Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Going with the Flow
After the Tenth Princess’s cold ridicule, Changdao Sect did not know whether to block her or let her go.
In the end, they could only watch as her people packed up every dowry gift and swaggered out of Changdao Sect.
They had pride. They would not chase after her. But a husband chasing his wife? That was only proper.
Hu Qing even overheard Wen Ting getting lectured. “Is your personal pride more important than the sect’s pride? We cannot fall out with the Divine Eagle Clan.”
Another elder added, “She’s a Princess, and she said those things about Changdao Sect. If you can’t coax her back, then accompany her home for a time. Living with your parents-in-law is still a form of filial duty.”
Hu Qing whispered to Juan Bu, “See? That’s the advantage of having a powerful natal family. If the Tenth Princess were just an ordinary woman, she wouldn’t have stepped off her peak today.”
For Hu Nuan’s sake, she needed to get stronger too.
Juan Bu agreed at once. “The stronger you are, the better.”
He had always pushed her to grow. She was the one who had been timid.
The group hurried toward the teleportation array. Behind them, Wen Ting followed with a cold, stiff face.
Hu Qing fell back to the end of the maids’ line again. She glanced over her shoulder and couldn’t help thinking: classic chase-your-wife arc. If he hadn’t followed, the Tenth Princess might have respected him more.
A maid ahead snapped, “What are you looking at? Did you fall for that man too? Hmph. You Human Clan women are all fickle.”
Hu Qing grinned. “If you don’t turn around, how can you see me turning around?”
Her malicious streak rose. “Or is it you? You’re the one who’s fallen for the groom, and you’re afraid the Tenth Princess will truly cut him off and you’ll never see your sweetheart again.”
“Y-you!” The maid raised a hand to strike. “How dare you slander me!”
Hu Qing’s smile stayed bright. “Go ahead. If you hit me, I won’t cover for you. Whether you’re into him or not, let the Tenth Princess decide.”
The maid froze, teeth grinding, and lowered her hand. Of course she had no thoughts about the Princess’s husband. She only wanted to bully Hu Qing.
But the Tenth Princess’s temper was unpredictable, especially now. The maid could not risk the Princess overthinking and falling into a Human Clan trap.
“Scheming,” the maid muttered.
Hu Qing stared at the back of her head and sighed.
Wasn’t everyone trying to push her out? Hurry up. If they dragged it out, they’d reach the teleportation array, and Hu Qing did not want to end up dragged into Demon Clan territory.
Heavens, help me.
The heavens seemed to answer.
Just as the teleportation array came into clear view, black smoke rolled across the sky. It thickened, twisted, and became figures—masked people in black, twice their number, dropping into a blockade and forming an encirclement.
Wen Ting’s face changed. He darted forward and grabbed the Tenth Princess’s arm. “It’s the Devil Clan. Don’t come out.”
The Tenth Princess recoiled like she’d touched filth. You tell me not to come out and I won’t? Who do you think you are?
She leapt out of the carriage and shouted, “Who are you? What do you want?”
Wen Ting raised his voice as well. “This is territory under Changdao Sect. Your Excellency, think twice before acting.”
The Devil Clan leader wore a mask streaked red and white. His voice boomed through the air. “I was hired to take the Tenth Princess’s head. No need for more words. Fight.”
Wen Ting’s brow jumped. The Tenth Princess did not recognize the voice, but she still glared at Wen Ting on instinct, furious. “Another one of your women, huh?”
Here, she had no relatives, no allies. Her identity as a Tongbei Divine Eagle princess kept most enemies at bay. If death was coming for her now, then it could only be because of this man’s mess.
Wen Ting hesitated for a split second, as if he recognized something.
To the Tenth Princess, that hesitation was confession. Her eyes went cold. “So it really is you. I only slept with you a few times and now someone wants to kill me. Changdao Sect has gone too far—one day—”
She didn’t get to finish.
The Devil Clan leader charged straight at her.
Wen Ting’s aura sank like iron. He shoved the Tenth Princess back and went to meet the blow.
The Tenth Princess gripped a long feather-shaped immortal weapon and lunged in as well. “Don’t pretend you’re doing me a favor!”
And that was when Hu Qing’s luck finally ran out.
The Devil Clan came prepared. The moment the fight began, those masked attackers split their forces, slicing the Demon Clan attendants into isolated skirmishes and forcing them into scattered, one-on-one battles.
Everywhere else, people formed teams of three or five, guarding each other’s backs.
No one guarded Hu Qing.
Alone, she couldn’t even run properly.
So this was it? The Tenth Princess’s personal pastry cook didn’t deserve a single bodyguard? Unpaid and uninsured workers really got treated like weeds, huh?
Spiritual power cut through the air like blades, crisscrossing in brutal lines. Hu Qing ducked and covered her head, stumbling and scrambling, dragged along as battle groups shifted. No matter how she moved, she couldn’t break out of the encirclement.
A sudden surge of power slammed toward her. Hu Qing saw two skirmishes collide, then separate again, leaving a narrow gap—someone hesitated in a strange way, just for a heartbeat.
The next instant, she was hit.
The force was enormous. Hu Qing bit down hard to keep from coughing blood as her body flew like a stone through the gap and plunged downward.
She looked up at the sky and saw the clusters of fighters swirl together again. For one brief moment, she met someone’s eyes.
A maid—expressionless.
The maid struck again. Another blast of spiritual power shot toward Hu Qing, and without even waiting to see whether she lived, the maid turned away and rejoined the fight.
She was certain Hu Qing wouldn’t survive.
Juan Bu unfurled inside Hu Qing’s sleeve, shielding her chest and abdomen. The second strike hit him instead.
“You’re too weak,” Juan Bu said grimly. “Train your body. Raise its toughness to the level of an immortal weapon. That maid is only mid-grade Spirit Immortal.”
Hu Qing’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile. I can’t do this.
In her fading mind, she forced the thought toward Juan Bu. Hide me.
Then everything went black.
That maid had truly wanted her dead. The first strike was full power. Even when Hu Qing tore out every shred of spiritual energy she had, she still ended up half-dead.
Only now did she realize how gentle Solar Essence had been with her back then.
If it weren’t for Scorching Sun Blaze, Solar Essence could have burned her into ash in seconds.
Juan Bu scanned the land below. Luckily, it was not a crowded place. At the last moment before Hu Qing hit the ground, he guided the wind and swung her into the canopy of tall trees. She twisted through branches and leaves, bouncing and sliding until he finally stuffed her into a hollow in a great tree, hidden beneath layers of foliage.
“It’s safe,” Juan Bu said.
Even unconscious, Hu Qing heard it. Her mind loosened on instinct, and her soul sank deeper into sleep.
Her body was injured, but her dantian’s spiritual energy began repairing itself automatically.
While Hu Qing slept, the tiny Nascent Soul in her dantian opened its eyes for the first time. Its little hands and feet moved with surprising seriousness, and the spiritual energy around her softened into a steady, rhythmic pulse.
Bai Wen and the Thunder Dragon flicked their tails as if they wanted to act, but the little Nascent Soul pressed them down with one small hand each.
No trouble now.
Her injuries healed quickly. Within a few days, Hu Qing’s body revived.
But her soul still would not wake.
In her sea of consciousness, a half-transparent figure drifted on the surface like a person floating with the tide—that was Hu Qing, still asleep. Above her, a warm red sun shone down, and the water was clearer than it had ever been.
Space, Emotionless Thread, the Devil Emperor token, and the Xue Sha pearl still hated each other as always, each claiming one corner of the sea.
If you looked closely, they had all changed. A faint sheen clung to them now.
They used to look like trash.
Now they looked like secondhand goods.
Broken secondhand goods.