Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1824 Water Dragon's Chant 27

The girl has grown up, and Shao Yanping originally wanted to hug her like he would when she was a child, but daughters should avoid their fathers as they grow up. In the end, he could only pat Zhong Chunji's shoulder and carefully take out the hairpin he had specially bought for his disciple from his sleeve. "Your birthday is coming soon. I was busy beforehand, and I was afraid I would forget, so I bought you a gift early—"

These are two silver hairpins inlaid with pearls and mother-of-pearl to form white camellias. They are uniquely designed, exquisitely crafted, and made of high-quality materials. Even the pale yellow stamens are made of real gold seed pearls. The dangling tassels are silver leaves like curtains. They are exquisite and beautiful on their own.

Zhong Chunji held the pair of hairpins in her hands, her nose tingled, and tears involuntarily streamed down her face. Seeing this, Shao Yanping felt even more heartache, but could only awkwardly express his guilt: "...Your master's wife passed away early, and there are always places I, an old man, cannot take care of..."

Shao Yanping felt increasingly inadequate. Zhong Chunji, as if struck by a sudden enlightenment, finally understood everything. She wiped away her tears haphazardly and sincerely repented to her master: "Master, it's all my fault. I was greedy for vanity and almost ruined your reputation, and also brought disaster upon my fellow disciples. It's all my fault!"

Shao Yanping quickly waved his hand: "No, no, you young people haven't experienced much. There are many things that really can't be blamed on you. It's because we old guys haven't had time to teach you yet."

In any case, Shao Yanping and Zhong Chunji finally cleared things up, and Zhong Chunji's last bit of resentment finally dissipated. However, at night, Zhong Chunji did not expect that the people from the brothel would find their way to her courtyard.

Zhong Chunji immediately wanted to issue a warning, but the person who called himself Ghost Peony was not worried at all. He leaned leisurely against the windowsill, looking very poised, as if he had not intruded into someone else's room but had returned to his own.

Zhong Chunji was so angry at Gui Mudan's master-like behavior that she trembled all over and couldn't help but vent all the frustrations she had experienced these days on Gui Mudan.

Unfortunately, Gui Mudan's martial arts skills far surpassed hers. She was panting and exhausted, while Gui Mudan continued to move around her room at a leisurely pace. Although she was dodging, her posture was so relaxed that it seemed as if she was dancing to a rhythm. Therefore, it made Gui Mudan, who was serious about fighting and even wanted to kill, not stupid, but definitely not a good sight to behold.

Zhong Chunji couldn't stand Gui Mudan's teasing and taunting. He felt a sweet taste in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Gui Mudan sat casually on the table, laughing so hard she bent over: "What a worthy disciple of Sword Master Shao! What merit do I have to be able to make Sword Master Shao's disciple so angry that he vomits blood!"

Zhong Chunji clutched her chest with one hand and used her sword to support herself on the ground with the other. She stared intently at Gui Mudan. At this moment, she calmed down and sneered, saying, "Your actions are so sneaky. You bully the weak and take advantage of my low martial arts skills. Anyway, there is no one else here. Today, I will suffer this loss because of my lack of skill."

"However, if you are plotting something, then I must say this frankly: whatever you are planning, it will not succeed!"

Ghost Peony didn't believe him. He smiled and said, "What could I possibly scheme against Miss Zhong? I've only given you a life of wealth and honor—"

"But now it seems that Miss Zhong, you have really wasted all my efforts. The stage was all set up, just waiting for you to take that first step. You actually let the cooked duck fly away out of thin air. It is clear that although Sword Master Shao may always be fair and just in his dealings and be an upright person, he is very lacking in teaching his disciples."

"Princess Langya, the title of Princess of Langya in all dynasties is not something that can be granted simply based on age. At least one emperor must genuinely love and cherish her. Miss Zhong, you gave up this readily available power and wealth so easily. Don't cry about it later!"

Zhong Chunji finally understood how she had been tricked. She couldn't help but smile sadly, and finally gathered enough strength to straighten her back. She pointed her sword at Gui Mudan, who had suddenly infiltrated the Central Plains Sword Gathering: "Perhaps your scheme against me did succeed one day, but now you see for yourself that you were wrong."

"Perhaps you didn't misjudge me, but you misjudged my master, you misjudged the royal family, and you never expected how powerful the real Princess Langya was!"

"She is the most beautiful and the most dangerous person I have ever seen in my life. I can't wait to see how you fall into her hands. It will be a great show, much better than the scene where you infiltrated our Central Plains Sword Society tonight to play tricks on me!"

When Gui Mudan heard Zhong Chunji mention the real Princess Langya, Jiang Xinxin, in the palace, she couldn't help but burst out laughing. Her smile vanished instantly, and Zhong Chunji, seeing this, laughed even harder. She kindly reminded him, "No matter what you came here for tonight, I just want to tell you that as long as Princess Langya is here, all your fantasies are just fantasies!"

Gui Mudan was indeed wary of Jiang Xinxin, not only because she had created the antidote for the Nine Hearts of the Ghostly Demon Pill as soon as she debuted, but also because her martial arts skills were even more unfathomable than those of Tang Lizhi, who was recognized by the world as the number one martial artist.

For some people, like Zhong Chunji, Gui Mudan would only think that with a little trickery, she could turn Zhong Chunji from a righteous heroine into a puppet of power, making her collude with him without her even realizing it.

Even Tang Lizhi, who is widely recognized as the best in the world, seems to have no desires or wants, but he can always find a way to control him. For example, he can start with the correct tone of the seven-stringed instrument, or he can start with the willow eye. He can always deal a heavy blow to him.

But when it comes to Jiang Xinxin, Gui Mudan genuinely feels helpless.

Zhong Chunji witnessed Gui Mudan's breach of defense and finally realized just how formidable Jiang Xinxin truly was. At this moment, she felt only relief, relieved that her little scheme hadn't been exposed and that her master had cleaned up the mess for her so early.

So, the moment Gui Mudan broke down and left, Zhong Chunji rushed to find Shao Yanping. She explained everything that had just happened to her master. Shao Yanping knew the seriousness of the matter better than anyone else, and sent a message to the palace early the next morning, emphasizing Gui Mudan.

The emperor didn't really care much about the Fengliu Shop organization. Even though the national treasury was much fuller after the initial elimination of the Fengliu Shop's various strongholds, it didn't change the fact that the emperor really looked down on this kind of Jianghu organization.

Even though the brothel was closely related to the Yin-Yang poem from twenty years ago, the emperor only appeared nervous on the surface. Behind the scenes, he used this matter as an excuse to do a lot of things, but in reality, he felt that the matter should end there, because if the pursuit continued, there might not be enough people to attend the court meeting.