After all, being naked and trapped with a similarly naked stranger was enough to feel frustrated.
Of course, Comrade Jiang didn’t know that, unknowingly, he had bitten into the other person’s cherry, peeling off its skin.
Jiang Shouzhong recalled the mories before he passed out.
He vaguely rembered that he seed to have taken an apple, and then lost consciousness.
And after that...
Just as he was trying hard to think, a sudden sharp pain shot through his head, and Jiang Shouzhong instinctively clutched his aching head.
The bloody scenes flooded his mind... black armor, icy chains, the collapse of a divine statue, and a giant statue that looked exactly like Hong’er.
"Are you alright?"
Soti later, a woman’s voice rang by his ear.
Though her tone remained cold, there was a trace of concern in it.
Sweating profusely, Jiang Shouzhong breathed heavily and saw Xiao Lingqiu holding a luminous pearl, frowning as she stared at him.
Under the soft and clean light, the woman’s jade-like face seed to gleam faintly, her beauty beyond comparison—yet Jiang Shouzhong appeared quite stunned.
How did her appearance suddenly change?
"Are you Miss Jingjing?"
Jiang Shouzhong asked tentatively.
Xiao Lingqiu froze montarily, then instinctively touched her cheek, only to realize that the disguising mask on her face had dissolved along with her clothes.
"So that was a disguise mask, huh,"
Jiang Shouzhong said with sudden realization, teasing, "Was it because you’re too beautiful and kept getting harassed, so you had to wear a mask?"
"What’s it to you?"
Annoyed at having her true face seen, Xiao Lingqiu regretted taking out the luminous pearl.
Jiang Shouzhong chuckled lightly, refraining from teasing her any further, and began carefully sorting through his earlier mories, pondering deeply.
Why did the divine statue resemble Hong’er so much?
The Shura soldiers ntioned that the disaster was caused by the Red Demon; what is this Red Demon?
Could it be so ancestor of Hong’er’s?
Based on the recollected scenes, it seed that during the catastrophe, the Asura Queen had found the cause of the disaster and led the Asura Undead Army to fight against the Red Demon, attempting to defy fate.
But in the end, it was a failure.
Still, as the divine statue collapsed, the Red Demon appeared to have been destroyed as well.
Jiang Shouzhong really couldn’t piece together the entailnts and grudges of these hundreds of years. He pondered for a long ti without coming up with anything.
Moreover, he didn’t know much about Hong’er’s background.
Of course, Qu Hongling herself was equally in the dark.
During the carriage ride to Zhenxuan Mountain, Qu Hongling had ntioned her origins, saying she was found and raised by Ms Qiu in a cave.
She knew nothing about her parents or family.
She was essentially a typical orphan.
Jiang Shouzhong wiped the sweat from his face, deciding to stop thinking about it for now. He reached out to grab the luminous pearl in Xiao Lingqiu’s hand to observe their current surroundings.
But just as he stretched out his hand, the woman quickly pulled the pearl away.
Xiao Lingqiu hid the pearl behind her back, her smooth, jade-like skin briefly flashing in the light.
Jiang Shouzhong felt helpless: "Relax, I won’t peek at you."
Seeing that she had no intention of handing him the pearl, he resigned himself to fumbling for an exit in the dark.
"We’re inside a fruit’s stomach."
Xiao Lingqiu said casually.
Fruit’s stomach?
Jiang Shouzhong was confused.
Xiao Lingqiu explained everything that had happened after he fainted, of course skipping the part about him biting into her.
"An apple demon?"
Jiang Shouzhong exclaid in surprise, saying, "So you an the apple ate us? And it dissolved all our clothes in the process?"
"Mm."
Xiao Lingqiu replied coolly.
Jiang Shouzhong found this strange.
What was the apple demon’s purpose in eating them?
Was it just for consumption?
It seed they hadn’t been hard physically apart from losing their clothes while inside the stomach.
Jiang Shouzhong summoned the Dragon-slaying Flying Sword, attempting to pierce through the fruit’s belly. The flying sword struck from various angles, but apart from so sparks, it had no effect.
At that mont, Jiang Shouzhong’s fingers accidentally brushed against certain objects nearby.
It turned out to be items that had fallen from his dissolved clothing.
While he had two acupoint storage spaces, each could only hold one item, so he had stored the hefty Seven Kills Blade and a spare outfit there.
Other miscellaneous items had been carried on him.
But unfortunately, in this bizarre realm, his acupoint spaces were inaccessible.
Both the Zodiac Map and Heavenly Tribulation Divine Armor were sealed as well.
At this mont, there was one item that Jiang Shouzhong discovered to be slightly warm, as if it was releasing energy.
It was a small, brass oil lamp.
This lamp had been gifted to him by Li Nanshuang.
Back in Qingzhou, when he was falsely accused, Ran Qingchen and Li Nanshuang secretly investigated Liu Wuxu to help clear his na. During the process, the two inadvertently entered an underground palace containing the Shura Altar and encountered danger.
Jiang Shouzhong received a mysterious ssage and hurried to rescue them.
He successfully found the injured Ran Qingchen and joined forces to eliminate the transford, monstrous Su Shanke.
anwhile, Li Nanshuang accidentally found a damaged small brass oil lamp inside a labyrinth and gave it to him.
Jiang Shouzhong hadn’t been able to figure out its purpose at the ti and didn’t pay it much attention, simply carrying it with him. He never imagined this unassuming little lamp would emit an anomaly at this critical mont.
Picking up the lamp, he noticed a small recess on its base.
He placed his thumb on the spot and pressed lightly.
Unexpectedly, a small fla ignited—an eerie, cold white fla.
Xiao Lingqiu jumped in fright: "What’s that?"
Jiang Shouzhong shook his head: "Not sure, maybe so sort of magic treasure."
Staring at the cold white fla, curiosity got the better of him, and he instinctively tried to touch it with his hand. Before his fingers reached the fla, a sharp, icy pain surged through him.
Jiang Shouzhong instantly felt as though his fingers were frozen stiff, and it took him a while to thaw them in his mouth before regaining feeling.
"Keep it away!"
Xiao Lingqiu curled up with her slim legs tightly drawn, crossing her arms in front of her chest to distance herself from the man.
It wasn’t the cold she feared—it was being seen unclothed.
Jiang Shouzhong ignored her, deliberating for a mont, then held the lamp up to let the fla make contact with the tough fruit belly.
Cold frost spread instantly.
Cracks began threading across what was supposed to be an indestructible surface.
Overjoyed, Jiang Shouzhong removed the lamp and delivered a solid kick to the cracked area. A beam of sunlight pierced through, too dazzling for them to keep their eyes open.
The two were finally free.
While Jiang Shouzhong celebrated their escape, Xiao Lingqiu was flustered.
"Don’t you dare turn around!"
The woman’s voice trembled, carrying both anger and a faint plea.
Jiang Shouzhong thought to himself, Even if I were a lustful pervert, having seen so many stunning beauties, would I really be tempted by an ill-tempered da like you?
"Move far away."
Using the sa thod, Jiang Shouzhong applied the lamp to freeze-crack the surrounding fruit walls, kicking open a gap big enough for them to escape, before crawling out.
Looking around, Jiang Shouzhong was imdiately astonished by what he saw.
They were aboard a ship.
About ten zhang long and three zhang wide.
The entire hull was crystal clear, radiantly beautiful under the sunlight’s refracted beams.
But what amazed him most was the thin layer of rippling water suspended above the Crystal Ship.
Though the water seed only a thin surface, it was crystal clear.
Sunlight stread right through.
At the ship’s stern, there was a crystal coffin.
Jiang Shouzhong stepped closer to inspect. Inside the coffin lay a complete skeleton radiating a pinkish hue, its delicate bones shimring.
Judging by the structure, it was undoubtedly female.
Jiang Shouzhong thought of the Red Powder Skull Demon he’d slain earlier—it bore resemblance to the skeleton before him.
"Jiang Mo..."
Ca Xiao Lingqiu’s voice from inside the fruit’s shell.
Jiang Shouzhong was studying the skeleton and didn’t respond.
Xiao Lingqiu, terrified that he had abandoned her, called out with panic: "Jiang Mo? Are you there?"
Jiang Shouzhong spotted a black dress lying beside the coffin, picked it up, and threw it back into the fruit shell. "Put this on yourself. If you don’t have the strength to dress, I’ll have to help."
Xiao Lingqiu fell silent.
Soon, the sound of clothing rustling could be heard.
Jiang Shouzhong stared at the skeleton in the crystal coffin, feeling an inexplicable sense of familiarity and estrangent all at once.
He slowly pushed open the lid of the coffin...
——
The Capital, within the underground palace beneath the Astronomical Observatory.
Ran Qingchen opened her eyes abruptly, black mist swirling within them, as a faint black lotus mark erged on her brow.
She murmured: "It seems to be my Shura Demon Body."
At that mont, the underground palace’s heavy doors creaked open.
Emperor Zhou Chang and the elderly observatory master walked in slowly.
The black lotus mark on Ran Qingchen’s brow gradually faded as she closed her eyes, returning to her previously frail appearance.
She understood that she was about to be released.
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