Chapter 219: A Ground of Chicken Feathers

The Demon Suppression Bureau had indeed captured the assassin and brought the body back to report and thoroughly investigate its origin.

The First Seat, who had been feigning illness and claiming to be the victim of an assassination attempt, was inexplicably startled to find that there had actually been one. He himself sat up from his sickbed, utterly astonished.

Pei Qingyan, who was nearby, also heard the report: Lu Xingzhou and Pei Chuyun were having a private meeting in Qingyao Garden, and the assassin had seized the opportunity to strike, only to be caught red-handed by Madam Ye of the Alchemy Academy.

Pei Qingyan's smile disappeared.

"Who was having a private meeting with whom in Qingyao Garden?"

"Wasn't this class time?"

The two elders exchanged a look, a sense of shared woe between them.

One skipped work, the other skipped class; one claimed her father was ill, the other met secretly with a young man. Neither of them had any room to gloat.

Two influential figures in the Great Qian court simultaneously declared, "They've got another thing coming."

The scandalous pair, however, remained oblivious to their impending tragic fate.

As Sheng Yuanyao stepped into Qingyao Garden, she saw Madam Ye from a distance, standing before the couple and saying, "Out of concern for attracting too much attention, I didn't send more people from the Alchemy Academy... This was my dereliction of duty."

In truth, Ye Tinglan's real lapse in duty stemmed from her reluctance to expose her Super-Grade abilities.

If she had only limited herself to Grade One, then a Grade Three and a Grade One practitioner, according to ancient methods, would actually belong to the same major realm, simply differing as early and late stages. Their combat power might vary significantly—perhaps several times greater than the difference between Grade Nine and Grade Three—but there would be no dimensional gap in their realms.

As a Super-Grade practitioner, she could have instantly eliminated the assassin on the spot or found a way to restrict space, making teleportation impossible for the opponent. However, as a Grade One, she could only pursue. While her speed, allowing her to keep pace with teleportation, was already remarkably powerful, it still afforded the opponent the opportunity to commit suicide.

Ye Tinglan truly didn't expect the opponent to commit suicide so decisively... it was indeed a dereliction of duty.

Lu Xingzhou, however, seemed unconcerned. "It's already a great help that Madam could intervene," he said. "The opponent can teleport, so even if other teachers from the Alchemy Academy had come to surround him, they wouldn't have been able to stop him."

Ye Tinglan knew that wasn't the real issue and felt a pang of guilt. "The person is dead," she said, "so we might not be able to trace the mastermind, and your crisis isn't entirely over."

"At least there will be some clues," Lu Xingzhou said with a smile, "which is much better than the previous outcome of complete ignorance. I'll also go to the Demon Suppression Bureau later to see if there's anything to be gained."

Ye Tinglan knew there would be no significant findings. The fundamental training of such an assassin was to leave no discernible traces of their identity; otherwise, their death would be in vain. His ring was empty, containing almost nothing but a few basic spirit stones and elixirs.

The only potential clue was an address, but for most, that address would likely point directly to Prince Jin.

She fell silent for a moment, then, noticing Sheng Yuanyao approaching, she said no more, simply remarking, "With such a crisis, are you still going to be out here frolicking?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled, "Now is actually the safest time."

Theoretically, that was true, but who could be so calm right after encountering an assassin? Ye Tinglan exasperatedly remarked, "You prioritize pleasure over your life."

After saying this, she vanished, leaving it unclear whether she was off to investigate the case or do something else entirely. Was she expected to stand there and watch her disciple flirt with a woman right in front of her?

Only after she disappeared did Pei Chuyun, as if relieved of pressure, utter her first sentence: "I can't imagine who it could be, but it's definitely not my father."

"If you can't figure it out, then don't," Lu Xingzhou said, casually embracing her. "I have a slight suspicion, but it's not important right now. Speaking of which, it's quite unexpected that I'm deemed worthy of a Grade Three assassin. I only just realized today how valuable I am."

To be honest, Pei Chuyun herself didn't believe her lover was worth that much. She truly couldn't fathom which lunatic would go to such lengths, perhaps never imagining the assassin would fail?

Pei Chuyun also caught Ye Tinglan's exasperated sentiment. "Someone just tried to kill you, and you say 'it's not important right now'," she mused. "So what *do* you think is important right now?"

"Of course, the most important thing is to take advantage of the fact that we're truly alone right now and be intimate with my A-Nu." Lu Xingzhou leaned in and kissed her.

Pei Chuyun responded gracefully.

"Lu Xingzhou!" Sheng Yuanyao swept over like a gust of wind, fuming. "You said you were staking out an assassin, and I even went against my father's wishes to come help you, and here you are just sitting around drinking tea!"

"Heh..." Pei Chuyun, nestled in Lu Xingzhou's arms, calmly retorted, "Waiting for you to help? The attack would have happened eight hundred times by now. Whether it was the assassin attacking him, or him attacking me."

On her home turf, Sheng Yuanyao's confidence seemed to double. "I don't care how you 'stab'," she declared, "this is my garden, and vixens are not welcome. This way, please!"

"I won't," Pei Chuyun said. "Are you going to drive me away?"

Sheng Yuanyao sneered coldly, "I saw it long ago. You always pretend to be a dignified and aloof noblewoman, an innocent 'white flower,' in front of outsiders."

"So what?"

"Then do you know how many people I employ in this garden?" Sheng Yuanyao let out a whistle. "No need to hide anymore, everyone, come out!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh"—from the lakeside, among the hills, countless flower growers, groundskeepers, reception staff, managers, and security personnel seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The seemingly empty Qingyao Garden was suddenly teeming with people. "Hello, Boss," they chorused.

Pei Chuyun was so startled that she leaped a full zhang away from Lu Xingzhou, both angry and anxious. "Sheng Yuanyao!" she exclaimed, "You're flipping the table!"

"Huh? What 'flipping the table'? Where's the table?" Sheng Yuanyao said, approaching Lu Xingzhou with a refreshed look and slinging her arm around his shoulder like an old buddy. "Do you want to see how the Trumpet Creeper flowers bloom? Come on, brother, I'll take you to see."

Her official uniform gave her an upright and proper appearance, and at first glance, there was genuinely no hint of impropriety; they truly looked like close friends. Others who witnessed it mostly had no reaction, simply concluding that their boss was indeed a woman with the spirit of a true man.

Pei Chuyun was dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that after eighteen years of navigating the Joyful Sect and mastering countless tea ceremonies, she would actually lose in the art of captivating a man to the legendary "female buddy," and she couldn't come up with a solution on the spot.

Indeed, A-Nu was right. This type of creature is the most terrifying.

Lu Xingzhou was helplessly saying to Sheng Yuanyao, "You shouldn't have come. If this were the moment the assassin chose to strike, you would be in great danger."

"I'm also Grade Four now, why do you all think I'm so useless?" Sheng Yuanyao retorted indignantly. "How about I go find Qi Tuizhi to spar?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed out loud, "I think we should spare Qi Tuizhi..."

"Then tell me, can I beat Qi Tuizhi?"

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment, sensing that the current Sheng Yuanyao probably couldn't win. She would need to advance to the upper level of Grade Four; Qi Tuizhi was genuinely not weak.

He tactfully replied, "I'd estimate you're close. You might be slightly inferior in strength, but after cultivating a bit longer, you'll be more stable. Qi Tuizhi is stuck at a major bottleneck in Grade Three, so it's unlikely he'll make significant progress anytime soon; he'll be easy to catch up to."

Sheng Yuanyao understood his attempt to save her face and pouted. "I don't even care to compete with him," she said. "My goal is also to reach Grade Three."

She paused here, then added, "But if I want to reach Grade Three, I'll likely have to go out and gain more experience. And I don't want to leave the capital anymore..."

"What, haven't had enough fun back in the capital?" he teased. "I actually think you can't suppress your restless heart; you can't stay idle."

Sheng Yuanyao cast him a glance, tinged with both melancholy and resentment.

It wasn't that she couldn't bear to leave the capital because she hadn't had enough fun...

It was because he was in the capital.

Lu Xingzhou quickly realized this and whispered, "I... should be leaving the capital in the next few days."

Sheng Yuanyao blurted out, "Why? Haven't you only been enrolled for a month?"

"I have a mentor now... My mentor believes that the general curriculum at the Alchemy Academy doesn't align with my needs. I should study individually with her, and the value of training within the academy is quite limited; I should gain more experience through trials... We should return to the capital periodically, though."

"I see..." Sheng Yuanyao paused, standing before the stone tablet engraved with Lu Xingzhou's poem "Jianzi Mulan Hua." She gazed at it in a daze for a while, then smiled in relief. "That's right," she mused, "you were never meant to stay in the capital for long."

At this moment, the young woman was filled with an inexpressible mix of complex emotions. Yet, like Pei Chuyun, they both coincidentally felt that his leaving for a period might not be a bad thing at all.

Remaining here, their spirits were utterly captivated. Yet, neither could possibly become his "little one," leading to endless internal conflict and constant emotional tug-of-war.

It might be better for everyone to cool down for a while. Perhaps, when the time is right, things will take an unexpected turn for the better.

—Neither the little demoness nor the little constable had enough experience to realize that the more people spend time together daily, the more likely they are to grow weary of each other or face conflicts, and that arguments over a love triangle were bound to erupt sooner or later.

Yet, brief separations tend to deepen longing. Distance obscures minor flaws and magnifies a person's virtues.

Just like Shen Tang now, who missed Lu Xingzhou so much she was almost going crazy.

And in a certain mountain range to the south, someone else was tossing and turning sleeplessly.

"Since that's the case..." Sheng Yuanyao turned to Pei Chuyun and smiled brightly. "Shall we share a few cups of parting wine, as a send-off for him?"

Pei Chuyun tilted her head and observed Sheng Yuanyao, appreciating the girl's bold and forthright demeanor for the first time. She then smiled and said, "Alright."

The three of them, along with A-Nu, perfectly filled the square table beneath the tree. Sheng Yuanyao then ordered wine to be brought and poured a cup for each of them.

She immediately raised her cup to Pei Chuyun. "I know you're also Grade Three now, so I'm a step behind, but I will catch up," she declared. "One day, just as the poem on the tablet says, 'Now the Trumpet Creeper blooms, a hundred feet tall,' both you and I will achieve great heights."

It was unclear whether this "step behind" referred to cultivation or something else entirely. But Pei Chuyun, too disinclined to ponder the deeper meaning at that moment, clinked her cup against Sheng Yuanyao's. "Trumpet Creepers are known for their climbing nature," she remarked. "Are you sure that's what you want to emulate?"

Sheng Yuanyao replied nonchalantly, "Climbing doesn't necessarily imply dependence. For us cultivators, aren't we climbing mountains and the path to heaven?"

"Well said." Pei Chuyun tilted her head back and drained her cup.

She had never expected that the girl she had always considered a bit simple-minded could be so interesting—provided they weren't talking about men, of course.

Just as Pei Chuyun was about to say something, voices came from below the hill: "Where is Yuanyao!"

"Where is Chuyun?"

The two women's faces instantly paled. They turned to see Sheng Qingfeng and Pei Qingyan angrily ascending the hill.

The two women vanished in a flash, running away, but how could they outrun their own fathers? Each was caught and dragged home like a cat.

"You claim your father is sick; how filial of you?"

"Sent you to the Imperial Academy, and you skip class to drink!"

The dignified conversation they had just been having, which Lu Xingzhou hadn't even finished savoring, instantly devolved into utter chaos.