Chapter 435 - 435: Housewarming Banquet (2)
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Ye Jingtang raised his hand and pinched Luo Ning’s face. “Ning’er, if you continue talking nonsense, I’ll really teach you a lesson. Mother-in-law… If you want to play something exciting, 1 can call you martial mistress in the boudoir. How can you mess around like this?”
Luo Ning was blocked in the corner and spoken fiercely to. She became a little scared, and her eyes flickered. “Then, what do you suggest we do?”
Ye Jingtang held the moon and lifted Ning’er’s heels off the ground. “What else can 1 do? I don’t have any crooked thoughts. What you have to do now is to publicly clarify your relationship with the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master as soon as possible, and then we can get properly married. You’re an innocent girl, and it’s perfectly justifiable for me to marry you. Why do you have to make it look like we’re thieves?”
Luo Ning hesitated for a moment. Then she held Ye Jingtang’s waist and bit her lower lip. “I also want to get properly married, but getting Baijin to reveal her identity as a woman is too big a matter. Even if she does, Yunli is still Baijin’s disciple… Forget it. Let’s talk about these things later.”
Luo Ning swept away her messy thoughts and looked up at Ye Jingtang seriously. “Just now, the Pacifying Heaven Cult sent news that there might be trouble in the capital. They asked me to return to the South Firmament Mountains as soon as possible and not participate.”
“Uhh?” Ye Jingtang’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What trouble?”
Luo Ning was actually a little hesitant. After some consideration, she handed the letter to Ye Jingtang. “Let’s make this clear first. Our Pacifying Heaven Cult and the Imperial Court are irreconcilable. If the Imperial Court is in trouble, it will be beneficial to our Pacifying Heaven Cult without any harm. I’m the cult mistress of the Pacifying Heaven Cult, and the Pacifying Heaven Cult has just sent over top-secret information. If 1 turn around and send the information to the Imperial Court, it will be equivalent to betraying the cult and surrendering to the Imperial Court. I’ll become an unloyal and unrighteous person—”
Ye Jingtang lowered his head and pecked her lips to interrupt her. Then he opened the letter and read it.
The letter was full of small words. There were not many words, but there was a lot of information. It pointed out that the expert who forced the emperor to abdicate back then might be the empress herself. Moreover, it judged that the empress should have hidden injuries. Now that she was in a weak state, it attracted a group of wolves to lie in wait.
In addition, it also mentioned that Yan Province had contacted the Pacifying Heaven Cult recently and wanted to ask the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master for help. However, the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master felt that the chances of success were slim, so she didn’t agree and chose to wait and see. She wanted Luo Ning to leave the capital city as soon as possible to prevent the Pacifying Heaven Cult from being dragged into the turmoil.
Ye Jingtang really didn’t expect to receive such an important letter from the Pacifying Heaven Cult.
The empress was going to Clear Water Villa to recuperate in the near future, and her body indeed had hidden injuries. Even Daoist Xuanji had been summoned back, which meant that she had been indeed quite weak recently and lacked the ability to protect herself.
As for Yan Province, there was no news in the Imperial Court at all. If what the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master said was true, then Yan Province was very likely preparing to take advantage of the empress’s weak period to make a huge move to cause Great Wei’s imperial power to change hands.
Recalling that he had been ambushed by the Hong Mountain Gang a few days ago, but the captured leader of the Hong Mountain Gang knew nothing, Ye Jingtang came to a realization. He now knew which force had been behind the trap. He was one of the empress’s loyal guards. If someone wanted to touch the empress, they had to get rid of the two gate gods, him and Daoist Xuanji, first.
If the Prince of Yan rebelled, the consequences would be much more severe than the Prince of Wu’s rebellion. The Prince of Wu only had tens of thousands of private soldiers who had never fought a war before, but the Prince of Yan had the cavalry of Yan Province under him, which could suppress the main army of Northern Liang head-on. There was no need to mention the experts under him. Yan Province was the same as Liang Province. Since ancient times, the people there had been valiant and fierce, and the provinces had produced many formidable experts. Moreover, the people there even had close ties with Northern Liang’s Jianghu. There were countless strange people…
Thinking of this, Ye Jingtang felt the severity of the situation and immediately prepared to leave.
But Luo Ning hugged Ye Jingtang’s waist. There was a hint of grievance in her eyes. “I knew it. You’re more on the side of the Imperial Court. I took the risk of being treated as a traitor by the Pacifying Heaven Cult and gave you the news. But you’re turning around and going to the Imperial Court to inform them… I knew it would be like this!”
Ye Jingtang felt that Ning’er was treating him as a heartless man. He hurriedly turned around and said seriously, “What are you saying? If I suddenly hand this news to the Imperial Court, the Imperial Court will ask me about the source of the news. How should I explain it? Should I say that it was sent by the Pacifying Heaven Cult?”
Luo Ning harrumphed softly. “Since you’ve gotten this news, you definitely won’t ignore it. I’ve already sent the news back that you’re a member of the Pacifying Heaven Cult. As long as you investigate and protect the empress, Baijin will definitely be able to guess that I leaked the news and that you’re not on the Pacifying Heaven Cult’s side. Baijin asked me to quickly return to the South Firmament Mountains, wait to see what happens, and don’t interfere. If I don’t go back, she will definitely come to find out the reason…”
Ye Jingtang felt that this was indeed a problem. After some thought, he said, “The source of the information is unclear. I can only investigate it myself, like how 1 investigated the Prince of Wu. When the time comes, I’ll just make up a reason for how I found out. The Pacifying Heaven Cult Master can’t think that without your news, the Imperial Court won’t be able to receive any clues. It’s fine as long as we don’t reveal anything over the next few days.
“As for you not going back… just reply to the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master like this. Tomorrow, the empress will move to Clear Water Villa, and the palace will become empty. Daoist Xuanji and I will take turns guarding Clear Water Villa. When I rest, I can find an opportunity to bring you to the Roaring Dragon Pond to practice and think of a way to take out the things under the rockery. The feasibility of this method is very high, so it’s only right for you to stay in the capital. What do you think?”
Luo Ning blinked and felt that this was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She thought for a moment and said, “If you really dig up the treasures left behind by the previous dynasty, will you not give them to the Pacifying Heaven Cult but hand them over to the Imperial Court?”
Ye Jingtang said seriously, “It depends on what they are. If the items have nothing to do with the overall situation, it doesn’t matter if 1 give them. If there’s something that can really get help from Northern Liang to cause chaos in the world, I’ll definitely keep it for myself. 1 promised you that I would think of a way to persuade the Pacifying Heaven Cult to accept amnesty and recruitment or persuade the twelve provinces of Great Wei to surrender to the Southern Firmament Mountains. Before 1 do this, I can’t let the Pacifying Heaven Cult and the Imperial Court have a chance to have a conflict..”