Volume 3, Chapter 302 – Young Master-in-Law, Please Go Save the Second Young Lady!

Qingshan took a deep breath and turned, sprinting toward Chi Xiyan’s courtyard.

On the other side of the estate, Lu Zhuxin was being helped along by the branch family young lady, slowly making her way toward a quiet, secluded room.

She had noticed Qingshan from the very beginning.

So that girl Chi Xiyan had stationed a maid to keep an eye on her from the start. Was she afraid Lu Zhuxin would cause trouble at the engagement banquet?

Lu Zhuxin laughed quietly to herself.

She had indeed been planning to cause trouble. Just not the kind Chi Xiyan was imagining.

Something a little more thrilling and outrageous than that.

For now, though, it was still a touch too early to bring Chi Xiyan into it.

If that girl arrived too soon, it would ruin the whole effect.

With that thought, Lu Zhuxin turned the problem over in her mind and landed on a good idea.

She let her eyes fall half-shut. Beneath the cover of her sleeves, her fingers wove a quiet seal.

[Zzt… consumed… 2#¥%…]

After a crackling, static-laced notification tone, a wisp of sword light slowly took shape in Lu Zhuxin’s palm.

Then, concealed beneath the suppressing force of her Eighth Realm demonic power, the wisp of sword light was stripped of its glow until it burned almost invisibly dim.

Lu Zhuxin gave it the lightest flick of her fingertip.

The dim little wisp of sword light wobbled and weaved through the crowd, drifting toward Qingshan.

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It was Lu Zhuxin’s first time using this particular technique, and she was still not entirely used to it.

Even so, with the spiritual consciousness of a great Eighth Realm demon behind it, not a soul in the room noticed her subtle handiwork.

The dim wisp of sword light drifted and swayed as it caught up to the maidservant Qingshan.

Under Lu Zhuxin’s careful control, it didn’t strike. It simply trailed along lazily at Qingshan’s heels.

For an Eighth Realm great demon to remotely guide a seal technique across a distance this short, it was nothing particularly difficult.

After a moment, when Lu Zhuxin judged the timing to be just about right, she carefully guided the wisp of sword light from afar.

A soft, delicate ring of a sword cry. The wisp of sword light tapped lightly against Qingshan.

“Ow!” Qingshan yelped in pain and stumbled, falling straight to the ground.

Whimpering softly, she struggled to push herself up from the floor, and her hand found a small smear of blood on her leg.

Lu Zhuxin silently apologized to the innocent little maid.

Then she turned her attention back to everything else.

In the back room, Song Shutao had just finished straightening her robes. As the evening’s stand-in guest of honor, it was nearly time for her to make her entrance.

The real guest of honor tonight was supposed to be her dear nephew. Yet here she was, his aunt, taking the stage in his place.

Song Shutao had attended a few banquets like this back at the Song family, though her own marriage prospects had yet to be settled. Tonight, of all nights, she was filling in as the male lead.

How utterly bittersweet.

As the hour drew nearer, Song Shutao, a first-time male lead, found herself growing oddly nervous.

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“Forget it. It’s just an engagement banquet,” she muttered. “Not a real wedding ceremony.”

“Just going through the motions. That’s all this is.”

Song Shutao drew a slow breath, doing her best to settle her nerves.

It was then that she heard it: a faint, delicate ring.

Song Shutao’s brow furrowed. ‘That sound… it almost sounds like a Lingxiao Sword Sect seal technique.’

Through her connection to Song Shixuan, Song Shutao had grown fairly familiar with Lingxiao Sword Sect’s techniques. Their sword seals had a very distinctive sound to begin with, and this particular ring was one she had heard countless times at her nephew’s side.

So Song Shutao was certain she hadn’t misheard.

‘Strange. This should be the inner residence. Shouldn’t all the Lingxiao Sword Sect disciples be in the main hall?’

The Chi family’s guards were no weaklings. How had a Lingxiao Sword Sect disciple made it into the inner residence?

The relationship between Lingxiao Sword Sect and the Chi family was not particularly warm. Song Shutao felt a flicker of unease, unsure what might have happened outside.

There was still some time before the scheduled hour. She decided to go take a look.

She pushed open the door and stepped outside. Her spiritual consciousness spread slowly outward.

A faint presence entered her awareness. Close behind it came the quiet sound of a pained groan.

‘Someone’s hurt?’

Song Shutao’s brow knit together. Without pausing to think too hard about it, she moved quickly toward the source.

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And then she saw Qingshan, crumpled on the ground.

She recognized this maidservant. One of Chi Xiyan’s girls, if she remembered right.

“Miss Qingshan?” Song Shutao asked. “Are you alright?”

Qingshan forced herself upright and looked at her. “Young master-in-law?”

“It’s me.” Song Shutao stepped closer.

She looked at Qingshan, her brow creasing.

The maid’s injury was not light.

And the wound on her leg looked very much like the work of a Lingxiao Sword Sect seal technique. The sword qi embedded in the wound was identical to the distinctive sword qi unique to Lingxiao Sword Sect.

So the person who had hurt Qingshan was a Lingxiao Sword Sect disciple. How had this happened?

A chill crept through Song Shutao’s chest.

Tonight’s engagement banquet was critically important to both the Song family and Lingxiao Sword Sect. There was no room for even the smallest mistake.

If Qingshan had truly been injured by a Lingxiao Sword Sect disciple, the trouble it would cause them was enormous.

Qingshan was Chi Xiyan’s senior maidservant. Song Shutao had no desire to be misunderstood by Chi Xiyan.

“Miss Qingshan, how did you come to be injured like this? Who did this to you?” Song Shutao said, reaching out to help her up.

“I don’t know either. I just felt a sudden pain in my leg and then… it was like this.” Qingshan answered slowly. Then, as if the pain had jostled her back to her senses, her eyes went wide. “This is terrible. Something’s happened.”

“Please, young master-in-law, help us!”

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“The second young lady has been taken! Someone needs to tell the eldest miss right away!”

Song Shutao’s brow drew tight. “Calm down. Tell me slowly. What happened to the second young miss?”

Qingshan said urgently, “The second young lady got drunk and someone with bad intentions took her away! Please, young master-in-law, go quickly and tell the eldest miss so she can go save her!”

Song Shutao understood. Someone had gotten Chi Muxue drunk and was trying to harm her.

“How long ago was this? Which way did they go?”

“Just now. I saw them taking the second young lady toward the north residence.”

“Understood.” Song Shutao guided Qingshan to a nearby wooden chair, then wove a quick technique to seal the wound on her leg. “Going to find Xiyan now would take too long.”

“I’ll go find Chi Muxue. You go find Xiyan.”

Qingshan heard her out and knew this was the best course of action available. She gave a firm nod. “The second young lady is in your hands, young master-in-law.”

“Please, you have to bring her back safely. She truly matters a great deal to the eldest miss.”

“I have served the eldest miss for many years. The second young lady is the only person she has ever kept in her heart without pause.”

Song Shutao nodded.

She understood perfectly well how important Chi Muxue was to the Chi family.

“Don’t worry. I will bring her back.”

With that, Song Shutao activated her movement technique and swept rapidly in the direction Qingshan had pointed.