With Li Shenji’s return, Gu Hai could delay even longer. He inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. However, his body was in a terrible state.
Li Shenji made a move, immediately blocking Xi Yong’s two strong guards.
Qin Zibai only saved Xi Yong and did nothing more.
“Mister Mo, given that Gu Hai is trying so hard to stop us, even vilifying Xi Yong, there must be something wrong with Gu Hai’s manor. Perhaps Long Wanyu already left,” Qin Zibai said with a frown.
Mo Yike said with a bitter smile, “If it were someone else, I would have come to that conclusion. However, this is Gu Hai we are talking about; it is hard to say with him. How can you know for sure?”
“Huh?” Qin Zibai felt slightly startled.
“What if Long Wanyu is still in there, and we end up focusing on searching outside the city. Then, they use this opportunity to send Long Wanyu away? What are we going to do? Gu Hai frequently creates false impressions as part of his plans. It is not like you have not read the information on him before. There’s the Empty Fort Stratagem and the Reverse Empty Fort Stratagem. He can use such strategies at a highly skilled level, so…,” Mo Yike said with a bitter smile.
Qin Zibai: “…”
The Empty Fort Stratagem was already the limits of what Qin Zibai could imagine, yet there was actually a Reverse Empty Fort Stratagem?
It was as Mo Yike said. They did not know for sure whether Long Wanyu was in there or not.
Li Shenji looked at Gu Hai. Gu Hai was currently vomiting blood, his face flushed red, and his entire body was hot.
Li Shenji felt speechless for quite a while. Your pretense is too much. How could that Xi Yong injure you this badly?
“Lord Mo? Lord Qin? Young Archduke? What are you trying to do? Do you think that we Qian Nation envoys are easy targets to bully?” Li Shenji shouted while scowling.
The two guards immediately stood by Xi Yong’s side to protect him.
Xi Yong nearly died earlier and still felt a lingering horror.
As Xi Yong looked at Li Shenji, some fear flashed in his eyes. However, hatred appeared on his face as he looked at Gu Hai.
“Gu Hai, you are framing me!” Xi Yong roared as he stared at Gu Hai.
Blargh! Gu Hai vomited a mouth of blood.
The citizens could no longer keep watching.
“You demon! You thankless wrench, requiting good with evil!”
“You already injured Mister Gu to such an extent!”
“We will petition His Reverence to rid the nation of an evil influence like you!”
The citizens roared furiously.
“Humph! Gu Hai, if you are not framing me, then get Long Wanyu to come out. You have already sent Long Wanyu away, right? Where is Long Wanyu?” Xi Yong roared, feeling frustrated.
Now, Xi Yong could no longer be bothered with anything else, directly going straight to the point.
“Send away Long Wanyu?” The surrounding citizens were confused. How does this involve the Qian Nation’s Princess Wanyu?
“Hahaha! You have nothing to say, right? To think that His Reverence treated the Qian Nation envoys so nicely, but the Qian Nation envoys look down on us, secretly running away, even framing me. Where is Long Wanyu? Bring her out! If she is still in Major Metropolitan City, I’ll admit that I am a corrupt official, alright?” Xi Yong demanded with a shout.
The surrounding citizens were even more confused.
Gu Hai appeared sullen. Then, he glanced at the nearby Mo Yike.
You found a good pawn. To think that this fool shed all pretenses and went straight to the point?
Li Shenji’s face sank. Long Wanyu had left long ago. How could he call her out?
“Brother-in-Law, are you alright?! Brother-in-Law!” Suddenly, Long Wanyu’s voice came from behind the crowd.
Li Shenji: “…”
Gu Hai: “…”
The expressions of Mo Yike, Qin Zibai, and Xi Yong turned stiff.
The crowd parted, and an immortal crane carriage came into view. Long Wanyu’s voice came from the carriage.
Long Wanyu’s voice was not loud. However, nearly the entire city had heard her voice before. After all, the Yuan Nation’s reception of Long Wanyu at Five Sacred Mountains Academy got broadcast live to the entire city.
“Princess Wanyu!” the citizens cried out.
“Well, Princess Wanyu is here. Xi Yong, go on and admit that you are a corrupt official, then!” a citizen suddenly shouted.
While no one could see into the immortal crane carriage to see Long Wanyu, that voice was unmistakable.
When the immortal crane carriage approached, a woman’s right hand suddenly extended out from inside and caught Gu Hai.
“Brother-in-Law, who injured you? To think that the Yuan Imperial Dynasty requited good with evil? They are all bad people!” Long Wanyu’s voice rang out.
Whoosh!
After that hand pulled Gu Hai into the carriage, the immortal crane carriage rushed into the manor.
Li Shenji’s expression changed. Why did Long Wanyu return?
The surrounding citizens all glared at Xi Yong.
“Corrupt official!” the citizens scolded furiously.
Xi Yong: “…”
Mo Yike and Qin Zibai exchanged looks, showing faint, bitter smiles.
“Was that Princess Wanyu?” Qin Zibai looked at Mo Yike.
“I don’t know. I did not see her face!” Mo Yike said with a faint, bitter smile.
“What should we do now?” Qin Zibai asked bitterly.
“The citizens are angry. There is no way to enter Gu Hai’s manor now. If Xi Yong still insists on barging in, Li Shenji can just kill him; the citizens would only cheer,” Mo Yike replied with a bitter smile.
Qin Zibai remained silent for a while.
“Long Wanyu might be inside, or she might be gone. Hah…we can only have someone stand guard here and send some people to search outside the city,” Mo Yike said with a bitter smile.
“Act on both scenarios? Doesn’t that mean that our trip here is pointless?” Qin Zibai frowned.
Mo Yike shook his head. “It is not the same. If we confirmed that Long Wanyu has fled, we could even ask His Reverence to give chase. You should be familiar with His Reverence’s strength. However, would His Reverence do that if we are not even sure?”
Qin Zibai: “…”
After speaking, Mo Yike suddenly bowed deeply towards Gu Hai’s manor.
“Lord Mo, what are you…” Qin Zibai looked at Mo Yike, confused by the sudden bow.
“I am thanking Mister Gu. When he did the framing earlier, he only framed Xi Yong. Had he framed us as well, our reputations would be in the gutter,” Mo Yike said with a bitter smile.
Qin Zibai felt slightly startled. Mo Yike left after the bow.
Qin Zibai looked at the ritual array and bowed slightly as well. Then, he left with his men.
“You bastards! Scram! Scram!” Xi Yong’s reputation was thoroughly ruined.
None of the citizens gave him any face.
So, Xi Yong could only flee in a sorry state.
“Many thanks, everyone!” Li Shenji said to the surrounding citizens.
“There’s no need to thank us. We were just repaying Mister Gu; it has nothing to do with you.” The citizens immediately shook their heads.
Li Shenji showed a faint, bitter smile. Gu Hai is very good at gaining popular support.
Then, Li Shenji turned away and entered the ritual array.
Soon, he saw the “Long Wanyu” from earlier inside the manor.
“It’s not Princess Wanyu but you?” Li Shenji’s face sank.
It was Fairy Waner. At this moment, she supported Gu Hai with one hand and held a guqin with her other hand.
“I only imitated Long Wanyu’s voice. Battalion Commander Li, there’s no need to make a big fuss over it,” Fairy Waner said indifferently.
Li Shenji frowned as he looked at Gu Hai.
Gu Hai’s complexion appeared much better. After taking a deep breath, he said, “Battalion Commander Li, right now, the most important thing is to buy time for the princess and the others. If anyone tries to barge in during this time, I hope you will help in stopping them.”
“That is of course!” Li Shenji nodded with a frown.
“I still have matters to discuss with Fairy Waner, so I won’t be entertaining you,” Gu Hai said, sending off the guest.
“Humph!” Li Shenji snorted coldly and left.
Blargh!
No sooner had Li Shenji left than Gu Hai spewed out a mouthful of blood. His face flushed red again, and some flames even came out of his face. He had only been pretending to be fine with Li Shenji earlier.
When Li Shenji left, Gu Hai could no longer suppress the fire in his body.
“What’s wrong with you? You weren’t pretending earlier?” Fairy Waner exclaimed.
“Thank you for helping me out of my predicament earlier,” Gu Hai said with a smile.
Fairy Waner immediately grabbed Gu Hai’s right hand and checked him.
“What an intense fire! The fire is burning your body? What happened?” Fairy Waner exclaimed.
“I’m fine. I just need to go into closed-door cultivation for a while,” Gu Hai said with a bitter smile.
“You call this fine? You cannot even suppress this fire! How can there be a fire that you cannot suppress? You will burn to death if we wait any longer,” Fairy Waner said anxiously.
“I won’t,” Gu Hai said weakly.
“What do you mean you won’t? This is the Samādhi True Flame! The Samādhi True Flame! Only my Myriad Age Daoist Sect has the Samādhi True Flame. However, even I am not qualified to interact with the Samādhi True Flame, yet you…no! If we do not deal with this, you will burn to death. Even your fire deity palace is insufficient!” Fairy Waner appeared anxious.
“I’m fine. I—” Blargh! Gu Hai vomited blood midsentence.
Gu Hai wanted to enter closed-door cultivation to try and take out the fire calabash. Everything would be fine after he took it out.
However, Fairy Waner did not think that way.
Creak! Bang!
Fairy Waner waved a hand, and the door to the hall slammed shut.
Gu Hai stared at Fairy Waner.
She waved again. Suddenly, countless petals covered the ground.
This slightly startled Gu Hai. “Waner?”
Now, Fairy Waner’s red veil slipped off, revealing tender, white skin.
While biting on her lip, Fairy Waner hugged Gu Hai and placed her vermillion lips on Gu Hai’s blood-stained lips.
Soon, merry, rhythmic sounds rang out in the hall.
——
In Gu Hai’s fire deity palace:
Fairy Waner’s nascent soul entered Gu Hai’s fire deity palace once again and hugged Gu Hai’s fire nascent soul.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
More and more cracks appeared in the sealing barrier surrounding the fire calabash above the fire deity palace. Suddenly, boundless, surging fire rushed out. If it were before, this would have instantly torn Gu Hai’s flesh apart. However, it now strangely entered the two intertwined nascent souls.
Buzz!
The two nascent souls grew increasingly stronger, gaining a greater resemblance to Gu Hai and Fairy Waner. Eventually, they appeared like miniature versions of the two.
Flames surged around the two nascent souls as they frantically absorbed the fire from the fire calabash.
Boom!
The sealing barrier exploded, and intense fire instantly filled the fire deity palace.
The two nascent souls were like black holes gulping down the fire. At the same time, they released a golden light that infused into Gu Hai’s body, allowing it to endure the Samādhi True Flame better.
The petals in the hall started burning as moans kept sounding. After a sharp cry, two days later, everything calmed down.
Bang!
The two’s bodies produced a shock wave that blew away the burned petals in all directions.
It seemed that refining the Samādhi True Flame had been extremely tiring, greatly fatiguing the two. They fell into a deep sleep.
