Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“There is no need for General Meng to sow discard with your nonsense.” Princess Lotus took a glance at Fourth Prince Feng that was red with anger. Coldly, she said, “Even more so, you should not measure others’ corn by your bushel. I do not understand what goes on in your head, nor do I wish to. All I know is that your words should be just and backed by evidence. Without evidence, no matter how honey-tongued you are, it would be useless.”
“Please. I am certainly not honey-tongued, unlike your ‘nectar’ tongue.” Meng Fuyao laughed. “Not only has the princess a ‘nectar’ tongue, but you are also a lotus dripping with nectar from top to bottom. Pretty sure you even wish to soak every single strand of hair in lotus water so people can smell the extremely holy lotus odor you exude and remember that you are a gift from God. This phrase was made for you. Do not involve me in this.”
“When it comes to speaking nonsense, there is no one better than General Meng.” Princess Lotus calmly placed her long slender fingers on the table and gently said, “I only have that sentence for you, without evidence, you are Xuanji’s eternal enemy, merely a lowly person despised by everyone here. Till now, there is only one sentence that you said it right — that from now onwards, there will be no place for you in the seven nations.”
Meng Fuyao stopped smiling. She leaned back, stared at Lotus and coldly asked, “I do not have evidence, do you? If we all do not have evidence, why are you the one feeling wronged here?”
“How do you know that I do not have evidence?” Princess Lotus looked up and sent her a hostile gaze.
“You do?” Meng Fuyao was taken aback. Again, she asked, “You do?”
“So what if I do? So what if I don’t?” Princess Lotus avoided the answer and quietly looked at Meng Fuyao. “General Meng, do you not think that you should give me an explanation for your words?”
“If you do, I’ll leave my punishment up to you,” replied Meng Fuyao without a care, casually waving her hand. “If you don’t… I believe that you do not need me to punish you. You can deal with it.”
Princess Lotus seemed to have been waiting for that statement as her eyes flared with hostility once more. A smile immediately appeared on her face as she announced with pride, “Unfortunately for you, I do.”
“You do??”
“Naturally.” Her eyelashes fluttered down, revealing a modest amount of coyness as she demurely told everyone. “I was too shy to bring it up, but since matters have escalated to this point, I cannot help but admit…” It was as though it took Princess Lotus all of her courage to look up and around the room. With eyes that spoke of shyness and apprehension, she announced, “I believe everyone here knows of the diagram of the Xuanji Nation that the Crown Prince had personally created is the betrothal gift when we had announced our engagement.”
Everyone nodded their heads in unison. This was something known amongst all of the Five Region Continent, and till this day, many different nations took pride in their copy of Xuanji diagram. Back then, when the politics had swayed, Qi Xunyi 1 had once used this diagram, consisting of 32 different military strategies to draw the attention of Crown Prince Qi.
“Lotus is foolish and greatly admires the talent of the Crown Prince.” Princess Lotus’ voice got softer and softer as she spoke, embarrassment flushing through her skin. “Yes, ever since I received the diagram of the Xuanji Nation, I have kept it my side… every day…”
With her announcement, the crowd came to a realization — Princess Lotus loved the Crown Prince. In all honesty, there had been rumors about that, which was but an open secret. Furthermore, the two had been engaged since young, and her having feelings for him were no fault of hers. The thought of her publicly admitting his love for her pained the hearts of many. This was a matter close to a young lady’s heart, yet, she was forced to disclose this in front of everyone by this wicked rascal. As a princess of a nation, how uncomfortable must it have been for her? They could not help but think of Zhangsun Wuji — he had dragged on the wedding ceremony for such as long time as the close to twenty princess waited agonizingly. She even had to be humiliated by this toy boy that had seduced the Crown Prince. Having to go through such a miserable encounter, how could any fragile, well-protected royal endure it?
They watched as Princess Lotus brought out a yellow embroidery with charcoal black, peacock blue, crimson red words on it — words that seemed to have an air of grace to it. Someone in the crowd vaguely remembered that when the Crown Prince of Wuji had made the diagram of Xuanji Nation, it was hand-sewn by the number one master of embroidery, Lady Yun.
Lady Yun was an expert at sewing words and could often bring out the spirit of the original writer. With some of them having the replica of this diagram, while it was not exactly the same, the similarity was enough to allow them to determine the authenticity of this diagram.
More importantly, Lady Yun had died early. All her works were now unrivaled and could not be replicated.
Princess Lotus gently touched the Xuanji diagram as she shed tears. Silently, she held the diagram in both her hands and lifted it up, displaying it for everyone. The diagram had already been dyed in her tears, expressing all that she felt.
Really, sometimes silence was better than words.
With the exception of the coldly laughing Ya Lanzhu and the scowling Zhan Nancheng, the rest of the people in the palace hall sent their hostile glares over. Anger, unfairness, mockery, despise, disgust… numerous unfriendly glances came Meng Fuyao’s way.
A vulnerable beauty being humiliated had always been something that could stimulate the grievances and protective desire of a man. A well-dressed youth stood up and yelled, “Meng Fuyao, you have gone too far today! Seeing that the princess is helpless against you, you have taken your willful acts overboard. Do you not think anything of the distinguished guests and heroes sitting here today? Today, I shall teach you a lesson on behalf of the princess!”
Meng Fuyao took a glance at him without a word — he seemed to be a distant relative of the Tiansha royals, an insignificant duke or so it seemed. Crossing her legs, Meng Fuyao calmly watched as the young man rushed forward with nothing but his fists; after all, one could not be armed in the palace hall. “Very well. Courageous!”
Meng Fuyao sat there, unperturbed. With a face full of smiles, she stretched out both her arms as though she was about to receive a hug, when in fact, she was just waiting for him to bring disaster upon himself.
It was such a pity when the young man was stopped in time by a middle-aged man that shouted,” Hongzhi! You are in front of his majesty. Stop your impudent behavior at once!” This middle-aged man was most likely his father as he dragged the young man back, nagging, “Some people are just plain arrogant and ignorant. When the time comes, someone will teach them a lesson. You do not have to stick your nose in this!”
He hauled the young man back. What a joke. No matter how presumptuous Meng Fuyao was, she was still the champion of the True Martial Arts Meet. She had won with her real skills and to go against her was just looking for death.
Meng Fuyao sighed in dissatisfaction. What a pity, she could not stir up more trouble than this.
At this point in time, the diagram of the Xuanji nation had already been passed around. Such a profound and esoteric masterpiece. If it was not the legendary betrothal gift then what could it possibly be?
Holding the diagram of the Xuanji nation, Princess Lotus turned around to display her piece. With an elegant smile, she asked, “General Meng, how should I punish you?”
“Princess, there is no need for you to. This lad should take his own life out of shame!”
“Meng Fuyao, is there a need for Tiansha to lend you a sword?”
“Even if he were to be shameless continue his life, he would be nothing but the walking dead for he can no longer face everyone!”
“Ptui!”
“Zhu Zhu…” Meng Fuyao fiddled with Ya Lanzhu’s sleeve as though she did not hear a thing. “Really, an ignoble person is certainty invincible…”
Ya Lanzhu stared at the diagram of Xuanji Nation with a frown, feeling unsettled. She tugged Meng Fuyao and quietly asked,” Hey, that looks real. Do you have any evidence? With the commotion, you caused today this damn woman will never let you off.”
Meng Fuyao laughed heartily. “Zhu Zhu, I suddenly feel that people can really differ so much.” She looked at Ya Lanzhu and was reminded of the fact that this girl here could be counted as her ‘love rival’, right? Why was there such a difference in their attitude?
At this juncture, some people had been growing impatient. The insignificant duke that had previously rushed out had once again, jumped the gun. He grabbed a sword from a Tiansha guard and threw it in front of her face all while laughing coldly.
The sword, together with its scabbard glided over the floor as if it was gliding over ice. With ease, Meng Fuyao stopped the sword with her foot and kicked it into her hands. She flicked the sword, and with a clear and bright voice, she laughed. “Leave it for yourself, you’ll need it.”
Meng Fuyao did not specify who the ‘you’ referred to but only looked askance at the smiling Lotus waiting for her reply. To which, she said, “Princess, you said that yours is the diagram of the Xuanji Nation. But who here, can prove that it is?”
This statement caught everyone by surprise. Indeed, no one had ever seen the real diagram of Xuanji Nation. Who could determine with 100 percent certainty that this was the real deal?
“You are obfuscating the people with your nonsense again!” This time, a man from Xuanyuan rebutted. Looking at his attire, he seemed to be the sect leader of the Xuanyuan Longevity Sword Sect. With a face filled with fury, he howled, “I have seen the exact replica of this thing in my country. Are you implying that the replicas are in the hands of every country are all fakes?”
“Finally the truth!” Meng Fuyao sat cross-legged as she clapped in with all her might. “They are all fakes! The replicas in your hands came from this copy that this future Wuij Crown Princess had created. She is the manufacturer of the pirated copies, and you are all the ignorant buyers.”
“General Meng, the diagram of the Xuanji diagram has 441 words, 21 words for every vertical and horizon line. It can be read vertically, horizontally, diagonally, alternately, normally, backward or through removing or adding a word. In the sentence, the words vary from 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 words and can be categorized into four types — strategic positions, commanders, usage of soldiers and plots. I believe that, in this world, other than me, there is no one more familiar with the diagram. However, just as you mentioned, my diagram might not be the real one. But your words cannot actually prove that my diagram is fake. I still go back to the same sentence — where is the evidence?” Princess Lotus ignored Meng Fuyao’s strange words and laughed lightly. “Merely a desperate struggle of someone on their deathbed and the truth will still be revealed. Isn’t that the perfect sentence to describe General Meng’s current actions?”
“Right back at you,” replied Meng Fuyao coldly. She slowly took out something and threw it on the table. “This is my evidence!”
It was a roll of dirty-looking cloth in a light purple. The seams were not even, and they even had a ruffled edged. Dirty and crumpled, there were a few hastily scribbled words on the cloth. While it was the content of the Xuanji diagram, it was not color divided nor did it have the exquisite sewing skills that one would have expected. Forget about the world-renowned Xuanji diagram, this resembled more of a torn piece of cloth that the content of the Xuanji diagram was copied onto.
