Chapter 315: Old Loli, Star Acting Technique
The moon was full, and the sky was filled with stars. Within the imperial city of Tainan City, cleanliness and elegance prevailed, but there was also a sense of solemnity and lifelessness.
After emerging from the underground passage, Ye Anping and his companions followed Hong Yu, proceeding along the water pavilion corridor at the back of the Changle Palace.
Xiao Yunluo was puzzled by the sudden invitation from the Empress of the Central Domain. She was unfamiliar with the Empress and had never met her before. However, she had a vague sense that something significant would happen.
Meanwhile, Si Xuanji occasionally glanced at Ye Anping with a hint of curiosity in her yin and yang eyes.
She couldn’t help but recall her astonishment when she first saw the “Reverse Star” in the sky.
In the world, each person corresponds to a star in the sky. By deducing the trajectory of the stars, one could predict whom a person would encounter in the future and what achievements they would make.
However, Ye Anping’s “Reverse Star” was unique. Unlike other stars that followed fixed trajectories, it floated unpredictably in the sky, making its movement impossible to predict.
Moreover, when it approached other stars, it would even alter their trajectories.
The “Water Spirit Star,” which was destined to collapse after encountering the “Demonic Star,” was saved by Ye Anping’s reverse star.
The “Beidou Star,” symbolizing destiny, now traveled alongside Ye Anping’s reverse star.
The “Long Lingxing,” destined for calamity, was diverted from its original path by Ye Anping’s reverse star.
The three “Yunling Three Stars,” originally heading towards destruction, were also redirected to another trajectory by Ye Anping’s reverse star.
Walking along the waterside pavilion corridor, Si Xuanji glanced upward at the stars in the sky from the pavilion’s eaves.
The “Reverse Star” representing Ye Anping was now concealed behind the moon. Ye Anping’s reverse star was subtly influencing her destiny star to move forward.
Watching this scene, Si Xuanji couldn’t help but feel a slight fear of Ye Anping.
For thousands of years, no one had been able to alter her destiny. But now there was someone.
In other words, Ye Anping was the only person in the past millennium who could intervene in her fate, and he was also the only one capable of ending her life.
Perhaps one day in the future, her fate would indeed be in the hands of Ye Anping.
Turning back, Si Xuanji looked at Ye Anping walking ahead of her, her yin and yang eyes narrowing slightly, and asked,
“Master Ye, you truly are elusive.”
Ye Anping glanced back at the remark, suddenly sensing the ambiguous hostility in Si Xuanji’s gaze. He couldn’t understand why the old woman looked at him like this. After pondering for a moment, he replied,
“Elusive!”
“Yes.” Si Xuanji smiled, asking, “Master Ye, it seems your visit to the Central Domain isn’t just about taking my sister and me back to Xuanxing Sect. Do you have other intentions?”
Upon hearing this question, Ye Anping finally understood why Si Xuanji was displaying animosity towards him.
— Si Xuanji was skeptical of his motives.
Because he knew what would happen in the Central Domain, he had arranged for Liang Zhu to come from the Hundred Lotus Sect to the Emperor Sect in advance. However, according to logic, he couldn’t have foreseen the events at the Emperor Sect in advance, nor could he have prepared beforehand.
But now, the sudden invitation from the Empress of the Central Domain made Si Xuanji vaguely realize that he had already made complete preparations secretly when he set out from Xuanxing Sect.
Si Xuanji’s question, if asked another way, would probably be,
—”How do you know what I want to do?”
Ye Anping was silent for a while and replied,
“Miss Xuanji, the reason why I came to the Central Domain is indeed because Senior Qiu entrusted me to chase Senior Sister Xiao and you back to Xuanxing Sect. But it happened that a few years ago, I met a casual cultivator named Liang Zhu. He has a daughter named Liang Ahting.”
“Huh! What happened to her?”
“Brother Liang rescued the second princess of the Emperor’s sect who was lucky enough to survive the Heavenly Sacrifice of the Emperor’s Sect ten years ago and secretly came to the Western Domain. So, I thought I would come to the Central Domain to look for you and Senior Sister Xiao, and by the way, help her settle this karma with my big brother.”
So is it a coincidence?… After hearing this, Si Xuanji nodded slightly and praised,
“Master Ye is a person who values friendship and righteousness.”
Ye Anping smiled back and said,
“Brother Liang is a good person. He has helped me a lot. I will help him, by the way.”
“So…”
Ye Anping glanced at Si Xuanji, and when he saw that she turned to look towards the garden again, he was secretly relieved. It seemed that he had fooled her.
However, Xiao Yunluo, who was listening to the conversation between the two, looked surprised at this moment and couldn’t help but say,
“Huh! What about the Second Princess of the Emperor’s Sect, Brother Liang? Heavenly Sacrifice! Ten years ago! What’s going on?”
Si Xuanji glanced at Xiao Yunluo upon hearing the sound, shook her head, and sighed, murmuring, Why can’t this girl stick to her convictions? Not exactly stupid, but her mind seems to be elsewhere all day long.
Seeing the disappointment in her mother’s eyes, Xiao Yunluo quickly closed her mouth, lowered her head with a troubled expression, and lightly bit her lip.
Why–
Ye Anping sighed lightly and arrived at the gate of Changle Palace.
In front of the grand palace doors, dozens of maids stood in line on one side. As the three approached the stairs, the heavy redwood palace doors were pushed open, and the maids stood on either side, welcoming them into the palace.
The hall was neat, with minimal decor. Some scrolls of poetry and landscape paintings were scattered on the walls. In the center, a plump, mature woman with a phoenix crown was leaning on the imperial concubine’s couch.
— Tong Zilan, the empress of the Central Domain, at the middle stage of core formation.
On both sides of the couch, two men in Heavenly Execution Court robes stood solemnly. Liang Zhu was on the left, and Yue Xuanming was on the right.
When Liang Zhu saw Ye Anping enter the hall, he nodded slightly, conveying with his eyes—that he had done what he had asked.
Ye Anping nodded in acknowledgment, approached the steps of the palace, and was about to bow when Tong Zilan, leaning on the couch, suddenly spoke,
“Master Ye is somewhat different from what I expected. Although handsome, he doesn’t quite fit the name Ye Tianchong. He looks rather young.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yunluo was shocked and turned to look at Ye Anping. Even Si Xuanji raised her eyebrows and glanced at him.
Sensing the gaze of the two sisters behind him, Ye Anping suddenly felt a shiver down his spine. He glanced at Liang Zhu from the corner of his eye, silently questioning him, Brother Liang! What did you tell her?
When Tong Zilan saw Ye Anping’s eyes, she couldn’t help but cover her mouth and chuckle, saying,
“Young Master Ye, don’t blame Liang Zhu. I asked him to tell me about you. Since I entered the palace, I’ve been confined to the Tianan Palace and often indulge in these romantic tales to alleviate my boredom.”
Ye Anping didn’t know how to respond. To be honest, he wasn’t familiar with Tong Zilan. In the game, Tong Zilan was merely a background character, not a character model. However, according to the background story, he had thought Tong Zilan to be a noble and graceful woman. But now…
While her appearance did exude a sense of maternal authority, with her phoenix crown and ample bosom…
The depth of her character seemed dubious.
“The empress is joking. Liang Zhu must have exaggerated. How could I be compared to the master of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect?”
“Is that so? But Liang Zhu told me that there are countless peach blossoms around you, all pink and tender. And now, don’t you have two rare peach blossoms by your side?”
“…”
“Do you want to continue this topic in a serious situation?” Ye Anping’s eyes twitched, his face turning slightly green. He glanced up at the Empress, silently protesting with his eyes.
Seeing Ye Anping’s expression, Tong Zilan pursed her lips and nodded in apology,
“I have gone too far with that joke. I just wanted to lighten the mood. I apologize for putting you in a difficult position, Young Master Ye.”
Ye Anping remained silent for a moment before speaking bluntly,
“As long as you understand.”
At this, Xiao Yunluo beside him widened her eyes, while Yue Xuanming standing next to Tong Zilan, frowned immediately and reprimanded, “How dare you!! The person before you is the Empress of the Central Domain.”
“It’s okay,” Tong Zilan immediately waved her hand to stop him and said, “I indeed went too far with my joke.”
With that, she stood up from the imperial concubine’s couch, removed her phoenix crown, walked down the steps to Ye Anping, lowered her head, and gave a big bow,
“Young Master Ye, thank you for taking in my second daughter.”
“The Empress is being too kind. Initially, I didn’t know about Ahting and Brother Liang’s backgrounds. If you want to express gratitude, you should thank Brother Liang.”
Tong Zilan exhaled softly, then looked at the maid named Hongyu standing behind everyone and said,
“Back then, the Emperor of the Central Domain went insane trying to refine the Reverse-Star Pill. He even considered using his own flesh and blood as pill essence, throwing it into the pill furnace. I didn’t know about it initially, but after witnessing it, I realized that the man I married had long changed.”
“Hongyu, although it’s been ten years, I still want to apologize to you.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Anping hesitated for a moment and suddenly seemed to have a realization. He turned to look at the maid who stood silently aside.
Liang Zhu had previously mentioned that when he swapped the prince to save Ahting, he used a dead baby as a substitute for Ahting, thus saving her.
Could it be that the dead baby Liang Zhu talked about was born to a maid named Hongyu?
Hongyu nodded slightly and said, “The queen is being too kind. That child should never have been born. Being able to save the second princess can be considered her luck.”
Tong Zilan nodded slightly, then looked back at Ye Anping and asked,
“Young Master Ye, let’s get back to business. What do you want?”
“Two requests.”
“Please, tell me. As long as I can do it, I won’t refuse.”
Ye Anping took a deep breath and said,
“The first thing is that I hope the empress can take the initiative to open the city gate when the demon clan approaches the gate of Tainan City and let the demon emperor enter the city.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Yue Xuanming, who was standing on the right side of the imperial concubine’s bed, frowned again and interrupted,
“If you let the Demon Emperor enter the city, where will you place the cultivators in Tainan City? The demon clan will definitely massacre them when they enter the city. Blood will flow in the city, and hundreds of thousands of cultivators will die without any body parts.”
“That’s wrong,” Ye Anping raised his head to meet his gaze and said, “The Demon Emperor can’t kill human cultivators during this trip. Master Yue, you are the deputy commander of the Heavenly Execution Court, so you should have got the news. In the immortal cities that we passed through, Yu Guan and Hu Guan, apart from the city guards who killed people, the Demon Clan did not attack the ordinary cultivators in the city after entering the city.”
“Then how can you guarantee that after the Demon Emperor enters Tianan City, he will also let go of the hundreds of thousands of cultivators in Tianan City!”
Because Si Xuanji was here… Ye Anping replied secretly, but now that Si Xuanji was there, he couldn’t say this out loud. Otherwise, it would only make Si Xuanji have more questions about him, so he had to change the topic,
“Until the Emperor of the Central Domain is eliminated, there will be no stability in the Central Domain, and the fate of the second princess will never be settled.”
“Then we can’t put the hundreds of thousands of people in Tianan City into such a dangerous situation.”
Tong Zilan also nodded faintly and said,
“Young Master Ye, I want that old man to die. If he doesn’t die, I won’t be able to come out of the cage. My second daughter will always have to bear this fate. However, letting the Demon Emperor into the city… is indeed …Is there no other way?”
Ye Anping felt a little embarrassed. He was thinking about how to convince these two people to agree to escort the Demon Emperor into the city, but at the moment, apart from telling Si Xuanji, there was no other convincing reason.
But when Ye Anping was in trouble, Si Xuanji took the initiative and said,
“Don’t worry, you two. I can guarantee the Demon Emperor will never massacre ordinary cultivators in the city after entering the city.”
As Si Xuanji glanced at Ye Anping, she said,
“I will send a letter back to Xuanxing Sect today and tomorrow, asking my mother to come and take charge of the overall situation. If she knows that the Emperor of the Central Domain has become a demon, she will never let him survive in the world.”
“Your mother!” Tong Zilan frowned slightly. “You mean Immortal Danyue! But… Will she come? I have heard she will never take the initiative to interfere in anything other than Xuanxing Sect.”
Ye Anping quickly added,
“Danyue Immortal is a magnanimous, benevolent, and virtuous person. She will definitely not stand by and watch the affairs between the demon clan and the Emperor of the Central Domain.”
“Yes.” Si Xuanji pursed her lips and smiled. “My mother is immortal in the world. She is pure. She will never fail to act when she sees an evil spirit.”
Suddenly, a golden-crowned parrot flew in from the window and landed on Ye Anping’s shoulder, causing everyone present to immediately become alert. However, they relaxed after seeing that it seemed to be Ye Anping’s spiritual pet.
Tong Zilan looked at Si Xuanji, was silent for a moment, and said,
“Since I have your promise, I agree to this matter. When the demon clan besieges the city, they ask Yue Xuanming to open the city gate and let them in.”
“Um.”
Ye Anping nodded and then continued,
“Then the second thing is, Young Master Xiao wants to find something, and he hopes the Empress will help me find its whereabouts.”
“What is it?”
“The Nine Dragon Heavenly Seal.”
Tong Zilan frowned slightly when she heard this and glanced at Xiao Yunluo on the side, but after thinking for a while, she nodded and replied,
“I only know that this item was placed by the old man in a secret vault under the main hall of the palace. I cannot guarantee whether it can be retrieved.”
“In that case… Now that we know where this thing is, let me figure out the solution.”
Ye Anping nodded slightly in greeting and then said goodbye,
“I won’t stay long today, so I’ll say goodbye.”
“Hongyu, send Young Master Ye and the others out of the palace.”
“Yes…”