Seeing Su Luo faint into his arms, Li Tianjue's heart tightened.
He quickly checked her, and only when he was sure she had fallen into a deep sleep and was otherwise unharmed did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"What's wrong? Is Junior Sister alright?"
"Senior Brother, why did Sister Su faint?"
Chu Tianshu and Tang Xiaoguo rushed over, worried about Su Luo. They were only relieved when they learned that she had expended a great deal of mental energy and needed to rest well.
"Leave the rest to us," Chu Tianshu nodded.
Shangguan Hanyu was surrounded by hundreds of blood ants. In a life-or-death situation, he had no choice but to fight desperately. Without Su Luo's mental control, these blood ants attacked purely on instinct, and their lethality was significantly reduced. He managed to kill quite a few.
After finally killing all the blood ants, Shangguan Hanyu was covered in blood, and his legs were almost bitten down to the bone.
He held on, propping himself up with his sword and kneeling on the ground, looking at Li Tianjue and the others in terror.
Chu Tianshu gripped his long sword and walked up, knocking away Shangguan Hanyu's sword and bringing it to his neck, slashing back and forth. He teased, "Weren't you very powerful? Didn't you want to kill us? Why aren't you able to now?"
"E-everyone, you promised just now to let me go."
Shangguan Hanyu's face was contorted, and he said tremblingly, "Su Luo said just now that if I killed these blood ants, she would let me go... You are people of Qingxu Heaven; you can't go back on your word!"
It seemed there was such a thing.
Chu Tianshu put on an expression of sudden realization and said, "But that wasn't what I said, and I didn't say I would let you go."
Shang Xie Shaoqing walked over, "Why the nonsense? A single sword strike will finish him."
"Spare me, please..."
Shangguan Hanyu's body went cold, and he immediately knelt down again, weeping and saying, "You can't do this. You promised to spare my life... Kind sirs, please have mercy... Wuwuwu... we have no enmity, let me go..."
"Crying like a sissy, what a coward."
Shang Xie Shaoqing scoffed disdainfully. Annoyed by his crying, he said coldly, "You've done so much evil, and now you want to beg for mercy?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he pointed a finger at Shangguan Hanyu's lower abdomen. A scream rang out.
"We've crippled your cultivation, but we haven't killed you. We've done all we can. Be gone!"
"Y-yes, thank you..."
Shangguan Hanyu was in so much pain that his clothes were soaked with cold sweat, but he had to force himself to stand up. Holding his agonizing lower abdomen, he didn't even look at Shui Qingyue and fled ignominiously, dragging his blood-covered legs.
Shang Xie Shaoqing then turned back and clapped his hands, saying, "If Luo Luo hadn't said to spare him, I really would have killed him. Now that we've let him go with his miserable life, he won't be able to stir up any trouble."
Now only Shui Qingyue remained.
Pairs of cold eyes swept over her, and Shui Qingyue shivered all over.
"You... What do you want to do?" she shouted, her voice laced with feigned ferocity, "Get away! I am the Saintess of the Taichu Holy Land. Do you really dare to touch me? My father will not let you off!"
While speaking the most ferocious words, she was the most guilty. Her face was pale, and she knew her fate.
Although she had inexplicably re-established contact with the Blood Ant Queen, Shui Qingyue knew that it had no more eggs and all the blood ants were dead. Her trump card had become useless and no longer posed a threat.
"Still so stubborn!"
Chu Tianshu leaped onto the blood ant queen's elastic back. Shui Qingyue fought back desperately, but in her despair, she couldn't exert her normal strength. Within a few moves, she was kicked down, falling to the ground in a disheveled state.
Shang Xie Shaoqing quickly sealed Shui Qingyue's acupoints, completely subduing her.
Chu Tianshu walked up to Shui Qingyue and unceremoniously removed her storage ring and the Glazed Bracelet from her hand. Tang Xiaoguo would search her in places that were inconvenient, taking her hairpins, earrings, and even checking her bosom and sleeves.
After thoroughly searching Shui Qingyue, they found a porcelain bottle inside her storage artifact attached to her belt.
It contained a white pill.
"Is this it, the antidote?" Tang Xiaoguo looked at Shui Qingyue.
"..."
Shui Qingyue's face was full of resentment, and she bit her lip, refusing to speak.
Chu Tianshu, having lost patience, sliced off her bun with his sword. Shui Qingyue screamed in fright, "Yes, it's the antidote!"
"It really takes force to get the truth!"
Chu Tianshu took the antidote from Tang Xiaoguo and handed it to Li Tianjue.
Now the Third Elder's poison could be cured.
Li Tianjue put away the pill and glanced at the sleeping Su Luo in his arms. She lay quietly, like a porcelain doll. He felt immense tenderness and was exceptionally careful, afraid of doing anything wrong and hurting her.
The entire valley was filled with the smell of blood, and the ground was littered with white bones and dead blood ants. Li Tianjue held Su Luo and said in a soft voice, "Luo Luo said not to let Shui Qingyue off. Leave it to you to deal with her. I'll take her out first."
"Brother Li—!"
Shui Qingyue screamed in despair, her eyes filled with madness and fear.
Only now did she become truly afraid.
Li Tianjue glanced at her without a second look and turned to leave.
Chu Tianshu understood Li Tianjue's intention, and the corners of his lips curled into a smile, "Alright, Senior Brother. Leave it to us. We definitely won't let this woman off. Hey, Shang Xie, what do you think we should do to her?"
Shang Xie Shaoqing, when ruthless, was completely different from his appearance. "This woman is perverse and detestable. Why not sever her limbs? Killing her with a single sword would be too easy for her."
Wen Daier chuckled, "Severing her limbs is too unsightly. Why not plant her in the ground? Perhaps she'll bloom."
You Luanzi came forward fawningly, "Miss Wen's idea is good!"
The others thought it was a good idea too, "Fine, let's just plant her. Shui Qingyue, you've repeatedly attacked Qingxu Heaven, ordered the Seven Star Sect to use so many people to ripen spirit herbs, and fed the Blood Ant Queen. Now it's time for you to taste this yourself; this is called retribution."
"No, I don't want to..."
Shui Qingyue trembled with fear. Faced with such a terrifying way to die, she would rather commit suicide.
Unfortunately, her acupoints were sealed, and she couldn't even sever her own meridians.
Du Wei and You Luanzi worked together. One cleared a pillar, and the other tied her to it. They then found some remaining Black Spirit Fungi and sprinkled the spore powder on her. In a short while, black spots appeared all over her body.
Du Wei laughed heartily, "Haha, soon she'll be like I was before."
Shui Qingyue couldn't move and watched helplessly as those black spots grew on her clothes, turning into mushrooms, getting bigger and bigger, more and more numerous. She was terrified to the point of fainting.
If this continued, within three days, her entire body would be covered in mushrooms.
She screamed desperately, begged for mercy, cursed, cried profusely...
But no one paid her any attention.
...
Li Tianjue stayed by Su Luo's side, never leaving.
It had been a full two days, and she still hadn't woken up. If not for Li Tianjue constantly checking Su Luo's body and finding no abnormalities, he would have been restless long ago.
But even so, he remained uneasy. Why hadn't she woken up yet?
Gently stroking her face, Li Tianjue's gaze was tender, and he murmured to himself, "Luo Luo, how much longer do you intend to sleep?"
Her face remained unchanged, her eyes lightly closed, serene and elegant. Compared to her usual playfulness, there was a hint of gentleness.
Suddenly, Su Luo's eyelashes fluttered slightly.