Chapter 59: The Young Girl's Blush

……

"What exactly do you want?"

After some awkward small talk, Nan Feng tactfully kicked Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong out, beginning his one-on-one time with Qian Renxue.

"It's been years, I missed you, so I came to see you."

Inside the room, Nan Feng looked at Qian Renxue, who had shed her disguise, with an innocent expression.

"What, not happy to see me?"

"What do you think?" Qian Renxue said with a cold face.

"I think you're very happy," Nan Feng said.

"After all, a young girl's blush is better than any sweet talk."

"Look at you, from just now until now, your face has been all flushed, and you still say you aren't happy to see me?"

"……" Qian Renxue.

F*** you!!!

I am furious because of you!!! "Oh? What, want to make a move?" Nan Feng looked at the golden ball of light condensing in Qian Renxue's hand.

Qian Renxue sneered, "I wouldn't dare, I just want to learn a few moves from an Elder."

"Really?" Nan Feng raised an eyebrow, pointing his right index finger at Qian Renxue.

"Biu!"

A bright light shot out from Nan Feng's fingertip; Qian Renxue instinctively used Martial Soul Possession to defend, but was hit head-on by the beam.

"……"

Looking at Nan Feng, whose perspective had suddenly risen, Qian Renxue was stunned.

Did this guy get bigger?

No! She had gotten smaller!! In a panic, Qian Renxue wanted to fly away, but discovered her body had become extremely uncoordinated; with a forceful kick, she actually lunged toward Nan Feng.

"Still saying you aren't happy to see me?" Nan Feng caught the little rabbit Qian Renxue in one hand.

"So excited you're like this?"

"……"

Qian Renxue was stunned.

What kind of posture is this?!

She was actually being held in the hand of this bastard!? Slap! Just as Qian Renxue wanted to exert force to resist, Nan Feng lightly patted the little rabbit's bottom.

"Don't move around, or I'll turn you into a pig."

"The ugliest, smelliest kind!"

Qian Renxue didn't listen to Nan Feng's words at all and struggled violently.

Golden flames began to burn on the little rabbit; Nan Feng's eye twitched, and he hurriedly threw this rabbit that could use Martial Soul Possession away.

Qian Renxue's level wasn't much different from his; she could transform, but couldn't maintain the change for as long as Tang Yuehua could back then.

Especially since the dissolving and assimilating effect of her holy-attribute soul power was rapidly consuming the transformation soul power he had injected into Qian Renxue, at most another...

"What did you do to me?!" A black light flashed across Qian Renxue's body, and she furiously pulled out a long sword condensed from Shengshuo zhi Huo.

Nan Feng frowned slightly, "I advise you not to be so impulsive as to point a sword at me, because the last person who did that, the grass on their grave has already seen several springs pass."

Qian Renxue gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and dissipated the long sword.

She couldn't beat him! Right now, those Bishops at the Tiandou City Spirit Saint Hall were all this bastard's people!

Making a scene wouldn't do her any good!

"What exactly do you want?" Qian Renxue asked.

"To have a heart-to-heart with you." Nan Feng poured a cup of tea for Qian Renxue.

"I wanted to chat with you a few years ago, but who told your grandfather to act like a beast and insist on snatching my rabbit?"

"Since he wanted to kill my rabbit, I could only send his bear to the Western Paradise."

Qian Renxue sat down, "Did you really kill the Demon Bear Douluo?"

"You can drink the tea, but you can't just say whatever you want, young lady!" Nan Feng said sternly.

"I didn't kill him; he was so ashamed of his rude behavior toward me that he chose to die to atone for his sins!"

"Everyone saw it at the time; I only threw the dagger he used to commit suicide into his hand, everything that happened after that, he did all by himself!"

As he spoke, Nan Feng took out the dagger the Demon Bear had used to commit suicide and stuck it into the table.

"He used this dagger to commit suicide at the time."

Qian Renxue felt a panic in her heart and instinctively dodged backward, putting some distance between them.

Nan Feng looked heartbroken, "The two of us, have we come to distrust each other this much?" Qian Renxue's eye twitched.

I don't even know you at all!!

"Alright, I won't tease you anymore." Nan Feng shook his head.

"Come, sit down, let's talk about business."

Qian Renxue looked suspicious, "What business?"

"I said sit down." Nan Feng's gaze sharpened.

Qian Renxue felt a tug in her heart, her vision blurred, and she found she was already sitting back in her seat, holding the hot tea Nan Feng had poured.

"Realized the gap between you and me?" Nan Feng asked.

Qian Renxue nodded with a stiff expression.

This guy really was a mental-control type Spirit Master! She couldn't resist at all! She didn't even know what had happened! "Do you know what I wanted to say to you?" Nan Feng said.

Qian Renxue paused, "Because of those things from the last two years?"

Nan Feng is forcing the people under the the Heaven Dou Empire to rebel, while her appeasement policy, in alliance with Ning Fengzhi, has suppressed those newly emerging riots.

Moreover, following this incident, the funding provided by those under the the Heaven Dou Empire to the Spirit Hall has decreased, and some have even stopped currying favor with the local Spirit Hall personnel.

Because they discovered that even without paying tribute to the Spirit Hall, they still lived perfectly well, or rather, they lived even better by not currying favor with the Spirit Hall.

She never expected things to turn out like this.

Although these events have made her position as Crown Prince more secure, they have also brought significant negative influence to the Spirit Hall.

Now, it is rumored in many places that it is the Spirit Hall demanding money, leaving local officials with no choice but to increase taxes.

At first, it was just a few rumors, but under Ning Fengzhi's manipulation, most places within the the Heaven Dou Empire now view the Spirit Hall as wolves and tigers.

Many local officials in various cities have even begun to set up their own Spirit Awakening sites, separating local Spirit Awakening matters from the Spirit Hall.

What is even more awkward is that those local officials have credited these achievements to her!

They say that if it weren't for this matter, they would never have thought that they could conduct Spirit Awakening ceremonies themselves.

In any case, the Spirit Hall also relied on collecting taxes from the Two Great Empires to conduct Spirit Awakening ceremonies, which was equivalent to outsourcing this matter; this process generated many intermediate costs and even triggered the current situation of forced tax collection.

Since the Spirit Hall is so overbearing, they might as well do it themselves, which also happens to eliminate a step in the process.

Spirit Awakening is not a troublesome matter; compared to collecting taxes, the difficulty of this task is simply not worth mentioning.

In any case, the costs for Spirit Awakening were all collected from below; it was just that it was previously handed over to the Spirit Hall to do, but now they are doing it themselves, which is perfect—this way, it becomes even more convenient to recruit fresh Spirit Masters after they awaken their martial souls!

Now, everywhere in the the Heaven Dou Empire, people are praising her, the Crown Prince! Saying she has the ability of a wise ruler! But the problem is, she didn't do these things, and she certainly didn't want them!

She wants to secure her position as Crown Prince, but she cannot do so at the cost of the Spirit Hall! "It wasn't you who did it?" Nan Feng paused, then nodded.

"That's true, how could you have the brains for this..."

If Qian Renxue had this kind of brain, she wouldn't have been sidelined by Ning Fengzhi.

She spent twenty years undercover, and in the end, besides the position of Crown Prince, she has nothing to show for it.

If she were truly capable, with the power of the Crown Prince, it wouldn't have been impossible to stage a coup while the Emperor was critically ill.

"..."

Qian Renxue's face darkened.

What the hell do you mean?!

Am I that stupid?! "So, these things... were done by Ning Fengzhi?" Nan Feng said.

"Yes." Qian Renxue nodded, feeling somewhat depressed.

"I don't know why he suddenly thought to do these things."

"Since it's Ning Fengzhi, then it makes sense." Nan Feng nodded.

"It seems that the lesson I gave him back then was quite useful."

Qian Renxue was stunned, "What do you mean?"

"As expected, this Sect Master Ning is the like-minded friend I should have," Nan Feng sighed.

The first time they met, at Qibao Zhai, he bragged to Ning Fengzhi from dusk until midnight; it was a whim, and he poured almost everything he had previously said to Bibi Dong into Ning Fengzhi's head.

He was just testing it out, but he didn't expect this Sect Master Ning to be so receptive!

"Like-minded?" Qian Renxue had an ominous premonition.

"What are you trying to do?"

"There are thousands of roads, and all roads lead to Rome," Nan Feng said faintly.

"People, you know, shouldn't hang themselves from a single tree; you have to try every tree to find the one that lets you die the fastest."

Qian Renxue's eyelid twitched violently.

What the hell are you saying!? (End of chapter)