The moment Ting Bai finished speaking, he saw Luo Qi heading toward the pastry shop with Xiao Bai.
Ting Bai: “…”
Yan Huaichen narrowed his eyes as Luo Qi’s figure disappeared into the shop, his thin lips pressed together. “It’s only been two days. Let’s wait and see.”
A quarter of an hour later, Luo Qi emerged from the shop.
None of them could tell what she had bought—she still came out empty-handed.
Except for that silly creature in her arms, which had a piece of glutinous rice cake clamped in its mouth.
Yan Huaichen’s gaze lingered on her for two seconds before he said, “Let’s go.”
“Wait.”
Luo Qi flipped her wrist, and a bottle of wound medicine appeared in her palm.
Yan Huaichen instinctively caught the medicine she tossed over, a flicker of something moving in his eyes. “This is?”
Luo Qi: “The shopkeeper gave it to me. I don’t have any use for it.”
Xiao Bai, who had just finished gnawing on a piece of cake, perked up its ears at those words.
It muttered inwardly:
Gave it to her?
It was clearly something this stubborn, contradictory owner of his had deliberately gone out to buy.
“Let’s go.” Luo Qi was quick with her hands, pinching Xiao Bai’s half-open mouth shut. Without looking at anyone, she turned and continued forward.
Ting Bai and Yi Ze were utterly confused, but they did notice that their young master hadn’t thrown away that bottle of medicine.
Yan Huaichen idly rubbed his thumb over the cool glass bottle, his dark, ink-deep eyes seeming to have a drop of clear water suddenly fall into them, stirring faint ripples.
The group wandered around the area for a while, stopping whenever Luo Qi spotted something tasty or interesting.
By the time they had completely distanced themselves from the crowd and arrived at a dim riverside, the sky had fully darkened.
Pale moonlight spilled across the river, draping the water in a layer of ethereal white mist.
Unbeknownst to them, fog had gradually begun to rise around them. Trees encircled the area, and the sound of water alternately quickened and faded, lending the place an inexplicable sense of unease.
Luo Qi surveyed her surroundings, a cold, faint curve forming at the corner of her lips.
She turned back to Yan Huaichen and the others and said:
“Let’s rest here for the night.”
Ting Bai and the others were stunned.
You’ve got to be kidding!
She’d led them on a winding path through the market, making them smell all kinds of food aromas all day long.
And now, just as evening was approaching, she suddenly changed direction and brought them to this desolate, eerie, godforsaken place.
At the very least, they could have stayed at an inn or something. They had plenty of silver—it wasn’t like they’d be spending her money.
Luo Qi had no idea what wild scenarios Ting Bai and the others were cooking up in their heads.
She set Xiao Bai aside, found a relatively clean patch of grass, laid out a blanket, and began pulling out the things she’d bought during the day, one by one.
Seeing the piles upon piles of food, Ting Bai and Yi Ze realized they had underestimated her.
This Miss Luo had stopped at every food stall, and they’d assumed she was just looking. Who would have thought she’d actually bought things?
Given the sheer quantity, she might as well have cleaned out the entire stalls!
Crystal-braised pork hock, smoked duck, steamed red fish, spicy chicken, and all sorts of assorted pastries.
The rich aroma drifted through the night air, whetting everyone’s appetite.
Luo Qi shoved Xiao Bai—who was wolfing down food like a dog—to the side, then tilted her head to ask the others.
“I bought a lot of food. Want to eat together?”
The others wanted to join but felt too awkward, until Ting Bai strode over without a care, grabbed a pork hock, and took a big bite.
His eyes immediately lit up. “This hock is fragrant and spicy—really good!”
Seeing that Protector Ting Bai had already dug in, the rest of them stopped hesitating and gathered around to start sampling the food.
Luo Qi glanced toward where Yan Huaichen had been standing moments ago—the spot was now empty.
Noticing her gaze, Ting Bai took the initiative to ask:
“Is Miss Luo looking for Brother Chen?”
“No,” Luo Qi said. “I just find it strange that he never seems to eat anything.”
Ting Bai understood. As the saying went, “soft words come from a full mouth”—he took another bite of the fragrant pork hock and explained:
“Brother Chen rarely eats. As a cultivator, he can easily rely on Bigu fasting. The rest of us are just slaves to our cravings. Brother Chen’s self-control is freakishly strong—he has absolutely no interest in these mortal delicacies.”
After saying that, remembering how Luo Qi had spent the whole day wandering the market, Ting Bai couldn’t help but ask:
“Miss Luo, did we come here because that Spirit Demon is nearby?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Luo Qi noticed the fog growing thicker around them, and the moisture over the river gradually intensifying. She took a bite of a sweet but not cloying pastry and chewed slowly.
She said: “The fish is about to take the bait.”
At the third watch of the night, Yan Huaichen slowly emerged from the night mist.
Ting Bai and the others were leaning against the campfire, resting with their eyes closed.
Luo Qi stared blankly at the red jade bracelet on her wrist.
Just then—
The mist over the river suddenly surged. Winds howled, clouds churned, and a powerful stench of decay came from the southwest.
Mixed within it was a faint, barely perceptible trace of Spiritual Qi.
Ting Bai, Yi Ze, and the others suddenly snapped their eyes open and rose to stand beside Yan Huaichen.
Luo Qi snapped back to attention and stuffed Xiao Bai—who had been startled awake from sleep—into the Sumeru Space.
Yan Huaichen narrowed his eyes, looking at Luo Qi.
The woman’s expression hadn’t changed in the slightest as she gazed at the rotting corpse aura surging skyward in the southwest.
“It’s over there. Let’s go take a look.”
Watching the violently churning sky in the southwest and the increasingly thick stench of filth, Ting Bai and the others’ faces grew more and more solemn.
Such a strong stench of corpse—this must be a major catastrophe.
…
At this moment, in the southwest direction.
Several cultivators dressed in the attire of immortal sects were jointly surrounding a Millennial Mysterious Corpse with blood-red eyes and green Corpse Venom dripping from its mouth.
The man in the lead, clad in a pristine white robe, saw that the Millennial Mysterious Corpse’s movements had become sluggish. Seizing this opportunity, he said to the others nearby:
“Set up the Quenching Fire Array!”
With one hand restraining the Millennial Mysterious Corpse and the other quickly forming hand seals to set up the array, the man remained composed despite the numerous wounds on his body, showing not a trace of panic.
Just as the Quenching Fire Array was about to be completed, the surrounding Spiritual Qi suddenly surged violently. At the same time, the corpse aura on the Mystic Corpse gathered once more.
A powerful current of air, centered on the Mystic Corpse, swept outward in all directions, spreading over a wide area.
Within a radius of several hundred meters, the earth exploded into the air, grass clippings churned, and dust filled the sky.
It was at this moment that Luo Qi, Yan Huaichen, and their group arrived.
The brownish-yellow corpse aura and white silken Spiritual Qi from the Millennial Mysterious Corpse shot straight into the sky.
The Mystic Corpse’s blood-red pupils seemed about to drip with blood.
Of the several disciples who had been setting up the Quenching Fire Array, all except Su Mu, the leader, vomited blood and fell unconscious.
The Corpse Demon, as if enraged, transformed its claws into blades and charged at Su Mu with lightning speed.
When Ting Bai saw the Corpse Demon, which stood a full two meters tall, he almost doubted his own eyes.
“Th… Thousand-year Mysterious Corpse?!” He pointed at the Corpse Demon, his tone filled with disbelief.
Meanwhile, the moment Luo Qi saw the face of the man in the pristine white robe, her pupils suddenly constricted.
“Su Mu?!”
The image from the Sieve Mirror flashed through her mind.
Without time to think, Luo Qi quickly mobilized all the Divine Power within her body, teleported in front of Su Mu, and blocked the Mystic Corpse’s fatal strike for him.
Su Mu, who had been prepared to perish together with this Mystic Corpse, saw a delicate figure resolutely stand before him, and a flicker of astonishment passed through his eyes.