Finding several more bundles of vines, she tied them together and secured them around her waist.
Once she was certain they would not snap, Zhou Qingmei leaped straight down.
Grasping the vines, Fang Shuwen stood a short distance back from the opening and lowered them bit by bit.
After a moment, Fang Shuwen heard the startled voice of Senior Martial Sister Lu from below:
"Qingmei, why did you come down?
"Who is up there?"
"Let's get up first, then talk."
There was no time to lose, so Zhou Qingmei did not offer much of an explanation. Once ready, she called up to Fang Shuwen:
"Brother Fang, pull us up!"
Fang Shuwen said nothing. Exerting a bit of strength, he brought two figures rushing up to the opening with a whoosh, then flicked his wrist to hoist them into midair.
Holding Senior Martial Sister Lu with both arms, Zhou Qingmei tapped lightly against the empty air, using her lightness skill to alight beside Fang Shuwen.
In the darkness of the night, this Senior Martial Sister Lu wore green robes. While her looks were not particularly striking, her serene, refined bearing was far beyond that of an ordinary woman.
Zhou Qingmei set her down, but she looked at Fang Shuwen and asked Zhou Qingmei, "Qingmei, who is this?"
"This is Brother Fang."
Zhou Qingmei wanted to explain the full situation, but felt it could not be summed up in just a few words. Turning directly to Fang Shuwen, she said, "Brother Fang, this is the Senior Martial Sister Lu I mentioned to you, Lu Xiaoqing.
"She has been struck by the Black Fiend Demon Skill. Could you see if she can still be saved?"
Lu Xiaoqing glanced at Zhou Qingmei in bewilderment, then shook her head. "Don't waste your efforts. The Black Fiend true qi of the Black Fiend Demon Skill ruins one's foundation and destroys one's cultivation. There is simply no way to remedy it...
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Fang Shuwen had no interest in wasting words on her. Stepping directly behind her, he pressed a palm flat against her back.
The meridians in her body were indeed severely corroded by the Black Fiend true qi, but it was nothing he could not handle.
He glanced at Zhou Qingmei. "I reckon it will take a little time."
"Then I leave it in your capable hands, Brother Fang." Zhou Qingmei cupped her fists.
Lu Xiaoqing: "..."
So was anyone actually listening to her?
Just who was this "Brother Fang"?
How dared they underestimate the Black Fiend Demon Skill like this? Rather than wasting effort here, wouldn't it be better to hurry back to Zhujige Pavilion...?
Lu Xiaoqing was about to lecture them patiently and urge Fang Shuwen not to waste time.
Yet in the very next instant, a rich, mellow internal force surged into her body.
The places ravaged by the Black Fiend true qi were instantly relieved.
The words she had been about to speak were swallowed right back down. She dutifully guarded her mind and spirit, even beginning to actively guide Fang Shuwen's internal force as it circulated through her body.
With Lu Xiaoqing's active cooperation, the speed of her treatment increased dramatically.
In less than an hour, the Black Fiend true qi inside Lu Xiaoqing was swept completely clean.
Lu Xiaoqing opened her eyes, a radiant gleam shining within them. Looking back at Fang Shuwen, her face was brimming with gratitude. "Many thanks, my friend, for expending your internal force to save me... Lu Xiaoqing will engrave this immense favor upon her heart!"
"No need for that... It didn't consume much anyway."
"Didn't... didn't consume much?"
Lu Xiaoqing was taken aback. As the recipient of his aid, she knew better than anyone how much internal force Fang Shuwen had channeled.
Even her revered master would have suffered severe vitality depletion after spending that much internal force to heal someone.
Fang Shuwen was so young—surely his reserves were drained entirely dry by now?
How could he say he barely consumed anything?
Was it just a young man being stubborn and saving face?
Fang Shuwen did not bother explaining to her just how profound his internal skill was, or that this bit of internal force was merely a drop in the ocean.
That would have been far too much of a humblebrag, and Fang Shuwen was not that sort of person.
He merely called Zhou Qingmei over. "Your senior martial sister has several broken bones. I'll look for something to splint them.
"You two can catch up in the meantime. Once her injuries are tended to, we'll continue on our way.
"If anything happens, remember to call for me loudly."
"All right," Zhou Qingmei agreed at once.
While Fang Shuwen went to find materials to set the bones, Zhou Qingmei asked Lu Xiaoqing what had happened.
What Lu Xiaoqing had encountered was not overly complicated.
Zhujige Pavilion had been established on Jiuning Mountain for many years and maintained many informants in the surrounding area.
Before the Yunfei Escort Agency arrived, she had received word that an escort agency hailing from Julu City was coming, which led her to believe that her junior martial sister Zhou Qingmei might have entrusted them with delivering something.
When they failed to arrive at the scheduled time, she went down the mountain to search for them.
As it happened, she came across the slaughtered members of the Yunfei Escort Agency near this area, and then ran into Li Nanchen.
At the time, she had not suspected Li Nanchen in the slightest. She simply explained the situation and moved to inspect the wounds on the corpses.
Taking advantage of the opening, Li Nanchen launched a sneak attack against her.
Lu Xiaoqing was the second-ranked expert of their generation, but Li Nanchen was the undisputed first.
Even without a sneak attack, Lu Xiaoqing was not necessarily his match.
After ambushing her, he suppressed her completely throughout their fight. Unbeknownst to them, the ground in the vicinity appeared ordinary on the surface but was actually exceptionally fragile, and Lu Xiaoqing was blasted straight down into the subterranean karst cave.
The cavern was bottomless. Peering down into the abyss, Li Nanchen assumed Lu Xiaoqing had plunged to her death.
Little did he expect that she had landed on a ledge halfway down the cliff face.
She had passed out on impact, however.
It was only several days later that she finally regained consciousness.
During that entire time, not a drop of water had passed her lips... Had she not possessed profound internal skill, she likely would have perished long ago.
Yet having held out until now, she was thoroughly exhausted.
The torment of the Black Fiend true qi within her left her drifting between clarity and delirium.
Whenever she awoke, she resigned herself to fate and cried out for help. Her cries sounded so faint and feeble simply because she truly had no strength left.
When she fell unconscious, so be it; whenever she woke, she resumed calling out.
After all, she was not dead yet, so she had to make an effort to struggle on. What if someone happened to hear her?
And in the end, Fang Shuwen truly had heard her.
Having given a general account of what had happened, Lu Xiaoqing said weakly, "Li Nanchen has secretly cultivated the Black Fiend Demon Skill. It seems the Black Fiend Cult has risen from the ashes, and there may well be others within our sect colluding with them.
"We must report this to the sect as soon as possible, capture Li Nanchen, and subject him to severe interrogation!"
"Li Nanchen is the Young Cult Master of the Black Fiend Cult."
Fang Shuwen had returned by now, carrying several scabbards and a good amount of fine cloth.
He had scavenged them from the corpses of the Yunfei Escort Agency.
"Besides him, Zhang Fang is also a member of the Black Fiend Cult."
Through Lu Xiaoqing's account, the sequence of events had become clear.
Li Nanchen had intercepted the Yunfei Escort Agency and seized the letter. After ambushing and striking down Lu Xiaoqing, he must have issued orders to Zhang Fang via carrier pigeon or some covert communication method unique to the Black Fiend Cult.
That was how Zhang Fang had been able to arrive in Guangning City at that exact moment.
"What?"
Hearing that Zhang Fang was also a Black Fiend cultist, Lu Xiaoqing's expression changed abruptly.
"How could this be?"
Zhou Qingmei took the scabbards, set Lu Xiaoqing's broken bones, and bound them in splints.
At the same time, she recounted what she and Fang Shuwen had experienced along the way.
Fang Shuwen then remarked, "From what Zhang Fang said, their strike is set to take place within these next few days. That is why we rushed back so urgently.
"I only wonder what is so special about these few days."
"Special..."
Lu Xiaoqing snapped her head up. "What day of the month is it today?"
Zhou Qingmei answered immediately, "The sixth."
"The sixth... Then tomorrow is the day the Pavilion Master leads all the elders to Xuanji Cave on the rear mountain to enter secluded cultivation and comprehend the Baijie Scripture!
"As the head disciple of Zhujige Pavilion, Li Nanchen will be entrusted with presiding over every single matter throughout the sect!"
Chapter 33