While Qin Yao was setting up the formation, even more of her academy classmates came bursting out of the surrounding tents in a panic.

Seeing from a distance how effortlessly Lin Xiao cut down demon after demon, every blade-stroke landing true, all the young women looked at him as though they had found a living bodhisattva come to save them, and rushed toward him, each trying to get there before the others.

Seeing the situation spiraling out of control again, Qin Yao simply gathered everyone together in one spot, intending to lay a formation around the perimeter to keep them all safe.

All the while, the women, doubtful and fearful of Qin Yao’s abilities, kept sobbing without pause. Several times someone tried to dash out of the formation to hide behind Lin Xiao instead, who seemed far more reliable, but each time Qin Yao pulled them back in.

Qin Yao, exasperated at being interrupted again and again just trying to set up a simple formation, finally summoned the fire dragons and had them coil around the women once. The dragons’ intimidating presence proved far more effective than any words — none of the women dared move or run about anymore, and even their crying quieted considerably. Terrified of being singed by the flames, they all stayed obediently inside the circle.

Once the formation was set, Qin Yao explained to them, “As long as you stay inside and don’t come out, those minor demons won’t be able to hurt you.”

Having just witnessed Qin Yao command the dragons with their own eyes, and seeing Wang Yingning, Pei Min, and the others standing not far off inside a similar formation — where, though demons kept trying to approach, every single one was blocked outside it — the women gradually came to believe what Qin Yao had told them.

Once everyone had settled down, Qin Yao’s gaze slowly drifted down to their feet.

Kang Ping was dressed in nomadic-style clothing, and a pair of red deerskin boots sat plainly on display beneath her, hidden from view by nothing at all.

The rest of the women, however, all wore skirts, their shoes hidden beneath the hems, with only the faintest hint of their toes visible.

She quietly cast a small wind charm, lifting the hems of all the women’s skirts for a brief instant before letting them drop again.

In that single rise and fall, shoes of every different color were clearly exposed to her view. A few pairs among them looked especially new, as though recently changed.

One pair was a lake-blue satin slipper with upturned toes, embroidered with apricot blossoms, each tip set with a thumb-sized eastern pearl. The fabric had grown somewhat dirty, likely from the panicked flight just now, but the pearls remained bright and lustrous, only lightly dusted.

Another eye-catching pair was a moon-white satin slipper with upturned toes, embroidered with red plum blossoms, the fabric glossy and the embroidery elaborate and elegant. Though it had no pearls set into it, it was no less refined and luxurious. The originally pristine white fabric showed a few smudges of dirt here and there, but was still relatively clean.

Her eyes traced up from the shoes to see who they belonged to, and her gaze fixed there. From the moment she’d fallen off the cliff to the moment the demons had begun rampaging through the camp, the whole place must have been in nonstop chaos, with not a single moment of peace — that someone had found the time and presence of mind to change their shoes was something that demanded closer thought.

The fingers of her right hand still carried the sensation of being ground under a shoe-sole; the wound there ached fiercely. Whoever had stomped on her had been so ruthless and merciless about it, clearly determined to see her dead.

Unfortunately, it had been too dark at the time, and she’d been dangling off the edge of the cliff, so she hadn’t been able to make out the color of the person’s skirts. But she could roughly recall the outline of the shoe that had crushed her fingers — narrow at the front, nothing like the black boots a man would wear, but rather more like a woman’s delicate embroidered slipper. And although that person had used all their strength, their strength had clearly been limited — not the faintest trace of inner energy behind it, not even matching an ordinary man’s grip — otherwise her fingers would already have snapped clean through in several places, rather than merely having the skin broken.

She raised her right hand and examined it closely. Unfortunately, though her little finger was mottled with purple bruising, it hadn’t bled — otherwise, if she found the chance to check through everyone’s tents for traces on the soles of their shoes, she might have turned up some clue.

Just as she was quietly considering other approaches, a fierce clash of steel rang out from behind her. She turned to look and saw Prince Wu arriving with a group of men. There was no telling how long they’d been fighting demons already — several of the young soldiers had blood staining their faces and bodies, impossible to tell whether it was the demons’ or their own, a sight harrowing to behold.

Spotting Xia Yuan among the crowd, Prince Wu immediately abandoned his soldiers and strode toward her.

Catching sight of Prince Wu, Xia Yuan’s small face crumpled, and she cried out, “Seventh Brother.”

Prince Wu hurried over anxiously. Seeing everyone gathered together, not understanding what was going on, he pulled Xia Yuan toward him and comforted her, “Don’t be afraid. With your Seventh Brother here, I won’t let those demons harm you.”

Xia Yuan suddenly found herself caught in an awkward spot. She had no idea whether her Seventh Brother truly had the ability to handle demons, but Qu Qinyao’s formation had genuinely proven reliable — moments ago, demon after demon had thrown themselves at it, and every single one had been kept out.

She gently pulled her hand free from Prince Wu’s grip, trying to return to the circle, and said, “Miss Qu’s formation can ward off demons. Seventh Brother, go focus on protecting His Majesty — I’ll stay inside this formation and wait for you to come back.”

Miss Qu? Prince Wu puzzled over it for a long moment without recalling who Miss Qu was, until, catching sight of Qin Yao’s figure out of the corner of his eye, it finally dawned on him, and he couldn’t help but feel half-amused, half-exasperated. “What do you mean, Miss Qu? A’Yuan, you’ve always known your manners — how are you getting confused at a time like this? She’s already married to Eleven. By rights you should be calling her Sister-in-law Eleven now.”

Xia Yuan didn’t take up the topic, only showing a look of dread as she said, “Seventh Brother, don’t worry about me. I’m perfectly safe inside this formation — please let me go back in.”

Prince Wu had no time to ponder the look on Xia Yuan’s face, and only followed her words with a puzzled glance at Qin Yao, privately wondering: it was true that Eleven had Chixiao to protect him, but what ability could Qu Qinyao possibly possess to ward off demons?

Xia Yuan caught sight of a red-furred ghost lunging at Prince Wu from behind, and stamped her feet in alarm. “Seventh Brother, something’s coming up behind you!”

Sensing the rush of a palm-strike behind him, Prince Wu quickly dodged to the side. Soldiers had already lunged forward, all of them raising their blades together to cut down the creature.

Taking the opportunity, Xia Yuan hurriedly scrambled back inside the formation.

Once Prince Wu had finally extricated himself, he turned to look back and saw yet another demon lunging at the women outside the formation, and was startled once more. But the moment the creature reached them, it seemed to slam into an invisible barrier, unable to harm anyone inside the circle no matter what it tried. Watching this, Prince Wu was quietly astonished, and finally believed what Xia Yuan had told him.

Qin Yao and Lin Xiao had been fighting for a while now, but the demons kept pouring in from every direction like a swarm of locusts. Though they were all low-level creatures with weak spiritual power, there was simply no end to them. The group found it extremely difficult to make any headway, let alone search for the Emperor’s whereabouts.

Growing anxious from the fighting, Qin Yao glanced back at Chang Rong and the others helping to kill demons. Though they were all giving their full effort, they could barely manage to defend themselves against the swarm, let alone help fight off the enemy. She decided simply to go on as before, biting open her finger and drawing talismans onto everyone’s weapons.

After working her charm onto seven or eight swords in a row, Prince Wu, seeing how remarkably effective it was, hesitated for a moment before hurrying over to Qin Yao himself, saying with a somewhat embarrassed smile, “Would you mind blessing my sword too, sister-in-law?”

Qin Yao smiled and, without another word, drew a talisman onto his sword as well.

By now all ten of her fingers were covered in cuts, and the finger that had been crushed earlier ached fiercely. But with such a formidable enemy before them, she and Lin Xiao alone were nowhere near enough to hold the line. With this method that doubled their effectiveness, at least they could gain a few more hands to help fight the demons.

No sooner had she finished her charm on Prince Wu’s sword than a large group came pouring in from the outskirts of the camp, with no fewer than several dozen demons trailing behind them, fighting and retreating as they went, worn thin from the constant battle.

Catching sight of his future brother-in-law, Prince Wu’s face lit up with joy, and he called out at once, “Xia Di!”

Xia Di turned, but instead of noticing Prince Wu, his eyes landed immediately on Qin Yao, and his breath caught at once — he stood frozen in place.

Nearby, Xia Yuan had also spotted Xia Di and cried out in alarm, “Second Brother, watch out!”

A grayish-brown wolf demon was lunging at his shoulder, jaws snapping.

Startled, Xia Di managed to swing his sword up to block the creature already upon him. Xu Shenming happened to fight his way to his side just then, and quickly thrust his charm-blessed sword into the wolf demon.

Freed from danger, Xia Di hurried over to Prince Wu. Though facing him, his eyes were fixed on Qin Yao, as though he needed to confirm with his own eyes that she was unharmed.

Qin Yao didn’t even bother to glance at him and turned to leave, but Prince Wu said, “Sister-in-law, please bless Brother Di’s sword too, so he can come find Father with us.”

Without waiting for Qin Yao to answer, he turned to Xia Di and added, “My sister-in-law’s skills are truly something — with her charm on your blade, killing demons becomes about as easy as killing men.”

Xia Di had long known that Qin Yao was a lay disciple of Qingyun Temple, so he didn’t doubt Prince Wu’s words in the least. He simply watched Qin Yao quietly, waiting to see how she would respond.

Qin Yao had meant to pretend she hadn’t heard, but Prince Wu simply pulled Xia Di along and blocked her path, urging her with a smile, “Sister-in-law, Brother Di’s skills are first-rate — with his help, we can kill that many more demons.”

Qin Yao had no choice but to stop, casting a cold glance at Xia Di. He was looking down at her, the red marks from insect bites still visible on his face — the sight of him was thoroughly irritating to her.

She held her temper for as long as she could, waiting until the irritation in her chest had eased somewhat, before saying flatly, “I can’t squeeze any more blood from my fingers. If you want the charm, Brother Di will have to bite his own finger open.”

Without waiting for Xia Di to respond, Prince Wu snatched the sword from his hand and held it out to Qin Yao, saying carelessly, “Biting your finger takes too long — better to just cut a line with the sword instead.”

As he spoke, he grabbed Xia Di’s hand and held it out toward Qin Yao.

Qin Yao took the sword without a second thought and, with great satisfaction, sliced a deep cut into Xia Di’s pale finger. Blood gushed out at once.

Xia Di didn’t so much as flinch, though inwardly he could only laugh bitterly.

Prince Wu blinked, never having expected Qin Yao to cut so deep. Seeing the blood streaming down without pause, he hastily lifted Xia Di’s hand and let it drip onto the sword, urging Qin Yao, “Sister-in-law, this should be enough blood, shouldn’t it?”

Qin Yao felt indescribably pleased inside, but put on an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, my hand slipped just now — I didn’t mean to cut so deep. My fault, my fault.”

Then, with great solemnity, she added, “Since young master Xia’s wound is so deep, the bleeding likely won’t stop anytime soon. We shouldn’t let it go to waste — why not let it drip onto the rest of the soldiers’ weapons too? I can bless a few more for everyone.”

Xia Di hissed through his teeth as though he had a toothache.

But Prince Wu thought this made perfect sense and said at once, “Well said.”

He had the soldiers nearby who had a free moment gather around, holding Xia Di’s hand still so the blood could be dripped onto everyone’s weapons in turn.

Once Qin Yao had drawn talismans for everyone else, she finally got around to Xia Di’s sword. After only a few strokes, sensing his gaze still fixed on her face, she said coldly, “The blood’s dried already — I can’t draw with it. Drip on a couple more drops.”

Xia Di sighed softly, and as if resigned to it, raised the sword himself this time and cut another line into a different finger — not letting Qin Yao do it again. The cut was shallow. Once the blood had dripped onto the blade, Qin Yao finished drawing the talisman as quickly as possible and turned to walk away without another word.

By then Lin Xiao had already killed twenty or thirty creatures in one stretch, clearing out a wide patch of ground. Qin Yao hurried to his side and took his hand on her own initiative. “We don’t need to worry about this anymore. Let’s go find His Majesty.”

Lin Xiao had already witnessed everything that had just happened. Though he knew Qin Yao’s method had worked wonders for their current predicament, he’d still been seething with frustration, only unable to pull himself away from the swarm of creatures long enough to drag her off himself. Now, seeing her take his hand of her own accord, in full view of everyone, his heart warmed, and the resentment churning inside him finally eased somewhat.

Shaking off the remaining demons and leaving them to the rest of the Imperial Guard officers to handle, the married couple headed straight out of the camp toward other parts of the grounds, searching for the Emperor.

Prince Wu and the others hurried to follow close behind.

They came to an unremarkable little hill at the rear of the camp, where they could already see figures moving about from a distance.

Lin Xiao and the others recognized the tallest man among them as the Emperor himself. Seeing him safe and unharmed, the heavy stone weighing on their hearts finally settled.

As they drew closer, Qin Yao noticed that besides the Emperor, there was also Consort Yi and several elderly palace attendants who were favorites of his. Strangely, there wasn’t a single demon anywhere around them. The Emperor was entirely unharmed, his expression fairly composed. Seeing Lin Xiao approach, he asked, “Has Yuan Jue arrived yet?”

Consort Yi, however, looked considerably more shaken — her usually fair, smooth complexion had taken on a sallow, haggard tinge. Seeing Lin Xiao and the others arrive, she let out a long breath of relief and patted her chest. “Good, good, now that you’re here, we don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

Qin Yao glanced at the bare, treeless hilltop, feeling that something about it was off, and was just about to take a closer look when suddenly a mound of earth ahead of them began shaking violently. A dark shadow burst out of the ground a moment later, letting out a shrill shriek as it slashed toward the group.

Worse still, more and more demons kept bursting up from the same spot, one after another.

Lin Xiao and Qin Yao recognized the creature leading them at once, their faces darkening, and rushed forward to meet the attack, shielding the Emperor and Consort Yi behind them.

Coming face to face so suddenly with an evil thing like the Ghost Swordsman, the Emperor, though striving to stay composed, still looked somewhat at a loss, while Consort Yi trembled with fear.

No sooner had the married couple clashed with the Ghost Swordsman than an east wind suddenly blew through, rustling the trees in the forest, carrying with it the sound of Buddhist chanting mixed with the steady knock of wooden fish.

The Emperor tilted his head to listen for a moment, then exclaimed with great joy, “It’s Yuan Jue! Yuan Jue is here!”