Chapter 383

Yang Fu.

Upon hearing the report from the Seventh Princess, Yao Ji immediately dismissed the servants in the household, intending to take her family and flee elsewhere. However, when the moment arrived, she discovered Yang Jian was missing. Just as she was about to have Yang Jiao search for him, her Celestial Eye opened, capturing a beam of light shooting straight toward the Heavenly Palace. In her haste, Yao Ji had no time to discern its nature, assuming it was a signal that the Heavenly Court was making its move. She wanted to take the field herself to retrieve Yang Jian.

"Snap!"

In the midst of the panic, the main gate suddenly opened. Yao Ji saw a person walking in from outside the courtyard, dressed entirely in green, with an exceptionally handsome appearance. The person was carrying Yang Jian. Their gazes met, and the man reached out and tossed Yang Jian, who flew toward Yao Ji in a curled-up ball.

Yao Ji remained on guard, secretly circulating her magic power, but she saw Yang Jian flying toward her with great speed, only to land lightly as he reached her, without a single injury on his body.

"Leave quickly."

As Gu Qing spoke, he swept his gaze over the five members of Yang Tianyou's family. As the Jade Emperor's sister, Yao Ji was born noble and naturally carried an air of nobility. However, after marriage, the gentleness of a wife and the fortitude of a war god had blended together, giving her a more unique charm. Yet, Gu Qing's gaze focused more heavily on the Third Holy Mother at this moment; although she was young, she was like a lotus flower at dawn, brilliant and bright, with a scholarly gentleness in her brows—truly a rare beauty of the Three Realms.

Seeing that Gu Qing harbored no ill intent, Yang Tianyou hurriedly cupped his hands in thanks.

In this *Lotus Lantern*, Yang Tianyou's character setting was much better than Liu Yanchang's. Gu Qing felt no ill will toward him, so he said, "I merely saw you were in a rush to leave and decided to offer a little help."

Of course, the merit points of these immortals were also extraordinary.

"Sir, by intervening in this matter, I fear you will be implicated."

Yao Ji had Yang Tianyou dispatch the servants while speaking to Gu Qing.

"I do not fear being implicated."

Gu Qing said calmly, "The birth of all tragedy in this world stems from the inadequacy of the parties involved. The Heavenly Court at this stage is not yet capable of taking me down."

The beginning of this *Lotus Lantern Prequel* was before the Great War of Investiture. Only after the Investiture and the Journey to the West did the events of the Lotus Lantern occur. It was only after the Investiture that the Heavenly Court's strength became formidable. At this stage, the Heavenly Court relied on the Ten Golden Crows, Marshal Tianpeng, and others. Although their strength was not bad, Gu Qing, having come out of the White Snake world, did not fear them.

The inadequacy of the parties involved?

Upon hearing this, Yao Ji was deeply moved. Facing one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals, she could not help but feel despair in her heart. Although Yao Ji intended to take Yang Tianyou's family and run, she knew that no matter where they ran, the heavenly soldiers and generals would eventually catch up.

"The Princess's three children are half-human, half-god, with extraordinary potential. It would be better to send them to study under a master."

Gu Qing reminded her.

Hearing this, Yao Ji felt a glimmer of hope. She looked at Gu Qing and asked, "In your opinion, Sir, where would be best for them to cultivate?"

"The Chan Sect, of course!"

Gu Qing said affirmatively.

In the Great War of Investiture, the Chan Sect was the winner, and the skills of Yang Jian and Yang Chan were indeed learned from within the Chan Sect.

For the sake of merit points, Gu Qing had returned Yang Jian and reminded Yao Ji of a few things. At this critical juncture of Yao Ji's family fleeing for their lives, Gu Qing naturally would not waste time. He left the Yang residence early. While circulating his Soul Spirit, he sensed movement in one location. His brows lifted slightly, and he moved toward that side, seeing the dignified Seventh Princess, daughter of the Jade Emperor, surrounded by three demons at this moment.

"Miss, you look quite good. Why don't you be my mountain-stronghold mistress?"

The leading tiger demon teased the Seventh Princess.

The Seventh Princess furrowed her brows. At this juncture, with heavenly soldiers and generals about to descend, she did not want to create complications, nor did she want to expose herself and be held accountable by the Heavenly Court afterward. But in this gap of searching for her "brother," being blocked on both sides by these three little demons made her heart anxious.

"Move aside quickly!" the Seventh Princess shouted sharply.

"Little girl, our boss is amazing. If you follow our boss, you'll have endless glory and wealth!"

The Fifth Brother among the three little demons was a male fox demon. At this moment, his attitude was the fiercest, roaring and shouting at the Seventh Princess.

Beside him was a dainty female fox demon named Hu Mei. Although she participated in intercepting the Seventh Princess, her face carried an apologetic expression. The root cause of this incident was that Fifth Brother feared the tiger demon would lay a hand on Hu Mei, so he diverted the trouble. The first target of the diverted trouble was Yang Chan, and the second was the Seventh Princess. As long as the tiger demon forcibly snatched a civilian woman, Hu Mei would be safe.

If the Seventh Princess had left directly just now, she would have been safe, but the need to find her brother gave these three little demons an opportunity.

Gu Qing's figure flashed, and he broke directly into the encirclement. Seeing the tiger demon about to make a move on the Seventh Princess, his hand flashed. Before the tiger demon could even realize what had happened, he heard a series of popping sounds. Turning his head back, his arm was snapped, his knees felt pain, and he knelt directly to one side.

"We..."

Seeing Gu Qing's ferocity, Fifth Brother hurriedly tried to explain, only to see Gu Qing reach out and grab repeatedly, breaking many of the bones in his body as well.

This Fifth Brother and Hu Mei were the future parents of Xiaoyu. Among them, Hu Mei was pure and devoted, while Fifth Brother was no good. In the TV series, he jumped back and forth repeatedly, eventually kidnapping Tang Seng. When clashing with Sun Wukong, he was beaten to death by Sun Wukong, only implicating Hu Mei to be buried with him.

"Brother!"

Seeing Gu Qing make a move, the Seventh Princess placed her hands on Gu Qing, extremely happy. Originally, she thought she was the only one worried about her aunt, but she didn't expect another brother to have the same heart. Now that both sides were making the same mistake, the Seventh Princess felt even closer to this brother. Her eyes looked at Gu Qing, and she even pinched Gu Qing's face, asking confusedly, "Which brother are you?"

After all, the ten Golden Crow princes were all sons of the Jade Emperor.

Gu Qing looked at the Seventh Princess's appearance, then glanced at Fifth Brother beside them, and said, "Sister, just a moment ago, Big Brother was hit by an arrow. The place where the arrow was fired is right here, so Brother must hide well."

Upon hearing that the Great Golden Crow had met with trouble, the Seventh Princess's face was full of worry, and she understood Gu Qing's "concealing his name" in front of her.

"Then let's go back quickly."

The Seventh Princess said urgently.

"That won't do!"

Gu Qing said, "I still want to go study arts. The current Jie Sect has ten thousand immortals coming to court, teaching without discrimination. The methods they teach can be cultivated by humans, demons, and immortals alike. Brother wants to go into the Jie Sect and learn a set of skills."

The Jie Sect?

The Seventh Princess had naturally heard of the Jie Sect and the Chan Sect, but the Jade Emperor had recently issued an edict telling them not to get involved between the Jie Sect and the Chan Sect. Now that this brother wanted to go to the Jie Sect, the Seventh Princess was left wanting to speak but hesitating.

"The Investiture is about to happen."

Gu Qing said again, "In the Jie Sect, there are more opportunities for the Investiture."

Hearing this, Fifth Brother beside them had his eyes light up. He had always resented that he didn't have enough skills and his status wasn't high. Now that he had suddenly obtained an opportunity, he naturally had to seize it.

(End of chapter)