Chapter 266: Who Involves Whom?

"Sir, if you want to deal with An Shigeng, I can be your undercover agent. I have some understanding of An Shigeng and even the An family." Ruyan looked at Ye Xiu with a seductive look, her tone tinged with flattery and ingratiation, but also with a hint of fear.

It's no wonder Ruyan was like this. After experiencing the power of the Life and Death Talisman, she no longer dared to harbor any negative thoughts towards Ye Xiu. She was now focused on pleasing Ye Xiu and getting him to remove the Life and Death Talisman. Even if he didn't, she hoped he would ensure that the Life and Death Talisman would not reactivate in her body.

After Ye Xiu had only implanted a few Life and Death Talismans in Ruyan, Ruyan was completely compliant.

The itching sensation of the Life and Death Talisman was so excruciating and painful that Ruyan had even felt the urge to tear her flesh and bones apart.

Ruyan had originally joined the Penglai Sect, believing she could defy most punishments due to the unique nature of her martial arts. However, she hadn't anticipated the Life and Death Talisman, a true life and death talisman that would render one unable to live or die.

After experiencing its power, Ruyan willingly became Ye Xiu's slave.

She wouldn't hesitate to help Ye Xiu deal with An Shigeng, let alone assassinate the emperor.

"Undercover? Not really. An Yunshan is the only one in the An family I'm wary of. As for the others, I don't even take them seriously," Ye Xiu said, shaking his head.

Ye Xiu had already gained some understanding of the An family from Ruyan's interrogation.

An Shigeng, for example, was not weak, but he hadn't reached the Grandmaster realm.

So, no matter what martial arts he practiced or what methods he possessed, he was powerless against Ye Xiu, who was already on the verge of entering the Zhixuan realm.

On the other hand, An Yunshan, An Shigeng's father, was already a Grandmaster, according to Ruyan. It was unknown whether this Grandmaster was of the Vajra Realm, the Mysterious Realm, or even the Celestial Realm.

But as long as An Yunshan wasn't a Grandmaster of the Celestial Realm, Ye Xiu wouldn't be afraid of him.

Furthermore, Ye Xiu knew that An Yunshan and An Shigeng were planning a rebellion and attempting to usurp the throne. This meant that Ye Xiu could at least pull Zhuge Xiaohua from the Zhuge Shenhou Mansion into his camp. Zhuge Xiaohua's strength, while not as great as An Yunshan's, wasn't much worse. Could Ye Xiu and Zhuge Xiaohua team up and still not be able to take on An Yunshan?

Furthermore, according to Ruyan, An Yunshan had left the capital, apparently for the Western Regions, and wouldn't be back for a while.

For Ye Xiu, as long as An Yunshan was away for a while, giving him some time, he would have a chance to surpass An Yunshan in strength. Then, when facing An Yunshan, Ye Xiu might just crush him.

Of course, Ye Xiu felt that the current situation was also related to the Divine Marquis Mansion. It was the Divine Marquis Mansion that inexplicably wanted to find the man who rode the Thousand Mile Horse, and he was implicated. So, this blame could be put on Zhuge Xiaohua.

...

"I finally understand it now."

"After I left Qianlima at the escort agency, I encountered a killer again. After I captured her, I understood why I was being hunted."

"The killer who assassinated me was named Ruyan. She was Ji Yaohua's senior sister, the woman who knew the Penglai invisibility technique and also the disguise technique to perfection."

"This Ruyan, well, how should I put it, she is quite beautiful, and the most important thing is that she has a really curvaceous figure. Among all the women I have met, her figure is definitely the best." "

Of course, I won't let Ruyan go just because she has a good figure. After all, she came to assassinate me, so I originally planned to kill her after interrogating her." "

It's just that Ruyan cooperated too well. Yes, she cooperated too well. I didn't even ask anything, and I didn't even use any means. After I caught her, she told me everything she knew, useful and useless to me." "

She answered whatever I wanted to know. She was so cooperative."

"At first I was puzzled as to why she was so cooperative, but when I knew her identity, I wasn't puzzled anymore. Instead, I found it very normal. After all, Ruyan is a true egoist. She won't hesitate to do anything that benefits her, but she will never do anything that she thinks is disadvantageous to her." "

So after Ruyan was captured by me, she cooperated so much. I probably thought that since she cooperated with me so much, I wouldn't feel comfortable killing her." "

But she was right. I was indeed a little embarrassed to kill her. Of course, it also has something to do with the fact that she is good-looking and has a great figure. If it was an ugly woman, even if she cooperated--"

"Let's just spare her life for now. It just so happens that after I learned the Tianshan Six Yang Palm from Tong Lao, I also figured out the Life and Death Talisman. I've never used it before, so I can try it on Ruyan to see how it works." "

And the effect is really good. After Ruyan was hit by the Life and Death Talisman, she was so honest. Well, she was quite honest at the beginning, but now she's even more honest."

"And from what Ruyan told me, it was Zhuge Xiaohua from the Shenhou Mansion. He suddenly and inexplicably wanted to find someone riding a thousand-mile horse, and then An Shigeng found out, so An Shigeng sent people all over the Song Dynasty to capture and kill people. So I was implicated for no reason."

"Tsk, I'm really unlucky." "

But An Shigeng is even more unlucky. He actually provoked me."

"According to Ruyan's account, An Shigeng's cultivation is probably between the seventh and ninth levels of the Grandmaster Realm. He is also considered a master. Especially since he seems to be practicing some Western Region wonders. But no matter what martial arts he practices, with this kind of strength, it would be easy for me to beat him to death."

"The only person in the An Mansion that I feel a little taboo about is probably An Shigeng's father, An Yunshan."

"That old guy An Yunshan is a grandmaster, but I don't know if he is a Vajra Grandmaster, a Zhixuan Grandmaster, or a Celestial Grandmaster."

"If it's the Grandmaster of Celestial Phenomenon, he would still be a bit of a threat to me. But An Yunshan is not in the capital now. Instead, he went to the Western Regions. Under normal circumstances, he would not be back for several months or a year or two." "

And with so much time left for me, I will definitely become a Grandmaster of the Profound Realm, and maybe even a Grandmaster of Celestial Phenomenon." "

If I become a Grandmaster of Celestial Phenomenon, I will truly be invincible under heaven. So give me some time, and don't worry about An Yunshan or anything like that."

"Besides, even if An Yunshan comes back, I haven't become a Grandmaster of Celestial Phenomenon yet. Even if I become a Grandmaster of the Profound Realm, I have enough ability to protect myself. Together with Zhuge Xiaohua, it shouldn't be difficult for two Grandmasters to deal with An Yunshan." "

Tsk. It was obviously that guy Zhuge Xiaohua who caused this matter. I was implicated, and in the end I had to help Zhuge Xiaohua deal with An Yunshan. When I think about it this way, Zhuge Xiaohua is getting it too easy."

"No, I have to ask Zhuge Xiaohua to give me an explanation, or some compensation."

"Damn it, I can't let Zhuge Xiaohua take advantage of me for nothing. He's not some great beauty."

"If he doesn't give me reasonable compensation, I'll raid the Divine Marquis Mansion and rob Wuqing—well, if Wuqing were a woman."

Ye Xiu finished writing in his diary, closed it, and began to accept today's reward. A month's worth of Qi cultivation flowed back into his body, and the Qi began to circulate rapidly within him. Then, Ye Xiu's bottleneck at the third level of Grandmaster cultivation was broken, and his cultivation level immediately reached the fourth level. In other words, at this moment, Ye Xiu had become a Grandmaster at the Finger Profound Realm.

Sensing his growing strength, Ye Xiu felt more confident about this trip to the Song Dynasty capital.

...

Next door, Ruyan, tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, was hit in the face by a black notebook. She didn't even have time to react; it almost hit her before she realized it was there.

Ruyan examined it carefully, trying to figure out why the diary had appeared before her, but despite the noise she made, she found nothing.

Ye Xiu, next door, had already begun to sleep. He could clearly hear Ruyan's noises, but he ignored her. He didn't even need to worry about her sneaking away.

If Ruyan could endure the torture of the Life and Death Talisman, she could escape.

So, with this thought in mind, Ye Xiu fell asleep.

After struggling for a while and finding nothing, Ruyan finally opened the black diary and was stunned. She hadn't expected it to be a diary.

However, due to the Life and Death Talisman, she was too depressed to sleep, and the diary seemed like a way to pass the time.

So, she began to read it.

Some of the contents surprised her, and she couldn't help but feel a little greedy.

Apart from other things, just the Wedding Dress Divine Art, the Absorbing Energy Art, and the North Sea Divine Art—martial arts that could absorb the cultivation of others and make them her own—would be something Ruyan desperately wanted to obtain.

"Huh?"

Although Ruyan was surprised by much of the diary's contents, she didn't pay much attention to them. The main reason was that the contents were so far removed from her, and she could hardly gain any tangible benefit from them.

However, gradually, Ruyan began to sense something was amiss with the diary.

It began with the owner of the diary receiving a thousand-mile horse from Pegasus Ranch, then arriving in the Song Dynasty, and then being hunted—especially the last entry mentioning Ruyan, wasn't it herself?

"So the owner of this diary is—" Ruyan couldn't help but glance at the wall. On the other side of the wall, in the room, Ye Xiu was sitting there.

Ruyan looked strange. She had never expected to get her hands on Ye Xiu's diary, and she felt a little regretful. If she had known it was Ye Xiu's diary, she would never have read it. If Ye Xiu took offense and activated the Life and Death Talisman, she would have been in for another round of torture worse than death.

Although Ye Xiu's diary contained many tantalizing details that piqued Ruyan's curiosity, she didn't dare question him.

Furthermore, the diary seemed to contain many illogical items, such as the abnormal growth in Ye Xiu's strength, and the martial arts he possessed, many of which seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

It was practically impossible to make any sense. Furthermore, Ye Xiu wrote many of the details in the diary with a tone that suggested he knew everything. Why did he know this? Even much of what he wrote seemed to be future events.

Predicting the future? This was a complete joke.

"No matter what, I absolutely mustn't let him know I've read this diary. But how am I supposed to return it? He's incredibly powerful, and I'm no match for him. Even with Penglai Invisibility, if he knows some tricks, it would be nearly impossible for me to deceive him," Ruyan thought anxiously, frowning.

Finally, Ruyan decided to leave the diary somewhere. At least when Ye Xiu came looking for it, she could pretend she knew nothing, a complete lie.

With this in mind, Ruyan hid the diary somewhere relatively secret, where ordinary people wouldn't easily find it.

After doing this, Ruyan returned to her room, but couldn't fall asleep. She was deeply worried that Ye Xiu would discover she had read his diary.

She didn't want to experience the torture of the life-death talisman a second time.

Meanwhile, Ruyan's junior sister, Ji Yaohua, had fallen asleep when a black diary suddenly struck her in the face, waking her from her slumber.

Ji Yaohua's first move was to pull out the weapon beside her pillow and quickly search for the possibility of attacking her in her sleep.

She found nothing, only the diary.

Frowning, she gazed at the diary before finally opening it.

"..." Ji Yaohua found many things in the diary baffling, many of them even meaningless to her, so she'd mostly just casually flipped through them.

But towards the end, she noticed a mention of her senior sister, herself, and even Zhuge Xiaohua.

Honestly, Ji Yaohua's expression was utterly strange when she saw the name Zhuge Xiaohua. She felt a pang of laughter when she thought of Zhuge Shenhou, the Marquis of the Divine Marquisate, being addressed as Xiaohua. He was just an old man, yet Xiaohua?

However, when the diary mentioned her senior sister Ruyan's arrest and the fact that someone was planning to come to the capital to seek revenge on the An family, her expression grew serious. Ji Yaohua

knew her senior sister Ruyan's character well. She found it quite normal for her to confess everything without questioning after her arrest.

So, had her senior sister Ruyan also confessed that she was An Shigeng's agent within the Six Gates? Did the other party send the diary to Ji Yaohua because they thought she was disloyal to An Shigeng? Was it to form an alliance with her and jointly deal with An Shigeng? Or was it simply a ploy by An Shigeng to toy with her?

After all, Ji Yaohua knew that An Shigeng was a lunatic, yet he still held her in high regard—no, rather, possessive of her. He wanted to possess her heart first, and then her body. That's why Ji Yaohua remained

innocent. But she knew that An Shigeng would never let her go. So, was this diary a ploy by An Shigeng? She thought it was highly likely. After all, An Shigeng was a lunatic, and it was hard for ordinary people to imagine what he was up to.

He had created a diary to play a trick on her, which was highly likely.

Instead, it was the man who had captured Ruyan who had thrown the diary to her. Ji Yaohua didn't think anyone normal would give their diary to someone else, letting them peek into their secrets. Unless that person was a lunatic or a psychopath.

But Ji Yaohua really wanted everything in the diary to be true. She really hoped that the person who wrote the diary was very powerful and could kill An Shigeng or even An Yunshan.

Only if An Shigeng and An Yunshan were killed could she regain her freedom and her sisters survive.

Ji Yaohua, meanwhile, couldn't help but think about the antidote to the poison in herself and her sisters.

When Ji Yaohua

, disturbed and unable to sleep, fell asleep, Wuqing, at the Divine Marquis's Mansion, looked at the diary's updated diary, his eyes lighting up.

She knew the diary's owner was finally coming to the capital, and even, it looked like, would come to the Divine Marquis' Mansion, where she could strike a deal.

However, seeing him mistakenly believe he was being implicated, Wuqing felt a little amused. He was clearly the target from the beginning, and it was the others who possessed the Thousand-Li Horse who were implicated.

Furthermore, the diary mentioned joining forces with Zhuge Xiaohua—Zhuge Shenhou—to deal with An Yunshan.

The tone of the diary even seemed to give Zhuge Xiaohua an advantage. This concerned Wuqing.

"Could it be that An Shigeng and An Yunshan have done something shameful, making them enemies of the Divine Marquis' Mansion, and therefore forcing them to deal with them?" As one of the Four Great Constables, Wuqing was somewhat capable of analyzing certain things.

"It seems there's something fishy going on with the An Mansion," Wuqing muttered to herself.

The diary entry about 'capturing Wuqing alive' made Wuqing's cheeks flush. Since the other party seemed to have a certain fondness for her, the possibility of a deal being struck between them was even greater. Therefore, Wuqing was eagerly anticipating his arrival in the capital.

Besides them, others, upon seeing the updated diary, had varying expressions and thoughts.

...

"The capital of the Great Song Dynasty? Very good, I will definitely capture you this time." The Rakshasa woman, Lian Nishang, gazed at the diary with blazing eyes.

Women like Dongfang Bubai, already in the crosshairs of various factions, couldn't leave Huashan without Pang Ban's knowledge. But Lian Nishang was different.

Although she had previously attempted to capture Ye Xiu as her heir, after failing, she hadn't ventured near Huashan again. She had been wandering around outside during this time.

Therefore, if she left the Great Ming for another place, Pang Ban wouldn't be suspicious.

She had originally intended to travel to the Sui Dynasty with Ye Xiu, but she never encountered him. Furthermore, Ye Xiu's subsequent mastery of disguise made it even more difficult for her to track him down.

She wasn't too anxious because of the Child-Father of Tianshan. However, who knew that the Child-Father of Tianshan, seemingly allied with her, was secretly protecting Ye Xiu and hadn't contacted her at all, leaving Lian Nishang with virtually no way of determining Ye Xiu's whereabouts.

By the time Lian Nishang tried to find Ye Xiu, he had vanished.

This filled Lian Nishang with a deep hatred for the Child-Father of Tianshan.

Now that Ye Xiu was planning to travel to the Song Dynasty's capital, Jingcheng, and confront An Shigeng, she couldn't wait to see him.

Especially since she'd only received a nominal monthly reward in her diary, Lian Nishang couldn't contain her urgency.

This time, Lian Nishang was determined to sleep with Ye Xiu.

After all, Lian Nishang was enamored with Ye Xiu's face. From the very beginning, she had wanted to sleep with him and make him her "beloved husband."

Not to mention, sleeping with him would bring her additional benefits—how could she not take advantage of such a bargain?

As for the alliance members Lian Nishang had recruited, she had long since abandoned them, disdaining their slow pace. Now, she was speeding alone towards the capital of the Great Song Dynasty. 

Ye Xiu was completely oblivious to this as he and Ruyan headed for the Great Song capital. 

Of course, because of Ruyan, Ye Xiu didn't continue to leave the Thousand-Li Horse at the escort agency, but instead gave it to Ruyan. Ruyan used the excuse of having killed the Thousand-Li Horse's owner as a pretext to claim the horse for herself—a perfectly reasonable excuse. 

Ruyan, riding the Thousand-Li Horse, was able to travel relatively quickly, while Ye Xiu was slower, so the two of them separated, heading towards the capital one in front and one behind. 

Ye Xiu didn't mind this. It was good for Ruyan to go to the capital earlier. According to Ruyan, she could make some arrangements in advance so that Ye Xiu could move more smoothly after arriving in the capital. 

Anyway, Ye Xiu didn't worry that Ruyan would betray him. Unless Ruyan could unlock the life and death talisman, she would have no choice but to listen to him and would not dare to betray him. So she went to the capital earlier.