Chapter 272: The Empress Many Rival In love
A small town outside the boundaries of Sword Sect.
Lu Yuli once again disguised herself in a plain, unremarkable appearance.
Sitting at a small street stall, she held a messenger dagger in one hand and a cup of sour plum soup in the other, sipping it as she relaxed.
"Mmm, it's a bit different from the taste I had at the Demon Artifact Pavilion's opening ceremony, but still quite good." She thought. "At least there's no annoying bully giving me that mocking smile, or any Netherkin suddenly appearing to spoil the peace. Such a lovely morning tea time."
'To think it still took me nearly a whole day... I had hoped to slip away after contacting Master at noon yesterday, with the help of the pill Aunt Meixiang gave me...'
Instead, she had unexpectedly entered a state of sudden insight, meditating for over half a day.
It seemed that her previous discussions with two martial seniors at the Nascent Soul realm had accumulated enough wisdom, and Master's reassuring response had put her heart at ease. Coupled with her determination to surpass a certain demoness, her swordsmanship talent had bloomed as well.
"At least now I feel more confident for my upcoming match with Bai Xiaoyao on the Human Immortal List," she mused, though she regretted the lost time.
By the time she had recovered, it was already late, so she had to sneak out early this morning.
With Lin Meixiang's support, slipping out of Sword Sect turned out to be easier than expected.
And now...
"Sword Cloud City... I thought that guy would go somewhere like Daybreak City, or maybe he was there before and has since moved elsewhere," she murmured, glancing at the reply etched onto her broken sword. "Who knows what he's up to? Not replying till later... it can't be that he's still sleeping, can it?" She brushed it off. After all, it wasn't the first time he was preoccupied with something chaotic.
As long as there wasn't another woman involved, she didn't mind.
Finishing her sour plum soup, she set her sights on Sword Rain City, where they'd arranged to meet.
Sword Cloud City was a bit too far, especially in the opposite direction of the capital, and with her speed, it would be a waste of time.
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— Royal City + Six Gate Bureau Headquarter —
Behind a mask with feather patterns, two lifeless eyes stared out. Night Crow slumped back in his chair, and with a misstep, toppled over along with it in a loud crash.
Wutong, who witnessed this, looked on with a mix of sympathy and amusement. "You're a Nascent Soul, after all… is it really that bad?" she asked with a smirk, her voice laced with humor from behind a mask painted with withered leaves.
"It is." Night Crow, looking disheveled, leaned back against his desk to pull himself up, frustration evident in his voice. "Let me tell you, with the workload Her Majesty has piled on me these past few days, even a Tribulation Crossing expert would be hard-pressed to finish it all!"
Wutong barely suppressed a laugh, fully aware of just how swamped her colleague, the Six Gate Bureau's Head of Intelligence, had been lately.
His hair loss alone was proof enough.
"Look on the bright side," she said, trying to encourage him. "If you haven't annoyed Her Majesty, then it just means that this time Her Majesty is genuinely in a hurry to locate that Demon Sect Holy Saint. The fact that she's willing to increase the burden on our intelligence division only reinforces that we made the right choice."
But Night Crow could only sigh deeply, as if on the verge of tears. "You may be right, but we're talking about all of Sword Province! I was already struggling to gather information on Xuanyuan Province, and now we have the entire Sword Province added on top."
"If it weren't for my stroke of inspiration to contact Xuan Ming, who just happened to be on vacation in Sword Province, we wouldn't even have the faintest lead!" He truly felt miserable.
Two days after the Demon Sect Holy Saint had vanished, Night Crow received the devastating news that his workload had doubled—no, wait, Sword Province wasn't Xuanyuan Province. Six Gate Bureau had fewer eyes and ears there, and messages took longer to circulate. Many tasks needed his direct involvement, so the workload had effectively tripled.
And now he was completely overloaded.
This is nothing like the peaceful days of sipping tea and reading the news!
Despite the frustration, the Head of Intelligence gritted his teeth and accepted his new assignment, all while reminding himself of his ultimate goal.
If the Empress and that Demon Sect Holy Saint ended up together, he'd absolutely need a long, paid leave—six months at least, with a hefty raise to boot!
'Pity I couldn't get a read on Kirin's intentions… She seemed quite favorable toward the Demon Sect Holy Saint, but could it be that she's truly fallen for the young man?'
If his and Wutong's plan succeeded, well… Night Crow clicked his tongue at the thought.
His good colleague had also chosen to tread a thorny path.
But then…
"...So, have we confirmed that the person in Xuan Ming's report is truly the Demon Sect Holy Saint?" Wutong's question pulled Night Crow out of his thoughts.
Snapping back to reality, Night Crow gave a slight nod, though with some hesitation. "The physical description is fairly similar, but the Holy Saint typically wears black. This report described him in white attire, which he only wore once before… around the time he went to the Red Blossom Pavilion. But that's not a particularly strong clue." He sighed, "It's mainly that weapon—his weapon transformed into a blood-red longsword with the strength of a divine artifact, capable of cutting through a mid-stage Nascent Soul expert."
"And then there's the unique thunder technique and some sword skills that resemble those from the inn incident… those are new elements we didn't know of." Night Crow added thoughtfully, "What stands out most is the mention that even without his weapon, this person could match a Nascent Soul. If he really is the Holy Saint, then his strength is far beyond what we previously knew."
Wutong looked intrigued. "So… you think Xuan Ming made a mistake?"
"No, I think it's him."
"?"
Night Crow leaned back into his chair, now somewhat at ease. He took a deep breath, seemingly lost in thought. "Remember Xuan Ming's report? He mentioned that this person stole the show at Daybreak Mountain, accompanied by a woman who appeared to be the stunning Sword Sect Peak Master."
"And? It's already been confirmed that the Sword Sect Peak Master wasn't the girl from the inn, right?"
"Which makes me think it's even more likely…" Night Crow sighed, his logic baffling Wutong.
"Fine, it's just my intuition," he said, thinking of the Holy Saint, who'd stirred up endless gossip in the capital, constantly surrounded by admirers.
Sigh~ Empress rival in love is as plentiful as ever~
Rubbing his temples, which throbbed—possibly from overwork—Night Crow concluded, "The relevant information was already sent to Her Majesty yesterday. For now, let's wait for Xuan Ming to follow up."
"Originally, I thought that since we didn't manage to recruit Kirin, we might as well drag Xuan Ming into the fold, who would have thought he would actually bring result?"
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Note: Link to the character Illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
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