Facing Dong Huazi Directly

Seeking the Dao in the Mortal World

On the way to the palace, Qin Yi's mind was still revolving around that divinatory symbol.

Li Qingjun was by his side, so he couldn't ask Liu Su for a detailed explanation. As he pieced it together in his own mind, almost all his attention was drawn to the words "Loss of Friends." No matter how auspicious the other parts sounded, it was useless.

Where would he find friends in this world?

Li Qinglin, who had just said, "He is my friend"? He called him a friend, but everyone knew that might not be true. In Qin Yi's own heart, he was just a collaborator, so it shouldn't have anything to do with him.

Liu Su? Now they seemed close enough to say anything, but in reality, both knew there was still a gap. It was hard to say if they counted as friends. Of course, the gap was getting smaller and smaller. If Qin Yi had to say he had a friend, it could only be Liu Su, but he didn't know if Liu Su thought so too.

His relationship with Ye Ling was still shallow.

Li Qingjun? Qin Yi knew he liked Li Qingjun a little. Did this count as a friendship? Maybe it did now?

Loss of friends... Whether it was losing Liu Su or losing Li Qingjun, Qin Yi shivered as he thought about it, knowing he couldn't accept either.

"Hey, what are you thinking about with that long face?" Li Qingjun couldn't help but ask from beside him.

"Oh, nothing." Qin Yi forced a smile. "At a state banquet, wouldn't it be a bit awkward for me to be there?"

"What's there to be awkward about? You're my brother's friend and mine. You can't even enter? Mang Zhan is the one who doesn't deserve to be here."

Another mention of friend... Qin Yi pursed his lips, feeling very reluctant to hear that word at this moment.

He still felt it was a bit strange for Li Qinglin to invite him to the banquet, so he couldn't help but ask the palace attendant who delivered the message, "Do you know why the Crown Prince called for me?"

The palace attendant hesitated to speak.

Li Qingjun finally realized something was wrong and grabbed him, saying, "Stop being so evasive, what is it?"

The palace attendant hesitated for a long time, then whispered, "The Crown Prince of the Western Wilderness proposed marriage to the King, saying the two countries would form an eternal alliance..."

Li Qingjun's expression changed drastically.

Qin Yi also narrowed his eyes, and a chill unconsciously appeared in them.

"Stop." Two palace guards blocked the door, pointing at the Wolf Tooth Club in Qin Yi's hand. "Lay down your weapon."

"Get out of the way!" Li Qingjun also had a spear in her hand. With a sweep, she sent the two guards flying far away and strode in. Qin Yi took the opportunity to slip in behind her.

What a joke, the Wolf Tooth Club was his main body, okay? What was the point of going in after laying down his weapon...

Approaching the banquet hall, they heard Li Qinglin's stern reprimand from inside: "Nanli has been established for a thousand years. The royal descendants are martial and self-reliant. Successive princesses have chosen their own spouses freely and without restraint. This is the demeanor of the royal family, with its own bearing. Even if they marry out, they marry far into the great kingdoms of the Central Plains, enjoying all honors. We have never heard of marrying into enmity and being humiliated by enemies! As the National Teacher, you play tricks, collude with foreign enemies, and disgrace the nation?"

"The Crown Prince is too serious," an old voice came from inside. "Nanli and the Western Wilderness have been at war for a hundred years. Do you not see how many lives have been ruined, only caring about the royal family's face? Moreover, this humble Daoist has cast a hexagram. This country is Li, the Western Wilderness is Dui. Li and Dui are Kui, which is auspicious for small matters. This means husband and wife harmony. Where does the talk of humiliation come from?"

The King nodded repeatedly, very convinced by the so-called "divinatory symbol."

Li Qinglin's face was cold and stern, but he was actually suffocated with anger. It was like this. Regardless of whether it was reasonable or not, if someone spouted some nonsense about a hexagram, his father would take it as gospel. However, finding someone who truly understood hexagrams to refute it wouldn't make much sense either, because those people didn't have "immortal methods," and it went without saying whose word his father would believe.

A discordant voice came from outside the door: "Princess, who is the one inside casting hexagrams? Isn't this just nonsense? Dui above, Li below, this is called Ze Huo Ge. Water pours down while fire rises up. This means they will argue and fight every day, won't they? Ge means change. If husband and wife are not harmonious, there will be family changes. If ruler and minister are not harmonious, the country will be overthrown. This is clearly an inauspicious hexagram. To be able to twist it into an auspicious one, did he take money?"

There was an uproar in the hall, and everyone turned to look at the door.

Li Qinglin showed a hint of a smile. He had been standing and pointing angrily, but now he slowly sat back down.

A man and a woman stood outside the door. The people in the hall naturally recognized Li Qingjun at a glance, but who was the man? A young man who looked quite refined and fair-skinned, dressed in ordinary cloth, but clean and tidy. His figure was tall and slender, slightly thin, his eyes clear and bright, and a mocking smile played on the corner of his mouth, which only added to his handsome appearance.

It was just strange that a handsome young man was carrying a Wolf Tooth Club. Fortunately, Li Qingjun was also holding a silver spear at the moment, which somewhat diluted the sense of incongruity.

He was about half a head taller than Li Qingjun. Standing side by side, they looked surprisingly well-matched at first glance.

Of course they were well-matched. Li Qingjun had a graceful figure and skin as white as snow. Compared to the burly, wild-man-like Mang Zhan, Qin Yi's handsome and clean appearance looked much more compatible with Li Qingjun...

Several people in the hall subconsciously thought, What a perfect match. Then they looked at Mang Zhan, whose eyes were shining as he stared at Li Qingjun, and all secretly shook their heads. Savage.

Li Qingjun immediately said, "Father King! I won't marry!"

"Zhaoyang." From the dragon throne, the King temporarily avoided the question of whether his daughter would marry and instead asked in surprise, "Who is this young man?"

Li Qingjun said, "This is Qin Yi, my friend."

The officials whispered among themselves.

While Nanli's claim of a thousand years of history was an exaggeration, it had existed for several hundred years. The royal family's customs had been like this for centuries. Princesses had hidden their identities and mingled in the jianghu, and countless had run off with jianghu men over the generations. It wasn't unheard of for them to return home crying, their faces weathered. It wasn't the "royal demeanor" that Li Qinglin boasted of, but it was indeed customary for princesses to choose their own spouses. Under this custom, a princess suddenly bringing a young man of similar age and announcing him as a friend in front of her father and the officials... wasn't this practically the same as publicly announcing that she wanted to make him her consort?

Since running off with a jianghu man was acceptable, this Qin Yi, although a commoner, wasn't a big problem. The problem was that his appearance was a bit too coincidental... People quietly looked at Mang Zhan and saw a face so dark it was almost black. He was gripping his wine cup with a large hand, veins bulging.

Qin Yi sighed. He knew what Li Qinglin had brought him here to do: to act as a pawn to ruin Mang Zhan's plans. He was the only one Li Qingjun could claim as a friend, and the only one who had the confidence to refute Dong Huazi's nonsense. Afterwards, whether he, a commoner, could marry the princess was still controllable, which was much better than finding a son of an official.

Perhaps at this moment, only Li Qingjun, this silly girl, was completely unaware of what everyone else was thinking... Isn't it just introducing a friend?

Knowing Li Qinglin's intentions, Qin Yi felt no aversion, because he was quite willing to be this pawn.

The only problem was... Qin Yi turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on the chair below the King.

Sitting there was an old man in a Daoist robe, with white hair and a youthful face, possessing an air of immortality. He was also staring at Qin Yi, with a smile on his face but a hint of coldness in his eyes.

Dong Huazi.

Qin Yi took a deep breath. He could feel the turmoil in his heart.

It had nothing to do with anything else, not obsession, not inner demons. It was simply because this was the first boss he had set as a goal in his heart since transmigrating. To be honest, Qin Yi hadn't expected to face Dong Huazi directly in such a setting. He felt he wasn't fully prepared.

He knew that Li Qinglin's original plan wasn't like this either; it was a temporary measure due to the changing circumstances.

While these thoughts flowed, the King on the dragon throne was saying, "Since he is Zhaoyang's friend... grant him a seat first."

Li Qingjun then pulled Qin Yi towards Li Qinglin, and someone immediately added a seat there. Just as they reached the center of the hall, Dong Huazi slowly spoke, "Is this young friend Qin also cultivating the Dao?"

Only then did everyone react. They were so engrossed in the gossip about the relationship between men and women that they almost forgot the most pressing issue: this young man had just refuted the National Teacher's divinatory symbol!

This was a grave offense to the National Teacher!

Qin Yi's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't back down. He stood firm in the hall and said loudly, "Indeed. I don't know who spoke that divinatory symbol just now, it was simply ridiculous. I heard that National Teacher Dong Huazi's Daoist magic is profound. He should have been the one to perform this divination, instead of listening to a beginner speak nonsense."

The expressions of the officials became very interesting. This was saying to the National Teacher's face that he was a beginner and calling his words nonsense!