Chapter 1974: Appointment
When they saw how serious Zu An was and how he even seemed a bit angry, the Chu sisters stuck out their tongues, but didn’t dare to cause more trouble. Sang Qien and Zheng Dan didn’t want to look like shrews in front of Zu An either, so they naturally gave in as well.
It was Xie Daoyun who was left in a bit of a daze. She had been so focused on big brother Zu that she forgot that he had so many sweethearts around him. Last time in the dungeon, she had been with Chu Chuyan, Pei Mianman, and Qiu Honglei, and now there were more! She was really feeling the pressure.
…
Zu An closed the door, then slowly explained everything that had happened in Shadowmoon Lake to all of them.
“Huh?” As they listened, the young ladies were all greatly alarmed. How could they still focus on their jealousy?
“The Heart-Devouring Demon Spider can parasitize a host body, so all of you must absolutely be careful and not become infected carelessly,” Zu An said gravely. “Besides that, we can"t go off on our own like before, because we simply don"t know if we’ll be unlucky and end up encountering one of those monsters’ spatial rifts.”
The others were still brooding, but Chu Huanzhao was still the most simple-minded of them all. She exclaimed, “Huh?! That means we can’t go anywhere, so life will be so boring…”
Sang Qien said impatiently, “Right now, we"re facing a crisis that might result in the destruction of the entire world, and yet you’re still thinking about playing?”
“You…!” Chu Huanzhao was furious, but she didn’t know how to argue against that.
Chu Youzhao couldn"t watch this continue and spoke up for her, saying, “What she"s saying is the truth! There are many people whose cultivations aren’t even as high as second sister’s, so there’s no way they"d think in such a long-term way.”
Zheng Dan frowned. She felt that she had to say something too.
When he saw that the two sides were about to start arguing again, Zu An started getting another headache. He suddenly said, “Enough! The reactions of ordinary people are a problem, but we have more important things to deal with right now. We can only find those spatial rifts first and eliminate the monsters that have crossed over. As for everything else, we’ll deal with those issues as they arise.
“Right, keep what you’ve learned today to yourselves. We have to keep it a secret and can"t willfully speak about it. Otherwise, it will cause ma.s.s panic.”
Zu An knew that warning wasn’t all that useful. After all, even he himself had come back to tell the people close to him, so they would definitely warn their own families as well. Those who had been at Shadowmoon Lake would also warn their clan members, so it was impossible to keep this matter a secret.
Even so, it was rather harmless to have it circulated on a smaller scale. After all, it was all within the capital’s upper levels. Some time would probably have pa.s.sed by the time those outside the capital heard of it. That would become a great buffer period in which they could slowly ‘immunize’ the ma.s.ses. It would be much better than to immediately drop apocalyptic news on them, which would be too shocking to handle.
The young ladies agreed. Then, Zu An told them to work hard to cultivate. Only by increasing their strength would they have a greater chance of surviving during future unpredictable situations.
Now, even the most unreliable Chu Huanzhao nodded her head seriously. Of course, in the past, she would have lost interest as soon as she heard about cultivation. After being known as a cultivation idiot for so many years, she really didn’t want to keep suffering. But this time, her brother-in-law had worked so hard to expand her meridians. Together with the Marrow Cleansing Pills, she"d immediately felt that she could do it again.
That was especially the case when she discovered that as she cultivated, many things she hadn"t understood before now actually made sense without a teacher. Furthermore, she had experienced a great boost in her cultivation speed, with just a single hour making a significant difference in her ki growth. Previously, there wouldn"t necessarily have been any changes in her ki even after cultivating for an entire month! With her frivolous nature, how could she have the patience to cultivate then? And yet now, everything was different, and it was all due to the help of her brother-in-law.
Brother-in-law helped me improve my ki flow; he"s so awesome!
…
Then, the young ladies reluctantly left. Zheng Dan and Sang Qien had previously only wanted to exchange some intimate words, but there was no way they could swallow the embarra.s.sment and do that in front of everyone else. They could only leave for now to keep Sisi company.
The others stared at each other as if they were guarding against thieves too. Only Murong Qinghe’s mindset was a bit more pure. Only when they were sure that all of the others had left did they release a sigh of relief one after another. Even though they couldn"t stay behind, the other vixens couldn"t either. That was a conclusion they could accept.
In the end, Zu An was left all by himself.
Sigh… This really is another instance of three monks having no water to drink… Things really might become troublesome if this continues. My greatest mistake might be having them live together. I really have to learn from this lesson in the future.
He left the residence and walked over to the lotus lake, planning to spend some time cultivating there. After absorbing the War Priest’s cultivation, he just felt a bit uneasy. He needed some time to properly digest it and integrate it into his own power.
He had to admit that the late libationer really had chosen a place rich with ki. Cultivating here garnered twice the result with half the effort. Unfortunately, this once-peaceful place was now full of young women, which was a serious threat. Going forward, he definitely had to work on purifying his desires a bit.
In any event, today was a great chance for him to sit down on the boulder next to the lotus lake. The rest of the disciples on the mountain could admire the dignified appearance of their new libationer.
I’m even cultivating seriously in the middle of the night, so would any of you dare to slack off?
As soon as he sat down, he suddenly looked at the brightly lit Imperial Palace in the distance. He was alarmed, because he remembered his prior agreement with Bi Linglong.
Hmm… It’s not too late to motivate the disciples tomorrow.
With that thought, he instantly vanished.
…
Meanwhile, in the Eastern Palace, Bi Linglong was doing her makeup in front of the mirror.
Rong Mo helped her comb her hair while asking curiously, “Miss, you’ve already finished your bath, so shouldn’t you be returning to your bed to rest? Why are you suddenly dolling yourself up? Are you still going out again even though it’s so late already?”
She had to admit that her master was absolutely gorgeous. After her bath, Bi Linglong"s tender skin was giving off a bit of steam, which created an enchanting glow around her. Rong Mo really envied the beauty of her skin.
“I’m just getting carried away by a sudden impulse and want to become prettier. Is there anything wrong with that?” Bi Linglong wrinkled her brows and harrumphed.
“Okay, sure, of course,” Rong Mo said with a smile. “But I figure you’re probably going to meet the regent, right?”
“Wow, Momo, you’re getting braver and braver, aren’t you? You dare to even tease me now,” Bi Linglong remarked, placing her hands on her waist as if to express that she was a bit angry.
“Hehe, I guessed right, didn’t I?” Rong Mo replied. She had grown up with Linglong and knew that she wasn"t really mad.
“Do you want to die? Watch me rip that mouth right off your face!”
“Ah, spare me, miss!”
The two began to chase each other around the room again.
…
The maids outside all had envious expressions when they heard the cheers and laughter inside.
Sister Momo and the crown princess really have a great relationship. We wouldn’t dare to do something like that…
A breeze blew past just then. One of the maids rubbed her eyes.
The maid next to her looked at her in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“I thought I saw someone, but it also felt as if I didn’t.”
“You’re definitely seeing things. The security here in the Imperial Palace is so tight, with formations everywhere. The Eastern Palace is even more heavily guarded, and there are so many guards watching outside. How could there be anyone here? Also, you can’t speak recklessly like that! What if someone else in the palace hears you? It might really come back to bite you!”
“I guess big sister is right. Thanks for the warning.”
…
They had no idea that there really was another person inside the crown princess’ personal chambers now.
Bi Linglong had initially been planning to chase after Rong Mo when she suddenly rushed into a warm embrace. She was startled at first, but when she sensed that familiar aura, she immediately felt at ease. She asked, “You… Why are you here?”
Rong Mo rolled her eyes. Just who was it that had washed herself spotless and done her makeup? And yet now, she was acting as if she had no idea he was coming!
Hmph, women!
“Because I miss you, of course,” Zu An replied. He naturally wouldn’t ruin the mood and say that they had already agreed on doing this when they were at Copper Gong Mountain.
Rong Mo felt gooseb.u.mps all over. She hugged her shoulders and continued to rub herself back and forth from the cringe. She muttered to herself, “Tsk tsk tsk, we should just fire all of those imperial guards. Their defenses is paper-thin! But then again, who could have imagined that the unrivaled regent would sneak in at this time of night to satisfy his desires?”
Perhaps it was because the two of them had always argued with each other when Zu An first entered the Eastern Palace, but even though he was now the glorious regent, she still wasn’t all that scared.
Bi Linglong was really embarra.s.sed, but Zu An instead said with a smile, “Momo, I"ve been refining pills and inadvertently made some Youth Beauty Pills. Do you want to give them a try?”
“Huh? You’re being so nice to me?” Rong Mo replied, giving him a skeptical look, but she was clearly a bit tempted.
“But this medicine does have a minor side effect.”
“What"s the side effect?”
“Once you eat it, you"ll never be able to speak for the rest of your life.”
“...”
“I knew it!” Rong Mo grumbled. “Fine, I’m just an eyesore here anyway. I’ll leave, okay?”
Bi Linglong also realized that Zu An was just saying that to scare her and couldn"t help but smile. She tapped his chest lightly.
Zu An said to Rong Mo with a smile, “There"s no need to go that far. You can just stand guard here.”
Then, he carried Bi Linglong and rushed out of the window into the clouds.
Rong Mo watched the two figures disappear with her mouth wide open. She muttered, “These two really know how to play!” In the end, she turned around and looked at the empty chambers, then sighed. She muttered to herself quietly, “Do you really want to make me mute that badly? I just wanted to chat with you a bit longer…”
Meanwhile, Bi Linglong’s entire body trembled from nervousness. She hugged her lover tightly and asked, “Why… Why are we flying up here?”
She had only planned to properly entertain him in the palace. Now that she had Rong Mo to help her, the palace had became the safest place for this kind of thing. However, the wind in the sky was quite cold, and most importantly, there was nothing hiding them at all. Far beneath them was the Imperial Palace. She didn’t have any sense of security right now.
Zu An gave her ear a kiss and said something quietly by her ear.
Bi Linglong’s neck immediately became red as she said, “I… I was joking back then.”
“But I was serious,” Zu An replied as he held her in his arms, his finger gently caressing her swan-like neck.
“We’ll be seen though…” Bi Linglong said; she was really panicking now. The Imperial Palace was full of powerful cultivators, and there were people specially placed in charge of aerial defense. If they ended up seeing the two in the act, she would be too humiliated to keep living.
“Don’t worry, they can’t see a thing,” Zu An said. With a wave of his hand, several banners revolved around them. Soon after, a faint formation radiance wrapped around the two of them. “This formation can cut off the view of the outside world. Only you can see the Imperial Palace right now, while the people over there can’t see what"s happening here at all.”
Bi Linglong’s face became even redder. She remembered how she had just resolved to make things up to him, so her tone was no longer as firm as before as she said, “But how can we... in the air…”
“It’s fine, I’ll teach you,” Zu An said, then had her turn her back to him. He held her slender and soft arm and had her stoop down toward the brightly lit Imperial Palace. “You can use this chance to properly admire the Imperial Palace from this angle.”
“You villain~”