"Not a disciple of the National Teacher? Then he must have filled your ears with slander. I've worked with Li Qinglin to eliminate demons three times already. Just last night, we took down a Corpse Worm Demon. Why do you think someone who slays demons shouldn't associate with Li Qinglin? What kind of prejudice is that?"
"Did you eliminate the Corpse Worm Demon?" Minghe answered calmly. "It escaped. This poor Daoist was the one who eliminated it."
Qin Yi: "..."
"Last night, this poor Daoist wished to visit Prince Qing Lin and confirm certain matters. By chance, I saw the three of you at the farmstead." Minghe said blandly, "Li Qinglin clearly had the ability to eliminate the demon, yet pretended to be powerless and allowed it to leave. His only concern was solving the mystery within the manor. For the sake of that final outcome, whether the demon fled or died was unimportant to him. He is a schemer, not a demon slayer."
Qin Yi felt awkward. Put that way, it was indeed true. Li Qinglin was certainly not the sort of man who vanquished demons and devils, upheld justice, and roamed the land as a hero. Li Qingjun would fit that description better. But that was no black mark against Li Qinglin. Everyone simply walked a different path.
He sighed. "Immortal... ah, Daoist Minghe, what exactly are you trying to say by telling me all this?"
"This poor Daoist means that a person like Li Qinglin would cooperate with demons if doing so benefited him."
"What utter nonsense." Qin Yi said displeasedly, "The ones truly cooperating with demons are..."
He stopped halfway through. This was, after all, the entrance to Longevity Temple. He could not speak recklessly here.
Yet the look he cast toward the temple already revealed his stance. Minghe shook her head faintly. "This poor Daoist personally witnessed the National Teacher slaying demons. His attacks were ruthless, without the slightest mercy. On the other hand, on the night the Crown Prince was assassinated, Demon Qi flashed like lightning in and out of the Prince Residence. Even now, the residence remains thick with Demon Qi. It was precisely to verify this that this poor Daoist secretly went to observe Prince Qing Lin."
Qin Yi froze. He ran those words over and over in his mind before suddenly widening his eyes.
Minghe continued, "I saw that Young Master could wield a staff to eliminate demons and break the Eight Gates Golden Lock, so you are clearly a cultivator. Yet you address Li Qinglin directly by name and are not his subordinate. That leaves room for discussion. If Young Master still possesses some desire to eliminate devils and defend the Dao, would you be willing to do this poor Daoist a small favor?"
Qin Yi narrowed his eyes. "You want me to investigate the demons in Li Qinglin's residence?"
"Precisely." Minghe sighed. "This poor Daoist's journey has been solely for the purpose of slaying demons and devils. I once swore that the arts I learned would only be used against demons and devils, never against mortals. Li Qinglin's residence is heavily guarded. If this poor Daoist were to force her way in to eliminate demons, it would be somewhat inconvenient."
Qin Yi looked at her for a long while, then said with complete seriousness, "Sorry, but Qin has no desire to eliminate devils and defend the Dao. If you want me to ****, I might consider it."
The two phrases sounded no different at all. The Daoist Nun completely failed to understand what he meant and merely stared at him strangely with her wide eyes.
Only then did he catch a trace of a beauty's adorably foolish charm in her. Before this, she had felt far too distant. Qin Yi suddenly found it amusing. This Daoist Nun was probably quite innocent in certain respects, not so impossibly out of reach after all.
At last, he translated his meaning. "I am not a cultivator at all and cannot sense Demon Qi. Forgive me, but I am unable to help."
With that, he turned to leave. He was not even going into Longevity Temple anymore; it seemed this Daoist Nun troubled him more than Longevity Temple did.
Minghe sighed behind him. "Young Master does not trust this poor Daoist."
Qin Yi did not answer and silently walked back. Wasn't that obvious? Li Qinglin had left a good impression on him. Even if they could not yet be called friends, they had at least formed some rapport. If he did not trust Li Qinglin, was he supposed to trust some Daoist Nun he had never met before?
Because she was pretty?
She had not even asked his name so far, for fuck's sake!
Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Li Qinglin did keep demons in his residence, it was no great matter. As she had said, Li Qinglin was a schemer, not a demon slayer. For a king who would inevitably ascend the throne one day, it was hardly difficult to understand that he might cooperate with demons in certain matters. Qin Yi did not feel it was necessary for him to meddle in such things.
He had come to work with Li Qinglin against the National Teacher, not to interfere in Li Qinglin's private affairs.
As for "the night the Crown Prince was assassinated"...
This Daoist Nun had come out of the National Teacher's temple. Who knew how closely she was connected to the National Teacher? Perhaps every word she said was a lie, and she was simply using him.
Better to keep his distance.
Just as he was thinking this, Minghe suddenly appeared before him from nowhere and blocked his path. Qin Yi said coldly, "Does Daoist Minghe have any further instructions?"
Minghe did not take issue with the increasingly distant tone in Qin Yi's voice. Instead, she handed him a wooden sword and softly said, "This poor Daoist was presumptuous. On further thought, you truly have no cultivation. Forcing you to face demons would indeed be inconvenient... If you insist on entering the residence, keep this sword. It can keep you from being harmed by demons."
Qin Yi lowered his head to look at the wooden sword, then looked at Minghe.
Minghe's eyes remained clear as water.
Like the waters of the Milky Way.
Qin Yi wanted to refuse, but after a turn of thought, he accepted the wooden sword instead. He politely bowed, then strode away without a word.
"What was that about?" Once he reached a place with no one around, Qin Yi immediately asked Liusu in a low voice. "Did that Daoist Nun follow us?"
Liusu did not speak. Only after a long while did it say, "She did not follow us, but it is still best to speak in whispers. I do not know whether her divine sense can eavesdrop."
Qin Yi lowered his voice further. "What is with you today? Normally, you chatter away even when there's nothing going on. Now that I need you to make some judgment about this Daoist Nun, you haven't made a sound from beginning to end."
Liusu said faintly, "She is a very formidable cultivator... Though her current cultivation cannot detect my existence, if I converse with you soul-to-soul in front of her, the fluctuations of soul force at such close range might be noticed by her. Caution is better."
"A very... formidable cultivator?" Qin Yi was stunned.
He was accustomed to hearing Liusu look down on this and disdain that, and Qin Yi believed that its former owner must have been incredibly impressive. This was the first time he had heard it describe someone as "very formidable" in terms of cultivation.
Liusu suddenly asked, "Why were you so nervous when she asked about your weapon? Were you afraid I would be discovered?"
Qin Yi said irritably, "Of course. That Daoist Nun is unfathomable. What if she wanted to kill you?"
Liusu fell silent. After a long while, it gave a soft laugh, its meaning impossible to discern.
It did not continue that topic, instead slowly beginning to speak of Minghe. "That Daoist Nun's bone age cannot exceed twenty, yet she has already entered the Heart of the Harp Realm. No, her Heart of the Harp is nearly complete."
"What is Heart of the Harp?"
For once, Liusu did not mock him. "...Forget it. With your head full of Foundation Establishment and Golden Elixirs, just understand it as Foundation Establishment."
"She's only at Foundation Establishment and hasn't even completed it. That doesn't sound so impressive..."
"She isn't even twenty! Do you know what that means?" Liusu, whose attitude had grown much gentler, could no longer hold itself back and nearly began cursing. "Countless people cannot reach Foundation Establishment even in all their lives, while she is already close to completion! That demon tiger you couldn't defeat? She could blow it to death with one breath. Li Qinglin's martial arts may seem formidable, but if he could withstand a single move from her, that would already be an extraordinary performance!"
Qin Yi suddenly said, "So she is a genuine immortal cultivator?"
"Yes, without a doubt. And what she has learned is exceedingly profound, absolutely beyond comparison to some bullshit Spirit Gathering Array. I think she most likely comes from a first-rate orthodox Mysterious Gate sect! Do you know what that Peach Wood Sword she gave you is?"
"The kind Yun Zhongzi gave King Zhou?"
Liusu had never heard that story and said directly, "This Peach Wood Sword has been imbued with her art. So long as there is a demon within its range, it will automatically thirst for demon blood. It will not harm people, but its power against demons is extraordinary. I cannot yet judge how wide its demon-seeking range is, but this method of attaching an art to an object without it dispersing is already the foundation of artifact refinement."
Qin Yi stood there blankly for a long while, then hesitated. "Could she truly have meant to help me protect myself?"
Liusu did not answer.
When Qin Yi had accepted the sword after that sudden change of heart, it had naturally been so Liusu could judge its origin and purpose. Yet the conclusion it reached was that it really was meant for slaying demons. That was strange. Frowning, he carefully sorted through every circumstance, but it was still a tangled skein of hemp. Why had such a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator from an orthodox Mysterious Gate sect suddenly appeared in this small Southern Border kingdom?
A true cultivator from an orthodox Mysterious Gate sect meant she really should not be one of the National Teacher's followers. No matter how he thought about it, Dong Huazi did not have that kind of standing. Otherwise, Li Qinglin might as well wash up and go to sleep—what was the point of fighting at all?
Yet even if she was merely passing through on her travels, she still seemed quite hostile toward Li Qinglin. If she truly decided to do something, Li Qinglin would be finished.
"Forget it. Let's return to the residence first. If we don't know now, we'll know eventually."
Before you continue