Chapter 1465: Neither Wind nor Rain Can Make Her Stay

Given Consort Yuan’s status, no one would stop her from entering or leaving unless Yuan Se had specifically ordered otherwise.

Not just here—even at Dayuan Sacred Land, she could come and go as she pleased.

Consort Yuan asked for a carriage and left directly through a side gate of Maolu Annex.

There was no need for Old Six Xu or anyone else to report it. Guan Fangyi saw her leave with her own eyes. What she had not expected was for Consort Yuan to depart so openly, without the slightest attempt at concealment.

Then again, perhaps there was no need to act furtively. Leaving openly might attract less suspicion.

After confirming Consort Yuan’s departure, Guan Fangyi paced to another window of the pavilion and pushed it open. She slowly waved her round fan while facing the direction of the kitchen.

In the gathering dusk, Yuan Fang was wandering around the kitchen courtyard. The moment he noticed Guan Fangyi’s signal, he turned toward the well, took hold of a bucket and rope, and lowered the bucket inside.

The bucket swung wildly in the shaft, knocking against the stone walls of the well.

Underground, Yun Ji had been hiding behind the well wall the entire time. Hearing the noise, she concentrated for a moment and identified it as Guan Fangyi’s signal. She jabbed one finger forward. A brick in the well wall dropped into the water, and she immediately fled underground.

When Yuan Fang saw the brick splash into the well, he stopped swinging the empty bucket. He lowered it cleanly into the water, drew up a full bucket, then personally carried it into the kitchen.

From the pavilion, Guan Fangyi saw what happened and knew Yun Ji had received the signal to act. She stopped keeping watch there and turned away.

Everything had been done with extraordinary secrecy. The Sect Leader of Wuliang Mountain watched the movements of everyone in Maolu Annex day and night, yet even he noticed nothing unusual...

As dusk deepened over the provincial capital, scattered lamps came alive. Some pedestrians strolled home at leisure; others dragged weary bodies back after the day’s work.

Consort Yuan’s carriage moved through the streets at an unhurried pace. She drew aside the curtain, and as they passed a shop, she gave a hand signal to a clerk standing watch near the entrance.

The clerk gave the slightest nod and immediately turned away to deliver the message.

When the carriage reached an alley entrance, Consort Yuan told the driver to wait there. She stepped out and disappeared into the depths of the alley.

When she appeared again, it was at the other end, where she climbed into a second carriage that had already been prepared.

The carriage started moving. Inside, she rapidly changed her clothes.

Only after they had traveled some distance without anything unusual happening did Consort Yuan finally release a quiet breath...

Yuan Chun entered the dining room, walked to Yuan Se’s side, and lowered her voice. “Your judgment was right. She left Maolu Annex. It’s confirmed.”

Yuan Se stopped eating. He put down his chopsticks and gave a small wave of his hand.

Yuan Chun immediately went aside, brought over a basin, and placed it beside him.

Yuan Se rose, bent over the basin, opened his mouth—

Splash!

The entire meal he had swallowed came pouring back out.

He had eaten it, but all along he had used spiritual power to isolate the food inside his stomach. Now the half-mixed mess gave off a revolting stench.

He grabbed some wine, rinsed his mouth, and spat that into the basin as well.

Yuan Chun set the basin on the table and took out a small porcelain bottle, preparing to test the contents.

“Mm.” Yuan Se waved her away.

Yuan Chun could only stop and step back.

Yuan Se instead took a small porcelain bottle from his own sleeve, opened it, and sprinkled some powder into the basin. Then he picked up a pair of chopsticks and stirred the disgusting paste.

Yuan Chun watched, somewhat displeased. She curled her lip. “Testing it yourself? You don’t trust me? Afraid I might frame her?”

Yuan Se ignored her. He was not in the mood.

One eyebrow slowly rose.

The smile disappeared completely from his face.

He stared coldly into the basin as the revolting paste turned black.

Yuan Chun gave a cold laugh. “See? Four different people cross-checked the food and not one found anything wrong. You still didn’t believe me.”

Yuan Se tossed away the chopsticks and turned back. “Are the arrangements outside complete?”

Yuan Chun replied, “So long as Luo Qiu doesn’t intervene, and so long as no large force appears to help her, she won’t escape.”

“Neither wind nor rain can make her stay; unfeeling as water, she flows to the low ground. Cannot keep her... cannot keep her.” Yuan Se shook his head with a sigh as he walked out. “Go handle your business. A guest is coming. I’ll wait for him.”

...

At the inn, Sha Rulai arrived in haste and knocked before pushing open the door. In the darkened room, Luo Qiu sat silently by the window.

Sha Rulai strode over and reported in a low voice, “Master, Consort Yuan has come out. She succeeded.”

Luo Qiu rose and shoved the window open. His cold gaze fixed on the direction of Maolu Annex.

Sha Rulai continued, “Yuan Se should react before long. The moment the annex discovers anything unusual, they will immediately send the signal.”

...

Deep underground, Yun Ji wore black night clothes and had covered her face.

She did not dare move carelessly through the earth. First she descended deep underground, then traveled horizontally until she reached the approximate location. Only then did she slowly begin rising.

She did her utmost to create no disturbance and to suppress the fluctuations of spiritual power, occasionally using her art to probe the surroundings.

When she detected an open space off to one side above her, she immediately shifted toward it through the earth. Before emerging, she estimated the depth. The chamber seemed to lie far enough beneath the surface that, if she controlled herself carefully, the people above should not notice the fluctuations of her spiritual power.

The earthen wall softened like clouded mud and silently parted.

A hidden space appeared before her.

Yun Ji stepped inside without a sound and released a Moon Butterfly for light.

The earthen walls around her were extraordinarily solid. This underground chamber had not been excavated. Someone with formidable cultivation had forcibly compressed the soil aside and created the space through sheer spiritual power.

She quickly walked forward several steps and soon discovered what looked like a small maze.

Following the passages for a while, she twisted through so many turns that even she lost track of exactly where she was.

Yun Ji was astonished that such a maze could be constructed inside such a limited area. She did not dare spread her spiritual power widely to probe it, nor did she dare blast straight through.

But while this maze might stop someone else, it was of little use against her.

She immediately used the art in which she was most proficient.

Extending one hand, she walked directly forward. Wall after wall seemed to melt before her, silently collapsing into loose earth behind her.

Eventually, a compacted earthen platform appeared.

A woman lay quietly atop it.

Yun Ji’s eyes brightened slightly. She stepped forward twice, then abruptly lifted her head.

Directly above the platform was a pitch-black vertical shaft.

She studied it briefly, hurried to the platform, then looked up again.

Perhaps it was only her imagination, but a moment earlier she had seemed to sense the faintest fluctuation.

Yun Ji lowered her gaze and carefully examined the woman’s face.

It should be her.

Before coming, Niu Youdao had described Luo Fangfei’s appearance in detail...

Jingle-jingle...

A clear, melodious ringing suddenly sounded.

Yuan Se, reclining on a lounge chair above, snapped his eyes open and fixed them on an inconspicuous little bell hanging from the rafters.

He had arranged a small formation underground.

The moment anyone intruded and approached Luo Fangfei, the bell would warn him.

Someone had actually managed to break through his maze without making a sound!

He had originally intended to wait for his distinguished guest. Now there was no time.

His body flashed out the door, and he dropped like a giant hammer toward one corner of the courtyard.

Boom!

The layer of earth there was not thick to begin with. This was the emergency route Yuan Se had deliberately left for himself so that if anything happened, he could reach Luo Fangfei without losing time by using the normal entrance.

One strike blew through the ground.

A clear path opened beneath him, and Yuan Se plunged straight down.

At the earthen platform, Yun Ji heard the disturbance overhead just as she was about to examine Luo Fangfei with her spiritual power.

Alarm shot through her.

She grabbed Luo Fangfei, threw herself to the ground, and fled through the earth.

The moment she lifted Luo Fangfei, Yun Ji immediately sensed something was wrong. Something seemed to tug at the woman.

But there was no time to investigate.

It was a fine thread connected to a poison needle Yuan Se had hidden in advance. Anyone who seized Luo Fangfei in haste would trigger it, and Luo Fangfei would inevitably be poisoned.

Yuan Se dropped through the vertical shaft into the underground chamber without the slightest obstruction.

His gaze flashed when he saw the Moon Butterfly Yun Ji had not had time to retrieve.

The woman on the platform was gone.

At the same instant, Yuan Se detected fluctuations of spiritual power moving through the earth.

“You think you can run?”

He flashed to the spot and slammed a heavy palm toward the ground.

The earth exploded.

The underground chamber shook violently and began collapsing. Yuan Se swung both hands again and again, slicing through the earth as easily as a blade through tofu as he pursued his target underground.

Yun Ji, fleeing through the earth with Luo Fangfei, was suddenly crushed by the enormous force rippling through the collapsing ground.

Blood burst from her mouth.

She immediately drove every scrap of cultivation she possessed into fleeing faster. Behind her, she could hear the violent roar of Yuan Se tearing through the earth in pursuit...

Everyone inside Maolu Annex suddenly felt as though a violent earthquake had struck.

Throughout the city, civilians cried out in alarm.

At the window of the inn, Luo Qiu’s eyes abruptly narrowed. He tore off the false face covering his features.

There was no time to wait for any signal.

With one flash, he shot out the window and appeared above Maolu Annex.

“Who goes there?” someone inside the annex shouted angrily.

When the people of Dayuan Sacred Land saw that the newcomer was Luo Qiu, shock spread across their faces.

Not one dared act rashly.

The booming underground had not stopped.

Luo Qiu suddenly shot toward the ground like an arrow, striking again and again with both palms as he broke through the earth and descended.

“Go! Find somewhere to hide for now.” Guan Fangyi waved to Old Six Xu and the others who came running over.

...

Inside the Prince’s residence, Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming also felt the ground shaking violently. They looked at one another, alarm visible in their eyes.

They had already been warned.

What was supposed to happen had finally begun.

They simply had not expected the commotion to be this enormous.

Cultivators flashed in from outside to protect them.

Shang Chaozong wasted no words. He immediately opened the secret passage and ordered everyone to take Meng Shanming inside to shelter.

...

Inside a carriage elsewhere in the city, Consort Yuan, who had not yet reached her hiding place, abruptly turned her head.

“It’s finally begun?”

Panicked civilians ran past the carriage.

At that exact moment, several men carrying bamboo tubes suddenly attacked.

The bamboo tubes burst apart. Several metal spears punched through the carriage walls, aiming to pin the person inside in place—or kill her outright.

Consort Yuan had remained wary because of the unease in her heart. The moment danger came, she reacted swiftly.

She shot upward.

The killing spearheads barely missed her feet as she smashed through the roof of the carriage and burst into the air.

But four people were already waiting above with a great net spread open.

The net dropped over her perfectly.

The four seized the corners of the metal cable net and crossed through the air in different directions, instantly wrapping Consort Yuan tightly inside.

All four exerted their cultivation at once.

Consort Yuan struggled with everything she had, but she could not break free.

She had only just pulled a Heavenly Sword Talisman from her sleeve when, with her movement restricted by the net, a spear stabbed through one of her palms.

Several more spearheads flashed in.

They pierced her arm and thigh.

She was slammed to the ground and pinned there.

“Ah!”

A shrill scream tore from Consort Yuan’s throat.

One man flashed over and jabbed several fingers against her body, placing restrictions on her cultivation.

She was captured on the spot.

The carriage driver had narrowly escaped the initial killing strike.

Faced with attackers surrounding him, he pulled out a Heavenly Sword Talisman and unleashed it wildly.

To his shock, the people besieging him also produced Heavenly Sword Talismans and answered his attack head-on.

Stone and earth exploded through the street.

Rows of houses collapsed.

Civilians screamed and fled in panic; those too slow to escape died on the spot.

When the Heavenly Sword Talisman in the driver’s hand was exhausted, he immediately drew another and held it ready.

Across from him stood a line of opponents, each with Heavenly Sword Talismans of their own.

And they had more than one.

The driver could only stand there and watch helplessly as, behind that line of men, another group rapidly dragged Consort Yuan away.

The driver was none other than Lu Zhichang, Luo Qiu’s disciple—and Consort Yuan’s so-called husband.

[End of Chapter 1465]