“Adulterer and whore!” Liu Qiao’e cursed. “You’re all in the same corrupt nest!”
Bai Mengli’s face flushed red with anger.
Mu Daoying, however, remained unflustered, utterly calm.
He truly had not expected Liu Qiao’e to react so strongly. Now that he had thoroughly offended her, and the offense was done, Mu Daoying could only go all out and make proper amends and apologies later.
Bai Mengli was afflicted with spring poison after all. They had to dispel the poison first before discussing anything else; otherwise, this stalemate was truly unbecoming.
He set his mind to it and did not waver.
Liu Qiao’e said, “In broad daylight under the clear sky, you two—a man and a woman alone together in one room—must have done who knows how many lewd deeds, yet you still have the nerve to lecture me!”
Bai Mengli could no longer hold back. “Things between me and Daoist Mu are not as filthy as you imagine! The Daoist was merely helping me regulate my breathing and qi.”
The youth looked refined and weak, but his grip was immensely strong. Liu Qiao’e felt pain from his twisting but still refused to yield, continuing to hurl filthy curses from her mouth. After cursing Bai Mengli, she turned with equal treatment to curse Mu Daoying as well.
“You seemed so chaste and pure, but you’re just judging by appearances, a lecherous hypocrite!”
Mu Daoying merely reproved lightly, “Watch your words.”
He then looked down at Liu Qiao’e. “It was not Ying’s original intent to lay hands on Fellow Daoist. If Fellow Daoist is willing to talk calmly, Ying will release you, how about that?”
Liu Qiao’e would not comply. “Mu Daoying, playing the saint today, treating everyone else as good people, ha! In truth, in this Joyous Union Palace, men and women alike see you as a wh—urk!”
Mu Daoying lowered his gaze and tightened his grip on her hand. “Nonsense.”
He did not grow angry, merely blocking her.
But this blockage left Liu Qiao’e unable to free herself. She turned back and saw the youth properly dressed, with delicate and alluring brows furrowed tightly, exuding an aloof, untouchable immortal air. Hatred surged even stronger in her heart.
“What, did I say something wrong? Once fallen into the Joyous Union Palace, sooner or later you’ll be a thousand men’s pillow, ridden by ten thousand—”
Mu Daoying sighed inwardly at her stubborn unruliness. His palm showed no mercy as he channeled force, twisting her arms and forcing Liu Qiao’e to stagger forward a step.
“More nonsense.”
Mu Daoying had long handled judicial affairs in the Jade Purity lineage, and this time he truly harbored intentions to discipline her. His hands channeled strength without any tenderness toward the fairer sex.
Liu Qiao’e could not endure the pain and gnashed her teeth in hatred.
This bastard even asked, “Are you willing to dispel the poison for Fellow Daoist Bai?”
You hold the knife and chopping block, I am the fish meat. Liu Qiao’e hated Mu Daoying’s domineering ways to the bone, yet she also knew the principle that a gentleman avenges even after ten years.
“Let go of me,” Liu Qiao’e said through gritted teeth. “Let go of me, and I’ll dispel the poison for her.”
Mu Daoying did not release her immediately but first observed the credibility in her expression. His dark eyes were close at hand, scrutinizing directly and thoroughly without him even noticing.
Liu Qiao’e’s face flushed red from his gaze.
Seeing that she had truly surrendered, he then let go and gently pushed her back. “Go.”
Liu Qiao’e unwillingly approached Bai Mengli.
Bai Mengli stiffened. “You—”
Liu Qiao’e glared coldly, lowered her head, and took out several vials from the mustard seed pouch at her waist. She mixed them on the spot, and in short order, handed the antidote to Bai Mengli. “Eat it.”
The Joyous Union Palace had never been a place for poetic dalliances or indulging in dreams. With disciples indulging in lust, desires rampant, darkness naturally bred, morals decayed, and the atmosphere grew depraved and corrupt.
Trapped in such an abyss with no one able to advance through dual cultivation, Liu Qiao’e had naturally carved out her own way to survive—relying on unorthodox paths like medicine and poison to stay alive.
Today, her skills fell short. Seeing Mu Daoying protect Bai Mengli at every turn, with new and old grudges piling up, Liu Qiao’e felt disgust. Naturally, she would not let Bai Mengli off easily.
Bai Mengli opened her mouth and swallowed the medicine.
Mu Daoying watched and thought the matter finally turned over. Who would have thought that the next second, Bai Mengli cried out in laughter. “—Ah ha, haha!” Her whole body felt as if bitten by a hundred ants—not painful, just unbearably itchy, and she could not help laughing. In her panic, tears streamed down uncontrollably, her appearance utterly wretched.
Mu Daoying reacted decisively, flashing forward and tapping her major acupoints all over her body with his finger. Bai Mengli felt slightly better but still panted with tears and snot nonstop.
Mu Daoying turned to Liu Qiao’e. “Fellow Daoist Liu, what is the meaning of this?” The questioning intent in his eyes was very clear.
A strange cold smile appeared at the corner of Liu Qiao’e’s lips. “As you wished, I dispelled her poison. But the side effects of this antidote are beyond my control!”
Mu Daoying saw it all; how could he not understand? People like Liu Qiao’e could only be handled firmly. Knowing she was unconvinced, he wasted no more words and struck like lightning.
This time, the one who cried out in alarm became Liu Qiao’e. “!”
Mu Daoying’s sleeve flicked slightly, and in the blink of an eye, he had twisted her arms again, restraining her in front of him. “I know you harbor resentment, and the resentment lies with Ying alone. No need to involve others.”
The youth’s lips pressed slightly together as he pleaded softly, “Please, Fellow Daoist, lend a hand.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Liu Qiao’e’s face suddenly turned deathly pale. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead as she squeezed words out through clenched teeth. “On… what… basis?”
Her voice trembled as if enduring immense pain. Mu Daoying paused slightly, sensing something wrong, when he suddenly felt a warm liquid like water flowing from his palm.
He looked down and saw his entire palm dyed red with blood from some unknown source.
His voice sharpened. “You’re injured?”
Liu Qiao’e bit her teeth and said nothing, still trying to clench her fist to hide it.
Mu Daoying restrained her with one hand, freed the other, and swiftly seized her palm, forcibly prying open her fingers one by one.
Her tiger’s mouth was swollen high, and a deep wound visible to the bone in her palm gushed blood.
Mu Daoying stilled for a breath. “…Why didn’t you say so.”
Liu Qiao’e panted with a cold laugh. “Say what? Tell you, so you could beat me again for your beloved beauty, adding injury to injury?!”
Mu Daoying fell silent for a moment and released his hand.
Liu Qiao’e struggled free and fished out a small porcelain vial from her mustard seed pouch, tossing it at Mu Daoying’s feet. “The medicine’s here. Take it and get lost.”
Mu Daoying stood in silence for a while, then bent down to pick up the porcelain vial from the floor and handed it to Bai Mengli.
With the poison dispelled, Bai Mengli’s face turned iron-blue with anger. She looked at Liu Qiao’e with eyes cold as knives but knew she had a favor to ask and could not vent.
She could only lower her head to Mu Daoying. “Daoist Mu—”
“Once Fellow Daoist has taken the antidote, please return first.”
Bai Mengli shot Liu Qiao’e a disgusted glance, took the medicine, and bid farewell to the two.
Once Bai Mengli left, Mu Daoying asked, “Who injured you?”
Liu Qiao’e said, “What’s the point of asking? I don’t need your fake compassion!”
Liu Qiao’e harbored prejudice against Bai Mengli, and in the urgency, he had no choice but to restrain her first.
She dared to love and hate, and she would surely hold a grudge against him after this.
Mu Daoying knew that trying to explain or apologize now would only pour oil on the fire. “Your injury is serious. Let me bandage it first.”
Liu Qiao’e angrily brushed his hand away. “I don’t need your help!”
No sooner had she spoken than Mu Daoying pressed her down again.
“Fellow Daoist Liu—” He sighed softly.
His pitch-black eyes took on a faint brown sheen in the sunlight, flashing with guilt and… pity?
Mu Daoying’s impression of Liu Qiao’e was extremely complex. Though he adhered strictly to rites in daily life and was rigorous with himself, he knew he was no sage and naturally had likes and dislikes toward different people.
He did not like Liu Qiao’e—her deep malice, her shallow and narrow-mindedness, her vicious heart. Yet in certain moments, he pitied her bluster and feigned toughness.
The line between like and dislike was but a thought. Mu Daoying had to admit that Liu Qiao’e could easily sway his emotions, unsettling his Dao heart and stirring his feelings.
Meeting Mu Daoying’s gaze, Liu Qiao’e felt as if scorched by fire.
As if seeing the most unreasonable, intolerable, ridiculous, absurd thing in the world, she abruptly stood. “I said I don’t need your help, and I mean it!”
Liu Qiao’e suddenly erupted, and Mu Daoying paused slightly.
With things developed to this point, since she was already angry at him, he might as well see it through.
His mind set, Mu Daoying lowered his lashes, ignored her as if deaf, pointed two fingers, and swiftly brushed her wrist, tapping once.
Liu Qiao’e felt her whole body go soft, strength instantly gone, and she collapsed onto the sitting mat at his feet, unable to move.
She glared at him in humiliated fury, eyes wide in disbelief. Restrained as she was, she could only see the snow-white boots under his Daoist robes, embroidered with taiji dual fish patterns in dark thread.
As if unable to believe he could be so shameless, “You, you, you! Hypocritical and shameless!”
Those elegant, pristine white boots drew gently closer.
Mu Daoying stepped forward to support her, coughed lightly a few times, silently ignored Liu Qiao’e’s murderous glare, poured a cup of clear water, and warmed it in his palm with inner force.
He then seized her palm, spread it open upward. His movements were gentle, full of patience.
Liu Qiao’e’s expression gradually turned strange, feeling as if a feather tickled her palm. Raising her eyes, she saw the profile of Mu Daoying’s face—his nose bridge straight and handsome, his gaze focused, as if handling something most precious.
Precious?
Had anger addled her brain? To think Mu Daoying would treat her as precious?
In his eyes, she was probably worth less than a roadside stray dog!
Only Bai Mengli… Shen Chengyin, women like that could be treated as equals by him. Liu Qiao’e thought sourly. As for someone like her, she could be coerced at will and dismissed at whim, just like a master rewarding or punishing servants.
Fearing her resistance, he dared not be negligent or delay. He swiftly produced a bottle of wound medicine from his sleeve.
Liu Qiao’e recognized it as the one she had given him before. She cursed inwardly at his shamelessness: Bah, borrowing flowers to offer Buddha, the sly fox!
Mu Daoying uncorked the bottle and evenly sprinkled the powder over the wound at her tiger’s mouth.
He suddenly spoke. “I have only met Fellow Daoist Bai twice.”
Liu Qiao’e was stunned for a moment before realizing: was he explaining himself to her?
He and I are neither kin nor friends—why would he bother explaining to me?!
Even so, a faint sweetness still welled up involuntarily from the depths of her heart.
Mu Daoying lowered his eyes. “She was afflicted with spring poison and came seeking help at Watercloud Ravine. Ignoring her would risk an incident, and she cannot have an incident—especially not in Watercloud Ravine.”
Liu Qiao’e’s expression softened slightly. She pursed her lips. “Why tell me all this?”
Mu Daoying said, “You have some grudge with Fellow Daoist Bai?”
Liu Qiao’e said arrogantly, “What’s it to you?”
After these few days together, he had more or less grasped how to deal with Liu Qiao’e. Mu Daoying calmly ignored her sharp attitude, took out a clean strip of fine linen from his mustard seed pouch, and continued evenly, “Fellow Daoist’s temperament is upright and straightforward, speaking her mind freely…”
Liu Qiao’e sneered. No wonder he came from a scholarly clan with literati habits; he could unflinchingly paint her as “straightforward.”
He wrapped the gauze tightly around, circle by circle. At the end, however, Mu Daoying paused, seeming hesitant. “The Joyous Union Palace is a place of deceit and scheming. Fellow Daoist’s temperament may not suit it…”
“Has Fellow Daoist considered Ying’s previous proposal?”
Liu Qiao’e said, “After treating me like this, what makes you think I’ll agree?”
Mu Daoying changed the subject. “For what happened earlier, Ying apologizes to you.”
“You… if you agree, I will recommend you to the Wandering Sword Pavilion or the Supreme Harmony Sect—”
“Ultimately, which sect to join depends on your own wishes.” Meeting Liu Qiao’e’s accusing gaze, Mu Daoying paused and added.
“However, you must know that no matter which sect, it will be stricter than in the Joyous Union Palace. Righteous sects have stringent rules. If you continue acting so unrestrained in the future, you risk bringing disaster upon yourself.”
He did not like Liu Qiao’e—her personality, habits, and ways of handling things. He disliked them all. In the past, Mu Daoying would not have entangled with her at all.
His attitude today was firm only out of worry—
With her temperament and behavior, speaking without restraint like this, how would she fare in the future?
“What I said—does Fellow Daoist understand?”
Liu Qiao’e still said nothing.
Mu Daoying raised his eyes, persuading patiently. “If Fellow Daoist agrees, Ying will release you.”
All his earnest persuasion earlier went in one ear and out the other for her; she remembered only how he humiliated her today.
Such a great humiliation—she would repay it someday!
Liu Qiao’e resolved inwardly but feigned utmost compliance on her face.
True to his word, Mu Daoying released her, restoring her freedom.
Liu Qiao’e twisted her wrist and looked at Mu Daoying’s refined face, suppressing the urge to lash out. She asked coldly, “You make it sound so good. Taking such a big risk to do this deed with you—do you plan to just shove me into some sect afterward and wash your hands of my life or death?!”
Mu Daoying said, “It’s not that I don’t care about your life or death. By then, someone else will naturally take care of you for me.”
“What about you?! You’re just going to leave like that?”
Mu Daoying fell silent. His master Ling Yuan, True Person Qingxu, faces and past events flashed through his mind.
“I just… after going out, never thought I could survive.” The youth paused for half a second, turned his face away, and said indifferently.