Chapter 452: A Single Ring of the Linglong Bell, the Pill Emerges

"Report!" A guard rushed into the hall, and before he could even kneel, he spoke urgently: "A group of Daoists outside the palace is challenging us, saying..."

The following words seemed quite unseemly; the guard was in a difficult position, unsure whether to say them or not.

But how could Guihua endure this? She hated nothing more than others leaving half their words unsaid.

"Useless thing! What did they say?"

"They... they..." The guard hesitated, then suddenly seemed to make up his mind: "They said the Demon Lord is hiding in the palace, afraid he is nothing but a coward, and if he has the guts, he should come out and have a proper fight..."

The guard finished the words extremely quickly, as if he were rushing to be reincarnated, terrified that if he spoke too slowly, someone else would snatch his life away.

"What?!"

Guihua flew into a rage and stepped forward, making a gesture to strike the guard. The guard squeezed his eyes shut and hurriedly explained:

"General, spare me! It wasn't me who said it, it was that group of Daoists outside!"

"Get out!"

Guihua kicked the guard hatefully, and the guard scrambled out of the palace gate, rolling and crawling.

"Yo~"

Just as she was about to turn back to report, a long, drawn-out sound rang out at a most inopportune moment. The tone was so exaggerated it could have stretched for miles, making Guihua roll her eyes involuntarily.

It was this cursed tone again; she knew who it was without even thinking.

"Oh my! Why are there Daoists causing a ruckus in the palace? And they've even made it to the palace gate," Lingxiang said, clicking her tongue with a "tsk-tsk." Mimicking a theater actor, she feigned a look of helplessness: "Oh dear, oh dear, whatever shall we do?"

Shut your bird beak!

Guihua glanced at the posturing Lingxiang and bowed to the Demon Lord.

"My Lord, those bird Daoists are extremely arrogant, actually bullying their way to our doorstep. Since it has come to this, there is no reason to sit idly by. This subordinate requests the order to capture those Daoists and vent the Demon Lord's anger."

A scoff came again at an inopportune moment, the tone sounding as if she had just heard the world's greatest joke.

"What are you laughing at?" Guihua was in the heat of anger; how could she still care about status or etiquette?

Moreover, Guihua had never held Lingxiang in high regard; she despised Lingxiang from the bottom of her heart.

"Naturally, I am laughing at how unreasonable your words are."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean nothing by it."

"What do you mean by 'I mean nothing by it'?"

"I mean exactly what I said."

Guihua furrowed her brows and took a step forward, but suddenly realized it was improper and hurriedly stepped back.

Damn girl! Are you playing word games with me?

Lingxiang gave another contemptuous smile: "How should I put it? It's so simple, yet the General doesn't understand? Could it be the General never went to school?" She said this with a look of realization: "It's no wonder, after all, the General is not human, so it's normal not to understand human speech."

Hiss!

This didn't seem to have any logical flaws, but why did it sound so grating to the ears?

"Then I ask the Princess for instruction." Guihua cupped her hands in a bow, feigning respect with extreme reluctance.

I'll see what kind of nonsense can come out of your dog mouth.

Lingxiang sighed, as if doing it against her will:

"We humans, you see, value 'reciprocity' above all else."

"The Demon Race has visited Yuanqing time and again, so naturally, Yuanqing cannot lose its sense of propriety. Otherwise, if word gets out, how could such a great sect continue to stand in the Daoist world?"

"Furthermore, there must be give and take for days to last long, don't you think?"

What kind of messy nonsense is this? Utter rubbish!

A mere mortal, and she dares to compare herself to the Demon Race? Ridiculous!

The spawn of a slut is indeed a slut, full of twisted logic and stirring up trouble!

Guihua glared at Lingxiang with disgust; she couldn't even be bothered to argue with her and requested orders from the Demon Lord once more.

But Lingxiang seemed to have heard the world's greatest joke, laughing until she swayed back and forth, exaggerated and affected, not caring in the slightest about the Demon Lord present.

"The General has probably said this more than once or twice, right? Yet every time the General tried to take my life, she ended up defeated by me, not to mention having been beaten by Wuyang until she revealed her true form. This 'will not fail the mission,' what kind of 'ass' is that?" Upon hearing this, Guihua was instantly panicked, and the Demon Lord also furrowed his brows.

The Demon Lord was very displeased; he valued Lingxiang highly, as he still needed her to refine the "Heaven-Returning Pill," so how could he possibly want her life?

And because Guihua had been acting in bad faith, now that the matter had failed, she was naturally panicked.

After the Demon Lord performed Possession on Lingxiao, he became temperamental; Guihua knew his temper like the back of her hand.

This damn girl is trying to get me killed!

Lingxiang watched everything with composure, unable to suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth.

Guihua cast a sidelong glance and happened to see the triumphant Lingxiang, nearly unable to suppress the urge to kill.

Just as the Demon Lord was scrutinizing the prostrate Guihua, the Grand Tutor, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, suddenly spoke.

"Attempting to harm the Imperial Princess is a heinous crime; it must be dealt with by extreme punishment to uphold the dignity of the Imperial family."

Hearing this, Guihua's hatred grew even more intense.

This old wretch is actually kicking a man when he's down!

But to Lingxiang's ears, these words carried a different meaning.

Harming is harming, why call it "attempting"? If it's a heinous crime, why the need for "truly is"? If it should be dealt with, then deal with it; isn't "must be" redundant? Since the goal is to uphold dignity, why the need for "only then can"?

This old man is quite good at speaking; if I'm not mistaken, the latter part is his true intention.

Not a single error, not a single omission, every word is here!

"However, the current situation is worrying, with a great enemy at the gates and few people available to use. If we convict her now, it would be like breaking our own wings."

Lingxiang kept her expression unchanged, quietly waiting for what followed.

"In this old subject's humble opinion, it would be better to record this matter for now. Once Yiyou General quells the Daoist rebellion, it can be considered that her merits offset her faults."

As expected, what a fine display of suppression followed by praise; I admire it, I admire it—truly, the older the ginger, the spicier it gets.

Guihua kowtowed like a pestle pounding garlic, her mouth repeatedly echoing pleas for mercy.

Previously, she had been gnashing her teeth at the Grand Secretary, but after hearing these words, she felt he was not quite so repulsive after all.

An old radish is not necessarily filled with nothing but bad water.

"Although this method may slightly wrong the Imperial Princess, I believe she will surely be able to consider the overall situation and show some understanding."

Lingxiang smiled without a word, cast a glance at the deep-in-thought Demon Lord, and instantly understood in her heart.

She had intended to finish off Guihua today to rid the Daoist Sect of some burden, but now, the Grand Secretary had suddenly appeared.

It seems this menace, Guihua, cannot be killed today.

Forget it, forget it; having planted this cause, there will surely be a result in the days to come.

Besides, whether this group of the Demon Race even has a future is still unknown!

Very well! I shall grant a favor for now so that the remaining days can be spent more comfortably.

"Oh my~ I was just speaking casually; why bring up talk of crimes? What 'overall situation' or not—it was just a joke, why take it so seriously? It's quite frightening."

As Lingxiang spoke, she poked at the charcoal fire in the Pill Furnace—it looked like the pills were about to be finished.

"That is all in the past; Yiyou General has served as a slave and servant for these two years quite well, and I am very satisfied, so how could there be any talk of blame?"

As she said this, she raised an eyebrow and looked toward the Grand Secretary.

"And since you have put it that way, it would not be right for me to reject the Grand Secretary's favoritism, so I will treat it as doing you a favor—you are not allowed to deny it!"

As soon as her voice fell, the Grand Secretary showed no reaction, but Guihua's eyes widened.

What did she mean by "the Grand Secretary's favoritism"? How could she possibly be involved with this old scoundrel?

That dead girl! She was actually slandering her!

Just as Guihua was about to flare up, she heard a dull thud from the Pill Furnace, and everyone's gaze instantly converged upon it; the Demon Lord's gaze was even more intense.

This is...

The pills are finished!