Chapter 273: Self-Inflicted Humiliation

"Jiang Qing'e, what do you mean by this?!"

Duze Honglian endured and endured, but in the end, she could not hold back. Yet, she dared not get up, so she could only slap the stone bed and grit her teeth in anger.

Jiang Qing'e, however, did not pay any mind to her fury, her voice remaining as indifferent as ever: "If I were currently at the Heavenly Dipper General stage, I could naturally help you clear the contamination. But I am not, so I need a helper."

Duze Honglian retorted angrily: "There are so many female students with decent strength in this stronghold; can't you find them? Why look for Li Luo? He is only at the second stage of the Resonance Master realm; what help can he be?!"

"Li Luo possesses the power of dual resonances. Although his stamina is very short-lived, that level of power is higher than any of ours, making it the most suitable for dispersing this 'smiling face' contamination."

"Furthermore, Li Luo once encountered the evil-thought illusion left behind by that 'Smiling Face Demon,' yet he relied on his dual resonance power to break free, and he did not suffer even the slightest bit of contamination."

Jiang Qing'e stood by the stone bed, her gaze looking down from above: "Compared to you, this is much stronger."

Duze Honglian was stunned. They had, of course, encountered that evil-thought illusion and knew the intensity of its contamination. Even veterans like them had nearly fallen for it back then, yet Li Luo, at only the second stage of the Resonance Master realm, was actually able to avoid the contamination?

Duze Honglian was half-doubting, but she also knew Jiang Qing'e's character; the other party had no interest in telling such meaningless lies in front of her.

But did she really have to let Li Luo help her eliminate the contamination on her back?

At this moment, lying here with her back bare, she felt as embarrassed as could be. If Li Luo were to touch her back later, the mere thought of that scene made Duze Honglian feel slightly dizzy.

"Duze Honglian, I told you before, I don't have time to dawdle here with you. If I weren't worried that the appearance of the 'Smiling Face Demon' would trigger the contamination in your body, turning you into a flesh puppet under its control and causing chaos in the stronghold, I would rather just leave you here to be monitored," Jiang Qing'e said coldly.

"At a time like this, put away those thoughts of yours. If you feel embarrassed, you brought it on yourself. If you hadn't been greedy for those purification tower points, this situation wouldn't have happened."

After being harshly scolded by Jiang Qing'e, Duze Honglian's anger flared up. She wanted to retort, but thinking of the smiling face on her back, she could only swallow her words. In the end, she turned her head to the other side of the stone bed and stopped speaking.

Clearly, this was a tacit acceptance of Li Luo's presence here.

Seeing that the argument had ended, Li Luo walked up feeling somewhat awkward. He truly hadn't expected to see this scene upon entering; Jiang Qing'e's way of doing things was truly formidable.

"Do you really need me for this? Isn't it a bit inappropriate?" he asked in a low voice.

Jiang Qing'e's expression remained unchanged as she said: "In a life-or-death situation, there is no need to be too concerned with minor details, and besides..."

She tilted her head and glanced at Li Luo: "I'm only asking you to assist me in suppressing this smiling face; I'm not asking you to do anything else."

Li Luo was speechless and could only say: "Fine, what do you need me to do?"

"Circulate your dual resonance power to temporarily disperse this smiling face, severing its connection to the flesh in her body, and then I will take action to clear the contamination," Jiang Qing'e said concisely.

Li Luo nodded; it didn't seem complicated.

So, he didn't say anything more. He cast his gaze down toward Duze Honglian's back, took one look, and nodded secretly.

Duze Honglian's figure was indeed very good; her jade-like back was slender and smooth, with perfectly supple lines. It was just that the eerie smiling face wriggling on her back added a sense of gloom to this beauty.

With Jiang Qing'e watching from the side, Li Luo didn't dare to look too much. The two resonance palaces within his body vibrated, and two streams of resonance power surged out, finally merging together.

Light bloomed from his palm.

Immediately, he gently covered her back with his palm, landing it on Duze Honglian's back.

Skin-to-skin contact was inevitable, which caused Duze Honglian's delicate body to tense up abruptly, even trembling slightly.

Hum!

The dual resonance power erupted, landing directly on the smiling face.

In that instant, a shrill sound seemed to ring out. The eerie smiling face churned violently, and then, with a 'pop,' it shattered, turning into strands of black silk that burrowed into the surrounding flesh like worms.

Duze Honglian let out a muffled groan. Cold sweat appeared on her cheeks, and her fingers clenched tightly, veins bulging.

The pain this time was even more intense than before.

Jiang Qing'e seized the opportunity. A brilliant and sacred light resonance power erupted, and at the same time, she poured out all the purification dust from the bottle in her hand.

The light resonance power enveloped the purification dust as it landed on Duze Honglian's smooth, jade-like back, the shimmering luster appearing extremely dazzling.

Sizzle!

As Jiang Qing'e exerted her full strength, after a moment, wisps of black gas began to rise from Duze Honglian's back.

Seeing this, Li Luo quietly breathed a sigh of relief. This meant the purification was working, and the contamination in Duze Honglian's body was being purged.

This process lasted for nearly half an hour.

Half an hour later, when the last wisp of black gas rose from Duze Honglian's back, the eerie smiling face on her smooth back had completely vanished.

Jiang Qing'e let out a soft breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead. This purification looked simple, but in reality, she needed extremely precise control to struggle bit by bit with those evil-thought forces, forcing them out of Duze Honglian's body.

Duze Honglian lay on the stone bed with a pale face, also feeling exhausted. After all, two forces had been battling within her flesh; how could she not be affected?

"Tell him to leave already!" However, she was the first to remind her. With Li Luo standing on the side, she felt uncomfortable every moment.

Jiang Qing'e nodded at Li Luo and said: "You go out first."

Li Luo shrugged. So I'm just a tool, discarded as soon as I'm used.

However, he truly wanted nothing to do with this thorny rose, Duze Honglian, and didn't want to provoke her further, so he turned and left cleanly and efficiently.

As Li Luo left, Duze Honglian's tense body finally relaxed, and her expression became somewhat complex.

"Don't try to play any boring tricks with me, like 'Li Luo saw your body, so you have to follow him' or something."

Jiang Qing'e wiped her hands nearby and said indifferently: "Although my House Luolan has many rooms, we still don't really welcome a troublemaker like you."

Upon hearing this, Duze Honglian laughed in extreme anger: "Does this young lady think highly of your down-and-out House Luolan?"

But then she suddenly sneered and said: "Jiang Qing'e, what if I just crook my finger and make this Li Luo so infatuated that he calls off his engagement with you? Don't you think that would be fun?"

"You?" Jiang Qing'e seemed to smile.

Her laughter made Duze Honglian feel as if she had been insulted. With only the two of them here, she disregarded everything else and knelt up on the stone bed, instantly exposing her upper body, which looked as if it were carved from jade, to the air.

She lifted her head slightly and puffed out her chest, her curves breathtaking.

"What about me?" she sneered.

Jiang Qing'e stood before the stone bed, her figure slender and graceful. She crossed her arms over her chest, her indifferent eyes looking down at Duze Honglian.

"Your assets are indeed not bad, but Duze Honglian, in all these years, in what way have you ever been better than me?"

"So..."

"Do not bring humiliation upon yourself."