Chapter 406 | I, Liu Xian, Am Not a Divine Dragon

After leaving the Scorpion Spirit Jin Xin's cave, Su Qing thought for a moment and decided to head back to the palace.

Since she had already left the vegetarian banquet, it wouldn't be right to just disappear. Even if she returned, it would be hard to continue eating as if nothing had happened. Besides, she suspected quite a few people were still filled with questions, and she needed to provide some answers.

Su Qing's Somersault Cloud was incredibly fast, and in the blink of an eye, she was back at the palace. By then, Wukong had already returned with his master. He was currently speaking with Bai Yuhe—likely expressing his gratitude, given how Tang Sanzang kept bowing to her.

Noticing Su Qing's return, Wukong quickly hopped over to her side.

"Big Sister! You're back!" Wukong said hurriedly. "Thank you so much for your help. If not for you, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been this easy to rescue Master."

Su Qing gave a faint smile and replied, "There’s no need for such thanks. I only lent a bit of meager assistance; rescuing your master from that Scorpion Spirit didn't take much effort at all. Besides, she is a demon within the borders of this Women's Kingdom. The fact that she did such a thing reflects poorly on my management."

"How could this be blamed on you, Big Sister? It was just that demon being reckless," Wukong chuckled. "Though, I am a bit curious—why did that demon release my master so easily? I thought for sure you’d have to fight her!"

"No particular reason, other than the fact that she knew she couldn't beat me. Her greatest skill is her poison, and I happen to be an expert in that area myself," Su Qing said with a smile. "Furthermore, she didn't kidnap your master to eat him or take his Primal Yang; she had other goals."

"Did you find out what those goals were?"

Su Qing simply smiled and shook her head. "Her reasons aren't important. In any case, she has decided to leave the Women's Kingdom."

"Then won't she just go somewhere else to harm people?"

"No, she's going to my place. With me watching her, she won't be able to harm anyone," Su Qing said, shaking her head.

"I see, I see... With you watching over that demon, she certainly won't be able to go out and cause trouble. You really are impressive, Big Sister!" Wukong grinned. "I'm truly sorry for earlier, though... You were in the middle of a banquet, and I dragged you away to deal with a demon."

"It’s fine... There will always be more banquets. If your master had died, however, that would have been the end of it," Su Qing said with a gentle smile. "Alright, hurry and take your master back to Donglin Temple to rest. I imagine he was quite frightened by this ordeal."

"Hehe, I was just about to do that!" Wukong chirped.

Wukong could tell that Su Qing didn't want to elaborate further and was essentially seeing them off. He didn't take offense; he knew it was his fault for interrupting her meal. Since she wasn't blaming him and had even saved his master, he didn't have the face to be upset.

"Yes, take him back now," Su Qing nodded.

Wukong didn't waste any more time. After saying a few words to his master, he led Tang Sanzang away. Tang Sanzang was sensible enough to understand Su Qing's intent and didn't linger. He truly did want to rest. Although Jin Xin hadn't harmed him, he had spent the entire morning in a state of constant fear. To him, every demon they encountered was either trying to eat him or force him to break his vows; the mental exhaustion was immense.

And so, the master and disciple left the palace.

Once they were gone, only Su Qing, Bai Yuhe, and a few palace maids remained in the hall. The maids were quite perceptive; at a single glance from Bai Yuhe, they obediently withdrew, leaving the two of them alone.

Bai Yuhe looked at Su Qing and asked with a playful smile, "You're sending that Scorpion Spirit to the Changbai Mountains? Did you manage to win her over just like that?"

Su Qing threw up her hands. "What are you thinking? I'm not that charming... I can't just win a woman over after one meeting! And she won't be staying with me; she'll be with my clone. She's not going to the Changbai Mountains either..."

Su Qing knew Bai Yuhe was a bit sensitive about these things, so she definitely couldn't tell the whole truth. However, she had to provide some sort of explanation to avoid a bigger misunderstanding.

Bai Yuhe looked at her skeptically. "Oh? And your clone won't be able to 'win her over' either?"

"I have no intention of doing that. I'm just having my clone keep an eye on her. My clone's main goal is still to collect Incense Power..."

Bai Yuhe sighed. "So, what was the deal with that Scorpion Spirit? Why did she kidnap Elder Tang?"

"She kidnapped him just to see me," Su Qing answered.

"To see you?"

"Yes, but don't overthink it. She wanted to further her cultivation, so she used the kidnapping to get my attention. In exchange for her release, I agreed to take her in and teach her a few things about cultivation."

Su Qing rubbed her chin as she improvised the lie. She couldn't tell the real story, so she had to come up with something plausible.

"I see... but why couldn't she just come find you directly? Why kidnap the monk?"

"She's a bit of a blockhead and got misled by someone. Plus, her luck is terrible; every time she came to find me, I wasn't around."

"Misled by someone?"

"Yes. As for who it was, I have a pretty good idea."

"Who?"

"A Bodhisattva."

"Why?"

"Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed!"

"You can't even tell me?"

"I can't!" Su Qing laughed and shook her head. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but some things truly cannot be spoken of—at least not until Elder Tang finishes his journey."

Bai Yuhe rolled her eyes. "You're being one of those 'riddlers' you mentioned before, aren't you?"

"One often becomes the very thing they hate."

"Hmph." Bai Yuhe huffed, then said, "Fine, I won't pester you about it. Since you're back, I assume you won't be returning to that banquet?"

Su Qing felt relieved that Bai Yuhe had dropped the subject of the Scorpion Spirit, though she didn't let it show. "That's right... now that I'm back, I don't plan on running off again."

Bai Yuhe smiled and looked at her. "In that case... stay and keep me company for a few days. You don't have anything else to do, right?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, then no, I don't have anything else," Su Qing said. "So, the question is—how do you want to spend the time?"

Bai Yuhe stared at her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "We'll spend it however we want. Since you're free, just relax and stay here with me."

"Alright, alright! Whatever you say." Su Qing didn't refuse.

Even if her main body stayed here, her clone could still handle things elsewhere. As for how Bai Yuhe wanted to 'play'... Su Qing knew exactly what she meant. Aside from spending time in bed, they would be wandering around the city. Regardless, since she was back, she might as well keep her company.

"Good, it's settled then," Bai Yuhe said happily.

Su Qing smiled. "I'll head over to Donglin Temple in a bit to make sure everything is okay, then I'll come back to stay with you."

"Okay!" Bai Yuhe didn't object. She wasn't worried about Su Qing running away; she knew Su Qing always kept her word unless faced with an absolute emergency.

Su Qing nodded. With that, the matters here were mostly settled.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, several days had passed. Elder Tang and his group finally left the capital of the Women's Kingdom to continue their journey west. Once Su Qing saw them off, she finally relaxed and settled into a leisurely life in the palace. Of course, she didn't forget the items she had promised to bring for Ao Ying and took some time to get everything ready.

Meanwhile, the Scorpion Spirit said her goodbyes to Su Qing and set off for Linzhou City to find Su Qing's clone. It was clear she was genuinely desperate to understand the things she lacked. Su Qing's stance was that she would keep her close, but anything beyond that was not something she could easily teach.

On the other side, in Linzhou City...

The clone Su Qing was feeding the cat. No one around her had noticed that she had swapped places with her main body twice, which Su Qing found rather dull. However, she had no intention of explaining; there was no fun in that.

"Jin Xin has set off... I should probably make some preparations to receive her."

As Su Qing teased the black cat, she pondered her strategy. "The medical clinic is getting a bit crowded. If I bring Jin Xin here too, it'll be too much. Should I open a branch? Or maybe start a different business? I don't have many skills; in the mortal world, my only professions are healing the living or burying the dead. Hmm, maybe I'll just have Jin Xin open a shop next to the clinic. As for what kind of shop, I'll let her decide."

After much thought, Su Qing made her decision. She gave up on the branch idea because most of the people in her clinic, aside from herself, weren't very skilled yet. She also didn't want to kick her current staff out. As for letting the Scorpion Spirit open her own medical clinic... that would be dangerous. Jin Xin was good at killing people, but saving them might be a stretch. Thus, Su Qing chose the simplest and most suitable plan.

"Hmph! Give me the fish jerky! Give it to me! If you don't, this General is going to get angry!"

Meiqiu's noisy voice snapped Su Qing out of her thoughts. She looked at the little cat with a smile and stopped teasing her. "Hehe, here you go~".

"Hmph, at least you're sensible!" Meiqiu trotted off with the fish jerky in her mouth, her tail held high in a clear sign of a good mood.

"Yes, yes, you're the greatest," Su Qing smiled. "You've put on some weight lately. If you keep this up, you're going to become a fat cat."

"It's a symbol of health!" Meiqiu declared.

Su Qing's lip twitched. She hoped this silly cat wouldn't end up looking like those little sparrows—shaped like hand grenades. If this cat got fat, she'd probably look like a gas tank. The thought made Su Qing want to laugh. She shook her head and gave Meiqiu a couple of pats on the head. She felt she couldn't let the cat stay this lazy forever. Even the sparrows were being forced to exercise; this cat needed to do something too.

She didn't need her to catch mice, so she might as well have her learn some spells to help with other tasks.

With that in mind, Su Qing said playfully, "By the way, Meiqiu, do you want to learn some magic?"

"Magic?" Meiqiu paused and looked up. "What's magic?"

"It's something very powerful."

"How powerful?"

"Extremely powerful."

"How powerful is 'extremely powerful'?"

"Probably powerful enough to knock over a tiger in one hit."

"Then I'm not learning it. I can already do that myself."

"Oh? You're quite capable, aren't you?"

"This General is very strong; you just don't believe me," Meiqiu said, lifting her head proudly.

Su Qing smiled. "But what if learning magic makes you even stronger than you are now?"