even in broad daylight. Some storefronts even had rough white mourning streamers hanging beside them.
A few broken market carts lay crooked in the corners. Only not far away, the owner of a tea stall under a torn cloth canopy leaned lazily at the doorway, flicking a rag in his hand.
"Boss, two bowls of cold tea," Mie Xingzhe called as he and Li Luoning sat at the only table.
"Coming right up." Perhaps because he had not had customers in a long time, the tea stall owner looked especially cheerful. Smiling broadly, he brought over the two bowls.
"Boss, the Tianzhong Festival is almost here. Why are none of the nearby shops open?" Mie Xingzhe asked, taking the bowl and pointing at the bleak street.
"You two are not locals, are you? Strange things have been happening in this town lately." The tea stall owner lowered his voice.
"Strange things? What kind of strange things?" Mie Xingzhe was instantly interested.
"You two have not heard? A lot of people in town have died recently. Something sucked their bodies dry. Now the whole town is in a panic. Who still has the mind to celebrate Tianzhong Festival?"
"Sucked dry? Drained of yang energy?" Mie Xingzhe murmured. He glanced at his Master beside him, and at once an idea came to him.
"Boss, boss, tell us the details. My Master can catch demons. He is very good at it. Maybe he can help." Mie Xingzhe grinned mischievously, shooting exaggerated looks at his Master before turning back to the tea stall owner.
"Nian Nian, stop speaking nonsense." Li Luoning put down his tea bowl and warned him in a low voice.
"Oh, that would be wonderful. If the two immortals could rid this town of that evil thing, then my tea stall could go on running, and my whole family could keep living off the little money I make each day." The tea stall owner became excited and bowed again and again to Li Luoning and Mie Xingzhe.
"Boss, please, do not do that. Get up first, get up. If you want us to catch this thing, then you need to tell us what it looks like, when it appears, and where it causes trouble. Only then can we prepare." Mie Xingzhe quickly helped him up and asked for more information.
"The creature appears at very irregular times. Sometimes, even in broad daylight, it suddenly comes down and snatches people away. People call it a demon, but it looks more like a person. No one has ever seen claws or a face."
"I see. That really does make it hard."
"Nian Nian, do not meddle," Li Luoning warned again, his voice lowered.
Then he turned to the tea stall owner with a gentle expression.
"The child reads too many storybooks and likes to let his thoughts run wild. Shopkeeper, please do not mind him." He took out some broken silver from his sleeve and handed it over.
"Oh, oh. Not at all, not at all. Thank you for the reward, honored guest." The tea stall owner took the money, weighed it in his hand, and answered, though there was some disappointment on his face.
After resting, Master and disciple continued toward home. Mie Xingzhe followed behind, still unwilling to let the matter go.
"Master is so powerful. What would it hurt to help the people of this town get rid of that evil thing? No, I need to think of a way to make Master stay in town tonight."
His eyes turned, and suddenly he bent over and began to groan.
"Ow, ow, ow. Master, my stomach hurts. That tea must have been bad. I cannot keep going. I really cannot." As he spoke, he sat down on the stone steps in front of a nearby shop.
Li Luoning paused, turned to look at him, and naturally knew what little scheme he was trying to play. He turned back and walked toward him.
"What... what are you doing?"
Li Luoning came near, caught Mie Xingzhe's wrist between two fingers, and checked his pulse.
"Your pulse is steady, your face is healthy, and your voice is loud enough to shake the sky. What could possibly be wrong with you?" He flung Mie Xingzhe's hand aside and walked on.
Seeing that his Master had exposed his little trick so mercilessly, Mie Xingzhe could only give up and get back to his feet, muttering resentfully as he followed.
"Ow, Master, I twisted my ankle."
Still refusing to quit, he tried again not long after.
Li Luoning, already impatient, sighed and turned around once more. One eyebrow lifted as he stood there with his arms folded, clearly watching the performance.
"Ow, Master, there was a carrying pole in the road just now. I stepped on it without noticing and twisted my foot. I do not think I can walk anymore. Let us stay here tonight." Mie Xingzhe's acting was so exaggerated, and the guilty smile on his face was so obvious, that it truly felt as if he were treating Li Luoning like a fool.
Li Luoning simply stood there without the slightest expression, staring straight at Mie Xingzhe. After a while, seeing that he still had no intention of getting up, the fingers of his left hand lightly tapped against his arm, giving a clear sense of, "Let me see how long you plan to keep acting."
Mie Xingzhe knew that tapping motion far too well. From his years at Jingyun Residence, he knew that next either Master would give in, or he would.
But judging by the look on his Master's face now, there was clearly no intention of giving in at all.
Uncomfortable under that gaze, Mie Xingzhe finally gave up his act. He stood up in frustration.
"Fine, fine. If Master is not willing to help, then let the people of this town live or die as they please. Ah, the heart of a healer... honestly, I..." He strode angrily past Li Luoning, muttering as he went.
He meant to turn around and say something else to provoke his Master, but because he was walking backward, he did not watch his footing. This time he truly fell, and his palm was scraped open at once.
"Careful—"
Li Luoning had just started to warn him, but he was already too late. He could only watch as Mie Xingzhe fell hard right in front of him.
"Hiss... ha... I told you I should not keep walking. This time I really did get hurt." Mie Xingzhe winced and blew on his palm as he complained.
Li Luoning crouched down to examine it. He gently turned Mie Xingzhe's wrist, and only after confirming the bone was not hurt did he relax.
"It is only a scrape. Wash it with clean water when we get back, and that will be enough." Seeing that Mie Xingzhe was actually hurt, Li Luoning's voice finally softened again.
But the scent of blood from Mie Xingzhe's palm woke something lurking in the shadows.
Beneath a white cloak, a chilling smile spread. The figure's nostrils twitched, as if greedily savoring the thrill brought by the smell of blood.