Chapter 194: Testing the Medicine

Li Piaoqing let out a breath, her body relaxing slightly. She let go of his sleeve, her two hands twisting together, and she began to lower her head and frown in thought.

"The corpse and the bead are both in the open now, but we don't have anyone capable of fighting on our side for the time being," the girl muttered. "Over at the Immortal Platform..."

She tried hard to think about the chaotic and complex matters on all sides, her brows locking tighter and tighter.

"Go rest for a while first, and treat your wounds."

After calling several times, the girl finally came back to her senses: "Ah... I can't right now. I have to wait for the Immortal Platform to come over and set the basic tone before we can talk."

"And... I have to write a few letters, you help me send them to different places," Li Piaoqing organized the matters in her brain, feeling that not one could be delayed.

"Alright." Pei Ye didn't understand the inside relationships of all sides anyway, and couldn't think of any way at this moment. Since the girl said it was important, he let her handle it first.

What was lingering in his brain was another matter—beside Qijiao Shang Huaitong, there should be no one left, right?

Seven Serpents Cave, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth cave masters had all perished. This great sect standing at the peak of Bowang had lost all its middle strength overnight.

Qijiao Shang Huaitong, this number one sword talent with boundless limelight in Bowang, what kind of face would he have after tonight?

The two were thinking about their own things. Pei Ye was the first to come back to his senses. A commotion came from outside the courtyard; it turned out that the ones who went to report the case had returned.

The courtyard door was pushed open. Pei Ye turned to look, but it wasn't the Immortal Platform—Zhao Fu's expressionless face appeared at the door.

Pei Ye's expression flattened. He moved two steps and stood in front of Li Piaoqing, gripping his sword again.

"Who is the deceased?" Zhao Fu walked in.

"Lord Zhao, stop," the girl suddenly looked up and said.

Zhao Fu turned his head to look over.

"This matter is a feud between Seven Serpents and Cuiyu. This spring, a true disciple of Cuiyu died; Lord Zhao should still remember, right?"

"Feuds are naturally at will, but the government must supervise," Zhao Fu glanced at her and continued to step forward.

"Lord Zhao!" the girl said loudly.

Zhao Fu stopped.

Li Piaoqing stood up supporting the ground: "This matter will be handled by Tianshan contacting the Immortal Platform; it's not for me to decide, nor should you intervene. If you are in a hurry to take any action, when the case files are written on both sides, it will be hard to avoid drawing a horizontal line under the two characters 'Zhao Fu'."

Zhao Fu was indifferent. He continued to step forward: "Zhao acts upright and stands straight. If the Young Master blocks official business again—"

Suddenly, with a "clank," Zhao Fu stopped abruptly.

In front, Pei Ye's long sword was unsheathed by an inch, rubbing the sword hilt without a word.

Li Piaoqing frowned secretly and gently tugged at the hem of his clothes behind him—don't expose yourself.

Zhao Fu might know the youth was a fruit, but he didn't yet know the old man was killed by him.

But Zhao Fu actually stopped right here. The sharpness emanating from the youth in front of him made him slowly grip his saber hilt.

Li Piaoqing stepped forward: "Tianshan guests are outside, and the Immortal Platform will be here soon. Cuiyu has no objection to the government supervising the murder case, but does Lord Zhao know whether he is the one supervising, or the one being supervised?"

Zhao Fu gave a light sneer, but ultimately didn't move forward again. Outside the courtyard door, a follower had already brought him paper and pen.

——

When the Immortal Platform arrived, Lu Yunsheng had already been waiting for a long time holding his chest. The first sentence upon meeting was to reveal the Tianshan identity before everyone.

The one who came forward to assist was Li Piaoqing, who tried her best to downplay Pei Ye's existence, shrouding him under the banner raised by Tianshan and Cuiyu.

Standing to one side without changing his expression and moving forward was Yang Yan.

The demands of both sides were also very simple: disciples of Tianshan and Cuiyu had both been harmed, and now that both human and material evidence were present, they must pursue the mastermind and implicate the accomplices.

The mastermind was not yet known, but who the accomplices were, the answer was truly clear.

"But this isn't a matter of one or two days," Li Piaoqing said after her initial negotiation with the Immortal Platform, returning to tell the youth.

"Zhao Fu and the Immortal Platform have always had a good relationship, and since taking office, he has handled things beautifully. To convict him, we must have solid evidence. Seven Serpents Cave can't escape the relationship, but the feud between Cuiyu and Seven Serpents belongs to the Jianghu struggle; the Immortal Platform won't help either side. It only investigates the 'soul-snatching' matter, and we'll see how Seven Serpents cuts off its tail."

"Then Seven Serpents' power is still stronger than yours," Pei Ye placed a small chair beside him. "Is the situation still not optimistic?"

"How could it be?" The girl lifted her hem slightly and sat down. "The greatest victory is that Tianshan is still here, and Huan Si Lou is gone. We will slowly suppress Seven Serpents, but this is another series of steps that need to be carefully considered."

"Oh..."

"Alright, you don't need to worry about these things," the girl let out a breath, leaning gently against the back of the chair, revealing a weak but gentle smile. "In short, the initiative in this matter is in our hands. Before Tianshan people come, neither the bead nor the corpse will be handed over to the Immortal Platform... We will get everything that should be obtained, one by one."

Yes, Tianshan had gripped the tail of Huan Si Lou. It was originally a positive but non-official force, and at this moment, it could let go of its fists and feet in Bowang.

Cuiyu had won a great victory over Seven Serpents and had obtained sufficiently strong support. Although Seven Serpents still steadily exceeded it in many aspects, everything was just a conspiracy that needed time.

The heavy haze was dispersed by more than half, and a rugged but walkable path appeared before her. She still had to face many enemies and welcome many challenges, but now, she had the qualification to stand before them.

Looking at the girl's bright eyes, Pei Ye felt a smile well up from the bottom of his heart and laughed lightly: "Cuiyu Sword Gate is going to stand up."

Li Piaoqing's lips curved, as if wanting to return a smile of the same degree, but her cheeks were ultimately a bit heavy, and this smile couldn't fully bloom, only sending out a soft and warm "Mm" from her throat.

"Alright." Pei Ye looked at the girl; her entire exhaustion was truly hard to conceal. "The physician has already been called. Let me take you to properly treat the wound, and then rest."

"Mm."

The best external injury physician in the city had been waiting in the side room long ago. Facing Lu Yunsheng, he only dared to prescribe some medicine, but at this moment, seeing the girl's wound, he finally had a place to use his skills.

It took half an hour. After the bandaging was finished and she came out, the girl had changed into a clean and loose outfit. She leaned powerlessly against the door frame, took the snacks and water Pei Ye handed over, and swallowed them in two or three bites.

"I have to go sleep for a while," the girl's voice was sticky and weak, not concealing her powerlessness at all. "Let's talk about the rest when I wake up."

"Alright."

But the girl walked two steps, and seeing him standing in place, she stopped again.

"What's wrong?" Pei Ye tilted his head.

"Do you have anything to do? If not, come to the West Courtyard and sit."

The girl's head and face were all washed clean, so her pale lips and face appeared even weaker. Only then did Pei Ye remember that she almost had no one to lean on here now.

Actually, Pei Ye had originally wanted to go to Zhuoyue Tower as soon as possible, but the girl who had just stabilized was like a frightened bird and definitely wouldn't agree to him taking this risk immediately.

"... Oh, alright." Pei Ye nodded, pushed the matter back for now, stepped forward, and followed the girl.

All the way back to the bedroom in the West Courtyard, the girl lay on the bed, covered herself with the quilt, and looked at him: "I'll sleep for about two hours."

Pei Ye laughed: "Sleep as much as you want; I won't leave no matter how long you sleep."

So the girl really relaxed completely, closed her eyes, and before long, even breathing came.

Pei Ye moved a stool and sat by the bed, leaning against the table and looking at the small courtyard outside the door.

This courtyard always had this strange quality. As long as the courtyard door was closed, the noise would immediately clear away, and the person entering the door would immediately fall into peace and tranquility.

A careful distinction could reveal the reason—actually, the sounds outside were still surging over the courtyard wall, only because there was a huge old locust tree in this courtyard. Once the wind passed, it would sound a dense and slow "rustle," giving it its own sound field.

Thus, the sound of leaves, the shadows of trees, the morning glow, and the cool breeze occupied this courtyard, as if squeezing out all the disturbances.

Pei Ye's shoulders also relaxed, leaning against the table and closing his eyes to rest.

When he opened his eyes again, he was awakened by the intense sunlight of the afternoon.

The noise outside was no longer heard. Pei Ye was dazed for a moment, only then remembering that he hadn't rested for a moment yesterday either. He stretched his stiff legs, suddenly thinking of the girl, and looked back. She didn't know when she had woken up and was sitting on the bed quietly looking outside the door.

Pei Ye moved his body to avoid this ray of sunlight and stretched: "Why didn't you sleep a little longer?"

"It's hard to sleep long when there are things on your mind; it's good enough to doze for a while," the girl said softly.

As soon as she spoke, Pei Ye heard the lingering sob that hadn't disappeared, and his movements paused: "Are you okay?"

"It's fine, it's much better after crying it out." Li Piaoqing turned her head and revealed a reluctant smile at him.

Her voice was still light and hoarse, and she looked weak, but her spirit had indeed improved a lot. Her whole person was much more relaxed, and those cold things were no longer permeating around her.

"I was just thinking that Master is also very old," the girl said in a low voice.

"..."

Yes, martial brother, martial uncle... In two more years, Master would also leave her. Before the girl was twenty, the people closest to her in the world might all have withered away.

Pei Ye couldn't help but be silent. Actually, he had already begun to taste this kind of loneliness.

"By the way, you haven't told me how you killed him?" The girl's curiosity seemed to have recovered simultaneously. "Was he injured too? Or did he have any helpers?"

"Neither, I killed him by myself."

"I saw Yang Yan was there too; didn't he also make a move?"

"He was just joining in the fun."

"..." Li Piaoqing tilted her head and stared at him, not knowing what she was thinking.

"I told you earlier that I'm very powerful," Pei Ye smiled.

"... What's so great about that? I also killed a Seventh Life," Li Piaoqing was inexplicably quiet for a while before laughing. "And we killed one person; it counts as me killing half, and you killing half."

"Why are you downplaying your own battle record? Isn't it better to have one each?"

"Mm, alright." The girl glanced at him. "How about you, you didn't get any injuries, right?"

"I did."

"Ah?" The girl straightened her body. "Where?"

Pei Ye poked his neck forward and pointed at the tip of his nose: "Here."

Li Piaoqing leaned in to look, only then rolling her eyes and revealing a helpless smile.

"It stings quite a bit," Pei Ye smiled. "This Qi technique is really powerful; the flame it produced was almost two stories high."

During the time he arrived in the state city, Pei Ye had already heard of things like Qi techniques, but last night was the first time he had seen one.

Li Piaoqing became more serious: "This technique can produce flames of that scale?"

"Yes, about a ring of fire three or four zhang in radius and more than two zhang high," Pei Ye said. "What's wrong?"

Li Piaoqing shook her head gently: "I don't dare to assert, but this is still very special."

"What do you mean?"

"Because ordinary Qi techniques won't have this effect," Li Piaoqing said. "It's the application of Qi outside the body, but in the final analysis, the result of the application is still Qi. It's like giving you a rope; you can weave it into different patterns, you can take it apart into soft thousands of threads, or you can wet it and freeze it into a rigid one, but there's no reason to say... you shake your hand, and it turns into a ball of fire."

"Turning into fire, creating water, raising electricity, making wind—this should be the spiritual energy in the hands of a warlock; Qi doesn't have such wonders," the girl continued. "A cultivator can produce flames through the friction of Qi, but there won't be such a scale. This clearly looks like... using Qi as fuel."

"Mm." Pei Ye remembered the black cat telling him to go check the corpse at that time. Presumably, the thing that wasn't found was the key to generating this flame.

"By the way," speaking of this, Pei Ye suddenly remembered, "I also found a Ladder-Ascending Pill on him. Who should I find to see if it's real or fake?"

"Oh? I'll just take a look." The girl spread her palm.

"You understand this too?"

"I learned it before I went to the Pill-Singing Meeting."

"You learned it just now..."

"Bring it here."

Pei Ye took out the small porcelain bottle and handed it to her. The girl pinched the pill out, borrowed the light to flip it back and forth to examine it carefully for a while, sniffed it seriously, and finally put it back into the small bottle and handed it back: "There shouldn't be any problem."

"That's it? Don't I need to invite a physician to verify the medicinal properties or something?"

The girl smiled lightly: "Where would a physician understand the Ladder-Ascending Pill?"

"?"

Li Piaoqing looked at the blank youth and recounted with a composed expression: "The Ladder-Ascending Pill is a proper Daoist external pill, coming from a divine fire strange tripod, achieved through spiritual medicine and immortal methods. It is fused with the unique craftsmanship in the world. Only when the mixed origin returns to one can it be called a pill achievement. After being refined, this pill only has one physical property. No matter what medicine was used before, it's impossible to find out now. No matter what method is used to test it, only one substance can be extracted from this pill—the Ladder-Ascending Pill quality."

"This kind of craftsmanship is extremely difficult to fake, so as long as a pill is still fused into one, it means it hasn't been tampered with; conversely, a pill fused into one can basically be determined to be real."

"Oh, is that so." Pei Ye lowered his head and looked at the pill in the bottle, feeling quite magical.

"Anyway, I can only detect one pill quality from it. In Bowang City, if you find someone else, there won't be a better method," the girl said. "However, to be safe, before taking it, you can find a chicken or duck to test it first."

Pei Ye nodded, then he thought for a moment and suddenly said: "Does it have to be a chicken or duck? Can other small animals work?"

"... That doesn't really matter."

"Oh, good." So Pei Ye pinched a fingernail-sized bit off the Ladder-Ascending Pill, turned around, and looked at the jade-moist little cat lying on the table and closing its eyes to rest.

The black cat seemed to sense something, raised its head, and looked at him calmly.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 195 =====