Chapter 66 : Fever
The sky grew darker.
Outside, the battle between the devil clan and Great Xia warriors had reached white heat, with thunderous roars constantly audible.
But inside the room, Jiang He's ears were filled with nothing but white noise—she couldn't hear anything.
Can't bear to let her die...
What did that mean?
She had some suspicions in her heart but didn't dare guess.
Afraid of guessing right.
Also afraid of guessing wrong.
Jiang He tremblingly held the white-haired girl in her arms, looking down to see her pale, bloodless face. In that instant, it was as if lightning struck across the sky. The white-haired girl's pale face before her eyes slowly overlapped with the blurred pretty face of the girl who had stayed behind for her in the Human Gate.
Finally... they merged into one.
"I... I..."
Jiang He's pupils dilated in shock, her lips trembling slightly, unable to speak a complete sentence.
How could it be...?
Her mind turned to mush.
She only remembered to channel all her strength into Water Spirit Healing to treat the girl's injuries.
"Hey! Are you that afraid of me? Don't even have the courage to fight desperately?"
The devil clan member across from her had clearly misunderstood something.
"Forget it, then just die!"
The devil clan member frowned, drew her large blade, gathered blood evil qi, and was about to slash down viciously!
Splash—
The large blade struck against endless water curtains.
Only stirring up a spray of mist.
The blade wrapped in blood evil qi was like slashing into a swamp, sinking in. No matter how much force she applied, there was no reaction.
Her gaze contracted, knowing this absolutely couldn't be a spell an eighth rank could use.
This was...
"Seventh rank?'
The devil clan member spoke in a low voice, the arm gripping the blade handle trembling slightly, almost grinding her teeth to pieces.
Wasn't she still eighth rank just now? In just this brief moment, these few seconds??
Innate destiny trait—was this its power??
No wonder the clan's saint would rather stake a precious divine artifact and send these elites, determined to strangle her in the cradle!
The devil clan member's eyes turned red as she desperately tried to pull out the blade.
But before she could say anything more, with a flash of blue light, the devil clan member's robust figure froze in place, looking down in disbelief at the hole that had been instantly blasted through her heart...
Dragon roars seemed to echo faintly.
Water-element spell [Weeping Dragon Spear]!
With the help of her destiny trait [Tears of the Pearl in the Moonlit Sea], Jiang He had learned this highly destructive spell while at eighth rank, and at seventh rank had elevated its power to another level.
One strike! Just this sneak attack!
Had completely killed a same-rank expert!
The devil clan member's figure crashed to the ground.
However, Jiang He's face showed no trace of joy. She just knelt on the ground, holding the weakly breathing girl in her arms, expression panicked, continuously casting healing spells, trying to pull her back from death's door.
Mu Qinglan really wasn't badly injured.
She was wearing the [Dragon Summoning Hairpin]!
Although this golden defensive item was somewhat struggling to keep up with Mu Qinglan's advancing pace, at least for now, it could still frequently come in handy.
Of course, this didn't prevent her from disguising herself as severely injured.
But the pallor on her face wasn't fake.
She seemed to have caught a cold.
However, what the bad woman was most concerned about now was another matter... When had Jiang He become seventh rank? Wasn't she clearly eighth rank just now?
How did she suddenly level up to seventh rank just by lowering her head and raising it again?
Eighth to seventh rank indeed didn't require passing gates—it just needed to flow naturally. But this flow was perhaps too abundant, like great rivers and streams.
Were all innate destiny trait holders this capable of explosive growth? Mu Qinglan was bewildered.
No, it should be the special nature of her destiny trait.
This was truly...
After briefly sighing in her heart, before she could fully recover, she was gently shaken by the girl holding her, then saw her looking at her face with worry written all over it.
"You're so amazing..."
Mu Qinglan said softly, resting her head on her shoulder.
"I..." Jiang He felt somewhat guilty. "If only I could have broken through earlier..."
"It's fine. Didn't we just meet last month? Now it's already Miss Jiang's turn to protect me..."
Mu Qinglan smiled weakly:
"So fast."
"Don't talk anymore, and don't sleep. When the fighting outside is over, I'll take you out to find an imperial physician. Whatever you do, don't sleep..."
"I'm not seriously injured," Mu Qinglan said quietly, but seeing Jiang He's unwavering gaze, she could only say helplessly: "I'll listen to you. I won't sleep."
Was she afraid she might not wake up again?
Silly child, it wasn't that serious...
Forget it. If this child insisted on doing this, let her. Playing the role of an obedient, wet little dog to trigger her protective instincts wasn't impossible.
Thinking this, Mu Qinglan buried her head deeper into Jiang He's neck, showing a submissive appearance.
"Your head is so hot." Jiang He was somewhat worried.
"I caught a cold."
"Let me cool it for you." Jiang He recalled what the palace maids did, lowered her head, and gently pressed her forehead against the girl's forehead.
A cool sensation came from her forehead—very comfortable.
"...Mm."
No longer resisting.
Mu Qinglan hummed softly, leaning in her embrace, her arms around her waist not loosening.
The two had their foreheads pressed together, nose tips lightly touching.
The girl's warm breath sprayed on Mu Qinglan's cheek, carrying some confusion and some uncertain joy, then her breathing gradually became rapid.
Entangled unclearly.
"Don't move around."
"..."
○
Tu An took a deep breath, his face flushed red, gripping the hammer handle tightly.
After all, he had broken through hastily. Even though he knew that woman of the same rank across from him definitely wasn't his match, right now, he temporarily had no way to deal with her.
He glanced to the side.
The house in Huaiyun Ward remained quiet.
He had made it very clear—if successful, remember to shoot off fireworks to put people at ease.
But that area was still pitch dark.
Three seventh-rank subordinates had gone over, but... until now there were no results.
Tu An really couldn't understand. He indeed had never dealt with innate destiny traits, but no matter how he thought about it, innate destiny traits shouldn't be this hard to kill. These were three seventh ranks—how could they not handle one eighth rank??
This was truly laughable.
If only there could be one more sixth rank, one more...
Tu An gritted his teeth.
Outside the house, two weapons were stuck in the pitch-black shadows, slowly sinking as if inserted into a quagmire.
In just a few seconds, they disappeared without a trace.
Burp~
Ah Qi burped.
Her clear blood-colored eyes blinked twice as she thought to herself that not making noise while quickly dealing with approaching people was really troublesome for a cat. Good thing Ah Qi was capable.
Thinking this, Ah Qi dragged a fish from the shadows, lay on it, and looked curiously toward the house.
Her gaze was full of curiosity.
What were she and mama doing hugging together?
○
Kneeling on the ground, holding someone in her arms, while also exerting force to keep their foreheads pressed together—this series of actions was actually quite tiring.
Even though Jiang He had destiny trait enhancement and was full of spiritual energy, she couldn't help but breathe rapidly.
"Rest for a while. I'm not seriously injured."
"..."
Jiang He said nothing, carefully shifting to a more comfortable position while holding the girl tightly in her arms.
The girl cooperated obediently.
But Mu Qinglan felt this was somewhat uncomfortable, so she straightened up slightly, pressed her chest against the girl's body, wrapped her arms around her neck, turned her head sideways, then gently pressed her forehead against the black-haired girl's slender, pale swan neck.
Waves of tingling sensation spread across Jiang He's body following her breath.
Jiang He gently turned her head.
Clearly not having carried her while running, yet her face was redder than before.
Much redder.
○
In front of Wange Tower.
Bai Yuyu was breathing heavily, with a riddled devil clan corpse before her.
With her own strength, she naturally couldn't easily defeat this devil clan member, but this place was the Hundred Flowers Banquet venue—the court had stationed two squads of Divine Guards to maintain order.
With more people, they could naturally win.
"Have you seen the princess from Prince Qi's family?" Bai Yuyu asked breathlessly.
She had just blocked this devil clan member for Mu Mu, and now that the fight was over, she didn't even know where they had run off to.
The Divine Guards looked at each other.
Seeing these people's unresponsive attitude, Bai Yuyu was disappointed and changed her approach:
"What about the Ninth Imperial Princess?"
"Don't know..."
A squad leader said: "Her Highness disappeared from the beginning. We ordinary soldiers are only ninth rank—how could we find the princess's location?"
"Then why aren't you looking!"
Bai Yuyu scolded.
This small squad of Divine Guards hurriedly ran off to search. Although she was the same rank as the squad leader, her combat power was much stronger, and she was also a descendant of Duke Bai...
Bai Yuyu sat in place, caught her breath for a couple of breaths, planning to wait for her spiritual power to recover a bit before searching personally.
These imperial people were completely unreliable.
"Sigh."
Bai Yuyu sighed, thinking of how Mu Qinglan and that Ninth Imperial Princess had been together, she couldn't help feeling confused.
Had they met before or...
'Mu Mu, please don't be deceived by bad women…'
○
The bad woman was still deceiving.
Because of her slight fever, the white-haired girl's voice had lost its usual slight coldness and crispness, becoming much softer instead.
Making people unconsciously sink into this gentle land.
"Jiang Jiang, cold..."
An extremely low murmur came from inside the room.
○
Crack—
With a crisp cracking sound, the black dome covering all of Huaiyun Ward exploded and shattered.
The black pearl shook twice and vanished into thin air.
A crowd of people rushed in.
Seeing the barrier separating inside and outside disappear, Tu An's face changed drastically. Before he could react, the next instant, a rough large hand gently touched the top of his head.
Then, pressed down.
Bang!!
Internal energy exploded with a sound. Before he could make any movement, his eyes lost their luster and he fell softly.
Experts flashed to this location one by one.
The previously arrogant devil clan elites, when facing this group of experts, were captured and killed in just seconds.
"Guardian Yu, he committed suicide!"
Someone frowned, threw away the corpse in his hands, and shouted.
"Death warrior, normal."
Yu Guangzheng's face showed no expression. He wasn't the type with strange and devious methods, knowing he couldn't stop devil clan death warriors from suicide, so he had struck with lethal force from the start.
He didn't pay attention to such trivial matters.
The Six Bureaus would naturally investigate such things.
What he was more concerned about now was other matters!
"Little Qin!"
"Guardian Yu!" Jiang He's guardian shuddered.
"Where is the Ninth Imperial Princess?" Yu Guangzheng frowned.
The guardian looked around twice and shook her head:
"After I blocked the devil clan, I let her escape on her own. But judging from how that devil clan member kept anxiously looking toward the residential area, presumably they didn't succeed."
"If something goes wrong, you'll be responsible."
Yu Guangzheng glanced at her indifferently, called over the Divine Guards centurion, said a few words, then announced loudly:
"All Divine Guards listen up! Comfort the people, treat the wounded, find Her Highness the Princess!"
"Go quickly!"
"Those worried about their children can also go search, but I'll only say two things: no breaking into private residences, no causing trouble!"
"Violators will die!"
As his words fell, a large group of people dispersed.
"You should also go rest," Yu Guangzheng glanced at the woman he called Little Qin. "Practice more. I won't scold you this time."
"Yes..."
"As for that divine artifact..." Yu Guangzheng pondered, having no clear ideas, finally saying: "You all search, do your best. If you really can't find it, forget it. Searching house by house won't yield results anyway."
"Lord Yu, but that's a divine artifact..." someone hesitated.
Yu Guangzheng glared at him fiercely and cursed angrily:
"Then you go find it! Do you know what that thing is? Just search!"
That person retreated sheepishly.
"I'll go back and have someone check the archives, look up its information and search methods, but don't worry too much about tonight."
He said indifferently:
"Leave two guardians here to watch, don't let the devil clan exploit any gaps. The rest can disperse at dawn. The thing is here—it can't possibly be lost."
○
Jiang He withdrew her gaze from outside the window.
"They're here."
"Mm," Mu Qinglan's voice was muffled. "Jiang Jiang should go find them."
"I'll take you with me."
Jiang He said, trying to sit up and carry the girl out.
Mu Qinglan pressed down on her: "Later."
"Then later it is," Jiang He looked down at the girl's burning red cheeks, thought for a moment, and said: "Are you hot? Should I loosen some of your clothes?"
Cold before, hot now—it sounded quite contradictory.
But that's how catching cold worked.
She'd seen it many times.
Seeing the girl's flushed cheeks and apparent sweating, Jiang He naturally asked with such concern.
"No... people will come soon..."
Mu Qinglan buried her head in her neck. Even feeling dizzy, she had to be careful not to say the wrong thing.
At least not reveal today's scheming.
"Her Highness the Princess is here! Here!"
"Someone come!"
Fire gradually lit up outside the window.
The barrier was broken, and the night was deep.
The Divine Guards soldiers and imperial guardians had almost turned all of Huaiyun Ward upside down but still hadn't found that divine artifact.
Jiang He carried Mu Qinglan, took the imperial carriage all the way to send the sick girl home, wanted to stay, but was also persuaded to return by Guardian Yu.
Tonight's events were significant.
She had to return to face the emperor.
Shen Yao learned of this matter from documents submitted by her subordinates, stood up and put on her coat to go out, but after thinking for two seconds, she decided to go tomorrow morning instead, to avoid disturbing Mu Qinglan's rest.
Bai Yuyu wanted to visit Mu Mu, but after thinking about it, she knew tonight wasn't the right time. She could only silently vent her temper at home against Jiang He, this bad woman who had caused Mu Mu to get hurt.
In Prince Qi's mansion, inside the girl's bedroom.
Zhu Yan held a bowl of medicinal soup, sitting beside the bed carefully feeding Mu Qinglan, feeling very happy now.
Shadow One tasted it first and silently stood behind her.
Ah Qi lay on her fish pillow, quietly watching the two of them, her eyes growing more and more numerous.
Mu Qinglan lay in bed, sipped the medicinal soup, the smile on her face still not fading.
All her schemes tonight had been perfectly achieved, with even some unexpected gains. Except for catching cold, everything was good.
"Yes, everything is good."
In the palace, Jiang He said a few words softly to her father, then bowed slightly and politely took her leave.
Never looking back again.
The guardian Qin Mo, waiting at the distant palace gate, trotted over and asked: "Was Your Highness injured? Should we summon the imperial physician?"
Jiang He shook her head: "I wasn't injured."
"Then I'll go inform Guardian Yu. He's still waiting in the side hall."
Jiang He turned to look over, her tone cold:
"Go ahead. Also, I may frequently leave the palace these next few days. Have the maids prepare."
"But the assassins...?"
"No matter."
Jiang He passed by Qin Mo and left indifferently.
She almost never left the palace—not because she had prohibitions against leaving, but simply because she didn't want to go out.
After all, she had always been a loner, using a layer of cold protection to isolate all external probing and attempts at friendship, not allowing others the slightest chance to approach.
But now.
Someone had broken in.