Chapter 287 - 179: Doesn’t Want Us Anymore

Chapter 287: Chapter 179: Doesn’t Want Us Anymore

"Two premium rooms."

Qiu Yuehan said coolly to the innkeeper.

Su Youwan didn’t object. Carrying Mei Zhaozhao, she went upstairs and knowingly entered the second room.

The two rooms were adjacent. Lu Changyuan was then dragged into the first room by Qiu Yuehan.

Qiu Yuehan opened the window, then sat primly on the edge of the bed. Her slender hands rested on her thighs, giving her a rare, docile appearance.

This "white tiger," usually so frighteningly cold, now looked for all the world like a virtuous wife and loving mother.

Lu Changyuan was slightly taken aback. "What’s all this?"

This was usually more Xia Lianxue’s demeanor. Qiu Yuehan’s temperament was utterly ferocious—whether she was fighting an enemy to the death or fighting with him in bed, she was always full of explosive energy. For her to act like this was strange.

Qiu Yuehan said, "It seems that Eldest Princess is about to start another war."

Lu Changyuan hummed in acknowledgment, gazing at the scenery outside the window.

Luoyang was a prosperous city.

No matter what was happening on the front lines, no matter how many people died, the people of Luoyang felt none of it.

Qiu Yuehan watched Lu Changyuan, deliberating for a long while before asking, "Since we know the Eldest Princess is colluding with... something else, shouldn’t we stop the war?"

Lu Changyuan shook his head.

"We’ll see. We can’t act rashly. You and I cannot interfere wantonly in the affairs of the Mortal World."

The last time Lu Changyuan stopped the war between Great Wei and the Glazed Dynasty, it was because all of Great Wei’s soldiers had been trapped in a dream by a Sixth Realm Dream Demon. The situation had been urgent. Otherwise, as a rule, Cultivators must never take part in the wars of mortals.

The Black Skirt Fairy nodded, slipped off her shoes and socks, and sat sideways on the bed with her legs tucked. "I’ve had an insight into the Red Dust Sword Dao."

Her initial comprehension of the Red Dust Sword Dao had come from a wisp of intent from Lu Changyuan. That sliver of Red Dust Qi had only been enough for her to break through the barrier to the Fifth Realm. For nearly a year afterward, her Red Dust Sword Dao hadn’t progressed in the slightest. She never expected to have some new insights upon arriving in Luoyang.

Lu Changyuan did not answer her.

That wisp of Red Dust Intent was something he had left behind when he retraced his steps through the Red Dust.

The Red Dust has eight sorrows.

Birth, old age, sickness, and death—these are the first four sorrows.

Separation from loved ones, meeting the hated, unattained desires, and the blazing of the five aggregates—these are the latter four sorrows.

When Lu Changyuan retraced his steps through the Red Dust, he had experienced all but the eighth sorrow. But an incomplete set of sorrows was, ultimately, incomplete. It could help the Black Skirt Fairy break through to the Fifth Realm, but it could not help her attain Kai Yang’s Intent.

"Go and see for yourself," Lu Changyuan said, his tone flat, but his gaze was unnervingly deep. "When war breaks out between the mortal dynasties, the eight sorrows of the Red Dust will be everywhere. Walk through the Mortal World, and by the time you return, you should have grasped the common ground where death and the Red Dust intersect."

Qiu Yuehan only half-understood.

She hadn’t been human before, and even after she became one, she had grown up in the mountains. Though she often walked the paths of the Red Dust, she had never truly become a part of it.

"Does Miss Qiu want to observe the Red Dust as well?"

An ethereal, pleasant voice drifted from the doorway. The Silver-haired Maiden pushed the door open and strolled in.

Qiu Yuehan stared coldly at Su Youwan. "Didn’t we get two rooms?"

The Silver-haired Maiden tilted her head. "We did. That’s why Youwan put her on the bed over there, tucked her in, and then came over here."

For a moment, Lu Changyuan was at a loss for words.

’Getting an extra room for a fox is a waste of silver.’

’If I’d known, I would’ve just tossed that fox in a corner.’

"Didn’t Miss Qiu mean the little fox shouldn’t see these things? Youwan thought you were planning to turn into a tiger and eat someone tonight, so I made sure she was sleeping soundly, lest she have nightmares about the sounds she might hear."

Lu Changyuan cut Su Youwan off. "I’m going out tonight."

The Black Skirt Fairy suddenly extended a smooth, straight leg. The Fairy’s legs were exceptionally long, her exposed skin like the finest white jade washed by the first snow. She hooked Lu Changyuan’s waist with her delicate foot. Her pearl-like toes were a shade of cherry-pink, and the swaying of a verdant jade bracelet on her ankle was dazzling.

Lu Changyuan caught her small foot and, with a sigh of resignation, sat down on the bed.

Su Youwan sat on a chair, her silver hair cascading down. "The Red Dust each person witnesses is different. Miss Qiu, you mustn’t finish observing the Red Dust only to decide you don’t want us anymore."

Qiu Yuehan snapped, "What nonsense are you spouting!"

"After all, the last cultivator of the Red Dust Sword Dao proclaimed he had seen through the Red Dust, and in the end, he fled into the mountains to escape the world."

The Black Skirt Fairy looked at Lu Changyuan. "And you still want me to cultivate the Red Dust Sword Dao."

The Fairy prodded Lu Changyuan’s chest with her foot. He simply caught the soft appendage. "You won’t end up like that. The Red Dust Sword Dao can’t be mastered by fleeing from the world. That person only ever reached the Kai Yang realm in the end."

"Then how should I cultivate it? I can’t just rely on your Red Dust Intent, can I?"

Of course, she couldn’t.

Lu Changyuan smiled. "First, let’s think about what’s really pulling the strings here. The Ten Thousand Races have gotten restless. It seems that with my disciple away from Celestial Mountain, all the demons and monsters of the world have crawled out of the woodwork."

The Daoist Sect Master has not yet returned to Celestial Mountain, so the Profound Dao is naturally absent from the world.

* * *

"Elder Sister, Elder Sister, look! How is my calligraphy?"

The Little Emperor picked up the characters he had been tracing and handed the paper to Leng Xuanshuang.

Leng Xuanshuang, however, was in no mood to examine it. She simply took the sheet and replied, "You’ve improved a great deal, but don’t press so hard with the brush. The ink on the final hooks of several strokes is a bit too sharp."

The Little Emperor let out a disappointed "oh."

He could tell his Elder Sister was preoccupied.

Leng Xuanshuang’s mind was a tangled mess. The Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master’s attitude today had been too strange. Twice, he had warned her not to go astray. Even an idiot could tell there was a hidden meaning in those words.

’Have I been discovered?’

’How could I have been discovered?’

Leng Xuanshuang couldn’t help but wonder. ’The monster clearly said that no one in this world would ever find out.’

And that had held true until now. Even the people sent from the Qingcao Sword Sect of the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces hadn’t noticed a thing... So why would the Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master say something like that?

At this thought, Leng Xuanshuang rose to her feet and placated the Little Emperor. "I have something I must do. I’ll come see you later. Tonight, I’ll have the Imperial Kitchen make you some crisp sugar candy."

The Little Emperor was unhappy at first, but the moment he heard there would be crisp sugar candy, he quickly forgot his disappointment that his Elder Sister couldn’t stay with him. He went off to play with a palace eunuch.

Leng Xuanshuang soon arrived at the entrance to that hall.

She narrowed her eyes but didn’t enter.

’So what if I’ve been discovered?’

Leng Xuanshuang was no fool. She dared to seek victory by borrowing a power not of the Mortal World precisely because she had already made careful inquiries with the Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master.

The consequences for a Cultivator interfering in the Mortal World were severe, but the punishment for any mortal at fault in the matter was not.

In other words, the Cultivator shouldered nearly all the blame.

’Besides, it’s not as if I, Leng Xuanshuang, am binding the destiny of Great Xia to myself for the sake of Cultivation. I don’t have a shred of Cultivation, nor have I ever thought of defying the laws to cultivate using the nation’s fortune.’

’Even if an Immortal came down from the heavens and captured the monster in that painting, as long as I remain a mortal, my punishment will never be severe.’

’After all, Cultivators don’t care whether or not I want to become the Empress.’