“Miss, are you alright?”
Looking at Su Mu sprawled on the ground, Ye Qinglian had some worry in her eyes.
“I’m, I’m fine.”
Panting heavily, Su Mu crawled up from the ground in a somewhat disheveled state.
She turned around and immediately saw Wu Ran confronting the hulking figure.
Su Mu didn’t waste words. She glanced left and right, grabbed a wooden stick nearby, and prepared to rush up to help.
Fortunately, Ye Qinglian reached out in time to stop her.
“Miss, no need to rush. Although this Corpse Puppet is huge, it’s still no match for Xiao Ran.”
Su Mu glanced at Ye Qinglian who had blocked her, hesitated for a moment, and then put down the wooden stick in her hand.
Since this person was stronger than the big brute, she decided not to go up and get in the way.
But she hadn’t expected that yesterday she had blackmailed her, and today she had saved her life. Su Mu felt a bit embarrassed.
“Thank you for saving me. I’m Su Mu—Su from the grass radical, Mu from three waters.”
“That’s a nice name, miss. I’m Ye Qinglian—Qing from clear and pure, Lian from ripples.”
“Yours sounds even nicer.”
Su Mu was telling the truth. She felt that Ye Qinglian’s name was much more pleasant than her own Su Mu.
Ye Qinglian was momentarily stunned. She hadn’t expected this person’s attention to actually be on her name.
After introducing themselves, Su Mu worriedly looked toward Wu Ran, who was still facing off against the big brute.
“Are we really not going to help? This guy’s so massive—his strength must be formidable.”
“Miss, no need to worry. This thing isn’t human. It’s a Corpse Puppet refined by evil practitioners in the Jianghu using the Puppet Refining Technique. Though its body is enormous, it’s just dead flesh without much power.”
But as if to slap her in the face, right after Ye Qinglian finished speaking, the Corpse Puppet in front of Wu Ran heavily raised its giant sword and slashed down on her blade.
Wu Ran was forced back several steps by the immense force.
Even her expensive treasured sword now had a notch chopped into it.
If it had been something like the one Chen Qing had casually picked up on the street, it probably would have snapped in two from that blow.
Seeing Wu Ran barely steady herself, Su Mu turned her head and stared at Ye Qinglian in bewilderment.
Didn’t you say it didn’t have much strength? Su Mu could feel the surrounding air trembling from that sword strike.
Su Mu’s gaze left the freshly confident Ye Qinglian looking a bit embarrassed.
However, as she eyed the Corpse Puppet wrapped tightly from head to toe, her delicate brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
She hadn’t lied to Su Mu earlier. The Puppet Refining Technique in the Jianghu could manipulate corpses.
But a corpse was still just a corpse—a lump of dead meat that couldn’t exert much strength.
Yet the Corpse Puppet before them was clearly different from ordinary ones. Not only was its size far larger than a typical Corpse Puppet, but the power it displayed was far beyond what a normal one could achieve.
Unaware of Ye Qinglian’s inner surprise, Su Mu watched Wu Ran struggling and began racking her brain for a way to escape with these two.
Escaping alone would be simple, but bringing them along would make it far more difficult.
As Su Mu pondered escape routes, the Corpse Puppet, which had been raising its sword to strike Wu Ran again, suddenly thudded to the ground.
But Su Mu wasn’t happy at all. The moment she saw who had taken down the Corpse Puppet, she didn’t hesitate and turned to flee.
Seeing Silly Shizun’s swift actions, Chen Qing immediately circulated her lightness skill and leaped to block her path.
“Shizun, didn’t you say you were heading back to the inn to use the toilet? How did you end up here?”
Faced with the Villain’s overwhelming presence, Su Mu’s eyes darted around in panic.
“Well, I just finished using the toilet when I suddenly noticed these two in danger. My sense of justice wouldn’t let me stand idly by, so I rushed out to help them.”
In a moment of quick thinking, Su Mu frantically turned her little brain and came up with a reasonably plausible excuse.
What puzzled her, though, was how this Villain had caught her despite her caution.
Chen Qing watched Silly Shizun deliver her earnest, detailed explanation and almost admired her shamelessness.
Clearly, she had been the one chased and nearly killed by the Corpse Puppet and then saved by others. Yet now she was seriously claiming to Chen Qing that she had come to rescue them. Did she think Chen Qing didn’t know how terrified of death she was?
After speaking, Su Mu felt a twinge of guilt. If Wu Ran and Ye Qinglian called her out, she was done for.
Chen Qing caught every one of Su Mu’s guilty little glances.
If not for the others present, she would have scooped up this Silly Shizun right then and dragged her back to the inn—to make her pay the price for plotting with laxatives.
“Senior, such impressive skills. To subdue this Corpse Puppet in a single move.”
Looking at the fallen Corpse Puppet, a trace of reverence entered Wu Ran’s gaze toward Chen Qing.
Though she knew Chen Qing’s martial arts far surpassed her own, single-handedly subduing such a troublesome Corpse Puppet put them on entirely different levels.
Chen Qing glanced at Wu Ran before fixing her eyes on Ye Qinglian.
In her previous life, she had known this unfavored Second Imperial Princess. Though ranked second, she had scant backing, and no factions were willing to bet on a disgraced royal.
Thus, until Chen Qing’s death, she had remained on the fringes of the imperial power struggle.
She hadn’t expected to encounter her here.
But recalling the Deputy Supervisor Token Wu Ran had given her yesterday, Chen Qing realized this Disgraced Imperial Princess was far from as simple as she had seemed in her previous life.
Su Mu quietly observed Chen Qing lost in thought, subtly inching her little feet to the side.
If she dumped the Beast Laxative from her pocket straight onto the Villain’s face, would it work?
Better not. The Villain might spasm for a moment, but if Su Mu actually tried it, she’d likely end up just like that brute on the ground.
“I know you’ve run into trouble, and I promise to help you.”
Chen Qing glanced at the Corpse Puppet on the ground. Its master had already directed it to attack Silly Shizun twice.
Even if this Disgraced Imperial Princess hadn’t sought her out for cooperation, Chen Qing wouldn’t let slide someone who kept provoking her and trying to take Silly Shizun’s life without permission.
Moreover, this conveniently delivered Disgraced Imperial Princess made for an excellent pawn. Used properly, she could greatly accelerate Chen Qing’s revenge plans.
“Thank you, Senior.”
Ye Qinglian was no fool. She knew a mere Deputy Supervisor Token couldn’t sway an expert like Chen Qing.
But whatever the cost, the Chen Qing before her was her only lifeline right now.
While Su Mu was still scheming how to slip the laxative past the Villain unnoticed, Chen Qing and Ye Qinglian had already quietly sealed a mutually beneficial deal.
Seeing Silly Shizun standing there dazed, Chen Qing knew exactly what was on her mind.
The thought of those two packets of Beast Laxative still tucked in this Silly Shizun’s bosom—meant for her—darkened Chen Qing’s expression. She delivered a sharp hand chop to her head.
