Chapter 253: The Black Hat Thrown by the Shaman Queen
Just as Lu Xibei was planning to find Xia Lianqing, Xia Lianqing came to her door, and without thinking much, Lu Xibei immediately opened the door and welcomed her into the room.
“It’s Sister Xia! Come in, come in, sit down.”
“Oh dear, sister, you don’t have to bring anything when you come over! You’re too polite!”
Feeling a bit embarrassed, she thought to herself, please expend some spirit energy to help recharge Time Princess…
In the past hundred days, Xia Lianqing had been in contact with the reticent Shen Baiwei, and she hadn’t expected to see the lively Lu Xibei today. For a moment, she was dazed and didn’t come to her senses until she sat down in the room.
“Uh, when did you wake up, Miss Shen?”
“Just now!” Lu Xibei looked at Xia Lianqing and quickly made up a reasonable-sounding explanation, “Just now, my little sister saw I was showing signs of waking up and, putting herself at risk of going mad, tried to heal me, and then I woke up, but…”
She paused slightly, turning to look at Shen Baiwei lying on the bed and sighed, “As you can see, I woke up, but my little sister has gone back to bed.”
Though… if the two sisters were both awake at the same time, would it bring divine retribution? Xia Lianqing followed Lu Xibei’s gaze to Shen Baiwei and was momentarily speechless.
“By the way, Sister Xia,” Lu Xibei patted Xia Lianqing, who was slightly dazed. Once Xia Lianqing returned her attention, Lu Xibei stood up and bowed slightly.
“I feel a bit awkward asking this, but if you don’t mind, could you help me with a small favor?”
Lu Xibei’s sudden seriousness flustered Xia Lianqing, and she instinctively clenched her pink fist, straightening her posture.
She understood that if it weren’t for this girl in front of her, the southern city gate of Yumen Pass would have certainly fallen when the Shaman Queen’s Army was at the gates. The city guards wouldn’t know how many of them would have to sacrifice themselves. So, from a certain perspective, “Big Shen Girl” was their savior.
Now, their savior was solemnly making a request, so it certainly wasn’t just a trivial “small favor.”
It must be something important!
“Rest assured, Miss Shen! I will spare no effort for even a small favor, let alone if it means going through fire and water…”
“No, no! It’s not that serious!” Lu Xibei interrupted.
Xia Lianqing suddenly became excited, looking as if she couldn’t wait to help her through life and d*ath, making Lu Xibei feel flattered, even a bit shy.
However, that feeling of shyness never affected her performance.
“Actually, I just want to ask you to expend some spirit energy to help heal my little sister so that she recovers sooner.”
“To be honest, my little skills might work well for harming, but I’m utterly useless when it comes to healing…”
Hearing Lu Xibei’s words, Xia Lianqing was taken aback.
It truly sounded like a small favor!
But did such a simple task need to be so formal? Xia Lianqing thought.
This reminded her of when her maid left Yumen Pass and came to borrow money from her, looking very serious as she hesitated for a long time before finally holding up two fingers. Xia Lianqing thought she was going to ask to borrow twenty taels of gold, but it turned out she only wanted twenty copper coins…
This only showed she didn’t understand Lu Xibei.
To help Shen Baiwei quickly escape the state of spirit energy depletion, Xia Lianqing would inevitably exhaust her own spirit energy, and in Lu Xibei’s view, exhausting spirit energy meant losing the means of self-protection. Without the means to protect herself, she would fall into a passive situation, and her life would be threatened…
If life was under threat, what was the difference from facing d*ath?
To make someone else take risks for her was indeed something that required a formal request, wasn’t it?
“Don’t worry, Miss Shen, I’ll do my utmost,” Xia Lianqing said, “I just don’t know where your sister is injured or how…”
Before Xia Lianqing could finish, Lu Xibei waved her hand and blurted out.
“It’s okay, just fully recharge with spirit energy!”
Though Time Princess was not Cataclysm Grade, she was considered a top A-Class Spiritual Ability User. Even if Xia Lianqing poured all her spirit energy into her, Shen Baiwei could endure it.
It might be a bit painful, but isn’t treating illness always somewhat painful?
Fully recharge? Does that mean it requires all her spirit energy? Xia Lianqing’s mouth twitched as she asked, “Can it be done in a few days?”
“Why wait a few days?” Lu Xibei asked, puzzled, tilting her head.
“Because of the heat.” Xia Lianqing glanced at the mung bean soup on the table and explained, “Miss Shen has just woken up, and she may not have felt it yet, but today, for some reason, the weather has suddenly turned hot. It’s even hotter than the hot months of May and June, and it’s also dry…”
“…” Lu Xibei was momentarily speechless.
Xia Lianqing didn’t know what had happened, but she was well aware.
As she consolidated her spirit seal and successfully advanced, giving her authentic authority over the drought god, it had suddenly descended upon the God Realm Yumen, which would certainly result in extreme dryness!
But what does dryness have to do with waiting a few days before recharging Shen Baiwei’s spirit energy?
Just as Lu Xibei was wondering, she heard Xia Lianqing explain, “With all the people in Yumen Pass trapped in this city for a hundred days, many have pent-up frustration. For these days, I’ve been helping the Longxiang Army maintain order within the city, and I’ve noticed the number of verbal altercations among the people increasing day by day…”
During this time, her longing for Longxiang had intensified and couldn’t be alleviated. She could only use all her skills on these matters.
Once people got busy, they had no time to worry.
“The weather suddenly turning hot makes the people in the city even more irritable, and it’s likely to lead to all sorts of disasters… oh, and also, there are natural calamities!”
At this point in Xia Lianqing’s speech, Lu Xibei felt a slight tightening in her heart.
That isn’t me! I didn’t! Who said anything about natural calamities?!
Seeing that Lu Xibei was silent, Xia Lianqing continued, “To be honest, just this morning, there have been several incidents of violence in the nearby marketplaces. I’ve hurried back and forth several times, and only just managed to find time to bring this mung bean soup…”
“So, I thought, perhaps it would be better to wait until the dreadful weather passes and I can have a little rest before replenishing your sister’s spirit energy?”
After hearing Xia Lianqing’s explanation, Lu Xibei frowned.
Those two terrifying presences hidden within the city had already set their sights on her, and trouble could come at any moment. Even waiting for a few hours for Shen Baiwei to recover on her own was difficult, let alone waiting a few days.
However…
What Xia Lianqing said did make some sense.
One couldn’t just watch as disasters arose within Yumen Pass, causing damage and injuries, while sulking and forcing Xia Lianqing to recharge Shen Baiwei’s spirit energy, could they?
After a brief hesitation, Lu Xibei said seriously, “It’s fine. I’ll help you handle those matters. You just stay here…”
She was only halfway through when a shout from outside the room abruptly interrupted her, and the voice stopped abruptly.
“Miss! It’s not good, Miss! Something serious has happened!”
Accompanied by the shout, Xia Lianqing’s personal maid rushed in, flustered, stumbled a few steps, and fell at Xia Lianqing’s feet.
Lu Xibei looked over the panicking girl and couldn’t help but frown.
Her hair was disheveled, her mouth stained with bl**d, her face pale, and her eyes dazed. In this exceptionally hot weather, she seemed as if she had been chilled, trembling all over. Her light silk skirt had been torn in several places, revealing skin that bore bruises and scratches; her small hands pressed on the ground, with the nails chipped and covered in dirt…
One look and it was obvious she had encountered something terrible and was badly scared.
In the next moment, she uttered something shocking.
“M-Miss, d-dead, there are dead people! So many dead!”
Upon hearing this, Xia Lianqing’s face changed. While patting the maid’s back, she handed her a bowl of mung bean soup, gently saying, “Don’t panic. What exactly happened? Take your time…”
The girl trembled as she took the porcelain bowl, sipped a bit, and after a moment of heavy breathing, when some color returned to her face, she finally began.
“Just now, according to what you said, I went to the marketplace to gather the materials for cooling tea. Once I arrived at the marketplace, I saw Xie Erlang holding a machete…”
She began recounting the details from when she saw Xie Erlang committing violence openly, taking two or three minutes to describe how the crowd gathered in the streets, how Xie Erlang killed a man, severed the giant man’s head, and chopped up the body. As she spoke, her voice choked.
Following that, before she could finish explaining what happened, it was as if she touched some terrible memory, falling silent, and her body began to tremble again as if her soul had been snatched away.
Noticing this, Lu Xibei stepped forward and gently placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder, silently activating the ability of [Royal Authority], softly saying, “Don’t be scared. It’s all over; no one can hurt you now… Come on, tell us, what happened?”
She had possessed the power of [Royal Authority] for a long time, and she was no longer like at the beginning, when she only knew how to use the ability to violently scare the target. As she gradually mastered the power of [Royal Authority], she discovered that as long as she controlled the intensity of the mental intimidation, she could achieve a calming effect.
Is this what people call “both the thunder and the rain are both imperial grace”?
As the effect of [Royal Authority] enveloped the girl, she trembled violently for a moment, her eyes regaining some clarity, and only then did she stammer, “The townsfolk… the townsfolk have all gone mad!”
“At first, besides Xie Erlang chasing and slashing that One-Eyed Man, others were just cursing and grappling, but when Xie Erlang killed someone, once everyone saw bl**d, they all went out of control, attacking anyone they saw. Even the old, weak, women, and children were determined to k*ll each other, and their attacks became increasingly brutal, and then…”
“bl**d, so much bl**d, and flesh, and hands, and… the head of a child! Right in front of me, there!” The girl described, her hands gesturing frantically as if simulating tumbling objects, “Right there, rolling towards me like that…”
Imagining the girl’s description, the room seemed to fill with a strong smell of bl**d.
“Haha, she even smiled at me! Asking if I wanted to buy flowers, pomegranate flowers; they were beautiful, haha, haha…”
Seeing the girl’s state becoming increasingly abnormal, as if she had lost her mind, Lu Xibei quickly amplified the intensity of [Royal Authority].
The string that held the girl’s mind together finally snapped, her body convulsed abruptly, her eyes rolled white, and she collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.
The room fell into dead silence.
In the silence, Xia Lianqing turned to look at Lu Xibei, and between their gazes, worry was apparent in her eyes.
That gaze seemed to say, “Miss Shen, this scorching weather indeed stirred up big trouble!”
Lu Xibei, “…”
Can this hot weather really make people so irritable and bloodthirsty?
Why does it feel like I’m the one bearing the black pot for someone else?
It sounds like… the black pot thrown by the Shaman Queen?
