Chapter 920: The Plot to Seize

The faint pop of the candlewick exploding made Lin Qingli's fingertip tremble, and the frost on the rim of the teacup spread silently. She used the posture of lowering her head to drink tea to hide the throbbing Devouring Heart Curse under her overlapping collars, and the dark‑red pattern had crawled another half‑inch up her meridian this morning.

Yan Buji, barefoot, stepped over the scattered jade war reports, and the Asura Armor plates scraping the blue bricks sounded like a dull blade scraping bone.

These past days, Yan Buji has been posing as a disciple, probing for information inside Celestial City and among the members of the Celestial Alliance.

Finally, Yan Buji found a way to get rich!

He suddenly tossed the Mystic Armor Guard token into the air; as it flipped, the reflected cold light struck Lin Qingli's eyes: "Fairy, how many ironclad ships do you think the waves of Mist‑Hidden Gorge could overturn?"

Lin Qingli's eyelashes twitched twice in the glare, and the pad of her finger traced the pine relief on the teacup: "In past high tides… three transport ships have sunk."

The voice was lighter than ice silk brushing the floor tiles.

"That's because the tide contains no demon blood." Yan Buji's boot tip tugged at her hanging veil, and the sound of fabric tearing rang sharply in the enclosed room.

As he leaned down, the Swallow Desire Pot brushed her hair bun, and a strand of blue‑black hair silently slipped into the pot's mouth: "At noon go fetch the water‑avoidance talisman and, while you're at it, inform the Instrument Pavilion about that red‑nosed old man…"

Lin Qingli's shoulder blade pressed against the cold, hard sandalwood chair back, and a clear swallow sounded in her throat: "Say… what?"

"Just say the Inspector is investigating the quenching oil accounts from three months ago." He suddenly grasped her jaw, his thumb pressing on the throbbing Devouring Heart Curse:

"Fairy, with such wit you'll surely make that old thing break out three pounds of cold sweat."

"By the way, fairy, do you know how many spirit vessels this token can summon?" Yan Buji suddenly pressed the token into the tea, and the rising oil blossoms solidified into a map of the West Sand River Basin:

"From Cangwu City to the North Sea, twenty‑seven warships will change guard at midnight tonight." He dipped his tea and drew a winding red line on the desk:

"The convoy escorting the Broken Spirit Crossbow will pass through Mist‑Hidden Gorge, and the water demons there… have been starving lately."

Lin Qingli's fingertips counted the heavenly timing within her sleeve, the Jiazi pattern in her palm flickering: "The tide at Mist‑Hidden Gorge will rise to full at the third day's dawn (mao hour), and the water demon nests will then surface."

She suddenly lifted her gaze: "You intend to use a demon calamity to devour the entire fleet?"

The moment pain exploded from her neck, the ice silk in Lin Qingli's sleeve instinctively shot out half a foot, then froze when it touched the black mist around his wrist.

Yan Buji let out a low laugh, his fingertip tracing the script: "What are you afraid of? Yesterday, when you tried to dispel the curse, weren't you rather bold?"

"Please, fairy, act out a good drama: the Mystic Armor Guard investigates the demon race's illicit affairs, but unfortunately falls into a water‑demon ambush, ship destroyed, crew perished." He suddenly leaned in, the chill of the Asura Armor making the fur on her neck stand up.

"Of course, we must leave two survivors to mourn at the Celestial Alliance."

The copper kettle's drip suddenly emitted a sluggish hum, and the yin energy of the rat hour seeped through the window cracks.

Lin Qingli stared at her distorted reflection on the desk, watching the shadow nod slowly: "… bring the account book before the shen hour."

A short while later, in the accounting office.

Lin Qingli's fingernail dug into her palm, leaving a crescent‑shaped blood mark on the vermilion lacquer tray.

The Chief Elder's roar shook the beams, causing the dust on the rafters to fall: "How outrageous! Since when does the Celestial Alliance meddle in the Instrument Pavilion's internal affairs?"

"The Inspector discovered the mysterious iron of the West Sand Spirit Cannon…" She halted mid‑sentence, as the dark pattern on the account book's front page began exuding a strange aura, seemingly a technique habitually used by someone.

He was here yesterday, and stayed for quite a while!

The elder suddenly let out a muffled hum and collapsed onto the huanghuali armchair, purple, otherworldly spots flashing in his pupils.

Lin Qingli stepped back half a pace, watching the convulsing body gradually turn into a gray‑white statue, indistinguishable from the corpses on the boundary wall that had been drained of their spirit marrow.

"Fairy, you handled that task beautifully." Yan Buji's voice drifted down from the beam, a blood‑stained sleeve dagger lodged at her feet: "Please tuck this weapon into the hidden compartment, and remember to coat it with some demon essence."

"This! How… how dare you?"

"What's there not to dare?" Yan Buji stared at Lin Qingli with a strange expression: "Those who achieve great deeds, without courage, how can they succeed?"

Lin Qingli inhaled deeply; as she crouched, the ice silk in her sleeve twisted into a dead knot.

She looked at her reflection on the blade, the corner of her forehead still stained with the snake venom Yan Buji had "accidentally" fired that morning, the venom mark conveniently covering the backlash wound she had incurred while trying to break the forbidden curse last night.

After a while, the two were ordered to leave Celestial City.

The briny river wind carried Yan Buji's low whisper into her ear: "When the waves rise later, remember to head for the southeast sector."

His fingertip toyed with the Mystic Armor Guard token, its gilt pattern glowing blood‑red in the morning mist, "If you break a leg…"

Lin Qingli's cloak was suddenly ripped open by a gale as the Inspector's cloud‑boat surged forward from a hundred zhang away; she fixed her gaze on the demon‑reflecting mirror at the bow, a metallic rust taste rising in her throat: "Southeast… there's a hidden vortex."

"That's exactly the hidden vortex we need." Yan Buji suddenly seized her waist and leapt onto the mast; the thunderous crash of a sea‑kun hammer breaking the rope blended with the wind and waves!

As the towering wave engulfed the cloud‑boat, Lin Qingli's scream rose at the perfect moment.

She stood aside, gripping the rail, her body rigid.

Crazy, this is literally a madman.

The murky waves slammed the reef, exploding into blood‑red foam, and Lin Qingli's fingernail dug deep into a crack in the mast. Yan Buji's cloak flapped wildly in the gale as he hooked the rope with one leg and hung upside down, the spray shimmering with an eerie purple light.

"Hold on tight!" his laughter blended with the wind's howl, piercing her eardrums: "These waves are stronger than the sandstorm on the boundary wall!"

Lin Qingli's ice silk just wrapped around the second cross‑mast when the entire cloud‑boat was suddenly lifted into the air.

On another large ship, the Inspector's angry shout rang from the adjacent warship: "Mystic Armor Guard, where are you? Form the water‑avoidance formation!"

Yan Buji rolled over and leapt onto the main sail, the Asura Armor plates sequentially lighting up with a faint blue pattern.

Three copper coins flicked from his fingertip danced on the wave crests, arranging themselves into an inverted Bagua formation: "Fairy, do you know what bait water demons love most?"

Without waiting for an answer, he sliced his palm, sprinkling blood into the vortex. The pungent‑sweet scent caused the water surface to erupt with thousands of bone‑whip‑like tentacles, the thickest of which coiled straight toward the Inspector's flagship.

"Protect the elder!"

Lin Qingli watched the Celestial Alliance cultivators pour into the demon vortex one after another, her throat raw from the salty sea wind. Yan Buji, ghost‑like, pressed against her back, his blood‑stained finger drawing a talisman on the brocade pouch at her waist:

"It's your turn to act."

The moment the Ice Soul Sword left its sheath, the entire sea froze instantly. Lin Qingli sprinted across the ice, the frosted spray from her blade tip containing the demon‑pill powder Yan Buji had given her last night, a secret elixir that could enrage the Water Demon King.

"Wretched creature, how dare you!" she slashed, cutting the tentacle that had ensnared the Inspector, then flicked the demon‑pill powder onto her left arm. The scent of blood mingled with the medicinal aroma, and all the water demons suddenly reversed course, lunging toward her.

Yan Buji's cheer pierced the rain: "What a self‑sacrificing Mystic Armor Guard!"