Li Ling listened for a while, but when the other party's dream became something no decent person should watch, he returned to his own territory with the Ninth Princess and told her what he had discovered.
"How could she do such a thing?" the Ninth Princess said angrily.
"I knew this day would come when I first stepped into the limelight," Li Ling said. "The people of the Zhu Yuan Kingdom aren't blind. They weren't going to watch me overpower all those rivals without reacting."
"Then what should we do?" the Ninth Princess asked.
"Let things take their course," Li Ling said. "I hide my abilities to stay safe and save myself trouble, not to swallow humiliation. Besides, Senior Brother Zhu has treated me well. How could I stand by and watch him face that calamity when I clearly had the power to help?"
"That's true," the Ninth Princess said.
The next day, Huo Qingqing found an excuse to approach Li Ling. She played the refined lady for quite some time, making idle conversation about this and that.
Others merely thought she meant to seduce Li Ling and was looking for chances to get close. Li Ling, however, knew she wanted something he kept on his person. He deliberately left an opening, giving her a chance to ask, and handed over an Agarwood Bracelet.
An official from the Incense Affairs Bureau had given him this item, and he often handled it. It should satisfy the requirements.
He could never casually give away his other possessions, and he had to be especially cautious with things like hair and flakes of skin.
The cultivation world had no shortage of sinister arts that used such things to curse people. Like a Nightmare-Binding Anchor, they handed others a weapon to use against him.
Besides,