The cold rain was falling, the battlefield was in a mess, and bones were scattered all over the ground. Nie Yu and others gradually woke up, and there was inevitably some explanation to be done, which was not difficult for Duan Qingming.
"… We are really no match for Master Lu, so we had no choice but to pretend to be disciples of Feijian Palace to buy time. Master Lu knew that people from Feijian Palace were coming, so he escaped and left."
Nie Yu really didn't doubt it, but he was still frightened. He thanked the two men solemnly, "I found Brother Duan's note, and saw that Cai Ge and the others were not in the room, so I immediately went out to look for them. I didn't expect them to cause such a big disaster. If you two hadn't come to our rescue, we would have died here today."
Duan Qingming said, "Brother Nie, you are too serious. The way the tongue man practices is special. Brother Nie was careless for a moment and was ambushed. Fortunately, Master Lu was afraid of the Feijian Palace, so we were lucky enough to escape with our lives without having to do much."
Nie Yu shook his head: "That being said, if you hadn't shown up halfway, how could Master Lu let us go so easily? This life-saving favor is real."
Gu Pinglin watched coldly without saying a word.
Duan Qingming left him a note, not because he was concerned about the safety of the Zhou sisters, but because he wanted to lure them out on purpose and use them to test Master Lu's strength, while at the same time restraining Master Lu so that Xin Ji would have enough time to lure Yan Sen over. More importantly, this matter would surely alarm the Feijian Palace, and they would become very useful witnesses to clear themselves of suspicion.
Nie Yuping was taken advantage of and nearly lost his life, but he was extremely grateful to Duan Qingming. The Zhou sisters and two other Guangling sect disciples took a deep breath and came over to thank him together.
Duan Qingming still looked gentle, how could he see any scheming? He did not refuse again, and smiled and changed the subject: "I think the two junior sisters seem to be frightened."
It would have been fine if he hadn't mentioned it. As soon as he mentioned the troublemaker, Nie Yu couldn't help but point at the Zhou Caige sisters and yelled, "You never listen to me and insist on causing a big disaster. Now you almost implicated my two junior brothers. When you go back, I'll ask Master to put you in solitary confinement!"
The two sisters were scolded so much that their faces turned red and they almost cried. They felt half aggrieved and half scared, and they stood in the rain with their heads down.
"Young people are always passionate. The two sisters are dedicated to eliminating harm, which is the duty of cultivators. It's good that they are okay," Duan Qingming advised gently, and took the initiative to hand the umbrella to the two sisters, "Get out of the rain."
Neither sister dared to answer.
"What umbrella do you want?" Nie Yu was still angry and stopped him, "Let them figure it out themselves!"
"Oh, it would be so ugly for such a well-behaved junior sister to be soaked like a drowned chicken," Duan Qingming smiled as he handed the umbrella to Zhou Caige, then turned to Gu Pinglin and said, "Don't you think so?"
Gu Pinglin glanced at him.
Zhou Caige raised her sleeve to wipe away her tears and whispered thanks. Zhou Caiqin quietly looked at the two intimate people and suddenly met Duan Qingming's gaze, so she quickly lowered her head again.
Duan Qingming took out another umbrella, opened it, and shielded Gu Pinglin from the rain again: "Someone from Feijian Palace is coming."
Nie Yu had already noticed it and was turning his head to look.
The sword-controlling technique of Feijian Palace is the most famous. A precious light appeared in the distant sky, and more than a dozen Feijian Palace disciples came riding on swords. Cheng Yi was in the middle, wearing a striking white robe and a green headband on his head. He also foolishly imitated those disciples to fly on the green sword, but in fact he was still using the sword-controlling technique.
Master Lu set up a barrier to hide it from the patrolling disciples, and Duan Qingming also calculated the time to let Cheng Yi report the news, so the matter here was already completed and the people from Feijian Palace had just arrived.
"Is it Wang Daxiu?" Nie Yu recognized the leader and hurried to greet him.
The tongue-teller Master Lu rarely shows up, but the top sects never lack secret records. Feijian Palace did not dare to slack off and sent two inner alchemy masters and more than a dozen senior disciples. With Cheng Yi's report and Nie Yu's testimony, Feijian Palace really did not doubt Duan Qingming's words, but its attitude was very subtle. After all, Feijian Palace claimed to be the first sword sect, but it knew nothing about Master Lu's misfortune in Yanlai Village. Instead, it was Guangling Sect and Lingxin Sect who exposed this matter, which really made them lose face. It was not until they heard that Master Lu fled because he was afraid of Feijian Palace that the faces of the two inner alchemy masters improved. The master surnamed Wang comforted Gu Pinglin and the others for a few words, and then sent some valuable pills. His intention was obvious, which was nothing more than not wanting this matter to be spread and damage the prestige of Feijian Palace. Of course, for Feijian Palace, Lingxin Sect was not in their eyes, and there was no need to bother to deal with two Waidan monks, so the attitude of Wang Daxiu was also high and mighty, polite and distant. However, when facing Guangling Sect, he was much more enthusiastic, repeatedly expressing his regret, apologizing for the negligence of his subordinates, and repeatedly inviting Nie Yu and the Zhou sisters to Feijian Palace as guests. Nie Yu looked rough, but he was careful. He knew that the atmosphere in Feijian Palace must not be so good at this time. However, the two sides had already met, and the Zhou Caige sisters had caused trouble on the other side's territory. It would be rude not to go, so he had to agree.
The Feijian Palace has already noticed that Master Lu will not come back. Everyone knows this, but they still have to put on a show. The two inner elixir masters went back to the Feijian Palace to report first, and Nie Yu and others followed them, leaving the senior disciples to continue searching for clues nearby.
"Hey, where's Senior Wang?" Cheng Yi then asked Xin Ji quietly, "He exchanged clothes with me. I saw that old man Yan chased after him. Is he okay?"
"Of course it's okay. Senior has gone to the Lingxin Temple in Fenglin Town to wait for us," Duan Qingming said with a smile, "Your cultivation is not enough, and Senior is very worried, so he took the initiative to ask you to change the task. You should thank him."
"Oh, okay, he's a really good man," Cheng Yi agreed happily, and put the green sword on his shoulder, "Then I'll go find him first."
"Go ahead."
After Cheng Yi walked away, Duan Qingming turned sideways and put his other hand on Gu Pinglin's shoulder: "How is your injury?"
"It doesn't matter." Gu Pinglin shook his head, his mind was not here, "Master Lu, the tongue-teller, is not simple."
As far as I can remember, Master Lu never showed up in public, and he often put his soul in magic weapons. It was not until the battle with Yan Sen that his fame spread. However, no one knew his true identity, and he was very mysterious. I had no contact with him before I blew myself up, and I didn't know what happened to him afterwards. Now it seems that this man is very cunning, ambitious, and wise. He will definitely not be an unknown person in the future. I'm afraid there is another reason behind the murder of his wife.
Duan Qingming agreed with his assessment: "He was destined to be extraordinary, but unfortunately he took the wrong path."
"If this person is not removed, he will become a future trouble."
“That’s really worth looking forward to.”
This statement was in line with his style. However, Gu Pinglin disagreed and frowned.
Duan Qingming saw this and asked, "Are you still afraid of him?"
Afraid? Gu Pinglin sneered, "I just don't like things that threaten me, and I don't like doing stupid things like raising a tiger to cause trouble."
"Isn't it a pity to lose the opportunity to witness the strong?"
“If this is the only thing left for a person to look forward to, wouldn’t it be sad?”
Duan Qingming narrowed his eyes when he heard that.
Gu Pinglin raised an eyebrow at him.
Unexpectedly, Duan Qingming didn't mind at all this time. Instead, he laughed and said, "You are wrong about that."
"oh?"
"Because I found that there is something more worth looking forward to."
"That's really cause for celebration." Gu Pinglin withdrew his gaze, with no intention of asking any further questions.
Duan Qingming took the initiative to ask: "Aren't you curious?"
"Of course," Gu Pinglin hummed, not even looking at him, "because I know that's definitely not what I expect."
Duan Qingming laughed.
Both of them were injured by the skeleton claws. Although they seemed fine on the surface, they were not relaxed in reality. The skeletons summoned by Master Lu all had soul power. The two of them had the god-level skills "Creation Art" and "Heaven Repair Art", so they were able to suppress the soul poison. If it were another Waidan cultivator, they would have collapsed long ago. It would not be good to delay the soul poison for too long. The first thing for the two of them was to rush back to Yiguan to heal their wounds.
At the beginning of the Yin hour, before daybreak, the two men had just arrived at the woods outside the town when they heard the woman's panicked voice.
"What do you want to do!"
The voice sounded familiar. Gu Pinglin stopped and exchanged glances with Duan Qingming. They both concealed their presence and hid behind a tree.
Three figures appeared in the woods, and two monks stopped a woman one in front and one behind.
"Seeing that you are alone outside, we brothers want to take care of you with good intentions. Why are you running away? Haha." The laughter was very obscene.
The three people looked very familiar. They were the woman and two wandering cultivators that Gu Pinglin met at the courtyard gate during the day.
“You…you don’t come over here!” The woman was trembling with fear, her face full of panic, and she looked like she was about to cry.
Gu Pinglin didn't see her face during the day, but now he could see it clearly. To be able to make two casual cultivators take such a risk, this woman must be extremely beautiful, but...
Gu Pinglin was surprised and couldn't help but glance at Duan Qingming. Duan Qingming didn't show any reaction and just watched with interest.
Two monks approached with ill intentions. The woman was caught in the middle, so anxious that tears came out: "If you continue like this, I will... I will..."
The more she was afraid, the more interested the two monks became. One of them laughed loudly, "What do you want to do? Call for help? To be honest, we brothers plan to kill you and then take you away from Feijian Palace. Who will care about your business then?"
The other person reached out and touched her face: "My little beauty, I see that you also know how to practice. As long as you serve us obediently, we will not treat you unfairly."
“Shameless! Wuwu…” The woman covered her face and stepped back in shame.
…
The two monks began to make physical advances, and Gu Pinglin finally spoke up: "We are relatives after all, so you don't care?"
"You care about my relative more than I do," Duan Qingming sighed, "but maybe she doesn't need it."
Change happens in an instant.
The woman was forced into no chance, so she bit her lower lip hard, and suddenly pulled out the hairpin on her head, and shook it in the air. Unexpectedly, the hairpin turned into a long sword shining with cold light.
The two casual cultivators were totally unprepared for this change and were stunned at the same time. One of them realized something was wrong: "You..."
The graceful figure in front of him disappeared, and then reappeared in mid-air, with her slender feet stepping on the sword. The tip of the sword flashed dazzling lightning, and thousands of sword rains tightly covered the two of them.
"Singing and dancing stop after the rain at Lingshan Mountain." Gu Pinglin recognized this move because it was so spectacular.
How could two wild monks block Qi's famous move? With just this one strike, the two men were lying on the ground in a mess, with blood gushing out of their mouths and bodies.
What was even more shocking was that the woman seemed to be more sad than them. She pointed her sword at them and cried pitifully: "I... I told you not to... not to come over!"
…
Gu Pinglin pursed his lips, looked away, and pursed his lips again.
Duan Qingming said with a half-smile: "My cousin's talent is not inferior to Qi Wan'er. If she were not a girl, she would definitely be taken seriously."
Gu Pinglin also found it funny.
It seems that this girl is Qi Wan'er's sister Qi Yanfeng. The fate of these two siblings is indeed special. Apart from their similar looks, their personalities are almost completely opposite. One is violent, the other is delicate; one is strong, the other is gentle. No wonder Ming Qingzi asked them to change their names.
Duan Qingming said: "You seem very interested, do you need me to introduce it to you?"
Gu Pinglin still had a good impression of Qi Wan'er. Since Qi Yanfeng was fine, Gu Pinglin did not intend to intervene: "No need, go back first."
The two returned to the post house. It was dawn and drizzling. There was no one in the courtyard yet, but several large buckets of clean water had been placed there. The monks in the temple were very diligent.
Gu Pinglin walked to the door of the room and was stopped by Duan Qingming.
"Soul poison is extraordinary. I have a top-grade medicine here." Duan Qingming paused and said, "This medicine is newly prepared. I would like to ask Junior Brother to give me some comments. How do you think?"
Gu Pinglin was about to refuse, but when he heard that it was a new formula, he changed his mind: "In that case, I should see it for myself."
The two entered the room, and Duan Qingming took out a small jade box the size of a palm from his Qiankun bag. He opened it, revealing a light brown paste inside. It did not have any special smell.
"Yellow Spring Mud, a good medicine." Gu Pinglin took it in his hand and looked at it. "It's not ordinary Yellow Spring Mud. It should have something added to it." At this point, he picked up a little bit and rubbed it between his fingertips. After carefully examining it for a while, he said, "It's bone quenching water, cloud powder, seven-star snake mother and underworld grass. It's not new."
Duan Qingming said: "Junior brother, you really have a sharp eye. Nothing can be hidden from you. Why don't you try the effect?"
"Are you using me to test the medicine?"
"You do not dare?"
"Why not?" These ingredients are all good medicines for removing soul poison. Gu Pinglin is also familiar with pharmacology, so he is not afraid. He walked over and sat cross-legged on the bed.
Duan Qingming saw this and asked, "Do you need help?"
In addition to his shoulder, he also had some minor injuries on his back, which was indeed inconvenient. Gu Pinglin hesitated for a moment and turned sideways: "In that case, thank you very much."
The belt was untied, and the white robe slipped off the shoulders, revealing the back.
Compared to when he was a teenager, his body was still not strong but no longer thin. His long jet-black ponytail hair flowed down to his waist, like thick ink splashed on white jade. Under his shoulder blades, there were a few bloody claw wounds, adding a touch of color to this plain black and white painting.
After a moment of silence, light footsteps were heard and someone sat down on the edge of the bed.
Gu Pinglin waited for a long time but saw no movement, and couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the injury?"
"No." The voice behind him was magnetic, no different from usual.
After a moment, I felt a touch on my back, and my long hair was brushed aside lightly or heavily.
There was a faint breath brushing against his shoulder, and he seemed to move closer.
There is no incense, no smell of any kind, yet I can clearly smell the clean scent in the air.
My fingers moved across my skin, which felt cool and slippery due to the ointment, making the feeling of friction less real.
Gu Pinglin felt uncomfortable and somewhat regretful when he let his old enemy apply medicine to him personally.
His fingers slid across his back, across the injured shoulder, stopped at his neck, and then lifted up, accidentally touching his earlobe.
Suddenly, the scene of that night inexplicably came to my mind!
Cool, soft, the feeling of a snake's tongue sliding across my lips... In an instant, all the places he touched began to heat up.
Gu Pinglin shuddered all over and tilted his head in embarrassment.
"What's wrong?" the person behind him asked with concern.
"No," Gu Pinglin tried to keep his tone calm and pulled his clothes up unnoticeably, "I'll do it myself... Ugh!"
There was a sharp pain in the wound.
Gu Pinglin took a breath, frowned and endured: "Isn't this Huangquan mud?"
"Don't move," Duan Qingming said slowly, "It's Yellow Spring Mud. If you use some flesh-growing ointment, it will heal faster."
"There are already life-giving herbs in the Yellow Springs mud, why would we need the flesh-growth ointment?" Gu Pinglin was furious and turned around, "Duan Qingming, you did it on purpose!"
"Oh, I've been discovered," Duan Qingming put down the medicine box slowly, without any embarrassment of being exposed. "What a pity, do you know what I was thinking just now?"
Gu Pinglin stood up and pulled on his outer robe: "What are you thinking about?"
"I think..." Duan Qingming looked at him for a moment, and suddenly smiled slightly, his eyes and eyebrows seemed to be dyed by the spring breeze, "I really want to hear you scream in pain and see you cry."
Monsters have different ideas than ordinary people. Gu Pinglin tied his belt, still angry, and raised his eyes and sneered: "I didn't know you had such a refined taste."
"Junior brother, are you interested in satisfying my hobbies?"
"You should give up the idea as soon as possible," Gu Pinglin said with his hands behind his back, "this kind of thing will not happen."
Duan Qingming also stopped joking at the right time: "You smell like a long night."
Gu Pinglin did not deny: "So what?"
"Are you developing an antidote?" Duan Qingming chuckled and stood up to face him. "You really want to compete with me in everything, Gu Xiaojiu."
The distance was too close, and the strange feeling from before came back. Gu Pinglin walked away two steps without leaving a trace: "Chang Ye's sword poison is so advanced, it is definitely worth challenging."
"Oh--" the voice was quite meaningful.
Gu Pinglin turned around and asked, "How is your injury?"
Duan Qingming had been looking at him, and said after hearing this: "Finally you remembered me."
"Yes," Gu Pinglin admitted readily. He walked slowly behind him and chuckled. "Do you need me to help you apply the medicine?"
Duan Qingming turned away and said, "Forget it. How dare I trouble you, Junior Brother?"
"You and I are friendly brothers, so why bother being polite," Gu Pinglin said slowly, "Besides, I also want to hear you scream in pain and see you cry."
"Ah, it hurts..." Duan Qingming raised his hand to support his forehead and glanced at him sideways, "Is one scream enough? Do you need to scream a few more times?"
Gu Pinglin didn't know what to say for a moment: "You really are..."
"How shameless," Duan Qingming put down his hand, "I am so weak that I can't stand your revenge. I can only shamelessly beg for mercy."
Thin? Gu Pinglin looked at the tall man in front of him, and the corner of his mouth twitched: "Duan Qingming, you really opened my eyes."
Duan Qingming smiled and said, "It is my honor to make you happy."
Perhaps because they had been together for too long, he became accustomed to his pretentious attitude. Gu Pinglin didn't really care about a joke: "If you do it again, you will die."
After saying this, he walked straight out the door. But when he opened the door, he was met with two surprised pretty faces.