Over the next seven days, Wen Li frequently took Gu Linshu to idle away the hours in restaurants and teahouses whenever she had free time.
At first, Gu Linshu was baffled. But after picking up key details from the countless rumors and gossip of the common folk on the first day, he too put down his books to listen intently.
Once they had gathered more or less all the necessary information, Wen Li brought him back to their inn.
“M-Master, are you in-interested in Zongzheng Huangyue?” Clad in white robes, the refined youth sat by the table and poured Wen Li a cup of tea.
From what they had gathered over the past few days, opinions on Princess Huangyue were mixed. Most were positive, claiming she was kind, gentle, and remarkably approachable, while a minority described her as tyrannical and overbearing.
Yet those were merely rumors—only what someone wanted the common people to hear. The truth remained unknown.
Wen Li nodded. “She is my fourth disciple.”
Gu Linshu’s hand paused as he poured the tea. He looked up. “Is she also... also s-someone who must defy destiny?”
“You don’t need to know that,” Wen Li replied, brushing the question aside.
Gu Linshu nodded. “Understood.”
He switched to divine sense transmission: “I heard Princess Huangyue never leaves the palace and is constantly guarded by many experts. How do you plan to approach her, Master?”
“Seven days from now, she will leave the palace,” Wen Li said, looking up, a plan already taking shape in her mind. “Accompanied by the Imperial Preceptor, she will travel to the Zongzheng Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices and formally proclaim her imperial princess title to the people of Houchi Kingdom. When the time comes, they are bound to pass through the imperial capital’s main thoroughfare, Rong'an Street. The common folk will all flood the streets to watch, and we'll blend into the crowd.”
“B-But even s-so, we still won't be, be able to g-get close to her, w-w-we'll only...” Gu Linshu wondered aloud, puzzled.
It pained Wen Li just listening to him. Unable to endure it, she pinched his mouth shut. “Voice transmission, please and thank you.”
“...”
The youth pouted, his eyebrows drooping, and had no choice but to transmit his voice: “Even so, we won't be able to get close to Zongzheng Huangyue. She’ll be surrounded three layers deep by experts. All we'd be able to do is catch a passing glance.”
Now that that clawing sensation in her chest had vanished, Wen Li felt much better. Clicking her tongue, she said, “If we can't go over to her, wouldn't it be solved if we just make her come to us? It’s just... you'll have to suffer a bit of grievance.”
With a look of profound reliance, she patted his shoulder.
“?!”
A look of shock crossed Gu Linshu’s refined face. He turned his head stiffly toward her, having a bad premonition that this boded ill. This master of his was truly unreliable.
“May I politely decline?” The boy was strangely polite.
Wen Li nodded. “Of course, that is your right.”
Gu Linshu breathed a sigh of relief.
“However,” Wen Li continued, “I can always knock you unconscious and proceed anyway. Would you prefer being a corpse while awake, or being a corpse while unconscious?”
“I-Is there a difference?” Gu Linshu asked, questioning his very existence.
“Of course there is! Once Zongzheng Huangyue takes me away, you can get up and run off on your own if you're awake. If you're unconscious, they'll just dump you in a mass grave, and you'll have to wait until you wake up to run. For all you know, you might leave as one person and come back as three, and then I'd have to exorcise ghosts for you.”
“...M-Master, c-can I... go...” Go home?
Gu Linshu blinked his innocent eyes, trying to awaken whatever shred of humanity Wen Li had left from when she promised his parents she would take good care of him.
“Good disciple, your master knew she could count on you! Come, Master will find you a deluxe single-room coffin right now!” Wen Li's eyes lit up. Slapping the desk, she rose and hurried out in a whirlwind of excitement.
Bang!
“...g-go home?”
Held back for two seconds, the remainder of his words drifted through the now-empty room alongside the resounding slam of the door.
The draft stirred the pages of the talisman book on the table before Gu Linshu until it snapped shut. He sighed, his scholarly, elegant face scrunching up in a faint, petulant pout like an annoyed ragdoll cat.
Did Eldest Senior Sister and Second Senior Brother also interact with Master like this? No wonder they went out traveling on their own.
...
Seven days later, the imperial capital of Houchi Kingdom was teeming with crowds as virtually everyone took to the streets.
Cultivators and mortal commoners alike swarmed the streets along the procession's route, all eager to catch a glimpse of the rumored Her Highness Huangyue, who possessed a ninety-percent royal bloodline purity.
It was not merely out of curiosity. In the Eastern Province, where the Lou, Wangquan, and Zongzheng clans stood in a tripartite balance, the subjects harbored an intensely devout faith in their imperial families. They believed themselves to be descendants of immortals. Even mortals incapable of cultivation firmly believed their bloodline was a supreme heritage capable of warding off calamities and driving away evil.
Yet bloodline purity inevitably diluted with the passage of time. Even the current Saint Emperor of Houchi Kingdom possessed a purity of merely sixty-five percent, let alone the ordinary populace. The trace amounts within them were no longer enough to support the cultivation advantages bestowed by immortal blood, leaving the innate talent of most people on par with cultivators from other provinces.
Only a select minority within the royal family could still harness their bloodline's advantages.
This caused a crisis of faith among the subjects of the Eastern Province's three imperial powers regarding this bloodline heritage. If they could no longer enjoy those same bloodline advantages, why should someone with higher cultivation revere imperial royals who cultivated purely on the back of bloodline privilege?
Although such dissenting voices only surfaced in subtle ripples due to the isolation between regions, and were mostly snuffed out by the imperial clan before spreading, the rulers nonetheless desperately needed a figurehead capable of rallying the people's hearts.
The emergence of Zongzheng Huangyue and her ninety percent bloodline purity was precisely the beacon of hope all three imperial powers of the Eastern Province had longed for. It not only proved to the populace of every kingdom that the bloodline heritage did not inevitably diminish over time, but merely varied from person to person; it also reaffirmed the majesty of the imperial clan, revitalized the people's faith, and consolidated imperial authority.
For this reason, both the Lou clan of Shengyang Kingdom and the Wangquan clan of Beiqiong Kingdom had dispatched key royal figures to attend Zongzheng Huangyue's ancestral sacrifice ceremony.
Even if the nations had occasional friction, when it came to Zongzheng Huangyue, they desired her safety and well-being right now more than anyone else.
At the break of dawn, a massive, solemn ceremonial procession slowly set out from the palace gates. Leading and trailing the procession were Golden Core cultivators, while fourteen black-robed cultivators arranged in seven rows at the center were all at the Nascent Soul realm. Along with palace maidservants and attendants, the grand entourage numbered over a thousand people.
In a white-veiled sedan chair at the very front, a man in white robes could be faintly seen sitting within.
Further back was an opulent, elongated sedan chair of black and gold. Its interior was obscured from view, but four cultivators stood guard exclusively around it. Clearly, this was the conveyance carrying Princess Huangyue.
The surrounding commoners dropped to their knees in worship, while the cultivators stood with bowed heads.
“May Her Highness Huangyue enjoy peace and longevity!”
Everywhere the procession went, respectful chants of homage rose in waves.
Inside an attic room above, Wen Li and Gu Linshu stood looking down through a corner of the window.
“Master, everyone in the Eastern Province cultivates immortality, yet so many cultivators willingly submit to mortal-style imperial systems and hierarchies. Has the imperial family's brainwashing really been that effective?”
Gu Linshu was still young and could not comprehend such feudal ways reminiscent of the mortal world. Cultivating immortality was supposed to transcend mortal birth, aging, illness, death, and social hierarchies. If one still had to submit to royal families, Saint Emperors, and princes in the end, what was the point?
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