Chapter 32
He lowered his head, his slightly thick lips mumbling a few words: "The carriage probably... can\'t be returned..."
"?" Jian Huan widened her eyes slightly, "Why?"
Shen Jizhi\'s eyelashes twitched: "What happened to the carriage?"
Baili Dao lowered his head further, staring at his boots: "I had to transport night soil, so I dismantled the carriage."
Jian Huan: "?"
Shen Jizhi: "?"
The arrival of Senior Sister Bai Ying and her group interrupted the conversation between the three.
Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi hadn\'t yet had the chance to ask Baili Dao how he found Elder Yu Qing.
But when Baili Dao mentioned "night soil," they could basically guess what had happened.
At that moment, neither of them felt comfortable bringing up the carriage matter again.
Jian Huan asked Baili Dao a few questions, and indeed confirmed that he had escaped the city-wide search by disguising himself as a night soil worker.
"Hmm, that was quite clever of you..." Jian Huan said in a profound tone.
Baili Dao, embarrassed by the praise, scratched his head: "My success in leaving the city and contacting Elder Yu Qing was inseparable from this method."
Jian Huan asked curiously: "How so?"
Baili Dao grinned: "I climbed into an empty night soil bucket, and Zhao Shi brother helped me get out."
Jian Huan choked: "This... was the bucket cleaned?"
"No," Baili Dao shook his head: "Fortunately it wasn\'t cleaned, the guards only looked at one bucket and didn\'t check the others."
Jian Huan kindly reminded him: "But you could have cleaned the one you climbed into."
Baili Dao: "???"
Baili Dao thought carefully: "I... I suppose so."
Shen Jizhi: "..."
Earlier while unconscious, Shen Jizhi had been placed in bed.
While Jian Huan and Baili Dao were discussing how the night soil bucket could have been cleaned with a purification technique before climbing in, he quietly made his way around the foot of the bed, put on his shoes, stood up, and walked over to Baili Dao, looking down at him saying: "Let\'s go."
Baili Dao stood up reflexively, asking in confusion: "Where to?"
"To look at the carriage," Shen Jizhi turned to leave, "The carriage can be repaired."
Baili Dao: "..."
Oh right, Shen Jizhi was a master artificer - if he could repair swords and daggers, a carriage would be no problem.
He hurriedly followed.
Jian Huan sat on the bed, watching them leave while waving sweetly: "Thank you for your hard work!"
After Shen Jizhi and Baili Dao left, Jian Huan also got up.
She first took out the "Complete Guide to Talisman Arts," reviewed the talismans she already knew how to draw, and learned two new ones.
Previously, Jian Huan would have continued drawing and selling talismans non-stop.
She had been so poor before that her only goal was to make money.
But now, her Mustard Seed Pouch was quite full, and those two bounties were secure.
She wasn\'t sure of the exact value of what was in the Mustard Seed Pouch and planned to find an appraisal shop to sell the items when they reached Azure Dragon City.
With the major incident in Yujiang City and cultivators from various sects arriving in waves, the mixed crowd made it unsuitable to deal with the contents of the Mustard Seed Pouch.
Obviously, Shen Jizhi thought the same way, as he hadn\'t mentioned anything about dividing the spirit jelly yet.
They both feared eavesdroppers.
In any case, by her calculations, she was guaranteed to have several thousand spirit stones - finally, she wouldn\'t have to live on flatbread and sleep in woodsheds!
So, Jian Huan decided to start improving herself while earning money.
She took out the "Complete Guide to Techniques" which she had barely looked at before, and began memorizing the techniques.
In Qi Wan\'s formation, she had to rely on Shen Jizhi to fly with her.
That wasn\'t good.
She needed to be able to fly by herself.
Now was the perfect time to memorize techniques since she couldn\'t use spiritual power anyway.
After finishing her studies, Jian Huan got up, stretched her muscles, and went out to find Elder Yu Qing.
...
Yu Qing was the first to discover her and Shen Jizhi, and Jian Huan wanted to ask him in person what exactly had happened.
But Elder Yu Qing was very busy.
He was the one who killed Qi Wan, the first to arrive, and the most prestigious person present.
Everyone naturally went to him with their problems.
When elders from other sects arrived, they also went directly to Yu Qing to ask about what had happened.
Yu Qing had become the person in charge of the Qi Wan incident.
In the main hall of Jiang Manor, the person in charge, Yu Qing, stood by a carved pillar while a group of people surrounded him, reporting and waiting for his decisions.
"Elder Yu, we\'ve searched the entire Jiang Manor and only found invitations recording this year\'s Couples Banquet. We couldn\'t find invitations from previous years."
"I can answer that. I just came from the city lord\'s dungeon, where a servant confessed that at the end of each year, they destroy everything related to that year\'s Couples Banquet."
"..."
"The demon race is indeed cunning!" An elder who had just arrived from another sect stood listening to these reports, then said disapprovingly, "Elder Yu, you shouldn\'t have killed Qi Wan, you should have kept her alive! With her death, all leads are gone. Only Qi Wan knew the full story, but you went and killed her directly - what kind of solution is that? Qi Wan was once a disciple of your Jade Clarity Sect, could it be that your sect deliberately silenced her? This matter..."
Yu Qing raised his head, his refined and elegant face showing traces of a helpless smile as he pointed to the side.
To the side was a screen painted with flowers, birds, fish, and beasts, blocking the view of what lay behind.
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But one could tell there were quite a few people behind it.
Yu Qing said concisely: "Elder Liu, please go look inside first."
Elder Liu wore a puzzled expression, snorted coldly, and went around the screen.
As Elder Liu walked away, Jian Huan, who had been trying to tiptoe behind him, was exposed.
Jian Huan hurriedly squeezed forward, trying to get closer to Yu Qing, calling out as she pushed through: "Elder Yu—"
Yu Qing glanced at his disciple, and seeing she was unharmed, smiled slightly and interrupted her: "You should look too."
Jian Huan: "...alright."
The side room was dimly lit.
A crystal ball the size of a tennis ball floated in mid-air, emitting a soft white luminescence.
The light projected onto the wall in front of the crystal ball, silently replaying a scene.
Elder Yu Qing\'s face couldn\'t be seen in the scene, but occasionally a floating cyan ribbon would appear.
This crystal ball—
Wasn\'t it just an enlarged version of the small ball Elder Yu Qing always wore at his waist!
So this was the cultivation world\'s version of a camera?
Tsk, Elder Yu Qing was clearly an experienced worker.
Just like Jian Huan, when she first started working, she didn\'t know better and often cleared her chat history due to insufficient phone storage.
After learning her lesson the hard way, she bit the bullet and bought a phone with the largest storage capacity, to backup all kinds of work messages.
Otherwise, sometimes you really couldn\'t explain things clearly even if you wanted to.
Jian Huan looked up, her gaze inevitably drawn to the crystal ball, which was clearly valuable... She forced herself to look away and turned to watch the light screen on the wall.
The image showed Qi Wan\'s face, but one look told you something was wrong.
Normal eyes have whites, and pupils are clear, reflecting what they see.
But Qi Wan\'s eyes were completely black, chilling to look at.
In the scene, Qi Wan\'s attacks were fierce, charging at Yu Qing without fear of death or pain.
Yu Qing kept retreating, the crystal ball shaking with movement, making Qi Wan\'s face blur and distort her features.
This silent scene was like a scratched disc, where the people inside lost their facial features.
For nearly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, this pattern repeated.
The mindless Qi Wan only relied on her terrifying power at the seventh layer of the Yuan Ying realm, targeting Yu Qing with deadly attacks.
Yu Qing had mentioned his cultivation level in class - he had been stuck at the fifth layer of Yuan Ying realm for many years.
Qi Wan\'s killing moves...
Yu Qing dared not face them directly.
Throughout the entire time, he never engaged Qi Wan head-on. He rode that green bamboo, moving from her front to her back, from her left to her right.
The scene was chaotic and jumpy, making people dizzy, with many unconsciously closing their eyes.
But Jian Huan watched, entranced.
Elder Yu Qing wasn\'t just dodging!
He was drawing a formation around Qi Wan - when the formation was complete, Qi Wan would inevitably be defeated!
So this was how talisman masters should fight against others?
First, you need to be good at dodging and have quick footwork, so you have a chance to draw a killing formation to finish off your opponent!
Jian Huan became even more determined to learn the sword-riding incantation.
Her hands, hanging at her sides, unconsciously clenched into fists as her emotions surged.
Elder Liu, standing in the middle, suddenly spoke: "It\'s done."
Sure enough, in the next instant, countless golden light strips appeared in the air within the image, each containing mysterious runes.
These golden light strips bearing runes gradually tightened around Qi Wan in the center, binding and trapping her firmly.
Qi Wan couldn\'t move; she struggled desperately, her face contorted.
Seemingly finally realizing there was no way to break free, the darkness receded from her eyes, but then began creeping upward, from her eyes to her eyebrows, gathering at her brow point, until a plump black demon worm emerged!
Looking through the crystal ball\'s image, peering into that worm hole at her brow, inside was... completely empty.
Not even a drop of blood leaked out.
Someone exclaimed in shock: "Is... is this what happens when the brain gets eaten?"
Elder Liu glanced over and explained: "Demons use their hearts to nurture these demon heart worms. When the worm enters a cultivator\'s body, it can devour their brain and consciousness, turning them into demon puppets. This is why demons are so hard to eliminate - when one of their people dies, they gain another puppet to do their bidding."
"Hiss—" Many people drew in sharp breaths.
Jian Huan recalled the plot from the book.
In the demon realm, not every demon had the privilege to raise demon heart worms. One had to be absolutely loyal to the demon clan and achieve merits.
To demons, demon heart worms were heavenly treasures that could nourish them and bring great benefits.
The reason why the original host agreed to be a spy in the Jade Clarity Sect was because it would earn her merit and qualify her to raise a demon heart worm.
Aliali: 6754c11abd5e46c308a55742Unfortunately, the original host who had dreamed of raising a demon heart worm ended up having her brain eaten by one instead.
Jian Huan shuddered slightly, touching her own brow point with a sense of horror.
Speaking of which, if the original novel had written specific addresses for the demon clan plot points, instead of just writing things like \'she was previously in the demon realm\', \'he went to the demon realm\', \'three days later, at the demon realm location, Shen Jizhi recalled his time at the Jade Clarity Sect\'... then Jian Huan could have found a way to reveal the location to Elder Yu Qing and directly raid the demon clan\'s lair.
As things stood now, she really couldn\'t say anything - should she tell Elder Yu Qing that the demon clan was located at \'the demon realm location\'?
Jian Huan sighed.
Ninety-nine percent of the original novel\'s plot from the female antagonist\'s perspective was about stirring up trouble between Shen Jizhi and Jiang Qiaoqiao, with barely any concrete information about the demon clan written.
Therefore, Jian Huan couldn\'t reveal much - should she report that Shen Jizhi would become the demon clan\'s greatest overlord in the future?
To be honest, based on their interactions so far, she really couldn\'t believe that in the book, Shen Jizhi would turn to demons because of the female lead Jiang Qiaoqiao.
It would be more believable if he did it for money.
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