Volume 3, Chapter 24 – Capital Upheaval (2)

Sensing that surge of wicked intent churning up from the depths of her heart, Song Chengqing hurriedly took out a pill and swallowed it. Only then did her expression smooth out a little.

I really am crazy… How could I curse Master like that?

I know Master won’t let Little Junior Sister off, but I truly can’t bear to see Little Junior Sister put to death!

All I wanted was to beg for a way where both sides could live… so how did I end up with a thought like that!

Just then, Song Chengqing heard the sound of footsteps. She looked up—and was instantly stunned by the scene before her.

That… the girl walking in front was bright and tender, her gauze skirt fluttering. It was none other than Princess Yong’an, Yao Ying.

But the woman walking beside her, accompanying her—why… why did she look exactly like Liang Yu?

What was going on?

Wasn’t Little Junior Sister in the Hall Prison?

“Senior Sister.” Liang Yu came forward. Seeing Song Chengqing’s shocked expression, she smiled as well. “I didn’t mean to hide it from you forever, Senior Sister—some time ago I took Lady Ying as my disciple. I just haven’t had the chance to announce it, so many people don’t know about this relationship yet.”

This…

Song Chengqing looked at Liang Yu, then shifted her gaze to the princess.

“Auntie Song is here to plead for my master as well, isn’t she?” Yao Ying’s brows lifted fiercely, her childish voice hardening with anger. “Hmph! That Bai Xiang turned down both me and several of my imperial brothers when we tried to show goodwill. Ever since she attained the Dao, she’s refused to come to court to receive a sacred title. She clearly has a guilty conscience—maybe she really is entangled with demonic Dao.”

She grabbed Liang Yu’s wrist beside her and looked at her with a cheeky grin. “So how could I just listen to one side of the story and let them execute my perfectly good master?”

“Senior Sister.” Liang Yu first patted the little princess’s hand to soothe her, then spoke to the dazed Song Chengqing in a serious tone. “Do you realize that from the moment you stepped into this residence… you’d already made your choice?”

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“Ah?” Song Chengqing’s eyes went wide. “Choice… what choice?”

“Master isn’t going to spare me.” Liang Yu closed her eyes and shook her head with deep regret.

“That Bai Xiang soaring to attain the rank of Earthly Immortal in just a few months—there’s no doubt she cultivated a demonic art. She got involved with that person … If Qianyu Palace starts digging into this in the future, the one they settle accounts with won’t be Master alone.”

“Ah!” Song Chengqing was horrified. “Yuer, you already have evidence?”

“Does disrupting the moral order count as evidence?” Liang Yu shook her head. “You and I both know how important the Yuming Dao-lineage is to the other eight paths. Master being fortunate enough to take on that mantle—that’s because His Majesty trusts her!”

“But what is she doing now? As Yuming Dao-lord, she left the dojo for four months without authorization. And based on the recorded footage, we can confirm she already passed on the ancestral art to that person.”

“Ancestral art?” Song Chengqing’s face went completely dark. “Is that really true?”

“Lots of people saw it.” Yao Ying nodded hard at the side. “They said that a few months ago, Bai Xiang suddenly had something like a cinnabar mole appear between her brows, but when they saw her again recently, it was gone.”

“That was ‘spirit-pointing transmission’!” Song Chengqing cried out on the spot. “If the mark has vanished, it means the inheritance has been passed on. This… has Master gone mad?”

Now she finally understood why Liang Yu had been pulled out so easily. Turned out Master’s crime on that side was even greater!

“The methods of Yuming, the arts of Yuming, are the foundation of the Nine Paths.” Yao Ying narrowed her eyes. “Any attempt to spread that art abroad is treated as treason.”

“Your master really has gone mad. After taking the Sacred Heart Pill, she still dared to do something like this, and she even dared to come back alone!”

At this point, her tone suddenly shifted, dropping into a whisper.

“I also have a little inside information… They say the Old Celestial Master stationed at the Northern Pass was furious when he heard of this, and has already dispatched a personal disciple to Yujing to deal with it.”

“This one, hmm… Senior Aunt Song.”

“Given all that, how do you choose now?”

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This…

Song Chengqing’s expression shifted back and forth, stormy one moment and clear the next.

That Liang Yu was safe—of course she was happy about that.

But Xiang Xian falling to this extent—this was not something she wanted to see either.

Being asked to make a choice like this all of a sudden, her mind simply couldn’t turn that fast, and in her heart she couldn’t accept it at all.

“Senior Sister!” Liang Yu’s eyes widened as she stepped forward, pressing her. “Do you know what would have happened to you and Senior Brother if you hadn’t come tonight?”

Senior Brother?

Song Chengqing jolted, and Song Ruhua’s stiff face flashed through her mind.

Right… If this truly was the Old Celestial Master’s will, then Master definitely wouldn’t get away.

Not only would Master not get away, all the disciples who hadn’t clearly opposed her wouldn’t get away either!

They’d argued, yes, but he was still her only blood relative, and they’d shared a bed for so many years. Of course there was no way she could just sit there and watch her Dao-companion be condemned.

“Tell me.” She took a deep breath. “What should I do?”

“It’s simple.”

Liang Yu lowered her head, leaned in close, and whispered into Song Chengqing’s ear.

“According to our intel, Mas… she has already reached the southwestern official road.”

“You go there right away. She’s never had any guard up against you and Senior Brother. As long as you offer her a bowl of chilled tea…”

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“Poison?” Song Chengqing’s eyes went wide. “Absolutely not!”

She was willing to do some rule-breaking things for Liang Yu and Song Ruhua, but to poison her revered Master with her own hands… that was impossible!

“It’s not poison. What’s dissolved in the tea is a Saint-Transition Pill.” Yao Ying couldn’t help cutting in. “Xiang Xian has already taken a Sacred Heart Pill. She was going to take a Saint-Transition Pill sooner or later anyway, then withdraw behind the scenes to serve my imperial father. This time we’re just moving that process up.”

I-Is that… really how it is…

“Exactly.” Liang Yu nodded. “Taken separately, neither pill shows anything unusual. Only when they end up together does something wondrous happen.”

“This is a road every Dao Lord of the Nine Prefectures must walk. We’re simply helping her walk it early. Maybe the Old Celestial Master will spare her life out of pity for her lost sanity, and then you, Senior Brother, and Junior Brother Guo won’t be dragged down by the blame.”

Song Chengqing looked at her. “Is there… any other way…”

Liang Yu shook her head. “This is already the optimal solution.”

“Either we trick Master into taking the Saint-Transition Pill.”

“Or we all get buried with Master.”

So that was it.

After a long struggle and torment, Song Chengqing finally nodded. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Liang Yu and Yao Ying exchanged a look, both satisfied with Song Chengqing’s answer.

“Then let’s set out immediately,” Yao Ying decided.

“The sooner we lay hands on the criminal Xiang Xian, the sooner we can use her to force that Xiangnü to come here and confess her crimes!”

Night mist drifted thinly.

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A patrolling inspector walked to the Yong’an Street intersection and saw a line of carriages passing ahead of him. His heart gave a sudden lurch. He quickly slipped into the shadows, pulled out a brand new cellphone, and dialed a number.

“Hello?”

“Yong’an Residence has started to move,” the inspector said quietly. “They’re headed southwest—that’s exactly the direction Xiang Xian is coming from.”

“Oh?” The voice on the other end suddenly spiked. “The imperial daughter’s been rather out of line lately. We figured they’d be running out of patience around now.”

“Didn’t expect them to be this filthy, though.” The inspector’s face was dark. “First thing they do is go after Xiang Xian.”

“Haven’t the Yu people always been like this?” The other man laughed. “Their mouths are full of benevolence and morality, always talking about the rites of Yu and the greater good… What’s so surprising about this?”

“Should we move?” The inspector frowned.

“We made a lot of arrangements, originally meant for the imperial daughter.” The voice on the other end turned serious as well. “But this is a rare chance to establish a line of contact with her…”

“I understand.” The inspector nodded in realization. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Don’t use all our people.” The other side warned him. “Our strength can’t compare to the Yu. We absolutely can’t afford to lose too many in one go here.”

“I know.” The inspector nodded. “We still have to see what kind of ability this Xiang Xian has.”

The scene shifted, jumping straight to the southwestern city gate tower.

There, a woman in a purple dress was staggering along the official road, now and then clutching her forehead, brows tightly furrowed in pain, her expression and bearing like that of a drunk.

On top of the gate tower stood a young man in black, wearing a tight, techy-looking battlesuit, a Broad-Bladed War Sword strapped across his back, as if he’d already been waiting there for a long time.