Chapter 9

Behind Lou Yue came Xiao Rangchen’s icy voice.

“You tricked my sister into going to Xuandu with you using the Buyan Flower. Lou Yue, what exactly are you trying to do?”

Lou Yue turned around leisurely.

From the moment Xiao Rangchen had been brought aboard the cloudship, Lou Yue had never intended to hide it from Xiao Aiai. She had expected Xiao Rangchen to come see her. After all, a friendship spanning more than a decade was not something she could sever so easily. Since Xiao Rangchen knew about the Buyan Flower, his learning the truth was only natural.

In fact, this was the outcome she had tacitly allowed.

On some subconscious level, she did not want to stop Xiao Rangchen from restoring his spiritual meridians. She wanted to defeat him fair and square. But that was something she could never tell Xiao Rangchen.

She bent slightly at the waist, looking down at the person half a meter below her. Her tone was carefree and unruly. “Why don’t you guess?”

Seeing the half-amused, half-mocking curve of Lou Yue’s lips, Xiao Rangchen wanted nothing more than to press that teasing smile flat. He pursed his lips and said sternly, “I won’t let you succeed.”

Lou Yue’s damp hair hung loose, its slightly curled strands clinging to her cheeks and accentuating her delicate features. Her smile deepened, her voice laced with scorn. “Don’t speak too soon. Be careful you don’t end up eating your words.”

“That applies to you as well.” Xiao Rangchen’s throat bobbed as his gaze swept inch by inch over her confident, flamboyant face. “Lou Yue, things won’t always go according to your wishes.”

At that, the smile faded from Lou Yue’s lips.

Xiao Rangchen’s words seemed to mock all her efforts as futile. She would never change the outcome—just as she could never change her own cultivation talent.

Spiritual energy abruptly gathered in her palm. Xiao Rangchen immediately retreated, but Lou Yue swiftly closed the distance, deliberately hurling the unstable ball of energy in her hand straight at his face.

Xiao Rangchen did not dare underestimate her. He raised both arms to block it, but Lou Yue suddenly bent her other knee and kicked fiercely at his chest. The angle was vicious and entirely lacking in rules.

Xiao Rangchen’s pupils contracted. His left arm took the brunt of the wildly surging spiritual energy, while his right hand clamped around Lou Yue’s kicking ankle like an iron pincer.

The two froze in place. Xiao Rangchen’s left arm had gone numb, while half of Lou Yue’s leg was held suspended in midair.

“Underhanded,” Xiao Rangchen said, tightening his grip.

Lou Yue’s smile returned, her brows and eyes dazzling. “It’s called ‘all’s fair in war.’”

Before she finished speaking, Lou Yue suddenly leaned forward. Her stunning face abruptly filled Xiao Rangchen’s vision, and the faint, warm fragrance of sweet flowers slipped into his breath.

Xiao Rangchen’s mind faltered for an instant. Lou Yue seized the opportunity to pull her foot free, then successfully kicked him in the knee with her other leg.

Having gained the advantage, Lou Yue stopped there. She went “thump, thump” up the wooden steps and called over her shoulder, “Since you have so much time to stand around making threats, why don’t you think about how you’re going to enter Xuandu on your own ability?”

Lou Yue ignored him from then on. But when she passed the long spear embedded in the wooden steps, she stopped and turned her head.

“This is premium sandalwood. Either pay for it or repair the hole yourself. Don’t even think about shirking responsibility.”

After dropping those words, she turned around with effortless swagger and went straight back to her room.

Xuanba had yet to return from absorbing the moonlight outside. Lou Yue sat in a chair for a while, then rolled into the soft brocade quilt. But just as she comfortably closed her eyes, the image of Xiao Rangchen practicing with his spear appeared in her mind.

Irritated, Lou Yue kicked her legs, then turned over and crawled back up to meditate.

After some time, she opened her eyes and gazed wistfully at the full moon outside the window.

There was a disturbance at the window ledge. Xuanba huffed and puffed as it climbed inside. Lou Yue turned her attention to its clumsy yet composed movements. Accustomed to being watched, Xuanba’s lofty pace was completely unaffected.

“Xuanba...”

At the sound of Lou Yue’s mournful voice, Xuanba briefly paused.

“Why is it that no matter what I do, the speed at which my dantian absorbs spiritual energy is as slow as you crawling?”

Xuanba abandoned its brief pause.

Perhaps because she had suffered one blow after another, and because the stillness of the late night had allowed her emotions to overwhelm her reason, Lou Yue was especially vulnerable tonight. She got out of bed and picked up Xuanba, somewhat on the verge of a breakdown.

“Xiao Rangchen’s dantian power goes whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—faster than the cloudship can fly. Am I really never going to surpass him...?”

Xuanba asked calmly, “How do you know he goes ‘whoosh, whoosh, whoosh’?”

“Is that the important part?” Lou Yue shook Xuanba hard. “The important part is that he’s ‘whoosh, whoosh, whoosh,’ while I’m ‘heave-ho—heave-ho’!”

Xuanba calmly retorted, “When have I ever been ‘heave-ho—heave-ho’?”

Lou Yue felt as though she had been talking to a brick wall. She slapped Xuanba against the wall, pinning it there, and spoke forcefully.

“I’m giving you a chance to show what you can do!”

Xuanba turned its head away. “Don’t want to.”

Lou Yue straightened its tiny head and gazed at it with deep feeling. “I believe in you.”

Xuanba did not appreciate it in the slightest. “Oh. I don’t believe in myself.”

Lou Yue glared at Xuanba. She did not know why she was so certain that Xuanba could help her. She simply felt that it could, and therefore acted accordingly.

Xuanba knew all too well how stubborn Lou Yue could be once she dug in her heels. If it said nothing, she might keep it pinned against the wall for an entire day. It stretched out its little legs and consoled her.

“Why insist on comparing yourself to him? His spiritual meridians are naturally powerful. For anyone else, having damaged spiritual meridians for two years would have turned them into a cripple. Yet not only have his spiritual meridians survived, he can still draw upon spiritual energy. You simply cannot compare yourself to him in that regard.”

This was the first time Lou Yue had heard Xuanba say so much at once. Unfortunately, every word struck directly at her sore spots.

She refused to accept it. “So what? Just because he has exceptional talent, am I supposed to deserve having his brilliance blind me?”

She had no intention of giving up. Even if all her efforts ultimately ended in failure, she would at least bite off a piece of her enemy—hard.

Xuanba was silent for a long while before saying, “What if the price is attracting the covetous attention of everyone, even having the people you trust at your side betray you?”

Its voice was calm, yet carried a strange depth of meaning.

Instead, Lou Yue laughed with arrogant abandon. “Then I’ll make sure no one dares covet me, not even in their dreams! As for betrayal—when the old leaves, the new can take its place.”

Xuanba was slightly stunned. Unexpectedly, it felt that those words suited her perfectly. She was arrogant and overbearing, yet possessed a kind of magnetism that made it impossible to look away.

Lou Yue scratched its belly and urged it on. “Well? Can you do it, Lord Xuan?”

Xuanba wriggled free of her hand and landed on the floor. Slowly, it replied, “Got it.”

“What does ‘got it’ mean?” Lou Yue bent down and followed after it as it shuffled along in tiny steps, her eyes full of anticipation. “You have a way, don’t you?”

Xuanba said, “Wait.”

“How long do I have to wait?”

Xuanba stopped and turned to look at her. “Are you going to wait or not?”

Lou Yue nodded eagerly. “I’ll wait, I’ll wait! Naturally, I must listen to whatever Lord Xuan says!”

Xuanba climbed to the head of the bed, closed its eyes, and entered meditation. Brimming with enthusiasm, Lou Yue bounced back onto the bed and decided to meditate a little more, making one last-minute effort.

In the silent room, Xuanba opened its scarlet eyes.

Make it so no one dared to covet her...?

**

Xuandu was located in the center of Zezhou and was divided into Xuantiandu and Xuandicheng. Xuantiandu floated high in the sky and was where the direct descendants and core members of the Lou clan lived and cultivated. Xuandicheng was rooted on the ground and served as a dwelling place for branch families, commoners, and others.

The entire Xuandu was shrouded in an enormous barrier. Aside from its defensive function, the barrier also prohibited all cloudships, magical vessels, and escape arts from flying through the heavens. To reach Xuantiandu, one had to pass through the teleportation array in Xuandicheng.

The cloudship carrying Lou Yue landed outside Xuandu several days later, in the late morning.

Since parting from Xiao Rangchen that night, Lou Yue had not seen him again. She had spent all her time cultivating. It was not until she descended the wooden steps from the upper cabin after arriving that she suddenly remembered something and turned back to look.

The gap torn open by the long spear that night had already been mended, its edges smoothed and fused together with spiritual power. But because a different type of wood was used for the repair, it looked just like a lopsided, ugly flower blooming across the grain in the sunlight.

Lou Yue pictured Xiao Rangchen crouching on the wooden steps with a cold, stern look on his face, patching the damage bit by bit with deliberate patience, and could not help snickering out loud.

"Young Master?" Little Qiu wondered what had suddenly put Lou Yue in such high spirits, to the point that the joy in his eyes was almost spilling over.

"It's nothing, nothing at all." Lou Yue lifted his feet and kept walking down the steps.

Seeing how good a mood Lou Yue was in, Little Qiu could not help smiling too. "By the way, Young Master, Xiao Rangchen left on his own the moment the cloud ship stopped."

"He's already gone?" Lou Yue paused for a brief moment, then quickly relaxed. If he had not chosen to leave on his own, she would have chased him off anyway. As for how he planned to get into Xuandu, she did not worry about it, nor did she care. "Never mind him. Where is Xiao Aiai?"

"Miss Xiao and all the others are waiting out on the deck."

Lou Yue nodded in acknowledgment.

There were still three days left before the birthday celebration of the Lou family head Lou Moshu, and all kinds of cloud ships had already landed outside the Xuandu barrier. The temporary campsite was bustling with noise and crowds.

At the entrance to Xuandi City, the lines were clearly divided. The two lines on either side stretched out so far that their ends were nowhere to be seen, and everyone in them had to take off their outer garments to undergo a thorough inspection. The wide middle passage only had a group of people in pale lake-blue robes, and the number of cultivating monks assigned to check their identities had gone from two to eight. Lou Yue did not think much of it, and led her people straight to the end of the lake-blue line to queue up.

She had barely stood still when a rough, furious shout burst out from the left line. "Why don't they have to take their clothes off? This isn't fair!"

"Yeah, that's right, it's not fair at all!" Many people in the two side lines chimed in, and the crowd, already agitated by the slow-moving queues, immediately erupted into a commotion.

"Quiet down, all of you!" A shrill voice rang out, laced with undisguised contempt. "Fairness? Letting commoners like you into Xuandu is already the greatest fairness you could ask for. Keep running your mouths, and not a single one of you commoners will be allowed in."

The crowd was packed so tight that Lou Yue could not see what was happening up ahead. Xiao Aiai, standing right next to her, let out a huff of annoyance at those words.

Dou'er, who saw Xiao Aiai as her rival, immediately wrapped her arms around Lou Yue's arm, craned her neck and said in a sugary voice, "Miss Xiao, you'd better be a little more restrained. Be careful of your words and deeds, don't bring shame on our Young Master." After she finished speaking, she quickly tucked her head back in.

"What's wrong with my behavior? Am I not even allowed to huff?!" Xiao Aiai was also irritated by Dou'er, who stuck to Lou Yue's side all day long.

Seeing that the two of them were about to start bickering again, Lou Yue waved her hand helplessly. "Be good, both of you. I can't hear what they're saying up front."

The two made eye contact, huffed at the same time, and turned their faces away from each other.

"How can this be right? Do you think you can do whatever you want around here?!" The two side lines broke out into even more fierce protests.

"I can't do whatever I want, but I can easily shut the lot of you lowly commoners up."

Lou Yue's brows furrowed slightly. Just then, a young man stepped out from the lake-blue line ahead of her. He waved his hand, and several flying swords zipped through the two side lines one after another, slashing all the people who had been shouting in protest.

"Lowly commoners should know their place." The flying swords merged into one and slid back into their sheath. The young man's tone was utterly disdainful. "Instead of wasting your breath yelling about fairness, you should have told your mothers not to give birth to you in your next life. There are lowly commoners everywhere, the world won't miss even one of you."

Low, muffled snickers rippled through the lake-blue line.

"Bang!" The burly man who had spoken earlier slammed the tip of the axe on his shoulder against the ground, sending dust flying. The sword wound on his arm was bleeding nonstop, staining half his sleeve red, but he did not even seem to notice it. "You're abusing your power! Damn it, I'll fight with everything I've got to get a fair answer today!"

"Ask for a fair answer? You're just delusional." The young man scoffed. "I'm abusing my power against you, so what can you do about it? If you want to blame someone, blame the fact that I have more power than you!"

"Well said!"

Xiao Aiai spun around to look at Lou Yue in complete disbelief that she would actually side with that young man.

Under the gaze of the whole crowd, Lou Yue walked over unhurriedly, with dozens of her followers trailing right behind her, moving from the back of the crowd to the side of the lake-blue line.

Cang Youshan looked at the newcomer. He saw a young man dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, with dark gold patterns trimming the hem and cuffs. The gold threads glinted with fine streaks of light in the sunlight as he walked, wrapped in a faint aura of spiritual power. It was obvious at a glance that the robe was a treasure from the Yuanhuan Pavilion. The hair ornament behind his ear and the dangling thin beaded chain were no ordinary items either.

His clothes were exquisitely luxurious, and his looks were even more outstanding. His eyebrows were like ink-drawn moons, his eyes like stars, and the corners of his eyes curved with a smile that somehow carried a hint of captivating affection.

Cang Youshan stared blankly for a moment. Then the thought that the person who had just agreed with him was such an outstanding young man made a surge of pride rise in his chest.

His father was seriously ill, and he had been sent here on his father's orders to attend the birthday celebration. He had long intended to make connections with more noble and powerful families to pave the way for taking over the family in the future. This young man, with his extraordinary bearing, was clearly someone worth currying favor with.

Cang Youshan set aside his arrogant demeanor, cupped his hands and said in a gentle tone, "I am Cang Youshan, from the Cangya Clan of Northern Ming. May I ask how I should address you, brother?"

Lou Yue stopped right beside him, tilted her head and blinked, asking in a curious tone, "You're from the Cangya Clan of Northern Ming, so why don't you have the surname Cangya?"

Cang Youshan's expression froze.

Little Qiu stepped forward at just the right moment, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, enough for everyone present to hear clearly. "Young Master, only the direct line of the Cangya Clan inherits the surname Cangya. All collateral branches and offshoots take the surname Cang."

"Oh——" Lou Yue drew out the word, her tone teasing. "So you're from a collateral branch. No wonder..."

Cang Youshan lowered his hands, his face darkening. "Sir——"

Lou Yue cut him off. "But that sentence you said just now, I completely agree with it."

Cang Youshan could not figure out what she was thinking, and was just trying to work out how to respond, when he saw the young man lead her whole group of people to squeeze to the very front of their queue.

Even though Cang Youshan had been trying to maintain his composure, his face turned dark at this. "Sir, don't you understand the rule of first come, first served?"

The cultivating monk in charge of checking identities at the city gate also spoke up. "Which family do you come from, sir? Please go to the back of the line and wait for your turn to be verified."

Lou Yue ignored them. She only fished a smooth, glossy jade plaque out of her storage ring and tossed it to the man in charge of the checks.

The front and back of the jade plaque were carved with intricate star patterns, and in the center was embedded a gilded ancient character —— Lou.

The monk in charge was stunned at first, and mistakenly thought Lou Yue was from a side branch of his own family. But when he flipped the jade plaque over out of habit, his whole body froze in utter shock, his eyes wide as saucers. With a plop, he fell to his knees, holding the jade plaque high above his head with both hands, his voice trembling so badly he could barely get the words out. "M-My Lord... This lowly one has failed to recognize your eminence!"

He was the squad leader in charge of identity verification. The moment he knelt down, all the other checking monks knelt towards Lou Yue in a rustling line. The sight was astonishing.

The once noisy city gate instantly went dead silent.

Every single person's gaze was fixed right on the young man in the middle of the crowd, who wore a faint, unruffled smile.