Chapter 395: Extorting Guihua with Cunning Stalls

After a session of breathing exercises, Lingxiang slowly opened her eyes.

Maidong was still sleeping quietly on the bed.

Looking toward the incense burner, the Soul-Calming Incense had only just finished burning.

What seemed like a very long adventure had actually not taken much time at all; even the effects of the Dream-Returning Pill had not yet worn off.

She figured that once Maidong woke up, she would be clear-headed, but...

But after experiencing this turn of events, perhaps Maidong would never be able to return to how she was before...

At this thought, Lingxiang's expression dimmed, and she fell into deep contemplation.

The sound of a zither drifted over faintly. Looking up, she saw that perched upon the Prisoner-Ox Zither was actually a...

"Hmm..."

Lingxiang pinched her chin and leaned in to examine the bird-like creature on the Prisoner-Ox Zither closely.

"Why does it look more like a chicken the more I look at it..."

Lingxiang certainly knew it was a phoenix and understood where the zither music she heard in her sea of consciousness had come from, but the phoenix before her, despite being pure white, looked nothing like the phoenixes described in books.

What happened to the feathers like colorful clouds chasing the moon and the tail like a long rainbow piercing the sun? Why did the phoenix before her look more and more like a drowned chicken?

If not for its shimmering crest, Lingxiang would have almost thought someone's bald chicken had run into her room.

The reason for this was that shortly after Lingxiang entered meditation, this phoenix had undergone its final nirvana, so it had not yet fully unfurled and indeed looked quite disheveled.

The phoenix seemed to understand Lingxiang's words; it cast a dissatisfied glance at her, stopped the claw it had been idly plucking the strings with, and then rested its head listlessly on the zither head, as if it couldn't be bothered to deal with her.

Hey! This really looks a bit like Xiaobai!

While sighing, Lingxiang gathered up the ashes that had fallen under the zither—this was excellent medicinal material, hard to come by, and must not be wasted.

Just then, the room suddenly trembled violently. It was fortunate that Lingxiang had set up a Dharma Array beforehand and applied a Talisman, which spared these carved beams and painted rafters from being smashed to pieces.

Who is it? Who is outside?

Through the crack in the door, Lingxiang cautiously peered outside and saw the face of Guihua, which made her feel nauseated, standing arrogantly outside the hall, followed by a group of Demon Soldiers, with a person lying before her.

It was actually Boluohui!

Guihua raised a foot, intending to stomp fiercely onto Boluohui; one stomp like that, and his ribs and internal organs would likely be crushed to powder.

At this critical moment, Lingxiang hurriedly opened the door and shouted loudly, "Stop! You old harlot! How dare you run wild before this Princess's hall!"

"You... what did you call me?" Guihua's brows stood up and her eyes glared, staring fixedly at Lingxiang, forgetting even to put down her raised foot.

"What? Did this Princess say something wrong?" Lingxiang said as she stepped out of the door, eyeing Guihua with disdain. "Are you unhappy that I called you old? Or do you feel the word 'harlot' insults your reputation?"

"Ah!" Lingxiang suddenly put on an extremely surprised look, one that was exaggerated to the extreme. "I was wrong, then!"

As she spoke, her expression changed abruptly, and she said with a low, mocking tone, "You are even worthy of having a reputation!"

Hearing this, Guihua was consumed by rage, so angry that her eyeballs were about to pop out. She stomped her feet and roared, "If you have the guts, say that again!"

"What? Once wasn't enough, and you want to hear it again? Your preferences as an old harlot are quite unique!" Lingxiang wore an astonished expression, as if she had never seen such an unreasonable request.

"Little beast! You dare to curse me?"

Lingxiang flicked her fingernails and blew on them flippantly. "Who is the 'little beast' talking about?"

She had already cursed her, so what was there to be afraid of?

"The 'little beast' is talking about you!"

Guihua blurted it out, but seeing Lingxiang laughing until she was doubled over, she realized what happened and said in a fit of rage, "Today, I will definitely kill you, you little beast!"

Lingxiang looked at her with disdain and lazily beckoned to Guihua: "Come over here."

The tremor from just a moment ago was clearly caused by Guihua, but the Dharma Array was still intact, which showed that Guihua could not break it, giving Lingxiang the confidence to be fearless.

And there was another reason why Lingxiang provoked Guihua: she wanted her to temporarily forget about Boluohui, so that she would have a chance to rescue him.

It was just that there was one thing Lingxiang did not understand—why was Boluohui outside the Dharma Array?

But now was not the time to think about such things; she had to find a way to save him first.

Unexpectedly, however, Guihua suppressed her murderous intent at this moment and calmed down.

"Hmph! A fine provocation, but I won't fall for it."

Having suffered losses at Lingxiang's hands so many times, she had finally learned to be a bit smarter. Guihua raised her leg again and ground it into Boluohui's chest.

"You want to save him? That's not happening!" Guihua said, standing on tiptoe, her toe slowly wandering from Boluohui's throat down to his lower abdomen.

"There is no one who can snatch away what I have set my eyes on. Just by relying on you, this lowly girl, you dare to play clever tricks in front of me?"

"Oh? Is that so?" Lingxiang was extremely surprised. "The Demon Lord has finally set his eyes on you?" She patted her chest with great relief. "It's not easy, it's not easy! You have finally achieved your wish; a turtle matched with a green bean, it really is a match made in heaven, congratulations!"

How could Guihua not hear the mockery in Lingxiang's words? She was instantly furious, her hair standing on end.

Insulting her, she could endure; insulting the Demon Lord, absolutely not!

But even though she was burning with rage, Guihua still endured it without acting out, exerting force with her foot to viciously grind Boluohui's abdomen.

Yet, strangely, Boluohui did not react at all; his chest did not even have the slightest rise and fall.

Could it be that he was dead?

Lingxiang was terrified, but she did not show it on her face. Gritting her teeth, she forced a smile and took a sachet from the small pouch at her waist.

"General, do you recognize this?" Lingxiang weighed the sachet and looked at Guihua with ill intent.

Although it was somewhat different from what she remembered, the silk thread embroidered on the sachet made Guihua feel a bone-chilling cold.

Back at Liu Fu, it was precisely because of this sachet that Lingxiang had made Guihua suffer agonizing pain.

That feeling of thousands of lice breaking their cocoons, starving and bloodthirsty, the more you scratched the more it hurt, the more it hurt the more it itched, and the more it itched the more you scratched—Guihua would never forget it in this lifetime.

She didn't expect this little demon girl to still have this thing!

Lingxiang was extremely anxious inside, but on the surface, she wore a triumphant expression.

"General, you look down on me, this Yuanqing Ninth Elder, far too much. Previously, when we were in Maidong's sea of consciousness, I still had reservations about you, but now that we are outside, can I not handle a stupid thing like you?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll kill him?" Guihua exerted force with her foot and said viciously.

"Do you dare?" Lingxiang said, untying the ribbon on the sachet and giving it a light squeeze.

A puff of smoke and dust shot out; Guihua's heart trembled, and the force in her feet lightened significantly.

Guihua was truly too terrified of this thing; after falling victim to it back then, she had suffered from pain and itching for over half a month, and she did not want to experience that feeling of wanting to tear out her own heart and lungs ever again.

But...

But it was rare for the Demon Lord to be out today, and she really did not want to lose such a rare opportunity!

Lingxiang was also very uneasy at this moment; after all, the previous medicinal powder had long since been used up, and this sachet contained nothing but ordinary medicinal powder. It could indeed bluff Guihua for now, but as time went on, it would eventually be exposed.

Guihua had come to pick a fight with such great fanfare, and with such a commotion at Shiyang Hall, could it be that that old monster Wumin Jun hadn't heard a whisper of it?

And to think she had gone to such great lengths for that face of his; he was actually so unreliable!