Chapter 422: Sister (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Xu Fengnian slowly opened his eyes.

The room remained as warm as spring; a gold-splashed antique bronze Xuande burner on the bedside table was burning incense beneficial for sleep, nearly burnt to ashes.

Xu Fengnian sat up and touched his cheeks, which were covered in tears.

"Young Master, what is wrong?" Hongshu, a first-class maid, hurried over, her pretty face filled with concern as she used a silk handkerchief to wipe the Prince's tears.

The Wutong Court where Xu Fengnian resided had about twenty maids divided into four ranks, originally all having elegant names like "Red Snake" and "Oriole Song."

After the Prince returned from his travels, most of them had their names changed; for instance, the head maid Red Snake, who was always favored for her faint fragrance, became the dreadfully vulgar Red Rat.

"I had a dream," Xu Fengnian muttered to himself.

"A dream?" Hongshu frowned.

"Yes, a dream," Xu Fengnian nodded, though a look of bewilderment appeared on his face.

Yet, if one called it a dream, it felt far too real.

The ethereal and vicious Daoist, the ferocious and majestic Heavenly Dragon, the overbearing and tyrannical Murong... and his mother's gentle care; everything was vividly right before his eyes.

"No, this is not a dream. Murong must know something."

Xu Fengnian gave a start, his expression suddenly becoming agitated; he threw off the quilt and ran toward the Tingchao Pavilion.

"Young Master, Young Master, you haven't washed or changed yet!" Hongshu hurriedly chased after him.

"Murong, Murong..." After a simple wash and tidy-up, Xu Fengnian climbed the stairs of the Tingchao Pavilion to the sixth floor with a "thump-thump-thump."

However, when he saw Yu Liancheng, he couldn't help but gasp subconsciously, slowing his pace and even his breathing, as if afraid to disturb the scene before him.

Yu Liancheng was still sitting cross-legged just as he had been the previous night, only there were no books surrounding him.

Murong Wuzhu was resting her head on Yu Liancheng's lap, her delicate body slightly curled, a faint sweet smile at the corners of her mouth, as if in a deep sleep. Sunlight spilled through the window onto the two of them, forming a quiet and breathtakingly beautiful picture.

Just as Xu Fengnian cleared his throat and prepared to speak, Yu Liancheng opened his eyes and made a gesture for him to be silent.

He gently shifted his body, pulled his thigh out from under Murong Wuzhu, then picked up her soft, delicate body, placed her in a room prepared nearby, and covered her with a quilt.

"I know what you want to ask," Yu Liancheng casually pulled a book from the shelf and flipped through it, reading very quickly: "The dream you had is real."

Xu Fengnian immediately said excitedly: "My mother is still alive?"

"She is dead," Yu Liancheng said.

Xu Fengnian's face instantly turned dim, but he quickly braced himself: "Then what was last night?"

"Merely a Residual Soul," Yu Liancheng said calmly: "People have Three Souls and Seven Souls; when a person dies, it is like a lamp going out. Ordinary people die, and their souls all return to the Yellow Springs. However, your mother was a First-Rank Martial Artist, and because she was worried about you, she held onto an obsession, which is why a Residual Soul remained by your side."

"As for the Daoist from last night, he is called Zhao Huangchao, an ancestor of the Liyang Dynasty. For an expert with the strength of a Land Immortal, it is not difficult to have their Primordial Spirit leave their body, travel a thousand miles, and enter a dream to commit harm."

This passage was not long, but the amount of information was vast; it took Xu Fengnian quite a while to fully digest it.

"Mother."

Thinking that even though his mother had passed, she still worried about him and stayed by his side, he could not help but feel overwhelmed, and two lines of hot tears rolled down again.

Yu Liancheng continued to flip through the books.

The books on the sixth floor of the Tingchao Pavilion were all-encompassing, far beyond what the Wending Pavilion on Huishan could compare to; at his current rate of cultivation, he could ascend to the Finger Profound Realm in three months.

Once he combined the Finger Profound Realm with his own martial arts system, his strength would inevitably rise to a higher level.

Although he had some clues about the Heavenly Phenomenon after the Finger Profound Realm, it would require the trials of heaven and earth. In other words, he would have to undergo Crossing the Tribulation. One careless step, and he could be reduced to ashes.

And whether it was the Heavenly Phenomenon or a Land Immortal, both required the support of Luck.

"Murong, thank you for this time. If not for you, my mother's Residual Soul would likely have fallen victim to that Daoist's vicious hands." Xu Fengnian bowed deeply to Yu Liancheng, extremely sincere, his handsome face then showing a ferocious look: "A fine Zhao Huangchao, if I don't slaughter you, I won't be surnamed Xu."

"Then you should prepare to change your surname," Yu Liancheng chuckled: "He is a Land Immortal, and you are just a dissolute Prince; crushing you is no harder than crushing an ant. Furthermore, that fellow has already made an enemy of me; if I meet him again, I will take his life. You might as well take my surname and be called Murong Fengnian; that would be quite good."

Xu Fengnian's eyes rolled, and he bowed to Yu Liancheng again, changing the subject: "Please, Heavenly Venerable, teach me sword techniques; I want to learn martial arts."

Yu Liancheng glanced at him and asked a question: "Why should I teach you?"

Xu Fengnian said with a laugh: "As long as the Heavenly Venerable is willing to teach, from now on the Beiliang Prince Mansion will be the Heavenly Venerable's second home. Martial arts, weapons, experts—whatever it is, I, Xu Fengnian, can provide it."

"Get lost, I have no interest."

Yu Liancheng couldn't be bothered with this kid.

Before Xu Fengnian could continue to plead, he threw out another bombshell: "Do you want your mother to come back to life?"

"What did you say?" Xu Fengnian's body trembled, his eyes widened, his breathing grew heavy, and he instinctively reached out to grab the other's shoulder, but was shaken off by an invisible force, stumbling back a few steps.

Yu Liancheng repeated the same words: "Do you want your mother to come back to life?"

"I do, of course I do, Heavenly Venerable Murong, Master Murong. As long as you can bring my mother back to life, I, Xu Fengnian, will climb a mountain of blades or descend into a sea of fire—I will do anything." Xu Fengnian scrambled over again, but this time he didn't dare to touch the other person.

"Good, then do as I say," Yu Liancheng nodded, a smile on his face: "First, turn around."

Xu Fengnian turned around immediately.

"Good, keep your legs still, and bow your upper body."

Xu Fengnian did as Yu Liancheng said, feeling vaguely that something was wrong.

Then, Yu Liancheng kicked the butt of the most famous dissolute in Beiliang and even the Liyang Dynasty.

"You cannot make the decision on this matter; call your father here."

Just moments after Xu Fengnian left, light footsteps came from behind; Yu Liancheng looked back and smiled: "Wuzhu, you're awake. You woke up really early today."

Murong Wuzhu was still a bit sleepy, her dark hair cascading down, longer than her waist.

Hearing this, she lazily stretched, covered her mouth to yawn, and said: "Stupid Tonghuang, stop being sarcastic in front of your sister."

In fact, Murong Wuzhu had also rested on the sixth floor last night.

In the morning, while half-asleep, she saw Yu Liancheng reading, so she walked over to greet him and talk, but ended up falling asleep again by accident.

"Sister has become smart now, knowing how to be sarcastic," Yu Liancheng said with an expression of surprise.

"Fine, you Tonghuang..." Murong Wuzhu straightened her pretty face and put on a serious look: "I won't argue with you today; I have an urgent matter to tell you."

"What is it?"

Murong Wuzhu put her hands on her hips and said sternly, "You cannot get too close to that Nangong fellow; it is not right."

Yu Liancheng said, "What is not right?"

Murong Wuzhu's beautiful eyes flickered as she said, "The night before last, I... I saw it all."

Yu Liancheng asked in confusion, "Saw what?!"

"I saw you in the courtyard kissing... kissing Nangong Pushe..."

Murong Wuzhu had originally intended to give her younger brother a good lecture, but as soon as she mentioned the word "kiss," a flush immediately stained her fair, tender cheeks, and she became shy herself.

Yu Liancheng shrugged and said, "You saw wrong. At the time, I was just brushing past him."

"Ah??" Murong Wuzhu was momentarily at a loss for what to do. Fortunately, she had spent an hour or two thinking about it last night, and she immediately parted her red lips: "But you two are still too close to each other usually. Little brother, you would never have been this close to a man before."

What a load of nonsense.

Yu Liancheng shook his head: "You misunderstood."

"Hmph, don't interrupt me, or your elder sister will get angry. An elder sister is like a mother; I am going to give you a good lecture today."

Murong Wuzhu placed her slender hands on her slim waist. She had intended to display the majesty of an elder sister, but thinking of how this was her closest younger brother, her heart softened, and her tone turned gentle: "With your martial arts and appearance, you could choose any woman in the world; how can you indulge in male beauty?"

"It is not what you think. The law must not be transmitted to six ears; lean your ear over."

Yu Liancheng whispered a few words into Murong Wuzhu's ear. Murong Wuzhu quickly revealed a look of sudden realization, while also feeling full of shyness. Since Nangong Pushe was a woman disguised as a man, her previous words had been a joke.

For a moment, even Murong Wuzhu's crystalline earlobes were stained with a blush. She stamped her foot and pouted coquettishly: "Stinky Tonghuang, why didn't you say so earlier? You let me have such a big misunderstanding."

Yu Liancheng shrugged: "Who knew your thoughts as a woman were so peculiar? Besides, since others walk the world in a man's guise, they naturally don't want to be discovered. How could I leak the secret so casually?"

"Hmph, I'm ignoring you."

Murong Wuzhu gave a coquettish huff, her light silk robes fluttering, and turned to leave.

The moment she was about to walk out the gate, she quickly returned, stomped hard on Yu Liancheng's foot with her embroidered shoe, and cursed, "Stinky Tonghuang."

For the past two days, she had been filled with worry, fretting over her only relative, her younger brother, thinking about how to get him back on the right track, only for it to end in such a farce.

"It's all Nangong Pushe's fault. I'm going to practice martial arts."

Murong Wuzhu was huffing with anger; she lifted the hem of her skirt, determined to run off and find trouble for Nangong Pushe.

Such a stunning beauty, why pretend to be a stinky man?

Watching Murong Wuzhu's graceful figure disappear, Yu Liancheng sighed and shook his head lightly.

Murong Wuzhu was naturally of a lazy disposition, capable of curling up under a blanket reading storybooks all day, much like the homebodies of later generations.

The reason she braved the hardships of practicing martial arts was merely to walk side by side with him.

They were relatives, thick as blood, leaning on each other.

For Murong Wuzhu, Murong Tonghuang was her only reliance, so she naturally did not want any accidents to happen.

But even this world was merely a piece of scenery along his journey. Although he would stop to admire it, he would not stay forever.

Not long after Murong Wuzhu left, a series of "thump-thump-thump" footsteps sounded urgently, as rapid as raindrops, showing the agitation of the person's mood.

A moment later, Great Pillar Kingdom Xu Xiao appeared before Yu Liancheng, panting slightly.

This Human Butcher was at the Second-Rank Small Grandmaster realm, which shows how agitated his mood was at this moment. As for the unlearned Xu Fengnian, he had been left far behind.

The Great Pillar Kingdom took two deep breaths, gradually returning to calm, though his slightly trembling voice still exposed the surging waves in his heart: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, dare I ask if what Fengnian said is true? She, she has a strand of Residual Soul left in the human world, and you can even..."

"Not right now." Yu Liancheng shook his head.

"Not right now, so in the future..." The Great Pillar Kingdom instantly grasped the key, his eyes flashing with the brilliance of stars.

"My strength is still a bit lacking. Once I reach the Land Immortal Realm, I should be able to lock onto the soul from a thousand miles away, search for the remaining Residual Soul of the Princess, and then place it into another body—consider it a different kind of resurrection. Although there is no ten-tenths certainty, there is seven or eight."

Yu Liancheng picked up a book and said straightforwardly: "I don't like owing favors. Saving the Princess's Residual Soul last night counts as my repayment for entering the Listening Tide Pavilion; we are now even. But there is no free lunch in this world. If you want me to spend great effort to revive the Princess, it will require a price..."

The Great Pillar Kingdom was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his head.

At this moment, the demeanor of a wealthy man was swept away, and he had truly recovered the style of the Human Butcher who had conquered the battlefield and made the entire Spring and Autumn period tremble with fear, as if he could bury tens of thousands of lives with a wave of his hand.

"What. Do. You. Want?!" the Beiliang King said word by word. Although his words were soft, they possessed the power to overturn the entire world.

Yu Liancheng smiled slightly.

It was done.

PS: Begging for monthly tickets.

The remaining 4,000 words will likely only be finished in the early morning; don't wait up.