Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 696 - 580: Impenetrable and Steadfast When Desireless_1

Chapter 696: Chapter 580: Impenetrable and Steadfast When Desireless_1

About two hours later, Dongfang Liang, like a wooden puppet, followed Li Xuan on his sword flight towards the manor of the Marquis of Guanjun.

The black and red ’Forbidden Core Stone’ was embedded in the center of his forehead. It was forcibly implanted into his body by the Lord of Qinglong Palace, who strongly suppressed him. It was a tool used by the ancient Heavenly Court to control sin slaves.

This made Dongfang Liang feel as if his world was collapsing, as if everyone had betrayed him, and he felt alone and helpless.

Unfortunately, once the ’Forbidden Core Stone’ was implanted, Dongfang Liang couldn’t even commit suicide if he wanted to.

Li Xuan did not control his consciousness or anything, but the problem was that the ancient Heavenly Court, in order to prevent the sin slaves from committing suicide and leaving the Heavenly Court without labor, had specially left in the ’Forbidden Core Stone’ a forbidden spell to discourage suicidal thoughts.

At this moment, he was like a zombie, and the only reason he could still fly with his sword was the instinct honed over the decades.

"I’m curious why you’d take such a big risk to find my Jade Qilin?" Li Xuan walked in front of him on horseback and asked curiously: "You deliberately exposed your location, wanted to die faster, didn’t you?"

Dongfang Liang stuttered for a moment but ultimately did not divulge that the Jade Qilin was his junior sister apprentice.

He knew that once her identity was exposed, she would be completely trapped in Li Xuan’s clutches and unable to extricate herself.

Given the character of the Marquis of Guanjun, he would definitely not let his junior sister apprentice go.

"Of course, for revenge!"

Dongfang Liang snorted angrily and said coldly: "That Jade Qilin ruined the plans of my master, and you, Li Xuan, were one of the main culprits who caused my master’s death. Since I can’t do anything to you, I thought of killing that Jade Qilin to avenge my master.

If it weren’t for someone being there that day, I would have killed it on the spot!"

Li Xuan thought that this guy really needed to be taught a lesson, but there was no need to rush.

After all, Dongfang Liang was now in his hands, and he would have plenty of time to deal with him in the future.

As he stepped into the manor of the Marquis of Guanjun, a white figure suddenly rushed from inside the manor and almost flung himself into Li Xuan’s arms.

It was the Jade Qilin who was in good condition from yesterday.

Although it hadn’t fully recovered its vitality, the Jade Qilin’s body was completely restored and no longer hindered its movement.

Considering that the hospital in Jiangnan was crowded and complicated, and that the hospital was also desperately in need of beds, Li Xuan had moved the Jade Qilin back from the hospital.

After pouncing on Li Xuan, the Jade Qilin excitedly and expectantly began to lick Li Xuan’s face.

Li Xuan laughed uproariously: "Okay! Okay! Okay! I brought back the North Sea ice fish you wanted, a whole five baskets full, enough for you to eat for three days. And a two hundred year old whale fish of excellent meat quality that I promised you. Tonight the cooks from Shanwei House will come to process it, and we will all eat it together in our manor."

However, as he was speaking, he noticed that something was wrong with the Jade Qilin. It stopped licking him and its enthusiasm was waning.

"You little––" Li Xuan shook his head: "You don’t pull your punches, do you?"

He didn’t pay it much mind and continued to walk inside.

At this time, Jade Qilin was rigid, looking at Dongfang Liang who was behind him in disbelief.

Dongfang Liang also stiffened, disbelievingly meeting eyes with his junior sister apprentice. In the end, he flew over on his sword with an emotionless expression and indifferent eyes, following Li Xuan into the Manor of the Marquis of Guanjun.

—This wasn’t his choice, it was Li Xuan in front waving his hand and telling him to catch up.

At that moment, Dongfang Liang felt as if his heart had shattered into thousands of pieces, unable to mend back together.

※※※※

Three days later, Xue Yunrou hurriedly returned to the Capital City on her ’Nine Heavens Ten Earths Pimo Divine Shuttle’.

Ever since the chaos of the White Lotus was quelled, she had traveled again to Dushi Castle for supervision and construction.

Today, the city’s protective array that was being rebuilt has finally been completed and passed the inspection of the Court.

Just at this time, Li Xuan prepared a major operation and needed the help of Tianshi’s Mansion.

So, after completing this major project, Xue Yunrou returned to Beijing without even having time to drink some water.

After entering the city, Xue Yunrou, following custom, went into the palace to pay respects to the Emperor and communicate about her work.

What was somewhat awkward for Xue Yunrou was that, due to the seclusion of the Jingtai Emperor, the one who ruled the country at this time was the Princess Changle, Yu Hongchang, who was her former good friend and confidante.

Xue Yunrou originally thought that the encounter between the two would inevitably involve a verbal joust and a back-and-forth battle.

She, as a subordinate, would inevitably be in an inferior position.

But, to Xue Yunrou’s surprise, when the two met, Yu Hongchang, as the regent princess, did not make things difficult for her. On the contrary, she was amiable and her attitude was extremely good, deliberately avoiding Li Xuan in her conversation.

The conversation between the two women was reminiscent of the harmonious atmosphere when they were still intimate friends in the women’s chamber.

After leaving the palace, Xue Yunrou secretly admired her, thinking that Hongchang was indeed of royal blood, and had an air and grace that ordinary people could not match.

Even she, who was a rival in love, felt like she was bathing in a spring breeze in front of Yu Hongchang, and didn’t feel it was difficult to handle Yu Hongchang’s affairs.

Later, Xue Yunrou hastened to Li Xuan’s Marquis of Guanjun mansion, but upon her entry, she sensed something amiss within the mansion.

Usually, the entrance to the Marquis of Guanjun’s mansion was bustling. Li Xuan had twenty-five Earth Dragons and forty-five Dragon-blood Horses housed in his stables.

Furthermore, there were typically carriages parked outside the mansion. These belonged either to Lee Xuan’s subordinates or to scholars who admired him and had come to wait at the marquis’s mansion.

Hence, there were often sounds of horses neighing and beasts roaring at the entrance of the mansion.

But when Xue Yunrou arrived today, she found all the creatures eerily silent. Even the Earth Dragons, known for their temper, remained quiet in their cages, not daring to make a sound.

Upon further inspection, Xue Yunrou found all the animals trembling with fear.

"What’s going on?" An intrigued Xue Yunrou asked Li Dalu, who greeted her, "Did your horses get sick?"

Li Dalu’s face held a strange expression as he said, "Recently, the lord got a new treasure sword. He loves it so much that he’s always looking for something to try out his sword on. The animals outside have all suffered considerable losses, so they dare not misbehave."

Xue Yunrou couldn’t make sense of what he was saying.

Just as she was going to ask for more details, Xue Yunrou suddenly knitted her eyebrows.

"Where did the ’Huci plums’ at the entrance go?"

Huci plums are flowers shaped like plum blossoms with a long flowering period. Several clumps of them used to be planted at the entrance to the Marquis of Guanjun’s mansion, which Xue Yunrou liked very much.

But now, looking around, she found no trace of those flowers.

"Over there," Li Dalu pointed to a flower bed nearby. "Young Heavenly Master, do you see that patch of wilted grass on the left? That’s where they are."

Xue Yunrou was slightly taken aback as she discovered there were numerous wilted plants in that flower bed, not just Huci plum.

"What happened?"

"They’ve been gelded." Li Dalu replied expressionlessly, "The name of the new sword the lord got is ’Gelong.’ It’s said to be a fake divine treasure imbued with the ’Gelding’ power from the Rule of the Extreme Heaven. The lord has been practicing by trying his sword out on various things."

"Gelding?" Xue Yunrou found it absurd. "How can there be such a perverse fake divine treasure in this world?"

"I’m not sure either." Li Dalu shook his head. "Anyway, everyone is now afraid of the young master."

Actually, they felt a chill down below, but saying this to Miss Xue seemed somewhat disrespectful.

Xue Yunrou could fully understand their fear and trepidation; her expression became peculiar as she said, "He didn’t do anything to you people, did he?"

"No, he didn’t." Li Dalu gave a bitter smile. "But he did visit the Zhao Prison of Xiuyiwei and the Demon Tower of Liudao Division yesterday. I heard that last night a large group of serious sinners wanted to commit suicide, saying they didn’t want to live anymore."

Xue Yunrou speechlessly continued her walk till she reached the main hall, where she stopped once again.

On both sides of the main hall, there used to be a couplet, ’Upon absorbing a hundred rivers, the sea is Great; Upon towering a thousand feet without desire, the wall is upstanding.’

But now, each line of the couplet was missing a character, becoming ’Upon absorbing a hundred rivers, the sea is; Upon towering a thousand feet without desire, the wall is.’

Xue Yunrou speculated, "Was this also done by your lord?"

"It was also gelded, just yesterday." Li Dalu nodded. "He said the gelding technique shouldn’t be limited to humans and livestock but can be extended to all living and non-living things. This is one of the results of his experiment.

Strangely enough, ever since the couplet was gelded, we tried to paste a new one up. Before we could stick it with paste, half of the couplet was already gone."

Xue Yunrou found Li Xuan in the backyard training ground of the estate, provoking Dongfang Liang when she arrived.

"What do you say, how about this? I will lift the ban for you to attack. If you can hold your own for two Shichen without getting beaten, I will remove your ’Forbidden Core Stone’ and let you go."

It was clear that Dongfang Liang was somewhat tempted, but he then looked at the ’Gelong Sword’ in Li Xuan’s hand with resolute determination.

He then tentatively asked, "Can I test it, promising you won’t use any external force?"

Li Xuan laughed off this suggestion. "I’m not even at the Fourth Gate. Without the help of external forces, all I’ll receive is a beating, right?"

"I mean the array within your mansion." Dongfang Liang huffed, "If you promise not to use it, I’ll fight with you."

He knew that using the ’Gelong Knife’ would drain even a sub-heavenly level of their energy.

Li Xuan managed to use it for an extended period by manufacturing heavenly-grade Zhenyuan using the ’Four Symbols Refining Primordial Furnace’ and constantly receiving power from the mansion’s large array.

Within his estate, Li Xuan undoubtedly used the latter method.

The quantity of heavenly-grade Zhenyuan stored in the ’Four Symbols Refining Primordial Furnace’ was limited, so Li Xuan could not afford to squander it on this endeavor.

As expected, Li Xuan shook his head. "Too bad, this was your only chance to escape, and you missed it."

Dongfang Liang’s lip twitched slightly, and he didn’t bother responding further. He thought to himself, he probably meant my opportunity to be gelded, right?

At that moment, Xue Yunrou’s soft voice floated over from a distance, "You plan to ambush Ban Ruyi, the Demon Master? Is it because of Yu Hongshang being attacked? Xuan, oh Xuan, you really know how to worry about others."