"Thank you, young master, thank you, young master."
"Now that you're my maid, what are you standing there for? Do you expect me to clean up the bones on the ground?"
"Ah, young master, please forgive me, Xiaoxue will clean up right away."
Before long, Xiaoxue lifted the whole pile of bones up—yes, she lifted them up! Who knows how she managed to lift them without them falling?
"Young master, it's that earth god temple up ahead."
A short while later, a man in a long golden robe and a woman in white with a golden mask appeared in front of the small local temple.
"Small and exquisite, quite nice, let's go in!" Lin Qing transformed into a beam of light and disappeared in front of the earth god temple.
Hu Xiaoxue didn't have that ability, so she had no choice but to close her eyes and crash into the earth god temple.
As soon as Lin Qing entered the Earth God Temple, he saw a purple-haired woman sitting in the main seat of the hall, holding a ginseng root the size of an infant's arm.
That ginseng must have had medicinal properties for at least a thousand years, otherwise it couldn't have grown so large.
"Take good care of yourself, and I won't take much. Just cut off a piece of your arm for me every ten days," the scorpion demon said greedily, gazing at the man with the severed arm beside her.
"Yes," the Earth God said, his arm severed. He dared not speak out in anger, and though he did not want to die, he could only endure it, but he still held a glimmer of hope in his heart.
"Although it's outside the city, if that powerful deity finds out, he definitely won't stand idly by," the Earth God prayed.
"Bang!" Hu Xiaoxue bumped into Lin Qing's back.
"I'm sorry, young master," Hu Xiaoxue quickly apologized.
Lin Qing sighed inwardly and ignored her.
"Huh? Who? Oh, isn't this the little guy who ran away? What, did he come to my door today?"
"And this handsome young man, did you bring him here to curry favor with me?"
Without the scorpion demon making any move, countless poisonous scorpions suddenly appeared from all directions, instantly surrounding Lin Qing and his companion.
Upon seeing this, the Earth God's eyes flashed with joy.
Seeing that Lin Qing didn't speak, Hu Xiaoxue kept quiet, but her eyes were fixed on the scorpion demon.
"Is it you who tortured my maid like that?" Lin Qing said calmly.
"Oh ho ho, I never expected that such a handsome young man like you would have a fox demon as a maid." The scorpion demon slowly stood up from her seat.
Lin Qing replied in the same indifferent tone, "You only need to answer yes or no."
"So what if I'm just a lowly mortal like you?" The scorpion demon's disdainful expression revealed her true feelings.
Lin Qing coldly said, "Then go die."
"Boom!" A ball of golden flame suddenly appeared from the scorpion demon's body.
Before the scorpion demon could even scream, the ginseng in her hand turned to ashes.
The scorpion demons surrounding Lin Qing and his companion were also vanished at the same time.
"Ahhhhh!" The local earth god, standing nearby, turned black rapidly the moment the scorpion demon died, then screamed and collapsed to the ground.
Lin Qing glanced at the Earth God but didn't say anything. The scorpion venom was spreading throughout his body, and he would surely die within half an hour. He was only being kept alive by the medicinal power he had.
The original form of this Earth God is actually a ginseng plant. If it were just an ordinary minor deity like the Earth God, it would probably have died long ago.
"Ah, what's wrong with the Earth God?" Hu Xiaoxue, having come to her senses, quickly went to the Earth God's side.
"The scorpion venom has spread throughout his body. If no one comes to his aid, he will surely die within half an hour."
For some reason, Hu Xiaoxue suddenly said, "Young master, could you please save the Earth God?"
"He's an accomplice of the Scorpion Demon, and you still want me to save him?" Lin Qing seemed surprised.
“Young master, the Earth God is not an accomplice of the Scorpion Demon. During these two days of suffering, the Earth God secretly fed me ginseng roots. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have survived these past few days.”
Lin Qing walked up to Hu Xiaoxue and said, "Oh? If he's not with the Scorpion Demon, then why?"
"Grandpa Earth God has been poisoned by the Scorpion Demon, so we have to listen to her," Hu Xiaoxue explained.
Chapter 494 Bai Suzhen (Please subscribe, vote for monthly tickets, and recommend this chapter)
"In that case, let's save him!"
Lin Qing immediately cast a healing spell on him, and sure enough, the healing spell worked well. In just a few seconds, the dark spots on his body quickly disappeared.
Before long, the Earth God slowly opened his tightly closed eyes.
Hu Xiaoxue asked with a worried look, "Grandpa Earth God, are you alright?"
"Girl, Grandpa is alright. Thank you for saving my life, Immortal. Please accept my bow." The Earth God stood up and bowed to Lin Qing.
Lin Qing smiled and nodded, "No need for formalities. Consider this a return for your help to Xiaoxue!"
"Thank you, little girl," the Earth God said kindly.
"It should be Xiaoxue thanking you. Without your ginseng root, I probably wouldn't have made it through on the first day." Hu Xiaoxue laughed happily.
"Girl, what's wrong with your face?"
Hu Xiaoxue was silent for a moment, and after a while, she smiled and said, "It's okay. My face is ruined, but it's fine now. This mask was given to me by the young master. It's very beautiful."
"You've suffered, child. Alas, the monsters these days are truly too rampant." The Earth God picked up his cane and slammed it against the ground three times, revealing his inner anger.
Lin Qing asked, "You are at least a local official with a formal position in the Heavenly Court, and even if your strength is weak, you are still an immortal. How did this little scorpion demon manage to subdue you?"
Upon hearing this, the Earth God immediately smiled bitterly and said, "Immortal, although we do hold positions in the Heavenly Court, our magical power is insufficient to defeat even slightly powerful demons."
"They can only use their status to scare those demons and monsters."
Lin Qing stroked his chin and asked again, "Then why don't you report it to the Heavenly Court and ask them to come down and rescue you?"
"Even if I, a mere local earth god, report to the Heavenly Court, it's uncertain when anyone will come down to rescue me. Ten days have passed, and there hasn't been a single reply from above," the earth god said helplessly.
"Hmm? Interesting, interesting." Suddenly, Lin Qing's previously tense face broke into a smile.
A woman in white, seeking to repay a debt of gratitude, entered Qiantang County.
"Let's find a place to stay first. Hangzhou is so big, I don't know when I'll be able to find him." Bai Suzhen was a little distressed.
She was about to ascend to immortality, but for some unknown reason, she failed. Afterwards, she received guidance from Guanyin and was told that she needed to resolve the karmic ties from a thousand years ago.
Bai Suzhen was somewhat surprised to see the hurried pedestrians on the road, all of whom were shouting "Immortal Master" and making offerings.
She then grabbed a burly man who had just passed by her and said, "Brother, who is this immortal master you're talking about?"
The burly man, fearing he wouldn't get a spot to worship, was now being held back by someone else. Enraged, he turned and snapped, "Get lost! Cough cough, you're a celestial master!"
The overcast sky cleared up, and the big man coughed lightly, then smiled as he recounted how the immortal master had just subdued the snake demon.
The burly man wanted to continue the conversation, but suddenly realized that the young woman in white had disappeared.
He rubbed his eyes, looking terrified, and said, "Where is everyone? Did I encounter a ghost? No, I must hurry and offer incense to Master Xiangxian to bless me."
After saying that, the big man took off running forward.
"This is it, the Immortal Master Temple?" Bai Suzhen looked at the plaque with some doubt, as she had no recollection of this temple.
"Let's go in and take a look!"
Although the place was packed with people, Bai Suzhen was no ordinary person. She walked into a small alley in the distance, and with a flash, she transformed into a streak of light.
With a 'whoosh!', it flew directly into the inner hall of the temple.
"What a wondrous statue! This immortal master's magical power is not low. Immortal master, please accept my humble bow!" Bai Suzhen took out three incense sticks from somewhere and stuck them into the incense burner.
"Where did this young lady come from? Don't you know that you can't enter the inner hall?" Xiaoqing came out from the inner room, looked at Bai Suzhen, and appeared in front of her in a flash, scolding her.
"I am Bai Suzhen. Greetings, young lady. How did Bai Suzhen know that the inner hall is off-limits without being informed by anyone?" Bai Suzhen smiled and bowed.
"Now you know, you trespassed into the inner hall without permission. Perfect, I need a maid to serve me, so I'll punish you by making you my maid and cleaning the Immortal Master Temple!" Xiaoqing clapped her hands excitedly.
Bai Suzhen retorted, "I only went into the inner hall because there were too many people outside. Besides, I haven't done anything wrong. How can you make me a maid?"
Xiaoqing: "I don't care, you'll just be a maid." After saying that, she turned her right hand into a claw and grabbed Bai Suzhen's arm.
Bai Suzhen immediately flung Xiaoqing's arm away and struck her with a palm. The two then exchanged a few blows.
After a long while, the two exchanged a palm strike and then each took a few steps back. Bai Suzhen said, "Hmph, don't be rude, or don't blame me for making things difficult for you."
"Really? I don't believe it." Xiaoqing flashed to the door and blocked Bai Suzhen's way.
Bai Suzhen said helplessly, "What exactly do you want?" She knew that Xiaoqing meant no harm and she had not actually made a move.
"I want you to be my maid," Xiaoqing said with a smile.
Bai Suzhen said with three fingers, "I'll give you three chances. If you can control me, I'll do as you say."
"Excellent, take this!" Xiaoqing clapped her hands and immediately attacked Bai Suzhen with both hands.
Bai Suzhen turned around and dodged, then smiled at Xiaoqing, leaped up, and flew out of the inner hall.
"Trying to run away?" Xiaoqing quickly followed behind her.
Before long, the two appeared in a mountain forest.
"Please come in! It was quite inconvenient at the Immortal Master Temple earlier." Bai Suzhen gestured for them to enter.
Xiaoqing walked up to Bai Suzhen and said, "You just said you would give me three chances."
After saying that, he placed his hands together in front of his body, and then touched his temples with two fingers of each hand.
Immediately, he drew a half-circle with both hands in the air, and finally made a strange gesture, opened his small mouth, and spat out a stream of Samadhi True Fire.
As soon as the flames appeared, they quickly enveloped Bai Suzhen. However, Bai Suzhen remained calm and even smiled despite being deep within the flames.
Bai Suzhen activated her magic and pointed her right hand at Xiaoqing, and the flames instantly burned towards Xiaoqing.
"ah"
Xiaoqing exclaimed in surprise and unconsciously took a few steps back, but then remembered that she had exhaled the flames, so she immediately inhaled all of them back in one breath.
Bai Suzhen smiled and held up two fingers, saying, "You have two more chances."