Song Meiyu snapped to action. "I'll tell Prince Lu so he can tell his father!" She ran to the corner of the room, nearly tripping over a rug, and dug through a suspiciously sparkly pouch. "Where is it, where is it—ah-ha!"
She pulled out a spirit transmission jade and held it up like she was calling an ancient deity. "Prince Lu! Urgent message! It's about vegetables!"
Everyone stared at her.
Linyue sighed softly. "Maybe leave out the vegetable part."
Song Meiyu, already halfway through her dramatic transmission, whispered loudly, "Too late!"
Meanwhile, Soup Man turned to Linyue with a thoughtful frown. "By the way, I still haven't gotten any information about someone named Qi Heng."
Linyue simply replied, "I see."
Shu Mingye crossed his arms, his tone darker. "He's more mysterious than we thought."
Linyue glanced down at the scroll on the table. "Actually, I sensed master's energy from the Phantom Blood Array scroll."
Soup Man blinked, confused. "You mean… that Qi Heng?"
Linyue nodded slowly.
Shu Mingye's frown deepened. For some reason, every strange and dangerous thing they ran into seemed to connect back to her master. He didn't like it. "What about the array inside the angry cabbage? Was that also from your master?"
Linyue looked at the man still tied to the pillar who was now very much awake and looking horrified. "I don't know. Before I could reach the core of the array, something attacked my spiritual sense. A black thorn. It made my head spin and everything felt dizzy."
Soup Man leaned in. "Then what happened?"
Linyue said simply, "So I destroyed everything at once with my lightning spiritual energy."
There was a pause.
"…Maybe that's why that man is a bit burnt."
Everyone slowly turned to look at the tied-up ex-cabbage man who let out a small, traumatized whimper.
Master Tian Mo, back to sipping his tea, commented helpfully, "He smells a little like roasted yam."
Song Meiyu added, "I told you she cured him with electrocution."
Soup Man nodded, impressed. "Very efficient method. Extremely illegal, but efficient." Then he tilted his head and asked, "So… are you going to cure all the angry cabbages too?"
Before Linyue could answer, Shu Mingye snapped, "Absolutely not. It's dangerous. I disagree."
Master Tian Mo, who had somehow refilled his tea again, added, "You can help her, you know. By the way, are none of you interested in this box anymore?"
Everyone turned toward the dusty wooden box sitting in front of him. The one that held his master's inheritance. They had all forgotten it existed.
Linyue stared at it blankly. "None of us are at peak fifth level."
Master Tian Mo raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"
Linyue hesitated. "I don't know either."
Soup Man squinted at her. "Wait, you don't know your own cultivation level? Now that I think about it, I can't sense it either."
"Mhm," Linyue replied vaguely.
Shu Mingye immediately stepped in. "Then don't risk it. We don't know what kind of thing is inside."
Soup Man crossed his arms. "Are you always this overprotective?"
"Absolutely," Shu Mingye replied without hesitation.
Master Tian Mo nodded wisely, sipping his tea. "Not bad. It will be a plus for assessment."
Song Meiyu, still talking over spirit transmission jade, whispered to no one in particular, "He's already being graded like a son-in-law…"
Shu Mingye heard it. He didn't deny it. Instead, he looked at Linyue and said, "Let's focus on angry cabbages and cursed books first. We can deal with mysterious inheritance box and marriage tests later."
Master Tian Mo let out a slow, amused chuckle. "What's taking Yin Xue so long? We need her to examine that one tied to the pillar before we start poking more angry cabbages."
The mood in the room shifted slightly as they glanced toward the window. Outside, the sky had already turned dark. It was deep into the night. And yet, Master Yin Xue, Shen Zhenyu, and He Yuying still hadn't returned from the healing hall.
Master Tian Mo stood up and dusted the crumbs from his sleeve. "Why don't you go back and rest first? I'll take care of these books. Save your energy. You'll need it for the cabbages."
Linyue gave a tired nod, thanked Master Tian Mo, and quietly slipped out of the room with Shu Mingye beside her. When they reached her chamber, Linyue moved like a half-dead ghost. She kicked off her shoes without aiming, fell face-first onto the bed, and did not move again. Mental exercise, she decided, was far worse than physical training. Worse than mountain hiking. Worse than being chased by angry cabbages.
Her head buzzed with too many thoughts. Everything was tangled. Cursed books. Sacrificial arrays. Her master. Forbidden techniques. Angry vegetables. Something was coming. Something bad. Something big. She didn't like it.
Shu Mingye, already familiar with this nightly ritual, pulled the blanket over her and then added himself as another layer. He wrapped his arms around her, solid and warm.
"Sleep," he whispered.
But Linyue was already gone. As soon as her eyes closed, she sank into sleep. Wrapped in his warmth, no nightmare dared to come. Only angry cabbages might dare.
The next day arrived too soon. Bright, loud, and full of responsibilities waiting to ruin her peace.
Linyue and Shu Mingye went to Master Tian Mo's residence early in the morning. The old master was already hard at work, destroying the books filled with array with his fire spiritual energy.
Master Yin Xue had returned as well and was already done poking the man tied to the pillar. Her diagnosis was simple: "Go ahead. Electrocution should work." Very professional.
Of course, Shu Mingye disagreed instantly.
"No," he said flatly.
But with some convincing and a bit of strategic bribing, he finally gave in. On one strict condition: he would help. With his fire spiritual energy. And he would stay glued to her side the entire time.
Which brought them here.
The healing hall was... something.
Linyue stepped inside and stopped. Around them, men and women who used to be decent people and were now possessed by soul-thirsty arrays were all tied up neatly to wooden posts. Some struggled. Some screamed. Some foamed at the mouth. It was a very chaotic vegetable market vibe.
Master Yin Xue welcomed them with a nod. "Ah, you're here. We've already prepared them for electrocution—I mean, treatment."
Shu Mingye glanced sideways at her, unimpressed. "That does not make it sound better."
Master Yin Xue shrugged. "I'm not in charge of naming things."
Linyue sighed and rolled up her sleeves. "Alright. Let's begin before they start trying to eat each other."
Shu Mingye muttered darkly, "Still think I should have locked you in your room. With chains included."
Linyue gave him a flat look and pouted. "That chain again. It's going to haunt me in my dreams."
He smirked. Of course, he had no intention of locking her anywhere unless she kept doing reckless things, in which case, he would at least consider it. Maybe just a silk rope next time. Less dramatic.
What she didn't know was that while she slept peacefully at night, rolled up like a dumpling under six layers of blankets, Shu Mingye had been quietly training his spiritual sense. He even practiced during the carriage ride to Luyan. Not to spy, of course. Definitely not. He just wanted to observe from a distance. Like a noble hawk. A protective noble hawk with maybe a tiny bit of obsession. And now that training might actually pay off.
Linyue looked up at him seriously. "Actually, you don't have to do this. It's dangerous. What if you turn into an angry cabbage too?"
Shu Mingye narrowed his eyes. "So you do know it's dangerous. What a surprise."
Linyue looked away guiltily. "Master Tian Mo said my lightning works best against this thing."
He folded his arms. "It's still dangerous. And besides, even if I do become an angry cabbage, you can cure me."
Linyue sighed. "That's also a dangerous method."
"Ah," he said nodding slowly. "So you knew that too."
Linyue pressed her lips together in a small pout. "Fine, fine. Let's start already."