Chapter 177: Purity, Too Low

A Xing was in the shadow beneath the bar, listening as the footsteps paused in the middle of the living room, then turned toward the kitchen.

Her heart was as still as water.

A Xing deftly hooked a hidden clasp with her fingers and gave a gentle pull.

There was no earth‑shaking sound, only a dark‑colored piece that she slowly extracted a small portion of from the miniature spatial interface extending from her bracelet.

It was a fish Tail.

Its color resembled over‑pickled Salted Fish, a sickly gray‑brown, with a suspicious crystalline sheen on the surface.

Only about twenty centimeters of it was drawn out; the rest remained concealed within the spatial device.

At the Shana the Tail appeared, a scent began to drift quietly.

De Lisha, already half‑stepping into the kitchen area, suddenly scrunched her little nose and halted abruptly.

"Hmm? What's that smell…?"

She sniffed, then her complexion changed sharply; she covered her mouth and nose and retreated, "Whoa! So, so stinky! What is this?! Is the kitchen Sewer clogged?"

The odor was extremely penetrating.

It ignored any Concealment, striking straight at the brain.

De Lisha forced herself to endure the discomfort, but curiosity still drove her to peek into the kitchen.

What she first saw was the floor near a corner of the open‑plan kitchen, a gray figure half‑crouched.

The person faced away from her, head lowered, seemingly fiddling with something.

"Who's there?!"

De Lisha instantly became alert, no longer caring about the stench.

Someone from outside had indeed entered the house!

Could it be the culprit who ruined her comics and bitter melon juice?

Her little face tightened, Corruption Energy within her began to flow faintly, and the aura of the S-Class Valkyrie started to rise.

"Don't move! Who are you? How did you get in?"

A Xing gave no answer.

She kept her back to De Lisha, her right hand already gripping the extracted Salted Fish Tail.

The feel was icy and strange, as if holding a sea delicacy air‑dried for centuries.

She could even sense the Immortal Salted Fish faintly pulsating, as if it possessed its own vitality.

She heard De Lisha's questioning and sensed the rising aura on the other side.

The intensity was decent, but… full of flaws.

Now is the time.

A Xing still did not turn; she merely gave a slight flick of her right wrist, and her index finger snapped quickly at the rough edge of the Salted Fish Tail fin.

"Pfft."

A sound like a sigh of escaping air.

A deep‑green fish‑shaped phantom, resembling cheap jelly, shot out from the tip of the Salted Fish Tail!

It was small, only palm‑sized, but incredibly swift, leaving a faint trail in the air as it lunged straight at De Lisha's face.

The turn of events was too sudden, and the attack method too… beyond reason.

A jumble of thoughts flashed through De Lisha's mind, and her body instinctively tried to dodge or block.

But the preceding overwhelming stench had already halted her breathing, slowing her reaction by half a beat.

More importantly, she had never seen—or even imagined—such an attack.

"Wha…?!"

The deep‑green fish‑shaped gas mass smeared solidly onto De Lisha's face, then—burst open.

It wasn't a physical explosion, but the ultimate release and impact of the odor.

"Ugh—!!!"

In that instant, De Lisha felt her entire head shoved into a sealed jar packed with millennia‑old stinky Salted Fish, ten‑thousand‑year‑old smelly socks, and countless indescribable rots, and the jar kept vibrating inside her skull!

Her eyes burned, ears rang, her taste buds seemed to sample the world's ultimate decay, and even her thoughts appeared tinged with a gray‑green hue.

"Ugh…"

Her legs gave way, the gathered Corruption Energy instantly dissipated, darkness clouded her vision, and the world spun.

The intense physiological distress made it impossible for her to stay standing, let alone fight.

"Thud."

The petite school head fell straight backward, crashing onto the tiled floor at the kitchen entrance, eyes rolling white, foam spilling from her mouth, her tiny nose still twitching unconsciously, clearly unconscious.

Only a faint rise and fall of her chest proved she was still alive.

A Xing only then rose slowly, moving with calm composure.

She slipped the Salted Fish Tail back into the bracelet, the spatial interface sealed, the source of the pungent odor seemed cut off, yet the lingering smell stubbornly remained in the air.

She walked to De Lisha's side and looked down.

De Lisha's little face was twisted in a knot; even in unconsciousness, her expression was full of pain, the white foam at her mouth tinged with Bubbles.

A Xing observed for two seconds, confirming the other was merely stunned by the stink, with no other injury.

She even extended a toe, gently flicking De Lisha's soft arm to test a reaction.

"Tsk."

A Xing was silent for a few seconds; her golden eyes still showed little emotion, she simply shook her head and murmured low:

"Purity, too low."

Perspective shift.

Just as Bai Hang felt Jing Yuan's seemingly casual gaze seemed to pierce through sunglasses, seeing her inside and out thoroughly, a sudden chill, like an invisible fine needle, gently pierced Jing Yuan's perception.

It was not an actual drop in temperature, but a condensed, tangible sword intent, laced with Warning!

Jing Yuan's lazy smile remained unchanged, but his golden pupils turned toward the source of the chill.

His gaze passed over Bai Hang's stall and fell on the shadow under an unremarkable eave at the street corner.

There sat a white‑haired woman, her face covered by a black Eye Mask.

She quietly played an erhu, its low, wailing tones wholly at odds with the bustling street's ambience.

She seemed immersed in her own world, but Jing Yuan could clearly feel that most of her attention, like the chill around her, was firmly Lock‑ed onto him.

It was a clear Warning: stop at the appropriate point.

A genuine surprise flickered in Jing Yuan's heart.

Jing Liu.

He of course recognized him.

He was the master who once taught him swordsmanship, also a dangerous being whose whereabouts became mysterious after falling into demonic shadows.

He hadn't learned any concrete news about her for an unknown length of time.

Why is she here?

In this ordinary market, sitting not far from a suspicious Fox Merchant?

In a flash, Jing Yuan's mind linked several connections: the merchant called Bai Xing, whose goods were odd and whose identity was a mystery, yet somehow felt oddly familiar; and Jing Liu, the former Sword Leader, now seemingly… supporting this merchant?

Or at least preventing him from probing further.

Comparing the two, which is lighter or heavier is obvious at a glance.

A suspicious itinerant trader can be investigated slowly, but Jing Liu's movements, especially her appearance in Luofu, whose inherent Variable and risk must be dealt with first.

Having decided internally, Jing Yuan showed no hint on his face.

He seemed merely drawn by the music, naturally turning his head and giving a slight nod toward that direction, like an ordinary audience member acknowledging a performer.

Then, he withdrew his gaze and looked again at the visibly more tense Bai Hang, whose composure had tightened from his brief distraction.

"The boss is right, that doll is indeed interesting."

Jing Yuan suddenly laughed, casually picking up an Interstellar Alloy Paper that Bai Hang had just vigorously recommended from the stall.

"I'll take this. How many Xun Bi?"

Bai Hang was stunned for a moment, almost unable to follow the abrupt turn.

She quickly quoted a reasonable price, and Jing Yuan promptly paid, asking nothing further.

Taking the paper, the Luofu General no longer looked at Bai Hang, nor heeded the lingering chill gaze, like a truly idle tourist who bought a Small Gadget on a whim, turning and walking toward Jing Liu's location at an unhurried pace.

His figure quickly merged into the crowd, but Bai Hang knew that the seemingly casual appraisal had probably recorded her features, even every subtle reaction, into the mind of that Divine Strategy General.

His departure did not mean suspicion vanished, only that a higher‑priority target emerged.

As he thought, Bai Xing's background would later be gradually clarified by the Cloud Riders or the Earth Balance Office.

Only after Jing Yuan's figure vanished at the street corner, and a while later, did the prickling chill on his back slowly dissipate.

Bai Hang felt almost exhausted, a layer of cold sweat sprang on her back, clinging to her clothes with a chilling dampness.

She leaned on the cart and exhaled a breath.

She, of course, also saw Jing Liu.

She saw how she used that method to capture Jing Yuan's full attention, and how, when Jing Yuan approached, she swiftly rose, packed away the erhu, and vanished down another alley.

Jing Liu was helping her out of the predicament.

This Cognition made Bai Hang's mood complex beyond words.

On one hand, it was a post‑catastrophe sense of relief.

Had Jing Liu not intervened suddenly, she truly wouldn't know how to pass Jing Yuan's interrogation.

On the other hand, a deeper unease and confusion.

Why did Jing Liu do this? Because of that old friendship?

Or perhaps she sensed something; whichever, it meant attention toward her far deeper and more proactive than she imagined.

"Sigh..."

Bai Hang massaged her throbbing temples, looking at the dazzling array of goods on the cart, and suddenly felt a bit weary.