Chapter 144
Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse
Yu Linglong touched the jade pendant on her neck . Her face showed a bit of annoyance . When she remembered that Feng Xuanyuan inexplicably put on this jade pendant that could not be removed, she felt angry .
Pulling the jade pendant out of her collar, she pointed it to Lord Xu, and said, “This was given to me by Feng Xuanyuan . Can you see if there is any way to take this thing off?”
Upon hearing Feng Xuanyuan’s name, Lord Xu’s face sank, and he reached out his hand to pull the black gold string, and he became domineering with a pampering tone: “He gave you this? Don’t wear it!”
The tough rope was stretched a bit and deformed in his big hand, but he kept pulling . Yu Linglong looked helplessly at Lord Xu’s face and said, “You think I haven’t tried it? I don’t know what’s going on with this rope . It’s very evil, and it doesn’t matter what you use . ”
Lord Xu tightened his thin lips, as if to breathe with an invisible force, his big hands gradually strengthened as if he would never give up without breaking the rope .
Seeing the deep marks in the palm of his hand, Yu Linglong immediately pulled the rope out of his hand and said, “What’s the big deal, isn’t it just a jade pendant? When I see him next time, I’ll let him untie it . ”
Lord Xu frowned, obviously in a bad mood . He stretched his hand over Yu Linglong and put her on the couch, his tone full of childish domineering: “Sit here and don’t move, I’ll take my sword . I don’t believe it!”
Seeing him lift up his robe and walk out the door in a stride, Yu Linglong just felt dumbfounded .
Was this jade pendant that serious?
She hadn’t noticed before that this kid was still such a machismo .
In a blink of an eye, Lord Xu came back . His speed looked like he was flying back .
He was holding a three-foot-long sword in his hand, and the scabbard was engraved with a pattern of flowing water . It was covered with black gold, and when he pulled it out, she felt that the black blade was cold, obviously very sharp .
Lord Xu said in a deep voice, “This is a sword made of black iron, which is invincible . I want to see if it is hard or the rope is hard!”
Seeing him so serious, Yu Linglong had no choice but to sit still obediently, letting Lord Xu carefully pa.s.s the tip of the sword through the string in front of her neck and swiftly stroke it .
Sure enough, it was an invincible sword, and the string that Yu Linglong could not do anything with was actually cut off .
After hearing a crisp sound, the jade pendant fell in response . Yu Linglong only felt that her neck was free, and this problem that had troubled her for a long time was solved in this way .
Lord Xu put the sword into the scabbard, and his handsome face showed a bit of childlike pride . Yu Linglong couldn’t help but laugh when she saw him like this, and joked, “Are you happy now?”
Lord Xu threw the sword away casually, put Yu Linglong in his arms, rubbed her head with domineering power with his big hands, and said in a deep voice, “In the future, other than what I gave you, others will give you nothing . Don’t wear it!”
Yu Linglong sneered: “If it is the jewelry given by others, I can only look at it, but I can’t wear it?”
Lord Xu was speechless . He lowered his handsome face, and bit her soft earlobe as punishment, and said, “I mean a man!”
Yu Linglong tilted her head, her pretty face seemed to be smiling, and she deliberately said, “What if the emperor rewarded it?”
Lord Xu was laughing and angry again and picked her up abruptly . She couldn’t help but let out a soft cry, which made her feel better .
“Little thing, you’re just being annoying, aren’t you?”
She softly punched his broad shoulders . Yu Linglong smiled slightly: “I don’t know who is annoying whom, let me down!”
Lord Xu laughed and put her down gently: “If you wear something other men gave you again, let’s see how I punish you!”
Yu Linglong pursed her pink lips, and said, “It’s not what I want . ”
After that, she leaned down, picked up the jade pendant from the ground, and looked at it in the palm of her hand .
She carried this jade pendant next to her body for more than half a year . This was the first time she held it in her hand and saw it so clearly . She saw that the jade pendant was radiant and cloud-like in blue and white . In her hand, it had a cool texture . It felt like it could penetrate the skin and penetrate into the blood, but it made her feel extremely comfortable and refreshed .
The pattern on the jade pendant was a blue lotus flower, which Yu Linglong recognized at a glance . This lotus flower was exactly the pattern she had seen on the mountain where Gan Lin was rescued .
Lord Xu took the jade pendant from her and said in a low voice, “Do you know what this is?”
Yu Linglong nodded slightly: “I recognize that this is a pattern of the Blue Lotus Cult . ”
Lord Xu said, “Yes, this pattern is the Blue Lotus Cult’s design, and this jade pendant is a token of the Blue Lotus cult . ”
“Token?” Yu Linglong’s moist eyes showed a little puzzled, “What do you mean by this? Could it be that with it, I will be able to run a rampage?”
Lord Xu couldn’t help but smile, but in a moment he narrowed his smile and his eyes became deep .
“Do you want to know about Blue Lotus Cult?”
Yu Linglong smiled slightly, her pretty face suddenly glamorous, and she said, “I don’t care, you might as well talk about it . ”
Her slightly thinly callused fingers played with the blue lotus jade pendant lightly . The expression on Lord Xu’s face became thoughtful, and he slowly said: “The Blue Lotus Cult is the world’s largest religion . There are hundreds of thousands or hundreds of followers . There are so many people, all over the north and south of the Yangtze River . It has the largest congregation in the Eastern Chu Kingdom . Others, such as the Mongolian Kingdom, the Xixia Kingdom, the Nanyue Kingdom, and so on, have branches of the Blue Lotus Cult . ”
“The Blue Lotus cultists worship the Blue Lotus G.o.ddess, abstain from wickedness and killing, and advocate light and holiness . Since the establishment of the religion, they have recruited disciples and advocated teaching people to worship Buddha, and to live bliss in the future . The five elements, the Book of Changes, three religions, and the nine streams all have members of the Blue Lotus cult and have a wide range of influence among the people . Many years ago, Father discovered that the Blue Lotus cult had too far-reaching of an influence on the people and it was almost out of the control of the imperial court, so he had been ordering people to monitor secretly and intervene from time to time . The Blue Lotus Cult only advocates self-cultivation and seeks to have a clean and peaceful mind and body, but it has not caused much trouble, so it has been in peace with the court . But since Feng Xuanyuan took over as the leader of the Blue Lotus Cult three years ago, everything is different . ”
“Feng Xuanyuan’s ident.i.ty is extremely mysterious . Even if Father sent the most elite personnel, they still cannot find out his origin and ident.i.ty . He only knows that this person has extremely high martial arts skills, and is arrogant but secretive . Since he took over the Blue Lotus Cult, the Blue Lotus Cult gradually embarked on an evil path . At first, he believed that only the souls of human beings at night would be the purest and ethereal, so he asked the congregation to gather in the middle of the night to collectively recite the Buddha’s teachings and practice . Then, he believed that since it is necessary to cultivate the body and mind, it is necessary to abandon everything outside of the body in order to completely liberate the body and mind . Some congregants do not do their jobs properly and devote themselves to practice, some shed their wealth and live on the streets, and some even abandon their wives and children and travel alone . This has had a great impact on the people, because they go out at night and day, and behave strangely . Therefore, the people call it evil and consider the Blue Lotus religion a cult…”
Yu Linglong became more frightened as she heard it . She remembered that when they met Feng Xuanyuan for the first time, they kidnapped Gan Lin . Even if they were chased by the dark guards led by Lord Xu, they refused to hand over Gan Lin, even begging for mercy . In the end, they used suicidal methods to leave Feng Xuanyuan with a ray of life . What he did was really evil .
The room was filled with a faint scent of lily, and Lord Xu’s voice was mixed in the lingering smoke, making it remote and empty .
“Father thought that the Blue Lotus Cult could not be allowed to develop in this way, so he made up his mind to rectify Blue Lotus Cult and ordered me to take over the matter . I sent people everywhere to track down Feng Xuanyuan’s whereabouts . Unfortunately, his whereabouts are uncertain . I have been with him several times, and it was the first time I met him on the mountain . ”
With a big hand stroking Yu Linglong’s hair, Lord Xu whispered: “I know you have been wondering what happened that time . This incident is really a long story…”
The sky was getting dark, and Ling’er entered the room to light a candle, and then quietly retreated .
Lord Xu continued to talk but seemed to change the subject suddenly: “I told you about the affairs of the court . Father has always relied heavily on Gan Yezhou, but because of the prince, there is a queen in the harem, and he has to deal with Gan’s family . In fact, I can understand that Father needs Gan Yezhou to a.s.sist the court and teach the prince, and he is worried that the Gan family will be too powerful and will be out of his control . That’s why I set up such a trap—”
Before she knew it, Yu Linglong had become engrossed . That suspicion had troubled her for too long . At this moment, the answer was finally about to be revealed .
“…I ordered people to spread rumors among the Blue Lotus Cult, saying that the current prince is the true emperor, and only after he ascended the throne, the Blue Lotus G.o.ddess will reappear and bless the people of the world, and Blue Lotus will teach the world . The Blue Lotus G.o.ddess has been admired for generations, and just to see the true face of the G.o.ddess in this life, this rumor caused a huge disturbance in the Blue Lotus Cult . Most of the congregation asked Feng Xuanyuan to use the power of the Blue Lotus Cult to let the prince ascend the throne as soon as possible and let the Blue Lotus G.o.ddess be born early . When the time came, I instructed the spies in the Blue Lotus Church to deliberately propose that Gan Yezhou is a powerful minister of the country . If he was willing to advise, the emperor would definitely adopt his opinion . The status of the Blue Lotus cultists was low, and they had no chance to see Gan Yezhou . They were not sure that Gan Yezhou would follow the Blue Lotus cultists’ advice, so they kidnapped Gan Lin directly, and threatened Gan Yezhou to write a letter to the emperor, asking the emperor to abdicate . ”
Yu Linglong’s back felt chills after hearing it . Such a huge game of chess was really a mantis hunting a cicada, with the bird watching . At first, she thought it was Feng Xuanyuan who brought the Blue Lotus cultists and kidnapped Gan Lin to threaten Gan Yezhou . Later, she thought it was Lord Xu who was chasing and killing Feng Xuanyuan as a man in black and was pursuing the Blue Lotus Cult . But she knew that the master behind this incident turned out to be the current emperor .
She thought that the Blue Lotus Cult was the source of all her doubts, but now it seemed that the Gan Mansion, the Blue Lotus Cult, and Feng Xuanyuan were all being used by others, and finally turned into tools for the court to fight with .
“Gan Lin is the only son of Gan Yezhou . He fell into the hands of the Blue Lotus Cult, who is known for being evil . The Gan family was naturally frantic, and even the empress was alarmed . The empress personally came forward and asked the emperor to use all his strength to rescue Gan Lin . Although Gan Yezhou was worried about his beloved son’s safety, he did not worry after all . He really agreed to the Blue Lotus Cult’s request . He only wrote to the emperor with tears, asking the emperor to take his loyalty as a lord and save his only son . Father naturally agreed, and even the imperial army was used, that is, the secret guard under my command . He searched for the whereabouts of Gan Lin and finally found a secret stronghold of Blue Lotus Cult, and I met Feng Xuanyuan unexpectedly . Who knew that the location was hidden, but I didn’t expect the location of the stronghold to be secretive . The nearby cover measures were carefully designed by Blue Lotus Cult . It looked like an ordinary forest, but it was actually a maze . In the huge maze, without the guidance of the core figures of Blue Lotus Cult, it would be impossible to find the place where Gan Lin was hiding . Even though we wiped out all the Blue Lotus Cultists there, we still had no way to enter, and we didn’t even catch Feng Xuanyuan . ”
“Feng Xuanyuan escaped with his life . What I didn’t expect was that he would have you rescue Gan Lin . This completely disrupted my previous plan . I sounded you out secretly many times before I was sure that you were not in the Blue Lotus Cult . People were just being used by Feng Xuanyuan, but after this, Feng Xuanyuan disappeared again, and the Blue Lotus Cult also calmed down, and it seemed that there were no more waves . ”
When Yu Linglong heard this, her mind was already overwhelmed . She couldn’t help but squeeze Lord Xu’s hand and whisper: “I didn’t know that there was such a reason . If I had known…”
She couldn’t help but shake her head, and smiled self-deprecatingly: “If I had known, I’m afraid I wouldn’t change much . ”
At that time, would she trust Lord Xu? She would never believe in his other ident.i.ty . Even if Lord Xu was frank with her, she would not believe his words .
Until this moment, she did not believe that there was a certain person in the world . Perhaps because Feng Xuanyuan was lucky, or because the Blue Lotus Cult was not exhausted, but Lord Xu so carefully arranged and designed each step that it couldn’t eliminate the Blue Lotus Cult .
Lord Xu took her shoulders, kissed her soft cheeks lightly, and said, “How can I blame you? Even if it’s strange, I blame myself for involving you as well . ”
It’s not that he couldn’t catch Feng Xuanyuan . At that moment, he led the dark guards to surround them . Even if Feng Xuanyuan was seriously injured, even if he flew, it would be difficult to escape, but he couldn’t give an order to make his martial arts known . They had to let the carriage that the subordinates were riding in to encircle Lady Yu, and missed the success at their fingertips .
Just because he couldn’t just watch her receive the slightest harm, even if it was only a slight possibility, he couldn’t allow himself to put her in danger .
Feng Xuanyuan escaped . He could catch him again, but if she was injured because of this, he would never forgive himself for the rest of his life .
But for this reason, he would not say, or even think about it . In his heart, all of this is taken for granted, because protecting her was his duty, his mission, and the most important and only thing in the world . She was the world he tried his best to protect .
Looking at the beautifully embroidered palace lanterns, Lord Xu whispered: “Father made such a strategy . One was to win over the Gan family so that Gan Yezhou was grateful to Father and surrendered him; the other was to test the prince and see how the prince is after that incident . The prince has been on his guard but ordered his army guards to help the Gan family capital to search for the Blue Lotus Cult and find the news of Gan Lin . On the surface, there was nothing unusual . Father thought that the prince did not want to usurp the throne, but not long ago, Father knew that in those days when Gan Lin disappeared, the crown prince’s cronies secretly wooed officials and even mobilized the foreign defense army in the capital to stand by at any time . ”
Yu Linglong was shocked . The emperor made this move, which was extremely dangerous . If the prince distorted the truth with falsehood, the consequences would be really unimaginable .
The Blue Lotus Cult kidnapped Gan Lin and asked Master Gan to write a letter to make the situation so big . The court searched for the Blue Lotus Cultists everywhere, causing panic . If the crown prince had a plan, he would take this opportunity to shake them up, subvert the court, and change the dynasty . Otherwise, it will not be too soon, but he will mobilize the army at this time . Why?
It’s just that if the prince really wanted to usurp the throne, why didn’t he act then?
Yu Linglong thought for a moment and slowly said: “The prince is good at everything . The only drawback is that he is too suspicious . Because he didn’t dare believe it, he will look forward to the future and act decisively . Otherwise, that time would be a really good opportunity . ”
Lord Xu nodded and said in a low voice: “Yes, I also thought about it afterward . The prince was actually very afraid of Father . In this world, the only thing that can restrain the prince is Father . ”
Yu Linglong said, “And the only one who can check and balance the prince is you . ”
That’s why the emperor relied heavily on Lord Xu and gave all his personal guards to the command of Lord Xu . The emperor, prince, and Lord Xu were all balanced in strength . The situation at this time was just one thing that affected the whole body . If any two parties joined forces, the other party would not be able to get benefits . The emperor cannot trust the prince, so he must trust Lord Xu .
Lord Xu smiled faintly, and said softly: “Linglong, have you ever thought about why my father gave me the t.i.tle of Lord Xu?”
He was the youngest prince, and he had lived in Mongolia for nine years . He was named Lord Xu when he returned to East Chu at the age of sixteen .
Yu Linglong’s heart moved . She suddenly remembered something in her mind, and she couldn’t help but exclaim in a low voice, “Could it be—”
The character for “Xu” is made up of the characters for “nine” and “day . ” Nine is the supreme number, only the emperor can use nine as a t.i.tle, but the emperor gave the t.i.tle of Lord Xu…
Lord Xu’s smile was a bit bitter: “Father had been suspicious of the prince for a long time, but the other princes were unable to contend with it . I am the preferred prince of the Mongolian State, and Father has supported me with all his strength, and naturally there is love for me . Another reason is not to use me to divert the attention of the prince . ”
The emperor had nine princes, but he loved Lord Xu the most . During this period, there may be reminiscences of Concubine Ling, or there may be guilt about Lord Xu being sent to Mongolia to be a hostage at a young age . But there may be a secret reason behind this father’s kindness .
From the point of view of the emperor, the crown prince was the best candidate for the prince . In terms of ability and cultivation, they were all the emperor’s capital, but from the perspective of his father, the prince has already shown the intention of harming other princes, and the emperor wanted to leave the throne to the most suitable person and wanted to save the lives of the other sons .
At this time, fostering the power of another prince is not only a warning to the crown prince but also a protection for the other princes . It was indeed a good method .
The emperor was telling the prince that your prince’s position was conferred by the emperor . If you are not as good as he wants, he is also qualified to take away everything that belongs to you, because the emperor of Eastern Chu cannot stop you alone .
Because of this, the crown prince will have all kinds of hatred towards Lord Xu, and he has sent countless people over to closely monitor Lord Xu, lest Lord Xu will take his position .
As for Lord Xu, who had to take care of the emperor’s thoughts and guard against the prince’s cruelty, he could only choose to disguise himself and walk between the court and the people with a mask on .
Yu Linglong rubbed her swollen temples, feeling that these things were far more complicated than she imagined . she couldn’t help but sigh and stretch out her hand to hold his waist, and unknowingly surged with endless sympathy and distress in her heart .
His life experience had so many ups and downs . He used to suffer in Mongolia, but now he was back in East Chu, and he needed to be on guard at all times . How strong does a person’s heart have to be to endure so much suffering?
Snuggling against his warm chest, Yu Linglong said softly: “Since he is going to kill you, you might as well restore your ident.i.ty and give it a go . It’s better than being careful . ”
The prince’s visit today was to test Lord Xu’s details, but he also unknowingly exposed his own thoughts . After disguising for so long, Lord Xu had not escaped the prince’s pursuit . It would be better for everyone to tear their skins off and fight and show the difference between superior and inferior .
His big hand tightened and wrapped her gently around his chest . Lord Xu groaned for a moment and said, “Alright, then I will enter the palace tomorrow and report to my father . ”
Now that the prince knew his ident.i.ty, he had no reason to continue disguising himself . If he should come, sooner or later, he would come . It would be better to take this opportunity to restore his true ident.i.ty .
In this way, the prince would be warier of him, but he did not dare to act rashly .
If the prince dared to send someone to a.s.sa.s.sinate him again, it would surely arouse the emperor’s suspicion . By that time, his position as prince would be even more precarious, and he really didn’t need to take this risk .
The two of them were a little tired after speaking for a long time . Seeing Yu Linglong cover her mouth and yawn, Lord Xu reached out and picked her up, and walked to the bed . His hot lips kissed her lips with a sweet affection, and he laughed in a low voice: “Honey, it’s late at night, it’s better to let your husband help you . You should rest . ”
Yu Linglong smiled unconsciously and stretched out her hand to embrace his neck . Her delicate cheeks nudged his collar coquettishly, and she whispered, “I don’t know who is serving who—”
Lord Xu laughed unconsciously, and casually waved his big hand to extinguish the candle .
The canopy fell, covering his slightly narrow smile and the charm in the canopy .