Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
As Xu Miaoran's close aide, Hong Yuan had her own residence, Clear Pavilion. The pavilion had four maids that were her personal servants. In addition, she also had two large estates on Great Wind Island and several hundred acres of private property, employing several dozen people for them. But Hong Yuan still spent most of her time at Clear Pavilion, close to Xu Miaoran so that she could attend to her whenever she was called on.
Recently, Xu Miaoran had strictly ordered her to not leave the pavilion unless necessary, and if she did go out, she needed to go with someone. Xu Miaoran even ordered Bei Canghan and Cai Junyang to protect her.
The other members from the Basking Moon Sect had even heckled them when they had been given this mission.
A flute began to trill in the early morning air.
In a small flower pavilion outside Clear Pavilion, Bei Canghan was playing a moving tune on a jade flute.
The sound of the flute was as clear as a spring flowing into one's heart, the meandering song of an oriole.
Once the song ended, clapping came from behind him.
He turned to see Hong Yuan standing there with a smile on her face. Next to her was a maid holding a tray upon which was a bowl of lotus seed soup.
Hong Yuan said, "Big Brother Bei is excellent with the flute. It is truly rare to find such a melodious flute on this earth."
Her words were sweet and elegant, not at all like her usual hot and fiery self.
Bei Canghan put away the flute and smiled. "Miss Hong Yuan, don't tease me. It's just something I mess around with when I have the time, nothing worth your praise."
Hong Yuan walked up and offered the bowl of lotus seed soup. "Big Brother Bei has been through a lot in the last few days. I personally cooked this lotus seed soup this morning. While it's nothing good, please accept my kindness."
"How could I trouble you?" Bei Canghan wanted to refuse, but when he saw Hong Yuan pouting and seemingly about to cry if he refused, he accepted it.
Another voice rang out from nearby. "Miss Hong Yuan, how could you be so biased? I'm also protecting your house, so why is it that Bei Canghan gets lotus seed soup while I only get to drink the northwestern winds?"
One would know who this was without even looking.
Looking up, they saw Cai Junyang standing in front of the flower pavilion, dressed in martial attire with a large sword slung across his back. Rather than a cultivator, he seemed like a proper martial artist.
His arms crossed in front of his chest, he was leaning against a pillar and watching them.
Hong Yuan's face reddened. "Big Brother Cai, if you wish to have some, I will have my servant prepare some for you. There is no bias here at all."
"Ah, forget it. In the end, I won't be having any lotus seed soup made personally by Miss Hong Yuan. But seeing Miss Hong Yuan act so refined was worth hiding out this morning to watch the show, haha."
Hong Yuan stomped her foot. "What are you saying?"
Her face red, she ran off.
Bei Canghan glared at Cai Junyang. "You blabbermouth. Here; drink up if you want it."
He pushed the bowl of lotus seed soup to Cai Junyang.
Cai Junyang clicked his tongue and shook his head. "She woke up early in the morning to personally make it for you, but you're giving it to me without even trying it? You would break her heart if she saw this."
He looked into the distance, where Hong Yuan was sneaking a peek, her face whitening after seeing Bei Canghan's actions.
But Bei Canghan gruffly replied, "My heart is on the Great Dao. There's no place for any man or woman."
Cai Junyang immediately replied, "Love between a man and a woman doesn't conflict with the Great Dao, and maybe the harmonizing of Yin and Yang is a principle of the world. I've never seen a True Lord or Celestial Sovereign who doesn't get married when they should be getting married, or doesn't have kids when they should be having kids."
"Our Great Daos are different. Stop making trouble for me." Bei Canghan didn't argue with Cai Junyang, putting down the lotus seed soup without drinking a drop.
In the distance, Hong Yuan's heart winced, and several teardrops fell from her eyes.
In the middle of her heartache, a voice abruptly said, "Little girl, what pains you so? Do you need this elder's advice?"
Alarmed, Hong Yuan suddenly found that there was a person in front of her.
This person wore crimson clothes upon which eighteen brilliantly blooming blood plum blossoms were woven, but their face was covered by a black cloth. However, the wrinkles exposed on their forehead indicated that they were an elder. Not only that, they held a dragonhead cane and wore a pair of cloth shoes. While these shoes seemed simple, their treasure glow indicated that this was an ultimate-grade art relic.
"Sang Hongmei!" Hong Yuan blurted out, having recognized her at a glance. It was hard to blame her. Although Sang Hongmei had covered her face, she still wore her standard attire: the Coiling Dragon Cane, the Blood Lotus Robes, and the Phoenix Weave Shoes. Besides, her elderly appearance was like a scorpion's shit, unique and absolutely poisonous.
Such unique garb meant that her disguise was really just for show, and she had never had any intent on concealing her identity. Otherwise, she could have at least used a basic face-changing spell. Covering her face was most likely so that when she was brought to court, she could say, "How do you know that it was me?"
She wanted everyone to know that she was the one who did it, but she also wanted to give herself room to deny it. This was how Sang Hongmei did things.
She wanted to have Xu Miaoran know that she was the one who had done it and be helpless, thus gaining satisfaction from her anger.
Looking at Hong Yuan, Sang Hongmei chuckled and said, "Little girl, since you're not happy, why don't you come over to this old granny's place?"
She reached out to grab Hong Yuan.
Whoosh!
A sword light stabbed at Sang Hongmei's arm: Bei Canghan was rushing over, his attack arriving first.
Sang Hongmei let out a cackle and unleashed a white light with a wave of her hand.
The white light slammed into Bei Canghan's frigid sword, and Bei Canghan felt like he had run into an unstoppable force and was sent flying. That white light fell to the ground, upon which Bei Canghan realized to his shock that it was just a fingernail. For a single fingernail to hold such terrifying power, this old woman had to be extremely strong.
Sang Hongmei gasped in surprise. "I didn't think you would come out fine from my attack. When did my Horizon Ocean Pavilion get such outstanding disciples?"
She hadn't intended to kill, so she hadn't used her full force, only seeking to wound, but that her foe had so easily taken on the blow was a sign that he wasn't weak.
Hong Yuan shouted, "Be careful! She's Sang Hongmei!"
"Noisy!" Sang Hongmei grabbed Hong Yuan and sealed her ability to speak, after which she turned to leave.
Bei Canghan once more attacked, cold motes of light rising from the tip of his sword and shooting at Sang Hongmei's back.
Without even turning her head, Sang Hongmei flung out another fingernail, forcing Bei Canghan to defend himself. But at the same time, in a flash of dazzling sword light, Cai Junyang's large sword descended from the heavens.
Of note was that it was covered with a special power, and Sang Hongmei instinctively sensed that something was wrong.
"The Slaughter Dao!" she shrieked.
As a peak Soul Transformation chief, she well understood how frightening this attack containing the power of a Great Dao was.
The power of the Great Dao transcended laws. This power ignored the difference in cultivation levels, possessing a system of its own. Only other Great Dao powers could contend against them.
To put it simply, even if the user was only a Spirit Disciple, the power of a Great Dao could affect a True Lord.
Although Sang Hongmei wouldn't die, injury would be unavoidable. But for Sang Hongmei, being injured by a junior was deeply humiliating.
Sang Hongmei naturally didn't want this, so she raised the cane in her right hand, upon which a crimson dragon rushed out and charged at Cai Junyang, sending him flying before his attack could make contact and making it miss.
Sang Hongmei didn't hold back this time. No Spirit Ring True Person could take a blow from her Coiling Dragon Cane.
Blood gushed from Cai Junyang's body as he was blown back, his barrier shattering under the crimson dragon's attack, a frenzied energy running rampant within his body, almost bursting him apart from the inside. He crashed to the ground and stopped moving.
"Junyang!" Bei Canghan shouted.
"Damn!" Sang Hongmei was in a terrible mood.
She didn't know that Cai Junyang was a member of the Basking Moon Sect and took him for someone from Horizon Ocean Pavilion. And to kill a disciple who had comprehended Slaughter was no minor affair. Strangling a genius in the cradle came with severe punishment.
Suddenly, Cai Junyang threw up a mouthful of blood, indicating that he still lived.
Sang Hongmei was taken aback by this kid's tenacious life force, but she also rejoiced over escaping potential disaster.
In the distance, a warning arrow howled into the sky. The alarm had been sent out immediately, and countless people were converging on Clear Pavilion, with quite a few Celestial Heart True Persons among them.
"Quite the fast reaction." Sang Hongmei knew that it would be difficult to clean things up if she lingered any longer, so she charged out with Hong Yuan in tow.
If she wanted to leave, there was truly no one who could stop her.
She shot out like a comet, and countless attacks flew at her, but none of them could affect her in any way. Thankfully, she still feared the sect's rules enough to not commence a massacre.
"Junyang, are you okay?" Wei Tianchong and the others ran over.
Clutching his chest, Cai Junyang grinned and said, "Tang Jie saved me again."
It was no longer a secret that the Hundred Tribulations Passage Art had come from Tang Jie, and the others already knew. When they heard Cai Junyang say this, they knew he was fine and sighed in relief.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Cai Junyang said, "The Coiling Dragon Cane… haha, I'll remember this feeling. Next time, this move won't take me down so easily."
Cai Junyang's constant tempering had long ago evolved the Hundred Tribulations Passage Art. Each time he took on the same kind of attack, he would grow more familiar with this power and be better able to resist it.
As they were talking, Xu Miaoran arrived. Seeing the devastation, she asked in shock and anger, "What happened?"
"It was Sang Hongmei. She kidnapped Hong Yuan," Bei Canghan said as he helped Cai Junyang.
"Hong Yuan!" Xu Miaoran paled, and she immediately realized Sang Hongmei's intentions. "Sang Hongmei… good, very good. You really are ruthless!"
Although she had known to expect something like this, this old fiend granny's madness still left Xu Miaoran stunned.
She had never imagined that Sang Hongmei would come personally.
It had to be understood that if she had made her subordinates do it, she could push the blame onto them and claim ignorance. After all, kidnapping someone from the same sect was a crime, so such a choice made the most sense. And if she had tasked her subordinates with it, Bei and Cai were strong enough to buy time if not win.
Nobody could have expected Sang Hongmei to roll up her sleeves and join in, taking Xu Miaoran unawares.
Every person had their set way of thinking, and it was precisely because those old schemers considered their opponents acting in the optimal and most reasonable way that they lost ground to opponents that acted unconventionally.
In such circumstances, the mediocre could often overcome the excellent.
Regardless, cold reality lay before Xu Miaoran: Hong Yuan had fallen into enemy hands, which endangered her life along with the location of the teleportation formation.
Xu Miaoran gnashed her teeth. "Sang Hongmei took Hong Yuan for the location of the teleportation formation. Soulscour isn't reliable enough, so she probably won't use it for now, so we have time to save her. Songxu, go immediately to Sect Master Jade Emptiness and tell her what happened here, and request that she metes out justice. Anbo, go and find Father and tell him what happened."
To save Hong Yuan, Xu Miaoran decided to rely on her father, dispatching someone to inform him in the hopes that Sang Hongmei could be stopped before she resorted to lethal means.
The replies came quickly.
First was the sect master. The Jade Emptiness Immortal Sovereign had only said, "Understood. I will send someone to investigate this matter." Nothing else. As for when it would be investigated and what would happen after that, no details were provided. It was clear that Horizon Ocean Pavilion was already of one mind on this matter, hoping to use this opportunity to monopolize the inter-domain trade.
The reply from Xu Guanghua was even simpler.
Luo Anbo came back with the news that the Jewel Celestial Sovereign had taken the Sea Anchor True Lord to have tea on Blossom Peak in the Bodhi-Pala Mountains, and that he wouldn't be back for a few days.
Xu Miaoran felt the world spinning around her.
"So… ruthless!" Xu Miaoran had nothing to say to this daredevil attitude.
Everyone looked at Xu Miaoran, wondering if there was anything else she could do.
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