Inside the Gu Family banquet.
Ji Xuanyuan sat in the seat of honor, her expression as cold and indifferent as ever.
Facing the Gu Family Matron’s warm hospitality, she responded appropriately but remained distant.
Recalling Chu Yuan’s recent departure under the pretext of illness, she picked up her cup and took another sip of the cold wine.
The wine was strong, yet she couldn’t taste anything. She only felt a chill spreading from the tip of her tongue to the depths of her heart.
‘I… was still too hasty!’
‘He is avoiding me because he doesn’t trust me.’
‘As the saying goes, “love grows over time.” I need to take it slowly to win his trust.’
But at that moment, another voice in Ji Xuanyuan’s heart asked:
‘What if he hides from me forever?’
‘What if he never believes me?’
‘Senior Sister… actually… I never liked you. It was all an act.’
Thinking of the last words her Junior Brother had spoken before his death in their previous life, Ji Xuanyuan felt a sharp pain in her heart.
She closed her eyes and placed the cup back on the table. Her inner peace was as disturbed as the ripples on the surface of the wine, unable to settle for a long time.
Faced with her distraction, the Gu Family Matron was puzzled but did not press further.
Seeing that Young Master Yunlan nearby was also acting as if he had lost his soul, she secretly scratched her head.
‘Is some major event about to happen in our Realm of True Emotions?’
‘Why do these two look so heavy-hearted?’
The Gu Family Matron would never have guessed that these two rising stars were actually agonizing over the same person.
***
After the banquet ended, Chu Yunlan didn’t say much to the Crown Prince before hurriedly taking his leave to return to the Chu Clan.
Next, he had a major performance to put on.
Late at night.
The Chu Clan’s discussion hall was brightly lit, yet it held a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
Chu Zhenshan stood in the center of the hall, looking disheveled.
Around him, several Elders sat or stood, eyeing him with varying expressions.
“Great Elder.”
The speaker was the Second Elder, who questioned him at an unhurried pace.
“I heard that the Spirit Vein reserves in that mine occupied by the City Lord are quite substantial. How could you just lose it?”
Chu Zhenshan remained silent.
Seeing this, the Third Elder joined in, his tone harsher than the Second Elder’s.
“If the Great Elder lost, then he lost. But to lose to a greenhorn? And in front of outsiders? Where are we supposed to put our family’s face?”
Seeing the Elders making things difficult, Chu Linfeng muttered from the side, “You can’t put it like that. Who told that formation to be so troublesome…”
“Troublesome?”
The Second Elder sneered.
“Heh! The Great Elder has studied formations for many years, yet he was forced into an injury by a mere brat from his own family? If this isn’t a joke, what is?”
Chu Zhenshan continued to remain silent.
What could he say?
Could he say that the formation was absolutely extraordinary and that he couldn’t break it even with his full strength?
Could he say that he was already in a position where he couldn’t back down and could only bite the bullet and admit defeat?
If he said those things, who would believe him?
Under these circumstances, the atmosphere in the hall became increasingly suppressed.
Just then, a gentle voice drifted in from outside the door.
“Elders, why the need for such anger?”
Everyone turned their heads.
Chu Yunlan stepped inside.
The Elders hurried to salute.
“Welcome, Young Master!”
He cupped his hands and returned the greeting to the Elders.
“Yunlan apologizes for the late-night disturbance. In truth, I have come to plead for leniency on behalf of the Great Elder.”
Plead for leniency?
The Elders frowned and looked at each other.
Chu Yunlan nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone.
“Have you Elders not considered that the Great Elder lost on purpose during the formation-breaking today?”
Lost on purpose?
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall was stunned.
The Third Elder blurted out, “Lost on purpose? What do you mean?”
Chu Yunlan smiled slightly and answered with a question of his own. “Do you all know that Her Highness the Crown Prince was personally present? Do you not know what kind of person she is?”
The Elders exchanged glances.
The Third Elder replied, “We naturally know that Ji Xuanyuan is the Crown Prince of the Immortal Dynasty and the future Empress…”
“Exactly.”
Chu Yunlan took over the conversation.
“With such a figure present, if the Great Elder had publicly defeated her right after she arrived in Xuanji City…”
“How would she view our Xuanji City’s Chu Clan?”
“After she ascends the throne and takes over the Immortal Dynasty in the future, how will she treat our Chu Clan?”
The expressions of several Elders shifted.
The Second Elder hesitated. “So… the Great Elder lost on purpose? To save face for Her Highness?”
Chu Yunlan nodded with a smile, turning his gaze toward Chu Zhenshan.
“The Great Elder endured humiliation for the sake of the greater good. Yunlan is filled with admiration.”
In an instant, the hall fell silent.
Soon, the Second Elder’s expression turned from anger to joy.
“Heh! Why didn’t the Great Elder say so earlier? Why didn’t you both say so sooner? You gave us quite a scare!”
The Third Elder nodded in agreement.
“Since that’s the case, let it be. Though that mine is good, it’s better than offending the Immortal Dynasty.”
The rest of the Elders chimed in one after another, and the atmosphere gradually relaxed.
In response, Chu Zhenshan looked at Chu Yunlan, a trace of complexity flashing in his cloudy old eyes.
Before today, the two of them hadn’t even spoken more than a few words privately.
Yet, the other party had taken the initiative to give him a way out.
This favor forced Chu Zhenshan to cup his hands toward Chu Yunlan and compliment him.
“Then I must also thank Young Master Yunlan for helping to resolve the situation… otherwise, this old man wouldn’t have been able to…”
Chu Yunlan quickly supported him, his smile becoming even more brilliant.
“The Great Elder overstates it. You labor tirelessly for the Chu Clan; how could Yunlan sit by and do nothing!”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the Elders present. His voice was gentle yet clear.
“The main line and the branch line are one family. If there is anything you Elders need from Yunlan in the future, please do not hesitate to speak up.”
The Elders were moved and expressed their thanks one after another.
***
Half an hour later.
The Elders dispersed, and the discussion hall returned to silence.
Watching their departing figures, Chu Yunlan chuckled and turned to leave.
The next moment, a raspy voice came from behind him.
“Young Master Yunlan, please wait.”
Chu Yunlan turned back.
Chu Zhenshan stood in the shadows, his cloudy old eyes fixed steadily on him.
Chu Yunlan asked, “Does the Great Elder have something else?”
Chu Zhenshan remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking. “Regarding today’s matter, thank you, Young Master.”
Chu Yunlan smiled. “The Great Elder is too polite. I will still need to trouble you with the Chu Clan’s branch line in the future!”
Chu Zhenshan forced a faint smile. “Young Master, what are you saying? Our branch line relies entirely on the background of the Taixu Sacred Realm. Once you take over the Sacred Realm in the future, we will have to depend on you!”
Chu Yunlan said modestly, “Great Elder, please don’t say that. It is Yunlan who needs you!”
As he spoke, he sneered in his heart.
‘It’s done!’
Tonight’s criticism of the Great Elder by the Second and Third Elders was entirely something he had paid a heavy price to arrange.
His goal was to give the Great Elder—who had always been indifferent toward him—a taste of pressure.
At the same time, Chu Yunlan wanted to curry favor with him so that the entire Chu Clan branch line would be loyal to him.
After a few more pleasantries, the Great Elder took his leave first, his figure disappearing into the night.
Watching him leave, Chu Yunlan’s smile grew even wider, unaware of what was to come.
Once the Great Elder was far away, his face instantly darkened.
‘Tch! A little brat who hasn’t even grown all his hair yet, playing mind games with me?’
‘Fine! When the true Holy Son awakens—’
‘Everything this fake Young Master has done will become a joke!’
‘What I must do now is inform the Fox Venerable of the Holy Son’s movements today.’
Thinking of this, the Great Elder walked quickly.
Avoiding all eyes and ears, he stepped alone into the underground secret chamber deep within his courtyard.
The stone door closed silently behind him, isolating all sounds from the outside world.
Everything around was pitch black, so dark that even Divine Sense could not penetrate it.
He felt his way forward seven steps, knelt down, and activated the complex ancient formation on the floor with a drop of blood from his fingertip.
As the formation patterns lit up, a ghostly blue light spread from beneath his feet, projecting a massive phantom image into the void.
Chu Zhenshan took a deep breath and prostrated himself on the ground, his voice low.
“Chu Zhenshan, the thirty-seventh generation Great Elder of the Chu Clan’s branch lineage, pays respects to the Fox Venerable.”
As one of the hidden guards of the Holy Son, his direct superior was the Supreme Guardian far away in the Taixu Sacred Realm, whom the ancestor had named Su Xuanxuan.