Outside the Red Spider Lily Flower, Shu Wandong, a kinswoman of Prince Qian, was frowning.
Several surrounding disciples were staring intently towards the inner sanctum of the Perennis Immortal Palace. It had been three days since Li Kuanghua entered the Red Spider Lily Flower Platform, and she had yet to emerge.
They all knew the relationship between the Li family and Prince Qian was tense, and that a great war was on the horizon.
They turned to look at Shu Wandong.
"Senior Sister, that Li Kuanghua is too arrogant! She's trying to take your place as a direct disciple!"
"For the Palace Master to even grant her an audience, the Li family must be applying pressure. What a great name they have for themselves."
"What should we do now, Senior Sister?"
Shu Wandong remained silent. Her mother had sent her to the Perennis Immortal Palace as a child, and for a long time, she had resented it. But after returning home, she finally understood that she had been the one who was wrong.
The voices of her fellow disciples continued to buzz around her, but Shu Wandong slowly turned her gaze toward the distance.
A disciple beside her suddenly frowned. "Senior Sister, it's them!"
In the distance, more inner sect disciples were arriving, accompanied by numerous sect elders, all of them observing the Red Spider Lily Platform.
Shu Wandong shook her head.
"Leave two people here to wait outside the Master's seclusion," she instructed. "And tell her this: it is not me she should be wary of, nor is it our Master."
"Senior Sister…"
The disciples were taken aback.
Shu Wandong turned to leave. "She shouldn't have come. This path for her is one of near-certain death. They can't stop Prince Qian, and they have no idea just how terrifying he truly is."
Her words had barely faded
when a sharp crack of displaced air echoed from outside the Red Spider Lily Platform.
Shu Wandong's expression changed drastically as she stared at the yellow-skirted figure that had suddenly appeared beside her.
The young woman wore a look of pure innocence. Beaming, she raised a hand in a wave to the tall and slender Shu Wandong.
"So, you're Shu Wandong? Prince Qian's granddaughter? My family told me Prince Qian is just at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm, while you're almost at the Divinity Transformation stage. He really is a piece of trash, can't even measure up to his own granddaughter."
Before Shu Wandong could even react, Li Kuanghua had already linked arms with her.
Standing on her tiptoes, she began to pull the stunned Shu Wandong along, shooting a wary glance back at the dumbfounded disciples of the Perennis Immortal Palace.
Only then did she lean in to whisper, "Hey, just so you know, I don't actually want that direct disciple spot. That piece of junk? I've got my own master's. But I thought I just heard you say Prince Qian is terrifying?"
"Don't worry, good sister. Whatever the problem is, just tell me all about it. I'm only here to figure out what's going on."
"Huh? Why aren't you talking?"
Li Kuanghua frowned. "Forget it. Your master is calling for you, so just listen to me while I explain. That Prince Qian is a real piece of work…"
Half an hour later, Li Kuanghua had dragged Shu Wandong onto the Red Spider Lily Platform.
The three women now sat upon the Rank 4 spirit object, a great lotus platform, whispering to one another with grave expressions.
Who knew how many reputations were being ruined by their hushed conversation.
Off to one side, unseen by the girls, Li Wei had quietly descended.
He squatted on the platform, his face alight with gossip, eagerly eavesdropping on the whispers of the three powerful cultivators, his eyes darting back and forth.
He squatted there from dawn till dusk; it was as if the three women had formed some kind of secret society.
Li Wei facepalmed. After listening for half the day, he had gleaned one important piece of information.
In truth... Fairy Hongxiu's life was anything but easy.
The Perennis Immortal Palace had a grand reputation and stood aloof from the affairs of the Duravia Trade Prefecture, but every family has its own troubles.
The source of her troubles began the day Prince Qian was exiled to the prefecture.
An unseen force seemed to be working to sow discord within the Perennis Immortal Palace. They were utterly ruthless, stopping at nothing, and were masters of disguise.
Back then, the Palace Master was not Fairy Hongxiu, but her own master. But after the previous master passed away and she took the position, she didn't even dare to use the palace's grand formation to attempt her breakthrough into the Void Refining realm.
She had a premonition that the same force working to divide the palace had secretly set its sights on her.
Although the elders and disciples treated her with the utmost respect, she had a feeling that this mysterious force had already infiltrated their ranks.
"The affairs of this palace are no longer something I can control. My master passed away when her fated time was up. Like me, she was on the verge of a breakthrough. She told me she was ninety percent confident she would succeed, yet something went wrong at the critical moment."
Fairy Hongxiu's beautiful eyes were deep as she looked at Li Kuanghua.
"This is my great calamity," she said. "But when the world fell into chaos, I saw a glimmer of hope."
"My Li family?"
Li Kuanghua raised an eyebrow.
"Mm."
Fairy Hongxiu's voice was grave. "That's why when Li Yaozu of your clan sent his people to Prince Qian's Mansion, I had one of my disciples assist you. That bride in the great red sedan chair… that was a truly venomous scheme. After such a gesture of goodwill, I figured someone from your Li family would pay a visit to my Perennis Immortal Palace."
"Heheh."
Li Kuanghua smiled; this was exactly why she dared to act so brazenly in the Perennis Immortal Palace!
"For years, my master and I have been investigating that mysterious power," Shu Wandong said. "At first, Master was very guarded around me, because I came from Prince Qian's family."
Her voice turned grave. "Later, on my master's orders, I began investigating Prince Qian's Mansion. The prince is far more complex than he appears. Ostensibly, it's the three great powers that control the Duravia Trade Prefecture, but who is actually reaping the benefits is another question entirely. I uncovered an assassin within Prince Qian's Mansion."
"An assassin?"
Li Kuanghua's eyes narrowed.
Shu Wandong said, "A renowned assassin. Years ago, in the Imperial Capital, he assassinated a Divinity Transformation expert within the State Preceptor's Mansion.
He became famous overnight from that one act, but was also captured and imprisoned.
He was sentenced to death, and the executioner should have carried it out. And yet… he has shown up here, in the Duravia Trade Prefecture!"
Upon hearing this, Li Kuanghua clenched her jaw. The State Preceptor again, she thought.
That old mutt and the Grand Tutor… they're like ghosts, they're everywhere.
She took a deep breath and looked at Shu Wandong. "Isn't Prince Qian your grandfather?"
A shadow fell over Shu Wandong's face.
"He's a beast."
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