They found a few more bundles of vines, joined them together, and wound them around her waist.
After making sure they would not break, Zhou Qingmei leaped straight down.
Fang Shuwen stood a little way back from the opening, vines in hand, and lowered them bit by bit.
After a while, Fang Shuwen heard Senior Sister Lu's surprised voice from below:
"Qingmei, how did you get down here?
"Who's up there?"
"Let's get back up first."
There was no time to lose. Zhou Qingmei did not explain much to her, and once she was ready, she called to Fang Shuwen:
"Brother Fang, pull us up."
Fang Shuwen said no more. With a little effort, he pulled the two figures up to the opening with a whoosh, then flicked his hand and drew them out into the air.
Holding Senior Sister Lu in both arms, Zhou Qingmei tapped her foot in midair and used her qinggong to reach Fang Shuwen's side.
Under the night sky, Senior Sister Lu was dressed in green. Her looks were not especially striking, but her serene, refined bearing was far beyond that of an ordinary woman.
Zhou Qingmei set her down, but she looked at Fang Shuwen and asked Zhou Qingmei:
"Qingmei, who is this?"
"This is Brother Fang."
Zhou Qingmei wanted to explain the details, but felt that they could not be made clear in a few words, so she said directly to Fang Shuwen:
"Brother Fang, this is Lu Xiaoqing, the Senior Sister Lu I mentioned to you.
"She's been struck by the [Black Sha Demonic Art]. See if she can still be saved."
Lu Xiaoqing gave Zhou Qingmei a somewhat bewildered look, then shook her head and said:
"Don't waste your efforts. The Black Sha True Qi of the [Black Sha Demonic Art] ruins one's foundation and damages one's cultivation. There's simply no way to remedy it...
"Eh? What are you doing?"
Fang Shuwen had no interest in wasting words with her. He went straight behind her and pressed a palm against her back.
The meridians in her body had indeed been severely corroded by Black Sha True Qi, but it was no obstacle to Fang Shuwen.
He glanced at Zhou Qingmei:
"I reckon this will take a little time."
"Then sorry for the trouble, Brother Fang."
Zhou Qingmei cupped her fists.
Lu Xiaoqing:
So, is anyone even listening to me?
Who exactly is this 'Brother Fang'?
How dare they look down on the [Black Sha Demonic Art] like this? Rather than waste their strength here, we'd be better off hurrying back to the Pearl Pavilion...
Lu Xiaoqing still wanted to patiently instruct Fang Shuwen not to waste his time.
But the next moment, rich, mellow internal force flowed into her body.
The places corroded by Black Sha True Qi were immediately relieved.
The words she had been about to say were swallowed whole. She obediently focused her mind, even taking the initiative to guide Fang Shuwen's internal force through her body.
With Lu Xiaoqing's cooperation, the treatment immediately went much faster.
Less than half a shichen later, the Black Sha True Qi in Lu Xiaoqing's body had been completely swept away.
Lu Xiaoqing opened her eyes, a brilliant light shining in them. When she looked back at Fang Shuwen, her face was full of gratitude:
"Thank you, brother, for expending your internal force to save me... I, Lu Xiaoqing, will remember this great kindness in my heart!!"
"There's no need... After all, I didn't expend much."
"You didn't... expend much?"
Lu Xiaoqing was somewhat surprised. As the person he had saved, she knew how much internal force Fang Shuwen had used.
Even her own revered master would have suffered a severe loss of vitality after using so much internal force to save someone.
Fang Shuwen was so young. Surely his reserves had already been emptied, like thieves had ransacked a deserted house?
How could he say he had not expended much?
Was it a young man refusing to admit it?
Fang Shuwen did not go out of his way to explain, telling her just how profound his internal cultivation was, and that this bit of internal force was no more than one hair from nine oxen.
That would be too much of a humblebrag.
Fang Shuwen was not that kind of person.
He simply called Zhou Qingmei over:
"Your senior sister has several broken bones. I'll go find something to splint them with.
"You two can talk in the meantime. Once her injuries have been treated, we'll continue on our way.
"If anything happens, remember to call out to me."
"All right."
Zhou Qingmei nodded at once.
While Fang Shuwen went to find things to splint the bones, Zhou Qingmei first asked Lu Xiaoqing what had happened.
What Lu Xiaoqing had encountered was not complicated.
The Pearl Pavilion had been established on Nine-Congealing Mountain for many years and had many eyes and ears in the surrounding area.
Before the Cloudflight Escort Agency arrived, she had received word that it had come from Julu City. She thought her junior sister Zhou Qingmei might have entrusted the agency with delivering something.
But when it failed to arrive at the appointed time, she came down the mountain to look for it.
She happened to see that the people from the Cloudflight Escort Agency had been killed nearby, and she also encountered Li Nanchen.
At the time, she had not yet suspected Li Nanchen. She simply explained the situation and went to examine the wounds on the corpses.
But Li Nanchen took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on her.
Lu Xiaoqing was the second-best fighter of her generation, but Li Nanchen was the best.
Even without a sneak attack, Lu Xiaoqing might not have been his match.
After the sneak attack, he pressed his advantage throughout the fight. But unexpectedly, though the ground around them looked ordinary, the layer beneath it was extremely weak, and Lu Xiaoqing was struck straight into an underground cavern.
The cavern was unfathomably deep. When Li Nanchen looked down, he assumed Lu Xiaoqing had fallen to her death.
Little did he know that Lu Xiaoqing had landed on a ledge halfway down.
She had, however, been knocked unconscious at the time.
Only after several days had passed did she wake up.
All that time, she had not had a drop of water... If she had not relied on her profound internal cultivation, she would probably have died long ago.
But after struggling on until now, she was weak and feeble.
The Black Sha True Qi tormented her within her body, leaving her conscious one moment and unconscious the next.
When she woke, she did what she could and left the rest to Heaven, calling for help. She had sounded weak because she really was weak.
When she passed out, she passed out. When she woke up, she kept calling.
She was not quite dead yet, after all, so she had to make some effort to struggle on. What if someone heard her?
And Fang Shuwen really had heard her.
After giving a rough account of what had happened, Lu Xiaoqing said weakly:
"Li Nanchen secretly cultivated the [Black Sha Demonic Art]. It seems the Black Sha Cult's dead ashes have rekindled, and there may be others in the pavilion colluding with the Black Sha Cult.
"We must report this to our sect as soon as possible, then seize Li Nanchen and interrogate him under torture!"
"Li Nanchen is the Black Sha Cult's young cult master."
Fang Shuwen had returned by then, carrying several saber sheaths and a good deal of fine cloth.
He had gathered them from the corpses of the Cloudflight Escort Agency's people:
"Besides him, Zhang Fang is also one of the Black Sha Cult's people."
From Lu Xiaoqing's account, what had happened here could be pieced together.
Li Nanchen had discovered the Cloudflight Escort Agency and intercepted the letter. After he had caught Lu Xiaoqing off guard with a sneak attack, he had probably sent orders to Zhang Fang by carrier pigeon or through some means of communication known only to the Black Sha Cult.
That was how Zhang Fang had been able to reach Guangning City at that time.
"What?"
When Lu Xiaoqing heard that Zhang Fang was also a member of the Black Sha Cult, her expression changed:
"How could this be?"
Zhou Qingmei took the saber sheaths, set Lu Xiaoqing's bones, then bandaged and bound them.
At the same time, she recounted what she and Fang Shuwen had experienced on their journey.
Fang Shuwen said:
"From what Zhang Fang said, they should be making their move in the next few days. That's why we hurried back.
"But I don't know what exactly is special about these next few days."
"What's special..."
Lu Xiaoqing abruptly raised her head:
"What day of the month is it?"
Zhou Qingmei answered at once:
"The sixth."
"The sixth... Then tomorrow is the day the Pavilion Master takes the elders to the Back-Mountain Mystery Cave to enter secluded cultivation and study the [Hundred Solutions True Scripture].
"As the Pearl Pavilion's foremost disciple, Li Nanchen will be left in charge of all its affairs!"