Chu Liuyue spent the next few days in a very disciplined manner. Every day, she would find a fiend to duel in the morning or afternoon.
If she won, she would eat and take their things, ransacking their entire houses. If she lost, she would keep trying. If she really couldn’t win, she would run.
As she had broken through to become a stage-eight warrior, she was still rather fast when she escaped. When she was sometimes driven to a corner, she would instantly teleport.
If the other party chased after her relentlessly and followed her back… With Ah Qiong around, those fiends could only go back sadly.
All in all, Chu Liuyue had spent her time quite smoothly. After the various bitter battles, her combat skills had rapidly improved.
And Elder Shu Yu and the rest didn’t notice any of this.
Everything was still peaceful.
…
Fairy Water Mound.
Jiang Zhiyuan rushed the whole way back and returned at the fastest speed.
When the guards stationed outside the Jiang residence saw Jiang Zhiyuan coming back from afar, they were all stunned. They exchanged glances and hurriedly welcomed her. “Big Missy, why didn’t you inform us in advance that you were coming back?! We could’ve fetched you!”
Jiang Zhiyuan didn’t stop and rushed into the residence. “Where’s Father?”
Seeing her anxious look and dirtied appearance, Jiang Zhiyuan seemed like she had something very urgent to handle. The guards didn’t dare to be slow and hurriedly replied, “Master is in the residence!”
Hearing this, Jiang Zhiyuan felt more at ease and rushed inside at a faster speed.
“Big Missy is back!” One of the guards hurriedly jogged to catch up with her, while the other was even faster and ran forward to announce her return.
The entire Jiang residence knew of this very quickly.
Jiang Zhiyuan had a distinguished status. Once they heard that she was back, quite a few people in the residence hurriedly came out and welcomed her.
In the past, Jiang Zhiyuan would still put on a pretense. However, she had lost her mood today and didn’t even give those people an extra glance as she rushed toward Jiang Hetian’s courtyard.
She was like a wind that blew by, leaving the crowd confused.
“Um… Did something happen to Big Missy? Why does her expression look so awful?”
“I’ve never seen Big Missy like this before… It seems like she has a frozen aura all over her…”
“In the past, Big Missy would happily greet us every time she saw us. I don’t think she did this on purpose today… Seeing how panicked she looks, maybe something urgent really happened.”
“Forget it. This isn’t something that we can talk about. Let’s disperse!”
Jiang Zhiyuan didn’t care about this chatter as she directly walked over.
Reaching the courtyard entrance, Jiang Hetian—who had heard the news—came out. Originally, his face was filled with smiles, but he froze after seeing Jiang Zhiyuan’s cold and anxious look.
“Father!” When Jiang Zhiyuan saw her father, her uneasy heart finally relaxed a little, and she couldn’t help but call him.
Jiang Hetian’s heart sank, and he hurriedly went forward. “Zhiyuan, what’s with you?”
All these years, Jiang Zhiyuan had always been very magnanimous and presentable in his eyes, and he was very proud of her. He had never seen her in such a frail and anxious manner.
Even though her clothes were lavish and her makeup and hair were intricate, they couldn’t hide her tiredness and vague despair.
“Father—” Jiang Zhiyuan was about to speak. Then, she recalled that there were some people around, and she stopped in her words.
Jiang Hetian understood her. “We can go in and talk. You can tell me slowly then.”
Following that, the two of them entered the house one after another, leaving the crowd muddled outside.
…
“Zhiyuan, what’s wrong?” Once they went in, Jiang Hetian couldn’t help but ask worriedly.
Jiang Zhiyuan took a deep breath in and asked, “Father, why didn’t you reply to my letter?”
“Reply? Reply to what letter?” Jiang Hetian was shocked and asked this in return.
Seeing his behavior, Jiang Zhiyuan immediately understood something. “You didn’t receive my letter? I specifically sent it back with the thousand-chance bird.”
Jiang Hetian shook his head. “I’ve been in Fairy Water Mound the entire time, but I really didn’t receive any news from you.”
As expected! Jiang Zhiyuan clenched her teeth. “Father, I wrote you a letter previously, but it should’ve been intercepted. Thus, you didn’t receive it.”
No wonder! No wonder I waited so long, yet Father didn’t reply. Something went wrong much earlier!
“What exactly happened that caused you to be this anxious? Besides, not many people dare to intercept your letter, right? Who would’ve done it?”
Jiang Zhiyuan shook her head. “I don’t know either.”
Even though the academy was far from Fairy Water Mound, accidents had never happened when she corresponded through letters before.
This time, someone must’ve done it on purpose. However, she probably couldn’t find out who in such a short amount of time.
“We can just investigate this letter. I came back today to ask for your help.” Jiang Zhiyuan paused, reorganized her thoughts, and briefly explained the recent happenings in the academy.
After hearing it, Jiang Hetian knitted his brows. “…So, you’re currently suspecting that Chu Yue has a problem with his identity?”
“Yes. Rong Xiu does treat him rather differently, which causes other people to be suspicious.” Jiang Zhiyuan bit her lips. “Besides… He also has the exact same red-tailed phoenix as Shangguan Yue. Isn’t this too much of a coincidence?”
Jiang Hetian asked, “You’re guessing that the Chu Yue is Shangguan Yue?”
Jiang Zhiyuan nodded hesitantly.
Jiang Hetian fell silent, placed two hands behind his back, and paced back and forth in the room. After some time, he then said, “Your doubts are valid, but… The Sky-Cloud Empire has never said that the princess consort had left.”
One had to know that with Shangguan Yue’s current identity, she definitely couldn’t go to any place quietly. Ever since she had become the princess consort, she had stayed in the Sky-Cloud Empire. So why would she suddenly appear in the distant Ling Xiao Academy?
