Unexpectedly, the moment Jiang Moqing arrived at the destination, she was met with her first dilemma.
That was how to quietly relieve her pent-up desire without Lin Que noticing.
The answer was… very difficult.
After all, a cave was nothing like the inn from the past two days, where walls had separated them.
Even if Lin Que was keeping watch outside the cave, what if he suddenly turned around?
Cultivators have extremely sharp eyesight and can see clearly even in the dark. Especially a sword cultivator like Lin Que. Probably no detail could escape his notice.
Just thinking about it was… strangely thrilling?
As that thought rose along with her swelling desire, Jiang Moqing’s breathing grew heavier.
Difficult didn’t mean impossible. As long as she kept her movements smaller and suppressed her voice, there would always be a way.
“Then I’ll trouble you, Junior Brother. If you need to switch in the second half of the night, I can take over the watch.”
There was clearly more meaning behind Jiang Moqing’s words than appeared on the surface.
After all, if Lin Que really did decide to change shifts in the latter half of the night, he would just happen to catch her in the middle of…
A faint blush suddenly bloomed across Jiang Moqing’s flawless, snow-white face, though under the glow of the firelight, it wasn’t very noticeable.
We’re entering Evil Dragon Pool tomorrow to slay the flood dragon, and yet tonight I…
She reproached herself in her heart but had no intention of changing her mind.
After completing the once-a-day healing session, Jiang Moqing took the sleeping bag Lin Que had given her and turned to enter the cave.
Meanwhile, Lin Que sat in front of the campfire, took out the second fragment the Little Demon had given him, and began reading it carefully.
This second fragment covered the meridians and acupoints of both hands, which was of great help to Lin Que.
As for the section about reconnecting severed meridians, Lin Que had already studied and understood it. If one wished to fully recover from completely shattered meridians, there were two prerequisites.
First, the person performing the technique had to be at least at the Soul Formation stage or above. Second, it required dragon heart and phoenix marrow.
Simply put, it was something impossible to achieve at his current stage. After all, the highest-cultivated person he knew and could trust with the technique was his master, An Xiaoyao, who was at the Soul Formation stage. Yet the minimum requirement for the technique was a realm even higher than Soul Formation.
So the very first condition alone could not be met.
Yet even in what seemed like a hopeless situation, there was still a glimmer of hope.
That hope was Jiang Moqing’s technique that could heal the meridians in his arm. The method she provided couldn’t completely cure fully shattered meridians, but it could reconnect part of them.
In other words, it could pull Lin Que’s right hand back from the state of total meridian severance, eliminating the need for those two harsh conditions.
“Senior Sister really helped me a great deal this time. I must find an opportunity to repay such kindness,” Lin Que said with a faint smile as he looked at the fragment.
Just as he was about to turn and glance toward Jiang Moqing inside the cave to reflect on it, a familiar voice suddenly sounded by his ear.
“If you want to repay her, isn’t that easy? Just go into the cave right now and push her down. That’ll settle every debt.”
The Little Demon appeared on Lin Que’s shoulder at some point, picking up the conversation. She was chewing on something, yet it didn’t affect her speech at all.
“Oh my, this is just too fun. Human desire really is the tastiest…sweet and sour at the same time~”
Lin Que directly ignored that part of her comment. He turned to look at her, blinked, and then transmitted his voice privately, saying, “Come to think of it, have you gained weight lately? My shoulder feels a bit heavy.”
The Little Demon, who had been smiling moments ago, instantly stopped smiling. Then, without any warning, she exploded in fury. “How rude! I have not gained weight! You blind idiot, you don’t understand anything!”
“Alright, alright.”
Lin Que chuckled. “So what brings you out this time?”
“What, I can’t show myself unless I have a reason? Besides, maybe I missed you. Maybe I missed you so much I couldn’t stand it, so I had to come out and see you~”
The Little Demon blinked mischievously. It was obvious she wasn’t being sincere.
Lin Que didn’t expose her. Instead, he played along. “Since you’re already here, why not stay and chat for a bit before you leave?”
“You’re trying to get information out of me about Evil Dragon Pool, aren’t you?” The Little Demon wasn’t foolish. She saw right through his intention at a glance.
“Hey, it’s just chatting. Talking about this and that is perfectly normal.” Lin Que shrugged.
“You’ve really become quite slick-tongued now. I preferred the old you…cold and wooden,” the Little Demon snorted.
“People grow. Don’t they?” Lin Que didn’t seem to mind.
Back then, he had devoted himself entirely to the sword, barely socialized, and had no interest in dealing with those who tried to curry favor with him. As a result, despite being the foremost prodigy of the Eastern Region, he had virtually no network or connections.
So when his cultivation was crippled later on, he had no one to rely on. He was schemed against repeatedly by the well-backed heirs of powerful clans. Even Jiang Moqing was dragged into it and confined for a month.
Lin Que had learned his lesson.
From that period onward, he gradually came to understand that the martial world wasn’t just about fighting and killing….it was also about relationships and social maneuvering.
That was why, after signing a contract with the Little Demon, he officially began making use of his status as the region’s top genius to build connections and establish a network.
However… in recent years, he had barely contacted that old network. He wasn’t sure whether it would still be useful. But presumably it wouldn’t be a problem. His cultivation was still intact, and with his status, reconnecting with former allies shouldn’t be difficult.
“That’s true.”
Looking at the faint smile on Lin Que’s face, the Little Demon nodded. “It’s just a pity. Once people get smarter, they’re no fun to bully anymore. So boring~”
When she had first met Lin Que, she could take advantage of his stiff and quiet personality to tease and mess with him from time to time. But a few years had passed, and this guy had grown shrewd….often even turning the tables on her. For someone who lived for amusement, that really wasn’t pleasant.
“Forget it. You already skimmed through most of that file before setting out anyway. I’ll just tell you something interesting. Evil Dragon Pool isn’t dangerous just because of that single flood dragon.”
The Little Demon spoke with a knowing smile.
After saying that, she disappeared. She was clearly intending to play the riddler.
Lin Que didn’t mind. He put away the fragment and recalled the contents of the file he had obtained from Ao Xinyu.
In the early years, the flood dragon of Evil Dragon Pool had entrenched itself there, wreaking havoc across the region. Its arrogance back then was far greater than it was now, and many towns and villages outside the pool were slaughtered to the last.
Because of this, the evil flood dragon once provoked a large-scale joint suppression.
According to the records, three mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators and more than a dozen Core Formation cultivators took part in the campaign. There was even a peak Nascent Soul expert, on the verge of breaking through to the Spirit Transformation stage, overseeing the operation.
However,
The outcome of that suppression was devastating. The peak Nascent Soul powerhouse fell, leaving no remains behind. All the Core Formation cultivators were wiped out. Of the three mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, two died.
The sole survivor, though fortunate enough to escape with his life, suffered a shattered Dao heart and lost his sanity, making it impossible to learn what had truly happened.
For a time, the evil flood dragon’s reputation soared. Yet after that incident, it became far more restrained, no longer appearing outside the territory of Evil Dragon Pool.
Some speculated that it had suffered serious injuries during that suppression, which was why it had reined in its claws and fangs. They argued that this was the perfect chance to wipe it out in one decisive push.
However, with the disastrous outcome of the previous campaign still fresh in everyone’s minds, the matter was delayed again and again, and in the end, it was simply dropped.
The explanation given was that the evil flood dragon had presumably learned its lesson and no longer dared to leave Evil Dragon Pool to cause trouble. If it ever did step out again, it would surely be slain.
In any case, that evil flood dragon has never again left Evil Dragon Pool to wreak havoc as it once did, and no towns or villages of mortals have since settled in the surrounding area.
Originally, Lin Que felt that it was enough to have a general understanding of Evil Dragon Pool through the records, and that the rest could be left to the sword in his hand. But the Little Demon’s riddle-like remarks stirred a trace of curiosity within him.
“What exactly happened during that first suppression back then?”
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