Chapter 272: The Return of the Red Lotus Squad

The grudge between Duze Honglian and Jiang Qing'e had existed almost since before they even entered the Astral Sage College.

After all, one was the personal disciple of the two House Masters of House Luolan, while the other was the eldest young lady of House Duze; since they were of similar age, there were always people pulling them together for all sorts of comparisons.

Yet, such comparisons almost always resulted in Jiang Qing'e winning completely.

Duze Honglian possessed an extremely proud personality, so after these repeated comparisons, she was naturally exceptionally annoyed, and from then on, she viewed Jiang Qing'e as her greatest rival.

Coupled with the fact that House Duze and House Luolan were inherently hostile, this led to the two sides clashing on many levels, which only served to deepen the grudge.

As the two later entered the Astral Sage College at the same time, Duze Honglian continued to struggle against Jiang Qing'e, but regardless of whether she was willing to admit it, the gap between them was gradually widening.

This was likely what made Duze Honglian feel the most frustrated inside.

She had always maintained her pride and never once wanted to give up the struggle against Jiang Qing'e, but today, in this situation, facing the bizarre corruption that might swallow her flesh and blood clean, Duze Honglian's inner defenses finally crumbled.

She had actually started to ask for help from her greatest rival.

After saying these words, Duze Honglian seemed to have exhausted all her courage; she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the look on Jiang Qing'e's face.

However, Jiang Qing'e's expression remained cold and calm; she felt no self-satisfaction because of Duze Honglian's concession. After all, for these past years, it had only been Duze Honglian who viewed her as a rival, while her own gaze had long since ceased to rest upon her.

"I may not be able to remove such deep-level corruption."

Jiang Qing'e said indifferently, which made Duze Honglian's heart sink. She opened her eyes and was about to shake off the former's support; her pride did not allow her to continue begging Jiang Qing'e.

"But I will try my best. You don't need to think too much about it, because if I don't try, you will sooner or later become a puppet controlled by that Smiling Demon, and by then, it will only strengthen its power and pose a threat to our stronghold."

Hearing Jiang Qing'e's subsequent words, Duze Honglian also fell silent.

"Everyone in your two squads needs to maintain a smile in front of the 'Smiling Demon Mirror' for a sufficient amount of time, while simultaneously being tested for the presence of smiling-face corruption throughout your bodies. Furthermore, you will need to remain under our supervision and are not permitted to go out at will until your suspicions have been completely cleared," Jiang Qing'e said, not paying much attention to Duze Honglian as her eyes turned toward Ye Qiuding and the others.

The so-called Smiling Demon was the name they had given to that Great Disaster-class Otherworldly Demon during this period.

Upon hearing this, the people from the two squads had somewhat unpleasant expressions, as this meant they were about to be placed under house arrest and monitored.

"I do not mean to target you, but only you have collided head-on with the Great Disaster-class Otherworldly Demon, and since Duze Honglian was deeply corrupted, you may not have completely avoided it either. Some corruption might be something even you yourselves cannot detect."

"Therefore, these measures are necessary; no one can be exempted. If you are unwilling, we will have no choice but to enforce them," Jiang Qing'e said with a slightly cold expression.

It had to be said that Jiang Qing'e's reputation in the Astral Sage College was still very strong. Seeing her expression turn cold, Ye Qiuding and his group did not dare to argue further and could only nod in agreement.

Thus, the group began to stand in front of the Smiling Demon Mirror, one by one revealing extremely forced and unsightly smiles.

As the checks went on one by one, what made many students breathe a sigh of relief was that no one lost control because of it.

But while they were breathing a sigh of relief, Li Luo was frowning. He then exchanged a glance with Jiang Qing'e, and both saw the worry in the other's eyes.

Because smiling at the mirror only had an effect on some shallow-level seeds of evil intent, passing the mirror test did not mean that Ye Qiuding and the others were harmless.

There was another reason, which was... their seeds of evil intent were too deep and too strong, to the point that even this mirror test had no effect.

But this was only a guess. They could not forbid Ye Qiuding and the others from entering the stronghold based on this guess; it did not conform to the rules, and abandoning them outside would only fuel the opponent's power once they were swallowed or controlled by the "Smiling Demon."

Therefore, for now, they could only let them enter the stronghold and then keep them under strict supervision.

"Qiu Bai, Tian Tian, take some people and escort them to their lodgings for centralized supervision," Jiang Qing'e pondered for a moment before speaking.

Qiu Bai and Tian Tian nodded in agreement upon hearing this, then took some people and led Ye Qiuding and his group away.

"Can you still walk?" Jiang Qing'e asked, looking at the weak Duze Honglian.

Duze Honglian gritted her teeth and pushed away Jiang Qing'e's hand, intending to walk on her own, but after taking only two steps, her heels went soft and her body fell directly toward the ground.

However, she did not land in a wretched state in the end; Jiang Qing'e reached out, passed her arms under Duze Honglian's knees, and scooped her up into a horizontal carry.

Whoosh.

Some subtle, strange sounds came from the surroundings, and eyes filled with peculiar intent watched this scene.

Duze Honglian had always possessed the temperament of a cold and proud 'cool sister' in the college, with bright red lips and a fiery figure; there was no telling how many of the opposite sex had coveted her or felt their hearts stirred by her.

Yet, no one expected that one day, Duze Honglian would be carried in a bridal style by Jiang Qing'e.

The contrast was truly extremely strong.

Duze Honglian, who was being carried horizontally by Jiang Qing'e, was initially startled, then immediately began to struggle in annoyance: "Jiang Qing'e, put me down!"

"Do you think we have a lot of time? That Smiling Demon will appear very soon. Once it appears and triggers the seeds of evil intent within your body, no one will be able to help you then," Jiang Qing'e asked coldly.

Duze Honglian paused, and her struggles weakened.

Jiang Qing'e shook her head. Duze Honglian's corruption was relatively deep; if she let other students come into contact with her, no one knew if it would cause any spread, which was why she had to do it herself. Otherwise, she would have just thrown her to Li Luo and let him be the manual laborer.

She said no more, carried Duze Honglian to a stone tower used for living, entered a stone room, and placed Duze Honglian on a stone bed.

"Lie on your stomach," Jiang Qing'e said calmly.

Duze Honglian hesitated for a moment before lying down on the stone bed, and then she heard a ripping sound; Jiang Qing'e had directly torn her clothes apart, revealing her smooth, slender back.

And that bizarre, slowly wriggling smiling face.

Jiang Qing'e stared at the bizarre smiling face for a while, then took out a jade bottle. Inside the bottle was some shimmering dust, which was the purification dust used to activate the purification tower.

She poured the purification dust directly onto the bizarre smiling face on Duze Honglian's back.

Sizzle!

The moment they made contact, black smoke rose up immediately, as if water had been poured into a pot of boiling oil; the reaction was violent.

Duze Honglian's delicate body tensed up instantly; she clenched her fingers, and veins appeared on the back of her hands, clearly enduring intense pain.

But she clearly did not want to lose face in front of Jiang Qing'e, so she bit her teeth hard and did not make a single sound.

Gurgle!

On her back, the bizarre black face suddenly opened its mouth wide and, with two 'pfft' sounds, spat out all the purification dust that had fallen onto it.

These dust particles had turned pitch-black, and the purification power within them had been completely worn away.

Faintly, it seemed as if a mocking laugh could be heard coming from it.

"Purification dust is useless; it will dissolve it by devouring my flesh and blood," Duze Honglian's cheeks were covered in cold sweat, and her voice had become much hoarser.

"This smiling face has already connected with your flesh and blood."

"If you want to purify it, you need to break it apart first, sever its connection with your flesh and blood, and then take the opportunity to eliminate it. Otherwise, even if it is purified later, I'm afraid you won't have much of a chance to survive," Jiang Qing'e said.

"How can a brand planted by a Great Disaster-class Otherworldly Demon be broken apart? Even if you have a ninth-grade Light Resonance, I'm afraid it won't be that easy, right?" Duze Honglian said.

Jiang Qing'e thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "It is indeed somewhat difficult, so I need a helper."

Duze Honglian did not react for a moment.

But Jiang Qing'e was in no mood to explain too much to her and called out toward the door: "Come in."

Then a figure pushed the door open and walked in. Duze Honglian raised her head, and with a look of astonishment, she saw Li Luo walking in, looking equally bewildered.

Their gazes collided; Li Luo was at most just a bit confused, but Duze Honglian was suddenly struck by a rush of blood to her head. She was still lying on the bed with her back bare, and this Li Luo, a man, had suddenly walked in just like that?!

For a moment, Duze Honglian was nearly overcome with shame and anger to the point of fainting.

Jiang Qing'e, are you two doing this to mess with me on purpose?!