Knock, knock.
“Guest, the maltose you wanted has been bought back by this humble one.”
The voice of the inn waiter from outside the door pulled Mo Luo’an back from his memories.
“Come in.”
Mo Luo’an took the oil-paper packet handed over by the waiter. Once the waiter withdrew, he opened the packet, took out a piece of maltose, and began to eat it. This thing was incredibly sweet. He did not like sweet food, but Chu Yan loved it. Chu Yan always carried some on his person, perhaps because Madam Chu frequently drank bitter medicine and he had prepared it for her. Over time, it must have become a habit, and Chu Yan himself had grown to love eating it as well.
“A-Yan, I will definitely bring you back.”
Jun Wuye heard the fighting outside stop for a while. He stepped out of his room.
“Qin Hao, what happened?”
Qin Hao was in the middle of instructing his subordinates to search the area. Hearing the Holy Sovereign’s voice, he immediately turned around and walked up to Jun Wuye.
“Holy Sovereign, an assassin infiltrated just now.”
Jun Wuye looked at the guards assembled before him. “Did they escape?”
Qin Hao immediately knelt on the ground, adopting a posture of asking for punishment.
Over the past month, Jun Wuye had observed that Qin Hao was quite loyal to him. Now that he was in a foreign world and still poisoned, he was exactly in need of trustworthy people.
“Rise. Strengthen the defenses.”
“Yes.”
Qin Hao stood up. The Holy Sovereign’s temper seemed to have improved quite a lot over the past month. In the past, he would not have tolerated a single mistake from them.
Jun Wuye turned to enter the room, but after taking one step past the threshold, he stepped back out. He turned to Qin Hao and said, “Bring me the defense layout of this place.”
Qin Hao looked at Jun Wuye in confusion for a good while. “This subordinate will immediately have someone draw up a new defense layout for you.”
The moment Jun Wuye said those words, he wanted to take them back. He really had not reacted in time; that defense layout should already be in the possession of the original owner. Fortunately, Qin Hao did not suspect anything.
“Mm.”
Jun Wuye returned to his room. He pulled out all the items hidden in the secret compartment by the original owner: a command token, a layout map of this Jiyun Peak, a defense layout map, a few martial arts manual booklets, a sword, several medicine vials, and a small wooden box.
Jun Wuye opened the wooden box. Inside was a stack of banknotes, several property deeds, and at the very bottom lay a jade pendant and an exquisite small box carved with Sanskrit characters. He picked up the box and opened it. Inside was a single, blood-red silver thread. This was a valuable treasure, so he tucked it into his robes. The property deeds and banknotes were all part of the original owner’s private personal fortune. As for the jade pendant, Jun Wuye knew from the original owner’s vague memories that it was a betrothal token given by the Si family.
Ha. Although he preferred men, there was absolutely no way he would marry a strange man. Once he cleared the poison from his body, he must find a way to call off this engagement.
Based on the original owner’s memories, he had tried many detoxification methods over the past month, but none had completely eradicated the poison.
He packed these things away again. When he looked at the medicine vials in his hands, he saw that these few vials of pills were all poisons used to control people and their corresponding antidotes; they were of absolutely no use for the poison inside him. If only there were something that could cure all poisons. Why did other people get golden fingers when they transmigrated, while he got nothing? To make matters worse, someone wanted his life the moment he arrived. Surely there was no transmigrator unluckier than him. They really shared the same origin but met completely different fates.
In the end, Jun Wuye kept one martial arts manual on swordsmanship, the sword, and a single banknote. He had not expected the original owner to be so wealthy; every single banknote had a five-figure sum. At least this part of his new life still befitted his original status.
Jun Wuye closed the secret compartment and began to practice using the sword manual. Since the original owner primarily cultivated internal strength, he only knew a smattering of basic swordsmanship. Now that Jun Wuye could not use internal power, practicing was somewhat strenuous, but it was still manageable. He could memorize the movements after looking at them once.
In a side palace, a figure slipped into the room.
“Father, something major has happened!”
“What major event?” An elder sat calmly in his chair, sipping tea.
“A piece of good news and a piece of bad news! The bad news is that an assassin infiltrated our sect to assassinate the Holy Sovereign,” the young man said.
“What?! Did they succeed?” The elder stood up excitedly.
“Father, do not be so excited, do not be so excited. The good news is that the assassin was discovered in time by Protector Qin.”
“Tsk, useless trash,” the elder muttered as he sat back down.
“What?” The young man was puzzled. “What happens next?”
“He made it all the way to the Holy Sovereign’s door. How could Protector Qin let him off? Although his martial arts were quite high, he was still injured by Protector Qin, though he managed to escape in the end,” the young man said, sounding a bit regretful.
The elder sighed. “What a pity. It was just a step away.”
The young man nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes. We were just a step away from catching him.”
Looking at his unpromising son before him, the elder felt a sudden tightness in his chest. “Jian’er, how much has your martial arts improved?”
Fan Jian scratched his head. “Hehe, Father, I will go practice right now.” Having said that, he slipped away in a flash.
Fan Ke remained silent for a moment. He could no longer drink his tea. He stood up and walked outside.
Qin Hao was walking toward the main hall carrying the new defense layout.
“Left Protector, please wait.”
Qin Hao turned around. “Elder Mu, Elder Huang, Elder Fan. May I ask what matters you three elders have with me?”
Elder Mu stepped up to Qin Hao. “We have not seen the Holy Sovereign for more than half a month. Could you pass on a message?”
“Elder Mu has probably forgotten that the Holy Sovereign gave orders last time not to disturb him during his secluded cultivation recently,” Qin Hao said sternly.
“I naturally remember the Holy Sovereign’s words, but there are some urgent matters that must be reported to him,” Elder Mu said, refusing to yield in the slightest.
Qin Hao looked toward Elder Huang and Elder Fan.
Elder Fan spoke, “We also have important matters to report to the Holy Sovereign.”
Seeing that the three of them did not seem intent on leaving today without seeing the Holy Sovereign, Qin Hao conceded. “Then wait outside for a moment. I will go in and report.”
Inside, Jun Wuye listened to Qin Hao’s report that the three elders had arrived.
“Let them in.”
He was feeling much better than he did half a month ago. It was time to weed out these hidden cancers.
“Yes.”
The three elders entered and bowed together. “We pay our respects to the Holy Sovereign.”
Jun Wuye sat in the host seat, with a sword placed right beside him. All three of them could see that the Holy Sovereign had indeed been practicing his martial arts just as he had claimed.
Jun Wuye’s gaze swept across their faces one by one. “All of you may rise. Speak up. What matters bring you to see me?”
“Holy Sovereign, Medicine King Valley has cut off our supply of medicinal herbs. I sought out their people and learned that the order was given by their Valley Master. However, we are still waiting to use this batch of herbs,” Elder Mu spoke first.
Jun Wuye raised his eyebrows. “You have to come to me to make a decision for such a trivial matter? Medicine King Valley is not the only provider in this world. I do not need to teach you what to do, do I?”
“Then what about the deposit we already paid?” He had not wanted to come either, but he had been dragged along by Elder Fan and Elder Huang.
“If they will not supply the herbs, we must get our money back. Send someone to pay another visit to Medicine King Valley. If necessary, you can teach them a lesson. Although our sect agreed to peaceful coexistence, we are not soft persimmons that can be squeezed at will.”
Was his, Jun Wuye’s, money really that easy to take?
“Yes,” Elder Mu said, stepping aside.
“Holy Sovereign, Elder Fan and I heard that an assassin came today, so we specifically came to see if the Holy Sovereign is safe and well,” Elder Huang said.
He had not expected that the moment those words left his mouth, the Holy Sovereign’s sword-like gaze would shoot over, making his skin crawl.