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"You're back," the woman in purple greeted him with a smile, as if he were the guest and she were the hostess.

The man in blue simply nodded and smiled at him, then turned his gaze to admire a landscape painting of Cangshan Mountain hanging in the room.

At that moment, many thoughts flashed through Huang Ye's mind, such as taking down the two men or calling for guards, but in the end, he did nothing. He simply walked calmly into the room and closed the door. These two dared to show themselves like this, naturally possessing the ability to come and go as they pleased. Moreover… the purple-clad woman, whom he had clearly perceived as having no martial arts skills during the day, now possessed a pair of piercing, restrained eyes that clearly told him she was a peerless master.

The man in blue continued to look at his ink painting, while the woman in purple boldly waved the map in her hand and said, "My plan on this trip is to take over the entire Lin family. However, that Lin family brat helped me once, so I can't make a move again. But returning empty-handed is not my style, so I have to take something. And what you have in your hand, my beauty, suits my taste perfectly." She looked at Huang Ye with a smile in her blue eyes, "My beauty, you don't mind, do you? Anyway, the Lin family has quite a few gold mines, and you certainly won't let them go."

Huang Ye frowned, ignoring her form of address. His trip to Mozhou was to prepare for war with Yuan Rong, and what was most needed in war was money. Yet, in the vast Kunwu Mountains, the imperial court had never mined a single gold mine, while the Lin family was incredibly wealthy; Mozhou was barren, yet every governor there was immensely rich, and the reason was not hard to guess. Today, he had tested the waters, and the Lin family, as expected, "sensibly" offered a generous gift. However, this was far from enough; what he needed to do was to reclaim all the gold mines controlled by the Lin family for the imperial court.

The woman in purple seemed to find Huang Ye's furrowed brows amusing, and suddenly approached. Huang Ye hurriedly retreated, but no matter how fast he retreated, he could not avoid her. He felt a faint fragrance, followed by a soft warmth on his face. Before he could react, the woman in purple had already retreated.

"Consider this a little extra benefit," the woman in purple said with a smile, looking at him.

Huang Ye's brows furrowed even more.

"Now that you've got it, it's time to go." The man in blue, who had been admiring the painting, stopped smiling and left first, like a wisp of smoke, light and silent. Huang Ye, who was confident in his martial arts skills, felt at this moment that he might never be able to match the man in blue's lightness skill in his entire life.

"Beautiful lady, are all your family members as good-looking as you? But that little monkey named Huang Yi I saw last time wasn't as good-looking as you." The woman in purple said, and then floated away like the man in green.

The Imperial Chess Game? The Ninth Prince?

Inside the room, Huang Ye stared blankly at his face. Just now... that woman actually kissed him? He, the dignified heir of the Prince of Wei, had actually been taken advantage of by a woman.

In an instant, his face turned red and then blue.

But a moment later, for some reason, a smile appeared on his face again.

A little while later, he suddenly remembered that the gold mine map had been taken away right before his eyes, and he was furious again.

After Ye Yun learned the identities of the woman in purple and the man in green from his friends in the martial arts world, he could only frown with resentment. Even though he later made Mozhou rich and prosperous with the gold mines of Kunwu Mountain, and even though he later defeated Yuan Rong, he still gritted his teeth with hatred whenever he thought of the two gold mines he lost that night, but... there was nothing he could do.

On the night Huangye lost two gold mines, Lin You, who had been locked in the house by his father and made a ruckus for most of the night, finally fell asleep from exhaustion. While dreaming, he suddenly felt a breath on his face and opened his eyes. In his drowsy state, he saw a stunningly beautiful woman in purple standing under the lamp. Overjoyed, he reached out and took her hand, asking, "Feng Yi, are you alright?"

The "Phoenix Descendant" smiled and shook her head, saying, "Lin You, considering you once helped me and bear a resemblance to an old friend of mine, I'll say a few words to you. First, your father has actually treated you quite well, so don't take your good fortune for granted; second, you are far from being a match for Lan Qi right now, so come back to me in a few years when your martial arts have reached their peak." With that, she drifted away.

Lin You, half asleep and half awake, assumed it was a dream and fell asleep again.

The next day, when he woke up, he saw a golden leaf on his bedside table. On the tip of the leaf was a mark that looked like a picture or a word, but he didn't know what it was.

Five years later, Lin You felt he had mastered his martial arts and ventured into the world again. His first step was to find the "Phoenix Descendant." Although the Phoenix Descendant on Misty Mountain resembled the person in his memory, he did not have emerald eyes. It was then that he learned he had met the "Azure Demon" long ago, and the demon had even given him a token.

On the morning of the day he received the token, two riders were slowly leaving Mozhou City.

In the chilly spring breeze, Ming Er took something out of the brocade pouch in his bosom and held it out in his palm, saying, "This was given to me by Brother Feng Yi. Do you recognize it?"

Lan Qi turned her head and was immediately stunned. Ming Er held a lotus seed in his palm, its surface black and shiny, clearly quite old. After a moment, she reached out and picked up the lotus seed from Ming Er's palm, gently stroking it: "Of course I recognize it, there's still my blood on this lotus seed."

Ming Er was slightly startled.

"Back then... my brother and I were starving one time when we saw a pond by the roadside, full of lotus flowers, some of which already had lotus pods. So we went to steal some. But we were caught as soon as we picked one, and the guards released dogs to bite us. My brother and I ran for our lives and were not bitten by the dogs, but I fell hard and scraped my knee with a stone, leaving a bloody hole. I also lost my grip and the lotus pod fell to the ground, staining the ground with blood. Later... my brother and I shared the lotus seeds inside the pod. My brother kept the last lotus seed, saying that when he earned money in the future, he would buy a pond to grow lotus flowers so that I could eat as many lotus seeds as I wanted."

As Lan Qi spoke, her gaze fell into the distance, her expression blank, as if she were trapped in a distant time and space.

Ming Er remained silent.

The two riders continued walking slowly, with only the clatter of their hooves.

After walking for a long time, Ming Er suddenly spoke up: "Feng Lanxi planted 'Lan Yin Bi Yue' and Qiu Changtian planted 'Ban Yin Hua', so I will use this lotus seed..." He took the lotus seed back from Lan Qi's hand, "I will plant a green lotus, with green petals and vermilion stamens."

Lan Qi stared at him blankly for a long time before she smiled slightly and said, "Alright, I'll wait for your beautiful lotus flower."

"Lan Yin Bi Yue" has been planted for eight years, "Ban Yin Hua" for eighteen years, so how long will it take to plant "Bi Lian Hua"?

(End of article)

Side Story 4: The Promise

It was a cool and peaceful morning.

"ah!!"

Suddenly, a deafening scream echoed throughout Qianbi Mountain.

"Master! Something terrible has happened! Senior Brother has been stolen by the Shadow Thief!"

In the vast and elegant Qianbi Palace, the disciples of the Qianbi Sect, both those about to wake up and those still asleep, were all completely jolted awake by this single sentence. They threw on their clothes, burst through the door, and chased after the person who had shouted all the way to the main hall.

Their master, Ji Zhuang, the current head of the Qianbi Sect, was leisurely holding a cup of tea, but at this moment, that cup of fragrant tea was used to serve the gray Taoist robe.

"Master, something terrible has happened! Our eldest brother has been stolen by the Shadow Thief! Look, this is what the Shadow Thief left behind." The panting disciple handed the note to his master.

Ji Zhuang took it and unfolded it.

Yu Qianbi faction:

I have long heard that your esteemed sect is the foremost sword sect in the martial world, unmatched in the number and wonder of your sword techniques. Therefore, I wished to collect all of your sect's unparalleled sword manuals into my own treasure trove. I made this special trip to your sect's sword pavilion to investigate, but the sheer number of manuals is beyond my capacity alone, which greatly troubles me. Furthermore, I know that your sect's eldest disciple, Ren Qi, is a peerless genius who has mastered fifty sword techniques—truly a living "sword manual." Therefore, I will bring him with me, returning them when my interest is satisfied. Do not worry or disturb me.

Shadow Thief Ye Kongying

"Master, what should we do?" the disciple who brought the news asked anxiously.

"This Shadow Thief has some nerve, daring to steal from our Qianbi Sect!" a disciple shouted.

"That Shadow Thief even stole Young Master Ming last time," a disciple suddenly recalled the events of the year before last.

“Master, this Shadow Thief is too arrogant. He stole from Young Master Ming and then stole from our Eldest Brother. He must be punished severely if he is caught,” a disciple said.

The disciples in the hall, still disheveled from just getting out of bed, offered their opinions. Some said the most important thing was to find their senior brother; others suggested issuing a martial arts invitation to gather heroes to capture the arrogant Shadow Thief; still others remarked on the Shadow Thief's strange habits, stealing living people; and some waited for their master to make a decision.

Facing the anxious disciples in the hall, Ji Zhuang flicked the tea leaves off his clothes and said slowly, "Didn't the Shadow Thief say, 'When the fun is over, it will be returned'? So there's nothing to worry about. It will be returned anyway."

"Huh?" All the disciples in the hall were dumbfounded.

"There's nothing to worry about, you can all go about your business." Ji Zhuang waved his hand, then got up and went to have breakfast.

The disciples in the hall looked at each other, stunned for a long while, before returning to their quarters under the guidance of their third and fifth senior brothers. Some washed up, some practiced martial arts, and some meditated. Since their master, who had poured countless efforts into their eldest brother, wasn't in a hurry, why should they?

At that time, in a cave not far from Qianbi Palace, Ren Qi was released from his sleeping acupoints and groggily opened his eyes.

The first thing that catches the eye is a pair of emerald eyes, radiant and bright, even more lustrous and vivid than the clear waters of spring. Then, one sees a stunningly beautiful face, with a faint smile on her face, seemingly quite interested in her.

"Awake?" The voice was clear, alluring, and captivating.

"Hmm." Ren Qi moved his eyes, his consciousness slowly returning. He saw the person in front of him and immediately tried to jump up, but failed. He then realized that he couldn't move his limbs; his acupoints were still sealed. However, he didn't have time to think about that now. Instead, he stared in astonishment at the woman in purple before him: "You...you...you...Seventh Young Master Lan! You...how could you be like this? You...you're a woman?"

Although the person before him was dressed differently than before, he would not mistake those emerald eyes and that bewitching face. It was none other than his junior brother's fiancé—Lan Canyin, the head of the Lan family! Back on Ying Mountain, his junior brother had cried his heart out over whether this person was male or female, and in the end, he still couldn't figure out whether she was male or female. But now... she was indeed dressed as a woman, with a captivating beauty that surpassed even the famous beauties of the martial arts world, Qiu Hengbo and Hua Fushu.

"I am a woman, so naturally I look this way," Lan Qi said matter-of-factly.

"You...you really are a woman?" Ren Qiyou asked with some doubt. After all, his junior brother on Mount Ying had said that this person claimed to be a man when dressed as a man and a woman when dressed as a woman.

Lan Qi blinked her emerald eyes and said very sincerely, "Does Brother Ren want me to take off my clothes to verify my true identity?" As she spoke, she actually put her hand on her waist, as if she was about to take off her clothes.

Ren Qi's face immediately turned red, and he hurriedly said, "No... I believe you." His eyes swept over Lan Qi again, and seeing her slender figure, he couldn't possibly be a man.

"It's good that Brother Ren believes it." Lan Qi smiled, twirling the jade fan in his hand.

"How did I get here?" Ren Qi asked. He was completely sobered up by Lan Qi's fright, and now that he came to his senses, he naturally remembered that he was sleeping peacefully in his room. How did he end up here, and why couldn't he move?

"Because I stole Brother Ren." Lan Qi swiftly opened her jade fan, answering calmly and naturally, her smile alluring and seductive.

"Huh?" Ren Qi was taken aback. "Steal it?" He wondered if he was still dreaming, otherwise how could he hear such absurd words?

“Yes.” Lan Qi looked at him with a smile. “Brother Ren is the most precious treasure of the Qianbi Sect, so I specially went to steal him out.”

After returning from Mozhou, Lan Qi and Ming Er decided to stir up some small waves in the peaceful martial arts world, so they continued their great mission of "stealing the unique treasures of each sect".

On this day, the two passed through Fengzhou, thinking that the famous martial arts sect, Qianbi Sect, was located on Qianbi Mountain, and what the unique treasure in Qianbi Palace might be.

After some deliberation, Lan Qi thought of Ren Qi.

As the former imperial palace of the Feng Kingdom, Qianbi Palace undoubtedly possesses numerous treasures. However, when it comes to something truly unique, looking across the entire martial arts world and even decades to come, Ren Qi, who has consumed countless Phoenix Robe Pills, granting him profound skill and immunity to all poisons, and who mastered fifty sword techniques before the age of thirty, is perhaps the most extraordinary. The most precious treasure of the Qianbi Sect is undoubtedly this disciple of its leader. Therefore, the two decided to steal Ren Qi from Qianbi Mountain. However, the Qianbi Sect is filled with first-rate masters, and also boasts a figure on par with Ming Kong—Ji Zhuang. So, the two took advantage of the darkness before dawn, when everyone was soundly asleep, to quietly infiltrate Qianbi Palace and steal the sleeping Ren Qi.

Ren Qi was stunned by her answer: "Steal me? What would you do with it?" Could Lan Qi really be a monster who wants to eat the flesh and blood of living people?

"Well..." Upon hearing this, Lan Qi closed her jade fan, rested it on her chin, and looked Ren Qi up and down with her green eyes, as if she were really thinking about it.

Ren Qi felt a chill run down his spine when she saw him.

Upon seeing his reaction, Lan Qi's heart skipped a beat, and a strange smile appeared on her face: "So Brother Ren is also so handsome. I never noticed before."

Ren Qi felt a chill run down his spine as Lan Qi's emerald eyes scrutinized him from head to toe. Upon hearing these words, he felt a sudden shiver run down his spine: "You... what do you want to do?"

Lan Qi smiled, her bright blue eyes shining like stars. She stretched out her jade fan, lifted Ren Qi's chin, and said with a wicked yet charming tone, "Naturally... it's about absorbing yang to replenish yin."

Ren Qi stared in disbelief.

Lan Qi smiled.

“Gathering…gathering…gathering yang to replenish yin?!” After a long while, Ren Qi’s voice, distorted, finally rang out in the cave.

“Yes.” Lan Qi laughed heartily, staring at Ren Qi with her bright blue eyes that seemed to be able to peel off a layer of his robe. “Brother Ren is still a virgin, isn’t he? That would be even more nourishing.”

As a result, Ning Lang's senior brother, the honest Ren Qi, was so frightened that he got goosebumps all over and stared at Lan Qi in horror: "You...you are junior brother's fiancée, you can't...you can't do such a thing!"

Lan Qi remained unmoved by his words, and slowly slid her jade fan down Ren Qi's chin, saying with a smile, "Ning Lang is naturally my principal wife. Speaking of which, I have married seventeen wives, so from today onwards, I will also marry seventeen husbands."

"You...you, as the leader of a sect, actually...how could you..." The jade fan was cool, and with each slid down, Ren Qi grew more nervous. He was in bed, so he was only wearing a thin, moon-white undergarment. When Lan Qi's jade fan lifted his robe to reveal his chest, he was already drenched in sweat and hurriedly cried out, "You...you stop!"

Lan Qi glanced at the muscular chest of the martial artist beneath his clothes, secretly comparing it to Ming Er's. He then noticed that the fake immortal's chest seemed more attractive, and couldn't help but secretly purse his lips, yet also felt a faint sense of smug satisfaction. His emerald eyes shone brightly as he looked at Ren Qi with an innocent smile: "Brother Ren, what are you afraid of?"

“I…you…” Ren Qi stammered.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the cave, and then a person entered. He was dressed in a green robe like a lotus flower, and his face was as beautiful as jade. Although he carried a bundle of firewood in one hand and a pheasant in the other, he still maintained a calm and elegant demeanor. The person with such demeanor was naturally the banished immortal Ming Er.

"Ah, Young Master Ming! Save me!" Ren Qi was overjoyed to see him, as if he had seen a god.

Ming Er stared at the two of them. Lan Qi's jade fan was still touching Ren Qi's bare chest. Something flickered in Ming Er's vacant eyes. He put the firewood on the ground, and then hurled the plucked and cleaned pheasant in his hand at Lan Qi with a gust of wind.

"Second Young Master, what are you doing here? Could it be that you were also... kidnapped... kidnapped..." Ren Qi couldn't finish his sentence. He secretly thought that with the Second Young Master's elegant demeanor, his appearance here at this moment must mean that he had been kidnapped by Lan Qi using some means to do such a thing. As for the suspicion of being an accomplice, he hadn't even considered it when facing the immortal Ming Er.

“Absorbing yang to replenish yin.” Lan Qi finished speaking for him with a smile, and got up to catch the pheasant that Ming Er threw at him. The pheasant flew over with a strong wind, and before it even arrived, a gust of fishy wind hit him in the face. The moment it entered his nose, Lan Qi felt a surge in his chest. Without thinking, he changed from catching to slapping, and the pheasant flew back to Ming Er.

Ming Er quickly took it, only to see Lan Qi walk briskly to the side, lean against the stone wall, and vomit. But after a night, her stomach was empty, and she vomited several times without bringing anything up, only dry heaving.

Ren Qi was puzzled by Lan Qi's reaction, as was Ming Er.

"What's wrong?" Ming Er walked over.