Ch. 11.1 Something Warm and Soft

Lin Jiu brought the teacup straight to Qin Yun Xi’s mouth and raised her hand to pour it in!

“Stop!” Liu Qing Yin cried. Her immortal figure floated and she launched an attack straight at Lin Jiu.

Mu Rong Chun promptly made his move and blocked the teacup in Lin Jiu’s hand while stopping Liu Qing Yin from striking Lin Jiu’s back.

“No!” Mu Rong Chun shouted. “Calm down! All of you, calm down! Just words alone are not proof. If you want to know if there’s anything wrong with the tea, just give it to the Hundred Medicine Peak and you will soon get the results.”

As soon as she heard that, Lin Jiu felt an even greater urge to sneer.

Get the results so easily? Then Liu Qing Yin’s move to test the medicine with her own body in the original story was even more difficult to explain.

“That’s right,” Lin Jiu said. “We all know that words alone cannot be taken as proof, so we can see what is true by visiting the Hundred Medicine Peak. Why does the eldest disciple of the Ten Thousand Sword Retreat Sect, our Great Sword Immortal Qin Yun Xi, have the authority to assert that there is this Passion Lure or whatever inside? Do you just say whatever you want as a man? Or…is there some sort of unspeakable relationship between you and this Xiong Yu Lian? Are the two of you working together to smear my reputation?!”

Lin Jiu felt something tighten around her wrist.

It was Qin Yun Xi who took the cup from her hands, lowered his head, held the edge of the cup, and downed the tea.

He slowly raised his head and looked still at Lin Jiu. “If there is Passion Lure in this cup of tea…then nobody will be able to save you,” he said, a trace of hoarseness in his voice.

Lin Jiu smiled in silence while she returned to her seat.

After a short while, Liu Qing Yin turned towards the maid. “Yu Lian, do you swear that everything you said just now was fact? Hm?” There was a hint of pressure in her voice.

The maid quickly kneeled in front of the stone seat. “This disciple dares guarantee it with her life!”

She looked up resentfully at Lin Jiu. She figured that she was the only one who could only deny it. When the drug took effect, neither of them would care whether this was true or not.

Time gradually passed.

The crease between Qin Yun Xi’s brows became deeper and deeper, but his face was still pale as usual. It didn’t look like he had taken even the slightest drop of aphrodisiac at all.

“That’s impossible! How could it be…” Xiong Yu Lian murmured. She couldn’t remain still anymore, and she began to rub her hands nervously.

Just as sweat began to appear on Xiong Yu Lian’s forehead, Qin Yun Xi’s face suddenly changed! His pale face turned red in an instant, and his eyebrows tightly knit into a frown.

Xiong Yu Lian breathed a great sigh of relief. She clapped her hands in ecstasy and smiled. “It’s here! Master, Master! This disciple did not frame her! This is wonderful! The proof is right there! Quickly send her to the punishment hall. When the Sword Monarch returns, he will have to get rid of her! See how much longer she can remain proud for! Hmph, how could she have had any decency in her as someone who had to get in with fancy tricks? Now she’s revealed her true self!”

Lin Jiu could tell that Xiong Yu Lian was genuinely happy for Liu Qing Yin.

Looking at Liu Qing Yin, Lin Jiu couldn’t help but feel a little envious. It was logical to say that if she had the choice, then she, Lin Jiu, would definitely be willing to be the female lead’s bosom friend. Even if she just hung on to her thigh it would be fine.

If you can run with the winds, why go against it?

Lin Jiu watched Qin Yun Xi’s performance quietly.

If this half-paralyzed patient was really capable of performing the symptoms that comes from an aphrodisiac, then she, Lin Jiu, will surely carve and erect a golden statuette of this man before she is sent back to Dong Ting.

Then, they all watched as Qin Yun Xi’s face turned more and more twisted as if he had just eaten something bitter. It was as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t.

His handsome face was red as a cooked prawn.

“Enough!” Liu Qing Yin cried, and she rushed forward and patted Qin Yun Xi’s back gently. “Yu Lian, hurry over to the Hundred Medicine Peak and ask a healer to come see him!”

Qin Yun Xi struggled to raise his palm. “No…don’t…”

Lin Jiu sneered. “Oh? Hire a healer? Why? Are you trying to say that this drug has a definite need for a man and a woman to come together in a quiet room with their clothes off to dispel it?”

Isn’t that how that dog couple dealt with it in the book!

When she heard this, Liu Qing Yin’s fair cheeks instantly turned red. “You! You…how could you have such a vulgar mouth…”

“Huh?” Lin Jiu raised a brow. “It’s not like I was trying to go in that direction. I’m talking about channeling the evacuation of the medicinal properties with internal force. The lustful easily catches onto lust. What have you been thinking?”

Liu Qing Yin’s eyes were red with anger that she could hardly muster a word through it.

Qin Yun Xi, however, looked bewildered. His eyes widened and he glared at Lin Jiu as if he had discovered something remarkable.

In the next instant, a long string of fart sounds rang out in the cave that was filled with immortal energy.

“Puff—P-p-p-p—Prrrr—Pop!”

Qin Yun Xi’s reddened cheeks instantly returned to a pale white.

Liu Qing Yin: “…”

Xiong Yu Lian: “…”

Mu Rong Chun: “…”

Lin Jiu: “…??!!”

What the hell? Did Wei Liang store some croton seeds (TN: medicinal herb used to treat constipation) in that bottle or something? Even if he did, it shouldn’t be this powerful, right?

So Qin Yun Xi wasn’t acting just now, but holding in his fart?

Qin Yun Xi tossed the cup to the floor and sighed. “It’s just ordinary gorse. (TN: used to treat diarrhea and stones) It’s an extremely small amount, and…harmless to the body.”

Liu Qing Yin’s eyes turned red with anger and she whirled towards Lin Jiu. “You put gorse into my tea? Were you trying to make me embarrass myself in front of people?!”

Lin Jiu sneered. “He farted because his body couldn’t hold it in. What, you, a Great Sword Immortal brimming with full energy is going to fart like him too?”

She had deliberately enunciated the word “fart” when she spoke.

“You!” Liu Qing Yin was breathing hard.

The Red Lotus’ third petal opened up completely in Lin Jiu’s consciousness.

Warm currents surged from her consciousness to her limbs. Lin Jiu took two steps back and guided the vast pool of spiritual energy through her meridians using the method taught to her by Wei Liang.

Liu Qing Yin’s eyes widened. “You’re secretly practicing demonic cultivation?!” She became acutely aware of an additional inexplicably powerful force in Lin Jiu’s body. Without thinking, she flew forward and restrained Lin Jiu’s acupuncture point.

Lin Jiu raised her eyes and smiled strangely at Liu Qing Yin. “What, can’t stand the sight of me? Already starting to pin all sorts of things on me?” Lin Jiu taunted.

Without waiting for Liu Qing Yin to speak, Lin Jiu shoved her hand away and rushed to Mu Rong Chun. “I would please request Great Sword Immortal Mu Rong to watch over me. I was hit with inspiration and wish to run the technique that Wei Liang taught me again.”

In fact, Liu Qing Yin noticed that there wasn’t even a trace of disorder in Lin Jiu’s body, nor any signs of demonization. What Lin Jiu was using was indeed the most standard Ten Thousand Sword Retreat Technique.

When Mu Rong Chun saw how things had turned out, he began to look a little awkward as well. He scratched his nose and tried to mediate the situation. “Junior Sister Liu is only worried about you going down the wrong path, please do not blame her for it. Circulate your cultivation. Naturally, Junior Sister and I will help you.”

Under the watchful eyes of the two, Lin Jiu slowly fed this spiritual energy back to the Red Lotus, leaving a small portion behind to raise her cultivation to the Middle Foundation Establishment stage.

Mu Rong Chun was full of sympathy. “Good, good. You should have advanced today at the gates, but now is not too late either.” He really has never seen someone with aptitude so poor that their spiritual energy is funneled!

Lin Jiu slowly steadied her cultivation and touched the three solidified lotus petals in her consciousness contentedly, a smile appearing at her lips.

“Now, let’s settle the score,” Lin Jiu said, looking towards Xiong Yu Lian. “Didn’t you say that I asked you for the aphrodisiac?”

Xiong Yu Lian’s face paled. “Who…who knew you would try to frame me by switching it to gorse?”

Lin Jiu stepped forward. “So you’re trying to say that I asked you for aphrodisiac, deliberately changed it to gorse, put it in your master Liu Qing Yin’s tea, and was caught on purpose…to frame you? What are you trying to say? Do I know you? Why would I go so far to frame you?”

Xiong Yu Lian was stuttering. “A…Anyway you just…couldn’t stand to see my Master and the Sword Monarch so close with each other, so you wanted to harm Master and bring Master and Fourth Senior Master together…”

“Huh?” Lin Jiu raised her brows. “That wasn’t what you said just now! Didn’t you say that the drug was for the Sword Monarch? And now you’re so sure that I want to use it to harm your master and senior master. Why did you get the drug for me then? Am I the one who’s trying to harm someone or you?”

Mu Rong Chun, who was standing at the side gradually, turned pale.

Liu Qing Yin’s face had turned even worse.

When things came to this, the truth was clear. It was obvious that Xiong Yu Lian was trying to lead Lin Jiu into doing something wrong, but Lin Jiu realized it and turned it against her.

Liu Qing Yin bit her cherry lips hard and saluted. “My apologies, today’s incident was my fault for being too lax on my disciples! I will punish her well and also reflect on myself. When Master returns, I will definitely inform him of the matter and allow him to punish her.”

After saying this much, if Lin Jiu didn’t let it go, then she would be too unforgiving.

Lin Jiu put on a satisfied appearance, but she kept her gaze on the treacherous maid from the corner of her eye.

Something’s wrong, something’s too wrong!

If one were to follow the usual trope of a fantasy novel, then Qin Yun Xi’s situation would happen either in a transmigration situation or a rebirth one. But something just felt really off…

Lin Jiu secretly eyed Qin Yun Xi, but she waved her hand indifferently towards Liu Qing Yin. “Forget it. I know many people want to seek justice for you and think that you and Wei Liang make the better pair. Actually, I think so too. Please persuade him well later. If he could let me go, then that would be the best.”

Liu Qing Yin sucked in a breath of cold air and said through gritted teeth, “You’re thinking too much. I bear no such thoughts for the Sword Monarch!”

But that just sounded completely hypocritical to Lin Jiu.

Lin Jiu only waved her hand with a faint smile. “No need to say these things to me. I don’t have any appetite left today. When Wei Liang returns, I will invite you over for a drink.”

She gave Qin Yun Xi an uncaring glance, then left Liu Qing Yun’s abode.

Qin Yun Xi’s gaze had been following Liu Qing Yin the whole time, his eyes swirling with complicated emotions.

***

Lin Jiu returned to the main peak and fell flat on the wedding bed. She played with the small white bottle Xiong Yu Lian brought her in her hands, silently thinking to herself.

As a qualified social animal, she had seen many people like Liu Qing Yin.

A senior once told her that you couldn’t tell a person’s character in favorable times. Liu Qing Yin was a very capable person that caught the eyes of the masses. Even though her relationship with Wei Liang was a little angsty, it was bittersweet. But whenever Wei Liang resolutely rejects her, capable men always appear around her, causing Wei Liang to get jealous and get closer and closer to understanding his feelings.

In such a situation, any normal person would choose to be a good person.

Liu Qing Yin was like a pure flawless lotus flower. Naturally, there was no need for Liu Qing Yin to walk the crooked path.

But after Lin Jiu came, everything changed. She had a bad heart and kept on creating obstacles for the male and female leads. Lin Jiu was cool, calm, and also took the lead. There was nowhere for the dark shadows of Liu Qing Yin’s heart to hide in front of a clear mirror.

But what use was that? Everyone trusted Liu Qing Yin and showered her with favor at every opportunity. If Lin Jiu went head-to-head with Liu Qing Yin, Lin Jiu would be like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Lin Jiu sighed to herself. “Don’t think about it anymore. Just try to get as much as you can off of Wei Liang before getting out of here!”

As soon as she said that, she felt a chill run down her spine.

She had no idea when Wei Liang returned to the room, but he was looking straight at her.

Lin Jiu was stunned.

“You…you weren’t you supposed to be back a couple days later?” She awkwardly realized that she was still holding that small jade bottle in her hands.

Indifferent, Wei Liang took the bottle from her hands, opened the bottle, and looked into it.

Lin Jiu didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly. Her brain was buzzing as if there was a huge swarm of bees inside of it.

Finally, Wei Liang’s eyes moved. He stared at her meaningfully. “Even if you want to get ‘something’ out of me, you don’t need to use this.”

“…”

No, that’s not it! Don’t talk nonsense!

He leaned down and circled his arms around Lin Jiu on the bed. “Do you want it now?”

Lin Jiu felt like she was the unluckiest person in this world.

She frowned. “Wait, it’s not too late to listen to my part of the story before punishing me!” she cried pitifully.

Wei Liang stared into her eyes. Their bodies were very close and with a slight tilt of his head, their lips came very close together. She could feel his breath along with a faint cool fragrance brush past her cheek.

“Say it.” When his lips moved, it touched hers lightly.