Intercepting the Sedan

Lord Xingde looked at Liu Xiaolou's smile and felt a touch of unease. He quickly cautioned, "If you're going to lure someone, do it properly. Don't use those crude methods!"

Liu Xiaolou patted his chest. "Senior, rest assured, I won't be too crude. I'll aim to bring the person over stealthily, so that even this lady won't know how she got here. Heh heh..."

Lord Xingde quickly stopped him. "I don't need your tricks. Just deliver the message honestly."

Liu Xiaolou suddenly understood. "Ah... so it's a case of mutual affection... But why didn't you just go to their door?"

Lord Xingde sighed. "She's a lady from a prominent family, and their clan rules are very strict."

After a brief explanation of the situation, Liu Xiaolou finally understood. So, Lord Xingde had come to secretly meet his lover.

This Lady Zhou Qi was the direct granddaughter of the Zhou clan leader. Although she was over thirty, she was still unmarried, primarily because her heart belonged to Lord Xingde. However, Lord Xingde was a rogue cultivator with no background and no particularly outstanding cultivation. To a great clan like the Zhou clan, he was not a suitable candidate for marriage. Frankly, they were not well-matched.

The old lovers were aware of the difficulties. They had been together for many years, keeping their relationship secret. But no matter how hidden, secrets eventually come to light. Last month, during one of their secret meetings, they were discovered by the clan. Lord Xingde was severely injured by Zhou clan experts. They spared his life at Lady Zhou Qi's desperate pleading, rather than killing him on the spot, allowing him to escape.

However, a beating couldn't quell his longing. Before his injuries had fully healed, Lord Xingde returned, and he brought Liu Xiaolou with him.

Liu Xiaolou grumbled inwardly, Lord Xingde truly values love over his own life! This task wasn't difficult for him. Since he was still counting on Lord Xingde to teach him formations, he naturally agreed to go to the Zhou family manor to deliver the message as requested.

According to Lord Xingde, Lady Zhou Qi went out for a stroll on this day every month, which was also their agreed-upon meeting day. Liu Xiaolou highly doubted if Lady Zhou Qi would still be able to come out and meet him after the beating incident last month. But regardless, he would go check the situation first before making any decisions.

He staked out at a crossroads three li away from the manor, hiding in the tall grass by the roadside, patiently waiting for his target to appear. Perhaps because the manor had recently been breached by rogue cultivators, very few people were coming and going. After waiting for a full two hours, only a few servants from the manor passed by.

As dusk approached, a carriage finally emerged from the manor. The coachman urged the horses forward with his whip, and a young master on horseback accompanied the carriage.

The carriage curtain was a green gauze. The intended person had indeed arrived!

Liu Xiaolou rushed out as if crying a river, blocking the carriage. "Cousin!"

The fine horse reared, and the carriage stopped. The young master behind the carriage spurred his horse forward, cracking his whip in the air with a sharp "snap."

"Who are you? Why are you blocking the carriage?"

Along with the crack of the whip, a gust of wind surged forward. Liu Xiaolou, caught off guard, was almost thrown off balance by the air current.

Lord Xingde had warned Liu Xiaolou that after last month's incident, the Zhou clan would likely send Consecrated experts to keep a close eye on Lady Zhou Qi, and he needed to be extremely careful. He figured the person cracking the whip must be one of those Consecrated experts. However, this expert wasn't as powerful as Lord Xingde had described; he felt he wasn't much stronger than himself!

Liu Xiaolou continued to shout, "Cousin, it's your nephew! You'll know if you come out and see!"

Hearing Liu Xiaolou's shouts of "Cousin" and "Nephew," the young master didn't whip a second time. Instead, he looked questioningly towards the carriage.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and the woman seated inside wore a goose-yellow shirt and a pleated skirt, with a golden hairpin in her bun. She had a graceful and slender figure, and her face was refined and ethereal, truly stunningly beautiful.

How could she look like she was over thirty? She looked like a maiden under twenty.

Indeed, she was a peerless beauty. No wonder Lord Xingde couldn't forget her!

Their eyes met. Liu Xiaolou was captivated by the woman's radiance. In his haste, he dared not look too long, merely holding out a sachet with both hands. "Cousin, look!"

The sachet was a token of their relationship. As soon as he showed it, Lady Zhou Qi would understand his intentions and cooperate perfectly.

After waiting for a moment, instead of Lady Zhou Qi acknowledging him, he heard a question: "Liu Xiaolou?"

Liu Xiaolou was astonished. He instinctively looked up and saw the woman in the carriage staring back at him with wide-open eyes, equally surprised.

Why did that voice sound so familiar? That look of surprise... he felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

After a moment of eye contact, Liu Xiaolou's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered. Wasn't this the person who had been harvesting spirit fields on Goose-Goat Mountain a few months ago?

He had been caught red-handed then, and then inexplicably let go by that Qi Refining Paragon expert. It had been night in the wilderness back then, and today she had changed her attire and styled her hair differently, which was why he hadn't recognized her at first glance.

The woman asked coldly, "When did I get a nephew like you?"

Liu Xiaolou was speechless, his mind a bit muddled.

This turn of events was truly unexpected. He couldn't figure out what was going on for a long time. How could the lover Lord Xingde spoke of, the one he'd been in love with for years, be her? And why would she, a dignified direct daughter of the Zhou clan, go to Goose-Goat Mountain to do farm work?

His only reaction now was to keep showing the sachet in his hand, left, right, front, and back...

"What are you holding that sachet for?" the woman asked again.

She didn't recognize him?

Liu Xiaolou glanced at the carriage curtain. It was indeed a green gauze.

Could it be that Lord Xingde had tricked him? That shouldn't be right.

"How did you know I was here?" the woman asked again.

Liu Xiaolou's mind raced, but before he could come up with an answer, the Consecrated expert who had cracked the whip made his move.

The whip head coiled like a spirit snake, aiming for Liu Xiaolou's Zhongwan acupoint. Liu Xiaolou flicked his wrist, deftly dodging it. The young master angrily said, "You dare to dodge?"

The second whip came down again. Liu Xiaolou dodged it once more, then his meridians were sealed by a powerful surge of true essence, rendering him unable to move.

It was the woman who had made the move, sealing Liu Xiaolou's meridians.

The young master was about to swing a third time but was stopped by the woman. She said softly, "Take him back."

The young master's angry whip was casually stopped by the woman. His face flushed, and he asked sheepishly, "Ninth Mistress, aren't we going out anymore?"

The woman shook her head. "This person is very strange. I want to take him back for questioning. I'll trouble you, Second Young Master."

Only now did Liu Xiaolou realize that he had mistaken the person. This wasn't Lady Zhou Qi, but Ninth Mistress.

Didn't Lord Xingde say that only Lady Zhou Qi's carriage had green gauze curtains? Lord Xingde, I'm not done with you!

The young master lifted Liu Xiaolou onto his horse's saddle. The carriage turned around and headed back to the manor.

Entering through a side door, the carriage stopped outside a moon gate. Ninth Mistress alighted and walked on, the young master carrying Liu Xiaolou followed behind her. They passed through covered walkways and gardens, skirted several pavilions, and entered a quiet courtyard.

The courtyard had a fish pond, and clusters of green bamboo were planted along the wall, giving it a tranquil feel.

The young master placed the person in a bamboo pavilion by the pond. He looked at Ninth Mistress, who said, "Thank you for your trouble, Second Young Master. I'd like to ask him a few questions alone."

The young master reminded her, "These fellows with unknown backgrounds are cunning. Be careful, Ninth Mistress. Just last month, this estate of the Zhou clan was attacked by a band of thieves..."

Ninth Mistress sneered, "I recognize this fellow. With his three moves and two techniques, could he possibly be responsible for such a major incident as wrecking this estate? Let him go cultivate for thirty years first!"

The young master nodded and said no more. He withdrew from the courtyard, leaving Ninth Mistress standing alone in the pavilion, silent.