Adventure ending in Tears
Indeed, when a mere four days after Lingyue submitted her work, she left the hospital...and the rest, was up to the Dowager, the Queen and the Censorate.
The Censorate locked down the capital for two weeks. No one allowed to go out nor come in.
A Lockdown without warning to catch targets when caught off-guard by the sudden declaration...and a chaos Lingyue and her orphanage gladly sat out of.
But in the times she wasn't distracted such as when done with her tasks...she could not take her mind off of Feng Shen...and what happened.
She never had any of that before.
No man held her hand that way.
No man made her feel desired as a woman.
To many men in Italy, she was a convenient puppet and asset as there's still sexist stigmatism regarding female mafia members. Marry her for the power and resources she possessed and take over control from her. That was it to the ambitious, cutthroat mafia that she considered marrying Enma and turned down every political arrangement her father tried 'recommending' to her. And she had Xanxus on her orders to 'have fun' with Iemitsu's ideas and keep them the fuck away from Vongola.
Here, she was a woman to be loved in all ways and means possible in the eyes of her best friend.
"Nobody ever looked at me that way."
That was what she thought.
"Nobody ever touched me that way."
That was what she thought.
"No man I know made me feel like I am a woman...to him I'm someone precious, not a convenient tool."
This time, she used her HI even though she swore not to around Feng Shen as heartbreak and disappointment was the last thing she wanted, given her past as an adult, and her past with her mother when Hong Fang threw them out.
Hope, is scary.
This time, she decided fair was fair.
She knew his background from Grandpa Mu and she helped him overcome his insecurities...
...its his turn to answer her insecurities and console her empty heart that only wanted a home and love to go home to.
But for now, Feng Shen left the capital from what she sensed before lockdown happened, though his servants remained. Maybe a business trip?
Well, Daxia's issues ain't his business anyway.
But her senses throb towards what she has in her possession.
She has with her three pieces of what looks like a map.
'...this torn map is clearly, a hot potato in my hands. A map of the legendary Tai Yi School that vanished a millennium ago.'
She knows where the school was, but it only opens once a year. Unlike Star Cave however, she can't cheat her way in. But due to rumors of treasures, her mother agrees with her that due to MONSTERS after Tai Yi School, the maps they have, are hot potatoes that bring danger. So they never let anyone know they have it, and Lingyue keeps it thanks to her ability.
She will go there herself and sneak in when time is right.
Because more importantly...she needs to hide to break through. She has to GTFOOH as she valued her anonymity.
'Madam Lai, for now you're in vacation so spend some time with the twins.' Lingyue instructed Madam Lai. 'I need to go somewhere.'
'And how when the capital is locked up as you foresaw?' Madam Lai blurted out incredulously.
'Well, I can go...invisible!' and on cue, Lingyue disappeared. Lingyue used a chameleon technique to blend in as one of her abilities.
'Whoa!' Madam Lai gasped as suddenly, she's not there anymore!
'I have to hide during breakthrough since I can't let my enemies know my level. I'm about to become a second element master soon so sticking around, is out of the question.' said Lingyue darkly. Madam Lai nodded in understanding as she was made aware of the Ranking List and why Lingyue wanted to remain anonymous. 'Tell Chi Lian and Yanche...if anyone looks for me, tell them I went herb-hunting for wares not sold in stores. Since they know I'm an alchemist, they'll buy that dumb excuse.' she said playfully.
'Of course.' Madam Lai sighed. Her boss has her moments of mischief, and ruthlessness. She was pay good unto good, evil unto evil. But she was also kind enough to help others but she was selective with who she helps as money doesn't exactly grow on trees. There were many unfortunates within Daxia but she cannot save them all so she only helps those with no possible futures if left alone.
That was her regret.
Madam Lai understood that no thanks to her ex and her bastard customer, had she died, her twins are among those she would save than have no future.
xxx
Escaping the capital was easy peasy.
Lingyue timed her escape during Shift Change and she slipped out in flight using Spirit Force.
She went to hide in Lion's Roar Valley and it's there she'd do it. On top of the mountains.
She's far enough she'll exploit Lockdown.
She took energy in the air by rapid absorption rate to trigger breakthrough, and popped a Yellow-Grade Reincarnation Pill and ingested it before the taiji symbol came out and for the pillar of heavens to descend unto her...
'I wonder what's next...all I know is that this is gonna suck...'
After water...she drew the Wind card.
Being drowned for hours and now? A tornado descended!
'Wind...and a tornado? Fuck me sideways...' and a human inside a tornado...yeah, she suffered a lot big time for twelve hours.
From afar, anyone would recognize the pillar of ascension when late afternoon hours came.
"Who is that?!"
For those who don't possess the Farsight ability, they cannot tell who.
President Liao in Glass City, Wu Chong, and Lingyue's own grandfather were among the few.
It was a girl they all know.
'What talent...' President Liao gasped in amazement. Last he saw her, she was an Upper Celestial!
'Lingyue! By the gods!' Ye Gu exclaimed in amazement. Last he checked, she was level 1 and a Water Master. What is it this time?
Wu Chong whistled and smirked. 'As expected of my woman.' she suppresses herself with unknown means to Celestial Levels to avoid the Ranking List with what she calls 'a bounty-list for overpowered minors blackmailed into bodyguard slavery by nobles if caught' as she told Feng Shen once, so not even he can tell what level she is now. He looks forward to seeing her again.
By sundown...it's all over and Lingyue slowly descended to the ground courtesy of the pillar as she instantly healed from her injuries.
'That...sucked.' Lingyue staggered onto the ground, stumbled a little and leaned on a tree for support. Sure her body's healed but she has slight psychosomatic disorientation still that'll be gone later. She summoned Yusi and Shanben from her space. 'Hey, you guys watch over me OK? The Wind Trial absolutely sucked I need to rest some more.' she complained to her beasts and they quickly grew big and settled down for her comfort as a huge puppy pile. 'Uwaaah, so soft~' she sighed in bliss as she slept for hours with her spirit beasts.
She woke up the next day, stronger.
Thanks to Reborn's tutoring, she had knowledge of Physics, so she can enjoy her Wind powers as she did her Water powers without trial-and-error unlike others. When she gained her new level, her area in the cauldron increased...but it also thinned the 'air' within. She needed Hollow Crystals, stat. She'll raid everything if she had to.
She can now go to Mount Cang. The school should be open by now. Map or no map, she can navigate on her own without getting lost~
xxx
Tai Yi School ruins...
'...yup, it's open and people are already in.' she mumbled.
Ala Dragonball Z, she flew her way in to avoid traps. Much of her purpose, was the extinct plants originally, but her cauldron began acting funny. Humph.
Once inside past the first defense that would impress even Mammon, she landed on her own two feet and absorbed information by touching the ground.
Her herb field was nearby...then a tragic temple of greed that wiped out this school...and a nasty stairway that strips people of their ill-deserved loot and their own possessions. So go up there naked! Then a nice forge with an armory...and earth-class swords upstairs and a cauldron made of first-class metals. And an underground full of what she wanted!
Welp, treachery awaits within so its best she goes solo. With her ability, she didn't need to team up with double-crossing snakes, even if some are trustworthy but these people will gladly stab you too due to interests in line out of desperation.
By the herb field with a nasty catch as herbs here cannot survive transplanting outside, she controlled all extinct species to rapidly mature and produce seeds for her en masse. Be they healing or poison without the drawbacks, so the seeds CAN grow elsewhere. Thus this treasure field is worthless.
She bagged everything in separate pouches, and then stopped the production. Seeds are so tiny she can bring hundreds home with no issue.
'Extinct everywhere else yet you exist here...so after giving me your seeds, I'll let you guys stay here.' she decided as happy with her booty and took it into her cauldron, she continued on ahead to the stairway to the forge.
But the triplets are there, among whom, were one of the men who took care of Madam Lai before. The forge was a mess, clearly a fight went here. One dead girl and one dead boy.
'Oh, sister with phoenix lord before, you came up here fully-clothed?' one of the brothers asked, amazed. 'How?!'
'Well, I didn't bring anything with me and my clothes are my own.' said Lingyue. 'Anything from this school you touch or take up those stairs triggers a gravity trap. The more you touched or you carry, the more you suffer. Even your own clothes are cursed by the stuff you touched or took so you and others are naked in early winter.'
Well, she took seeds. Stuff most people would deem insignificant and happily in another dimension so the trap didn't trigger on her. She also used her own spirit force and cauldron to take treasures with her as taking stuff that way, she can avoid the curse on the items, triggering the deadly stairway trap.
'Wish we knew that sooner!' said another brother unhappily. 'How on earth are we gonna take home stuff made of buddhism metal now?!'
'Well, there is a catch.' Lingyue smiled kindly. 'You cannot take upstairs what's from downstairs...but the opposite happens. So go upstairs, take valuables with you, then come down unhindered. Did some research.' this perked the brothers up. 'And maybe let's avoid the idiocy upstairs first. It's a free-for-all massacre of greed up there...' and on cue, there was violent sounds upstairs. 'See?'
'Yeah, let's wait it out.' another agreed with a gulp. It was good they remained here to figure out how to bring this cauldron home. 'Does sister know more buddhism metal upstairs?'
'Well, the swords surrounding a cauldron upstairs are all made of that metal along with another buddhism cauldron, functioning as a Seal so you can't get those as records say they sealed a great evil away and sacrificed themselves. So you can only have that one with you.' Lingyue pointed at the cauldron they fiercely guarded to their dismay. 'Let's wait out the morons up there first. The final trap will trigger there.'
'Final trap?'
'Anyone dumb enough to go above the cauldron where the 'bait entrance' is will produce hellish flames and searingly-hot water that will cook you alive...and the swords up there are meant to seal away evil in this school.' Lingyue told them while taking a tripod out filled with water from her creek, and poured in tea powder before starting a fire. 'Because one elder wanted to aim higher, created a nasty technique, thinking it'll increase his power...but stupid fool ended up cursing himself. In a bid to perfect the Beast Core devouring technique, he experimented on the school's disciples.'
'The other elders, outraged, sealed him in his temple along with his victims...and to prevent more idiots becoming monsters out of greed. By the time they completed the seal, it's all over...that they sealed the school from the world for good and they all perished all alone, and no one knowing the truth never more.'
Granted, Lingyue can devour ki from beast cores. But she had a safer way of doing it.
The safer method was instead of swallowing it, you draw ki from the core instead as Ye Ning had done to ascend while carrying it when Ye Sheng killed the snake and gave her the core. She taught her cousins the safe skill.
Shame that country bumpkins like her family, had more sense.
'What a sad but stupid way to go.' the other man tut-tutted. 'Guess we can't take the one upstairs huh?'
'Nope.'
'I hope this is enough.' the brothers were gloomy with the only source they have.
'Well, its best to go home with what you can have safely. And its best to get away while the greedy morons are upstairs.' said Lingyue. 'They will grab what they can, then kill each other for what others got until one remains. It's like Gu inside a pot...and it won't be long before they figure the secret of the stairs through dumb luck while groping for a way to escape.'
The brothers grimaced at the comparison. They're the bugs killing each other till one last bug is left, and the ruins is the pot they were in.
'Now that you mention that...yikes. But how do we lug this thing home?' the other brother wondered, knocking on the cauldron. 'It's big, heavy and bulky!'
'The city is in Lockdown when I left...not even I can go home until the royal family lifts Lockdown in the capital.' Lingyue deadpanned.
'Wait, what lockdown?!' the brothers yelped, wide-eyed.
'Beats me why...before I lost my chance for this school I ran out the gates when the announcement was made.' said Lingyue flatly. She converted the cauldron into refined ingots. 'Go find some sack to carry all that and camp outside the city till it opens again...its a long wait. Not even I know when can I go home.'
'Thank you sister.' the brothers were grateful. 'How can we repay you?' she made their life easier by converting the bulky cauldron into easy-to-carry ingots!
'Well, information.' Lingyue smiled. 'I wanna know where to find Ancient Dragon's Blood, Nine Leaf Pearl Clover, and Inner Core Earth Fire as none of those are here, so preferably locations with plenty of those. I'll come see you in Treasure Cave some time later to get my repayment...maybe a few months from now.'
'That's a deal!'
Thank goodness for the generous deadline they thought, as even the girl knows the stuff she wants are tough to find!
With that, the brothers left her after obtaining a sack from somewhere and went...not-really-home.
In Lingyue's opinion, while raiding this floor by turning the armory into refined, pure metals, only she and these brothers will leave this mountain alive the way things are going.
She went to gain more information upstairs and there was one survivor and a lot injured.
Wu Chong is here.
She went upstairs as she is safe with him while putting her silver mask on, the mask she wore when she went to the auction that obscured much of her face.
When she, the newcomer came, the people are wary.
An unknown who's quite healthy and dressed!
'Who are you?' Wu Chong asked her as he eyed the girl intently.
'...not your rival for one thing since what I'm after are not what you're after.' said Lingyue as she touched the cauldron and pressed certain tiles on the floor that triggered a mechanism that made her fall down and she said a playful 'Whoopsies~!'
"This girl!" Wu Chong swore as he followed after her before the entrance closed. The injured others also cursed. This newcomer knew more than they did! They have to follow!
xxx
Down below...
It's a tunnel but with some stuff to ensure lost people can sustain themselves until they get out.
'You know some things we don't.' Wu Chong stated. He had obtained and refined for himself a Heaven-Class weapon and enjoyed the looks of envy of his weaker rivals.
'Yup. Unlike the morons upstairs whose greed will get them killed as the goods have nasty traps, I only have two targets...the extinct species of herbs whose seeds I obtained and the Hollow Crystals I wanted.'
'What would you want those for?'
'...disproportionate power-levels got my inheritance badly affected. I need material for repairs.'
'Oh, so that's how it is. And how long will we be here?'
'Two days of nonstop walking, we'll be in a graveyard after that. It's a straight road, so...' she pointed where they came from as she started floating. '...let's ditch em'.' the two vanished in high-speed flight. They soon arrived in a narrowing area too small for Wu Chong to enter and just enough for someone Lingyue's size.
Then to her horror, he size-shifted, bone-breaking and bleeding-inducement included that his horrifying stunt made her faint.
Wu Chong stared.
'Oi oi, don't faint on me, you're the only one who knows this cave!' he squawked out. She fainted when he did his technique.
She's masked, so...
He removed it and lo! It's Lingyue! He smelled her to be sure...she smells strongly of herbs and wine, unlike most girls who try to outdo everyone else in smelling like a flower till it became nauseating. And a little mischief, his hands went inside her trousers and down south...yup, it's her. Only Lingyue would have such smooth, beautiful femininity. No woman he had fun with ever thought of getting rid of hair there.
But...her chest size wasn't what he was used to. They were a lot fuller and bigger when before, he had some fun with her, she was kinda modest but still flat. But he never can confirm that as he never removed her top back then.
Wait...
Maybe she was really this big and simply flattened herself?
That's possible.
Beautiful as she was, she wears her outrageous fashion that hid her figure. She didn't want attention after all.
And now because she wore martialist clothes that flaunted all her shape and she wore a mask, it was no wonder nobody could tell its Lingyue by her voice alone. That 4th Prince and Hong brat would know as she's a teacher in school yet because she's flat in her usual clothes...yup.
"But hey...she's hiding these all this time." his eyes darkened with lust and desire and he was itching to fondle her. "Romancing her will take some time because of history, but I haven't failed in wooing a woman before. I can wait."
She woke up half an hour later.
'You awake, Lingyue?' Lingyue groggily tried remembering some things...and she's in a rocky tunnel with Wu Chong. She then sat up.
'...I guess you took a peek.' Lingyue pouted as she noted that her mask wasn't on her face.
'You surprised me too.' Wu Chong snorted. 'You're concealing your full appearance be it body or face.'
'I have to as I have my goals set and I don't want unnecessary complications.' said Lingyue, finding her mask beside her and she put it on. 'In a city like Xia, its easy to get the wrong attention you won't want. So I wore such things on purpose.'
'But should you accomplish your goals...what will you do after?'
'Well, live a full life, when my enemies are all gone. By then...its safe for me to have a family.' Lingyue smiled wistfully. 'A peaceful life with husband and children. But a man who truly loves me and not because I'm a walking wallet and herb shop by myself...I want a man like that.' she said.
As an Alchemist, she earns a lot. Not to mention she's a Brewmaster and a Teacher. But what did she mean by 'her own Herb Shop'?
'I know a man like that, but while he would gladly have me, well...I need approval of what's behind him first.' Lingyue told Wu Chong glumly. 'I'm of low birth after all. A Merchant. What am I, to what this man is? If the shadow behind him says no and sets him up with a girl who's politically useful...that's that since I have to protect my family too who'll be used against me. Stay away or else sort of thing.'
'Do you...love this man?' Wu Chong asked her softly.
'...I think I am...but...let's be realistic. A merchant girl and a prince. Not happening.' said Lingyue defeatedly with a slight crack in her voice. Feng Shen wanted her and no other woman in his heart. The status, is the problem. 'I'll tell him my past as soon as Capital Lockdown is over. My mother's history will repeat through me at this rate...mother would never survive the idea if I suffered like she did. Like mother like daughter.'
With a past like theirs, Wu Chong knew Lingyue will chose the 'wise option' to spare herself the suffering and try again with someone of her social status while nursing her broken heart.
But.
That's one thing he will never allow to happen, given his situation.
He's sharing a body with HIM after all.
Lingyue, is his.
He'll have to think. She's willing to try to dissuade Feng Shen and distance herself. Problem, he's inside too when they meet.
For all her accomplishments, skill and strength, she is defined by her birth status forever unless something happens.
He'll have to make it happen before she ensures they never meet any more. She will surely run and do all means to dissuade. But on the night they got hot, she accepted 'his' advances. She did love Feng Shen. But she never knew Wu Chong. He wanted her to look at him too. It seems he'll have to visit her as himself sometime.
It was then he realized that his stunt made her realize that she loved his host. Given her ability to gain information by touch, she knows how much Feng Shen loves her in turn that she let 'him' pounce on her. She realized many things, since their talk in the marsh but kept things logical and practical as much as possible.
'Well, let's proceed into the grave.' Lingyue stood up as she went into the narrow space, followed by Wu Chong. The passage inside was very narrow at every turn, like its deprived of human use. Whats more, the air only got thinner the deeper they went.
This continued on until the front gradually opened up with a faint soft light coming into their view. The room they entered was a stone chamber. Closed in on three sides, there's only one thing of noticeable importance here a coffin.
'...what a waste of space...so much space for one iddy-biddy coffin...but a luxurious coffin at that!' Lingyue snarked as they got through. The coffin, is made of Hollow Crystal.
She touched the ground to gain information...before paling. 'Gulp...this is gonna be tricky...!'
'Tricky? How?'
'The coffin and something else is the only treasure in this grave. But as soon as I take the crystal which is why I'm here for, the trap will trigger...the preserved corpse within is an undead creature designed to attack and kill any living thing in sight! The something else, I can safely take, but if I take the coffin...!'
'It will wake.' Wu Chong finished darkly. He really envies her ability as unlike him, he had to rely on pieces of torn maps and his instincts and luck...what a woman! No wonder she gets around unscathed!
'Not only that, the Wood Fragment I also wanted is inside this corpse and it became a spirit artifact tainted with evil...this is actually the evil weapon sealed by Tai Yi school using the Buddhism Metal cauldron up above and the swords there...but alas, never underestimate the evil wrought by human greed. The wood fragment absorbed this evil upon becoming a Spirit Artifact that it became a calamity that must be dealt with by the elders.' Wu Chong then sweatdropped. He unwittingly destroyed the seal then? 'Combine that with an elder's foolish research by gaining power through devouring Beast Cores, these two disasters spelled the end of this Sect...by the way, can you use a powerful fire spell?' Lingyue asked Wu Chong. 'The undead hate fire. They cannot regenerate.' Wu Chong grinned as he conjured hot flames. 'I am a Water and Wind Master so I can't do squat.'
That revealed she was a level 2 Reincarnation Master.
'Easy enough.' Wu Chong incinerated the corpse and kept firing until Lingyue saw a glowing of a tile where the heart is. She quickly thrust her hand in to take it out.
AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHH! You dare to disturb me and destroy my servant?!
'Sorry pal, you have what I need and I gotta get rid of you.' Lingyue conjured her spirit smoke, aiming to devour the spirit within, not giving it a chance to retaliate while still groggy from slumber.
Wait, a True Cauldron?! What the hell?! before the spirit can say more, Lingyue ruthlessly finished it off before absorbing her Wood Element, as well as the coffin.
But as soon as she finished it off, the grave began to shake, a sign of its impending self-destruction as it was a dimensional pocket space designed as the Undead Weapon's battlefield meant to keep it immortal.
'OK, now we run the old fashioned way.' they blasted a hole in the ceiling and they were free by flying out.
'That's a spirit artifact yet you got it a little too easily.' Wu Chong remarked thoughtfully.
'Well, it's still sleepy so I simply took the chance.' Lingyue grinned unrepentantly. 'Had we talked to it for information like most people would do, it would have time to wake up and become the disaster it was sealed for. The smart thing was to play dirty and kill the spirit while it's still dumb.' she chuckled. That made sense, Wu Chong thought. 'I'd say we had a profitable day, wouldn't you agree?' Lingyue smiled. 'It's safe to fly out of these mountains now, though its many securities against thieves remain until the school closes again.'
'What will you do?' Wu Chong asked her. 'Your little brother is still here.'
Lingyue supposed Wu Chong searched her background...
Yeah, Lingyue thought. Hong Yulang was with 4th not-really-prince, Marquis An and his daughter. Well, Yulang is already a Small Dan while 4th Prince is a Big Dan. That means out of all siblings sired by Hong Fang, Yuying was dead-last in power, she thought. 'Well, they're martial artists, so let's leave them be and figure their way out on their own. Lest we end up the farmers to their vipers. We ain't that stupid.' they flew away to safety, having gotten valuables...
Unknown to Lingyue, she just missed her youngest sibling by a hair...
xxx
Xia City...
'Missy's back!' the orphans celebrated Lingyue's return after making herself visible.
'Well, I got us some new herbs, we'll be A-OK!' Lingyue grinned. 'I just need to plant and study them so we'll have more medicine in the future.' that, and she can restore her cauldron. The Wood Fragment and Hollow Crystal repaired her cauldron and boosted her cultivation. All in a good day's work!
Madam Lai has nothing to do for now as Lingyue would focus on repairing her Spirit Space.
The Wood Fragment also has an effect within as she repairs.
Her Rainbow Creek became a LAKE.
Her herbs doubled in size. Some taller than her she was sure she needed monster-strength to pluck the damn things now before she could sell them. But the monsters here...can become Red Pills. Their age, can compensate for her lack of skill in refining red pills.
And time here, can now affect the human body in terms of cultivation speed.
Once repairs are done? She gave Madam Lai the time to cultivate, giving her Red Pills to quickly rise to Dan Realm herself. Right now, Houqi is slightly behind Houhong.
Since that reveal, the bastard must have scarfed down as many herbs as possible or something.
Now that won't do. She made a lot of red pills for peak Dan Realm.
She paid the Morning Flower Wing a visit.
'Lingyue, what warranted this unannounced visit?' the Queen wondered. 'It's still lockdown!'
'We're a little out of time and outdated.' Lingyue took out a jar of six RED pills to the Queen's shock. 'For you and 6th Prince to quickly rise to peak Dan Realm. Xia Houhong is now in Big Dan Realm and Hong Yulang a Small Dan. This means that the Noble Faction are now acting really fast to rise in strength, we can't fall behind as Civilian Faction.'
The Queen knew they really can't lag behind now. 4th Prince can easily kill her son!
'And this, is for General Chiyan and your bodyguard.' Lingyue took four more jars. 'Your guards are clean.'
'I understand.' the queen choked out, shakily taking the jars. 'Not to mention it'll soon be time for Daxia's Royal Annual Competition too...will you participate, given your age? You're still young.'
'...nah. Fame is more trouble than its worth for me. Bad enough I got famous upon becoming Princess Yue.' Lingyue groaned. 'I'll keep my cards to my chest for now until the time is right.'
'I see.' the queen can only shake her head. Lingyue wanted nothing to do with being publicly-known for her abilities but alas, her husband got a little TOO excited... 'Well...what do you think of my son though?'
'6th Prince huh? He acts like I hung the sun and moon in the sky...then again, I restored his sanity...but at least he shows his admiration through his schoolwork. He's very diligent and his essay homework show that he thinks outside the box, which is good in our job and puts great thinking into things and has interesting ideas I often had to see at home if it'll work so I tell him the next day.' said Lingyue approvingly. 'Worthy of the title Genius Prince. And he'll be ready to learn some doctor skills when Lockdown ends.' she said. 'Well, can't be a pill-dispenser without knowing how to diagnose a human body...' she laughed.
'What about as a man?'
That question got Lingyue wary while maintaining her oblivious facade.
'Hummm...he's pure like white paper, untainted by political hullaballoo around here so his opinions are his pure, honest thoughts. Its good that he hangs around Qing Shizi as being a neutral power nobody can mess with is a good boon for him, especially as nobody's dumb enough to mess with the Qing Family. As long as he keeps good company he'll never be like any typical nobleboy around school, brown-nosing, sabotaging and betraying...thanks to that, he's a good kid who will surely do what's right and good and someone reliable when pardon my language...shit hits the fan. Him being reliable will garner him support for sure.'
The queen sweatdropped. That wasn't the answer she wants...but let it go. Maybe she hasn't had a maiden's heart yet, she wondered.
'Well, given as 4th Prince and Hong Yulang still in Tai Yi School's ruins...whether or not they live or die from being greedy remains to be seen.' Lingyue snickered. 'That place is full of traps for every treasure within! 6th Prince might regain his spot by pure accident at this rate.'
'Oh, do tell?' the queen wished with all her heart that he dies in that ruins, that literal bastard brat! But suddenly, Yunxiu swayed as if to faint...Lingyue quickly grabbed her and took her hand to diagnose her...
'Are you and his majesty intimate again?'
'Ohoho, yes very much...why?'
'...you're pregnant.' Lingyue smiled. 'Judging by the timeline, you conceived before his majesty's er, thingy, malfunctioned.'
'WHAT?!'
'Let's keep this quiet lest miscarriage drugs gets sent your way...and here's what's gonna happen until the baby bulge is visible...'
xxx
Sadly, apparently hours later after Lingyue and Wu Chong left the school, 4th Prince and Hong Yulang survived because of an unexpected arrival: Hong Mingyue. That was one thing Lingyue didn't see coming, and her littlest sister is now a Water Master as well. Damn. She has to stay two levels ahead of her, no matter the cost.
And now, she snuck onto Feng Shen's mansion, Lockdown be damned.
'Lingyue!' Feng Shen was both delighted and wary to see her. He was conscious when 'he' talked to her back in the ruins because he let it.
Lingyue was nervous.
'Can we talk...in private? This is important...and awkward.' she said with fidgeting and the atmosphere was scary.
Feng Shen was nervous as well.
Lingyue confronted Feng Shen about her feelings and her fears and she wanted his opinion because given their situation, unless a miracle happens somehow, she really doesn't see it happening.
She told him what happened thirteen years ago to her mother.
'So that's why...' Feng Shen thought about it. Lingyue's mother never married again and Lingyue didn't want a history repeat through her BECAUSE he's a Prince. 'You and your mother were treated like that. But Lingyue, as long as you're legally married even after you and your mother were cruelly-discarded, you're still a legal-born noble even if you're a fallen one through sheer heartlessness of your father. Heck, you're even more of a higher status than he as you're legal-born, not a bastard-birth like he. And you're a trueborn before Marquis Zhenyuan demoted your mother to make Hong Fang marry a woman more useful to them as a tool. Actually, your mother's luckier as who'd want to remain in a marriage like that wherein the so-called love you get is based on how useful you are as a tool? That's not exactly living...what do you know of the current Hong Family other than them supporting 4th Prince?'
'It's a long list. I gotta know my enemies after all.'
Indeed, she knows way too much he was astonished and took action on all she found out, and sending information to her mother who is focusing on breaking through in Reincarnation Realm. After Hong Fang, they had to be prepared for the entire Hong Family.
'So you can make Reincarnation Pills...the only one in Daxia who can do so now.' Feng Shen croaked out, amazed. How far will this mother-daughter pair go, before they can finally relax and move on, that until then they're shackled with their trauma of that day?
And Feng Shen falling in love with Lingyue terrified her that she sadly admitted she pretended to be oblivious till he gives up...until she too...well...but her fears overpowered her.
That was why, she responded to 'his advances'. She wanted a taste of 'maybe' had they been in another world and born as equals, not what they were now.
His heart clenched and grabbed her and held her tight.
'It'll be OK. Until then...don't give up on us.' Feng Shen swore to her. 'I'll find a way.'
'...don't make promises you can't keep...and don't give me false hope either.' said Lingyue softly. 'That's too much even for me.' she told him in a pained voice. pained by her previous life and now, her new mother's experience, she didn't want to get hurt again.
'Then wait...don't leave me. That's all I ask. We can still be possible.' Feng Shen swore to her. 'You're a noble despite what happened...and never forget that. This will work for sure.'
All she could do, was cry and he held her for hours because she was really afraid to get hurt. And he dare not be the first one to hurt her.
xxx
While Lingyue fell asleep from crying, Feng Shen confided in Elder Mu what just happened.
'Its possible my lord. Missy's a noble despite all that's happened.' said Elder Mu. 'We can verify it with a Blood Test. We can steal Hong Fang's blood and draw missy's blood for a blood test result, and bring it home.'
'Good. There's no way I'm giving up on Lingyue, teacher.' Feng Shen growled in his swearing. 'I will never give up on her or hurt her. I wanna prove her wrong.'
Because if she proves herself right, how can he bring himself to love again as she'll surely run and leave him behind?
Absolutely not!