Chapter 94: Qingqiu Accepts Disciples

The two of them chatted on for a while longer about court affairs, but Xiang Ning seemed as though she had been holding something in all along, unable to bring herself to say what was in her heart.

Seeing her stammering and hesitating, Fan Li guessed at once that she had something on her mind.

“Your Majesty, I understand everything you are thinking. Please rest assured—”

“Huh?!”

Xiang Ning stiffened all over at Fan Li’s sudden remark.

Her delicate heart thudded wildly in her chest.

He understood?

He really understood?

In these days since she had been forcibly taken to the Brahma Sound Pure Land, the person she had thought of most often had been his figure.

If he truly understood everything, then what was she to do? How was she supposed to face him from now on?!

“As for the false emperor Xiang Chong, I will not let him have an easy time of it.”

Fan Li thought he had read Xiang Ning perfectly, but she only froze at his words.

So that was all it was—she had been happy for nothing. No, rather, it had been a false alarm?

“Oh. Then what do you plan to do?” Xiang Ning sighed and followed his lead.

“Nothing much. I’ll simply do my duty as a subject.”

Fan Li’s duty?

Xiang Ning was stunned for a few seconds before she finally tasted the meaning behind those words.

Could it be the duty of the Great Chu’s number one treacherous schemer?!

Xiang Ning recalled the terror of being under Fan Li’s control when she had first ascended the throne.

She could not help but shiver, and in her heart she even felt a trace of pity for Xiang Chong.

“Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I guarantee that before you return, Great Chu will not fall into turmoil.”

Hearing Fan Li’s ironclad certainty, Xiang Ning was genuinely moved.

She had once feared that after being abducted, she would be imprisoned forever in the Brahma Sound Pure Land, with no chance of ever returning to Great Chu to rule under heaven.

Yet Fan Li was so resolute—he would actually fight to win back her throne?

“You... why are you so good to me?”

Xiang Ning had originally wanted to ask why he was so loyal to her.

But the word “loyal” did not seem quite right when applied to Fan Li.

Before Fan Li could answer, Xiang Ning herself had already begun to wander into fantasies.

Could it be that Fan Li had improper thoughts about her?

“Actually, it is nothing.”

“For one thing, I am irreconcilably opposed to the Brahma Sound Pure Land.”

“For another, I am your chancellor, not Xiang Chong’s subject.”

Fan Li’s thoughts were in fact very simple. Whether it was Xiang Chong or the Brahma Sound Pure Land, both were things he despised.

If Xiang Ning were the emperor, Fan Li would gladly play the role of a properly obedient treacherous minister.

But if the emperor were to become Xiang Chong, Fan Li truly feared he might not be able to restrain himself and would simply assassinate the sovereign and overturn the dynasty!

Though in that case, would that not violate the basic principles of the treacherous minister system?

“What is taking this conversation so long? I still have a mountain of official work to handle...”

Fan Li, outwardly calm, was inwardly as restless as a cat scratching at his heart.

Xiang Ning had been confined in the Brahma Sound Pure Land, idle all day long, whereas Fan Li was a man buried under endless affairs.

“Your Majesty, is there anything else you wish to say?” Fan Li asked tentatively.

He meant to hint that if there was nothing else, she should hurry up and end the conversation.

He was only being this patient because she was under house arrest. If this were usual, he would long since have stopped being so polite.

But Xiang Ning misunderstood him entirely.

“What does he mean? Does he understand my feelings or not?”

“Does he expect me to speak first?”

“For something like this... how could a woman be the first to say it?”

The more Xiang Ning thought about it, the more wronged and embarrassed she felt.

She only felt that Fan Li had suddenly become thoughtless again, and tears nearly spilled from her eyes.

“I’m fine now. You should rest early as well!”

With that, Xiang Ning tossed the Necklace of Mortal Ties aside and sat there hugging her knees, huffing with displeasure.

This scripture tower belonging to the Lord of Gold Virtue had, ever since it became Xiang Ning’s “prison,” contained only her alone.

She was angry, yet she knew it was not Fan Li’s fault.

She needed someone at her side, yet she also knew the Lord of Gold Virtue would never permit anyone to visit her.

On paper, she had been taken as a disciple; in truth, Gold Virtue had no intention of teaching her anything at all.

Unless the Pure Land were overthrown, Xiang Ning would remain a prisoner forever.

“Fan Li... villain... bad person...”

Xiang Ning muttered under her breath, using Fan Li merely as an outlet for her negative feelings.

So absorbed was she in her own emotions that she did not even notice someone had approached.

“Is this yours?”

A voice, calm and utterly devoid of emotion, yet unexpectedly clear and pleasant, rang out.

Xiang Ning looked up in surprise and saw a figure in azure standing before her.

“You are...?”

Her mood was so foul that she did not even recognize the newcomer at first, only feeling a strange sense of familiarity.

“My name is Qingqiu.”

Qingqiu had come.

She picked up the Necklace of Mortal Ties from the floor and gently handed it back to Xiang Ning.

Xiang Ning took the necklace in a daze, then exclaimed in astonishment, “You are the Lord of Qingqiu?!”

At last, she remembered—this was the master of Princess Changle.

Then she recalled Fan Li had once said he would ask the Lord of Qingqiu to look after her.

So this woman was a friend, not an enemy?

“I cannot take you away,” Qingqiu said.

Xiang Ning immediately felt a wave of disappointment.

But Qingqiu went on, “However, I can teach you to cultivate and make you stronger.”

“Huh?” Xiang Ning looked at her in confusion.

The Lord of Gold Virtue had claimed she would take Xiang Ning as a disciple, yet had only imprisoned her.

Now another Lord had come, also intending to teach her cultivation?

“If I cultivate under you, can I escape back to the Kingdom of Chu?”

“No.”

Qingqiu shook her head almost without hesitation.

Xiang Ning had not really expected much from that answer. Instead, she found Qingqiu refreshingly honest.

“Then can I defeat the Lord of Gold Virtue?” Xiang Ning asked again.

Qingqiu thought for a moment, as if calculating something.

“Within thirty years, absolutely not. After thirty years, with your Xiang bloodline and the divine power of the Tyrant Spear, you may perhaps be able to fight her.”

This answer was completely beyond Xiang Ning’s expectations.

She was only at the Nascent Soul stage—was it really possible for her to defeat a Lord in her lifetime?

One must know that the Lords of the Brahma Sound Pure Land were all at the Great Vehicle stage, beings akin to immortals in the eyes of mortal men.

Qingqiu saw Xiang Ning’s confusion and explained, “Gold Virtue’s talent is limited; it is difficult for her to advance any further. As for you, you still possess limitless possibility.”

“Thirty years, then...”

Xiang Ning fell into thought.

Although she knew full well that she was a prisoner, she still could not imagine what it would be like to spend the rest of her life confined in the Brahma Sound Pure Land.

“I am willing!”

The determination in Xiang Ning’s eyes slowly solidified.

She was the sovereign of Great Chu, bowing only to Heaven, Earth, and her ancestors.

Xiang Ning rose and gave Qingqiu a half-bow.

“Your disciple pays respects to Teacher Qingqiu.”

“Mm.”

Qingqiu nodded, accepting the relation.

“What does Teacher plan to teach me?” Xiang Ning asked without any attempt at reserve, going straight to the point.

In truth, as a direct descendant of the royal house of Great Chu, Xiang Ning naturally possessed the family’s secret cultivation art.

The Overlord Art was in no way inferior to the inherited traditions of any immortal sect beyond the mortal world.

Qingqiu said slowly, “The Pure Land possesses many secret arts, but there is not a single one I can teach you.”

“Huh?”

That answer truly surprised Xiang Ning.

“You are not a true disciple of the Pure Land. If I teach you, I violate the laws of the Pure Land.”

“However, though I cannot teach you the Pure Land’s secret arts, I can teach you how to break them.”

“Fan Li asked me to look after you, so I will first teach you how to unravel Gold Virtue’s secret arts. In the future, once your cultivation reaches a sufficient level, you will at last have the strength to contend with her...”