After seeing that no other Crazies were coming in , Liu Ying pulled out a firework she had prepared before , aimed it towards the opening of the Karst window , and fired it.
The cave was momentarily filled with a bright white light.
Yang Changtian and the others were waiting for the signal above , when they saw the cave being illuminated with a bright light . Yang Changtian jumped into action , " Now ! Pour it all in ! " he roared while running to grab two jars himself , they had concocted around 15 ;large jars of the peat solution , and they began to pour the solution one after the other into the opening.
The solution poured down and mixed in with the lake which was remaining with Crazies , still fighting to get those bone charms.
Liu Ying watched and waited for a while, then she spotted some of the Crazies recoiling as if they were burned by something. She quickly removed the barrier she placed on the bone charms , and diverted that power to enclose the whole lake with a larger barrier , ensuring the Crazies couldn't get out.
Yang Changtian and the others could faintly see a glowing blue-green light from within.
" That's Senior's spiritual power ! She must've erected a barrier to keep the Crazies locked in, " Jin Wei explained .
Yang Changtian just observed the blue-green hue intently , the color reminded him of a deep lake , similar to the very one they were standing on. It was a calm colour, but one could see that it was also deep and mysterious.
As the water began to essentially burn them , the Crazies began to claw at the barrier. Liu Ying was also trying hard to maintain the barrier , but due to the masking , she could not unleash her full power..
" Da Xiong , can you reinforce the barrier ? " she groaned while pushing back against the Crazies.
Da Xiong nodded and immediately withdrew his power from the bone charms , redirecting it over to Liu Ying's barrier.
The one completely blue-green barrier had patches of orange now.
" Da Xiong's reinforcing the boundary , looks like the Crazies are pushing back hard, " Jin Wei exclaimed , trying to get a closer look.
Being unable to take it longer , Yang Changtian whipped around and walked towards the edge of the mountain , with precise movements , he jumped down the mountain , using ledges to balance himself. He landed on his feet smoothly and he quickly walked into the cave.
He made his way over to the underground lake and he saw Liu Ying and Da Xiong both holding the barrier up.
Yang Changtian leaped up towards the ledge , startling them.
" Yang Changtian ! Why are you here ? " Liu Ying hissed.
" I'm here to help , " he hissed back.
" We can handle it-" Liu Ying began to protest. But she was silenced by Yang Changtian's scathing look.
Yang Changtian positioned himself between Liu Ying and Da Xiong , and used his power to reinforce the barrier. While Da Xiong's spiritual power didn't mix with Liu Ying's remaining as a separate entity , Yang Changtian's white spiritual light mixed with hers giving off a teal colour.
With the addition of Yang Changtian the barrier was in fact much easier to hold up. Seeing that she was almost running out of energy and how Yang Changtian and Da Xiong could hold up the barrier on their own , Liu Ying decided to withdraw her power.
She jumped down from the ledge and moved closer to the barrier , ignoring Yang Changtian's worried glances .
She stopped a safe distance away from the barrier and walked into each and every single cave briefly , making sure there were no Crazies hiding, seeing that no one was there , she walked back out.
By now some of the Crazies had begun to collapse , they were like dominos , one falling after the other . Soon only a handful remained.
Liu Ying leapt back up to the ledge and used her power to replenish some of Yang Changtian's and Da Xiong's energy.
When the final Crazies collapsed and twitched , she instructed Yang Changtian and Da Xiong to disconnect from the barrier , when they complied , she immediately stepped up and took over.
When Da Xiong stumbled , Yang Changtian managed to grab his arm , preventing him from falling.
" Help him sit down , he overexerted himself," Liu Ying instructed, " I have some sugar in my bag , have some and give it to Da Xiong too , it'll energise you.
Yang Changtian found a small pouch of sugar inside the bag and he poured some into his mouth before giving some to Da Xiong , after he was done , he walked over to Liu Ying and held the pouch out.
" Mr. Yang , unfortunately my hands are quite busy , do you mind pouring some into my mouth ?".
Yang Changtian gulped hard before nodding . He poured some sugar into his hand and when she opened her mouth, he looked away and poured it into her mouth.
Turns out looking away was worse , as he accidentally brushed his hand against her lips , the smooth and plump feeling making his heart race.
Liu Ying acted like nothing happened and she thanked him , before turning her focus back into the task.
Yang Changtian fidgeted a bit , but just when he was about to say something , Liu Ying disconnected from the barrier , " Jin Wei ! Ask someone to bring Tao Su down here ! " she yelled at the top of her lungs.
The echo was immediate and Jin Wei was able to catch it quite easily , he quickly looked around and asked Mo Ling to take Tao Su inside.
Mo Ling and Tao Su nodded before heading down.
Minutes later , the two of them also arrived at the lakeshore .
Liu Ying jumped down and beckoned Tao Su to come , " Follow me ."
The both of them disappeared into a smaller cave , Yang Changtian recognised it as the cave that housed the spring that fed the lake.
" Tao Su , would it be possible to directly direct this water source into the rivers outside ? " Liu Ying asked.
Tao Su thought for a while before nodding , " It should be possible Senior , but I'll need a lot of energy and power, and I'll have to be careful enough to not collapse the cave."
" Did you bring your medallion ? ".
Tao Su nodded and pulled a token out before handing it over to Liu Ying.
Liu Ying took it, " Da Xiong ! Come here , " she yelled .
Moments later Da Xiong rushed in , " What is it Senior ? ".
" Can you use your power to amplify this medallion's power ? " she asked him , handing the medallion over .
Da Xiong observed it for a while before nodding , " It is possible Senior ."
" Then get started , that's Tao Su spiritual medallion , it is directly connected to his core, so be careful."
Da Xiong gulped and nodded , while he repeated his earlier movement , Liu Ying signaled Tao Su to come closer.
She made him turn around and quickly traced an incantation on his back before placing her palm in the middle, at the same time Da Xiong began to feed his energy into the medallion.
Tao Su felt Liu Ying's familiar energy coursing through his body , and just below his heart , where his core was located he felt another warm energy pulsating , likely from Da Xiong.
Tao Su closed his eyes to focus more and he made some gestures with his hands , he then stepped forward with his palms facing outwards , with a loud crash and rumble , a side of the cave began to chip away piece by piece to ensure the cave didn't collapse.
Yang Changtian rushed in , worry apparent in his expression.
But seeing that they were all holding out fine , he breathed a sigh of relief.
This was by no means an easy task , they were essentially altering a whole underground water cave system , Liu Ying figured out early on that the lake was somewhat useless , a piece that only exists because it exists , serving no purpose .
Initially she planned to remove the carcasses of the Crazies after they finished killing them , but seeing the sheer amount of carcasses , and thinking about the amount of manpower they would have to exert to take care of them , she decided to simply seal off the lake , after a few years , the lake will cleanse itself naturally .
Tao Su's alterations only left one single small stream feeding the lake , the rest of the water was all directly redirected to the streams that fed the water sources outside.
By the time they were done , all three of them were exhausted , when Liu Ying disconnected from the connection , she stumbled , and Yang Changtian rushed forward to catch her .
Liu Ying was someone proud and haughty , never showing her weak side but she looked weak and exhausted. Now that she was close , Yang Changtian could smell a slight minty scent emanating from her, the scent made him smile , as it was the perfect for someone like Liu Ying.
Yang Changtian helped Liu Ying over to a corner. Helping her sit down , he asked her if she was okay , seeing that she nodded , he immediately moved over to help Da Xiong and Tao Su , before heading outside to call Jin Wei and the others in.
Da Xiong sat down on Liu Ying's right and leaned against the wall breathing hard , Liu Ying reached out and patted his head , " There there , you did great Da Xiong , ".
Da Xiong looked at her speechless before bursting out in laughter . Tao Su, who was settled on Liu Ying's left also chuckled and pulled on Liu Ying's sleeve.
" Master, can I lean on you ? " he asked meekly.
Liu Ying gave him a warm smile and patted him on the head , " Come , we have some time to rest , I know you're exhausted so sleep."
Tao Su nodded and adjusted himself , leaning against Liu Ying's shoulder.
Liu Ying looked over to Da Xiong , " I would offer you my shoulder , but you're a grown man," she said with a straight face , " But I do have some more sweets . Here , " she handed some sweets over to him.
Da Xiong sighed and chuckled before taking the sweets from her , popping one in his mouth. " Tao Su must be exhausted , " he whispered to Liu Ying.
Liu Ying nodded , " It is not easy at all to do what he just did,".
Yang Changtian yelled at Jin Wei and the others to come before walking back into the smaller cave , he froze mid-step when he saw Liu Ying and Da Xiong chatting while Tao Su leaned on her shoulder to sleep.
He felt something surge in his heart , for some reason , he felt that he should have been the person she was chatting with.
He did not know this yet , but it was clear he wanted to be the male component in Liu Ying's future family.
Yang Changtian shook his head to clear it before walking back outside , for he did not want to see Liu Ying chatting so warmly with other men.
His thoughts were interrupted by Jin Wei's shrill voice looking for Liu Ying and Da Xiong , Yang Changtian pointed towards the cave and Jin Wei just rushed in , seeing that they were okay Jin Wei plopped down in front of the trio and hugged all three of them , waking Tao Su who was asleep.
Liu Ying immediately shot Jin Wei a glare before patting Tao Su's head again , urging him to sleep some more.
She then asked Jin Wei to go get Yang Changtian , when he walked over , Liu Ying reached out and grabbed his hand by the wrist.
" Check if there are any more Crazies left alive , we have to get rid of them completely ."
Yang Changtian nodded and assured her that he will go check all the smaller caves thoroughly .
Then urging them to rest to recover their strength, he left Zhou Zilong to accompany them.
Liu Ying and Zhou Zilong immediately eased into a conversation about the latest mechanisms in the Capital , Liu Ying's descriptions were like candy to Zhou Zilong who always enjoyed tinkering.
The boring conversation lulled Da Xiong to sleep , and he was only occasionally woken up by Jin Wei who came to check on him.
It took them a few hours to comb through the complex cave system , but in the end they were sure there were no Crazies left , well at least inside the cave system.
Yang Changtian went back to Liu Ying and he was surprised to see Zhou Zilong chatting with her so happily.
" I'll send some smaller mechanisms for you when I get back . But if you want to see the larger ones you'll have to come visit the capital , " Liu Ying said to Zhou Zilong.
Zhou Zilong's eyes were practically sparkling now , " Thank you Sister Liu. Then I'll have to trouble you , I'll surely come visit the Capital when I'm free."
" Ho…. Can I come too ? " Yang Changtian added , approaching them.
" Why not ? All of you are welcomed , " Liu Ying answered .
Yang Changtian nodded, looking satisfied, " Then we'll thank you in advance for hosting us."
Liu Ying smiled back and nodded , " How is it ? " she asked.
" The coast is clear , no crazies were found , we can go back now. "
Liu Ying nodded and slowly shook Da Xiong and Tao Su awake , " Wake up , we can go back now."
Da Xiong yawned and stood up while Tao Su was rubbing his eyes , still somewhat dazed. Once he composed himself , Liu Ying also stood , but after sitting down for so long ,her legs had gone numb and she almost tumbled.
Yang Changtian, Da Xiong and Zhou Zilong all reached out to help her , but since Da Xiong was closer , he beat the other two to it.
Yang Changtian still had his hand outstretched , so Liu Ying smiled and patted his hand , " My legs were just a little numb , I'm fine now. Let's go back then."
Yang Changtian pursed his lips and nodded .
Afraid that she might fall again , Da Xiong supported Liu Ying out of the cave , which promoted another series of worried shrieks from Jin Wei , after finally calming him down , the group managed to exit the cave.
Liu Ying did need some help climbing the steep inclines they descended to get to the lake and Yang Changtian took advantage of Da Xiong's distraction with Jin Wei and Mo Ling to help Liu Ying. He grabbed her waist with one hand and placed her hand over his shoulder to help her up the incline.
When they reached the entrance of the cave , Liu Ying patted his arm , indicating he could let go now.
Yang Changtian was somewhat reluctant to let go of her , feeling unwilling to withdraw his hand from her waist, he did a fake stumble , hugging her waist tighter , then giving it a small squeeze he made a show of regaining his balance.
Worried about him , Liu Ying reached out to help him , her hand dropped from his shoulder, snaking around his waist to hold him up , resulting in them being stuck close together in this awkward side hugging pose.
The others who were following them behind closely saw this scene clearly , Mo Ling looked flabbergasted , Zhou Zilong and Da Xiong tried to hide their smiles by turning away , only for them to burst out in laughter when they noticed each others expressions and Jin Wei was just exasperated , doing a massive eyeroll to express his opinion about this scene.
Liu Ying and Yang Changtian helped each other outside , separating only when the bright sunlight hit their faces , their eyes had gotten used to the darkness inside the cave , so the bright light was somewhat hard to bear.
After making sure they had everything , the group set back towards camp .
Li Cheng, Lv Ling and the others were waiting for their good news , so they were excited to see the group return.
Yang Changtian was in the lead , Liu Ying just behind him and the others following them , the moment they dismounted their horses , Li Cheng and Lv Ling rushed to them with their eyes sparkling .
Liu Ying and Yang Changtian shared a glance before breaking out in a laugh , " We did it ! " .
Lv Ling breathed a sigh of relief and jumped to hug Liu Ying , while Li Cheng began to cackle while patting Yang Changtian's back hard.
The camp was soon thrust into a festive atmosphere , they had taken care of the most jarring issue they had here , even if there were any other Crazies left , it would be a miniscule amount for sure.
While the others were celebrating , Liu Ying quietly instructed Jin Wei and Da Xiong to ask their men to gather .
When they gathered , Liu Ying informed them of the orders asking them to return back to the capital immediately. " You are free to celebrate today , but we set off the day after tomorrow. Celebrate today , but start packing up tomorrow, " she finished instructing them.
The juniors were all ecstatic , they were finally free to go back now ,if Liu Ying had told them to get ready to set off tomorrow itself , they would have agreed , but they were also glad their Seniors gave them some time to enjoy and say goodbye to the new friends they made during this mission.
All of them followed Liu Ying , Jin Wei and Da Xiong back to the village square which was filled with the buzz of excitement , some of the disciples were dancing with the women .
Liu Ying spotted Yang Changtian and Li Cheng sitting under a tree accompanied by Mo Ling , Zhang Anying and Zhou Zilong . She also spotted Lv Ling amongst the bunch.
Liu Ying , Jin Wei and Da Xiong decided to go over , seeing them coming over , Yang Changtian immediately made space next to him and patted the floor , indicating Liu Ying to sit down.
Li Cheng and Lv Ling noticed this , sharing knowing glances , they barely managed to hold their laughter in.
Liu Ying plopped down next to Yang Changtian , spotting Lv Ling's gaze , she shifted a little to create more space between them.
Jin Wei and Da Xiong sat next to Mo Ling and Zhang Anying. And the atmosphere got merrier with the bickering between Jin Wei and Zhang Anying.
Yang Changtian was observing Liu Ying from the corner of his eyes , she looked happy yet somewhat melancholic .
Li Cheng also noticed her mood , so he stood up and pushed Jin Wei aside , sitting down next to Liu Ying , who was now trapped between him and Yang Changtian.
The both of them waited for Liu Ying to speak ,she sensed their probing gazes and sighed , " We set off at dawn overmorrow," she whispered.
Despite them knowing this was coming , it was still a bolt out of the blue to hear she was setting off so soon. While they were also quite reluctant to part ways with her , and despite them wanting to persuade her to stay longer , it was no use so they could only accept as it was.
Sensing the uncomfortable silence , Lv Ling , Zhou Zilong and Jin Wei looked at the trio worried.
Seeing that Li Cheng and Yang Changtian wasn't saying anything , Liu Ying glanced at the both of them before bursting out in laughter , " Oh come on , I'm not going to die, I'm just going back home."
Li Cheng sighed , " We know , but will we ever get a chance to meet and work like this together again ? ".
" I know about getting to work together again , but we'll surely see each other again. Yang Changtian here offered to come visit the capital , you're welcome too."
Li Cheng nodded , " Then I'll surely come then ! " .
Yang Changtian was still silent , so Liu Ying turned to him , " Yang Changtian , I'll leave Lv Ling in your care for now then ."
Yang Changtian nodded , his lips pursed , his eyes desperately looking for something in Liu Ying's eyes. He wanted her to stay , who knows when they'll meet again.
Liu Ying stood up and gestured at Jin Wei and Da Xiong to follow her , together the three of them walked to the center of the village square .
The people stopped what they were doing to look at them curiously.
Liu Ying cleared her throat and began , " My comrades , it was my pleasure to work alongside you on this mission , but unfortunately our time to part is on the horizon . On direct orders to return back to the capital immediately , the group from the imperial detective department will set off the day after tomorrow. But I want to spend the rest of today , enjoying our hard won victory . I would like to thank you all for lending us a hand and welcoming us with open arms. Without you all , we wouldn't have been able to do it alone. Please accept my gratitude," Liu Ying finished while bowing slightly.
Jin Wei and Da Xiong also followed her lead ," Please accept our gratitude."
The rest of the juniors also stood up and followed their Seniors , bowing to everyone present to express their gratitude.
Yang Changtian suddenly stood up and walked over Liu Ying , standing in front of her ,he looked directly into her eyes.
" It was our pleasure to work with you and I can only hope we're fortunate enough to work alongside you once more. We owe our lives to you , please accept our gratitude too," he said before bowing towards Liu Ying.
Li Cheng stood up next , following Yang Changtian's lead , soon one by one the disciples and the survivors bowed .
After they finished exchanging their gratitude , they resumed the festivities , now that the formalities of informing the other party is done , the mood was somehow more festive than before.
The disciples and the juniors all got together to celebrate their victory , they were celebrating the new friendships and bonds they made throughout this mission, but deep down , they were somewhat reluctant to part.
Song Lian wanted to talk to Liu Ying , seeing him approaching , Li Cheng and Yang Changtian whisked her away to look for a quiet place to chat . But seeing that almost the whole village was occupied , and finally witnessing an indecent scene of two lovers locked in a passionate embrace, they decided to give up their quest of looking for a quiet place , deciding to just head over to Liu Ying's tent.
Inside her tent , Liu Ying plopped down on her bed , followed by Yang Changtian who also decided to hog the bed , seeing Li Cheng pouting , Liu Ying pulled a stool closer and asked him to sit there.
They were chatting about some mundane things , things they wanted to do when Li Cheng and Yang Changtian came to visit the Capital .
Remembering about something , Liu Ying nudged and asked Yang Changtian to hand her the bag on the foot of her bed.
When he passed the bag over , Liu Ying rummaged through it and pulled out some white bottles.
There were 8 bottles in total , and Liu Ying handed them 4 each.
" These are just some simple disinfectants , antibiotics , and the smallest white bottle has some soap. You'll need this."
Yang Changtian and Li Cheng accepted the bottles and thanked Liu Ying.
" But what can we give you in return ? " Li Cheng asked.
Liu Ying thought for a while.
" How about you two dropping the formal address with me ? " she said, winking.
" Okay Sister Liu , " Li Cheng replied almost immediately.
Yang Changtian was just silently rubbing the bottles with his right hand.
" Oh come on Yang Changtian ! " Liu Ying sulked.
A small smirk formed at the corner of Yang Changtian's lips , " Call me Brother first."