That familiar face silenced all the Human Cultivators’ excuses at once.
Qing Yi, that black-hearted Medical Cultivator… she actually dared to come?
“You poisoned so many people, yet you still have the face to come here?” someone shouted angrily.
Jiang Ke’er rolled her eyes. She had already given up hope on this group’s intelligence. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I came here to kill even more people.”
“?!”
“I promised before that I would kill every other contestant in the Semi-Finals. That promise hasn’t been fulfilled yet, so of course I would come.” Jiang Ke’er stepped onto a stool, the corners of her mouth curling up as a trace of the arrogance the Human Cultivators found familiar resurfaced.
“I always keep my promises… However, I hope you don’t force me to swear an oath to kill the entire Human Clan. I really don’t like killing people, and I don’t like playing with poison.”
Jiang Ke’er pulled Gan Ruanruan along as she walked arrogantly out of the crowd.
This couldn’t help but remind people of the scenes before the Shenzhou Cup Semi-Finals began.
Her performance as a Medical Cultivator during the Epidemic Poison was so brilliant that it made people forget what a fierce and difficult person she was.
No one dared to move against her.
If she was the one who released the poison… then she truly possessed the ability to kill the entire Human Clan.
If it wasn’t her… No, it definitely was!
“Think whatever you want,” Jiang Ke’er turned around, a somewhat sinister smile playing on her lips.
“But those two teams you like so much, the Divine Spirit Team and the Wasteland War Team — I’m definitely going to kill them!”
With that, Jiang Ke’er and Gan Ruanruan’s figures disappeared from their sight.
Once they reached a place with no one around, Jiang Ke’er suddenly burst out laughing. “Showing off and then running away — how thrilling.”
Gan Ruanruan covered her face. “By the way, why are you here?”
“I should be asking you that. Didn’t Aunt Lian go looking for you?” Jiang Ke’er asked in return.
“She did,” Gan Ruanruan gave a helpless smile.
“She told us to stay in Jiangdu to cultivate properly, to become experts who can protect the region and the Demon Race in the future. She said not to do anything impulsive like coming to the Shenzhou Cup to die.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I just thought…” Gan Ruanruan scratched her head, looking a bit embarrassed. “If we’re all protecting the Demon Race, who is going to protect Aunt Lian…?”
“…”
“The Demon Race has all of you. That’s enough. I had to come. At least I can’t let the Bagpipe Squad end up with the reputation of being deserters… After all, this should be the last time we participate in the Shenzhou Cup.” Gan Ruanruan smiled.
“Even if I die there, that’s the integrity of the Bagpipe Squad, isn’t it?”
Jiang Ke’er didn’t know what to say for a moment.
“Then let’s go together,” she said with a bitter smile.
“Hehe~” Gan Ruanruan happily hooked her arm around Jiang Ke’er’s.
They continued toward the Imperial Capital.
They hadn’t walked more than a few steps when they heard a familiar, angry roar.
“Say it again! Say it again! I’ll beat you to death!”
Jiang Ke’er didn’t want to cause more trouble, but the voice was just too familiar.
They had no choice but to quietly sneak over to another tavern not far away.
A man with a flushed face and smelling of alcohol was being thrown out like trash by two workers.
The man scrambled to his feet and spat a thick glob of phlegm at the tavern’s Name Plaque. He cursed loudly while rushing back into the tavern.
“You bunch of ungrateful bastards! I don’t even care about my life anymore! I’m going to beat you scumbags to death today!”
Half a minute later, the man was thrown onto the street once again.
He still wanted to rush back in to argue with the Cultivators inside, but Jiang Ke’er quickly grabbed him.
“Eh?” The man rubbed his swollen eyes and looked at Jiang Ke’er in a daze.
“Have I drunk so much that I’m hallucinating? Where did this Qing Yi come from… Qing Yi… damn it, I get angry just thinking about Qing Yi’s situation! No, I have to go back in and beat those bastards to death! You sons of bitches… you all should give your lives back to her!”
“Forget it, forget it, Brother Shui. Let it go.” Jiang Ke’er didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she hoisted Jie Shui up, dragging the drunken fellow away from the tavern.
Gan Ruanruan looked at Jie Shui with lingering fear. After hesitating, she asked, “When I usually get thrown out, do I look that pathetic?”
“You’re even worse off than him,” Jiang Ke’er replied mercilessly.
Gan Ruanruan suddenly felt a bit of regret.
The two girls carried Jie Shui into an alley.
Jiang Ke’er gave him a Sobriety Pill and then stood there with Gan Ruanruan, looking at the guy helplessly.
“Eh? Eh eh eh?”
Jie Shui bolted upright, staring at Jiang Ke’er and Gan Ruanruan before looking around.
He was clearly confused about the situation. “Where is this? Was I thrown all the way back to Jiangdu?”
“It’s a long story.” Jiang Ke’er, who had originally thought she was the only one who had escaped, felt a literal… ache in her chest.
She asked, “Why didn’t you listen to Aunt Lian?”
“The word ‘coward’ doesn’t exist in the Jie family’s dictionary!” Jie Shui answered righteously.
“Move aside! I’m going to participate in the Shenzhou Cup!”
The two girls were stuck between laughter and tears. “Fine, whatever.”
Jie Shui didn’t expect them to let him go so easily. He had thought they were there to stop him.
He pulled out his Compass to determine the direction and started running toward the Imperial Capital.
He hadn’t run very far when he noticed Jiang Ke’er and Gan Ruanruan following unhurriedly behind him.
“Why are you following me?” Jie Shui asked, puzzled.
“It’s on the way,” Jiang Ke’er and Gan Ruanruan replied calmly.
“Wait… you aren’t here to stop me?”
“Of course not.”
“Then you guys are also…”
Jiang Ke’er nodded. She could already imagine Si Lian’s explosive anger.
She smiled and said, “It seems none of the three of us are obedient children.”
“…Four.”
An inconspicuous, small soft-bodied creature fell from Jie Shui’s hair onto the ground, twisting as it slowly grew into a human shape.
“?” Jie Shui shook his hair, his skin crawling. “When did you crawl in there?”
A Miao looked a bit shy. “Last night… but I’m only one of the Clones. Because I was afraid of being caught, I chopped myself into over 200 pieces and took over 200 different routes to the Imperial Capital. I just didn’t expect everyone to sneak over here too.”
This was just great. Si Lian had painstakingly tried to persuade them one by one, but in the end, four out of the five team members had treated her words as a breeze passing through their ears.
“Since we’re all here, I bet Lin Gang won’t be obedient either,” Jie Shui laughed loudly.
“That kid is a closeted troublemaker. He doesn’t say anything, but he has plenty of his own ideas.”
“Then doesn’t that mean the whole team is here?”
“It’s possible.”
“Hahaha! Aunt Lian is going to be furious! You guys really don’t let her rest easy!”
“You’re acting as if you’re so well-behaved…”
Looking at the Little Demons, Jiang Ke’er felt both annoyed and amused.
This was truly an unexpected surprise.
The sudden, strange reunion made the Bagpipe Squad members — who had originally arrived with heavy hearts and a willingness to die — suddenly feel a bit of anticipation for the competition.
Unfortunately, by the time the four Little Monsters arrived at the waiting room, they still hadn’t seen any sign of Lin Gang.
They did, however, see two of Lin Gang’s legs.
“Hello.”
Qiao Xiaoxian turned around with a smile, carrying two cow legs on her shoulders. “From today on, I am your new teammate. Please look after me.”
Jiang Ke’er: “???”
“Lin Gang suddenly and unexpectedly injured his legs in a fall, so he can’t participate.
He had no choice but to ask me, the substitute, to take his place,” Qiao Xiaoxian said helplessly, shaking the two cow legs.
Jiang Ke’er looked at the cow legs. The cuts were perfectly clean.
‘Well, it really was an “accidental injury,” then…’