"Agreed, that's precisely what I was thinking. You, Yao Dan, and Bing Bing will escort them north. The rest of you will accompany them to ensure their safety. Once you reach the capital, you can return to the northeast."
With the plan settled, we immediately put it into action. It was the same old trick: feigning one thing while doing another. None of us bought train tickets. Instead, we headed to the airport, pretending to fly out. Shabiyah had arranged vehicles at the airport, which would take us through a secret passage out of the airport and then transfer us to the Tai Zhou high-speed rail station. From there, we boarded the train, embarking on our journey north without a soul knowing.
We safely arrived in the capital at three in the afternoon. Those three experts were not Shabiyah's people, so they bid us farewell and returned home.
Lin Xi and her sister, along with a large contingent of Shabiyah commandos, escorted Yao Dan and Bing Bing to the underground medical room within the headquarters, where the surgery took place.
The surgery was straightforward. A small triangular incision was made on Bing Bing's abdomen, and a soft tube was used to squeeze Yao Dan in. The tube had a hydraulic device to ensure Yao Dan was delivered to its destination and settled within Bing Bing's Dantian Qihai.
Data and Qi observation techniques showed that after an initial fluctuation of Yao Dan that affected Bing Bing's physiological indicators, things quickly stabilized. Yao Dan was gradually subdued by Bing Bing's pure Yin body, and the two merged into one.
Before long, Bing Bing's anesthesia wore off. I asked her if she could feel Yao Dan's presence. She said yes, it was very obvious, like an extra thing that wasn't hers. I then asked if she could communicate with Yao Dan. Bing Bing shook her head, "Not yet. It's a living thing, but I can't communicate with it. It does feel quite settled, though. Should I try moving my true qi?"
Yaoyao stopped her. "No, be careful not to open the wound. Rest. You can try moving your true qi after three days."
After speaking, Yaoyao turned to me. "Assign someone to stay and accompany Bing Bing. Who do you think is suitable?"
Neither of us were suitable; we still had to maintain external contacts and organize the next chess match.
Daji volunteered to stay, saying that if Yuwen Chengdu's Yao Dan acted up, she could handle it. Although they hadn't fought before, Daji felt that even if Yuwen Chengdu were alive, she wouldn't necessarily be utterly defeated.
"What if Yao Dan... turns Bing Bing into Yuwen Chengdu?" I asked.
"Why are you so imaginative?" Shen Xingyue laughed. "If that were to happen, there'd be nothing we could do but summon Li Yuanba to fight."
"How would we do that? We don't know where Li Yuanba's tomb is."
"Li Yuanba died from lightning. He should have reincarnated directly into the underworld and become a spirit. You often go to the underworld; you could inquire there." Shen Xingyue said.
I hoped I was overthinking things. In any case, neither Zheng Baobao nor Xiao Nu, those two ghosts, had ever heard any news of Li Yuanba becoming a spirit after his death in the underworld.
"Why do you think that kind of situation might occur?" Bai Qingcheng asked, puzzled.
"Because... we've been too successful," I said.
Bai Qingcheng smiled slightly. "Those with absolute power have everything go their way."
She was entitled to say that, but I wasn't. I'd always been someone without absolute power, so I tended to consider things from a pessimistic perspective.
Is it possible that Chi You, the Miao King, and even Long Yue deliberately orchestrated that defeat? The purpose wasn't to snatch Yao Dan, nor was it to revive Yuwen Chengdu. Resurrecting the dead is too difficult, let alone reviving a great demon. The only way to revive Yuwen Chengdu would be through 'borrowing Yin for Yang.' I doubt the Miao King and the others had a pure Yin body; therefore, they couldn't achieve it.
However, Long Yue knew that I was a pure Yin body and had likely also discovered that we had a second pure Yin body, Zheng Bing Bing. So, could they have used this to continuously create threats for us, making it seem like the only way to be completely safe was to 'digest' Yao Dan?
Indeed, Bing Bing could merge with Yao Dan, but would Yao Dan truly obey Bing Bing after merging?
Daji and Diana's Yao Dans were relatively stable within me because the owners of those Yao Dans served under me and were allied with me. Yuwen Chengdu, on the other hand, was from the Shan Hai demon tribe! Perhaps he was even one of the 'Shan Hai' from a previous generation.