Chapter 269: Saintess And Heavenly Maiden
“Destroyed by my own hands,” Sun Yuanlang said, his words dripping with blood.
“How could this be…” Hearing her Master’s words, the Saintess was distraught. No wonder Sun Yuanlang had vomited blood. She desired to reclaim the Imperial Seal more than anyone to wash away the shame.
“There’s nothing I can do, Master. With so many Grandmasters surrounding me, it’s impossible for me to escape with the Imperial Seal intact,” Sun Yuanlang said with great pain. “This is the only way I can escape without ruining our great situation.”
“Master means…” Su Yingxiu, understanding implicitly, said, “You’ll claim the real Imperial Seal is fake, and we’ll forge another one later?”
“Yes,” Sun Yuanlang nodded, exhaling a long breath. “It’s the only way.”
He then gave a bitter smile. “Fortunately, no one in this world has ever seen the true Imperial Seal. Even when the real one was in my hand, I couldn’t tell the difference.”
“So, it’s very possible we can pass it off as genuine,” Su Yingxiu said softly. Hearing Sun Yuanlang’s later words, her eyes suddenly lit up. “Since Master can’t determine if the Imperial Seal is real or fake, could it be that the one that kid handed over was a fake from the start?”
“That shouldn’t be the case. Why would he have expected me to find him?” Sun Yuanlang slowly shook his head.
“That’s not necessarily true. That kid is more cunning than a fox,” Su Yingxiu said indignantly, a slight smile unconsciously forming on her lips.
“This…” Sun Yuanlang pondered for a long while, then sighed, “Without Lu Xian’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to escape just now. Moreover, he gained the most this time and might become someone no less than Zhang Xuanyi. For both moral and logical reasons, I can’t trouble that kid anymore.”
“I can go!” Su Yingxiu suddenly raised her voice, eagerly volunteering. “That kid can’t beat me!”
Sun Yuanlang looked at Su Yingxiu with some strangeness, feeling that her emotions seemed somewhat abnormal.
“I need to go back into seclusion now. Furthermore, the Heavenly Master Dao is already watching my Master and disciple. If you stay in the Capital City any longer, I fear it will be dangerous,” Sun Yuanlang slowly shook his head. “You should come back with me!”
“No,” Su Yingxiu shook her head like a rattle drum. “Disciple can simply not appear as the Saintess. Those stubborn people from the Heavenly Master Dao won’t find me.”
“If you don’t appear as the Saintess…” Sun Yuanlang looked at Su Yingxiu with a strange gaze. “Then you won’t be representing our sect in contact with the various clans. Meaning… you’re staying in Luojing just for that kid?”
“Disciple is here for the Imperial Seal!” For some reason, the Saintess felt her cheeks heat up and quickly acted spoiled. “Master, don’t make wild guesses, or I’ll pull your beard!”
“What am I thinking?” Sun Yuanlang smiled helplessly. “Yingxiu, you’re practically confessing without being asked!”
“Stop talking about it!” Su Yingxiu didn’t pull Sun Yuanlang’s beard, but she covered her own ears.
“Sigh…” Sun Yuanlang felt so sad he wanted to cry, but he said to Su Yingxiu with a serious expression, “Yingxiu, Master warns you. Don’t do anything foolish. It’s impossible for us to ally with those Noble Clans and Aristocrats.”
“Master, where did you get that idea!” Su Yingxiu became flustered and panicked, her face burning like fire. Finally, she couldn’t help but make a move as if to pull Sun Yuanlang’s beard.
Sun Yuanlang, who had fearlessly faced over ten Grandmasters as the Sect Leader of the Taiping Dao, surrendered to his disciple, saying, “Alright, alright, Master won’t mention it. I’ll do as you say.”
“That’s a good Master!” Su Yingxiu finally ceased her attack, adding a somewhat superfluous assurance. “I will definitely find out if the Imperial Seal is real or fake!”
“Compared to that,” Sun Yuanlang looked at Su Yingxiu kindly. “Master hopes even more that you will be safe…”
“Master…” Su Yingxiu lowered her head, her expression quite complex. The reason she insisted on staying in the Capital City was not solely due to her dealings with Lu Yun. It was also because she hadn’t figured out how to face the Master who raised her, someone who was not a father but better than a father.
Although to the world, Sun Yuanlang was an unforgivable demon. In Su Yingxiu’s heart, her Master was a great hero, a magnanimous figure, and the person she respected most in the world.
But in the letter from Kou Xianzhi found in the cave, her idol began to show cracks. She simply could not accept that the perfect father in her eyes, the Master for whom she would give anything, was actually a hypocrite who betrayed his teachings!
So she decided not to return for now, to think about how to face her Master in the next step…
Sun Yuanlang saw that Su Yingxiu’s mood was a bit complicated, but he never expected it to be for this reason.
“Oh, right,” Sun Yuanlang finally remembered something and softly reminded Su Yingxiu, “That kid’s Cultivation Method is a bit strange. Back then, when ten of us Grandmasters risked our lives, we didn’t see any signs of the surroundings becoming ethereal. But as soon as the two of you joined, the change happened immediately. It’s unlikely to be a coincidence. You can investigate it incidentally.”
“Disciple understands,” Su Yingxiu actually knew very well that it was because Lu Yun practiced a Xiantian Cultivation Method, which carried wisps of Xiantian Vital Energy, thus it could achieve such a miraculous effect. But she didn’t intend to tell Sun Yuanlang, and it seemed not solely due to the change in her attitude towards him… She couldn’t quite explain why.
“Will the other Grandmasters also suspect that kid?” Su Yingxiu asked, inexplicably worried, as if casually.
“Not likely,” Sun Yuanlang said indifferently. “Your Master was the last one, and I had already reached the Half-step Xiantian realm. They won’t suspect that kid.”
“That’s good…” Su Yingxiu breathed a sigh of relief, then hurriedly tried to cover up, “Disciple was just afraid that others might target him too, making it difficult to act.”
“One can only hope.” A bitter smile flickered across Sun Yuanlang’s lips. He felt something very precious was gradually moving away from him.
.
In Luojing City, east of Ziwei City in the north of the Luo River, stood a grand Taoist temple. This was both the royal dojo of Great Xuan and the Heavenly Master Mansion bestowed upon Zhang Xuanyi by the Founding Emperor.
After arriving in the capital, Xu Xuanji took up residence here. He had left the Luo River Bank with his disciples and, instead of returning to Mount Taishi immediately, had first come back to the Heavenly Master Mansion.
Even if he had to leave, he couldn’t leave in such a sorry state. He had to clean up his affairs properly before departing with dignity.
However, Xu Xuanji also knew that being defeated by Sun Yuanlang in a single move meant that no matter what he did, it would be difficult to salvage his disgraced reputation.
Therefore, he handed over all the mundane affairs of dealing with these matters to his subordinates. He confined himself to the Heavenly Master Mansion to reflect and refused visitors.
However, at this moment, he was not alone. A peerlessly beautiful maiden in white clothes and a white skirt stood quietly in the courtyard.
“You’ve arrived?” Xu Xuanji looked at the Heavenly Maiden with slight surprise. He had been in the capital for over twenty days, and this was the first time the Heavenly Maiden had appeared.
The Heavenly Maiden nodded, saying nothing.
“Has it spread outside already?” Xu Xuanji chuckled self-deprecatingly. “Are many people laughing at Martial Uncle’s expense?”
“Victory and defeat are common occurrences in warfare,” the Heavenly Maiden thought for a moment and then awkwardly comforted Xu Xuanji. “Why should Martial Uncle bother with the gossip of the common folk?”
“With those words, Martial Uncle feels much better.” Xu Xuanji looked at the Heavenly Maiden affectionately, knowing that with her cool and reticent nature, saying these two sentences indicated that she truly cared about him as her Martial Uncle. He paused, then asked with concern, “You’ve been down the mountain for nearly half a year, haven’t you?”
