Chapter 84: I’m Not Interested in the Cult Mistress
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In Yun’an City, the wind was gentle, and the sun was bright.
The warm summer sunlight shone on the eaves of Jasper Pavilion, and the breeze stirred the wind chimes on the eaves, making a soft, ethereal sound.
Dingling! Dingling!
The white screen placed by the window was blocking the sunlight. In the dazzling study, a woman in the python robe was sitting upright with her back straight. On the desk in front of her was an open book, a jade rack of gold brushes, and a white porcelain teacup beside her hand. Overall, she looked like a cold female CEO working hard in summer.
The only disharmony was that a strange expression would appear on her fair face from time to time. She hurriedly turned a page of the book and skipped the illustration…
The study was silent. After an unknown period of time, a gust of wind suddenly blew into the room, and the white-haired old woman landed silently in front of Dongfang Liren’s desk.
Dongfang Liren was taken aback because the old woman appeared without announcing her arrival. She quickly closed the book and hid it behind her back, looking slightly unhappy.
“Your Highness, Li Huai of West King Town sent a message overnight. He said that the Blood Bodhi, ‘Heart Eviscerator’ Chen Ming, and ‘Seven-Foot Spear’ Lu Ruan went to assassinate Ye Jingtang last night…”
“Uh?!”
When Dongfang Liren, who had always remained calm even if a mountain collapsed in front of her, heard this, her eyelashes twitched, and the book behind her fell to the floor. She stood up with fury in her eyes. “How is that… How is Ye Jingtang?!”
Sensing that the Prince of Jing was tense, the white-haired old woman quickly replied, “Li Huai visited Young Master Ye. He’s fine.”
“Phew…” Dongfang Liren felt relieved and patted the desk lightly. “These bandits are really bold. With my order, get the Gold River prefectural governor to mobilize eight thousand soldiers and surround West King Town. If he can’t catch the bandits, tell him to bring his head to me…”
The white-haired old woman raised her hand slightly, signaling the Prince of Jing to calm down. “There’s no need. The Blood Bodhi, Chen Ming, and Lu Ruan all died at Ye Jingtang’s hands last night. Two of them were beaten so badly that their corpses weren’t intact, and the Blood Bodhi was beheaded…”
“Hmm?” Dongfang Liren was stunned and puzzled. “One old Grandmaster and two first-rate bandits, how is that possible… It doesn’t seem impossible.”
Thinking of Ye Jingtang’s terrifying potential, Dongfang Liren felt relieved again.
“According to Young Master Ye, he discovered the bandits’ whereabouts in advance and succeeded in his sneak attack. With Young Master Ye’s foundation and saber skills, Chen Ming and Lu Ruan are definitely not his match. And the Blood Bodhi was severely injured last time. So it’s not impossible for him to accomplish this feat.”
Dongfang Liren nodded slowly. After a moment of silence, she said coldly, “After several years of investigation, we still haven’t been able to find out the ins and outs of the Green Bandits. I and the people around me have experienced assassination attempts repeatedly. Is the Black Office raising so many people for nothing? Get them to investigate.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The White-Haired Diting turned around to leave and found that the book had fallen to the floor. She wanted to bend down and help the Prince of Jing pick it up, but just as she raised his hand…
A gentle breeze across the pages, revealing an exquisite illustration…
??
The white-haired old woman retracted her hand and pretended not to see anything. She floated out of the room like a ghost.
Dongfang Liren was thinking about Ye Jingtang’s feat and didn’t notice. When the white-haired old woman was about to leave, she realized that the ‘Tears of a Heroine’ on her desk was gone. She looked back and forth. Her expression froze. She hurriedly picked up the book and said, “Ahem… Her Majesty wants to read this book and asked me to review it and make annotations first.”
“I understand, Your Highness.”
The sky was bright, and the rain along the two banks of the river was getting lighter. It would probably clear up in the afternoon.
Koi Street had returned to calm. The hired craftsmen were cleaning up the damaged street.
In a teahouse in West King Town…
Ye Jingtang was sitting on a couch with fruits and snacks beside him. The bird was squatting at the side and in charge of eating.
Pei Xiangjun was leaning on the other side of the tea table and listening to the storyteller talk about the past of Jianghu in an old-fashioned tone.
Beside him was a veiled girl playing a Jiang Province tune with a pipa in her arms.
Pling pling pling—
“The sun and moon are dark and windy. Old Sect Master Fu walks alone outside the Seven Mysteries Sect…”
The storyteller was talking about the assassination of a Seven Mysteries Sect Grandmaster by the Blood Bodhi. At the time, this matter had spread like wildfire in Jianghu, but after decades, very few people remembered it.
The storyteller was talking about this today because the infamous Blood Bodhi had died in West King Town last night.
After bandaging his wounds last night, Ye Jingtang had carried the head and the token given by the Prince of Jing to a constable on duty.
This was not for the huge bounty on the heads of the three bandits.
The Green Bandits wanted to kill the Prince of Jing, but they had found him because he had protected the Prince of Jing. Now that he had dealt with the assassins, if he didn’t tell anyone and ‘killed without leaving a name’, wouldn’t he have encountered an assassination attempt in vain?
Reporting this matter to the Black Office would let the Prince of Jing remember his contributions. This would be very beneficial to saving Qiu Tianhe in the future and even studying the Jade Bone Picture.
Now that everything had been settled, he was free.
There were many trivial matters in the Red Flower Pavilion, such as north-south business scheduling and dispatches, industrial development direction, and so on. The discussions would last at least three to five days.
Ye Jingtang’s position in the Pavilion was the ‘enforcement officer’. These kinds of things would naturally be handled by the advisors. It was not his turn to waste his brain cells. He could rest for the next few days.
As the sect master, Third Lady should have gone to the meetings, but he was injured. She was afraid that something would happen to him if he wandered on the streets alone or he would be bored, so she specially accompanied him.
He was listening to music at a theater while the beautiful sect master served by the side. To be honest, she was a little complacent. According to the sect rules, she should lose her power.
Ye Jingtang had declined politely, but Third Lady had been bored sitting in the conference room, so she still followed.
At this moment, Pei Xiangjun was leaning against the tea table and skillfully brewing tea from Jiang Province on a tea tray. There was a fan of beauties beside her hand, and her posture was quite gentle and elegant.
Seeing Ye Jingtang sitting upright and looking at the old storyteller with bright eyes, Pei Xiangjun couldn’t help laughing. “Jingtang, are you usually so upright when you listen to music?”
Ye Jingtang picked up a small tea bowl and took a sip. “My back feels a little uncomfortable. It’s not convenient to lean on it.”
Pei Xiangjun’s eyes were full of smiles as she gestured at the girl playing the pipa in the distance. “Do you want to call her over and use her as a pillow? I heard that men are like this when they’re outside.”
Ye Jingtang raised his hand slightly and gestured for Third Lady to lower her voice. “That’s brothels. You can listen and touch at the same time. This place is a theater. You can’t mess around.”
Pei Xiangjun harrumphed faintly. “You know quite well- So, it’s not that you don’t want to listen and touch, but this place doesn’t allow it?”
“Chirp.” The bird nodded vigorously.
Ye Jingtang rubbed the bird’s head and changed the topic. “Why did the Blood Bodhi kill the sect master of the Seven Mysteries Sect?”
Pei Xiangjun supported the side of her face with her hand and patted her chest with her fan. She explained casually, “There are many sects in the Heavenly South’s Jianghu, and their relationships are very complicated. It’s said that it’s because Sect Master Fu killed a thief back then. He upheld the morals of Jianghu and didn’t kill his family. In the end, the thief’s son grew up, accumulated a lot of money in business, and hired the Blood Bodhi to take revenge… There are endless grudges and grievances in Jianghu. This kind of thing is too common, but most people can’t take revenge…”
At this point, Pei Xiangjun suddenly thought of something and said, “The Moon Goddess, have you heard of her?”
Ye Jingtang leaned on the tea table with his arm and poured tea for Third Lady. “I’ve heard of her. She’s the former number one beauty of Jianghu and married the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master.”
“The life experience of the Moon Goddess is similar to this. I heard that she was a young lady of a Jianghu aristocratic family in Jiang Province. But her family’s enemies came and either killed or maimed her family members. In order to get revenge, she searched for famous teachers everywhere and even looked for the Red Flower Pavilion, but she couldn’t find anyone. In the end, she went to the Pacifying Heaven Cult and became the cult master’s wife. She probably wanted to use the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master’s power to take revenge, but unfortunately, there was no follow-up…”
“The Pacifying Heaven Cult Master just deceived the woman and didn’t do anything?”
“The Pacifying Heaven Cult Master is invincible under the mountains. He’s a truly formidable person. How can he not keep his word? He’s not helping her take revenge simply because he can’t defeat the opponent.”
“Can’t defeat the opponent?”
Ye Jingtang picked up the pine nuts that the bird had pushed aside and threw them into his mouth. “He’s already invincible under the mountains, but he can’t defeat the opponent? Who is the opponent?”
“Zen Master Shenchen of the Thousand Buddha Temple in Sha Province, one of the Two Sages. For some reason, the enemy of the Moon Goddess had an epiphany, put down the butcher’s knife, and converted to Buddhism. He was taken in as a disciple by Zen Master Shenchen. If the Moon Goddess wants to go to the Thousand Buddha Temple to kill someone, Zen Master Shenchen will definitely not agree. No matter how powerful the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master is, he can’t reason with a true deity.”
When Ye Jingtang heard this, he shook his head and said, “What lousy deity? If someone can wash away their enmity by putting down the butcher’s knife, then I’ll destroy the Thousand Buddha Temple another day and convert to Buddhism. Let’s see if he accepts it or not.”
Pei Xiangjun shrugged slightly. “We can’t understand the thoughts of those enlightened experts. If you sincerely repent, they might really forgive you.”
The bird grabbed Ye Jingtang’s sleeve and shook its head. He raised his hand to rub and comfort it. He stopped talking about this boring topic and asked, “How beautiful is the Moon Goddess?”
Hearing this, Pei Xiangjun straightened her posture and waved her fan gently. Her charming eyes glanced at Ye Jingtang. “Interested?”
“She’s already taken. Why would 1 be interested? I’m just curious. I don’t think there’s any beauty in Jianghu who’s more beautiful than you, Third Lady. Right, bird?”
“Chirp-” The bird spread its wings and gestured: No matter how big the world is, it’s not as big as Third Lady!
Pei Xiangjun enjoyed this flattery. Of course, she was quite confident, so she said casually, “When the Moon Goddess was fifteen or sixteen, she ran all over Jianghu, so her beauty naturally spread throughout the world. I was the eldest young lady of the Pei family when I was fifteen or sixteen. I never left the house. If 1 ran around like her…”
Pei Xiangjun wanted to say, “How could there be anything about her?” But these words were too arrogant. She changed her words and said modestly, “1 would have some fame too. If you want to see the Moon Goddess, you will likely get your wish soon.”
Is that so? Hehe… The Moon Goddess is already married. I’m not interested at all…”
“Hmph- You’re just being stubborn.. Don’t have your eyes glued to her when you see her…”
