Chapter 80

Chapter 80.1: Changes Just Before Parting

Sometimes having great numbers can also be rather frustrating.

Most of the people were ones who fervently worshiped the great name, the Dark Lord of the Dark Legions, Lou Jun Yao.

Hence once they joined, they all started to request an audience but the problem was that Lou Jun Yao himself was not in the Dark Regions at that moment and they could only make all kinds of excuses to reject them.

"What are we going to do? Should we get the Lord to come back and hold down the fort with his presence?" Xun Luo opened his mouth to suggest when he saw that things were spinning out of control.

Mei Ji shot him a glance. "And you think you have what it takes to get the Lord to come back?"

WIth the suave manner the Lord had left on the trip this time it could be seen that he would not be coming back any time soon and Mei Ji was not holding any hope in that happening.

"But we can't just continue to dangle all those people. If they come to discover that the Lord isn't in Cloud Heaven and start to have a change of heart, there will then be trouble." Xun Luo said in exasperation.

The scholarly and refined looking man then said slowly: "Among the batch of Elixir Cultivators, we do not know how many of them possess real skills. Unfortunately Bai Zhi Yan isn't around as well or he would be able to tell immediately."

Just as the two of them were jabbering back and forth in conversation, a clear and melodious male voice sounded. The voice was clearly not loud but it immediately made both of them become quiet. "I still have one pill of those elixirs left over from before. Let all the Elixir Cultivators cultivate the exact same elixir and only the one who extracts the purest essence can remain."

The person who spoke was dressed in a full white robe, a man who possessed a gentle and elegant countenance with red eyes, the one called Little Monster by their internal members.

Once those words of his sounded, the eyes of the two people lit up. "Great idea! Little Monster, that brain of yours is really so useful."

"Of course, don't you see who his family is?" Mei Ji snorted smugly, the expression on his face filled with pride.

After the white robed man with red eyes finished what he came to say, he then stood up and walked out, and Mei Ji followed right behind him.

"Heh heh, that Mei Ji has really been twisted around that guy's little finger!" Xun Luo said teasingly.

The scholarly man then replied like he had become so used to it. "She has just become too accustomed to being haughty and having met Little Monster who is even more arrogant than she is, she would naturally have no choice but to submit."

What you said sounds very reasonable." Xun Luo nodded his head as he commented.

— Water Edge Kingdom Imperial Palace —

It had been several dozen days since Qing Ye Li and his delegation had returned to the kingdom and having taken medicinal herb baths and given elixirs daily over this short period of time, Yue Mu Chen had started feeling that his body was feeling somewhat different in several places.

On this day, after Yue Mu Chen dismissed the Imperial Court, he stayed inside his own bedchambers to look through the letters and memorials sent in over the past few days.

Yue Xin Yan had coincidentally come over to look for him, the light patter of her footsteps closing in from afar where the doors were then pushed open. "Royal Brother, what are you doing now?"

Yue Mu Chen lifted his eyes up feeling a little surprised. "Why are you so free to come all the way to my place?"

He did not know where the lass heard the news from that the Three Great Sects would be recruiting new disciples in half a year's time. She already had enough of sparring with people in the Water Edge Kingdom and she was insisting that she wanted to go participate in the trials. She was the only sibling born from the same parents and he had naturally indulged her alot, allowing her to always have her way with everything.

But she had been going to the military barracks to get the guards to spar with her in order to increase her chances of passing the tryouts and in regards to that, it had been just too bitter for words for everyone.

"Haven't I not seen my Royal Brother for several days already? So I came over specially just to see you." Yue Xin Yan said, looking every inch an obedient child, but she then suddenly leaned over close, her beautiful blue eyes staring wide like she had spotted something surprising.

"What? There is something on my face?" Yue Mu Chen asked as he raised his hand up to touch his face.

Yue Xin Yan shook her head with her face still looking incredulous. "Royal Brother, why do I feel….. That having not seen you for the past few days, you seem to be a lot more energetic!"

Chapter 80.2: Changes Just Before Parting

Because of his body's frailty, though Yue Mu Chen's body still wasn't all that skinny, his complexion was always tinged with a pale sickly pallor, looking like the slightest gust of wind might just blow him down.

But coming closer to look at him carefully, she could actually see that there was now a tinge of rosiness of health in his cheeks.

Hearing her say that, Yue Mu Chen was taken aback a moment. "Is that so? I had not really noticed it, though I am really feeling as if my body does not feel as weak and lethargic as before, and I do not lose my breath as easily as before."

"Really?" Yue Xin Yan said, her face beaming with delight. "Has my Royal Brother's health improved, and you will not cough out blood and fall unconscious out of the blue anymore?"

Mentioning about coughing out blood, he had indeed not encountered that for more than ten days already. In the past he would at most be able to last three days before he would be hit with an insufferable bout of wrecking cough that felt like it would take his life away from him. Now he had actually gone through about ten days without it coming back and that was just too unbelievable.

Yue Xin Yan's blue eyes were sparkling brightly. "So that young lady really has such adept skills in Medicine, and is really able to cure my Royal Brother's condition."

"Young lady?" Yue Mu Chen was startled.

"That's right. It's the very same young lady that Big Brother Ye Li has always been searching for." Yue Xin Yan said. "But, she looks so very young, about the same age as me, but her skills in Medicine is as good as that of a elder who has lived for several decades. It seems like she is extraordinarily gifted and it's little wonder that Big Brother Ye Li values her so much."

"About the same age as you?" Yue Mu Chen's eyes flashed with surprise. "Then….. When did she and Qing Ye Li come to know each other? If they knew each other more than ten years ago, that young lady might have just been born. So how did she come to know him?"

"I am not very clear on that but back when they met each other in the Green Wave Kingdom, they seemed to have recognized each other at first glance." Yue Xin Yan said slowly.

Yue Mu Chen seemed to have thought of something and the expression on his face changed slightly for a brief moment before it recovered quickly.

There seemed to be something illogical in all of this.

But looking at the situation, with Qing Ye Li about to leave the Water Edge, even if there was anything illogical about it, it did not seem to matter.

——

After the All Saints Day festival was over and the curtains fell, the city was restored back to its original look.

After the engagement between Xuanyuan Che and Yan Ning Luo was annulled, the Green Wave Emperor continued to have a thorn stuck prickly in his heart. It was clear that it was to have been a great union but those two people had been unwilling to which then broke it all up.

Yan Ning Luo, who was born with the birth characteristics of the Phoenix and destined to be an Empress. The man to marry her would definitely achieve greatness but a pity that this phoenix was no longer to belong to the Xuanyuan Family anymore.

Xuanyuan Che had stayed in the Imperial Capital for such a long period and he was about to embark on his journey back to the Faint Mist Sect.

He had been with the Faint Mist Sect for six years and in another four years, he would be able to leave the sect and choose to come back to continue living as the noble Crown Prince or choose to go out and accomplish great achievements for himself.

As the Green Wave Emperor was still young there was hurry for him to come back to inherit the throne so Xuanyuan Che still had the freedom to choose.

"You are leaving already?"

Three people were gathered in a winehouse and hearing Xuanyuan Che's words, Yu Jing Zhuo raised his cup to say: "Come my Brother, let me offer you a toast to wish you a smooth journey."

Upon saying that, he immediately downed the cup of wine with a tilt of his head back.

Although he was also a member of the Faint Mist Sect, he was very relaxed towards the rules and regulations of the sect.

Because he was a member of the Faint Mist Sect that was specifically responsible for gathering intelligence he was usually roaming outside most of the time and seldom returned to the sect. And it was because he was really capable that the sect was a lot more lenient with him.

Chapter 80.3: Changes Just Before Parting

Xuanyuan Che then did as he said and clinked his cup against Yu Jing Zhuo's and downed his drink as well.

Mo Fei Ran shook her head and laughed. "Why the sombre mood as you drink? It's not as if you're parting between life and death so why are you being so dramatic?"

Xuanyuan Che snorted lightly. "Though we're not separated by life and death but after I return to the sect, I fear that I will not escape hearing endless gossip and whispered murmurings."

Mo Fei Ran was taken aback a moment but he quickly recomposed himself. "You mean the matter about your engagement with Yan Ning Luo being called off?"

"What else? People out there probably already know all about it. At the end of the All Saints Day festival, Yan Ning Luo had suggested to annul the marriage right before so many people! Sigh, those who are not aware, they might think that I, as the Crown Prince of a kingdom, is just a great bully who has been maliciously ill treating her." Xuanyuan Che said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Mo Fei Ran's youngest aunt was the Yan Ning Luo's mother and the young lady could be considered to be his cousin. Upon hearing Xuanyuan Che's words, he was somehow feeling a little awkward and did not know what to say.

And Xuanyuan Che had most probably had a little too much too drink and he was a little more talkative. "But how would all those people know the truth? Hahaha….. She called off the engagement with me not because we did not see eye to eye with each other nor was it for any other ridiculous reason but because she had come to fall in love with another man….."

"Mo Fei Ran, do you know….. Who that man is?"

"He is, hahaha….. He is the man who is ashamed to have anyone see his face and wears a mask perpetually, the Duke of Vast Seas….."

Once those words came out, the expression on Mo Fei Ran's face froze completely, thinking whether his ears had been hearing things.

[What is the Crown Prince saying?]

[The person Ning Luo likes is….. The Duke of Vast Seas! ?]

The wine cup held in Yu Jing Zhuo's hand spilled a little wine out, like he had been rather surprised.

And Xuanyuan Che was continuing to say: "You guys don't believe me? Yan Ning Luo told me that herself that she had liked that man since she was very young. Ha! The greatest prodigy. Her taste is indeed different from others….."

Yan Ning Luo liked the Duke of Vast Seas, and the one the Duke of Vast Seas liked was her real sister.

Seeing the Duke of Vast Seas' expression and demeanor that day, it was clear that he liked and cared for that young lady a lot.

Yu Jing Zhuo's mouth opened in mocking laughter. [What a complicated relationship.]

The way was bright and well lit with lanterns till they came outside as they stepped out from the wine house, about to split up and go their separate ways.

Several cold gusts of sinister breeze blew pass suddenly. Yu Jing Zhuo had drunk the most among them but was the sober one. Because he was drank all the time, he had build up a strong resistance against wine.

The gusts of sinister winds blew over them and he subconsciously raised his head up to look, where he came to see the black shadows flying past.

The reactions of Xuanyuan Che and Mo Fei Ran were slightly slower but they had also noticed the presence of those black shadows which caused them to sober up by half.

"Who were those people?" Mo Fei Ran asked in a low voice.

"It seems to be assassins from the Carefree Valley." Yu Jing Zhuo said with his eyes narrowed cautiously.

Xuanyuan Che then said indifferently. "Let's go. Let's mind our own business." Upon saying that, he raised his foot and was about to take a step to go on his own way.

The Carefree Valley's assassins were not that rare to see as their members were spread throughout every corner of the Constellation Lands. Although they cushioned at the bottom among the Three Great Sects, their scale was the most widespread.

Their members could be often seen appearing in the night as the assassins depended on carrying out spying and assassination missions to earn their keep.

The few of them had not thought too much about it and they had not left for long when Xuanyuan Che's footsteps suddenly halted, the expression on his face changing.