Despite volunteering for the task, no one actually believed that Jiang Xi had any skill in dressing up as a woman. People even suspected that his understanding of "femininity" was limited to the literal definition of the word. Yet, when Elder Chen approached him cautiously and asked, "Venerable Master Jiang, do… do you know the differences between ladies and yourself?" Jiang Xi surprisingly replied nonchalantly, "I do."
"Ahh…" Elder Chen was astonished. "I thought you've never interacted with any women…"
Jiang Xi replied coolly, "Who said that?"
Hearing this, Xue Meng jumped in fright, thinking that Jiang Xi was about to use Madame Wang as an example. He hurriedly tried to stand up to stop him but Jiang Xi continued,
"If one loses a man of eight feet, his flesh is here. One can measure and examine it from the outside, and upon death, one can even dissect and observe it."
Elder Chen was confused. "…What does that mean?"
"Oh, our Sect Leader means," Solitary Moon Night, being a sycophant, explained, "that he has dissected female corpses before."
"…"
Excuse me, the Medicine Sect is truly terrifying.
Elder Chen stammered for a while before he shakily said, "T-That Lord Venerable Jiang must be very clear about the characteristics of young ladies, right?"
Jiang Xi gave him a casual glance, revealing his in-depth knowledge of his disguise without any expression on his face. "Slender bones, soft tones, plump skin, curvaceous figures, and unique features such as the vulva and womb." BiqugeTV Release www.biqugetv.com m.biqugetv.com
Silence descended.
Jiang Xi looked down at him confidently and coldly. After a pause, he said, "I've written a book called 'Solitary Moon Night's Thousand Gold Formula for Women,' which includes illustrations. If you're curious, I can lend it to you."
Mei Hanxue: "Pft!"
Xue Meng: "..."
Mei Hanxue: "..."
After a long moment, Elder Chen rubbed his forehead and slapped his head in frustration. The thought of having such an oddity, cold-blooded and peculiar, masquerade as a stunningly enchanting beauty to deceive the Scroll Demon was unbearable. He groaned under his breath, "It's over, utterly damned over..."
May I ask, according to Jiang Yechen's understanding, how should he portray the female cultivator?
Autopsy oneself? !
It was night.
Peach Bud Manor was illuminated by lanterns and the tinkling of wind chimes echoed through the air.
Jiang Yichen had long been prepared and was now seated alone in a side room, waiting. Following Ma Yun's plan to catch demons, the sect leader had also lit an incense in his chamber, dressing up as a woman to lure the scroll demon inside. If the demon could willingly stay in the room for the duration of a cup of tea, their plan would succeed. The demon would lose its will, developing affection even for a sow, allowing them to gently subdue it.
Of course, someone else had written the invitation on Jiang's behalf, since the sect master himself was unable to write. After much deliberation, he had only managed to scribble a fierce and daunting "come" character. Fortunately, the disciples of Peach Bud Manor, especially those of the Shouhou lineage, were skilled in gentle and persuasive language. They quickly rewrote a letter filled with affectionate longing, akin to a tidal wave, resolving the immediate crisis.
At this moment, all the disciples were hiding in the shadows. Xue Meng was also watching from the bushes, voicing his uncertainty in a low voice, "Will everything be alright? Can Jiang Xi really tell the difference between cosmetics? Does he actually know how to dress like a woman?"
Mei Hanzhan replied without any intention of comforting him, "I doubt it."
"..."
Feeling even more uneasy, Xue Meng swallowed hard and struggled to say, "Should I go check on him? I mean—"
Just as he was about to crouch and slip out, Mei Hanxue grabbed him and pressed him down, "Be quiet."
Pointing towards the corridor, she signaled for Xue Meng to look and whispered, "It's here."
Under the moonlight, the Scroll Monster wore a cloak, seemingly imitating the techniques of the Treading Snow Palace. Petals and butterflies encircled it as it strolled nonchalantly. Though its face was hidden beneath the hood, its posture suggested a lack of intelligence.
From Jiang Xi's guest room, a faint sound of a bamboo flute echoed. The Scroll Monster listened for a while and assumed the person must be even better at playing the flute than the pipa. Satisfied, it approached the door and gently knocked twice. "My lady, I've received an invitation and have come to pay my respects. May I disturb you?"
After knocking twice with no response from Jiang Xi, the monster noticed the door slightly ajar. It then lost its politeness and announced, "If my lady doesn't mind, I'll enter then."
Still no answer from Jiang Xi. But Xue Meng suddenly murmured, "Why does this voice sound so familiar?"
In the meantime, the Scroll Monster had already pushed open the door and entered the room, silencing the flute. Despite a nagging unease, Xue Meng thought, Well, as long as Jiang Ye Chen can stall for just a cup of tea, if this thing doesn't leave within that time, it will become infatuated by the scented incense in the room. Then we can subdue it in one —
Before he could finish his thought, there was a loud explosion!
Xue Meng exclaimed in shock, "What happened?! This was just a blink of an eye! Surely Jiang Ye Chen dressing up as a woman wouldn't make it nauseous, right?!"
Stunned, everyone watched as the Scroll Monster soared into the air accompanied by the flying wooden door, overturned table, and divine radiance from a weapon box. This time, instead of emitting a "retch," it let out a pitiful "ah" before crashing to the ground with a thud under their gazes.
Everyone: "…"
"Oh dear…" The Scroll Monster wailed pitifully, "Ouch, ouch, ouch... It hurts... It really hurts..."
In the meantime, Jiang Yechen emerged with his sword, exuding a murderous aura. Mei Hanxue widened her eyes, blinked twice, and turned to Mei Hanyue, asking, "Am I blind? Where is he dressed up as a woman?"
"You're not blind," Mei Hanyue replied expressionlessly while gazing at Jiang Yechen from afar. "He's not dressed up."
Xue Meng contradicted, "But he is!"
Mei Hanyue: "…?"
Mei Hanxue: "???"
"...Where is he dressed up?"
Xue Meng pointed at Jiang Xi's wrist. "Look, he's wearing a delicate white jade bracelet. Only women wear those."
The Mei brothers fell silent. After a moment, Mei Hanyue coldly remarked, "From what I can see, you probably don't differ much from Jiang Yechen. You think the only difference between someone being made up or not is whether they have red lips or not."
Upon hearing this, Xue Meng froze, then replied in confusion, "…Isn't that right?"
Mei Hanyue: "…"
As they conversed, in the adjacent courtyard, an enraged Jiang Xi, seemingly due to some prior encounter with the Scroll Monster, had his elegant brows knitted tightly. The divine Snow Phoenix Saber in his hand shimmered with silvery light and hummed with a resonant vibration. He pulled up the collapsed Scroll Monster from the ground, who cried out, "Oh no! Beautiful one! Beautiful one! How could you be so cruel? With such a delicate face before you, how can you bear to lay a hand on me?"
Jiang Xi thundered in anger, "You're courting death!"
"Wah wah wah, murder! Unreasonable!"
In the midst of their struggle, the Scroll Monster's cloak slipped off, revealing its true countenance.
The spectators fell silent, utterly speechless.
This scroll monster truly deserved to be put down. It, it, it actually had the audacity to wear Jiang Xi's face!
One could easily guess that last night, it had transformed into Jiang Xi's appearance to indulge in debauchery in Yangzhou, gaining quite a bit of attention. This fellow must have been quite smitten, as it still dared to flaunt its illusory version of Sect Leader Jiang's features tonight to deceive others.
And it just so happened to bump into the real Jiang Xi.
But due to its lack of intelligence, it failed to realize that it was teasing none other than Jiang Yechen himself. Hence, one could only imagine what Jiang Xi had endured inside the room earlier...
He likely witnessed "himself" entering with a charming smile, provocatively tossing his head and flirting with a captivating grace, softly calling out "my dear lady~," and might have even received two overly exaggerated flirtatious glances from "himself."
...No wonder Jiang Xi was so enraged – anyone would be in his shoes.
As Jiang Xi was about to execute the Scroll Monster on the spot, disciples of Peach Bud Manor, who had been lying in wait, rushed out and started pleading with him in a chaotic chorus.
"Lord Jiang! Don't act impulsively!"
"If you hit it, all the secrets will be revealed!"
"Calm down, Sect Leader Jiang!!!"
Despite its clumsiness, the Scroll Monster was agile and swift when it came to escaping. Sensing danger, it quickly scrambled to its feet amidst the confusion and darted off into the night.
As it ran, it dramatically shouted, "I, Solitary Moon Night, Jiang Ye Chen, will return! Wahaha!!"
"..." Jiang Xi's straight nose seemed to be contorted with anger.
He bellowed, "Impudent beast!"
He had probably never seen – nor could he have imagined – himself fleeing like a cowardly rat in his entire life!
The Scroll Imp probably found one echo insufficiently provocative, for it mimicked the reverberation, yelling from afar, "I, Solitary Moon Night Jiang Yechen, will return—will return—return—return!"
"Courting death!"
The disciples chorused, "Patriarch Jiang, Patriarch Jiang—"
Jiang Xi: "Try using my face again if you dare!"
The disciples pleaded, "Venerable Master Jiang, Venerable Master Jiang—"
Fuming, Jiang Xi declared, "I'll make you suffer from convulsions, hydrophobia, mania, nosebleeds, skull fracture, and prolapsed anus, as well as endure all sorts of consumption, dropsy, and ascites…" The Medicine Sect's medical jargon was beyond comprehension for others.
While everyone else tried to calm the situation, Xue Meng took it seriously. "What do 'consumption, dropsy, and ascites' mean?"
Mei Hanxue, standing nearby, replied, "Seems like they're referring to four chronic diseases in medical texts."
Seeing that Xue Meng still looked puzzled, Mei Hanxue, with an expressionless face, elaborated, "In simpler terms, he wants to torment it with countless illnesses until it dies a miserable death."
Xue Meng's face twitched slightly before he turned back to watch the battle unfold.
Amidst the chaos, an enraged Jiang Xi was surrounded by a group of Shouhou Mountain Villa's junior disciples, who kept pleading, "Oh, just let it go, let it go!"
"Venerable Master, please calm down, calm your anger."
Jiang Xi's rage clearly wasn't subsiding easily. Venerable Master Jiang was never a broad-minded person to begin with. His months of illness had only worsened his temper, and the fact that this demon was parading around with his appearance added fuel to the fire, causing him to lose his composure for a moment. He fiercely pulled his sleeves away from a junior disciple supporting him, "Let me go!"
"Okay, okay, we'll let you go. Whatever the Venerable Master says, we'll do."
"I'll kill that—"
The relieved disciples hastily intercepted him once more, "You can't! Absolutely not!"
"Quickly, prepare a seat for the Venerable Master, pour tea, help cool his anger."
In the midst of the commotion, a flash of emerald light suddenly appeared. The disciples gasped in surprise and scattered, while at this moment, Jiang Ye Chen's steps faltered, and he stumbled, falling to his knees.
Silence descended upon the crowd as they blamed each other with their eyes—
Heavens, why didn't you support Venerable Master Jiang?
It was you who were closer, so how can you blame me?
But what exactly was that green light...
Just then, the bee that had transformed from Master Ma buzzed over. Elder Chen Xuyuan froze for a moment before his expression suddenly changed. He slapped his balding head and cried out, "Oh no, oh no, something terrible has happened! Supreme Leader Jiang couldn't stop the Scroll Monster either! He's been cursed too! He'll turn into an animal as well!!!"
Upon hearing this, Xue Meng shot up from the haystack, exclaiming in shock, "What?!!