Chapter 424 – An Acquaintance Unchanged (2/2)

Ru Xin burst out laughing. Not only did she withhold from explaining, but she even said, “Thank you all for upholding justice and fighting for me.”

“Move side! I’m her husband!” Li Qingshan roared out, immediately stunning the entire crowd. Afterwards, he grabbed Ru Xin and pulled her out.

Ru Xin did not put up a fight. She clasped her hands at everyone with a smile, allowing him to drag her away.

Everyone was stunned. In particular, the younger men were all ashen. Their hearts were broken. She actually had a husband!

It was a small city, but actually it was more like a large town. There were grey tiles and whitewashed walls, with a small stream flowing through the place and leafy neighbourhoods.

Li Qingshan dragged Ru Xin to a quiet pavilion. To one side was the flowing stream and to the other were houses with wisps of smoke rising up slowly from the chimneys. Looking up, the entire city was smoking from its chimneys.

Ru Xin smiled. “My dear husband, it’s time for you to let go!”

“Your dear husband is reluctant to.” Li Qingshan thought of a smart remark and teased her.

“If you’re reluctant to, then break it off with the girl from the Han family. Otherwise, I’d have to explain everything to her.”

“Looks like fate just opposes us being together.” Li Qingshan let go and shrugged.

“You’ve established a foundation too? Sigh, I originally wanted to show you the power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator and give you a fierce beating so that you cough up your remaining Blue Butterfly flowers. Looks like I won’t be able to do that now.” Ru Xin rubbed her wrist. Her beautiful pupils slanted slightly as she smiled widely.

“I’m very tempted to try that. How’s it? Foundation Establishment feels great, right? You’ll have to thank me for that.” Li Qingshan sat on a bench in the pavilion by the stream.

“That makes two of us.” Ru Xin sat down beside him.

“I heard you’ve been serving as a roaming doctor ever since you emerged from seclusion, healing regular people. To be honest, it’s made me look at you in a new light.”

“I’m just completing the missions from the academy.” Ru Xin smiled slightly, giving an explanation.

As it turned out, the consequences of war were not as simple as daemons massacring cities. Corpses constantly caused plagues. If it were not for the work of the disciples of the school of Medicine, probably even more people would die of disease than to the jaws and claws of daemons.

“And it’s not just that simple. Bandits are running amok right now. Many people are using the chaos to pillage and plunder. They’re even more vicious than daemons. The schools of Confucianism and Legalism have sent out many disciples to maintain stability in the various regions. They’re in even more danger than I am. Creatures like people really love to kill one another!” Ru Xin sighed slightly as her smile faded.

“You seem slightly melancholic?” Li Qingshan studied Ru Xin in interest. He had noticed that her gaze darted about, clearly thinking about something. Even when the Academy of the Hundred Schools was attacked by the White Lotus cult and suffered numerous losses, she had never behaved like that.

“What, have I enchanted you? You better go break it off with the girl from the Han family quickly!” Ru Xin stroked her hair and smiled and spoke just like before.

“Enough joking around. Do you still have time to refine pills?”

Li Qingshan stated his reason for finding her. Just as Ru Xin considered his request, a bare-footed girl with her hair tied up in buns ran over. She shoved an apple into Ru Xin’s hand. “Big sister, I picked this from the mountains. Thank you for curing my dad.”

“Oh, what a good girl. It’s going to rain soon, so you better hurry back and help your mother with the laundry!” Ru Xin smiled and rubbed the girl’s head, biting into the apple with a crisp crunch.

The girl answered her and scuttled off. She called out from afar, “It’s going to rain! Bring the clothes inside!”

Ru Xin spat out the apple flesh in her mouth before casually tossing the apple behind her.

“Why’d you throw it away? That’s someone’s good will after all.” Li Qingshan caught the apple. The bite mark on there was neat, which only demonstrated how perfect her teeth were.

“Obviously because it’s disgusting. I’ve saved the person, I’ve accepted her good will, and I’ve eaten the apple. There’s no need to torture my mouth any further.” Ru Xin suddenly said mischievously, “Don’t tell you saw me take a bite and you wanted to…”

Before Ru Xin could finish, she heard a plop. The apple landed in the water and floated away.

Li Qingshan patted his hands. “How did you know it’s going to rain? Your affinity is wood, if I recall correctly!” There were clouds in the sky, but it was still sunny. He too could sense the gathering and variation of the moisture in the air, but he was still unable to say with certainty that it would rain.

“It’s just an offhand remark. Do you want to gamble a True Spirit pill on it? If I win, we’ll set off immediately. I’ve created a new dwelling, so I’ll take you there and show you around.”

“Can I not gamble?”

However, before long, the sky became shrouded by dark clouds and autumn rain descended. Ru Xin extended her hand craftily, like her scheme had just succeeded.

“Let’s go!” Li Qingshan placed a True Spirit pill in her hand.

The rain became heavier, forming a curtain outside the pavilion.

“There’s something wrong with the rain.” Ru Xin frowned and gazed at the mountains to the west.

“There’s daemon qi!”

Li Qingshan sensed it too. The rolling daemon qi in the distance surged into the clouds. At the same time, a rumble rang out in the distance, growing closer and closer.

The two of them arrived at the top of the mountain and saw a yellow, muddy flow suck up loose rock and branches, howling as it rushed over.