10: Chapter 10: A Battleground?

Over the next three days, Chen Shanzhi lived a life of absolute comfort.

He basically spent every day soaking in Yihong Pavilion; after all, with a beauty like Jiang Yingrao by his side, it was simply too enjoyable.

Of course, he wasn't idle during these three days either; he had been constantly consolidating his cultivation.

Since breaking through to the Xuanguan Six Apertures, he clearly felt that the quality and quantity of the True Essence in his body had reached a new level.

As for the mysterious person who had sent the message to the Grand Elder, it was as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.

The old farmer who was under close surveillance continued his daily routine of hauling manure and fertilizing the fields without any abnormalities.

"Still no movement."

Jiang Yingrao looked at the intelligence report in her hand, her elegant brows furrowed as she tapped her fingers restlessly on the table.

"Could that person have sensed something was wrong and cut off contact?"

If this lead went cold, her situation in the capital would become passive.

"What's the rush?"

Chen Shanzhi lay on a soft couch, peeling a grape and slowly popping it into his mouth.

"If that person were so easy to catch, the Grand Elder wouldn't have sent him to a den of tigers and wolves like the capital. "

Since we want to be the hunters, we must have a hunter's patience. In this game, whoever gets anxious first, loses."

"It's not your life or death on the line, so of course you can sit still."

Jiang Yingrao turned back and shot him a glare. Her peach-blossom eyes rippled with a thousand charms: "If this lead is lost, I'd like to see what intelligence you'll use to exchange with me for... for that."

"Don't say that; we are allies, after all."

Chen Shanzhi coughed twice and shifted the subject: "On the contrary, Saintess, as an ally, you haven't been willing to Cultivate with me these past two days. "

You claim your cultivation is regressing, but you look radiant to me. You don't look like someone with internal injuries at all?"

At the mention of 'Dual Cultivation,' a trace of unnatural blush instantly flashed across Jiang Yingrao's originally anxious face.

"Bah, shut your mouth!"

She glared at Chen Shanzhi and turned her head away guiltily.

"If I say it's regressing, then it's regressing! This Saintess needs to consolidate her Foundation. During this time... it's not convenient!"

In truth, it wasn't some regression of cultivation.

After that day of Dual Cultivation, she found that although the True Essence in her body had been depleted significantly, once it recovered, it became even more pure.

The problem was that the sense of shame she felt during the Dual Cultivation was simply too intense.

Especially these past few nights, the moment she closed her eyes...

Her mind was filled with that Soul-piercing sensation of trembling when their True Essences merged.

She even... even dreamed about this bastard several times.

This situation was far too dangerous for someone with her status as the Saintess of the White Lotus Sect.

After all, the other party was the Heir Apparent of the Marquis of Zhenguo.

One was from the common folk rebels, and the other was from the nobility; they belonged to two entirely different camps.

Therefore, she had been adamantly refusing any intimate contact with Chen Shanzhi these past few days.

Chen Shanzhi, however, was not flustered. The list of sleepers the Grand Elder had buried in the capital was actually stored in his mind.

Even if this lead really went cold, all he had to consider was how to reasonably 'sell' the next person's name to Jiang Yingrao.

This would not only maintain his 'all-knowing' persona but also allow him to exchange for a few more Dual Cultivation sessions.

Looking at it this way, if the person wasn't caught, it was actually more beneficial to him.

So, Chen Shanzhi had been acting as steady as an old dog these past few days.

Seeing Chen Shanzhi's confident manner, as if everything was under his control, Jiang Yingrao's anxiety strangely dissipated quite a bit.

Sometimes this playboy really did seem to have the air of someone devising strategies within a command tent.

"Alright, it's getting late. I should head back."

Chen Shanzhi stood up and straightened his robes. "If I don't go back, that aunt of mine will send people to urge me again."

Although Jiang Yingrao was still thinking about catching the culprit, she knew it couldn't be rushed, so she picked up a red cloak and put it on: "I'll walk you out."

The two of them walked out of the gates of Yihong Pavilion side by side.

...

Night fell, and the lanterns were lit.

The entrance of Yihong Pavilion was bustling with heavy traffic and a lively atmosphere.

"Alright, no need to see me off further."

Standing at the entrance, Chen Shanzhi fanned himself with a folding fan and smiled at Jiang Yingrao beside him: "Since the Saintess is feeling unwell, go back and rest early."

Jiang Yingrao rolled her eyes at him. Just as she was about to retort, a crisp voice suddenly called out.

"Chen Shanzhi!"

A young girl wearing a goose-yellow dress emerged from the crowd.

The girl wore no makeup, yet her natural beauty was hard to hide.

Her beautiful eyes looked at Chen Shanzhi with a hint of joy.

"Tang Xiaowu?"

Chen Shanzhi looked closely, somewhat surprised.

Why would she be here?

In the game's setting, Tang Xiaowu absolutely loathed such places of ill repute.

Of course, Chen Shanzhi didn't know that Tang Xiaowu had actually been waiting outside Yihong Pavilion all day.

It was only now, at night, that she finally saw Chen Shanzhi come out.

Actually, Tang Xiaowu had originally thought about going inside to find Chen Shanzhi.

But shortly after she entered earlier, several men had approached her to flirt.

Hearing their foul language, she really wanted to beat them to death with a few punches.

But this was the capital, and with a certain recent incident as a precedent, she endured it and didn't dare to strike.

She had no choice but to ignore those people and quickly run back out, squatting by the entrance of Yihong Pavilion to wait for Chen Shanzhi.

However, when Tang Xiaowu reached Chen Shanzhi, she saw him talking and laughing with the most famous courtesan in the capital, walking side by side.

For some reason, a surge of nameless anger suddenly rose from the depths of Tang Xiaowu's heart.

Seeing Chen Shanzhi snap his folding fan shut and prepare to come over to greet her...

Tang Xiaowu directly ignored him, her gaze crossing past Chen Shanzhi to look coldly at Jiang Yingrao beside him:

"I have important business to discuss with Chen Shanzhi. I'll have to ask certain irrelevant people to please excuse themselves."

Her voice was quite loud, and the moment she spoke, the surroundings instantly fell silent.

The onlookers widened their eyes, their breathing quickening with excitement.

What was going on?

A talented woman from the Four Seas Academy came to the entrance of a brothel in the middle of the night to fight over a man with a popular courtesan?

"Irrelevant person?"

Jiang Yingrao had originally been maintaining a professional fake smile.

Hearing this, her brow twitched slightly, and a cold glint instantly flashed through those seductive peach-blossom eyes.

She was the Saintess of the White Lotus Sect; she killed without blinking in her daily life. When had she ever been spoken to like this?

Jiang Yingrao took a step forward, her fiery red silk dress fluttering in the night wind.

She chuckled. Instead of leaving, she leaned closer to Chen Shanzhi, her body intentionally or unintentionally pressing against him.

One hand naturally rested on Chen Shanzhi's shoulder, as if declaring her sovereignty.

"I was wondering who it was with such a temper."

She looked Tang Xiaowu up and down, a mocking curve appearing at the corner of her mouth:

"Isn't this Miss Tang Xiaowu, known as one of the four great talented women of Four Seas Academy?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was just enough for the customers entering and leaving to hear.

"What, can a talented woman of Four Seas Academy not endure the loneliness either, coming to such a place of flowers and willows in the middle of the night to find a man?"

"You!" Tang Xiaowu's face turned pale with anger, her whole body trembling as she pointed at Jiang Yingrao: "What nonsense are you talking about? I'm here to talk about serious business!"

"Serious business?"

Jiang Yingrao covered her mouth and giggled, her eyes rippling with amusement:

"Oh my, coming to a brothel to find a man for 'serious business'?

I've seen many excuses, but this is the first time I've heard this one. As expected of a talented woman, even your excuses are so fresh and refined. What, I heard that a few days ago the Heir Apparent spent a whole night alone with you outside. Could it be that wasn't a rumor, but the truth?"

"You!"

When it came to a war of words, how could Tang Xiaowu be a match for Jiang Yingrao?

She was so stifled by these words that she couldn't squeeze out a single rebuttal for a long time.

"Whoosh—"

The surrounding crowd instantly erupted upon hearing this.

"Holy crap! That's Tang Xiaowu? It really is her! I wasn't sure before."

"Is this two women fighting over a husband? And for that playboy Heir Apparent?"

"What kind of methods does this Heir Apparent have? To actually make a popular courtesan and a talented woman tear into each other on the street?"

"What talented woman? Looking at this situation, she's probably just another person greedy for wealth and glory."

Listening to these words, Tang Xiaowu's eyes instantly turned red, and tears of humiliation welled up in them.

Under normal circumstances, she would have turned and left without a second thought.

But she couldn't leave today because she truly had something important and had no one else to turn to, which was why she was forced to seek out Chen Shanzhi.