Transcending the Magic Era: The Supreme Female Archmage

Chapter 80: Share the joys and the sorrows

At this moment, Chu Yichen and the others, who had rushed back upon hearing the news, also hurriedly arrived at the camp. Hearing the intermittent screams from inside, their expressions became increasingly tense and panicked.

They didn't have time to think about anything else and quickly squeezed through the crowd. After struggling to get out of the throng, they saw Chu Qiuchi sitting safely on the edge of the bed, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Chu Yichen took a breath, disregarding everything else, and strode forward to hug Chu Qiuchi tightly. His eyes were red, and his voice was choked with suppressed sobs.

"Sis, you're really awake! You're so lazy, sleeping for so long, we were all so worried about you!"

Hearing his words, tinged with both resentment and obvious relief, Chu Qiuchi felt a pang of bittersweetness, yet a faint smile played on her lips. She hugged him tightly in return and gently patted his back.

"It was my fault for being lazy and making you all worry. Thank you, brother... I know what you did."

Her words were filled with deep guilt and gratitude; she knew that her unconsciousness must have given Chu Yichen and the others quite a fright.

Puyang Minghui and Nalan Xingyao, who were standing to the side, could no longer contain their emotions. They were so excited that their eyes were filled with tears, and they quickly stepped forward and grabbed Chu Qiuchi's hands tightly.

"Qiu Chi, do you know how terrified you were?!"

Puyang Minghui's voice trembled slightly, and the hand holding hers also shook a little.

"That's right, if you don't wake up soon, we don't know what to do!"

Nalan Xingyao's eyes were filled with worry and relief. Although her voice was steady, it could not hide the turmoil in her heart.

Ji Moyu stood a short distance away, his gaze quietly fixed on Chu Qiuchi. His expression remained as cold and stern as ever, but a subtle joy flickered in his eyes. He spoke softly, his tone gentle yet tinged with warmth.

"Just wake up."

After a few excited reminiscing sessions, Chu Yichen finally released his grip on Chu Qiuchi, sat down on the other side of the bed, and glanced at Cui Shaoming, who was groaning in pain on the floor, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Sis, what's wrong with him?"

Chu Qiuchi slightly raised his chin, glanced disdainfully at Cui Shaoming who was still on the ground clutching his lower body and howling, and sneered.

"He sneaked in, saying he was going to kidnap me and take me to the black market to be played with by some pervert! He even said he wanted to 'try it out' first!"

She paused, raised an eyebrow, glanced at everyone, and exaggeratedly gestured.

"I was terrified. I was so scared that my hands and feet were shaking, and I lost control, and the knife in my hand lightly 'touched' him. And then... you see, this is what happened to him!"

She spoke casually, but to everyone present, it was like a thunderclap. A deathly silence fell over the tent; everyone was stunned, their lips twitching—a mere touch? Who could cause such a horrific state with just a "light touch"?

Chu Yichen was the first to react. He quickly stood next to Chu Qiuchi, grabbed her hand, and nervously looked her up and down.

"Sis, are you alright? Did he take advantage of you in any way?"

Puyang Minghui also hurried over, grasping Chu Qiuchi's other hand with a serious and anxious expression.

"Qiu Chi, did he touch you anywhere? Don't be afraid, tell us!"

Although Nalan Xingyao didn't speak, she still cast a worried look at him, her hands clenched into fists, as if she could rush up and kick Cui Shaoming a few more times if Chu Qiuchi nodded.

Standing to the side, Ji Moyu narrowed his eyes slightly, a barely perceptible shadow flashing in his gaze, and his fingers slowly clenched.

Seeing their tense expressions, Chu Qiuchi smiled with relief. She gently patted Chu Yichen and Puyang Minghui's hands.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I was just disgusted when his dirty hands touched my face, but I'm all better now."

She paused, a hint of amusement flashing in her eyes.

"But I have to thank him. If he hadn't provoked me so badly, I probably wouldn't be awake right now! What's that saying again? A blessing in disguise?"

After saying this, Chu Qiuchi secretly glanced at Ji Moyu out of the corner of her eye, secretly relieved: Thankfully, he didn't know that it was precisely because of his sudden hug that she was overjoyed, and coupled with some blood loss, caused her blood to rush to her head and she fainted. Otherwise, this would have been incredibly embarrassing.

However, she couldn't wake up later because Chu Yichen accidentally injected mental energy into her, causing her mental space to be forcibly sealed by the source code.

The source code of those stable spaces began to instinctively absorb the mental energy he input, attempting to repair the spatial rifts caused by the mental attack from the Blood Bat Clan.

Her consciousness was thus trapped in the mental space, causing her body to fall into a prolonged coma.

Initially, when trapped, Chu Qiuchi tried many times to break free from the mental space, but found that each attempt only exacerbated the cracks in the space, which had the opposite effect.

Seeing that she could not escape in a short time, she focused her mind on meditation and concentrating on restoring her mental energy to help the source code repair the spatial rift.

According to her estimate, the entire recovery process will take at least three months before she can fully regain consciousness.

However, this unexpected event—the intense stimulation from Cui Shaoming—forced her consciousness to break free of the mental space under extreme conditions, returning her to the real world prematurely.

The cost, however, was quite severe—due to the violent impact of her consciousness on space, the cracks that had already been repaired to a certain extent expanded again, even more severely than before, forcing the repair process to start all over again.

Recalling these events, Chu Qiuchi couldn't help but feel a wave of fear. Her mental space had almost completely collapsed.

If it weren't for those special source codes that forcibly stabilized the space at a critical moment, she might not only have become Sleeping Beauty forever, but also a Sleeping Beauty whose innocence wouldn't even be guaranteed.

Thinking of this, Chu Qiuchi once again felt grateful for the blessings of all the gods on Earth, as well as the great kindness and virtue of the gods who created the source code.

After hearing Chu Qiuchi's account, everyone felt a chill run down their spines. Thankfully, she woke up in time; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

When he heard people in the crowd whispering that Chu Qiuchi was "vicious and cruel" and that "one should be lenient when one can," Chu Yichen finally couldn't hold back anymore.

His face was cold and stern. Without saying a word, he walked up to Cui Shaoming and began to punch and kick him mercilessly. Cui Shaoming could only groan weakly and could not even scream.

After finishing the fight, Chu Yichen coldly glanced at the crowd of onlookers, his gaze sharp and his voice low yet imposing.

"He's scum, he deserves it!"

Seeing this, Puyang Minghui and Nalan Xingyao exchanged a glance, not to be outdone. The two of them stepped forward and gave Cui Shaoming a double beating, punching and kicking him repeatedly until he passed out.

After finishing the beating, the two clapped their hands, stood next to Chu Yichen, and scanned the crowd with disdain.

"You don't feel the pain until the knife is stabbed in your own flesh, right? Those who think we're vicious, I wish you'd be sold to the black market one day to be entertained by others! Then you can talk to us about 'forgiving when you can't be'!"

A hush fell over the crowd until someone spoke up, their voice filled with dissatisfaction.

"You—even if he was wrong, his plan didn't succeed, did it?"

"yes,"

Another person chimed in.

"The reason he retaliated against you like this is because you hit him too hard before."

"That's right, they hit so hard. If it were me, I would also retaliate."

……

Puyang Minghui was trembling with anger and was about to step forward to continue arguing with those who were mocking her, but was pulled back by Chu Qiuchi.

Chu Qiuchi gently patted her head, a playful smile on his face, and coaxed her in a relaxed tone, "Be good, Minghui, don't be angry. We don't argue with idiots. Stay away from them. Look at their saintly, innocent faces. When they get struck by lightning, they might drag us down with them."

Puyang Minghui was taken aback, then couldn't help but chuckle. She grabbed Chu Qiuchi's hand, her eyes filled with disdain, and coldly swept her gaze across the crowd.

"You're right. It's a waste of time to talk to this kind of person. It's safer to stay away."

Just as the two were having a relaxed conversation, someone in the crowd jumped out and made a disdainful sarcastic remark.

"Ha, you're all just being stubborn. Look at them, even in the same unit, General Ji Mo's son isn't as cruel and vicious as you. At least he has some manners and sense of propriety!"

The atmosphere instantly became awkward after these words were spoken, and everyone's eyes fell on Ji Moyu, as if waiting for him to make a statement.

Chu Qiuchi also turned to look at Ji Moyu, raising an eyebrow slightly. Just when Chu Qiuchi thought he wouldn't make a move, Ji Moyu did.

His expression was calm, revealing no emotion, as he slowly walked to Cui Shaoming's side. Without hesitation, he stomped hard on Cui Shaoming's groin!

The force of the kick was so great that it caused the unconscious Cui Shaoming to let out a shrill scream, and he was even jolted awake by the pain.

Ji Moyu didn't even glance at him. With a blank expression, she lifted her foot, but instead of pulling it back, she slammed her heel into Cui Shaoming's dangling hand.

The sound of bones being crushed was clearly heard by everyone. Stimulated by the intense pain once again, Cui Shaoming convulsed violently and fainted completely again.

The entire camp was deathly silent. Everyone stared at the scene in stunned silence, clearly speechless, shocked by Ji Moyu's actions.

Ji Moyu remained calm and composed, turning around and walking straight back to his original position. His eyes were cold and expressionless, as if the kick he had just delivered was merely a routine procedure, without any emotional fluctuation.

He glanced at everyone, spoke calmly, his tone devoid of any emotion.

“I have a very good upbringing, so my family taught me that when you encounter scum, you should crush them to death so as not to disgust others.”

After he finished speaking, he didn't look at those people again, standing there calmly as if what had just happened had nothing to do with him.

Chu Qiuchi watched Ji Moyu's actions and couldn't help but twitch his lips. He then gently patted Puyang Minghui's hand.

"See that? Now that's what you call truly ruthless. Remember, never mess with someone who looks cold; they can be deadly when they get cold."

Puyang Minghui suppressed a laugh, nodded, and replied in a low voice.

"That was really ruthless; I almost applauded him."

Nalan Xingyao also gently pursed her lips.

"You know what, you really have to admit, it was clean, neat, and beautiful."

Chu Yichen glanced at Ji Moyu, a complex emotion in his eyes, and muttered something under his breath.

"This guy is even more ruthless than me, he stole my thunder, but... I like him."

Cui Shaoming was tortured beyond recognition by several people, and the crowd was so frightened by the brutal methods of Chu Qiuchi and his group that they dared not move. The entire tent was deathly silent, and no one dared to step forward and say another word.

At this moment, in everyone's eyes, Chu Qiuchi and the others were no longer idols, but a group of demons who should not be messed with.

Just then, a loud shout came from outside: "The commander-in-chief and the general are here!"

The crowd instantly parted to make way, as if by magic.

Those who had just been frightened by Chu Qiuchi and his group now showed a hint of schadenfreude, with some even whispering among themselves, waiting to see what would happen to them.

Ji Mohan was not in the war zone; the people who came were Ji Mosen and his deputy Yan Ming.

The two entered the tent, and the oppressive aura emanating from them instantly made the entire space heavy. Upon seeing this, Chu Qiuchi and the others quickly rose and bowed.

Ji Mosen's gaze fell on Chu Qiuchi. Seeing that she had woken up, a hint of relief flashed in his eyes, but his face remained as cold and stern as ever.

His gaze swept across the tent, finally settling on Cui Shaoming, who lay unconscious on the ground. He frowned slightly, his tone steady yet carrying a hint of authority.

"Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

Before Chu Qiuchi could even speak, several people who had been holding back rushed out and began to accuse Chu Qiuchi and the others of their "brutal acts".

"Commander, Chu Qiuchi and his men have gone too far! Although Cui Shaoming made a mistake, he didn't succeed, but they beat him up like this. They are clearly lawless!"

"Exactly, how can someone be so ruthless, and then claim it was self-defense!"

"General, please uphold justice! This kind of person doesn't deserve to remain in the army!"

The crowd chattered amongst themselves, as if they were about to condemn Chu Qiuchi and the others.

As their voices faded, Ji Mosen's expression gradually darkened. He swept his cold gaze across those who had spoken out, and the crowd fell silent, the sounds abruptly ceasing, and the entire tent became deathly quiet once more.

Ji Mosen withdrew his gaze and turned to Chu Qiuchi, his tone becoming somewhat gentler.

"You said."

Chu Qiuchi nodded, looked up and stared directly at Ji Mosen, and recounted the whole story from beginning to end without hiding anything.

Ji Mosen did not interrupt. After listening quietly, he remained silent for a moment, then glanced at the group again, his tone calm yet authoritative.

“I now understand the whole story. Chu Qiuchi, as the victim, had an understandable reason to retaliate at first. However, to still strike after the other party was unable to fight back is indeed a violation of military law, as are the others. There is an order in the army that anyone who causes serious injury in a private fight will be punished with 300 strokes of the cane. This is military regulation, and no one is exempt. Do you accept this?”

These words fell like thunder, startling everyone in the tent.

Chu Qiuchi glanced at Chu Yichen, Puyang Minghui, and Nalan Xingyao, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes. She moved her lips, as if wanting to say something, but Chu Yichen grabbed her arm. He strode forward, blocking Chu Qiuchi's path, looked directly at Ji Mosen, and said firmly, "I submit!"

Puyang Minghui and Nalan Xingyao exchanged a glance, and then Chu Yichen stepped forward, saying in unison, "We also admire it!"

Ji Moyu glanced at Chu Qiuchi, then turned and said, "I'm impressed!"

Seeing this, Chu Qiuchi took a deep breath and slowly said, "I admit defeat!"

Ji Mosen looked at them with deep eyes and nodded.

"Very good. Military regulations are military regulations. Since you have accepted the punishment and the military law has been executed, this matter will be completely resolved and there will be no further entanglement."

After he finished speaking, his gaze fell on Yan Ming, and he ordered in a deep voice: "Yan Ming, gather everyone at the training ground tomorrow at noon to carry out military law in public."

"Yes!"

Yan Ming immediately responded and turned to leave.

Ji Mosen nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone, and said again: "Cui Shaoming is morally corrupt, of low character, and malicious in his actions. He is to be punished with 800 strokes of the cane, stripped of all his military ranks, and reported to the entire war zone. After the battle, he will be expelled from the war zone."

Upon hearing this, Chu Qiuchi stepped forward.

"Commander, I would like to plead for Cui Shaoming. Could you please not expel him from the war zone?"

Upon hearing Chu Qiuchi's request, Ji Mosen's gaze flickered slightly, and he looked at her with a hint of surprise.

"Are you really going to plead for him? Are you sure?"

Chu Qiuchi nodded again, and said firmly, "Yes, I'm sure!"

Ji Mosen's brows twitched almost imperceptibly. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded.

"Alright, since you insist, I can grant your request—Cui Shaoming will be punished with 800 strokes of the cane, stripped of all his military ranks, and his name will be reported throughout the war zone, but he will not be expelled; he will remain in the war zone to observe his future conduct."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Qiuchi breathed a slight sigh of relief and quickly bowed.

"Thank you, Commander."

Ji Mosen waved his hand, ordering his men to drag the unconscious Cui Shaoming out, and then left the tent. The crowd of onlookers, seeing the matter was over, gradually dispersed.