The Holy Clan priestess's words were perfectly reasonable. As for spending the night of the Senhai Source Realm here in the God-Shaded Land, Jiang Chen had nothing to refuse—it was certainly better than leaving now to face unknown dangers.
"I too would very much like to experience the greatness of the Dragon God for myself," Jiang Chen said.
Living in the present world, where the dragon race had gone extinct, and yet having seen records of dragons in all manner of different texts and heard all kinds of legends about them, Jiang Chen was truly full of curiosity about this Dragon God of the Senhai Source Realm.
"Qing Hua," the old woman said very kindly, "take our honored guest to a room to rest."
"Yes!"
An elegant answering voice came from the inner room.
A tall woman in a full-length dress walked out.
Her appearance was hard to describe; to see her was to feel freshness, naturalness, vividness.
The impression she gave was, first of all, of a gently flowing vitality, and only second of her beauty. Such an aura was utterly unlike any beauty Jiang Chen had ever seen.
Even one of Qing Jiuye's calm temperament could not move his eyes away for a time. As for Qing Qishu, his eyeballs were just about to pop out.
He shuffled forward a few steps on his knees, blocking the sight line of the priestess he called Granny, his mouth silently opening and closing, his hands gesturing without stop.
Before that astonishing vitality of Qing Qishu's—so tenacious that blows could not frighten him—even the priestess felt a touch of helplessness in her eyes; she lifted her wrinkled eyelids and undid the seal upon his voice.
"Lady Priestess, I was the one who discovered the Dragon God Envoy," Qing Qishu said.
"And so?"
"I should be the one to take him to rest, not Qing Hua!" Qing Qishu said anxiously.
Qing Jiuye, rare for him, chimed in: "Exactly! How could a matter like this trouble the Holy Maiden of Qing? I could just as well take Zhang Yuan to rest."
"I could even rest with him!" Qing Qishu grew more and more worked up.
Jiang Chen thought to himself: rest, is it... When you're free, you go keep Zhang Yuan company. Count me out.
"What are you saying!" The old priestess was incensed. "More and more absurd! The Holy Maiden of Qing is the most favored by the gods. Now that the Dragon God Envoy has descended, of course the Holy Maiden must communicate with him. Is the will of the Dragon God something the likes of you could understand?"
Hearing the word "Holy Maiden" again and again, Jiang Chen could not help glancing once more at the woman named Qing Hua.
"What are you looking at!" Qing Qishu sprang up to block his line of sight, for all the world like a rooster with ruffled feathers.
Qing Jiuye's gaze was none too friendly either.
Apparently this Holy Maiden of Qing was the shared dream-lover of the pair of them.
But Jiang Chen truly was somewhat innocent; he really had no unusual intentions. "I was just thinking of someone I know."
"Hah!" Qing Qishu shouted. "What an antiquated way to try to get close to her!"
"Qishu, mind your manners!" the priestess rebuked.
"Hmph, hmph." Before turning away, Qing Qishu still shot Jiang Chen several warning glares.
It was not as if he could truly be beaten to death. As for Qing Qishu's little antics, the priestess could only pretend not to see them. Turning to Jiang Chen, she said kindly, "You have had a hard day. Please follow the Holy Maiden to rest. Tomorrow at first light, come to the altar; this old woman will raise it and verify your identity."
Qing Qishu and the others wanted nothing more than to keep Jiang Chen from too much contact with Qing Hua, but the priestess's mind was made up; beyond giving Jiang Chen a few extra warning glares, there was nothing they could do.
Qing Hua's expression remained placid throughout—neither pleased by the jealous bickering of Qing Qishu and Qing Jiuye nor annoyed by it. Presumably she had long since seen such scenes too often to count.
She gave Jiang Chen only a slight bow, and walked gracefully out.
Jiang Chen shrugged and turned to follow her. Although he truly had no designs at all, seeing the frantic look on Qing Qishu and Qing Jiuye gave him an inexplicable secret delight.
Who knew whether they regretted inviting Jiang Chen into the God-Shaded Land.
Outside the God-Shaded Land, one of them had still been laying hands on him while the other snorted and glared, brimming with contempt in every way.
Just then, a clear, crisp child's voice rang out beyond the fruit house. "Lady Priestess! Lady Priestess!"
"What is it? Come up and say it," the priestess answered.
Jiang Chen was just following Qing Hua out when that round-faced little girl with the upturned pigtail nimbly climbed into the fruit house and, little legs pumping, ran inside with a pitter-patter.
Afraid she would crash into him, Jiang Chen hastily stepped aside.
The little girl, shouldering some weighty errand at this moment, had no time to notice him; panting, she cried out, "Brother Bazhi is back! He said, he said he's brought back the Dragon God Envoy!"
"This Bazhi, who knows what he has to be so smug about all day. Can't even come himself, and sends a little girl to carry the message..." In the room, Qing Qishu grumbled discontentedly. Halfway through, he suddenly caught on: "Dragon God Envoy?"
"Two. Two of them!" the little girl said.
"Two Dragon God Envoys?" Qing Qishu was shocked all over again.
Even Qing Hua could not help turning her head for a glance at Jiang Chen, her beautiful eyes brimming with puzzlement—did Dragon God Envoys hatch like a hen's eggs, a whole clutch at a time?
"Ahem." Even the old priestess, for all her experience, was now a little at a loss. "Guo'er, did you remember wrong? Did your Brother Bazhi really say he'd brought back two Dragon God Envoys?"
"I don't know either. Mother said to come deliver the message first!" the little girl said.
"That—Qing Hua, don't leave yet," the old priestess said from within the room. "Young man from a foreign land, you wait a moment as well."
"Yes." Qing Hua assented and stood still.
Jiang Chen felt rather helpless, already beginning to think about how he would get through the night in the Senhai Source Realm. Who knew what dangers there were, or whether he could find some other safe place to rest...
In truth, his own confidence in whether he was the Dragon God Envoy of the "Holy Clan" was not even as great as Qing Qishu's.
Now that the real one seemed to have arrived, an impostor like him would naturally be kicked out.
"No, I have to go see!"
Qing Qishu shouted, bursting out from the inner room and hurrying past Jiang Chen—yet even in that haste, he still managed a brilliant smile at Qing Hua, his voice gentle: "Qing Hua, I'll be right back."
The priestess, resigned, added behind him, "Then go meet Bazhi."
And right at that moment, a resonant voice sounded: "Lady Priestess, my hunt went smoothly, and I return having won a great merit!"
There was no need at all to wait for Qing Qishu to greet him. A man with his hair braided into eight plaits leaped up onto the fruit house and swaggered inside.
In one hand he held aloft a head; in the other he dragged a vine behind him.
The head in his hand had stopped bleeding, its features clear, its expression peaceful.
This head bore features very characteristic of the God-Shaded Land—one look and you knew it belonged to a man of the "Holy Clan," perhaps even one of the kinsmen they knew well.
Yet whether it was Qing Qishu or Qing Hua, their reactions were quite flat.
After the "hunt," this was only to be expected.
Everyone here took it as a matter of course.
It was rather that Qing Qishu and Qing Jiuye had both come back alive together—that was what should have drawn suspicion.
Seeing that head, Jiang Chen at last deeply felt the true cruelty of the so-called "hunt" of this settlement of Qing Qishu's.
What kind of cause could it be, that such a cruel rule had been passed down, making the warriors of the clan slaughter one another to settle life and death?
It accorded neither with the morals of the present world, nor with the fundamental interests of the clan's survival.