Liusu’s distress didn’t last very long.
A guard knocked on the door, saying, “Mr. Qin, someone from the court is here to take you to the palace.”
Those words startled the kissing couple, and they realized that the king was bound to summon Qin Yi again.
Pushing Qin Yi away, Li Qingjun panted a little. After slowly returning to normal, she whispered, “You’ve kissed me, and you can’t pretend nothing has happened… Try to impress my father… I’ll go pack my stuff. If he insists on marrying me to Mang Zhan, we’ll elope right away.”
Those words melted Qin Yi’s heart, and he replied in a low voice, “I’ll do my best. At least, I’ll make sure he can’t make a decision so easily.”
Li Qingjun nodded solemnly. “Sure. I have faith in you.”
Qin Yi went to fetch the spiked club before marching out of the yard.
He was greeted by the same eunuch from yesterday, who frowned at him. “Why are you bringing a weapon into court?”
Qin Yi thought, “What else am I supposed to bring? You?” However, he only said, “This is a cultivation apparatus, not a weapon. I’ll explain this to His Majesty myself.”
The eunuch shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t let you enter the palace. You have to leave the weapon behind.”
Qin Yi slipped him a teal of silver and whispered in his ear. “With you leading the way, how can I be kept out of the palace? Just say I have special permission from His Majesty…”
After some hesitation, the eunuch gave in. He turned around and led Qin Yi toward the palace with a smile. “His Majesty has summoned you two days in a row. Mr. Qin, you’ve gained quite a lot of favor already.”
Qin Yi heaved a sigh.
It wasn’t him who had gained the favor but his medicine.
Nor did the king care about his own daughter. All he could think about was his cultivation.
He was such a selfish old b*stard…
His daughter’s marriage was only being used to maintain a balance between keeping a cultivator on his roster and appeasing a restless, unfriendly neighboring kingdom, and he would give her to whichever side he felt was more important. If Li Qingjun hadn’t made that immortal-seeking trip with her brother and brought Qin Yi back, she would have doubtlessly been married off to Mang Zhan.
One couldn’t get what was denied them by destiny, no matter how hard they tried.
Qin Yi was still lost in his thoughts when they walked into a narrow alley where stalls were set up along the wall—some selling vegetables and some offering steaming soft beancurd. Upon spotting them, Qin Yi realized he hadn’t had any breakfast. He wondered if the eunuch would flare up if he said he would like to have some breakfast first.
After glancing at the soft beancurd stall, Qin Yi’s stomach lurched, and he halted.
The eunuch turned around and looked surprised. “What’s wrong?”
Qin Yi asked, “This isn’t the only way leading to the palace, is it?”
“Of course not, but this is the quickest.” The eunuch was bewildered. “Didn’t we use this same route yesterday?”
Qin Yi began to slowly back away. “The soft bean curd vendor is different from yesterday.”
The eunuch rolled his eyes. “You can remember what a street vendor looked like from yesterday?”
Of course Qin Yi couldn’t remember the man’s face from yesterday.
But he would be able to recognize the vendor today, even if the man had been burned to ash.
Because he was one of the two people who had killed the original owner of this body. Although the spiked club had digested the memory of the old Qin Yi, his dying resentment had stayed behind. That teenager hated the master teacher to guts, not to mention his real murderers.
Instinct almost drove Qin Yi to rush out and bash the man’s head in, but he knew better than to act recklessly. If that man was here, all the other vendors had to be Donghuazi’s men as well!
After walking back a few more steps, Qin Yi spun around and started running.
Everyone in the alley was surprised before a commotion started. All the stalls were overturned, and the “street vendors” drew out their weapons as they yelled and ran after Qin Yi. Some men even appeared on top of the wall and started shooting arrows at Qin Yi from behind.
But they were all too late.
Poor eunuch. He didn’t realize what was going on when a vendor shoved him into the wall, knocking him down.
Two sabers struck down at Qin Yi from the front as well. They were there to corner him but were forced to strike out first.
They used machetes, indicating that they were Mang Zhan’s men.
Qin Yi smirked.
Things would’ve been complicated if they had surrounded him, but when facing only two enemies, he would soon show them that he was much more than an alchemist.
“Thump!”
The spiked club whooshed down at one of the men. Qin Yi didn’t use any fancy movements, but all his strikes were ferocious and direct. The saber couldn’t withstand such force, and the blade was smashed into pieces along with the man’s head.
A momentary hush fell over the alley.
Although they had seen Qin Yi walking around with his spiked club which he had used to parry Mang Zhan’s pike and General Liu’s saber, he had never demonstrated his true power. He simply looked too delicate and pretty to use a spiked club.
That delicate teenager had just smashed a man’s head into a pulp, and the contrast was simply astonishing.
The other man facing Qin Yi didn’t have time to be surprised. When Qin Yi struck down at his buddy, he aimed the tip of his saber at Qin Yi’s ribs as well.
Qin Yi nimbly dodged the blade, and without any pause, he struck down with the spiked club again.
There was another thump, and even the onlookers in the distance shuddered. Just imagine how it felt to have a spiked club landing on the back of one’s head…
The teenager wasn’t just an alchemist, and the spiked club wasn’t just for show. He was actually a skillful warrior who had a lot of internal energy and a lot of strength!
And he fought like a real killer!
That was why Mang Zhan was very serious when he insisted on setting up a trap in a narrow alley where they could surround Qin Yi. He had realized from the impact of Qin Yi’s spiked club stopping his pike that the teenager was a lot more capable than he appeared to be!
It might’ve sounded like a lot of work, but only a split second had passed since Qin Yi swiftly took out the two men. The men in the alley had only just arrived at the entrance, and from the outside, the ally seemed packed. Numerous armed men were still rushing towards Qin Yi from outside the valley.
Turning around and looking at the entrance to the valley, Qin Yi smiled and made a few hand seals.
“Speed!”
As if an invisible fluctuation had spread out from Qin Yi, the men closest to him suddenly felt as if their legs were made of lead, making it almost impossible for them to walk. With their halt, those behind them bumped into them and they all fell to the ground.
That was one of the most basic cultivation techniques: slowing down.
All those crash courses in cultivation theories had paid off. He couldn’t use them when he didn’t have any spiritual essence, but now, he did…
Qin Yi leaned to one side to dodge an incoming sword. He then dragged a man with his left hand, making him stumble. The man turned around in terror to find Qin Yi grinning at him.
“Thump!”
The onlookers in the distance shuddered again.
Qin Yi laughed wholeheartedly. “See you around, guys! Say hello to the master teacher and my barbarian rival in love for me!”
As he spoke, he dashed off into the crowd and was soon out of sight.
…
While Qin Yi left with the eunuch, Li Qinglin came to find Li Qingjun, who was about to leave.
“Um, hi, Brother.” Li Qingjun was still blushing from the kiss earlier and she felt even more abashed when her brother showed up.
Li Qinglin chuckled when he saw her demeanor. After all these years, it was very hard for him to picture his strong, rash sister blushing all the time. However, he had been seeing that a lot lately, and his sister seemed to have become a new person.
“Qingjun, you shouldn’t go back to your own place these days,” Li Qinglin asked casually. “With Qin Yi living here, it’s too much trouble for you to run back and forth. Just stay here and keep your sister-in-law company.”
Li Qingjun feigned a vexed tone. “Why should I stay here? Are you really going to let Qin Yi drug me?”
Li Qinglin winked at her. “Does he have to? He’s already put a charm on you just by standing there.”
Li Qingjun stomped her foot. “I’m done talking to you.”
“Wait.” Li Qinglin stopped his sister, and the look on his face turned serious. “It won’t be safe for you to stay at your own residence. Someone may become reckless in desperation. Qin Yi’s drug won’t be an issue. If Mang Zhan gets to you, all will be lost.”
Li Qingjun was surprised, and she started to look serious as well.
Li Qinglin checked the position of the sun and said, “I’m off. Take this.”
Li Qingjun was surprised to see the jade pendant in his hand. “That’s your protective jade pendant. Why are you giving it to me?”
Li Qinglin smiled. “If Donghuazi wants to kill me, he should’ve taken this into consideration already, and it won’t protect me as well as before. But no one will expect you to wear it, and that’s going to work wonders.”
Li Qingjun stared at him in bewilderment.
Li Qinglin said casually, “If I lose, Nanli will at least still have you.”