Chapter 873: Extra Chapter 4: 110

Liu Junyan had only been in office a few days; the internal staff were definitely dispatched from above, needing to establish authority, train, and screen. Only after a long time could he gradually place his own people into Jiuzhou Fu.

All of this takes time.

Li Qingying has experienced all this; she knows too well the twists and turns and difficulties involved.

A modest Chenguang Temple of Jūnzhú Shān, she had the City God and Yu Nian watching over her, with Hui Moqiong bustling about beside her; it took her two or three years of effort before she could let go.

And that's just Jiuzhou Fu.

Li Qingying felt her head swell just thinking about it.

Moreover, things came rushing at them, catching them off guard, making mistakes in the hustle unavoidable.

Before she could even digest this matter, Hu Sanmei dropped another bombshell: "I rushed over not only for this; according to Yulin's observation, something's wrong over at Shan Shan, and it's likely also related to the recovery of the earth vein's spiritual qi."

Bái Sōnglán frowned: "Those two fleeing spirit beasts—were they heading for the earth vein's spiritual qi?"

Hu Sanmei shook her head: "If they were just heading for the earth vein's spiritual qi, it wouldn't be a big problem; the fear is that they're heading for their former masters."

Those words caused Bái Sōnglán and Li Qingying's faces to change instantly.

The vast land of Huaxia, with its expansive territory and intricate earth veins, hides countless demons and monsters lying dormant within those veins.

Once these creatures obtain the great opportunity of the earth vein's spiritual qi revival, someone will surely rise up, rally the forces, and bring calamity to a region.

If the two spirit beasts that fled from Shan Shan once had masters, and the chance to make them give up entering the Nether Realm as mounts, the daring ones who rush there will certainly not be ordinary folks.

Li Qingying felt her head about to explode: "Chaos! I feel the world is about to fall into great turmoil!"

Bái Sōnglán appeared far more composed.

Because earlier, when she had guessed that Xiao Jiu might be in the Nether Realm, she had wanted to tell Li Qingying that perhaps the recent events were all interconnected.

Before she could speak, Hu Sanmei arrived.

And Hu Sanmei directly confirmed her guess.

Bái Sōnglán asked Hu Sanmei: "What should we do next?"

"Wait." Hu Sanmei said, "Seventh Lord's side is under great pressure, but with his strength he can definitely hold for now; we need to see how Xiao Jiu's side is doing—perhaps Xiao Jiu himself could be the turning point."

Li Qingying leaned close to Hu Sanmei, lowering her voice to ask: "Third Sister, do you think Xiao Jiu can advance this time?"

Hu Sanmei gave a charming, alluring smile, tapped Li Qingying's forehead, and said: "How could I possibly know that in advance?"

Li Qingying then stopped asking.

Hu Sanmei then turned to Bái Sōnglán and said: "Shulan, are you preparing to go into seclusion lately?"

Bái Sōnglán nodded: "Yes, soon."

"You can come to Yin Shan to seclude when the time comes." Hu Sanmei said, "The revival of the earth vein's spiritual qi also triggers a burst of spiritual qi within the blessed caves of Yin Shan, which would greatly benefit your seclusion."

Bái Sōnglán's eyes lit up, and Li Qingying exclaimed delightedly: "There's actually a spiritual qi burst inside Yin Shan? Congratulations, Third Sister!"

Bái Sōnglán also said: "With this spiritual qi supporting us, the revival of the Yin Shan fox clan is imminent."

Hu Sanmei let out a long breath, saying: "I never imagined our Yin Shan fox clan, after waiting over ten years, could still encounter this great opportunity; in the end, we still have to thank Seventh Lord."

After seeing Hu Sanmei off, Bái Sōnglán and Li Qingying both remained silent, each filled with mixed feelings.

No one had expected things to develop in this direction.

Liu Junyan will be very busy from now on.

If he lacks sufficient authority and mobilizable personnel, even with three heads and six arms he would probably struggle to suppress such a massive surge of spiritual qi revival.

Just looking at Jiuzhou Fu's current staffing, it's practically a drop in the bucket.

Li Qingying couldn't help but complain: "In the upper realm, doing things is called training if you put it nicely; bluntly, it's just whether you can endure regardless of life or death—if you can't, you're deemed insufficient; relying too much on external aid, and they'll blame you for overreaching and breaking the rules……"

"Qingying, say less!"

Bái Sōnglán cut off Li Qingying's words, instinctively glanced outside, and inexplicably felt a bit guilty.

Li Qingying snorted coldly: "It's not just me feeling this way; take how our pawnshop was upgraded to Yin Dang Hang, for example—how badly was Xiao Jiu oppressed back then? How did we analyze it? The Nether Realm wasn't unwilling to use Xiao Jiu, nor did it deny Yin Dang Hang's status; it was merely restrained by the upper realm……"

"Enough!" Bái Sōnglán stood up, saying, "At times like this we shouldn't add trouble for Xiao Jiu; I actually think the earlier restraints might now turn into an opportunity—it's not impossible."

Having said that, Bái Sōnglán patted Li Qingying's shoulder and left.

Li Qingying sat on the sofa, dazed for a long while.

She recalled Xiao Jiu's past hardships, then thought of Bái Sōnglán's words, and finally let out a long sigh.

Hopefully.

Hopefully this matter will ultimately turn into an opportunity.

Heaven, please treat Xiao Jiu a little better.

That night, Li Qingying kept watch by Xiao Jiu's bedside, hearing his upper and lower teeth chatter; she quickly reached out and felt a sheet of yin cold over his body.

Li Qingying quickly got up, turned on the light, and set the air conditioner to its highest temperature—she herself was sweating from the heat, yet Xiao Jiu kept trembling.

That yin cold emanated from within his body and did not change with the rise of external temperature.

Li Qingying worried immensely: "Xiao Jiu, you're the bravest; hold on a little longer, we'll guard until the clouds part and the moon shines……"

At that moment, in his sleep, Xiao Jiu only felt his body constantly falling.

Wind howled in his ears, before him was pitch black, nothing could be seen.

Xiao Jiu's first reaction was that he had surely been dragged down again by some power of the Nether Realm.

Based on his experience, he should stop soon.

Over the years he has been to the Nether Realm often, though he rarely crosses the Bridge of Helplessness, but he is already familiar with the environment there, so at this moment he feels no fear.

However, he soon realized something was off.

This descent has lasted too long.

Moreover, as time passed, although his vision remained pitch black, within that deep darkness he would occasionally glimpse a flicker of another flow—sometimes like spiritual qi, sometimes like killing qi, sometimes like demonic qi……

Xiao Jiu quickly calmed himself, held his breath, focused, and sharply caught with his eyes each flow he saw during the fall.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Her body…… no, more precisely, her consciousness hovered in the darkness.

Several tens of meters ahead to her right front, a mass of cyan qi gathered from all directions, continuously merging, compressing, shaping, and eventually, surprisingly, slowly turned into a huge cyan egg.

Looking closely, one could even see a heartbeat pulsing inside the egg!