The words had barely fallen when Bai Lan darted forward, her figure flashing as she collided with Qiao Gongxu. The latter frowned and counterattacked, striking out with a palm.
Qiao Qie’er flew into a rage and immediately struck back to assist her grandfather.
Who would have thought that at this moment, within the hall, a streak of white mist would surge forth like a bolt of silk, arriving in the blink of an eye.
Qiao Gongxu was greatly alarmed, clearly unprepared, and flustered. In haste, he freed one hand to strike back at the incoming white mist.
One palm dispersed the mist, yet he failed to guard against a flash of blood-red within the fog, which pierced his chest like an awl.
The blood-red shadow flashed and retreated, withdrawing along with the dissipating white mist into the mouth of a man at the hall entrance, a bald, muscular man in white robes.
Yu Qing’s gaze swept over this person, and he could not help but startle. He had seen him before too.
Boom!
Qiao Gongxu, grievously wounded and filled with grief and indignation, forcibly exchanged that palm strike with Bai Lan. The penetrating wound in his chest immediately erupted with a great gush of blood, and he was finished on the spot.
Qiao Qie’er rushed to rescue him, turning and leaping through the air to catch her grandfather as he was sent flying.
A wizened old crone leaped down from the hall roof, hurling her strangely shaped dark-red walking stick, which whistled through the air like thunder toward Qiao Qie’er.
Qiao Qie’er, clutching the person while tumbling through the air, twisted her body mid-flight and narrowly avoided the thunderous strike. Yet she failed to anticipate the peculiarity of that dark-red staff. The staff, resembling a carved wooden stick insect, suddenly opened its eyes, black as gems, and a scythe-like limb suddenly shot out.
Just like that, Qiao Qie’er’s back was instantly torn apart, flesh and blood flying.
The staff suddenly unfurled its wings, traced an arc into the sky, and transformed into a flying insect beating its wings.
The wizened old crone herself shot over at the same time.
The three ambushers’ combined assault was so swift and coordinated, the transitions so seamless, that one could barely react, leaving almost no room to breathe.
Yu Qing’s gaze also fell upon the wizened old crone, and he realised he had seen her before too.
The three fellow disciples were all somewhat dumbfounded. It seemed the attack had originally been aimed at them, so how had it turned into two other groups fighting desperately?
The Qiao Manor guards, stunned for a moment, swarmed forward and swiftly engaged Bai Lan’s group in fierce combat. In an instant, fierce winds swept everywhere and floor tiles flew up like cannon shot.
Qiao Qie’er tumbled through the air, vomiting blood. The grandfather she had been holding was also separated, tumbling likewise.
Facing the wizened old crone’s attack, Qiao Qie’er had practically taken the blow head-on to protect her grandfather, and was sent flying on the spot.
Yu Qing leaped up, his long sword held inverted and concealed beneath his arm, and spread his arms wide to catch the flying Qiao Qie’er.
Mu Aotie glanced over and immediately jumped up to catch the flying Qiao Gongxu.
Nan Zhu also wanted to catch Qiao Qie’er, but was a step too late and had to give up. He asked Yu Qing, “Shall we fight?”
He tilted his head toward the lively fighting, asking whether they should join in.
Qiao Qie’er, her face veil stained with a large patch of blood, lay in Yu Qing’s arms, gasping urgently. “Save him, go to the secret room, save my grandfather!” She pointed in a direction with her finger.
Yu Qing had also been wanting to test his strength after breaking through to the Xuan realm, but upon hearing the beauty’s words, he reacted and hurriedly said, “Save him, saving people comes first.”
He hurriedly carried her and ran in the direction she had pointed.
Mu Aotie naturally carried the person and ran after him.
Nan Zhu brought up the rear with his sword drawn.
Bai Lan suddenly shouted sharply from among the fighting crowd, “Little thief, don’t run!”
She tried to leap and pounce, but three Qiao Manor men immediately flew up to intercept, forcing her back.
Yu Qing, looking back, discovered that the Qiao Manor guards’ strength was quite impressive.
“Demon!”
Nan Zhu shouted in response, waving his sword at Bai Lan while retreating, a look of “just you wait, I’ll let you off for now,” then turned his head and ran.
The secret room’s entrance was within a small courtyard, again a rockery, though a smaller one.
Qiao Qie’er pointed at a certain stone in the rockery, indicating that pushing it hard would suffice.
Nan Zhu immediately did as instructed, pressing the stone and pushing hard. He immediately heard a click, and then the entire rockery was pushed aside, gradually revealing a stepped entrance in the ground.
The group went down, then reset the rockery. They took torches from the stone wall and lit them as they went down.
Reaching the end of the tunnel, they arrived at the so-called secret room. Nan Zhu saw oil lamps and lit them one by one on the walls.
After Yu Qing set the person down, Qiao Qie’er pointed at a box on the table inside the room. “There is medicine in the box.”
Nan Zhu immediately went over and brought it back, opening it to confirm what medicines were inside.
Mu Aotie, who had placed the person on the ground, glanced at Qiao Qie’er who was urgently searching for medicine. He walked lightly to Yu Qing’s side, tugged his sleeve, then shook his head slightly toward Qiao Gongxu, hinting at something.
Yu Qing was startled, and immediately stepped over quickly to check Qiao Gongxu’s pulse, then pressed fingers to the neck artery, checked his breathing, felt his heartbeat, and even used magic to examine him carefully. He looked as if he could not believe it himself, yet reality was reality.
In the end, he slowly let go, staring at the bloody gaping wound in Qiao Gongxu’s chest in silence.
The man was dead, deader than dead. One could still see the grief and indignation on Qiao Gongxu’s face, an expression of dying unwillingly.
Nan Zhu, looking sideways, read something in his two junior brothers’ expressions, and immediately fell silent too.
“This, quickly give this medicine to Grandfather to eat.”
Qiao Qie’er poured a wax-coated pill from a small porcelain bottle into Nan Zhu’s hand, urging him.
Nan Zhu looked down and saw the words “Blood Kun Pill” on the wax pill. Good heavens, it was actually a life-saving immortal pill worth ten million taels per pill.
He had long heard of this spirit pill’s great fame. It might not be able to cure the dead, but it was absolutely a top-grade wound medicine.
When travelling abroad, if one had the means to keep this medicine on hand, it was almost like having a second life prepared. If this medicine had been used earlier, Qiao Gongxu should not have died.
Yet in the end, it was too late.
Seeing him unresponsive for so long, Qiao Qie’er quickly read something in the three men’s expressions. She immediately forced herself up and staggered toward her grandfather, collapsing before she reached him. Mu Aotie reached out to support her, and seeing she insisted on going over, he had to help her there.
Yu Qing looked back, got up, and moved aside to let her check for herself.
Kneeling and sitting on the ground, having personally confirmed her grandfather was dead, Qiao Qie’er seemed dazed. She did not cry or make a fuss, but sat there in a stupor.
The wound on her back, no longer suppressed by her own cultivation, began to bleed again. Yu Qing’s gaze swept over, and he suddenly acted, directly knocking her out. He laid her flat on the ground, face down, and tore open the clothing on her back, revealing that bloody wound.
Nan Zhu hurriedly brought the medicine box over and handed the pill in his hand to him. “The ‘Blood Kun Pill’ she just took out.”
Yu Qing took it, crushed the wax coating, and immediately smelled a heart-soothing fragrance. The glistening red pill was full of medicinal energy. He lifted Qiao Qie’er’s head and removed her veil, revealing a blood-stained, delicate and pretty face. She was indeed very beautiful, and one could imagine she would look even prettier under normal circumstances.
Without hesitation, he directly stuffed the spirit pill worth ten million into Qiao Qie’er’s mouth, used magic to guide it into her stomach, then silently began treating the wound of the unconscious person.
Nan Zhu sat down on a chair to one side, also not speaking, silently watching Yu Qing’s actions, occasionally scratching his head.
He knew that this Old Fifteen fellow was probably feeling terrible inside. People who had come to hunt Old Fifteen down had ended up harming another family, who had been thoroughly implicated by Old Fifteen.
Mu Aotie turned around, lit more torches, and returned to guard the exit, lest someone discover the entrance and enter without them knowing.
Sounds of fighting still came continuously from outside.
Having treated and bandaged Qiao Qie’er’s wound, Yu Qing, who had been kneeling, moved aside somewhat, then sat cross-legged, occasionally turning his head to look at the sleeping person.
Nan Zhu got up and adjusted all the oil lamps’ brightness, then sat back down and asked, “The problem isn’t too serious now, right?”
“Mm.”
“Well, actually, we didn’t want this to happen either. Who knew?”
“I am thinking, what is wrong with me? When I went to the Wen residence, I brought a catastrophe upon the Wen family. This time coming to Qiao Manor, it is the same again.”
“Old Fifteen, you are overthinking it. People sometimes really do have fate. If you truly had that ability, we would not fear lacking money. The world’s grudges are countless. Whoever wants to harm someone, just hire you to go to their enemy’s house and it would be done. By the way, are you sure it was that leopard spirit?”
“It should be. I also recognise the other two. The leopard spirit is called Bai Lan. The one who spits white mist is a frog-type demon cultivator called Jiang Shan. The wizened old crone is known as Rat Old Lady. They were all among those who ambushed examinees in the ancient tomb wasteland. I only learned their names after hearing people talk about them in the capital. There was originally also a bird demon cultivator called Gao Yuan. These three nearly killed Bai Lan’s husband. I also took advantage of the three of them. I don’t know how they ended up mixed together with Bai Lan again…”
Yu Qing muttered to himself in a rambling manner.
Nan Zhu listened silently beside him, taking the opportunity to reorganise that box and check how many valuable things were inside.
Later, the fighting sounds outside disappeared, and they did not know what the situation was like.
Considering there was still an injured person here, for Qiao Qie’er’s safety, the three fellow disciples did not venture out to take risks. No matter what sounds came from outside, they ignored them, and continued waiting quietly in the secret room.
During this time, the three people in the secret room faintly smelled smoke, and roughly guessed what had happened outside.
Yu Qing occasionally went to check Qiao Qie’er’s injuries, and discovered that the “Blood Kun Pill” was indeed worthy of being an immortal-level spirit medicine. Its medicinal effects were truly extraordinary, and one could clearly feel the injured person’s wounds recovering rapidly.
After a small half-day, Qiao Qie’er, who had been lying face down on the ground, finally woke up. She struggled to get up and move, pulling her wound, and bit her lip in pain.
Yu Qing went over to lend a hand and helped her up.
As expected, as soon as Qiao Qie’er got up, she walked to her grandfather’s side again, slowly kneeling beside the body. She did not speak, did not make a sound, but silently shed tears streaming down her face.
After she composed her emotions and raised her sleeve to dry her tears, she asked, “Who are you people?”
The three fellow disciples exchanged glances. How should they say this? The truth could not be told.
Yu Qing: “Wandering cultivators.”
Qiao Qie’er asked again, “Who were the attackers?”
Yu Qing: “The woman in white is a leopard demon called Bai Lan. The one who spits white mist is a frog demon called Jiang Shan. The wizened old crone is known as Rat Old Lady. They are all demon cultivators. A few years ago, I killed Bai Lan’s husband. She came to avenge her husband’s death. I have implicated Qiao Manor. Apart from saying sorry, I do not know what else to say.”