“I don’t feel any guilt; let heaven and earth serve as witnesses. Madam, please don’t misunderstand,” Zu An said with a strange expression.
Yu Yanluo harrumphed and replied, “Are you not scared of being hacked apart by heavenly judgment?”
Who is the one… the one prodding me with your sword? she thought. Of course, she was too embarrassed to say these words.
Zu An noticed that as well. He said with a bit of embarrassment, “My heart is clear, but my body’s reactions are my instincts; it’s not something I can control. I really apologize for offending the madam.”
Yu Yanluo’s cheeks burned up. This guy is being such a rascal; how am I even supposed to respond here? She decided not to say anything in the end.
Fortunately, Zu An did act rather respectfully, not moving his hands or feet randomly. He only helped her transfer her ki.
The two tacitly chose not to say anything. A hint of warmth entered the frigid cave.
But Yu Yanluo’s expression quickly changed, because there she sensed a familiar pounding within her. She bit her teeth and harrumphed, exclaiming, “Are you messing with me on purpose?”
Zu An was stunned, asking, “What do you mean?”
Seeing that his reaction hadn’t been faked, Yu Yanluo pursed her lips and replied, “Your ki always makes me feel really strange.”
Zu An replied, “Ah, I don’t know what’s going on either. I haven’t treated many people with this method yet…”
Yu Yanluo interrupted him, asking, “Have you treated another woman with this technique before?”
Several figures appeared in Zu An’s head. However, Chuyan hadn’t been treated with the fourth layer of the Primordial Origin Sutra. Strictly speaking, only Tang Tian’er had been treated the same way before, and she seemed to have had a similar reaction.
However, he wouldn’t be so unromantic as to speak the truth. He quickly said, “The madam is obviously the first. That’s why I don’t know why it’s like this. Perhaps the madam’s constitution is especially sensitive?”
Yu Yanluo’s eyebrows curved when she heard she was the first one. A hint of a smile crept into her expression.
However, her face heated up when she thought of that. She wasn’t sure if it really was because of her, because her body was indeed very special. The feeling only became stranger and stranger. She didn’t want a repeat of what happened in the cold pool and quickly changed the topic. “I really didn’t expect the main instigator behind all of this to be that Bright Blackeye Parasite! Without his instigation, Jian Taiding wouldn’t have been so daring.”
Zu An said with a sigh, “I can’t help but feel that you and his brother spoiled him a bit too much, and that was why he got so out of control. Always satisfying and pampering him wasn’t good for him; it instead harmed him.”
“You are right, but I still have a guilty conscience. If it were not for my appearance, the two brothers might not have fought to that state.” Yu Yanluo sighed. She felt a bit like a femme fatale.
“Men’s desire will always be endless. Even without you, with Jian Taiding’s nature, he would still have wanted to take Jian Yanyou’s place in the end. Furthermore, with Uncle Ming egging him on, regardless of whether you were there or not, the conclusion wouldn’t change,” Zu An said in consolation.
“I know that you are consoling me, but I must still thank you,” Yu Yanluo said gently. However, she still felt great grief when she looked at the pile of ashes in the distance. She continued, “But Yanyou still died in the end, and he met such a miserable ending.”
“In reality, the conclusion was already decided when he was targeted by the Bright Blackeye Parasite. Even with the Golden Silkworm Art, he ended up encountering the Parasite clan, his natural enemy.” Zu An sighed with great regret. He wondered, “But how do we wrap up this situation? Should we declare the entire truth to the world?”
Yu Yanluo also began to think to herself. After a long time had passed, she said, “Many of the scenes we recorded cannot be shown to the world. Let us just push all of the crimes onto that Bright Blackeye Parasite, saying that he was the one who bewitched Jian Taiding and conspired against the duke. Either way, since the Imperial Edict has defeated him, no one will suspect his identity.”
“But wouldn’t that be letting Jian Taiding off too easily?” Zu An replied with a frown.
Yu Yanluo replied, “He has already died a tragic death, so that can be considered a proper punishment. Furthermore, he already promoted many of his own trusted aides in the Martial Affairs Manor. If he were declared as the chief culprit, his subordinates would feel that they were in danger. Who knows what a group of cornered dogs will do? It would instead make the situation trickier to deal with.”
Zu An nodded inwardly. In his previous world, if it weren’t because the emperor of the Han Dynasty had ordered Dong Zhuo, a top general of late Han, to slaughter everyone down to the very last man, it wouldn’t have stirred up so many grievances that Western Liang’s legions would slaughter their way back to the capital, making the entire later Han dynasty’s situation become irremediable.
“Madam really does have penetrating insight after all. I’m left in admiration for your wisdom.” Zu An sighed in amazement. This woman looked as if she didn’t really get involved in many different matters, but she was still a clan leader after all. If she had just been a pretty flower vase, she would have long since been devoured by the starving wolves of this world.
A strange sound emerged from Yu Yanluo’s throat. However, she quickly changed the topic, continuing, “That is why you cannot publicly declare the news of his death; otherwise, Jian Taiding’s crimes would still be too great, and that would be more difficult to take care of later. Using Yanyou’s reputation, all of Cloudcenter Commandery will instead quickly stabilize. Furthermore…” She turned to give Zu An a look and didn’t finish her sentence.
“What?” Zu An asked curiously. The next part seemed to have something to do with him.
“If we declared that Yanyou had already been plotted against by the two of them, how would we explain the duke having returned to the manor in the past few days? I even personally declared that there was no way I would not recognize my own husband. Liu Ji and the others have also helped you so much.” Yu Yanluo took a deep breath and continued, “It would be one thing for me, since I was independent to begin with. No one can do much to me. But what would we do about Liu Ji, Chu Ji, even Zhang Ji and the others? Everyone would know that they had stayed with a fake duke, and that they were no longer pure. How would they continue living then?”
“Um…” Zu An sighed and said, “I’ve let them down.”
“Both of us have let them down,” Yu Yanluo added. “That is why I need you to remain as the duke for a period of time, at least until things settle a bit.”
Zu An said with a frown, “I won’t shirk my responsibility to help them deal with the aftermath, but in the end, I’m also a part of the imperial envoy and need to return to the capital. There’s no way I can stay here for too long.”
With his identity, there was no way he could remain as the duke forever. He had only done that before because he had no choice.
Yu Yanluo explained. “I do not think it will take too long. Once things stabilize a bit, you can inform the world that you are resting in seclusion. Then, you will not have to see anyone for a long time. After a while, once we have replaced Jian Taiding’s subordinates with our own people and the situation is within our grasp again, you can declare that the duke was unable to recover from his injuries and passed away. At that point, everything will have already settled and it would not have much of an effect on anything. That should be enough time for Liu Ji and the others to plan accordingly.”
“Alright. I’ll do what I can,” Zu An replied, nodding.
At the same time, he was thinking about something else. The one he had offended was the emperor. Should they end up becoming hostile, Cloudcenter Commandery could very well become a base where he would have resources at his disposal. As such, there was no harm in setting such things up beforehand.
“That is good then… Mmm…” Yu Yanluo let out a soft and silky moan. As she made that sound, however, her skin began to feel as if it were burning. She immediately jumped out of Zu An’s embrace.
However, because she was weak and seriously injured, she almost collapsed right onto the ground. Zu An jumped in fright and quickly supported her.
Yu Yanluo quickly backed up while pushing him away. “You had better not come over!”
Zu An was confused, asking, “Why are you acting like this, madam?”
“You still have the nerve to say that?!” Yu Yanluo exclaimed, glaring at him angrily. “Forget it; I do not want you to treat me anymore. Your ki is just far too strange.”
“But you haven’t healed from your injuries yet!” Zu An protested worriedly.
“Your treatment has already helped me recover a bit. I will just slowly nurse myself later.” Yu Yanluo felt lingering fear and didn’t dare to let him even touch her again.
“Alright then.” Zu An couldn’t really persist after she had said that. Otherwise, it would seem as if he were taking advantage of her because of the situation. Meanwhile, Yu Yanluo sighed in relief when she saw that he didn’t insist on continuing.
Suddenly, a strong wave of spiritual energy filled the cave. When the two breathed it in, they found that it was fragrant and sweet, making every pore in their bodies relax as if cheering for joy.
Zu An and Yu Yanluo exchanged a look, exclaiming, “The Milk of Purple Frost!”
