15 Past Events (Part Four)

◎"Using the sky as a blanket and the earth as a mat, they engage in acts of mutual affection."◎

Before leaving, Ran Qinghe did not forget to leave a surprise for the two people.

The moonlight, like water, bathed the entire courtyard, casting dappled shadows of the trees. The sound of horses' hooves approached from the gate. She held the silver bell at the end of her whip and silently lashed it out. The spiritual energy at the tip of the whip shot out far and wide, and the spiritual energy instantly rippled outwards, startling the Imperial Preceptor who was sitting in the carriage.

Before the carriage with its purple canopy and golden roof had even come to a complete stop, the Imperial Preceptor inside had already lifted the curtain, and in just a few breaths, they had arrived at the door of the inner chamber.

Ran Qinghe had already used a concealment spell to escape, but she didn't go far, only falling outside the range of the Imperial Preceptor's spiritual power surveillance. She always enjoyed watching a good show, so naturally she couldn't miss the spectacle of these two Discipline Hall disciples fighting against the Imperial Preceptor.

She sat on a withered branch of a giant tree in the distance, swinging her legs with a mocking expression. It was late autumn, and all the leaves had fallen. The two people inside hadn't come out yet; they must have been caught red-handed by the Imperial Advisor.

She twirled a lock of hair around her neck repeatedly, a smug look on her face.

Suddenly, she seemed to hear a very faint sound, mixed in with the wind, as light as a dry branch cracking open, but she still noticed it. She used the tree trunk for leverage and leaped up, and a golden talisman instantly severed the branch she had just been sitting on.

She gritted her teeth in regret, wishing she had stayed far away from these two scourges instead of watching this spectacle.

She gripped the whip and lashed out a spirit blade in the direction from which the golden talisman had come, but the blade missed its target. Suddenly, a sword blade flew from behind her at incredible speed. She raised her whip to block, but was forced back more than ten steps by the spirit blade.

Ran Qinghe thought to herself that this person's strength was probably a whole realm higher than hers. Even with her innate spiritual body, she couldn't see through his spiritual energy patterns. His spiritual energy traces were too chaotic and too fast, leaving her unable to find any flaws.

She raised her voice and said, "Why is Your Excellency the Imperial Preceptor hiding your face? Is it because you are ashamed of your appearance?"

Unexpectedly, these words seemed to have struck a nerve. He, who had been cautiously probing, suddenly launched a relentless attack, raining down hundreds upon hundreds of sword blades without mercy. She struggled to defend herself; her spiritual energy, already largely depleted by her previous concealment technique, was now almost entirely exhausted by the fight. She wiped a bloody scratch from her cheek with her index finger and retorted:

"Why must you press me so hard, Grand Preceptor? What I want is not with you, and I do not possess what you desire."

The person in the shadows chuckled, "Oh, how did you know that..."

The voice was extremely old and rough, quite incongruous with the face of "Lou Tinglan" she had seen during the day.

The Imperial Advisor had barely uttered half a sentence when Ran Qinghe's long whip arrived, encircling his body, tearing the air around him, and pulling him out. This was... breaking his concealment technique.

That's really interesting.

The Imperial Advisor was clearly annoyed by this action. With a few swift movements of his fingers, he formed a binding array, which instantly transformed into a golden net that fell down like a blanket, completely covering Ran Qinghe.

Ran Qinghe angrily tore at the golden net, ignoring the burning sensation on her hands from the spiritual energy within it, and said with certainty, "You are from the Discipline Hall."

This was the second time she had been trapped by the golden net. The first time was when she had just finished destroying one of Qingxiao's spiritual veins and was trying to escape. Elder Louzhen of the Discipline Hall personally took action and used this binding array to firmly lock her in the golden net, then threw her into the Tower of Babel prison.

She was extremely familiar with the binding techniques of the Discipline Hall, so she didn't need him to answer that question. She immediately followed up with her second question: "Do you work for the Discipline Hall?"

Judging from their behavior, it didn't seem like the way they were doing things. The people from the Discipline Hall should have been like their chief disciple, who would have immediately introduced himself in a silly manner, instead of playing a cat-and-mouse game with her like this.

The imperial advisor, however, did not answer her question directly. Instead, he tightened the net, dragging her back to his residence while he began to make arrangements on his own:

"I know you want to find the Mirror of Past Lives, right?"

"As you have guessed, the Mirror of the Past is indeed in my hands. I can give it to you, but in exchange, you cannot try to hinder any of my actions within three days."

"Of course, I won't hurt you. Do you agree?"

Ran Qinghe replied lazily, "Grand Preceptor, you think too highly of me. I am just a minor Golden Core cultivator. How can I compare to your level? Let alone any obstacles, it would be difficult for me to even escape from this net."

The Imperial Preceptor paused, "I think not. If you are willing, I will present the Mirror of Past Lives to you with both hands in three days."

Ran Qinghe's mind raced, and she said leisurely, "I don't think I'm losing out in this deal. At worst, I can just sleep in for another three days. So... deal."

When the Imperial Advisor returned to the mansion, there wasn't a single servant patrolling the entire courtyard. There were only muffled shouts coming from somewhere. Just as she was wondering what was going on, the Imperial Advisor began to draw talismans with his sword.

With a flick of the wrist, vines rapidly sprouted from the ground in the center of a large patch of larkspur in the courtyard, and a cage formed by the gnarled and intertwined vines also broke through the soil.

Ran Qinghe finally found the source of the screams, because the one bound in the vine cage was none other than the "Black and White Impermanence" she had fought in the inner room.

Qi Feng shouted, "Hey, Senior Brother Lou, how can we, as fellow disciples, kill each other like this?"

Ran Qinghe thought to herself, "This Black Impermanence is quite the actor. The Imperial Preceptor is using Lou Tinglan's face, so he really goes along with it, pretending not to know and calling him Senior Brother Lou."

The real Lou Tinglan was right beside him. If she hadn't tested him by showing the injury on Lou Tinglan's chest before leaving, she would have been completely fooled.

The Imperial Preceptor ignored Qi Feng's pleas and locked her, along with the golden net binding her in the Discipline Hall, in a rattan prison. Before leaving, he once again reminded her, with great patience, of the "three-day agreement."

After the Imperial Advisor left, Qi Feng's smile faded. Seeing Ran Qinghe trapped yet leisurely lying down to sleep, he couldn't resist teasing her:

"My throat still hurts from when you strangled me, young lady. You must take responsibility for me and never abandon me after taking advantage of me."

Ran Qinghe lay there, ignoring him, and said, "If you hadn't acted so despicably, I wouldn't be trapped here like this."

Qi Feng touched his nose sheepishly, glancing somewhat guiltily at Lou Tinglan beside him.

It seems, probably, it really was them who tipped him off. Or rather, it was the senior student next to him who tipped him off.

Fifteen minutes ago.

Almost at the same time that Ran Qinghe stirred up her spiritual energy to alert the Imperial Advisor, the Imperial Advisor had already arrived at the inner chamber door in a few steps. However, if it came down to spiritual energy and magic, in a real fight, the two of them might not necessarily lose to the Imperial Advisor.

Surprisingly, they didn't even have a chance to compete. This small inner room was secretly filled with the golden netting of the Discipline Hall. Before the two of them could make a move, the Grand Preceptor chanted an incantation and bound them tightly.

Even more surprisingly, Lou Tinglan, who was always considered upright, suddenly said to the Imperial Advisor:

"Outside the courtyard, there should be someone hiding not far away, watching the show."

Qi Feng had not expected Lou Tinglan to act in this way, nor had he expected that the Imperial Advisor would actually capture this witch.

Qi Feng found it extremely interesting. The first interesting thing was that she was actually hiding on the sidelines waiting to see the show. The second shocking thing was that Lou Tinglan actually knew that she was hiding on the sidelines waiting to see the show.

He was genuinely curious about this person and asked with a smile, "What's your name?"

She was the one who exposed their whereabouts first, yet now, facing them, she can turn around and blame them for their despicable actions.

Ran Qinghe said, "Don't you know to introduce yourself before asking someone's name?"

Qi Feng followed her lead, saying, "I am a disciple of the Discipline Hall, Qi Feng, and this is..."

"Mu Ting," Lou Tinglan interrupted his introduction.

Ran Qinghe stood up. Was she planning to keep up the act in front of her? She asked with interest, "Your name is Mu Ting. Which 'Mu' is it, and which 'Ting'?"

"Oh, could it be the 'wood' in 'wood' and the 'listen' in 'obedience'?"

She chuckled inwardly, thinking to herself, "Does this person think he can fool her with a trick?"

"Mu Ting" tacitly agreed with her words and did not refute them.

Qi Feng asked, "And what about you?"

Ran Qinghe lowered her head, took out a handkerchief from her bosom, and pretended to wipe away tears, saying, "My name is... Lan Cao. I'm just an unknown rogue cultivator. The Grand Preceptor took a liking to me, but I refused. Waaah... He forcibly imprisoned me for several days. I finally found a chance to escape, but unexpectedly, I encountered the two of you. I thought you were people sent by the Grand Preceptor to guard me, so I fought with you..."

"Who knew... you two would act so despicably, causing the Imperial Advisor to kidnap me again... sob sob..."

Qi Feng asked, half-believing, half-doubting, "Really?"

Ran Qinghe's story became increasingly believable: "Look at all these blue larkspurs in the courtyard! They were planted by the Imperial Advisor to please me, and now he's turned on me... Waaah!"

Qi Feng, bored in the vine prison, continued, "Miss Lan Cao, don't cry. Actually, we're in the same boat. After all, I'm quite handsome, and it's understandable that the Imperial Advisor took a liking to me..."

The two were engrossed in their performance, singing and dancing in harmony, when Lou Tinglan's face darkened, shattering the pleasant atmosphere between them.

He didn't understand why Qi Feng could smile at someone who had just threatened to kill him, and he didn't understand why Ran Qinghe could laugh and talk with other men so quickly after she had just developed feelings for him.

But he clearly understood that whatever Ran Qinghe did was none of his business. All he had to do was follow the hall master's orders and bring her back to the Discipline Hall.

Lou Tinglan interrupted their conversation and asked, "What does the three-day agreement mean?"

For some reason, Ran Qinghe felt an intense itch whenever she was around him. After all, she rarely encountered someone so serious. So, she began to spout nonsense with a straight face again: "The Imperial Advisor gave me three days to consider. After three days, he will force me into marriage, unless..."

Lou Tinglan asked, "Unless what?"

Ran Qinghe said, "Unless someone is willing to have intimate relations with me beforehand, with the sky as my blanket and the earth as my mat, if I have already engaged in spiritual cultivation with someone, the Grand Preceptor will probably give up. I wonder what Immortal Lord Mu Ting thinks?"