Thud!
The beautiful woman went limp, as if all the power had drained from her body. She staggered back and fell, shattering the surrounding vases.
“Careful!” Xuan Ji reached out to hold her up.
The woman smiled bitterly and broke free from Xuan Ji’s grip, then flung herself at the somber Xue Yang.
The others hurriedly tried to stop her. The woman roared, her eyes bloodshot, “Xue Yang!”
From the start, Xue Yang’s face hadn’t shown so much as the slightest ripple of emotion, not even when the Hermit Emperor shook his head. Even when he saw that Xue Mo’s souls were on the verge of collapse, there was no trace of feeling on his face.
The others looked calm, too. The room was silent save for the sound of the woman’s hysterical sobs, coursing through her almost like laughter.
“I wanted to take Mo’er with me then, but you didn’t let me. I knew the Battle of Geniuses was a ploy and wanted to keep her home, but you didn’t let me. She went, and now look what happened? Tell me, what happened?!” She wept hysterically. The others couldn’t help but look askance at the great emperor. Xuan Ji silently lowered her head, and when she looked at Xue Mo, her eyes filled with pity.
Even so, Xue Yang showed no sign of emotion at all. He simply stood there, standing straight and tall.
“I’m going to go kill that kid!” Zhao Qianhe, who’d been by Xue Mo’s bedside this whole time, gnashed her teeth and headed outside, only for Xue Yang to stop her.
“Let go!” she glowered and roared.
“You can’t go. If you do, you’ll fall for Zhou Wu’s trap,” said Xue Yang.
“That’s your problem!” Zhao Qianhe snorted, disregarding the warning completely. “What would he dare do to me? Worst case scenario, I’ll just go back to the First Era. He hurt Little Mo. I’ve got to kill him!”
“You can’t!” said Xue Yang coldly.
The tension in the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. At that moment, Xue Beibei dashed into the room holding a transmission slip flashing with red light. “Father….”
Xue Beibei had only just arrived and didn’t know the situation. Out of consideration for Xue Beibei, Zhao Qianhe considered things briefly, then stepped to the side.
Beibei was too young. There were some things she couldn’t know yet.
Despite her youth, Xue Beibei immediately sensed teh tense atmosphere. She batted her eyes at Zhao Qianhe, then at the woman who bore a strong resemblance to Xue Mo. The woman had already suppressed her emotions; at least, she displayed no outward signs of them.
“Aunt Ling, what’s wrong?”
The woman she called “Aunt Ling” forced a warm smile.
Xue Beibei’s pupils furiously constricted. “Don’t tell me big sister….”
“Silly girl, don’t overthink things. Your Big Sister Momo is just fine. Look, even Grandpa Hermit Emperor is here. After a little while, your sister will wake up.” Zhao Qianhe gently patted Xue Beibei on the head. “You came here because you had something to say, right? You’d best hurry up and say it. Grandpa Hermit Elder is busy treating your sister’s wounds, and we can’t afford to delay for long.”
“Alright, alright.” Xue Beibei nodded forcefully. She had no idea how serious Xue Mo’s injuries really were, but seeing her sister’s wounds naturally infuriated her. Still, she trusted Xue Yang and the others could help. Then, once Xue Mo woke up, the two of them could find that guy and get revenge.
Her thoughts about the matter really were that simple!
In order to avoid delaying Xue Mo’s care, she passed her jade slip to Xue Yang right away. “Big Sister Murong says Ye Zichen contacted the Four Directions Palace’s Liu Qing. They’re worried she’ll let the cat out of the bag, and they want us to contact the Four Directions Palace on their behalf.”
“Got it,” said Xue Yang.
“Alright then, hurry up and treat my big sister’s wounds, please.” With that, Xue Beibei turned and dashed away.
Xue Yang glanced at Bi’an, who immediately nodded. “Got it. I’ll talk to Liu Qing.”
“What could possibly be so special about Ye Zichen that you’d go to such lengths to protect him?” said Zhao Qianhe, fixing her gaze on the two emperors.
She’d met Ye Zichen a few times, and he’d left a decidedly poor impression on her.
But ever since he first came into view, everything that happened, big and small, all carried traces of his influence.
Even more unbelievably was that when Xue Mo was injured, the first thing Xue Yang did wasn’t search for a way to heal her.
Rather, he’d started by sealing off all knews of the incident to keep Ye Zichen in the dark. Furthermore, the other major factions had agreed, including her big sister—the woman Xue Beibei called “Aunt Ling.”
“He might be the Third Era’s Master of the Stars,” said Xue Yang.
The others didn’t seem particularly surprised at this revelation; obviously, they all knew already.
Zhao Qianhe’s eyes widened. “Him? The Master of the Stars?”
“I’m eighty or ninety percent certain,” said Xuan Ji. “People from your First Era have already reached out to him and built a relationship with him, so the odds that he really is the Master of the Stars are rather high. You’re from the First Era, so I’m sure you know how important the Master of the Stars is. It’s only natural that we have to ensure his absolute safety.”
“Does Zhou Wu know?”
“He doesn’t.” Bi’an narrowed his eyes and snorted, “If he knew, he’d have killed that Ye Zichen brat and seized his celestial fate long ago. It’s not like he’s never done anything like that before.”
He continued, “That Bai Family brat dared touch Xue Yang’s second daughter, but that was nothing but a test of our patience, as well as a way of gauging how deep our connection runs.”
Zhao Qianhe fell silent. If Ye Zichen really was the Master of the Stars, then….
They really did have to ensure his safety.
No wonder her sister had stayed calm and avoided breaking the peace despite her obvious fury. She…. She knew it too.
They couldn’t let Ye Zichen find out about this.
Even though Zhao Qianhe didn’t know him well, and even though she had a very poor impression of him, she had to admit that he cared a lot about his friends, so much that if he caught wind of this, he would seek revenge regardless of the consequences.
But if she acted recklessly and Zhou Wu caught sight of the Emperor Star….
“But we can’t keep this under wraps forever.”
“We’ll keep it under wraps for as long as we possibly can. No matter how many lies we have to tell, we have to suppress this incident,” said Xue Yang seriously.
“Then Little Mo….”
“Just consider it her protecting the Emperor Star from calamity.”
Everyone in the room fell silent.
Saving the Emperor Star from calamity?
Under the circ.u.mstances, this was perhaps the easiest explanation for them to accept, and a source of some comfort.
But why….
Was Little Mo the one who had to get hurt?
Zhao Qianhe’s lips quivered as she walked up to Xue Mo’s beside and squeezed her hands. Tears dripped down her cheeks and splattered onto the sickbed and sleeping girl.
Xuan Ji looked out the window in silence, while “Aunt Ling” buried her face in her hands and wept.
Xue Yang and Bi’an looked at each other, their expressions icy cold, but they could see the sadness hidden in each other’s gazes.
Especially Xue Yang….
She was his daughter! How could he not care?
But the situation was what it was. What could he do about it? “Did you just mention the Master of the Stars?” At that moment, the nigh-forgotten Hermit Emperor suddenly spoke up. Everyone suddenly looked up, just in time to watch him say, “If you really know the Master of the Stars, we might very well be able to save her!”
