Bribery

Lin Qingyang took a porcelain bottle from his sleeve and said, "You've only just woken up after being poisoned. I have a Phoenix Fire Spirit Pill here, just the thing for your injuries. Please accept it, Elder Mo."

Mo Yan frowned. The Phoenix Fire Spirit Pill was a sacred healing medicine refined by Yanlie Zhenren five hundred years ago. For fire cultivators like Mo Yan in particular, it could aid cultivation as well as heal injuries, making it a rare treasure. But refining the Phoenix Fire Spirit Pill was complicated, and after Yanlie Zhenren died in his great battle with the Demon King Cang Yu, the pill's formula was lost. Nowadays, eight or nine out of ten on the market were fakes. Obtaining one of the few genuine pills depended entirely on luck; money alone could not buy one.

Lin Qingyang had won this pill ten years ago as his prize for defeating a host of experts and taking first place at the Immortal Alliance Ceremony. Mo Yan had previously offered a fortune for it and been refused, yet now Lin Qingyang was giving it to him for free over a demon slave.

"Are you trying to bribe me?" Mo Yan asked, his expression dark.

Lin Qingyang smiled. "You needn't insist on seeing it that way, Elder Mo. Naturally, I couldn't come to visit you empty-handed."

Mo Yan snorted. "Do you take me for a three-year-old? Once I accept this, how am I supposed to explain myself?"

"It benefits us both. Why be so stubborn?" Lin Qingyang said.

"What sort of person do you think I am? I've overseen punishments for all these years. How could a mere pill make me..."

As Mo Yan spoke, he turned his head, only to see Lin Qingyang tip out the Fire Spirit Pill. The golden pill gave off a gentle glow in his hand. Even at a distance, Mo Yan could feel the warm Spiritual Power emanating from it. He swallowed, a hint of struggle appearing on his face, but in the end he gritted his teeth and turned away.

"Take it away!" Mo Yan said coldly.

Seeing this, Lin Qingyang sighed helplessly. "All right. Since you insist, Elder Mo, I won't force you."

Only then did Mo Yan relax. But the moment he turned back, Lin Qingyang punched him in the stomach, then tossed the Fire Spirit Pill into his mouth when it opened. Mo Yan practiced fire magic, and the spiritual energy within him liked the pill so much that it drew it straight in the instant it entered his mouth.

Mo Yan glared at Lin Qingyang for a long while before finally cursing, "Lin Qingyang, are you out of your mind?"

Lin Qingyang raised his eyebrows. "Oh dear. Since you've already accepted it, Elder Mo, why not show a little mercy this once?"

"You shoved it into my mouth!" Mo Yan snapped.

"Do you think anyone would believe such nonsense?" Lin Qingyang's smile was positively asking for a punch.

For a moment, Mo Yan was speechless. Indeed, who would believe that Lin Qingyang had insisted on shoving such a precious pill into his mouth?

"If you won't help, I'll tell everyone you took a bribe and didn't deliver. You've eaten it, after all. Even ten mouths won't be enough to explain your way out of that." Lin Qingyang shook his head with a sigh. Seeing Mo Yan's face darken dreadfully, he smiled again and urged, "Elder Mo, ruining your reputation over a demon slave isn't worth it."

"Lin Qingyang!" Mo Yan closed his eyes in fury. If he could have used his Spiritual Power right then, he would have hit him with a bolt of lightning.

Lin Qingyang paused, his expression growing more serious. "You falsely accused him before and even tortured him. You've already made him suffer enough. Life is hard enough for a demon slave as it is. Why must you keep hounding him?"

Mo Yan remained silent, his expression cold. He had never thought there was anything wrong with torturing Qi Mo, and besides, he was no kindly soul to begin with. Yet Lin Qingyang had protected him time and again, even bringing out such a precious pill this time. It was truly baffling. It wasn't as though he hadn't heard the recent rumors about the two of them. Apparently, even storybooks were circulating among the outer disciples. It seemed the rumors might not be entirely unfounded.

Mo Yan studied Lin Qingyang with a complicated expression. That demon slave certainly has some seductive tricks, to have the always aloof Lin Qingyang so thoroughly bewitched.

"Lust has clouded your judgment. You'd better watch yourself." Mo Yan snorted, then swept his sleeve and stormed off.

Somewhat speechless, Lin Qingyang muttered to himself, "Didn't he use that expression wrong?"

With Mo Yan taken care of, Lei Cheng escorted Lin Qingyang and Feng Shu out of Ink Cloud Hall. The two walked back together. When they reached a fork in the road, Lin Qingyang suddenly stopped and looked in the other direction.

"Stone Hut Studio is that way, isn't it?" Lin Qingyang murmured.

Feng Shu looked over and replied, "Yes, Master."

Lin Qingyang gazed in that direction, that unfamiliar emotion tugging at his chest once more. After a moment's hesitation, he headed that way as though compelled by some unseen force.

They walked all the way to Stone Hut Studio, where quite a few people had gathered both inside and outside the courtyard, most of them disciples from Cold Moon Residence.

Jin Buhuan was also watching from the doorway. Seeing Lin Qingyang and Feng Shu approach, he nodded to him.

"You're here too. How are your injuries?" Jin Buhuan asked.

"Only minor injuries. Nothing serious now," Lin Qingyang said with a smile.

"That demon slave of yours said Mo Yan injured you. What did you do to offend him this time?" Jin Buhuan asked curiously.

"It was just a misunderstanding," Lin Qingyang said mildly.

Recognizing that he did not want to say more, Jin Buhuan tactfully asked no further questions.

Lin Qingyang took two steps forward and looked through the open door. Shi Ruobai lay on the bed, with Xue Lanyuan, her eldest disciple Leng Shuangshuang, and two other female disciples from Cold Moon Pavilion seated in a circle around him. All had their eyes closed, concentrating on casting their spells. A spell formation composed of faint blue light covered Shi Ruobai's body.

"What are they doing?" Lin Qingyang asked.

"Undoing the Profound Ice Technique," Jin Buhuan explained. "The Profound Ice Technique takes a great deal of time and energy to cast, and even more to undo. They have to cast continuously for twenty-four hours. The slightest mistake could leave him unable to wake up."

Lin Qingyang frowned, worry surfacing in his eyes. After all this trouble, he still did not know whether they could truly save Shi Ruobai.

Jin Buhuan glanced at Lin Qingyang and said, "To be honest, when you said you were going to find the Snake Demon, I didn't think you genuinely wanted to save the sect leader. All these years, I've always thought you hated him."

Although Jin Buhuan looked young, that was only his appearance. He had actually joined the sect before both Lin Qingyang and Shi Ruobai, so he knew all about their contest for the position of sect leader back then.

Lin Qingyang looked at Shi Ruobai, who was still unconscious, emotions that did not belong to him surging in his chest. In a barely audible voice, he murmured, "How could he hate him?"

In fact, while unconscious, he had already recalled all the original owner's memories and understood those strange things about him that had made no sense.