On the day Qin Yi recovered, Cheng Huang appeared once again.
"The lemon essence you recommended to Ye Ling, I've never heard of it even after growing up in the Demon City. What is it? Is it tasty?"
Qin Yi felt quite regretful. "It's a kind of sour fruit... but if you don't have it, never mind."
"It sounds delicious. I'll find a way to bring a plant from the human world next time."
"The human world might not even have it. I was just talking nonsense... By the way, Your Majesty, shouldn't you be fasting by now? Why are you so interested in food?"
"I heard that eunuchs can also find women, so why can't I eat something while fasting?"
"… Okay, you have a point." Qin Yi said, "I really admire you, Your Majesty. Preparing for such a big event in the Sacred Land, facing strong enemies outside and spies within, yet you still have the time to worry about what I recommended to Ye Ling. And you’re even thinking about eating lemons."
"Heh..." Cheng Huang laughed casually. "Life as a demon is already so hard. If you keep frowning all day, aren’t you just making it harder for yourself? You, with all your worries, getting anxious over a Frostfruit, it’s like you want to die sooner than I do."
Qin Yi rubbed his forehead, feeling too embarrassed to argue.
Cheng Huang looked him up and down and smiled sweetly.
Qin Yi instinctively took a step back. "What’s wrong?"
"You can't go out wearing that nightgown, can you?" Cheng Huang pulled out a set of blue robes from her ring. "Here, I saw you wearing this color before. Try it on."
Qin Yi took the clothes. Although they were still simple blue robes without any fancy designs, he could feel the quality of the fabric was completely different from what he had worn before. He wasn't an expert, so he couldn't quite explain why.
After changing behind the screen, he found there was also a pendant at his waist. When he tied it lightly, the sound of bells added a touch of elegance to his reflection in the mirror, giving him a bit of the refined look of the ancient handsome scholars he had seen in illustrations before.
The ready-made clothes he bought at the Eagle Li residence always had some fitting issues, but this set felt like it was tailored just for him, fitting perfectly and incredibly comfortable.
A voice from his sea of consciousness said, "This outfit is a magical robe, providing good protection against the five elements and some defense against swords... That jade pendant helps with your mana recovery and circulation; it can be considered a magical tool... If you had worn these to the Frostfruit Cave, it would have been much easier."
A magical robe and a magical tool. They might not be the highest quality, but Qin Yi knew they were still very valuable. Just thinking back to his time in the Southern Li Kingdom made it clear; even the king didn’t have things like this, and Dong Huazi had scavenged for so long, only finding items that barely qualified as magical tools.
He wondered where Li Qinglin got that jade pendant... It probably has its own story.
But why was this precious "magical robe" such a perfect fit for him?
With a strange expression, Qin Yi stepped out from behind the screen and said, "This is too valuable; I’m afraid I can’t accept it."
Cheng Huang looked at him with bright, watery eyes, not taking her gaze off him, and chuckled, "I used to think the saying about people on the road being like jade was an exaggeration. But seeing you now, it seems to have some truth."
Even Qin Yi, who was thick-skinned, didn’t know how to respond to such words, standing there for a while without saying anything.
Cheng Huang's gaze shifted, and she smiled, "Since you are going to fight for me, this is the equipment my soldiers should have. What’s there to be afraid of?"
Qin Yi couldn’t help but ask, "Did the king have someone specially make this for me?"
Cheng Huang smiled slightly. "I provided the materials, and it was personally woven by the Cheng family of the Embroidery Workshop."
Cheng Cheng did it? Right, she mentioned she was into embroidery and weaving.
Cheng Huang didn’t talk much after that; her smile faded a bit as she said, "It's about time. Come with me."
Following her out, Qin Yi noticed she wasn’t wearing her usual long skirt today but a set of snow-white fitted clothes, which highlighted her curves even more. Gold rings held her sleeves and pants, and she was barefoot beneath them.
...
The so-called Kunpeng Purple Palace was actually the back mountain of the royal palace.
There was a cave halfway up the mountain, surrounded by countless monsters, their malevolent energy rising to the sky. When they saw Cheng Huang bringing Qin Yi, many eyes with different meanings fell on him before quickly bowing and saying, "Greetings, Your Majesty."
Cheng Huang nodded coldly and led Qin Yi into the cave.
Once inside, it opened up to a vast space filled with various traces of formations, all currently "temporarily shut down."
Ye Ling was already waiting inside and was quite happy to see Qin Yi. She waved, "Brother, over here!"
Qin Yi felt a bit happy too. Collaborating with those monsters outside would probably not go smoothly, as they wouldn’t necessarily listen to his commands. Having Ye Ling around made things much better.
Cheng Huang continued, "The mountain guards, you don’t need to worry about them. No matter how the battle goes below, just hold this last line of defense. Don’t leave your post. Ye Ling is here to help you; her strength is quite notable in the Demon City, and you two siblings work well together."
Qin Yi nodded, looking around at the formations, feeling a bit speechless. "Your Majesty, you really think highly of me. These formations are ever-changing; do you really think I can control them?"
"Even if you don’t control them at all and just activate the formations to let them work on their own, that would be enough to fend off enemies. I just want a reliable person to hold the center of the formations, someone who can adapt. For example, if there’s a traitor who knows how to shut down the formations, you can change the focal point, adjust the positions, and turn life into death. For someone who understands formations, that’s a simple task."
Liu Su in his sea of consciousness said, "It really isn’t difficult, and it’s not a dangerous task. But I feel it’s not that simple… never mind."
It also knew that at this point, there was no turning back. When you rely on others, it’s like that unless you completely give up.
As they spoke, Cheng Huang kept walking, having crossed the large hall. After passing through a stone door, they entered a long passage with a huge golden door at the end.
Qin Yi and Ye Ling followed her in. There were six slots on each side of the passage, and the golden door in front had reliefs carved with all sorts of strange beasts, including dragons and phoenixes. Qin Yi quickly spotted Cheng Huang and a Teng snake among them.
Ye Ling stared intently at the Teng snake.
Qin Yi also paid special attention to that Teng snake and thought… never mind, it looks so fierce, at least Ye Ling isn’t like that.
But no matter how they looked, those fearsome beasts seemed to glare at them, and the overwhelming malevolent energy made it hard to breathe.
This was not just a carving.
"This is not a carving; these are the natural totems formed from the bones of the former saints," Cheng Huang said with a hint of longing. "I really don’t know when I can reach a level like the former saints, where even their bones can manifest the world."
Qin Yi nodded slightly.
The Kunpeng bones could indeed be considered as manifesting the world. Within the Demon City, there were all kinds of terrains and special places. You could think of them as creations of the heavens. To the residents of the Demon City, that Kunpeng was like a deity. Don’t be fooled by it being just a "small world"; it was merely bones. Who knows what heights it could reach in its prime?
Though Liu Su had slain the Kunpeng, it probably wouldn’t surpass it in terms of realm. So when Liu Su spoke at the city gate, there was no disdain in its tone of a "defeated foe." Instead, it felt more like it had "lost," clearly showing respect for this opponent.
At that moment, Liu Su was also silent, seemingly reminiscing.
Cheng Huang waved her delicate hand, and twelve white bone tokens, each engraved with different zodiac shapes, neatly scattered and floated around her, then accurately settled into the corresponding slots on either side, slowly descending.
As the twelve bone tokens inserted into the slots, a brilliant light burst forth, the bones turning to powder, and twelve drops of blood began to spin above the holes, gradually turning the entire passage into a sea of blood. The myriad strange beasts on the golden door seemed to come alive, roaring up to the sky in the blood sea.
In the center of the blood sea, Cheng Huang’s long hair flew up on its own, and her voice turned cold and serious, no longer the usual flirtatious tone: "This door is now open; you all retreat outside the formation. If no one invades the formation, it’s fine. But if anyone approaches, kill without mercy!"
In fact, she didn’t even need to say it. Both Qin Yi and Ye Ling felt they could hardly stand. The malevolent energy in this blood sea wasn’t just strong; it was too ferocious, making both of them feel extremely uncomfortable. Even after exiting the blood sea corridor and reaching the outer hall, they were still sweating coldly.
"Monsters washed out by such malevolent energy… no wonder Ming He said such things back then..."
Ye Ling looked worried. "If Master goes in there, won’t she come out fierce too?"
"I don’t know, and…" Qin Yi paused and said quietly, "She wasn’t exactly kind to begin with."
Ye Ling’s eyes widened. "Why do you say that about Master?"
"I don’t know, just a feeling… this mission is too strange." Qin Yi muttered softly, "Even without mentioning anything else, at least this outer defense line… in her eyes, it doesn’t seem to matter."
Ye Ling stared blankly through the cave, looking at the dense guards from the mountain down to the middle of the mountain, knowing her brother was right.
The only value of these monsters was to use their lives to delay the enemy.
Liu Su felt it was only natural: "This is the emperor. The one who flirts with you all day is the truly inexplicable one."
(End of Chapter)