A Great Victory

In the blink of an eye...

Several more months passed.

During this time, the Commandery Princess had indeed accomplished a great deal. Although she encountered many obstacles and troubles along the way—even facing life-threatening danger on a few occasions—she ultimately achieved her goals.

The process was arduous, but the results were remarkable.

However, no matter how good the outcome, the Commandery Princess did not dare to be careless. She continued to push everything forward with extreme caution.

Su Qing, as always, provided her with the necessary assistance from behind the scenes.

One day...

It was the beginning of autumn.

It was currently evening, and there was only about half an hour left before Su Qing would close the clinic and return home to rest.

Su Qing sat in a chair within the clinic, her eyes closed as she rested, cradling the black cat, Coal Ball.

At that moment, a Messenger Falcon landed beside her.

Su Qing showed no surprise or confusion. Over the past few months, the Commandery Princess had used this method to contact her most of the time.

The only thing Su Qing found interesting was that it had only been a few days since their last communication, yet the princess had sent word again.

She wondered what the princess wanted to say.

Su Qing stroked her chin, then removed the letter.

The contents were brief. Aside from a few lines of idle pleasantries, the rest was the core message.

To summarize the main point: the Commandery Princess intended to formally break with the Emperor.

This would no longer be a matter of secret maneuvers and plans, but a formal, open defiance.

This was undoubtedly dangerous.

To break with the Emperor was, in fact, to break with that demon Prime Minister.

One wrong move could lead to her being utterly destroyed.

Therefore, the princess felt compelled to inform Su Qing of her intentions and ask for her opinion.

If Su Qing felt she was not yet ready for an open break, she would re-plan and continue her preparations until Su Qing deemed it time.

"Hmm... For Ye Qingyu to make such a decision, she must be truly confident, right?" Su Qing stroked her chin and chuckled, muttering to herself, "In that case, there's no need to oppose it. However, I must teach her a few things... After all, once she formally breaks with him, she'll be completely exposed to danger. Liu Qian alone probably won't be able to protect her... Her strength is still too weak."

Su Qing was naturally supportive of what Ye Qingyu intended to do.

While she wasn't in a great hurry, she was certainly happy to see her goals achieved sooner.

Having made her decision, Su Qing patted the little Coal Ball, who was sleeping soundly on her.

"You certainly look comfortable sleeping there!" she said.

"Meow? Your body is warm and soft, of course it's comfortable!" Coal Ball replied without the slightest hint of embarrassment, standing up to stretch.

Su Qing gave a helpless smile and rubbed the cat's head. "That's enough. I have things to do... Get down."

Su Qing could have simply tossed the little thing aside, but she liked the cat, so she wasn't so blunt; she merely woke her up.

Hearing Su Qing's words, Coal Ball didn't argue. She simply gave a long yawn and jumped down from Su Qing's lap.

"What are you going to do?" Coal Ball asked, looking up at Su Qing.

"Not telling you."

Su Qing didn't intend to explain much to the cat. With Coal Ball's little head, she likely wouldn't understand anyway. Even if Su Qing told her, she would probably just get a dazed look in return.

Coal Ball was somewhat dissatisfied upon hearing this, but she didn't pester Su Qing. She merely gave a light huff and ran off.

As she left, she didn't forget to hold her tail high with a look of disdain. "Hmph, this General doesn't care what you're doing! Just don't forget this General's little fish."

Su Qing only chuckled at the little creature's words, not paying them much mind.

After Coal Ball left, Su Qing stretched her body and began rummaging through her Sleeve Universe.

She kept far too many things inside it. It took her quite a bit of time to find what she needed.

"These two will do. One will ensure her safety when necessary, and the other will teleport her far away. Although she already has a defensive Dharma treasure, its capabilities are limited. What she's about to face will definitely be more dangerous, so it's time for an upgrade."

Su Qing muttered to herself as she looked at the earring and the talisman in her hand.

She then placed both items, along with her reply, onto the Messenger Falcon, instructing it to deliver them to the Commandery Princess.

This time, Su Qing didn't bother with any divine theatrics or flying there herself. The reason was simply that she felt lazy.

Besides, she didn't want to make things so complicated every single time.

"Done."

Su Qing brushed some non-existent dust from her hands and released the Messenger Falcon.

The bird departed, and Su Qing turned to leave the backyard to find Ao Yiyi and the others. It was getting late, so it was time to close up and head home.

In the front hall, Ao Yiyi was currently diagnosing the last few patients.

Seeing this, Su Qing didn't interrupt. She sat behind the counter and watched as they treated the final few people.

Once they finished their work, Su Qing spoke up, saying it was time to go back.

Naturally, no one objected. After a long day of work, everyone wanted to rest.

After a quick cleanup, they closed the clinic and left.

Back at their home in Xingyang City, dinner was already prepared by the time they arrived.

These meals were made by the youngsters Su Qing had brought back. Their skills were quite good, as they had been personally taught by Su Qing. No matter what, they couldn't be bad.

After dinner, Su Qing sat in her study to read, relaxing her mind so that her other two manifestations could have more mental energy for their own tasks.

At that moment, there was a sudden knock on the study door.

Hearing the knock, Su Qing exhaled and said, "Come in."

With Su Qing's permission, Rendong pushed the door open and entered. Su Qing was slightly surprised to see her. "It's you? Is something the matter?"

"Mistress... I've finished reading the books you gave me a few days ago."

"Oh?" Su Qing was a bit surprised. "You've memorized them all?"

A few days ago, Su Qing had given Rendong several advanced medical books. She had expected the girl to struggle with them for a long time, but she hadn't expected her to finish them so quickly.

Rendong nodded. "I've committed them to memory... They are deeper explorations of things I learned before, so they were quite easy to understand."

Su Qing was genuinely taken aback. This girl's learning ability was truly formidable. Was she a genius?

Well, she actually was a genius.

Su Qing stroked her chin and looked at her. "Since you say you've memorized them... let me give you a quick test."

Rendong nodded without hesitation.

Su Qing then began to ask several questions from those books. In response, Rendong only paused for a brief moment of thought before answering every question perfectly, with almost no hesitation. Clearly, she had learned these things inside out.

Su Qing was now truly astonished. If Rendong were a cultivator, such memory would not be surprising. But this girl was just an ordinary person.

Unless she had some ability to hide her cultivation from Su Qing... otherwise, she was a pure, ordinary human without a shred of transcendent power.

"This girl isn't just a genius; she's a bit too much of one," Su Qing muttered to herself. "What a pity, though. This child truly has no talent for cultivation, and her talent for martial arts is exceptionally poor... Otherwise, whether in cultivation or martial arts, she would have made quite a name for herself."

While Su Qing lamented, she also felt it was a shame. If this girl could cultivate, Su Qing could have certainly raised an extraordinary immortal. But unfortunately, she truly lacked the talent. She was simply a genius—a genius among mortals.

"But though it's a pity, even like this, I can feel more at ease about her future. I can even feel more at ease about that brat Su Qingyu's life... With her around to support each other in the future, no matter how bad things get, they won't be worse off than they are now."

A soft smile touched the corners of Su Qing's mouth. She reached out and patted Rendong's head. "Very good... Since you've memorized everything, take these few books as well. If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me. Also, if there's anything else you want to learn, just tell me. I will teach you! At the very least... in the Path of the Pharmacist, I will hold nothing back."

Su Qing didn't mind her skills being learned by others. In fact, she wished someone would learn the methods she had organized for healing mortals. After all, in a way, this was also a way of passing on her legacy.

Rendong was stunned by Su Qing's words. It took her a long moment to recover before she hurriedly said, "Thank you, Mistress!"

Su Qing nodded slightly. "Your talent is excellent... I believe you can reach a high level in medicine. So, study hard!"

Su Qing had known Rendong had a knack for medicine, but she hadn't realized her talent was this exceptional. Why hadn't she noticed it before? Was it because her talent hadn't been fully awakened back then?

Su Qing wasn't entirely sure. But as long as she knew now, that was enough. She would simply nurture her well.

Rendong had no idea what Su Qing was planning, nor did she know what Su Qing was thinking. She was simply happy to receive Su Qing's praise. Like a little Daoist boy who had been given candy, a joyful smile appeared on her usually expressionless face.

She nodded quickly. "I—I will work hard!"

Su Qing nodded in satisfaction. "Good, I believe you will."

With that, Su Qing added, "Alright, go and finish reading this book as well. In a few days, I'll have you participate in more practical work..."

Rendong nodded eagerly, then bid Su Qing farewell and left the study.

After seeing Rendong off, Su Qing returned to her seat and sat there with a vacant mind, focusing more of her mental attention on her other manifestations.

And so, time marched on.

Before they knew it, a new year had arrived.

Over these few months, many things had naturally happened in Xingyang City. First and foremost was the matter of the Commandery Princess.

After her complete break with the Emperor, she was immediately branded a rebel. Punitive expeditions were sent against her multiple times, but they all ended in failure.

However, what surprised Su Qing was that although the Emperor had sent soldiers several times, not a single one of them was a demon. There weren't even any demons sent to assassinate the princess.

Ordinarily, if the Prime Minister truly wanted to deal with the princess, he would only need to send one powerful demon to inevitably cause her army to collapse. Yet, strangely, he didn't do that. He merely sent ordinary soldiers to their deaths.

This struck Su Qing as very odd. She truly couldn't understand what the Prime Minister was planning.

However, Su Qing didn't care to dwell on it too deeply. Regardless of the Prime Minister's plans, she was definitely going to kill him in the end. As for whether she could win? There was no need to worry about that. Even if this manifestation couldn't handle it, her main body could always come to help.

No matter how strong that Prime Minister was, could he be stronger than Su Qing's main body at the Heavenly Immortal realm?

Therefore, since the Prime Minister wasn't interfering for now, Su Qing was happy to let it be. It saved her a lot of trouble and meant she didn't have to worry too much about the princess's situation. She only needed to keep a close eye on things.

One day, Su Qing received another message from the Commandery Princess via the Messenger Falcon.

The content of this letter was of another great victory.

"The army led by the Commandery Princess is truly advancing with irresistible force, isn't it? In just a few months, they've already taken three cities."

Su Qing marveled at the news. "However, this also goes to show just how poor the quality of the troops sent by the Prime Minister's side really is. I expect it won't be long before the princess marches all the way here. Hmph, I'd like to see what the Prime Minister's plan is then. I don't believe he'll stay his hand once she arrives at his doorstep."