Chapter 31: This Is Called Turning Into Spring Mud to Better Protect the Flowers

Dongfang Jiebai’s slender fingers gently pressed against the little fox’s head, tucking her further into his robes. Ji Ci could clearly feel the steady heartbeat within his chest, mingled with the faint, clean scent of pine.

As she rested her fuzzy head against him, she searched her memory for anyone named Wu Que. Among the hundred or so high-ranking officials in the imperial court, there was certainly no one by that name. If the person were a local official, she would have to look into the official archives later.

Just as Dongfang Jiebai held the little fox and prepared to descend, the group of Beidi tribesmen suddenly doubled back. The sound of hooves clattered against the ground. Dongfang Jiebai suppressed his presence, retreating back into the tree with the little fox.

As the Beidi riders passed by in the distance, they spotted a pool of water. Having been on the road for a fortnight, they had not yet had a proper bath. Since they were not in a rush to travel tonight, they decided to rest there. The six men dismounted, stripped off their outer robes, and stepped into the water.

Dongfang Jiebai covered the little fox’s eyes. Ji Ci shook her head and pushed his hand away; she wasn't looking at handsome men, she wanted to see which tribe these Beidi people belonged to!

The men below were heavily bearded and significantly taller than the Han people. It was impossible to tell exactly which tribe they were from. As they chatted in their unintelligible tongue, Dongfang Jiebai kept a hand on his waist. There were six of them. Two against six—the advantage was his. If Ji Ci had known that Dongfang Jiebai was counting her, a mere "marmoset," as a person, she would have certainly thrown a fit! She was just a fox—what kind of help could she provide?

Dongfang Jiebai set Ji Ci down on a tree branch and tapped her nose lightly. "Stay here and don't move."

Before the words had even faded, his white-robed figure, pure as snow, drifted down. The soft sword left its scabbard with a crisp chime, startling the Beidi men into a hurried defense. The Beidi warriors’ scimitars were equipped with leather straps that secured them to their hands, ensuring they wouldn't be disarmed even if an opponent had great strength. Dongfang Jiebai’s blade parried a scimitar, and he caught sight of the straps instantly. A smirk played on his lips as he began to strike specifically at their wrists.

After a few rounds, the Beidi men were forced into a purely defensive position in the water. They quickly adjusted their formation; four men engaged Dongfang Jiebai while two scrambled onto the bank to retrieve composite bows from their horses, firing arrows at him. The Beidi were a nomadic people who spent much of their time hunting, and their mastery of the bow far surpassed that of the Central Plains. Their archery was fast and accurate. Under the pressure, Dongfang Jiebai was soon wounded. On the battlefield, the tide of war could turn in the blink of an eye.

The four men emerged from the water and surrounded Dongfang Jiebai. Their scimitar strikes were fierce and swift, adding more wounds to his body. He wiped the blood from his face, his soft sword already notched. With a powerful push from his feet, he leaped into the air and hurled his sword, pinning one of the Beidi men to the ground. Now weaponless, he could only rely on his fists and feet to defend himself. With one of their companions down, the remaining Beidi men fought with even greater ferocity.

Above, Ji Ci stomped her feet in anxiety, frantically searching her space for a weapon. Finally, among the Dongfang family’s assets, she found a silver spear.

*Squeak, squeak!*

With a sharp cry, the silver spear descended from the sky. Dongfang Jiebai caught it, his eyes brightening. This was the very spear his mother had commissioned for him when he first began learning martial arts as a child. Because he had been too small to lift it then, he had never used it; later, after he had his own custom spear forged, this one had been tucked away by his mother. He had never expected it to be sent along with the rest of his belongings.

Holding the spear, Dongfang Jiebai’s lips curled into a smile. The weapon moved like a dragon, the tip weaving dazzling silver patterns. With a long-lost weapon in hand, his offensive style shifted instantly. The spear became an extension of his arm, its movements—parrying, thrusting, and sweeping—flowing like water. Under the onslaught of the spear, the Beidi scimitars could not even get close to him. With a few strikes, the remaining five Beidi men were sent flying.

Dongfang Jiebai drove the spear into the ground and stepped forward to check for survivors. One Beidi man suddenly opened his eyes, raising his scimitar to strike. Ji Ci’s eyes widened in fear.

"Watch out!"

Dongfang Jiebai spun around and drove the spear into the man’s eye. "It’s good that you’re still alive; I was worried you might all be dead."

"Ah!" the Beidi man screamed, clutching his eye, before Dongfang Jiebai twisted his arms and bound him. The other five lay scattered near the hot spring, streaks of crimson blood drifting across the water's surface.

Dongfang Jiebai stood beneath the tree and held out his hands. "Jump down, I’ll catch you."

Ji Ci leaped, landing directly in his arms. She channeled her energy into him, instantly healing his wounds. Dongfang Jiebai’s eyes darkened, and he pressed a gentle kiss to the little fox’s head.

"Thank you."

He had learned to kiss her head from Zhao Qiaofeng. Fearing that Zhao Qiaofeng might whisk his little fox away, he spent every waking moment studying what the little fox liked. Ji Ci hopped out of his arms and stepped onto the Beidi men. She stood up, gestured, and nudged their legs.

*"Search their pockets and give me anything valuable."*

Dongfang Jiebai shook his head helplessly. She already possessed eighty percent of the Dongfang family wealth; how could she still be so greedy? He walked over to the Beidi men and emptied their pockets of everything of value. The two of them looked like a pair of bandits—one robbing, one keeping watch.

Ji Ci then put the weapons away and ran over to the horses, tucking them into her space as well. *"I'm keeping these to save up for a powerful cavalry unit for you."*

Dongfang Jiebai thought she was just joking, never imagining that her magical storage bag could hold so many fine horses. But that was a matter for another day.

Once inside the new environment, the horses were initially afraid to move, but upon smelling the spiritual spring water, they rushed over and drank their fill. Ji Ci had already planted crops all around, and she sectioned off a hillside to keep the horses. She scattered some grass seeds and channeled the spiritual water to ensure the horses would be well-fed and watered.

As the sky began to turn pale with the coming dawn, they finally finished clearing the scene. Dongfang Jiebai was about to light a fire to burn the corpses, but Ji Ci blocked him.

"Squeak!" The little fox stomped her feet, gesturing with her small paws to store them in her space. *"Take them back to use as fertilizer."*

The system, hearing this heaven-defying suggestion, was absolutely stunned! [Master, at this point, you sound like the villain!]

*"Don't talk nonsense; this is called resource recycling. The soil in the north is barren, and these are high-quality organic fertilizers. It would be even better if I could grind the enemy corpses down; bury them in the fields during the winter, and the land will be fertile next year—all-natural, pollution-free..."*

[That's a bit of a waste of human life.]

Ji Ci nodded her little head. It was, indeed, a bit wasteful.

Dongfang Jiebai listened, his mouth twitching, and he nearly dropped his firestarter. "If the corpses are of use to you, then take them."

System: [Villain, you are the villain! Why are you indulging her?]

Ji Ci nodded, collecting the five corpses. Worried that she might be frightened when she entered the space later, she deliberately placed them on a different hillside. The system watched as its host hummed a little tune while "selecting a site" for the bodies and silently lit a candle for itself.

*"Let me tell you, this is what you call 'peace in the earth.' I'm not hacking them into pieces; I'm just burying them. Even in death, they can contribute to the land. What do you call that? It's called turning into spring mud to protect the flowers."*

Dongfang Jiebai was almost persuaded by her logic.

System: [You have a point; everything you say is right.]