Liu Xixi would always listen to Su Qing's orders...
Unless it was something too strange or truly impossible to execute, she was quite obedient. Thus, when Su Qing told her to rest, although she was a bit helpless, she honestly went to take a break for a while.
After all, she really was tired.
Moreover, after resting well, her work efficiency would be higher.
However, she didn't rest for long—only for a short hour. Once she had recovered her spirits, she immediately returned to help.
As a workaholic, she was truly unwilling to completely set aside her work to rest during the day.
As long as her energy was restored, she started working again without pause.
Su Qing was helpless about this but didn't say anything more.
After all, this child's personality was just like that. No matter how much she said, it wouldn't be of much use and wouldn't change anything.
She might as well let her be.
She would just serve as the final safety net.
There was a lot of work in a day, and many official documents needed processing.
Consequently, by the end of the day...
Even though Su Qing hadn't done as much as Liu Xixi, she was still exhausted...
Of course, the main reason for her fatigue was that she had three bodies, and all three were busy with different matters.
So she was definitely tired, but it wasn't entirely because of this paperwork...
By evening.
Su Qing saw that the official documents on the desk were almost all processed.
She let out a long breath of turbid air.
"It's finally almost done. Let's call it a day! Liu Xixi, it's time to get off the clock!" Su Qing patted Liu Xixi's shoulder and said with a smile, "A balance between work and rest is best. Otherwise, if a mistake is made, it won't be good."
Su Qing stopped using her own body as an excuse and only said that this work required enough mental energy to be done well... In short, she found a reason to make the girl clock out!
Liu Xixi nodded upon hearing this and said, "Don't worry, I understand all of this. I certainly won't act recklessly."
She said that, but in reality, Liu Xixi acted recklessly quite often.
Although she usually listened to Su Qing, she was very disobedient at times.
Especially in this regard, she simply wouldn't listen no matter what was said.
Knowing the girl's personality, Su Qing could only sigh and say, "I hope you really are listening to me! In that case, I'll head back first. You should head back early too!"
After Su Qing finished speaking, she left the study and returned to the courtyard.
In the courtyard.
Su Tingtong was practicing spells.
She was currently practicing relatively advanced spells.
After a brief look, Su Qing discovered that the child had already mastered about seventy to eighty percent of it. Before long, she should be able to master it completely—probably in just a day or two!
As for when she started learning?
Probably the day before yesterday?
In short, it really didn't take her much time to learn a spell.
And to master it completely didn't even take a few days.
Su Qing clapped her hands and gave her a few words of praise, which made Su Tingtong exceptionally pleased.
With a giggle, she came to Su Qing's side and gave her a sweet smile and a hug.
"Mother is back! Then how about Mother plays with me for a while?"
"Mhm, of course, no problem." Su Qing rubbed her head and said with a beaming smile, "Let's go. What do you want to play?"
Su Tingtong was also very happy and expressed what she wanted to play.
After Su Qing spent some time playing with the child, she went to find Bai Yuhe...
At this moment, Bai Yuhe was still working hard at Qi Refining.
However, Qi Refining had become much simpler and smoother for her now.
Clearly, after she stopped being a monarch, she was no longer restricted by heaven and earth and began to display her inherent talent.
Bai Yuhe's talent was indeed good. Although she hadn't been able to cultivate properly before due to the restrictions of heaven and earth, and had been delayed until now to start normal cultivation...
Even so, her cultivation speed was not at all inferior to those cultivators with good talent.
It was evident that if she had started cultivating earlier and shed her status as a monarch sooner, she might have entered the Divine Immortal Realm and gained several thousand years of longevity in no time.
Unfortunately, there were no 'ifs'...
The past was the past; it had already become reality and could not be changed.
Instead of obsessing over how the past could have been, it was better to think about what to do next.
Since Bai Yuhe was cultivating, Su Qing didn't disturb her too much, simply letting her continue her practice...
She planned to call her when it was time for dinner.
It was better to press on with cultivation for now.
Increasing her strength sooner was better.
When the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth approached in the future, if unexpected situations arose, she would have a bit of ability to protect herself.
Su Qing took a walk around the courtyard.
After finding that there were no matters requiring special attention...
She found a chair to sit in the courtyard and continued to accompany her daughter.
Time passed bit by bit.
Before they knew it, another half-month had gone by.
On this day.
Su Qing was in the study processing official documents with Liu Xixi as usual.
There were so many official documents in the Northern Continent...
Almost every day, there were countless matters that needed to be reviewed and handled.
Thus, it wasn't peaceful at all.
And just as she was processing documents and getting a bit tired, feeling ready to blow a fuse...
Someone ran in to report, saying that someone was looking for Su Qing and claimed to have a very important matter that needed to be told to her in person.
Upon hearing this, Su Qing was slightly speechless. She didn't want to deal with it, but she still nodded and asked, "Who is looking for me?"
The messenger replied, "It's the City God of a mortal city."
Su Qing sighed and said, "Fine, bring him here!"
Su Qing didn't know what could be so urgent.
But since he was in such a hurry that he directly requested to see her, it presumably wasn't some trivial matter.
Therefore, even though Su Qing was a bit tired and didn't really want to see anyone, she still decided to meet the City God.
After all, if it really was some troublesome matter, ignoring it would definitely lead to it blowing up.
By the time the matter became truly troublesome, she would still have to handle it.
Since she would have to deal with it sooner or later, she might as well solve it now while it might not be so complicated.
It would save her from regretting her decision later.
Seeing that Su Qing wanted to see the City God...
The messenger didn't delay and immediately turned to lead the person in.
Not long after.
The City God arrived before Su Qing.
The City God was an old man with nothing particularly special about him, except that he looked quite panicked and nervous.
Su Qing sat in her chair, looking at him calmly, and asked, "So, what important matter brought you all the way here to find me?"
Su Qing got straight to the point, looking like she didn't want to talk much... she didn't have her usual polite demeanor at all.
It couldn't be helped; she had been exhausted lately. How could she have the interest to speak politely and amiably?
Hearing this, the City God naturally didn't dare to waste any more words and hurriedly explained the situation clearly.
"I wondered what it was. So it's a drought! With your ability as a City God, surely you can just cast a spell to bring rain?"
Su Qing rested her chin on one hand and looked at the City God, saying flatly:
"If it were only to that extent, you shouldn't have needed to run all the way here to me, right? So, what else is special about it?"
The City God looked distressed and quickly replied:
"If it were only that, I certainly wouldn't have presumed to come here to beg the Sovereign to act. However, this drought is strange. I once cast a spell for rain, but before the water could fall, it evaporated in mid-air. Even the rain clouds couldn't be maintained for long. And even stranger, many crazed people have appeared in the county seat. They've become impervious to weapons and bite anyone they see... Those who are bitten also turn into that state within a few days. They can only be killed by leaving them out in the sun for a full day!"
Hearing this, Su Qing stroked her chin, more or less understanding the situation.
It seemed this was indeed quite a bit of trouble...
But it was only a significant trouble for this City God.
For Su Qing...
It didn't even count as a nuisance.
"It's likely a Hanba. It's not too much of a problem."
Su Qing stroked her chin, thinking to herself, then said:
"I am aware of this matter now. You may head back for now! I will send someone to resolve it later. Just go back and wait for notice."
A Hanba was actually a type of zombie. Having lived for so many years, Su Qing had naturally seen them before.
Although they rarely appeared before, and even if they did, they would be cleared out as quickly as possible.
But in the current state of the world, the frequency of their appearance had increased slightly. For instance, one of her clones had once encountered one while spreading Incense Power, and that clone had personally driven it away.
However, that one had been relatively weak, affecting only a single small town.
This time, the situation was clearly much worse, affecting an entire county.
Furthermore, the sky wouldn't rain at all.
Even spells couldn't produce rain.
But although this situation was much larger than the last one, it still didn't really count as trouble.
At the very least.
Among the matters Su Qing had handled over the years, this wasn't considered a very major event.
It didn't even require Su Qing to act personally.
The City God didn't know what Su Qing was truly thinking, but hearing her words, he happily nodded. After repeatedly thanking her, he left.
After the City God departed.
Su Qing rubbed her forehead and said:
"Liu Xixi, I'll have to trouble you with the matter regarding that City God. Arrange for a few immortals with decent strength to handle it. This Hanba's strength should be quite high, so immortals who are too weak won't be effective."
Hearing this, Liu Xixi nodded and asked curiously, "In the past, didn't the Sovereign like to handle things personally? Why did you hand it over to others today? I thought the Sovereign intended to act personally this time as well!"
Liu Xixi naturally didn't mean to criticize; she was simply a bit puzzled and curious.
In the past, when Su Qing encountered such things, she would mostly choose to act personally to solve the trouble.
Thus, Su Qing's sudden change of plans made Liu Xixi puzzled and curious.
Su Qing said flatly, "I have other things to do, so it's the same if I leave the matters there to others to solve. Besides, these kinds of troublesome things will only increase in the future, and I can't possibly go to every single one. If I did that, I basically wouldn't be able to stay in the domain, and all these official documents would have to be left entirely to you."
The reason Su Qing did this was, of course, for her own reasons.
As time went on and the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth drew closer, the things Su Qing would be busy with would only increase.
Although she could use clones, her clones had other things to do.
As for creating another clone to handle these...
Let's forget about that for now.
She was already on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion; what would happen if she added another?
Therefore, creating a new clone was basically impossible.
Thus, delegating some less important matters to others was the optimal solution.
As for the fact that this would lose some opportunities to develop Incense Power...
Su Qing was naturally aware of that.
However, she didn't particularly care.
Regarding Incense Power, Su Qing had basically already met the requirements of the Bodhi Tree.
Now, the reason she continued to collect it was just to store more for future needs.
After all, one can never have too much of this stuff.
Therefore, although Incense Power still needed to be collected, it was no longer as urgent as before.
Everything would just be done slowly.
Besides, she had her two wives helping her develop Incense Power together.
Even if things slowed down a bit later, they wouldn't be that slow.
Liu Xixi remained silent for a moment after hearing this, then nodded slightly and said:
"I see... The Sovereign indeed considers more than I do. However, I still say the same thing: if the Sovereign has things to do and needs to leave all the official business to me, I won't have any dissatisfaction. I will handle everything well for the Sovereign. If the Sovereign needs it, please use me as you wish."
Of course, she said that, but she certainly couldn't agree to excessive requests.
After all, Liu Xixi hadn't reached the point where she could truly help with absolutely everything...
Su Qing smiled slightly and said, "Alright, alright, there's no need to be so serious. However, I really do have to go out for a day or two recently. I need to go to the Moon Palace, so I'll have to trouble you then."
Even though she was too lazy to handle mortal matters, she still had to go to Sister Chang'e at the Moon Palace when it was time.
Otherwise, if she waited too long between visits...
She certainly wouldn't be able to avoid a good lecture from Sister Chang'e...
Of course, it wouldn't be a literal lecture.
"That is no trouble; it is part of my job." Liu Xixi shook her head and said, "If the Sovereign needs to go, then go."
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