Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 178 – Jing Guanjin’s Desire

A moment later, the young girl called Sang Yueyue briskly walked out from the hall. Then, she restrained all of the emotions that showed on her beautiful face. Although she was deliberately trying to seem calm and indifferent, a noble aura still emanated from her features, making one give birth to a sense of respect as they saw her.

The royal guards that stood watch outside the palace were carefully selected. Whether it was in strength or loyalty, they stood above the rest. And now, their gazes were directed forwards with an almost stone-like indifference, as if they didn’t notice the young girl stepping out of the grand hall. Like this, she threw on a black robe, boarded a carriage, and slowly departed.

She continued forwards unobstructed. It was unknown who was driving the carriage, but the strictly guarded royal palace defenses let it freely go, not even asking any questions or investigating them.

The carriage drove out of the royal palace. As it reached the great streets of the capital city, the young girl suddenly said, “Go to the Great Glory Gambling Hall.”

Perhaps it was because they were already aware that they had been eyed by the capital city scouts, but Moon Praying Hall’s subordinate gambling den had taken on such a gaudy name. Because their background was deep and they were well known, many gamblers knew that this was one of Moon Praying Shrine’s businesses. Even so, they still flocked over to participate. In any case, there were so many people that came here; could the Dark Night Division really investigate each and every one of them? If they tried they would be left as tired dogs walking in the dark!

Of course, if one had to ask the gamblers inside if there were any undercover agents or spies…did one really need to ask this question? It was fine as long as no one was caught.

The carriage drove out from the royal palace and entered the back courtyard of the Great Glory Gambling Hall. They approached an alley near the back. A number of people who secretly dispersed outwards had already neatly combed over the perimeter.

The young girl thought for a moment and decided she needed to personally deliver the letter before she could be relieved. She ordered, “Have someone come out.”

The carriage driver nodded. He leapt down and vanished after taking several steps.

Although the carriage had stopped all alone in the alleyway, there was no need to worry about her safety. If there really were any dangers, it would be torn to shreds before it could even dream of approaching.

Soon, the carriage driver leapt back over a wall. A wolf rider followed close behind. As the wolf rider landed on the ground, there was a loud sound as countless cracks spread out like a web, his eyes ice cold.

The carriage window opened and the young girl thrust out a hand. “This is a letter. I’ll have to bother you to give it to the Vice Priest.”

Although the wolf rider didn’t know who the person within the carriage was, their air of nobility was enough to indicate to him that this wasn’t some game. The wolf rider hesitated for a moment and received the jade slip.

The young girl drew back her hand. “Let’s go.”

The carriage driver shook the reins and slowly drove down the alley. It was only after leaving the scope of the Great Glory Gambling Hall that the man started to speak with a bit of dissatisfaction. “Miss, that was too dangerous just now.”

“Hehe, it’s fine, it's fine. He knew how fierce uncle was so of course he wouldn’t do anything to me. And, I was just delivering a letter. It’s not as if the wolf riders are some mindless idiots.”

“Well, it’s best that there isn’t a next time after this.”

“Mm, I understand uncle.”

The young girl sensibly promised. At the same time, she also thought that this was Big Brother Qin Yu’s letter, and since it was her first time helping him out with a favor, she certainly had to personally hand deliver it to feel relieved.

As she thought about how perilous his situation was in the royal palace, she wrinkled her nose and mumbled a complaint. “Really, just what is uncle thinking that he would grant such a marriage…and, Big Sister Lushy is just too reckless. To think she would just agree like that…”

It wasn’t only on this side that things were occurring. Within the Great Glory Gambling Hall, the group from Moon Praying Shrine had received the letter and had hurried into closed door discussion. In another place within the capital city, some people were scratching their heads over what to do with Qin Yu.

Of course, these people didn’t have any good intentions at all.

The Whale Sovereign sat in a great chair. His waist was straight and stiff like a tree, and even though he was silent, a great oppressive aura permeated the entire temple.

So, within the temple, every seafolk spoke much more cautiously. But, they still had to express their thoughts.

“I do not agree that we should try to deal with Qin Yu right now. Since he is being closely guarded by the royal palace at this moment, the chances of success are too low. The losses of a failed attempt would surely be catastrophic.”

“I agree. Looking at the present situation, the price to kill Qin Yu is too great. Perhaps we should wait for now and slowly seek out an opportunity.”

“There are too many other dangers in this matter. We might possibly enrage the royal palace and trigger a counterattack against us.”

In short, the staff analyzing the situation didn’t favor this matter. They were mostly opposed to moving against Qin Yu at the moment.

The Whale Sovereign listened in silence. Although he often displayed a tyrannical demeanor, he had always been a superior who listened to the opinions of his underlings. This was why he had gathered a sizable group of his staff here to analyze the situation and judge what the best possible course of action was. It had been proven that a single person’s intelligence was always inferior to that of a group. In the past years, his staff had indeed helped him avoid many losses.

But today, the Whale Sovereign wasn’t ready to accept their opinions, even if he knew they were right. He lifted a hand and everyone quieted down. The Whale Sovereign said, “I must kill Qin Yu, but we cannot cause too great a stir. I already have a plan to do so. All you need to do is help me design a plan to deal with any possible retaliation from the royal palace.”

The staff respectfully nodded in agreement.

They had already fulfilled their duty. Since their lord had chosen to arbitrarily flip everything upside-down, they would follow him unconditionally and begin designing the plan and making preparations.

The Whale Sovereign waved his hand, allowing the staff to leave. He turned and looked towards a figure standing in the corner. “Jing Guanjin, you have already wasted far too much of my time and energy. But, I will give you one more chance. Complete a task for me and I will give you that which you deserve.”

Jing Guanjin’s face paled, as if he hadn’t seen the light of day for a long, long time. He looked up and revealed a queer smile. “Is it to deal with Qin Yu? Then I agree, lord father, no matter what price I must pay.”

This human that had ruined his life, how could he not hate him to the bone? As for what the Whale Sovereign meant when he said he would receive what he deserved, Jing Guanjin didn’t believe those words at all. He had been sent off as a child and rarely had a chance to get to know his father. Still, there was always a faint instinctual understanding between father and son. His father was a person who paid attention to how the public viewed him and had his own sense of morals. So, even though he plotted so many things during these years, he was still held in extremely high esteem in the world. How could such a person allow a tainted descendant to inherit his everything?

Since he could never regain what he had lost, his most ardent desire now was to kill Qin Yu.

…

Honorable Ning was a human.

If one had to rank the top ten shocking events of this year, then this revelation was unquestionably at the very top, and even cast away every other competitor by a wide margin. Even now, all of the seafolk scrambled to discuss this matter, each one giving their own opinion about it.

Of course, the secret rumors spread out by the royal palace were useful. In addition with some people helping these rumors gain traction, there was now a different voice that emerged.

For instance, that Honorable Ning had been kidnapped by the humans…

But, all of these efforts could only deceive the lower level seafolk. The higher circles of power naturally knew the truth a long time ago.

Honorable Ning was a human. Or, perhaps his name was Qin Yu, but no matter what he was called, he was undoubtedly a human.

Sea Spirit Pavilion suffered the greatest attack of all. Their soaring potential had been completely swept away, and it even seemed as if others were trying to deliberately smear their reputation, muddling events to make it seem as if they might have been involved with the humans. Of course, this was something spread out by public figures related to the sea spirit world. The truly great individuals knew of Sea Spirit Pavilion’s secret deep background, so they were left snorting contemptuously at these rumors.

Everyone had a chance to collude with the humans, but not Sea Spirit Pavilion.

Besides them, the ones that were affected the most were likely Noble Court Avenue’s Qing Family.

Ever since the day the Nine Layer Building was destroyed, the Qing Family that seemed as if it would soon be restored to its previous prosperity had suddenly fallen into drastic decline. Countless people who had wanted to form deeper relationships with them yesterday now turned a cold shoulder to them. Countless icy eyes gazed at them with indifference, and many people couldn’t help but gloat over their misfortune.

Envy, jealousy, hate, such emotions were inevitable within the intelligent races. They had initially been jealous of the Qing Family’s connection with Qin Yu, but now they were smug and pleased. Hadn’t the Qing Family been strictly guarded in the past, for fear that others would latch onto them?

Hehe, now it seemed that they had to thank them!

The indifference and resistance from the highest echelons caused the Qing Family to immediately fall into a dire situation. They were even worse than how they were at the start, and it seemed as if they would soon be pushed aside.

Violent arguments blew up within the Qing Family several times. Each argument was fierce and violent and everyone soon scattered in unhappiness right after. Many of them wanted to draw a clear line between Qin Yu and them.

The biggest involvement between them was Leon and Qingqing’s wedding. Then, it was best to break this marriage apart.

The sea races had thrived in prosperity for a long time, so all sorts of luxurious and hedonistic ways of living existed. In the upper class of society, divorcing and remarrying were not rare at all. Moreover, Qingqing had married not too long ago, so it would be easy for her to withdraw now. As long as the Qing Family could maintain their current status, they would be able to find a properly matched marriage in the future.

It was said that Madame Qing fell deep into thought for several days, and had ended up calling her daughter back home. No one knew what it was that they discussed, but they knew that when Miss Qingqing left, there was a bright red handprint on her face. From that day on, she didn’t step back into the Qing Family household.

But this was how things were. While they could avoid things for a moment, they couldn’t avoid it forever. In the sea region, making a returning visit to the wife’s family after a month was a long-standing tradition amongst the sea races, one that had been established for thousands of years.

In a large dwelling not too far away from Noble Court Avenue, Leon combed his hair, washed his face, and dressed himself. He slapped his face several times and then pushed open the doors.

Qingqing was standing outside. As she saw him, she squeezed out a smile. ”Leon, I have been giving this a lot of thought. We don’t need to go back today, so how about we don’t go at all?”

Leon’s heart warmed. He straightened her hair for a moment and said, “There is no need to worry about me. We have to face this sooner or later. As long as you are by my side, I have the courage and confidence to face anything.”

Qingqing vigorously nodded. “I will forever be with you!”

Leon smiled. “Then I must thank my wife.” He habitually waved his hand. It was only afterwards he recalled that after his teacher’s incident, the shrewd and outstanding housekeeper of his had made excuses to call in sick. He shook his head and revealed a helpless expression.

This was the changing thoughts and sentiments of people. He had grown up in the very lowest tiers of society so he had experienced this far too much. Still, the speed at which the upper classes changed moods still left him flabbergasted.

Qingqing held his hand. “Well we’re going, so let’s go. To leave such undecided things floating around would only be a scourge on us later. Humph, they look down on my husband? They won’t even have time to regret it in the future!”

Leon gripped her warm and soft palm. He earnestly said, “Qingqing, I vow to you that I will try my best to make sure you don’t suffer in the future.”

“I’m doing quite well right now. I’m not suffering at all! The carriage is already prepared; let’s go.”

“Alright.”