Chapter 183

The Jade Garden was destroyed in the battle; the main hall, side halls, and wing rooms all collapsed one after another, the snow pines were all broken, and now it was a mess everywhere, making it impossible to live in.

Thus, the demon minister, following the Demon Emperor's order, led the human envoy delegation to move to the Spirit Garden opposite the Jade Garden.

Like the Jade Garden, the Spirit Garden was also an imperial garden not far from the Demon Emperor Palace, with a similar style but a larger area.

This garden was adjacent to the coast, and standing on the second floor, one could see the winter sea frozen for a thousand miles.

Because it had not been attacked, the snow here had fallen quite evenly, covering the ground and roof tiles with uniform thickness, echoing the black stone walls.

"Honorable envoys, last night's incident was truly an unexpected accident; no one knows why the Scaly and Tooth clans would commit such chaotic acts, but I believe His Majesty will definitely give everyone an explanation."

"Today, please rest here for now."

"We have invited physicians for you, who should arrive shortly; additionally, the main hall of the Spirit Garden is preparing meals, and you may go there at your convenience."

"There is much to do in the court now, so we shall take our leave; everyone, please rest well."

As the demon minister bowed and left, the Spirit Garden suddenly fell into silence.

At this time, the crowd walked into the courtyard and saw the tea pavilion in the corridor; while feeling exhausted, they also had a lingering fear that was hard to put into words.

Because the Jade Garden and the Spirit Garden were very similar, and yesterday, in almost this exact position, those exquisite invitation letters hiding murderous intent were delivered into their hands.

Just imagine, if they had really gone to the various clans' banquets last night, they would very likely have lost their lives tonight.

Even if someone had been lucky enough not to die and escaped from the banquet, facing the vast snow region and the thousands of miles of wilderness, whether they could successfully escape back to the Nine Provinces was another question.

After all, they had already felt the madness of the barbarian race when they arrived; even if they could sneak out of the territory, they would not escape the barbarian pursuit.

Furthermore, even if the few elders who accompanied them wanted to return to the Cold Iron Pass under the pursuit of the Demon-Barbarian Alliance, it would surely be a life-and-death struggle.

Some things are just like this; one doesn't know when first encountering them, but only after the fact can one see the full picture.

That night of murderous intent was simply the boundary between life and death, making one feel terrified.

At this moment, Ji You was sitting in a wheelchair, having been pushed into the Spirit Garden; his hands hung on both sides of the wheelchair, and although he could still use them, the stinging pain was incredibly intense, even harder to endure than when he had just woken up.

This indicated that the effect of Fengyang's needles had begun to weaken, and those meridians of his that had been forcibly opened were slowly returning to their original positions.

It was estimated that after noon, his hands would lose their ability to move again.

Need to go to the bathroom first...

Can't let the Little Inspector fall behind again, or she'll definitely come looking for trouble with me.

Ji You exhaled a breath, which turned into a drifting, light mist in the extreme cold of the far north, and turned his eyes to look in the direction of the Demon Emperor Palace.

The ambush at night was not without benefits; at the very least, it shortened the process for the Demon Emperor to make a decision.

It seems it won't be long before they can leave the snow region...

Although Ji You had been in a mindset of wandering in a foreign land for the past few days, having been in a foreign country for so long, it was inevitable that he would feel a desire to return home.

At this time, Gongshu Chou couldn't help but speak to him: "That Demon General Shu He, was he truly that strong?"

Ji You came back to his senses and nodded upon hearing this: "I monitored the entire West Courtyard with my spiritual sense, but even so, I almost missed his figure, and my multiple sword strikes were dodged by him; I even almost fell into his trap; extreme speed is truly terrifying."

Gongshu Chou pondered for a long time before speaking: "I am even more surprised by his technique; to be able to inflict blade wounds on you with bare hands, I have simply never heard of such a thing."

"That's probably his talent; his palms and fists are like blades, and he just came charging at me bare-handed, giving me a fright..."

"Could it be that he was hiding a short blade or something, but because of the need for assassination, he didn't let you see it?"

Ji You suddenly became serious: "One shouldn't speak carelessly; let alone a short blade, I didn't even see a single blade hilt."

Gongshu Chou imagined a figure charging bare-handed as if holding a blade: "Your physical body should be extremely difficult to penetrate, right? If there really was no weapon, I still find it hard to believe he could hurt you."

Ji You raised his head to look at him, his brow gradually furrowing.

You'd better stop blabbering; if you keep blabbering, you're going to solve the case, damn it.

"Brother Gongshu, take me back to my room first; I'm a bit tired."

"Very well."

Gongshu Chou pushed Ji You toward the room, still muttering about the matter of inflicting blade wounds with bare hands.

At this time, the human prodigies, whether standing or sitting, raised their heads one after another, staring at his departing back for a long time.

They had not seen Shu He alive, so naturally, they didn't know how strong he was, but everyone knew the strength of his physical body; after all, that was a body that could engage in hand-to-hand combat with the barbarian race.

That Demon General Shu He could inflict blade wounds on him with bare hands; the level of danger could be seen from that...

The result was that such a person had died so quietly at the hands of Ji You, without even being able to make a splash.

Extreme speed?

Concealment?

They hadn't seen it; they only remembered that after entering the West Courtyard and seeing where he had fallen to the ground, they knew he hadn't even managed to touch the threshold of the envoy's room.

Jiang Yan couldn't help but speak: "Although Ji You's realm is not high, his spiritual sense should be the strongest among us; this can be seen from his sword-controlling method."

Jiang Chenfeng raised his eyes: "There is a difference between seeing and striking; he must have a fast sword."

Yan Qiubai raised his head upon hearing this: "The Dao Sword 'Coming and Going', that is the sword of my Spirit Sword Mountain, the fastest sword."

"This guy didn't die unjustly, but if it hadn't been him guarding the West Courtyard that night..."

Hearing this, prodigies such as Huo Hong, Shi Junhao, Jiang Chenfeng, and Xiao Hanyan couldn't help but furrow their brows, their palms clenching.

Because if they put themselves in his shoes, if they had been the ones guarding the West Courtyard that night, it would have been very precarious to stop that Demon General.

And if they swapped places with that Demon General, they felt that Ji You might have been able to kill them as well.

Huo Hong was silent for a long time: "It was a coincidence; he just happened to encounter someone whose talent he could deal with."

Jiang Yuerou raised her eyes to look at him: "You can't say it like that."

"Why?"

"Spiritual sense, physical body, sword Dao; apart from his realm not being high, he is actually exceptionally strong in other aspects. One who can block a punch from a barbarian soldier king really cannot be viewed from the narrow perspective of realm."

Hearing this, the prodigies couldn't help but fall into silence again, the three words 'Realm of Profound Understanding' constantly surfacing in their minds.

Hand-to-hand combat with barbarians, sword-slaying a soldier king, and today's counter-killing of a Demon General...

Along this journey, the combat power displayed by this Realm of Profound Understanding from the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan is truly quite outrageous, even more outrageous than inflicting blade wounds on an opponent with bare hands...

At this moment, Elder Ge of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan, listening to everyone's conversation, couldn't help but fall into silence.

Although high-realm experts watching low-realm practitioners fight is like watching children fight, it must be said that Ji You has truly exceeded too many expectations.

Such a person cannot be treated as an ordinary disciple.

This made him feel some regret; he shouldn't have had the thought of letting Ji You fend for himself due to the influence of those in the inner courtyard, but should have tried his best to protect him.

It's just that back in the wilderness, when the barbarian soldier king shot an arrow, he didn't step in to save him, so it's hard to say now.

In his view, such a disciple could at least have become a personal disciple of a Hall Master, but fortunately, Ji You was only a commoner, so it wasn't that much of a pity...

But, it was still a bit of a pity after all.

Elder Ge's surname originated from the Central Province; he used to be from a small noble family, and it wasn't until he became an elder of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan that the Ge family successfully ranked among the middle-tier noble families.

But because their existence was short and the family was not prosperous, the Ge family had no real foundation.

What Elder Ge felt sorry about was that he could have taken Ji You as a personal disciple.

Especially since everyone in the academy was saying that his innate clear Dao heart could be passed down...

While pondering, a burst of footsteps suddenly sounded outside the Spirit Garden gate; because of the ambush last night, everyone already had a stress reaction, and upon hearing the movement, they immediately mobilized their Qi, looking toward the gate with sharp eyes, only to see a group of demon doctors carrying medicine boxes walking over, so their vigilance gradually relaxed.

In last night's battle, most people only suffered external injuries; after all, the attacks of those Profound Demon Generals were mostly blocked by the elders.

And the most seriously injured, Chu Butian, was only pierced through the arm by a long sword.

Additionally, there was Tu Xu, who had been shot by a soldier king's arrow in the wilderness and had now torn his wound open again.

However, for cultivators, as long as vital points like the spiritual origin, meridians, head, or heart are not injured, it is not a big problem.

So they asked these physicians to help them bandage up, but did not allow them to perform further treatment.

Ultimately, whether last night's incident was solely the private act of the Scaly and Tooth clans, and whether no one else knew about it, they were not sure.

Being in a foreign land, it is not excessive to be more vigilant when exposing one's wounds to others.

Jiang Yan's injuries were relatively light, mostly impact injuries, with the wound only on her wrist; seeing the physician arrive at the front, she pulled up her sleeve and said: "We have another companion who was also injured last night and is currently in his room."

Hearing this, the demon doctor looked at her but didn't speak, still lowering his head to treat the wound.

Their movements were extremely meticulous, picking out broken debris and washing the wounds before bandaging them; the whole process was unhurried.

Jiang Yan felt a bit puzzled by the physician's silence, thinking he was too busy, but looking around, she discovered that several physicians had already finished bandaging the lightly injured but hadn't moved.

"They don't seem to have any intention of going to treat Ji You?"

"Could it be because Ji You killed a Demon General?"

"Can they even do that? This demon race's conduct is really not very magnanimous."

While they were talking, another burst of footsteps sounded outside the Spirit Garden, and everyone turned to look, their eyes slightly dazed.

At this moment, in front of the Spirit Garden gate, Princess Fengyang walked in, carrying a medicine box on her back.

Her figure was excellent, her waist slender, her stature tall, and her features exquisite and soft; her curled eyelashes shone with a faint golden light in the morning sun, carrying a kind of nobility and tranquility.

She was not wearing the plain dress from the morning, nor a physician's white robe, but had changed into one that showed off her figure more; after entering the courtyard, she didn't look at them, but walked gracefully with the medicine box, heading straight upstairs toward Ji You's room.

Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but be slightly stunned, followed by a round of mutual glances.

In fact, they had only just seen this demon princess this morning; at that time, she had arrived with imperial soldiers to stop the ambush and had escorted all participants from the Scaly and Tooth clans to the Demon Emperor City.

Such a big event had happened in the demon race, and the subsequent handling would surely be very troublesome; in their view, this demon princess should have been unable to get away for a long time, but they didn't expect her to appear again so soon.

"So it's not that they aren't treating him; it's that Princess Fengyang is coming to treat him personally..."

"This demon princess only escorted those people to the Demon Emperor Palace this morning; it takes quite a bit of time to go back and forth, yet she still made a special trip."

"It seems she even changed her dress...?"

During this time, Huo Hong stood up silently and returned to his room without a word.

At the same time, Ji You was in his room, holding two short blades with his arms, which were already feeling increased pain, and admiring the blades carefully.

As expected, the material of these short blades was definitely extraordinary; regardless of hardness or sharpness, they had reached the level of top quality, and even without being wielded by anyone, they would reveal an exquisite aura.

【Wild Blade】

Just at this moment, his room door was pushed open from the outside.

Ji You quickly put away the two short blades, then turned to look, seeing Princess Fengyang enter from outside; they exchanged a glance, and then she carried the medicine box inside and set it down beside him.

"The effect of the needles should be wearing off soon; let me check your arms."

"The pain has indeed begun to become noticeable."

Princess Fengyang nodded after hearing this, then smoothed her skirt and squatted on the ground to open the medicine box; the contour of her buttocks appeared round and smooth, full and firm.

Then she lifted Ji You's arms, and after taking his pulse for a long time, she said: "The forcibly opened meridians have begun to retract, and sensation has returned, so the pain will be very intense; let me help you seal the pain sensation again."

Ji You raised his head upon hearing this: "Won't this aggravate the injury?"

"No, only forcibly opening the meridians will aggravate the injury; sealing the pain sensation will not."

Ji You looked at this Princess Fengyang, feeling that her voice sounded much more affected than before, but she herself didn't seem to notice, still maintaining the appearance of a 'serious physician'.

Fengyang raised her soft, beautiful face, and after seeing his gaze, she looked blank for a moment: "What's wrong?"

"I was just wondering, what will happen to those demons who participated in the ambush?"

"Tomorrow morning, the Imperial Heavenly Demons will escort them to the Snow Peak and lock them in the Cold Prison."

Ji You felt the slight pain of the silver needles piercing his skin, and after a long silence, he spoke: "That was truly a close call..."

Fengyang gave a soft 'hmm', then spoke again: "If you hadn't been prepared in advance, the war would have really started; however, how did you discover the matter regarding the Scaly and Tooth clans?"

"The Demon Emperor hadn't made a decision yet, and some demons were already impatiently sending invitation letters; it was too urgent, and furthermore, the owner of that invitation letter had the surname Mu, the same surname as the Scaly clan leader who strongly demanded war in the Demon Court that day."

"That is his son; the mining of demon spirit stones has always been the responsibility of the Scaly clan."

"As expected..."

Fengyang held his palms at this moment, feeling them to be warm and broad, and then slowly inserted the next silver needle: "Blocking a soldier king, stopping a Demon General; are you really not afraid of death?"

Ji You felt the silver needle enter his body and spoke upon hearing this: "If I didn't do that, the people of our Fengzhou would be finished."

"Fengzhou?"

"It is the most barren province of our human race, with no Immortal Sects and no noble families; I am the only cultivator in Fengzhou. This year, in order to reduce taxes, I killed many people, but I finally managed to hold on. Now that there is finally some hope for a good life, it cannot be destroyed by war again."

Ji You suddenly pursed his lips: "A man should die on the path of saving others; otherwise, he will definitely regret it."

Immediately after, as the silver needle was inserted, Ji You's pain sensation was gradually blocked, and the pain caused by the retraction of the meridians was rapidly reduced.

At this moment, he looked down at this demon princess, his gaze attracted by the pair of round horns hidden in her hair.

The demon race has many more parts than the human race, and horns are one of them.

However, these horns should be hard, keratinized tissue, with no nerves or blood circulation, so they shouldn't be able to move, and there shouldn't be any sensation.

Fengyang released Ji You's right palm and reached out to hold his left palm: "It's time for this one."

Ji You watched her actions, thinking to himself that there didn't seem to be this part about holding both hands together when she applied the needles last time.

However, this demon princess's small hands were fine and smooth, small and delicate, pressed against his palms, slightly cold, which didn't make Ji You feel uncomfortable; he wondered if her feet were the same.

Ji You pondered for a long time, and suddenly a pair of fair, tender feet flashed before his eyes, in a kicking posture, making him hold his breath.

It's been a long time since I've been kicked; my Dao heart is a bit too clear, need to pull it back quickly.

Although that girl Yan Shuyi calls me 'stranger' every other word, she is actually a jealous person; she was already secretly fighting with Yuan Caiwei before, and if there's another one, I'm afraid it will catch fire.

Fengyang stood up gracefully, looking at the silver needles on his arms: "You shouldn't feel the pain in your arms now, but the recovery of the meridians will still take a long time; during this period, your arms will still be unusable."

"Many thanks for your help, Princess."

"You're welcome, but you should cherish your life more in the future; being unafraid of death like you is sometimes a kind of illness."

Ji You raised his eyes: "Being unafraid of death is also an illness?"

Princess Fengyang nodded after hearing this: "Being unafraid of death is sometimes the same as wanting to die; the fatality rate is higher than actual diseases."

Ji You raised his eyes: "Many thanks for the reminder, Princess."

"I already said you're welcome."

"Alright."

As Ji You's words fell, the room fell into silence.

Because the silver needles needed to stay in his arms for a sufficient amount of time, Princess Fengyang could only stand in front of him and wait; this atmosphere of not knowing what to say made one feel a bit uncomfortable.

After a while, Fengyang looked around and suddenly spoke: "The consequences of you forcibly using your arms are still unknown; if you have any sudden pain or other questions in the future, you can call someone to summon me at any time."

Ji You pondered for a long time before tentatively speaking: "Princess, I do have a small matter I would like to ask about, but I don't know if I should say it or not."

Fengyang turned to look at him: "What matter?"

"Uh, actually it's not a big deal; it's mainly that the human and demon races are wary of each other, which almost led to a disaster. In the end, it's because they don't understand each other. I actually hope the human race understands the demon race more, so I have many curious points, for example... do demon women actually have tails?"

Princess Fengyang was stunned at first, then her cheeks gradually flushed, and she stood there foolishly.

"Uh, if it's inconvenient to tell me, forget it; anyway, it's not what I wanted to ask, it's that a friend of mine is quite curious."

"Actually, they do..."

"They really do?"

Fengyang was silent for a while before suddenly speaking, a protrusion behind her gradually pushing open the folds of her skirt, and she whispered: "It's like this, usually it can be hidden..."

Her voice became smaller and smaller as she spoke, and discovering that Ji You was staring behind her, she couldn't help but cast her gaze aside, lightly biting her red lips.

Ji You came back to his senses slightly, feeling quite moved.

Thinking to himself, so that's how it is; no wonder I couldn't see it. This is just like me; it's just that the position is not quite right.

Then the air fell into silence again, and Ji You continued to think quietly.

Princess Fengyang also began to lose herself in thought while waiting, not knowing what she was thinking about, but not long after, the tail inside her skirt began to sway back and forth toward him involuntarily, seemingly an unintentional act.

Ji You watched for a long time: "Is the Princess very happy now?"

"?"

Fengyang looked at him, the swaying of her tail stopping subconsciously, then she shook her head blankly: "Such a big event happened today, almost leading to an irredeemable disaster; I have nothing to be happy about."

Ji You nodded after hearing this, then the two fell into silence again, and Fengyang remained quiet for a long time before that tail began to sway gently and involuntarily again...

He didn't quite understand what it meant for a demon to sway their tail, but he didn't dare to ask; he figured it wasn't completely controllable, just like his own, so he pretended not to see it.

After a while, the time for the needles finally ended, and Fengyang, swaying her tail, came back to her senses and began to lean over to remove the needles for him.

And at this moment, Ji You could no longer feel the pain from his arms, which he couldn't help but find mystical.

"I will come for a follow-up visit tomorrow."

"Many thanks, Your Highness."

Fengyang put the needles into the needle case, organized the medicine box, and walked out: "Do not eat spicy food until your arms recover."

She left a sentence behind and walked out, sat on the carriage parked outside the garden, reached out to touch the demon tail inside her skirt, and began to be slightly dazed again.

A demon woman's tail is actually a private part and cannot be shown to others casually; she didn't know why she did that just now, but after all, it was through her clothes, so it was nothing...

After the silence, the carriage had already returned to the Princess's Mansion, and her imperial brother Ye Han was standing in front of the mansion gate.

"Where did you go again?"

"Went to treat a human again."

"Ji You?"

Fengyang looked at her imperial brother and nodded.

Ye Han's gaze became somewhat strange: "Didn't you say you didn't like him very much? How come you went to treat him as soon as you left the palace, without even returning to the mansion?"

"I did return; I even changed my clothes."

"?"

Because the climate in the snow region is extremely cold, there are not many crops that can grow, so Fengyang hadn't had many skirts since she was young.

And the one she was wearing now was actually brought back for her by Ye Han when he went to the Nine Provinces; she liked it extremely much, but had never been willing to wear it.

Ye Han looked at her blankly, feeling that things seemed to be taking a turn for the worse.

(Everyone remember the monthly ticket lottery; if you cast a monthly ticket between the 1st and 10th, it will be considered an automatic entry into the lottery~)

(End of chapter)