Chapter 393: Chapter 323: Or Do You Truly Have a Death Wish?
"What, you guys actually have Legendary Tokens!"
"What, you’re members of the Thief’s House that recently stirred things up, Yellow Dog and White Fox!"
"What, he slapped Ying Le across the face?!"
Murong Hui grabbed Yan Qing’s hands, her eyes shining: "Which hand did you use to slap? Did you wash your hands beforehand? Can I keep it as a souvenir?"
Yan Qing tugged a bit, but couldn’t break free, as Murong Hui clung to his hands like a baby clinging to a milk bottle. Yan Qing ended up rubbing Murong Hui’s face with both hands. She initially wanted to resist but suddenly gave up for some reason, allowing Yan Qing to rub, pinch, and tug without any resistance, being unusually obedient.
When Yan Qing let go, she let out a triumphant snort: "Hmph, I fell into a mud pit earlier and didn’t wash my face. Now you’ve cleaned it for me!"
Yan Qing looked at Murong Hui’s rosy face, thought for a moment, and asked, "How about I pat your backside and help clean that too?"
"Good... good my ass!" Murong Hui put her hands on her hips: "I can see right through you; you just want to take advantage of me, you pervert, humph~"
"But since I’m so beautiful, so pretty, and so cute, it’s only natural you’d have improper thoughts about me." She nudged Yan Qing with her elbow, with a teasing smile: "Since we’re best friends, if you sincerely ask me, I might just—"
"The most adorable Little Sister Hui in the world," Yan Qing cupped her waist with both hands: "Is it okay?"
Murong Hui instantly tensed up, her mischievous smile seemingly freezing on her face. Even with the cover of her caramel-colored skin, her ears were visibly red. Realizing Yan Qing’s hands seemed to be drifting downward, she decisively smacked his hands away and tightly covered her perfectly shaped backside.
She backed away from Yan Qing, as if exposing her back would give villains an opportunity.
"I- I’m going to check if there’s anything tasty on the second floor!"
As Murong Hui hurriedly fled, the main hall of the small shop echoed with the laughter of the two. Yan Qing turned to see Ying Rushi sitting in the corner, snacking on spicy strips as she chuckled: "You learned how to handle Hui so quickly? It took me ages to figure out how to deal with her."
Though they had only been together for two days, Yan Qing saw that with this little rascal Murong Hui, the more you backed down, the more smug she became, playfully teasing as much as possible.
But just a slight prod, and she’d puff up defensively like a pufferfish and become obediently cute, in short... a cheeky black-skinned brat?
"Want some?" Ying Rushi exhaled a spicy breath, her lips slick with spicy oil, a hint of tears at the corner of her eyes as she raised the ’Weilong’ spicy strips: "These are really thrilling!"
Yan Qing opened the fridge and tossed a bottle of yogurt over, and drank a cola himself: "No, thanks."
Murong Hui loved spicy strips too. It seemed they had come to the Demon Gathering Land just for them. Could it be that Qi People are all obsessed with spicy flavors? Or perhaps their Secret Realms don’t produce chili, leaving them defenseless against this taste?
After fleeing the battlefield, they rode their motorcycle for ten minutes and eventually found a Teleportation Gate leading to the southwest of the Demon Gathering Land, roughly at the diagonal opposite end from where the Baibao Guards were stationed. It would take four to five hours to run there on foot, giving them plenty of time to rest.
The only vulnerability was the Teleportation Gate, so they didn’t dare destroy the windowless and doorless room where the gate was. Instead, they made a small hole in the ceiling, went in, and patched it back up, trying to minimize the risk of detection.
Yan Qing glanced at Ying Rushi’s hands; the bandages were soaked red with blood.
He untied the Bingzi Pepper Forest and tossed it over: "You know how to use it."
Ying Rushi caught the Bingzi Pepper Forest, shaking her head: "I can recover with a Blood Replenishing Pill."
Yan Qing leaned against the doorway of the shop: "Blood Replenishing Pills can only replenish blood; they can’t repair your accumulated internal injuries. Besides, we won’t have a chance to use the Bingzi Pepper Forest today, so don’t let it go to waste."
The Bingzi Pepper Forest’s [Heaven-Covering], the Heaven-Swaying Sword’s [Dominance], and the Dragon and Snake Seven Kills’ [Seven Kills Fate] are some of the most powerful recovery abilities below Foundation Establishment. However, serving as the most critical trump cards, few are willing to use them solely for healing, preferring to save them for unexpected situations that may arise. This reflects the personality of a hoarder; if there’s an alternative, they’ll never use their trump card. Yan Qing was also this type because if they unexpectedly found their trump card on cooldown during a crisis, that would be disastrous.
But now Yan Qing didn’t mind using the Bingzi Pepper Forest for regular healing since he only had one chance to activate the full stance [Heaven-Covering]. A complete [Heaven-Covering] required consuming eight weapon tokens, and he had over twenty rings, most filled with Spiritual Jade, Blood Replenishing Pills, repair tools, clothes, shoes, emergency food, and water, barely leaving room for eight rings for tokens.
His strongest puppet, the Ascension Dragon Attendant, was already destroyed without a trace. When he moved more than a hundred meters away from the Soul Dragon Attendant, it automatically dissipated and exited combat. At this point, encountering the Baibao Guards, they would surely choose to run away. Saving the Bingzi Pepper Forest was pointless. Only if Murong Hui possessed him would Yan Qing foolishly consider attacking them.
Ying Rushi understood, but her usual habits made her reluctant to accept easily: "I don’t think there’s any need..."
"Alright." Yan Qing approached expressionlessly, "Then give it back to me."
Yan Qing grabbed the Bingzi Pepper Forest and pulled at it, but Ying Rushi didn’t let go.
"Are you mad?" Ying Rushi looked at him.
"When did you get the illusion that I forgave you?" Yan Qing raised an eyebrow.
Ying Rushi pressed her lips together, hugging the Bingzi Pepper Forest to her chest: "Stay away from me."
Once Yan Qing reached a safe distance and retrieved his Flame Pattern Seven-Star Sword, Ying Rushi drew the Bingzi Pepper Forest, its blade inscribed with orange flame brilliance, activating Heaven-Covering without any offerings!
At this moment, Murong Hui jumped down from the second floor, holding a ten-inch cream cake in her hands, and said excitedly, "Look what I found, such a big cake—"
Boom!
A shockwave erupted from Ying Rushi, overturning all the shelves on the first floor of the small shop, smearing Murong Hui against the wall, and plastering cake all over Murong Hui.
She looked at the cream cake all over her body, blinked, stuck out her tongue to lick the cream off her hand while watching them warily: "All of this is mine, don’t you dare lick it."
...
...
After a brief cleanup in another small room, everyone sat down to start organizing the current information and formulating the next steps.
"Can the Baibao Guards lock onto your location?"
"No, but they definitely have scouting tokens that can extensively search for humanoid creatures," Ying Rushi said. "If we stay too long in one place while resting, they’ll likely find us."
"That’s not much of a problem," Yan Qing pointed to the Blue Flame Dragon Motorcycle outside: "Past midnight, I’ll be able to command the Three-headed Demon Fiend, and with them covering us, even if they spot us, they’ll just think we’re one of the demons. Even if they get suspicious, they’ll send scouts first instead of directly surrounding us for a lockdown."
"Of course, we still need a night watch. You and I can take turns keeping watch."
They tacitly didn’t mention Murong Hui, whose nature made it likely she’d fall asleep on watch.
"I want to participate in the watch too!" Murong Hui said seriously. "For my two close friends, I definitely won’t fall asleep! Don’t worry, I have a trick!"
"What trick?"
"Whenever I can’t hold on, Grandpa motivates me with punishment, and I always strive to avoid it. So, if I can’t manage, you can all suggest a punishment that scares me enough, and I surely won’t fall asleep!"
What a sly cat!
"Alright," Ying Rushi said calmly, "let’s go with the last punishment then."
Murong Hui shivered, as if her body’s memory awakened, clamping her legs tightly, her face blushing, gripping her pants desperately, hesitating for a long time before mustering the courage to nod, releasing a very timid reply: "Mm!"
Yan Qing sincerely hoped Murong Hui would sleep tonight, not for any reason other than wanting to see just how far they go with their antics, that it almost overwhelms the crafty cat just by mentioning it.
"Then my punishment is—"
"You just proposed a very excessive punishment, no more!" Murong Hui, like a husky gesturing to stop Yan Qing’s self-service order.
Recalling something, Murong Hui suddenly shrank next to Ying Rushi, sitting right in front of Yan Qing, not revealing a bit of her bottom. But it didn’t matter; the view of two pairs of long legs pressed together in front was still an unmissable scenery.
"Before midnight, we need to go out and trigger as many special facilities and collect puppet cards as possible," Yan Qing asked. "White Fox, can you still hold on? We can rest first if you need."
"No need, let’s act immediately. Currently, the Baibao Guards have a shallow understanding of the Demon Gathering Land and are likely cautious in their search for us. It’s the perfect time to cultivate flesh puppets. In another day or two, it’ll be much harder to evade them." Ying Rushi decisively shook her head, "Heaven-Covering healed my injuries, I’m ready for battle at any time!"
Yan Qing could see Ying Rushi was pushing herself, but as she said, this period can’t be wasted, and Heaven-Covering’s healing is evident. He clapped his hands: "Alright, let’s go. We can talk about other matters as we move."
"I’ll quickly take a dump first!" Murong Hui rushed to the toilet, causing Yan Qing, who was about to stand, to sit uneasily—he sort of wanted to go too.
Ying Rushi took out repair tools to maintain the Heaven-Swaying Sword, and Yan Qing glanced over; it was his old friend, the Hidden Sword Manor Tool Kit.
"What are your plans after five days?" Yan Qing asked, sitting cross-legged.
"Hide at the Thief’s House awaiting the fourth mission," Ying Rushi said, "Don’t worry, even if I have any ideas, it’ll be after the fourth mission."
"I told you, you can seek our help," Yan Qing said.
"Thank you, truly. It’s not that I don’t trust you, Black Wolf, Red Snake, or you, would definitely lend a hand." Ying Rushi lightly flicked the Heaven-Swaying Sword’s blade, "But this is a matter of the Ying Family, between me and Ying Le."
"Rest assured, I’m not going to foolishly challenge Ying Le, I’m only going to assassinate those I can handle. As long as I move fast enough, Ying Le and the Baibao Guards won’t catch me."
"You might not believe it," Yan Qing said, "but within at most three missions, I’ll certainly reach Foundation Establishment."
"I believe you," Ying Rushi smiled, "and look forward to the moment of your Foundation Establishment Fourth Transition."
"You’ve waited so many years, can’t you wait patiently for another month or two?"
"Of course I will wait, but this doesn’t conflict with me taking proactive action; I don’t have the confidence you do, so I can only do some good as much as I can—"
"Am I mistaken," Yan Qing suddenly said, "or do you truly seek death?"
