Chapter 177: A Messy Situation

The Demon Suppression Division truly caught the assassin, taking the corpse back to close the case and investigate the source.

The Headmaster, who had feigned illness to claim he was being targeted, was inexplicably shocked to find that a result had actually emerged. He sat up from his sickbed in disbelief.

Pei Qingyan, standing by, also heard the report: Lu Xingzhou and Pei Chuyun were having a secret meeting in Qingyao Garden, and this person had seized the opportunity to assassinate them, only to be caught red-handed by Lady Ye of the Alchemy Academy...

Pei Qingyan's smile vanished.

Who was having a secret meeting with whom in Qingyao Garden?

Wasn't this class time?

The two old fogies exchanged a glance, feeling a shared sense of dread.

One was skipping work, the other was skipping class; one said their father was sick, the other was meeting a blondie in secret. Neither had any room to laugh at the other.

The two big shots who held significant weight in the Great Qian court simultaneously spat out the same sentence: "Just you wait."

The illicit couple over there had no idea of the miserable fate awaiting them.

Sheng Yuanyao stepped into Qingyao Garden and saw from afar Lady Ye standing before the couple, speaking: "I was worried about too many eyes and ears, so I didn't have the Alchemy Academy send more people... This is my dereliction of duty."

In truth, Ye Tinglan's real dereliction was not wanting to expose her Super-Grade strength.

If limited to First-Grade, Third-Grade and First-Grade actually belonged to the same major realm according to ancient methods, merely divided into early and late stages. Combat power might differ greatly—perhaps even several times more than the gap between Ninth-Grade and Third-Grade—but there was no dimensional difference in their realms.

If she were Super-Grade, she could have killed the assassin instantly on the spot, or found a way to restrict space so the opponent couldn't teleport at all. But a First-Grade could only manage to give chase. Although her ability to catch up to a teleporting target based on speed alone was already shockingly powerful, it still gave the opponent room to commit suicide.

Ye Tinglan really hadn't expected the opponent to commit suicide so decisively... It was indeed a dereliction of duty.

Lu Xingzhou, however, didn't mind: "It was already a great help that you were able to intervene, Sir. The opponent could teleport; even if other teachers from the Alchemy Academy had come to surround us, they wouldn't have been able to stop it."

Ye Tinglan knew that wasn't the issue, and felt uneasy in her heart: "The person is dead, and it may be impossible to track down the mastermind. Your crisis hasn't completely passed."

"Regardless, there will be some clues. It's much better than the previous result of being completely in the dark." Lu Xingzhou laughed: "I'll go to the Demon Suppression Division later to take a look; maybe I'll gain something."

Ye Tinglan knew there wouldn't be any gains. The basic quality of a dead soldier was not to leave behind any traces that could identify them; otherwise, their death would be in vain. His ring was empty, containing almost nothing but some basic spirit stones and elixirs.

The only thing that could count as a clue was the address, but for most people, that address would likely point toward Prince Jin.

She was silent for a moment, and seeing Sheng Yuanyao approaching, she said no more, only stating: "With such a crisis, do you still intend to play around outside?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "Right now is actually the safest time."

Theoretically so, but who could be this calm after just encountering an assassination attempt by a dead soldier... Ye Tinglan left a retort with a huff: "You'd rather have beauty than your life."

Having said that, she vanished directly. It was unclear if she went to investigate the case or what; could she really stand here and watch this disciple fool around with a woman right in front of her?

Not until she disappeared did Pei Chuyun let out a sigh of relief and speak her first sentence: "I can't think of who it could be, but it definitely isn't my father."

"If you can't think of it, don't. I have a slight judgment, but it's not important right now." Lu Xingzhou leisurely pulled her into his arms: "Come to think of it, I'm actually worth someone using a Third-Grade dead soldier on me. It's truly unexpected; I only learned today that I have such great value."

It really wasn't just talk; even Pei Chuyun didn't think her lover had such great value. She really didn't know which lunatic would pay such a high price. She guessed they hadn't expected the dead soldier to fail?

Pei Chuyun also felt Ye Tinglan's conflicted mood: "Someone is out for your life and you say it's 'not important right now.' Then what do you think is important right now?"

"Of course, taking advantage of the fact that there really is no one else here, and getting intimate with my A-Yun is most important." Lu Xingzhou kissed her.

Pei Chuyun yielded gracefully.

"Lu Xingzhou!" Sheng Yuanyao swept over like a gust of wind, furious: "You said you wanted to lie in wait for the assassin, I even sold out my father to come help you, and you're just here drinking tea!"

"Heh..." Pei Chuyun, nestled in Lu Xingzhou's arms, said leisurely: "If we waited for you to help, we would have been assassinated eight hundred times over. Whether it was the assassin against him, or him against me."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

Being on her home turf, Sheng Yuanyao added a layer of force: "I don't care how you were assassinated, this is my garden, and I don't welcome vixen spirits. This way, please~"

Pei Chuyun said: "I won't. Are you going to chase me out?"

Sheng Yuanyao hummed a cold laugh: "I saw through you long ago. In front of outsiders, you pretend to be a cold, noble lady, pretending to be a pure white flower."

"So what?"

"Then do you know how many workers I have in this garden?" Sheng Yuanyao whistled: "No need to hide, come out, come out~"

"Swish, swish, swish~" By the lake, in the mountains, countless flower farmers, grass workers, reception staff, management staff, and security personnel appeared from nowhere, suddenly filling the previously empty Qingyao Garden: "Hello, Boss."

Pei Chuyun was so startled she jumped a full yard away from Lu Xingzhou, angry and anxious: "Sheng Yuanyao! You're flipping the table!"

"Hmm? What flipping the table? Where's a table?" Sheng Yuanyao arrived at Lu Xingzhou's side, refreshed, draping her arm over his shoulder like a buddy: "Do you want to see what the Lingxiao flowers look like when they bloom? Let's go, brother will take you to see."

With her official uniform and upright demeanor, at a glance, there really wasn't any sense of ambiguity; it truly looked like two brothers being chummy. Others who saw them basically had no reaction, only thinking the boss was truly a heroic woman.

Pei Chuyun was dumbfounded. She never imagined that after eighteen years of traversing the Joyous Sect and studying countless tea arts, she would actually lose to a legendary 'female brother' in the matter of snatching a man, and for a moment, she couldn't find a way out.

A-Nuo was right, this kind of creature is the most terrifying. Lu Xingzhou was helplessly saying to Sheng Yuanyao: "You shouldn't have come over. If this had been the moment the assassin struck, you would have been in great danger."

"I'm also Fourth-Grade now, why do you all think I'm so dense?" Sheng Yuanyao was unconvinced: "How about I go find Qi Tuizhi to spar?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed out loud: "I think we'd better spare Qi Tuizhi..."

"Then tell me, can I beat Qi Tuizhi or not?"

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment, feeling that the current Sheng Yuanyao probably couldn't win; she would need to reach the upper stage of Fourth-Grade. Qi Tuizhi was truly not weak.

He said tactfully: "I reckon it's about the same. You might be slightly inferior in strength; it would be more stable after cultivating for a while longer. Qi Tuizhi is stuck at the major bottleneck of Third-Grade; it's hard to make progress in the short term, so he's easy to catch up to."

Sheng Yuanyao heard his attempt to save face and pouted: "I don't care to compete with him; my goal is also the Upper Three Grades."

She paused here and added: "But if I want to reach the Upper Three Grades, I'll likely have to go out and train. But I don't want to be sent away..."

"What, haven't had enough fun back in the capital? I actually think you can't suppress your restless heart; you can't stay idle."

Sheng Yuanyao glanced at him with a look that was both resentful and longing.

It wasn't that she couldn't bear to leave because she hadn't had enough fun in the capital...

It was because you are in the capital.

Lu Xingzhou quickly realized this and said in a low voice: "I... should be leaving the capital in a few days."

Sheng Yuanyao blurted out: "Why? Haven't you only been enrolled for a month?"

"I have a mentor... The mentor believes the general courses at the Alchemy Academy don't match my needs and that I should study privately with her. Furthermore, the significance of studying at the academy is minimal; I should go out and train more... Well, we should be able to return to the capital from time to time."

"I see..." Sheng Yuanyao stopped, standing before the stone tablet of Lu Xingzhou's poem "Jian Zi Mu Lan Hua," staring blankly for a while, then smiled with relief: "That's true, you were never meant to stay in the capital for long."

At this moment, the young girl's heart was filled with a thousand flavors hard to describe, but like Pei Chuyun, they both coincidentally felt that it might not be a bad thing for him to leave for a while.

Always being here, their souls were being hooked away, yet it was impossible to be anyone's concubine, leading to self-inflicted internal friction and endless tug-of-war.

It would be better for everyone to cool down for a while; perhaps when the boat reaches the bridge, there will be a new turn of events.

—Regardless of whether it was the little demoness or the little constable, their experience was not enough for them to realize that the more people are stuck together every day, the more likely they are to become bored or conflicted; perhaps sooner or later, a quarrel would erupt due to the triangular relationship.

But the more they were briefly separated, the more their longing would settle. Distance would cover up all the small flaws and magnify the other's good points.

Just like Shen Tang right now, missing Lu Xingzhou so much she was almost going crazy.

In some southern mountain range, she was tossing and turning, unable to sleep, more times than could be counted.

"Since that's the case..." Sheng Yuanyao turned to Pei Chuyun, smiling brightly: "Shall we drink a few cups of farewell wine together, as a send-off for him?"

Pei Chuyun tilted her head to look at her, appreciating this girl's boldness and straightforwardness for the first time, and smiled: "Alright."

The three of them, with A-Nuo, sat around the square table under the tree. Sheng Yuanyao ordered people to bring wine and filled a cup for everyone.

She immediately raised her cup to Pei Chuyun: "I know you've also reached Third-Grade, counting me a step behind, but I will catch up. One day, just like the poem on the tablet, 'The Lingxiao flowers bloom a hundred feet tall,' both you and I will be."

This "step behind" was unclear whether it referred to cultivation or something else... but Pei Chuyun was too lazy to chew on the hidden meaning right now, so she raised her cup to clink it: "Lingxiao flowers like to climb; are you sure you want to learn that?"

Sheng Yuanyao said nonchalantly: "Climbing doesn't necessarily mean clinging... For us cultivators, aren't we climbing the mountain rocks, the heavenly path?"

"Well said." Pei Chuyun tilted her head and drank it all.

Never thought the girl she always felt was a bit dense would be so interesting... provided they didn't talk about men.

Just as Pei Chuyun was about to say something, voices came from below the hill: "Where is Yuanyao!"

"Where is Chuyun?"

The two women's faces turned green instantly. They turned their heads to see Sheng Qingfeng and Pei Qingyan storming up the mountain.

The two women "whooshed" and ran away, but how could they outrun their own old fogies? Each was grabbed and hauled home like a cat.

"Cursing your father to be sick, you're very filial, aren't you?"

"Sent you to the Imperial Academy, and you're skipping class to drink!"

The just-now-dignified sitting and speaking, which even Lu Xingzhou hadn't finished savoring, turned into a messy situation in the blink of an eye.