When he opened the door, he found the second elder, Yun Yuan, standing outside, his hair and beard lightly frosted with gray and a mischievous grin on his face. "Well, lad, I hear our little ancestor gave you quite a beating?" He squeezed through the doorway without ceremony, waving an exquisite jade box. "Here. This old man felt sorry for you, so I brought you something good."
Yun Qing accepted the jade box with a helpless look. "You certainly hear things quickly. It was only a minor matter. I'm sorry for the trouble of having you come here yourself."
"A minor matter?" The second elder puffed out his beard and glared, already seating himself at the table and pouring himself a cup of spirit tea.
"You're one of the clan's rising stars, lad. Everyone's watching you! How many days has it been since you came back? Some want to step on you to climb higher, some want to curry favor with you, and others want to imitate you to win that one's affection. Heh, demons dancing in a frenzy-what a lively spectacle." He sipped his tea, his teasing tone carrying the air of someone who had seen through the ways of the world.
Yun Qing said nothing and opened the jade box the second elder had brought. A medicinal fragrance wafted out. Inside lay three flawless, rounded pills the size of longan fruits, their bodies a glassy gold. They were none other than the sacred Heaven Tier healing medicine-the Nine-Turn Jade-Restoring Pills.
He instinctively activated his Double Pupils to examine them, and his brows rose. Within the pills, several strands of pure, gentle radiant yang qi had been intricately entwined. They shared the same origin as the violent energy lingering in his body and were dissolving the medicinal potency in a profound manner. These pills were clearly intended specifically to repair meridians injured by radiant sun divine power!
Someone had plainly refined these pills especially for his current injuries. They were certainly not the second elder's usual handiwork.
Seeing realization dawn on his face, the second elder chuckled, tapped the jade box meaningfully, then glanced toward the main hall of the Perching Phoenix Palace. His meaning could not have been clearer. Without the tacit approval and prompting of the little ancestor inside, how could an old fellow like him casually enter the Serenity Courtyard in the palace's rear halls?
Whose idea this medicine had been went without saying.
Yun Qing picked up a pill, his fingertips touching its smooth, warm surface. Without further hesitation, he placed it in his mouth. Gentle yet immense pure yang medicinal power dissolved instantly, washing through his meridians like blessed rain. Wherever it passed, the stubborn radiant sun energy was swiftly neutralized and dispersed, and his damaged meridians began healing at a rate visible to the naked eye. It was several times faster than healing himself by circulating his own power.
Even more surprising, the pill seemed to contain a trace of Yun Huang's insight into radiant sun power. As it healed him, it also gave him a vague sense of affinity with and understanding of this power of utmost yang and unyielding force.
Feeling his meridians rapidly recover, Yun Qing held the jade box, a flicker of complicated emotion passing through his Double Pupils.
When he had first returned to the clan, merely approaching Yun Huang had felt like being burned alive, and it had taken him a long time just to barely suppress his hidden injuries. Now, after taking a Radiant Sun Seal head-on, he had instead received this wondrous medicine. Such painstaking preparation, such treatment that banished injury the moment the medicine took effect-the difference from before was truly that between clouds and mud.
The layer of solid ice between them seemed, through some unspoken understanding, to have quietly melted a little.
Inside the Perching Phoenix Hall, Yun Huang was reviewing a confidential report on the situation in the Central Province. His writing hand paused slightly. Sensing the aura in the Serenity Courtyard gradually stabilize, the strand of divine sense that had been watching it all along silently receded like the tide.
Yun Qing's injuries had healed completely, and his condition was even more refined than before he had been hurt. He exchanged a glance with the second elder, confirming that the unsettling sensation of being watched had disappeared.
A thought stirred in Yun Qing's mind, and at last he could not resist asking through a private voice transmission, "Second Elder, do you know why heart-cleansing vines are planted throughout the Perching Phoenix Palace? Is it because that one...?" He paused, not daring to say outright that the Immortal Emperor's Dao heart was flawed. Even though he and the second elder had jointly devised this Voice-Transmission Art based on the compatibility of their cultivation physiques, he truly did not dare underestimate the methods of a Reincarnated Immortal Emperor.
At his question, some of the playful smile faded from the second elder's face. He mysteriously pointed a finger toward the heavens, then waved his hand. His meaning was that this could not be discussed; it concerned heaven's secrets.
"It's easy to invite a god in, but hard to send him away." The second elder sipped his tea and likewise transmitted his voice privately, his tone complicated. "What we did back then was a tremendous gamble for our Yun Clan. Those old fellows in the clan are probably desperate now for someone to beguile our lord's heart, to give him a few more ties to the Yun Clan. Ideally, he would leave behind offspring..."
Yun Qing understood and stopped pursuing this forbidden topic. Changing the subject, he spoke aloud, his voice ringing clearly through the Serenity Courtyard. "Second Elder, what do you make of today's incident with the Soul-Suppressing Stele in the Ancestral Shrine?"
The second elder raised his brows and smiled meaningfully. "You want to discuss that now?" His pointed look asked whether Yun Qing was no longer afraid that the walls had ears.
Yun Qing's expression was open, his tone firm. "I hide nothing I know from the Young Lord."
"Hmph!"
The moment Yun Qing finished speaking, a cold snort rang out of thin air, like icy sleet striking jade. Clear and crystalline, it carried a chill capable of freezing the soul. It was Yun Huang!
The meaning of that cold snort was self-evident-You two were whispering through voice transmissions right under my nose, and now you claim to hide nothing? Do you really take me for deaf and blind?
I'd have to be a fool to believe you.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem!" The second elder's smile froze for an instant, and even the fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes betrayed a hint of panic. He turned swiftly, pretending to gaze at the moonlight outside the courtyard, but his broad sleeve "accidentally on purpose" brushed Yun Qing, his fingertips secretly curling in a gesture that seemed to complain, See what your loose tongue has done? Now you've overplayed your hand.
Yun Qing's heart jolted, and cold sweat instantly seeped down his back. Who did not know that this Young Lord had an erratic temper and hated nothing more than others trying to be clever in front of him?
Yet despite their anxiety, neither could help wailing inwardly, Oh, ancestor, isn't your eavesdropping a little too perfectly timed-and a little too shamelessly righteous?
That formidable divine sense swept unceremoniously over Yun Qing's entire body, as though intent on seeing straight through him, inside and out. Yun Qing reacted extremely quickly. He swiftly adjusted his expression, showing just the right touch of surprise and helplessness before letting it give way to complete openness. He bowed deeply toward the main hall of the Perching Phoenix Hall, his voice clear as a spring:
"Young Lord, my voice transmission with the second elder concerned only trivial matters about my injuries. I truly did not dare disturb your quiet cultivation and contemplation with such insignificant private affairs. The matter at the Ancestral Shrine, however, concerns the clan's stability. Having been honored with your trust, I must set aside personal ties and report everything honestly. I have not the slightest intention of concealing anything, nor would I dare let private concerns obstruct public duty and betray your trust."
His words were watertight. Their earlier private transmission had been a matter of "not wishing to disturb him with personal affairs," while his present report was "out of public duty and loyalty." With this humble explanation, he had neatly accounted for both official business and private sentiment. He was slippery indeed.
The Serenity Courtyard fell silent at once, with only the rustling of bamboo leaves in the night breeze. The pressure emanating from the main hall eased a little, but continued to linger over Yun Qing. Clearly, Yun Huang was still "listening."
Seeing this, the second elder hurried to smooth things over, muttering, "All right, all right, our little ancestor is listening. If you have something to say, say it; if you have a fart... ahem, if you have something to report, report it! Don't waste the Young Lord's cultivation time." Crude as his words seemed, he was actually offering both brothers a graceful way out.
Before you continue