Seeing Ling Xiaoyou still seemed to want to say something, Team Leader Lin said directly:
“No need to explain, I understand, I understand it all.”
These two girls were thin-skinned, even after helping with such a huge matter, they didn’t even want compensation. How could that be allowed?
The rewards and compensation they deserved absolutely could not be missing! I’ve said it!
Even if she had to force it on them, she would!
Looking at Team Leader Lin’s expression that said “I’ve already made my decision, don’t try to persuade me,” Ling Xiaoyou opened her mouth, wanting to explain something. She had actually mainly gone to help in order to complete the mission her System had issued, not for the sake of these rewards!
But the words just wouldn’t come out when they reached her lips. In the end, she helplessly opened her mouth before letting the other party decide.
Whatever, no point in refusing what’s offered, after all, they really had helped quite a bit this time.
Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou glanced around, then paused, poking Bai Shuanglian beside her and pointing at the protective barrier around them, saying:
“Hey, those demons don’t seem to be as numerous as before.”
Hearing this, Bai Shuanglian didn’t react much, merely following the direction Ling Xiaoyou pointed to look.
Team Leader Lin, however, reacted far more strongly. She struggled to prop herself up from the Medical Sister’s back, looking outside.
The demon army that had once surged like a tidal wave was now like the receding tide, their numbers continuously decreasing under the Regulatory Division Patrollers’ purge.
Earlier, even with continuous purging, their numbers had never shown any sign of decreasing! That alone was already telling! Now that signs of reduction were visible, it was very clear.
“It must be Old Li and the others who succeeded!”
Watching the demon army diminish further under the purge, Team Leader Lin couldn’t help but reveal a relaxed smile.
Old Li was naturally Vice Captain Li’s surname. He had led a group of people to break through the encirclement and head to a summoning array somewhere in Jiang City to deal with it. Looks like they’d gotten it done now.
Watching the demons decreasing at a visible rate, Ling Xiaoyou was somewhat surprised. She’d thought they would need to go help again this time, but it turned out they handled it themselves. As expected of the Regulatory Division, they still had real strength.
Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou looked at Bai Shuanglian and said:
“Since we’ve got nothing to do anyway, how about we go help them too?”
If it were just Ling Xiaoyou alone, she would have gone to help without a second word.
But Bai Shuanglian was still by her side, so naturally she had to ask for her opinion first.
Actually, why did she need to ask for her opinion? She wasn’t her mother, so why did it feel like she had to report where she was going like a little kid?
Ling Xiaoyou thought about it and decided it was definitely because she was afraid Bai Shuanglian would worry about her safety, which was why she reported and discussed it with her.
“Sure.”
Bai Shuanglian had no objection. After all, with her by her side, she wasn’t afraid of some powerful demon mixed into the horde suddenly ambushing Ling Xiaoyou. She was confident she could protect Ling Xiaoyou under any attack.
And so, the two of them went off to purge the demons together, under Team Leader Lin’s gaze that said “What two kind-hearted good children.”
The process of purging the demons went very smoothly. They didn’t encounter any unexpected situations like “a Demon Grand Duke’s subordinate with too much vengeance in his heart, hiding among the demon horde, waiting for Ling Xiaoyou to appear so he could beat her to death.”
But even if such an unexpected situation did occur, with their默契 cooperation and formidable strength, even if they truly faced those subordinates of the Demon Grand Duke, they had the power to fight. They weren’t afraid of anything unexpected happening.
Of course, if the Demon Grand Duke himself were to come here in person, then it would be time to run.
Though Ling Xiaoyou figured he probably wasn’t feeling too great right now either. After all, his clone had been destroyed by the two of them, so his main body would definitely be affected. Moreover, his clone had merged with the Imperial Capital Guild President, and judging from the clone’s words, it seemed it would even implicate the main body?
Pfft, hope he dies soon. (Clasps hands)
With Ling Xiaoyou and Bai Shuanglian joining in, the speed of purging the demons increased by a large margin, and the demons decreased at a visible rate.
Ling Xiaoyou drew her bowstring, not even needing to aim, and directly fired dozens of arrows at the dense demon horde before her. Every arrow pierced through dozens of demons, yet the arrows didn’t lose any momentum, straight through the demon horde like a skewer.
As for Bai Shuanglian, because she had placed her sword at the Earth Vein Heart’s location to protect it, she could now only use talismans to fight the enemy.
But well…
Ling Xiaoyou stole a glance at Bai Shuanglian’s side and saw rolling thunder from the heavens and a blazing sun overhead—truly an apocalyptic scene. She suddenly felt like her side looked like little kids fighting.
But Ling Xiaoyou didn’t have much of a competitive mindset, and especially since it was Bai Shuanglian, she felt even less so. If anything, she felt quite happy about it.
While purging the demons, Ling Xiaoyou was lost in random thoughts. Suddenly, she saw a person abruptly appear right beside her, scaring her half to death. She nearly shot her next arrow at that person.
“Sister Ling!”
Ling Xiaoyou was overjoyed. She immediately dispersed the arrow on the Cloud Water Bow and ran over to the person’s side, calling out sweetly.
But when she saw clearly who it was, she was briefly stunned, then broke into a smile.
“Hey!”
Hong Lingyan smiled like an old mother who hadn’t seen her daughter in a long time and had finally met her again. She looked very kind and gentle.
She stroked Ling Xiaoyou’s little head with a kind smile, looking completely like a mother hen. Although this mother was, appearance-wise, an enchanting beauty with looks that could topple cities, that gentle elder’s aura didn’t create any sense of dissonance on her at all—as if this was simply one facet of her personality.
“Xiaoyou, are you injured, or did you suffer any grievances?”
Ling Xiaoyou was being patted on the head while Hong Lingyan looked her over thoroughly, and then she heard the other woman ask with great concern.
“No, see, I’m perfectly fine. Sister Ling, I really didn’t get injured or suffer any grievances.”
Just like every child who doesn’t want their parents to worry, Ling Xiaoyou concealed the fact that she had nearly been beaten to death by the Demon Grand Duke earlier, not wanting Hong Lingyan to worry.
Besides, with her incredible healing output, she had basically already recovered to her original state. There was nothing seriously wrong.
As for grievances, although there had indeed been some, the ones who had caused her grievances had already been dealt with by her and Bai Shuanglian. Rounding up, that was equivalent to none.
Hearing Ling Xiaoyou’s words, Hong Lingyan naturally didn’t believe her. Her experience was far too sharp. To put it bluntly, this little girl Ling Xiaoyou was like an open book before her with basically no secrets. She could naturally tell that Ling Xiaoyou was only saying this because she didn’t want her to worry.
“Then let Senior Li check your condition again in a bit.”
Hong Lingyan rubbed Ling Xiaoyou’s little head and said.
“Eh, no need, Sister Ling, I really didn’t get hurt much.”
Hearing this, Ling Xiaoyou quickly waved her little hands, indicating it wasn’t necessary.
Didn’t she know her own injuries better than anyone? She had already recovered long ago.
“Be good, listen now.”
But Hong Lingyan wasn’t buying it, indicating that she had to get her body checked today, otherwise she wouldn’t let it go. There might be hidden internal injuries left inside. What if they suddenly flared up one day and put her in critical condition or even death?
After all, she was just a small, pitiful, and helpless little ghost.
Thus, Ling Xiaoyou could only accept the physical examination later, waiting for Li Xueman to give her a final verdict before Hong Lingyan could rest easy.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Ling Xiaoyou smacked her palm with her little hand, looking like she’d just realized something. She looked at Hong Lingyan and asked:
“Oh right, Sister Ling, how come you came… no wait, you finally came, that’s what I should say!”
With that, Ling Xiaoyou puffed up her little cheeks and looked at Hong Lingyan with a reproachful expression, saying:
“You said you’d come watch my match before, but I didn’t see you in the audience at all. Sister Ling, you never even came, did you?”
Hearing this, Hong Lingyan paused, guiltily averting her gaze, not daring to meet Ling Xiaoyou’s eyes.
To say she hadn’t watched the match? That was naturally impossible. If it weren’t to watch Ling Xiaoyou’s match, she wouldn’t have come here at all.
But the Xuantian Martial Tournament didn’t just have Ling Xiaoyou—that Bai Qiuyin woman was there too. Hong Lingyan didn’t want the other party to discover her.
So, except for when she was exposed during the later battle against Zoa Sagg, Hong Lingyan had been hiding herself perfectly well before that! If it weren’t for that woman’s freakishly precise intuition, she’d still be hiding perfectly well right now!
So, she actually hadn’t not watched Ling Xiaoyou’s match—she had been watching it while hidden the entire time. It’s just that…
Hong Lingyan looked at Ling Xiaoyou, who was staring at her with a coquettish glare, and felt somewhat troubled. This wasn’t something easy to explain to Ling Xiaoyou.
Say what? Did she say “I was too afraid that Bai Qiuyin would discover me, so I could only hide and watch your match”?
Was she joking? Did she have no face to save? If Ling Xiaoyou learned about this and looked at her with an expression that said “So even you’re afraid of that, Sister Ling, how disappointing,” then she wouldn’t want to live anymore.
At the end of the day, it was all that Bai Qiuyin’s fault. If it weren’t for that time when they discussed the agreement…
While mentally sticking pins into a doll of that Bai Qiuyin, Hong Lingyan was soothing Ling Xiaoyou, saying:
“Honestly, I didn’t want it either, Xiaoyou. I originally planned to tear open space and come directly during your match, but I was blocked by that damned Demon Grand Duke.”
As she said this, Hong Lingyan put on a pained expression and clenched her fists, saying:
“If it weren’t for that damned bastard, I definitely would have made it in time for your match, Xiaoyou!”
Although there was no truth to this at all, that didn’t stop her from using the Demon Grand Duke—who had already been killed by her and Bai Qiuyin—to cover up the current situation.
Mm, as expected, sometimes the dead are more useful than the living.
Using illusion arts also required acting ability. As a ghost cultivator proficient in illusions, sometimes to support her illusions, Hong Lingyan’s performance successfully fooled Ling Xiaoyou into believing that what she described was the real situation.
However…
“The Demon Grand Duke?”
Ling Xiaoyou was taken aback, and only then did she remember that she had almost forgotten to ask about the current situation of the battle, so she quickly asked:
“Sister Ling, did you also participate in this Void Battle? How’s the situation now?”
“It’s already been resolved smoothly.”
Seeing that Ling Xiaoyou wasn’t dwelling too much on the previous topic, Hong Lingyan breathed a sigh of relief. She explained the general situation from before, then added:
“Senior Li and the others have already gone back to the Xuantian Martial Tournament to handle the aftermath. This incident should be completely over before long.”
With that, Hong Lingyan sighed in admiration:
“Thank goodness the Demon Grand Duke suddenly went mad and turned into that ghastly state. Otherwise, this incident really wouldn’t have been so easily resolved.”
The Demon Grand Duke was, after all, a long-standing Supreme Being. If he truly fought desperately, even with Hong Lingyan and Bai Qiuyin, plus a bunch of Dongxu Stage experts, they might not have been able to defeat him.
Fortunately, the Demon Grand Duke had suddenly suffered an abnormal condition, being forcibly possessed by Zoa Sagg, causing him to lose his mind. Otherwise, even if they couldn’t defeat him, he still could have escaped.
Listening to Hong Lingyan’s lament, Ling Xiaoyou’s expression grew stranger and stranger. This sounded… how should she put it… a lot like something she and Bai Shuanglian had done?
After all, that clone of the Demon Grand Duke had said earlier:
“As long as the Possession Body isn’t killed, my main body won’t be affected. Even if the clone is completely eroded, nothing will happen.”
But what he hadn’t expected was that the Evil God’s Possession Body in the Void was directly disconnected by Hong Lingyan cutting off its connection, and he had coincidentally fused with the Imperial Capital Guild President’s body, creating a connection to the Evil God that also synchronized to his main body, leading to the whole chain of subsequent events.
Mm, according to this incident, it teaches us a lesson—you must never let your clone exercise its own initiative, or you never know when your own clone might stab you in the back.
“This time, we really have to thank that person who helped in the Real World. If it weren’t for him, we really wouldn’t have been able to kill the Demon Grand Duke, and things definitely wouldn’t have been resolved this smoothly.”
As she said this, Hong Lingyan noticed Ling Xiaoyou’s strange expression and curiously asked:
“What’s wrong, Xiaoyou? Feeling uncomfortable somewhere?”
“Nothing, I’m just lamenting that fate really does love to toy with people.”
Ling Xiaoyou said with a sigh, leaving Hong Lingyan utterly confused, not knowing what Ling Xiaoyou was sighing about.