V2C148

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“Ying!” The old man raised his withered fingers and clamped down on his son, “You have to think clearly.”

“I have thought clearly,” Shi Ying did not move and pulled his sleeve out from under the emperor’s hand, “Don’t worry, to ensure safety, when the jade scroll has been retrieved, I will personally take the Imperial Envoy to the White King’s residence and hand it over to the future Crown Princess all the way.”

“…” The emperor remained speechless as he looked at the grim side of his son’s icy face.

Yes, Ying’s temper has always been strong and never backed down when he encountered difficulties, and what he put in mind to do, eventually couldn’t be stopped by anything. That young girl, how could she think that snatching away the jade scroll would stop things from happening?

“You…” knowing that it was impossible to stop this son, the emperor only sighed long and dejectedly, “Ying, you have been exceptionally talented and outstanding in everything since you were young, but you are surprisingly making a huge mistake in such an important matter. In the future… ahem, you will definitely regret it in the future.”

Shi Ying’s body halted in the doorway for a moment, in reticence to answer: “It is not my choice to make.”

When the emperor believed that his son had finally budged, he heard him whisper, with a surprisingly hopeless whisper echoing in his tone, “I was the one to be given no choice – to say that I will regret it, it’s not something that I can possibly wish for.”

What? The emperor was taken aback and tightened his grip on the jade bone.

Hearing such a tone, could it be… that was the girl who didn’t want him?

However, before he could open his mouth to ask, Shi Ying had already pushed away the heavy curtain, turned around and walked out from the inner palace without looking back.

It was the peak of the summer outside; the verdant greenery was rich and the sun was blazing. The scorching heat of the sun was like molten lava, pouring down from the heavens, enveloping everything in an unavoidable wave of heat. Yet, walking alone in his white robe within the inner palace, Shi Ying appeared to be unaffected by the warmth, to the extent that the places he passed through remained slightly cool and cloudy.

However, just after crossing the long hallway, the daylight suddenly dimmed slightly. It was an extremely subtle flicker, passing in a flash, like a big cicada wing sweeping by.

In that moment, Shi Ying suddenly raised his hand!

As the wind had just picked up, he didn’t even turn his head, but using his both hands, each making a seal within their sleeves, he releasing two different spells at once so quickly that two darts of light soared straight out of his robe, intercepting something invisible, only to hear a loud thud that made the entire courtyard vibrate!

A red figure fell from the rosebush shelf and whimpered with a soft whine, apparently having landed on her bum.

Shi Ying did not even glance back, he said plainly, “How dare you even come in here?”

It was a young girl dressed in red, about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a face as bright as the red roses blooming at the sun, standing lopsided against a pillar, rubbing her butt and muttering, “I have been waiting here for you for half a day! You and the emperor have been talking inside for a long time, and I didn’t dare to barge in… hey, it’s hot as hell out here.”

He didn’t listen to her babble any further, just lifted up a finger: “Bring the items to me.”

“What… to bring what?” Zhu Yan subconsciously took a step back, thinking that he was about to release some spell again. However, Shi Ying merely raised his hand, and his voice remained impassive: “The jade scroll – and the jade pendant.”

“Huh?” After all, being young and thoughtless, Zhu Yan winced, completely forgetting to deny it, and blurted out, “You… how did you know it was me so quickly?”

Upon hearing her admission, Shi Ying’s expression finally wavered slightly and sighed, “Who else could it be if not you? In this world, who else would do such a bold and ridiculous thing?”

“…” Hearing this, Zhu Yan’s face suddenly turned crimson for a moment.

However, before she had time to think further, she only heard him say coldly, “Stop fooling around – any further delay will be a great crime, quickly bring back the jade scroll and the jade pendant and don’t interfere with important matters. As long as you hand it back, you will not be held accountable this time.”

“No!” She took a step back, shielding what she was holding, “I can’t give it to you! If you take these, you’re going to marry Xue Ying again! You… you can’t marry Xue Ying! Absolutely not!”

“… Absolutely not?” His expression finally went cold and he looked at her, suddenly losing his patience, “I am the Crown Prince of Kongsang, and Princess Xue Ying is the first daughter of the White King, this marriage is a good match, and everyone in Kongsang approves of it – who are you to say no?”

She had never experienced such a tone of voice from him, and for a moment her face turned white, not knowing how to reply, her lips trembling slightly, she only managed to utter, “I… I…”

He just stretched his hand over coldly, “Give them back to me.”

However, before the words left his mouth, he only heard a click as Zhu Yan stared at him with a deadly gaze, suddenly stomping her foot and crushing the jade pendant to pieces! In that moment, the blazing light in her eyes caused Shi Ying to shudder for a moment, unable to think straight.

“Good! You can have it back!” Zhu Yan gritted her teeth and threw the crushed jade pendant on the ground, then pulled out the jade scroll trying to rip it off, “All of it is returned to you!”

“You!” Shi Ying whispered and raised a finger.

Zhu Yan only felt a sudden pain in her hand as the jade scroll was instantly pulled away by an invisible force, and she almost fell to the ground as she lost her footing. A sharp ray of light shot out from her fingertips, and with a ding, the jade scroll was shattered to pieces, and with it, half of the rosebush shelf behind it was shredded, causing the front of the shrine to fall into disarray.

“How dare you use the Sunset Arrow here?” When Shi Ying looked at her, as if she went berserk, he finally couldn’t help but be truly angered and nudged out, “Have you gone insane?”

As if he was afraid that she would continue her rampage, he used a binding soul spell with one hand, and with the other he made a seal to prepare for her ensuing defiance – she had improved so much in the last year since her return from Susa Haru that she could not be underestimated, not to mention that she was now within the Forbidden City of the Jialan Empire, and if he did not quickly subdue the young girl who had no boundaries, he was afraid that she would turn the inner palace upside down.

However, surprisingly, Zhu Yan did not even put up any resistance to his spell before it landed upon her. Having shattered the jade scroll and crushed the jade pendant, she seemed to have fulfilled a wish, and simply stood with her head raised staring squarely at him, unflinchingly, and her eyes filled with tears.

With a shock in his heart, Shi Ying subconsciously withdrew his Soul Binding Spell quickly, just in case it would really fall and hurt her – however, the very moment he withdrew the spell, she suddenly jumped forward and threw herself on him!

In that moment, the withdrawal of the binding spell was striking back at him with double the power, and if she would have released another spell to attack in the same direction at the same moment, it would certainly be difficult even for him to withstand the attack.

However, Zhu Yan did not use any spells or any shielding and just flung himself into his arms and broke out into a sob: “Master!”

He was taken aback and subconsciously tried to step back, but somehow she managed to wrap him in a solid hug.

“Master!” She recklessly jumped up and hugged his neck, sobbing, “What in the world is happening to us? How did the things… come to this…”

She was crying like a child who had been wronged, her hot tears falling like broken strings of pearls, wetting his collar – for a moment, the scorching warmth of the sun seemed to heat up even more, almost burning his heart and lungs, causing his breath to halt. The sound of the cicadas and the wind instantly fell silent, and only her cries echoed in his ears, so close and yet so far away.

“Don’t cry.” He closed his eyes with a little anguish and sighed softly, only to feel a sudden weakness raging in his heart that could not be stopped.

“What is happening to you!” She crawled on his shoulder, crying her heart out, completely disregarding whether she would be seen by bystanders, whimpering, “You… Why would you go to marry Xue Ying! She obviously doesn’t like you, and you obviously don’t like her either! You… why did you do such an illogical thing!”

“What does it matter if I like her or not?” Shi Ying replied bewildered, his tone full of sadness, “There are very few people in this world who can really be with the one they love.”

“But …… but then you can’t spend your entire life with a stranger you don’t even have a connection with! How hard it is to live once.” She looked up at him, her bright eyes wavering with crystal tears, almost as dazzling as flames, “Master… I… I don’t want you to be like this.”

He took a deep breath and stiffened in place, unable to speak for a very long time. His eyes altered in a mixture of emotions before he finally sighed and simply spoke arduously, “I told you not to call me Master anymore.”

“No, I’m just going to call you that!” Instead, she didn’t care, “You’ll be my Shifu for the rest of my life!”

Shi Ying laughed sorrowfully and shook his head: “A lifetime? It’s been over for a long time: you’ve been promised to the son of the White King and I’ve been appointed as the Crown Prince. It is time for the dust to settle.”

“So what?” She was furious and shouted, “You don’t like Xue Ying!”

He trailed off, “How do you know that I don’t like her?”

Zhu Yan blurted out, “You didn’t even give her the Jade Bone!”

“…” He shuddered sharply, unable to reply.

“Master, you… cannot just bury your life like this! I worked so hard to get you back!” She grabbed his lapel with a deadly grip, so anxious that she almost broke into tears, “You obviously don’t like Xue Ying, why do you still want to marry her! You… don’t you like me?”

She spoke so bluntly and passionately, like the summer sunlight that was streaming down overhead right in that moment.

He didn’t deny it, yet he didn’t know how to answer. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Do you really like Bai Fenglin?”

“Of course not!” Without thinking, she blurted out, “I only love Shifu!”

Shi Ying trembled abruptly, his face turning pale as a jade with the blood running off his face. He took a breath and raised his fingertips, not knowing whether to release the mind-reading spell or push her away, but his heart shook so violently that the spell, so incredibly simple for him, could not be completed.

“Of course I love Yuan! I’ve loved him since I was a child!… You, how dare you kill my beloved Yuan?! Bastard… I hate you so much!”

“I don’t want to keep it! Whenever I see it, I will think that you killed Yuan! I can’t get that day out of my mind. I never want to see it again!”

For some reason, in such a moment, the two phrases that he heard so long ago came back to the surface of the memory, echoing over and over in the back of his mind, overshadowing the searing confession she was making in that moment.

Each sentence was accompanied by the pain of a blade cutting through his heart.

Which sentence was the true one?

Why was this girl he had grown up with, who appeared to be so innocent, acting so erratically and unpredictably? Or was what she said before a lie, or, perhaps, what she is saying now is also a lie? Is she just being resentful? Even with his mind reading skills, he could not guess which of her words were true and which were not.

Forget it… Forget it. Don’t think about it.

If he could only sever all that was in front of him, he would never be in such distress again. Nothing she had said, true or false, could hurt him any more – and in that moment he tried his best to restrain the raging in his chest, pushing her hand away, little by little, without a word.

Zhu Yan had no idea how many thoughts were passing through his mind in that moment, but she did understand what the fading light in his eyes meant. Her heart was burning with anxiety, so she suddenly stomped her foot and recklessly pounced on the man in front of her, hugging him with all her might!

“Don’t…” he murmured out of breath, yet as soon as he moved, a soft pair of lips pressed up against his mouth. The kiss of the young maiden of the Western Wilderness was passionate and fragrant, like the strongest of wines, and could be intoxicating from the first sip.

He staggered backwards in a daze, and his back slammed against the door of the temple.

The heavy door swung open in an instant and they both fell inwards simultaneously.

In the moment of losing her balance, she refused to let go of her grip, as if she was afraid she would lose him if she did. The two fell to the ground together, causing a drapery to fall with a ripping sound. The curtain fell from the high dome and enveloped them like a thick brocade.

Behind the drapery, the serene face of a divine statue emerged. With black eyes and golden pupils gazing down together from the void, the Twin Gods looked at the two young people at their feet, inexplicably happy and quiet.

The daylight fell through the dome of the temple, enveloping the young girl’s silhouette in a divine array of light and shadows, making her appear breathtakingly beautiful. Zhu Yan defiantly leaned down and kissed the person in front of her, with lips so passionate and seductive that even her exhaled breath seemed to carry a fragrant sweet aroma that was inebriating him.

The sensation felt almost like a dream.

It was amazing how love and lust can be more compelling to the mind than any spell.

His fingers touched her naked skin, but he could not muster the slightest effort to push the hot, beautiful girl from his arms away. When the moment struck, years of arduous discipline proved to be insufficient, and she clung to him like a tiny cheetah running across the desert, biting at its prey and refusing to let go, scenting the air between her breaths.

However, that passionate, clumsy kiss had just reached the halfway point when it suddenly stopped.

He looked at her with some consternation and a moment of hesitation. The beautiful young girl with her long curly hair, crawling on his chest, panting slightly, appeared to be a little overwhelmed, and looking up at him, blushing with embarrassment, she giggled and murmured: “Ah… well… I don’t know what to do next? I… I have no idea ah… Master… can you teach me?”

The young girl’s face was scarlet, her eyes pure and inviting, combining the innocence of a child with the allure of a beauty that could overwhelm even the most mindless of cultivators with just one look.

“Ah-Yan!” He could no longer resist reaching out and wrapping her into his arms.

“Where has the Crown Prince gone? The emperor is looking for him!”

Since noon, the Crown Prince has been missing. The Inner Palace had been searched, but the person was nowhere to be seen. As night fell, the chamberlains finally found their way from the palace all the way to the top of the White Tower of Jialan – yet just as they approached the temple, a sudden gust of wind swept in, and huge white feathers emerged from the night and swept across the temple, swiftly blocking the path.

“Divine bird!” The chamberlains exclaimed, taking a step backwards.

It was actually Chongming, crouching on top of the White Tower, his whole body ruffled up with feathers, his four blood-red eyes staring fiercely at these approaching men, and a low gurgling sound emanating from his throat, frightening the chamberlains from coming forward again.

After a moment of confrontation, seeing that they still refused to leave, Chongming suddenly stretched his neck, picked up one of the attendants in front of him and flung him down the steps!

At once all the servants let out a cry of shock and tumbled away from the top of the tower.

The White Tower fell silent again, and whilst the Chongming divine bird restrained its murderous aura, he didn’t leave, but simply squatted peacefully on its bum at the entrance to the road leading to the top of the tower, cooing in its throat like a faithful dog guarding the gate – if anyone looked closely at him this moment, they would see that those four blood-red eyes were actually filled with a tender smile.

The lights in the temple were extinguished, the night was quiet and even the breeze was blowing gentle.

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