Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Before the dust had even settled, Blood Butcher's prized Blood-Transforming Demon Blade had been reduced to scrap metal.

Su Qing walked barefoot on the ground, the bells on her ankles ringing crisply.

Su Qing tidied her disheveled long hair, picked up half of the broken knife handle from the ground, and patted it on Gu Xiang's face.

"Brother Gu, are you awake?" Su Qing called out without turning her head, while simultaneously transferring some spiritual energy into his body.

With the help of the righteous energy gradually awakening within him and Su Qing's spiritual power, Gu Xiang slowly woke up.

Gu Xiang leaned against the tree trunk, blood still flowing from his thigh, but he felt no pain at all.

He was completely dumbfounded, staring blankly at Su Qing's back, his mind reeling as if hundreds of ducks were arguing.

Is Brother Su a woman?

Is Brother Su a great beauty?

So before that...

"Brother Gu!" Su Qing raised his voice.

Gu Xiang suddenly jolted, instinctively trying to stand up and bow, but this aggravated her wound, causing her to grimace in pain: "Yes! Yes!"

"Watch closely, I'll teach you another saying today." Su Qing raised the broken hilt of his sword and pointed at Xue Tu beside him. "This is called 'A gentleman who is not dignified will not command respect.'"

Gu Xiang was taken aback: "The Sage...is that what you mean?"

"It means that if we don't go all out, these bastards won't know what authority is."

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Qing slammed the hilt of his knife down, striking Xue Tu directly in the dantian.

With a muffled thud, Blood Butcher didn't even have time to scream before his entire body arched up like a boiled shrimp, and his Blood Fiend Technique, which he had painstakingly cultivated for a hundred years, instantly dissipated completely.

"And this line, 'If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening,'" Su Qing kicked Xue Tu in the chin again, sending him tumbling twice in the air. "It means that if I find out the way to your house in the morning, you'll die tonight."

Blood Butcher crashed heavily to the ground, twitched twice, and then remained motionless.

Li Yu huddled in the corner, still clutching the broken jade talisman in her hand, watching this scene, her Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

As a prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he had seen many skilled warriors in the palace, but he had never seen anyone who could distort the words of the sages while beating someone to death like this.

That's too brutal.

That's so unreasonable.

Su Qing dusted off her hands and tossed the broken hilt of the knife aside with a look of disgust.

The system notifications kept ringing in her mind, rewarding her cultivation and notifying her of mission completion. Too lazy to look at them closely, she turned and walked towards Gu Xiang.

When Gu Xiang saw her walking over, his heart rate instantly soared to 180.

That scene was so impactful.

Amidst the billowing dust, her long hair cascaded down her back, and her red dress fluttered in the wind. Although that red dress was actually a backdrop stained with the blood of Xue Tu, it didn't stop Gu Xiang from finding her beautiful.

It's so beautiful it's almost unbearable.

"Su...Su..." Gu Xiang stammered for a long time, unsure whether to call him Brother Su or Miss Su.

Su Qing walked up to him, squatted down, and reached out to tear off his trouser leg.

"Absolutely not!" Gu Xiang exclaimed in shock, clutching his thighs tightly with both hands. "Men and women should not touch! Miss Su, please have some self-respect!"

"You're about to die, what's the point of having self-respect?" Su Qing rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away. "Weren't you just calling me brother? What, you don't recognize me now that the genders are different?"

"That...that's different..." Gu Xiang's face was so red it was almost bleeding, and he didn't dare to look at Su Qing's face at all. He could only stare at the ants on the ground. "I didn't know your identity before, and I was very offended. I...I deserve to die."

"Alright, shut up."

Su Qing was too lazy to listen to his pedantry. She gathered a soft white light at her fingertips and pressed it directly onto Gu Xiang's wound.

This was a trace of her original spiritual power, only the size of a fingernail, but more than enough to heal a mortal's external injury.

More importantly, this spiritual energy contains the alluring charm of the celestial fox, which can stimulate the potential within this fool.

Gu Xiang felt a warm current flow down her thigh and spread throughout her body. The originally painful wound instantly became tingly and numb. Then, her heart suddenly skipped a few beats.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

That legendary seven-aperture exquisite heart seemed to sense something and actually started to operate on its own.

A pale golden stream of energy surged from Gu Xiang's chest, flowed along his meridians, and finally gathered at his brow.

Gu Xiang felt his mind clear up instantly, and the fear he had felt when facing Xue Tu vanished completely, replaced by an indescribable sense of righteousness.

"Huh?" Su Qing raised an eyebrow.

On the system panel, Gu Xiang's awakening progress of righteous qi jumped directly to 20%.

This idiot's talent is truly astonishing.

In less than half an incense stick's time, the blood hole on Gu Xiang's thigh had already scabbed over and healed.

Su Qing withdrew her hand and casually wiped the bloodstains off his clothes.

"Alright, get up and walk around a bit." Su Qing stood up.

Gu Xiang tentatively moved her leg and found that it really didn't hurt anymore. Overjoyed, she stood up and jumped twice: "It's healed! It's really healed! Thank you so much, Miss Su... Miss Su, for saving my life!"

He wanted to bow, but felt it was a bit strange to bow to a woman, so he held his hand in mid-air, unsure of what to do.

Su Qing ignored him, turned around and walked to Xue Tu's corpse, skillfully touching the body.

A moment later, she had a storage bag in her hand.

"Poor bastard." Su Qing curled his lip and emptied the contents of his storage bag. Apart from a bunch of messy evil cultivation materials, there were only a few thousand taels of silver notes and some loose gold and silver.

She casually grabbed a handful of melon seeds, turned around, and walked up to Li Yu.

Li Yu was leaning against a pillar, pretending to be dead. When he saw Su Qing approaching, he immediately stood up straight and bowed respectfully, saying, "Thank you for saving my life, senior. I, Li Yu, will repay you handsomely in the future."

This kid is clever; he immediately addressed me as "senior."

Su Qing looked at him with a half-smile: "Third Prince, is it? Instead of staying in the capital, you've come to this remote and impoverished place for an incognito visit?"

Li Yu's expression changed, and he said with a wry smile, "Senior has insight. This junior just... came out for a walk to clear his head."

"You almost lost your life trying to clear your head, you've really got a good time." Su Qing stuffed the gold melon seeds in his hand, "Here, this is for calming your nerves."

Li Yu held the handful of golden melon seeds, unsure whether to accept them or throw them away. When had a prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty ever been rewarded with money?

"Senior, this..."

"Take it." Su Qing's tone turned colder. "I don't want a fourth person to know about what happened today. Especially not someone like me."

Li Yu felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and quickly nodded: "Senior, rest assured, I didn't see anything today. I only remember that it was a... a reclusive master who saw injustice."

"You're smart enough to know what's good for you." Su Qing nodded in satisfaction, then grabbed a handful of silver notes and stuffed them into Gu Xiang's hand, who was still in a daze. "Take these too, you'll need money when you get to the capital."

Gu Xiang hurriedly caught the silver note: "This...this is ill-gotten gains..."

"This is the hard-earned money that old monster plundered from the people. You're taking it and spending it in the capital. That's taking from the people and using it for the people. How is that unjust?" Su Qing glared at him.

Gu Xiang thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he silently put the silver note into his pocket.

After dividing the spoils, Su Qing walked to a clean stream and made a hand seal.

A mist rose up, obscuring her figure.

When the mist dissipated, the domineering female demon in red was gone, replaced by a handsome scholar in a blue robe and a square scarf on his head.

Except for the fact that he was carrying a folding fan, he was exactly the same as the previous "Brother Su".

Gu Xiang stared in disbelief: "Brother Su...?"

Su Qing walked over, reached out and lifted his chin, a mischievous smile playing on her lips: "What? Don't you recognize your elder brother? Weren't you quite forthright when we swore brotherhood? You even said you'd live and die with me."

Gu Xiang's face instantly turned as red as a monkey's bottom, even the base of her neck turned bright red.

He remembered that in the woods before, Su Qing leaned on his shoulder, and he even suspected that he was gay and slapped himself.

So... so it really was soft!

"Miss Su... Miss Su, please don't make fun of me..." Gu Xiang stammered, shrinking back.

"Who's teasing you?" Su Qing released his hand and flicked his forehead. "From now on, when we're out, you should still call me Brother Su. If you dare to give yourself away, I'll rip out your clever little heart and use it as a snack."

Gu Xiang covered her forehead, and although she knew she was joking, she still couldn't help but shiver.

This woman is terrifying.

But... it's just too captivating.

Gu Xiang secretly glanced at Su Qing and found that after she changed back into men's clothing, the oppressive feeling was much less, and instead, there was a sense of familiar warmth.

The huge weight on his heart finally lifted.

Thankfully, I'm not gay.

I did not do anything to betray my ancestors!

"Let's go, what are you standing there for?" Su Qing put her hands behind her back and strode forward. "We still have thousands of miles to go to the capital. If we dawdle any longer, it'll be dark soon."

Li Yu glanced at Su Qing's retreating figure, then at Gu Xiang's infatuated grin, and shook her head helplessly.

These two are a mix of two people: one pretending to be weak while the other is actually a pig.

The journey to the capital city is unlikely to be peaceful.

As the sun set, it cast long shadows of the three people.

Su Qing walked at the front, humming a little tune in a good mood.

On the system panel, that line of red text stood out prominently:

[Slaying the evil cultivator Blood Butcher will reward you with a slight increase in cultivation level.]

[Gu Xiang's Bond Quest Updated: Help Gu Xiang establish herself in the capital.]

[Current favorability: 40% (This scholar seems to have ulterior motives towards you)]

Su Qing curled her lip. "Unreasonable thoughts?"

Think beautifully.

She glanced back and saw Gu Xiang following behind, limping, carrying that tattered book box, grinning like a fool.

"Brother Gu, does your leg still hurt?" Su Qing called out.

"It doesn't hurt! Not at all!" Gu Xiang straightened his back and answered loudly, "Brother Su... Miss Su, slow down, wait for me!"

Su Qing smiled and slowed her pace.

Oh, the capital city.

That place has more monsters and ghosts; hopefully it'll be more fun than this.

It really is:

The red robes are shed for green ones, and the fists are raised to speak sacred words.

Do not ask whether the road ahead is good or bad, I will send you a thousand miles to the Yellow Springs.