The extraordinarily powerful star power that burst from the silver bells blocked the fatal strike against Jiang Wuyue, but the bracelet itself shattered completely. Only the two small bells remained intact, caught in Ming Li’s hand.

Jiang Wuyue, her face pale with fear from the earlier lethal attack, was now cautiously protected behind Gray Scorpion, her eyes fixed intently on Ming Li.

Gray Scorpion said in a deep voice, “Young Lady, you should return to the carriage first.”

Jiang Wuyue touched her face, feeling wetness, and upon seeing blood on her fingers, her expression turned savage: “You dare to hurt me… Capture her! I want her hands cut off and hung in the crocodile swamp for three to five days before chopping her to pieces to feed the dogs!”

Qian Li had also consumed his star power to the limit and could no longer sustain Heavenly Net Myriad Phenomena. The blood lines receded, and he collapsed to the ground beside Fang Hui. Hearing Jiang Wuyue’s hysterical screams, he rolled his eyes, lying on the ground looking at the sky, muttering: “I must have been blind as a child to think she was cute.”

Fang Hui, who had been hanging on by a thread, his powerful mental strength not allowing him to faint, managed to respond to Qian Li with difficulty: “Now is not the time to criticize your tragic childhood taste.”

Qian Li had already passed out.

Fang Hui pressed his hand hard against Qian Li’s neck, and the pain woke him up.

Just as Qian Li opened his mouth to curse Fang Hui’s entire family, Fang Hui said, “You’ve lost too much blood. If you don’t treat it properly and pass out again, don’t expect to wake up.”

Qian Li looked toward Ming Li ahead, gritting his teeth: “I can hold on.”

He just didn’t know if that genius girl could hold on.

If worst came to worst… He clutched his chest as he sat up, his gaze falling on Jiang Wuyue with complex emotions. Forget it, even if he compromised with this madwoman, she wouldn’t spare the other two.

Gray Scorpion had been stunned by Ming Li’s earlier circulation incantation. The burst of star power in that instant was too astonishing, making him afraid to act rashly. If not for those silver bells blocking the attack, Jiang Wuyue might already be dead, and he wouldn’t be far from death himself.

Ming Li, being watched by everyone, lowered her eyes to look at the two small bells in her palm. She could still see the blue cherry blossoms floating within them.

These were the silver bells she had given to her junior sister Qing Ying, who always carried them with her. How had they ended up in Jiang Wuyue’s possession?

Ming Li frowned and looked up at Jiang Wuyue: “Who gave you this silver bracelet?”

Jiang Wuyue’s eyes were filled with both hatred and fear as she sneered: “If you want to know, kneel and beg me!”

Then she glared at Gray Scorpion: “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and capture her for me!”

Gray Scorpion gathered power in both hands, fully activating his Body Techniques meridian, enhancing his physical strength and skeletal structure to the highest level. He chose to launch a proactive attack this time, appearing before Ming Li in the blink of an eye. His single eye flashed with crimson light, his pupil instantly transforming into a vertical slit with an indescribable malevolence, creating a stark contrast against his cold face.

Heavy Eyes meridian high-level spiritual technique: Eight Demon Eyes.

Each eye corresponded to one of the star meridians, commonly used in battle to restrict opponents from using certain star meridian powers.

At this moment, Gray Scorpion was using Eight Demon Eyes to seal Ming Li’s circulation meridian, which had displayed such formidable strength. Being unable to flexibly use circulation incantations was extremely disadvantageous for Ming Li in her current state. Ming Li reacted extremely quickly, immediately countering with a Body Techniques meridian spiritual ability, but Gray Scorpion instantly changed his pupils at the moment their fists collided, switching to seal her Body Techniques meridian instead.

Ming Li’s Body Techniques’ spiritual ability dissipated. She took Gray Scorpion’s punch head-on and was knocked back several meters. Her arm went numb, and she tasted blood in her throat, but she managed to stabilize herself without falling.

Gray Scorpion gave her no chance to breathe. The key to fighting with Eight Demon Eyes was speed—one had to completely suppress and crush the opponent before they could catch up with the sealing pace.

He quickly appeared before Ming Li again, his curved blade emitting a cold light as it slashed toward her eyes. She leaned back to evade, losing a few strands of black hair to the blade’s edge.

Ming Li raised a finger, just about to use a circulation incantation, when Gray Scorpion sealed it. No matter what star meridian power she attempted to use, it would be sealed in advance by the Eight Demon Eyes, leaving her with no options but to endure the attacks. Without the support of Body Techniques’ meridian power, she was closely pursued by Gray Scorpion with his enhanced physical abilities. From slicing her hair to her sleeves, the cold blade was now grazing her delicate skin, leaving a shallow line of blood.

“Hey, old man.”

A rogue youth’s voice from behind halted Gray Scorpion’s attack: “I advise you to stop trimming my genius girl’s hair with that knife, or your young lady might end up bald.”

Gray Scorpion turned back in shock to see Jiang Wuyue, her face contorted with rage, restrained by star line formations. Qian Li was holding a knife to her throat, waving a section of freshly cut black hair at him. Perhaps smiling too arrogantly, he ended up coughing up two mouthfuls of blood onto Jiang Wuyue.

While Gray Scorpion had assumed the two young men posed no further threat and had been overly vigilant toward Ming Li, focusing all his attention on her, Fang Hui had been quietly setting up a formation using his resilient mental strength. The maid’s level was too low, merely a figure responsible for Jiang Wuyue’s daily care. The most threatening opponent remained Gray Scorpion.

Fang Hui only needed a simple trap formation. Under Gray Scorpion’s complete unawareness, he could easily capture Jiang Wuyue, whose strength wasn’t particularly formidable.

Now Jiang Wuyue’s temple veins bulged as she gritted her teeth: “Zhao! Qian! Li! I will kill you! Make you wish you were dead!”

Gray Scorpion immediately locked onto Fang Hui, who was struggling to maintain the formation, trapping Jiang Wuyue. His curved blade flew out but was deflected by Ming Li, who flashed over and tapped it with a finger.

Qian Li sneered: “Old man, take it easy. Let’s see if you can break this trap formation before I cut off your young lady’s head.”

Jiang Wuyue shouted angrily: “Gray Scorpion! Kill him!”

Qian Li stabbed his knife into Jiang Wuyue’s shoulder, listening to her scream in agony. Her eyes were filled with disbelief, as if she couldn’t believe Qian Li would dare to harm her.

Gray Scorpion was forced to withdraw his Eight Demon Eyes, retract his star power, and say in a deep voice: “What do you want?”

“Seal your star meridians and retreat eighty li,” Qian Li threatened. “Otherwise, I’ll cut off her head right now. If she dies, you, having failed to protect your master, won’t live much longer either.”

Gray Scorpion furrowed his brow and saw Jiang Wuyue’s face contort in pain, large beads of sweat falling from her forehead, mixing with blood.

Jiang Wuyue glared at him fiercely: “What are you hesitating for? Hurry up and do as he says! Do you want to get me killed?”

This young lady compromised rather quickly.

Qian Li smiled enigmatically, gesturing for his two companions to come closer.

Gray Scorpion’s face darkened as he raised his hand to place seals on his eight meridians.

Qian Li said, “Seal your star meridians for three days.”

Gray Scorpion replied coldly: “If you kill the young lady, you’ll anger the Jiang clan again. You won’t reach Zhu Que State alive.”

“That’s not for you to worry about. Whether I kill her now depends entirely on your performance!” Qian Li, taking advantage of the situation, said cockily, “If you also think she’s unreasonable and have been wanting her dead, then don’t seal for three days. Taking the opportunity to get rid of an annoying person for revenge—wouldn’t that be quite profitable?”

Gray Scorpion expressionlessly sealed his star meridians again, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth due to the forced sealing.

Qian Li raised an eyebrow: “Go now. Your young lady will wait for you here.”

Gray Scorpion looked at Jiang Wuyue, whose face was twisted in pain and drenched in sweat, then turned and left.

Qian Li said to the anxious-looking maid beside them: “You leave too.”

The maid said fearfully: “Young Lady…”

Jiang Wuyue gritted her teeth: “Go!”

Only after watching Gray Scorpion and the maid disappear into the distance did Qian Li let out a sigh of relief. The knife he held fell to the ground; his hand had no strength left. Fang Hui supported him, helping him toward the carriage.

Ming Li picked up the knife, and just as she was about to question Jiang Wuyue about the silver bells, she saw her roll her eyes and faint from pain.

Ming Li: “…”

“Forget about her, let’s go quickly,” Qian Li said weakly. “Gray Scorpion won’t dare to return rashly, but the Jiang family will send more people.”

Ming Li frowned and said, “I have something to ask her.”

Fang Hui said, “Taking her with us will be more dangerous.”

He looked at Ming Li: “You’re injured too. We don’t have the strength to handle another round of attacks.”

If they hadn’t captured Jiang Wuyue and forced Gray Scorpion to leave, given Jiang Wuyue’s temperament, they might have truly perished here.

Ming Li swallowed the blood in her throat, clutched the bells in her hand, and turned toward the carriage.

Once she reached Zhu Que State, she would find a way to investigate.

Ming Li didn’t believe Qing Ying would have given them away willingly, nor did she think Jiang Wuyue could snatch them from her junior sister’s hands. But the Jiang clan, rulers of Zhu Que State, was a different matter.

Considering Nan Que’s attitude toward Northern Dipper, the Jiang clan, with its close ties to the Nan Que Seven Sects, naturally held the same attitude.

Qing Ying had once joked that the only way to make her remove the silver bracelet would be to cut off her hand, showing how precious it was to her. Chen Zhou often teased her that she would keep that silver bracelet as a family heirloom for life; Qing Ying would retort that she wouldn’t give it to her descendants, that what her senior sister gave her was hers alone, and she would take it to her grave.

Ming Li also didn’t believe her junior sister would befriend someone like Jiang Wuyue.

While she was deep in thought, the two dying young men in the carriage were repenting for making a girl serve as their coachman.

Qian Li’s right palm had been pierced by a sword blade, and he was pressing it with his other hand, continuously coughing up blood.

Fang Hui’s eyes were full of despair, disgust, and endurance. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he tore strips of cloth to help stop the bleeding in Qian Li’s palm.

Qian Li said unsteadily: “This time… I dragged you down.”

Fang Hui: “You said you didn’t know Heavenly Net Myriad Phenomena.”

After saying this, he grabbed the cloth strip and pulled it hard.

Qian Li drew in a sharp breath, nearly passing out, and stammered: “I-I already said my last wish was to pass it on to you!”

“Besides, even the North has books on Heavenly Net Myriad Phenomena cultivation principles. Would it be reasonable for me, the only family heir, not to know it? Use your brain—that wouldn’t make sense, right?”

Fang Hui cursed: “You’re the one without a brain!”

Though injured and in pain, his eerily resilient mental strength kept him from fainting.

At times like this, Fang Hui would become unusually irritable due to his mental strength straining against his weak and exhausted body.

Qian Li was apparently used to Fang Hui’s mood swings and didn’t argue with him, silently moving his hand away, indicating, “Don’t bother, I’ll bandage it myself.”

When Ming Li finished her contemplation and stopped the carriage, unsure which road to take, she lifted the curtain to ask Qian Li, only to find that both of them had passed out.

“…”

Ming Li checked their breathing—fortunately, neither was dead.

If they had both died, it would have been somewhat troublesome for her.

She parked the carriage in a hidden spot near the foot of a mountain. A short distance away was a river with many large rocks on its banks. The water rushed rapidly, creating a babbling sound.

Ming Li found some medicine in the bag Qian Li had produced earlier and administered it to the two. She then went to the riverside to wash her hands and touched her neck, which was stinging with pain.

She had been wounded by Gray Scorpion’s curved blade earlier, and only now did she feel the pain.

Ming Li took out the two small bells and examined them, threading them onto a fine string from her clothes before putting them away.

The oppressive, uncomfortable nightmare, along with the silver bracelet of unknown origin, made Ming Li frown involuntarily.

Her junior brother and sister were not the types to be bullied easily. Their strength was top-notch, plus they had Northern Dipper as backing and a protective senior brother looking after them—

Ming Li told herself to be patient.

Her star power consumption had been excessive. Each time she used a spiritual technique, she was burned by the pilgrim’s fire, though she was gradually getting used to the pain it brought.

Ming Li was trying to figure out how to bypass the pilgrim’s fire, to circumvent this firewall and use her original power that it was blocking.

Half a day passed as she pondered this. When night fell, the sky was filled with countless stars, but no moon was visible. The temperature dropped sharply. Ming Li had just lit a fire for light and warmth when she saw Fang Hui lift the carriage curtain and come out.

She rubbed her eyes and said, “You’re awake just in time. I need to rest for a while.”

Hearing this, Fang Hui turned and dragged the still unconscious Qian Li out of the carriage, throwing him onto the ground, so Ming Li could go in and rest.

Qian Li woke up holding his head: “…”

He said in a daze: “I might escape the Jiang clan’s hunt, but I’ll probably die at your hands.”

Fang Hui: “You have the nerve to sleep all day while Zhou Li keeps watch?”

Qian Li gradually became alert. Clutching his chest, he got up and went to the carriage to ask Ming Li, “Are you all right? How’s your injury? Is it serious? I have medicine!”

Ming Li, leaning at the window with her hands folded under her head, closed her eyes and said: “I’m fine. All your medicine went to you. I’ll sleep for a while and recover some star power.”

Qian Li repeatedly said “okay,” not daring to disturb her.

Fang Hui was warming himself by the fire. Seeing Qian Li come over to sit down, he asked: “Are you still dying?”

“Not anymore,” Qian Li said softly. “My Heavy Eyes meridian just broke through to the Perfected Realm. The star meridian transformation that comes with each advancement helped alleviate most of my injuries.”

It was a blessing in disguise.

Fang Hui looked up at Ming Li, who was sleeping by the window with her eyes closed, and also lowered his voice: “This time we owe our thanks to her.”

Qian Li followed his gaze and nodded: “We need to treat her better. Let’s find some food. She’ll need to replenish her strength when she wakes up.”