Chapter 369: He's Stirred Up Another Big One?
Luo Wusheng rubbed his temples.
"So… who exactly is trying to sow discord between me and Her Majesty?"
He exhaled deeply.
Inside the Imperial Pool, where his consciousness was temporarily anchored to the water puppet, he and Her Majesty had completed two rounds of questioning.
The energy that supported the Imperial Pool's transformations—what that young empress had referred to as "Heart-force"—had been completely depleted by his second question.
While the first question had gone to waste, the second one had revealed what he most wanted to know at the time:
Just how did Her Majesty find out about what happened between me and the little pink fox?
The answer he received was beyond his expectations.
(Among the items left behind by the former head of the Daoist Artifact Pavillion, there was a memory stone that captured a blurry image of what happened beneath Ascending Immortality Lake that night—it faintly revealed my figure…)
And the one who discovered it wasn't the Empress's Imperial Alter Ego, but the Daoist Alter Ego who had just yesterday succeeded the position of the Daoist Artifact Pavilion Head.
That was the real reason Luo Wusheng had tried to strike up a conversation with Ji Yanyao at the Daoist Artifact Pavillion convalescent ward—to see if he could probe anything out of her.
But instead, he'd been unceremoniously kicked out.
"How should I put this… This kind of thing feels like it could've been done by either an enemy or an ally."
As for enemies, there was no need to elaborate. Both the Buddhist Sect and the Netherking had the means and motivation to pull something like this off. If they could make the Empress suspicious of him, that would certainly be to their advantage.
But it seemed meaningless because the Empress had so easily come to trust him again.
If the "crisis of trust" was that easily resolved, then what was the point of setting it up in the first place?
(So… was it that white-haired loli just messing around again?)
Luo Wusheng was more inclined toward this possibility deep down.
After all, it was that mischievous loli who had sent him down into the lake in the first place. Given her mesugaki personality, it wouldn't be out of character for her to plant a trap like that using the memory stone.
As for purpose… did that girl ever care about purpose when she stirred up trouble?
Luo Wusheng was beginning to feel more and more biased against a certain Tower Master of the Heavenly Divination Tower.
"Forget it. Thinking about it like this isn't going to get me anywhere… If there really is some deeper meaning to all this, it'll probably be revealed soon enough."
If anything, what stood out the most was how strange it was that the memory stone ended up among the belongings of the former head of the Daoist Artifact Pavillion… Oh right, that guy wasn't dead yet, was he? Regardless, its appearance there was odd.
Did that mean the person who planted it knew that Ji Yanyao was the Empress's Daoist Alter Ego?
No—given the friendly relationship between the Daoist Sect and the Immortal Nation, the memory stone was bound to end up being discovered by the Empress sooner or later anyway.
As for that former Pavilion Head… that insignificant character, Luo Wusheng had almost forgotten his name. Was it Lin something-feng?
Scratching his head, Luo Wusheng swept his gaze around the third floor of the Demon Artifact Pavilion where he was currently located.
Now that he'd issued all necessary instructions, he was the only one left there.
Getting up from his seat, he walked toward the window and looked outside.
His clerks were busy outside, and the artifact refiners were holed up upstairs, thoroughly addicted to testing new "bullets."
"Just as Bai Xiaoyao said…"
The Demon Artifact Pavilion was now fully self-operating. As the Pavilion Head, all he really had to do was handle major matters and serve as a figurehead and protective umbrella.
That's why, when they went to Qifeng City yesterday, everything had gone smoothly in his absence.
(The refining progress is also on track… In fact, the first batch of goods requested by Her Majesty could be delivered as soon as tomorrow.)
But since he won't be available tomorrow, it's better to wait until after he returns from Sword Province to handle it personally.
Deals that big were best handled in person.
Luo Wusheng withdrew his gaze.
The Demon Artifact Pavilion was as packed with people as ever today.
———
Meanwhile, the capital was in uproar once again.
What happened in Qifeng City had finally spread back to the capital.
Among the low-level cultivators who had watched the battle from Xiaofeng Mountain, many of them had hesitated but eventually decided to follow Ji Yanyao and the injured back to the capital.
Naturally, the Battle of Xiaofeng Mountain quickly became the talk of the town.
Because this incident involved Luo Wusheng, a major figure stirring up waves in the Royal City, the story's popularity began to ferment rapidly.
The first reaction from the people of the Royal City was—
"The Demon Sect's Holy Saint actually pulled off another wild stunt? But didn't he just return to the capital two days ago?"
Then, after hearing the full story, everyone fell silent.
The Demon Sect's Holy Saint participated in a Nascent Soul-level battle?
And crushed a powerful chicken Netherkin that nearly overwhelmed a dozen Nascent Soul cultivators working together?
What kind of joke is this?
Even the major factions in the Royal City were shaken.
They had just confirmed that the Holy Saint had not yet broken through to the Nascent Soul realm, and were sighing in relief that there truly wouldn't be an eighteen-year-old Nascent Soul cultivator in this world… only to immediately be slapped in the face with this news?
Since it's a Netherkin that nearly wiped out a dozen Nascent Souls—including one mid-stage Nascent Soul, the Netherkin most likely had at least a late-stage Nascent Soul strength.
And yet it was killed by the Demon Sect's Holy Saint?
Was he really just a peak Golden Core cultivator, and not some Grandmaster hiding in the late stage Nascent Soul realm?
This time, even the commoners of the Royal City found it hard to believe.
Nearly twenty Nascent Soul cultivators took part? There wasn't even a rare Artifact involved. Where did all these powerful cultivators come from? Did people think Nascent Souls were like cabbage on sale?
Of course, everyone believed Luo Wusheng was strong—but this strong?
Golden Core defeating Nascent Soul was already outrageous enough.
Now they were being told he might be capable of defeating a late stage Nascent Soul cultivator?
Most rational minds in the city remained skeptical.
And yet, a new crowd of gossip-hungry onlookers began to gather outside the Demon Artifact Pavilion.
———
By the time the afternoon rolled in, most of those doubts were instantly shattered.
One after another, streaks of light tore through the skies and descended before the Demon Artifact Pavilion.
Each person openly stated they had come to thank Pavilion Head Luo for saving their lives.
At that moment, the jaws of the city collectively dropped.
"Wait… these people are the Nascent Soul cultivators who were saved by the Demon Sect's Holy Saint? That story was real? He really is that strong?"
"Could it be… all of this was staged? Are they all some paid actors?"
"I don't think so, this isn't the Demon Sect, and these are bona fide Nascent Soul experts. Even that Holy Saint couldn't make them willingly lower themselves like this!"
"Hissss— If all of this is true, then just what level of strength does the Holy Saint possess now? It's so terrifying… To think he just turned eighteen this year—his feat makes me feel like I've wasted my eighty years of life!"
"I don't care anymore! From now on, whatever rumors I hear about Pavilion Head Luo, I'll believe them all! Even if someone tells me he, uh… got together with the Netherkin Netherqueen or something, I'd—uh, well, that kind of thing probably won't happen, right?"
The noise outside persisted until dusk.
As the Demon Artifact Pavilion closed for the day, a group of Nascent Soul elders reluctantly left, clearly unwilling to part.
One elder—a wide-eyed, copper-belled Daoist priest—turned back three times as he walked, eyes full of admiration, and finally gave a deep bow toward the pavilion before vanishing in a flash of teleportation.
Meanwhile, at the heart of this entire spectacle, Luo Wusheng stayed behind in the pavilion a little longer, dawdled a bit, then finally parted ways with his friends who had headed to Red Blossom Pavilion, and slowly made his way back to his own residence.
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[1] https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
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