Chapter 64 - 64: Girls Can’t Be Kept After They’ve Grown Up
On another side, in the Eternal Joy Palace, the lights were gradually extinguished.
There was a faint incense burning in the huge bedchamber. In the middle of the dragon bed with a golden curtain hanging, two tall and well-rounded women lay side by side.
Dongfang Liren’s bearing was not inferior to that of a man. Even when she was sleeping, she was not as graceful as a young girl. She lay on her pillow steadily with her hands folded at her waist. The silver undergarment embroidered with a dragon python stood tall. Her eyes were closed, and she had the aura of a queen.
The empress beside her was the complete opposite.
The empress was usually a little frivolous. Her actions were carefree and casual, especially when she went to bed. She was wearing a thin red gauze nightgown that was hazy and translucent. Under the gauze, it couldn’t be said that hair couldn’t be seen, but hair really couldn’t be seen.
As for her posture, it was also very different from the Prince of Jing’s. She lay on her side on her pillow, the full curves of her waist and buttocks behind the gauze outlined, making her look like a bewitching concubine serving an emperor.
After playing for a long time, the empress was a little tired. She had already closed her eyes and looked like she had fallen asleep.
Dongfang Liren was the same. But in the dead of night, she opened one eye, glanced at her sister beside her, and quietly got up.
“Mm-” The empress turned over lazily and murmured, “Where are you going?”
Dongfang Liren froze. She couldn’t say that she was going to a palace guard to learn a saber technique in the middle of the night. She only replied gently, “I can’t sleep, so I’m going out for a walk. There’s still a court meeting tomorrow. Sister, rest well.”
“Umm…” After the empress replied softly, there was no more sound.
Dongfang Liren secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She quietly picked up her robe and changed behind the screen. Then she quickly walked out of the bedchamber.
After Dongfang Liren left, the empress opened her eyes. There was a hint of helplessness in her eyes that said: Girls can’t be kept after they’ve grown up.
Judging from Liren’s appearance, she’s obviously moved by Ye Jingtang s act of the hero saving the damsel in distress.
She’s a noble prince of the blood and already an adult. She has a man she likes, but she’s hiding it from me. Is she afraid that I’ll snatch her love, or is she too embarrassed to say it?
The empress pondered for a moment and felt that it was both. She couldn’t help shaking her head. She got up in her translucent red gauze nightgown. “Come.”
“Your Majesty.” The palace maid serving in the side hall hurriedly walked in, bowed, and waited for instructions.
“Change my clothes. I’m going out for a walk.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
It was already time to turn off the lights and go to bed. The lanterns in the palace gradually went out. In the picturesque garden with beautiful mountains and clear water, a man and a bird walked slowly and aimlessly.
Having been on duty all night and unable to sleep, the bird was a little sleepy. It lay on Ye Jingtang’s shoulder and chirped softly, probably talking about the scribbling sister just now.
Ye Jingtang didn’t take the matter of meeting the empress dowager to heart. He kept thinking about how to get the Roaring Dragon Chart. As his mind raced, he unknowingly walked around the imperial garden.
Ye Jingtang checked the time. It was about time to go to the corner building to meet up with Shang Jianli and the others to report his safety. So he brought the bird and returned to the northeast side of the Imperial City.
But just after passing through a few palaces and pavilions, he suddenly heard a faint tune coming from between the palaces.
The sound was distant, low, and slow. It sounded like the sound of a flute and was full of the carefree spirit of Jianghu.
Ye Jingtang paused. As an expert in the imperial palace, he naturally had to go over to check if there was anything wrong. He jumped onto a roof and silently sneaked over with the bird. Soon, he arrived at the lotus pond of a palace.
Beside the lotus pond was a corridor for palace servants to walk through. The pond reflected the moon and the galaxy, and there was even an observation pavilion built on it.
Ye Jingtang moved closer and saw a palace lantern hanging in the pavilion. Two palace maids were waiting outside.
In the stone pavilion, a tall beauty wearing a silver fat-headed dragon python robe was holding a green jade flute in her hand. She looked at the moonlight in the lotus pond and played a tune. Her side profile looked elegant and refined, and there was a special femininity in her heroic spirit.
“Chirp?” The eyes of the bird on his shoulder lit up. It hurriedly flapped its small wings, flew across the pond, landed on the beauty, and opened its beak to ask for food.
Seeing this, Ye Jingtang landed in the corridor. He looked at her from across the pond and cupped his hands. “Your Highness.”
Dongfang Liren put down the jade flute and handed it to a palace maid behind her. “You can leave first.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” The palace maids bowed and left the pavilion.
Without his gaze wandering, Ye Jingtang went straight to the stone pavilion and looked at the sky. “It’s already late at night. Why isn’t Your Highness resting?”
“The Blood Bodhi hasn’t been brought to justice yet. I’m worried that something might go wrong in the Imperial City, so 1 can’t sleep.”
With a noble bearing, Dongfang Liren slowly walked out of the stone pavilion, strolled by the pond with Ye Jingtang, and asked, “After patrolling for half a day, did you find anything unusual?”
“The security of the Imperial City is tight. There are no troubles.”
“There’s no such thing as an infallible place in the world. It’s because you and I both think that nothing will happen that things will happen. We have to pay attention.”
After Dongfang Liren casually exhorted him, she gestured to the palace. “Do you know where this is?”
Ye Jingtang looked around the palace and shook his head. “This is the first time I’ve entered the imperial palace. 1 can only distinguish north, south, east, and west. Everything else looks the same to me. Where is this?”
“Great Blessing Palace. Her Majesty and 1 lived here when we were young. After Her Majesty inherited the throne, I moved to the prince’s estate.”
Dongfang Liren brought Ye Jingtang to the buildings beside the lotus pond and gestured to the pavilion on the right of the main hall. “On the left was my boudoir, and on the right was Her Majesty’s.”
Ye Jingtang looked at the large courtyard. He could see many flowers planted inside. There were also wooden figures, weapons racks, and other things. It was similar to a place where boys learning martial arts lived. He asked curiously, “Her Majesty also practices martial arts?”
“All the children of the imperial family have to practice martial arts to strengthen their bodies. Her Majesty is the same. However, Her Majesty is not interested in martial arts and prefers to study.”
Ye Jingtang thought about it and agreed. As an emperor, how could she have the time to focus on practicing martial arts?
“I come from Jianghu, so 1 really don’t know much about the capital… Speaking of which, I don’t know much about martial arts either. In the past, I couldn’t find a way to practice martial arts in Red River Town in Liang Province. When 1 came to the capital, I realized that the experts in the world were so powerful. In the past, I often heard from storytellers that there were countless experts in the imperial palace and many hidden secret manuals. Is that true?”
Dongfang Liren pulled out the Hornless Dragon Saber from Ye Jingtang’s waist and slowly practiced the Heaven Equaling Saber in the courtyard. “All the martial arts manuals have been moved to Jasper Pavilion, and there are quite a few profound ones. But it is never the secret manual moves that reaches the pinnacle, but the ‘human’. If you want to become the number one in the world, you still have to rely on your comprehension.”
“Is that so?” Ye Jingtang took the opportunity to ask, “I heard from the storytellers that the experts of the previous dynasty seem to be snatching a chart…”
“Are you talking about the Roaring Dragon Chart? That thing isn’t a martial arts secret manual but a method to seek immortality and seek the Dao.”
“Seek immortality and seek the Dao?” Ye Jingtang was slightly puzzled as he looked at the sky.
“Are there really immortals in this world?”
“I am also an ordinary person. How would 1 know if there are immortals in the world? However, the Roaring Dragon Chart is indeed not something of the mortal world. There’s the Jade Bone Qilin Picture in the palace. If you learn it, you will obtain a full set of qilin bones. I have practiced it for more than ten years and have made some achievements…”
At this point, Dongfang Liren became interested and raised her fair fist. “Try touching it.”
Ye Jingtang really wanted to see how powerful she was after she practiced the Roaring Dragon Chart. He immediately raised his hand, clenched his fist, and bumped fists with her.
Thump-
The princess’s hand was soft, smooth, and cool to the touch. It was like carefully carved jade. If he held it in his hand, the feeling…
H ii
Dongfang Liren felt her fist being gently touched. Her handsome face flushed slightly as she said unhappily, “Use strength! Have you not eaten? You don’t have to worry about my status.”
“Oh.” Ye Jingtang also felt that something was wrong. He immediately became serious, and his entire body trembled.
Bam!
In the courtyard under the moon, a loud explosion suddenly sounded!