The White Lotus Sect's Holy Maiden

Something was off about that maid!

The thought flashed through Chen Fan's mind, only for him to forcibly push it down.

So what if something was off?

Did it have anything to do with me?

Better to have one less problem than one more. He was now the chief of Black Wind Mountain, not a constable of Qinghe County, much less a wandering hero of the jianghu. He couldn't meddle in everything under heaven, and he certainly couldn't concern himself with whether a princess consort went missing.

It was a matter for the imperial family. What business did a bandit chief like him have butting in?

If the sky fell, the tall would hold it up.

All he wanted now was to be a mountain king in peace and experience the plain, unadorned and dull life of a feudal overlord.

As for whether that woman was a princess consort or a heavenly immortal, whether she had been abducted or had run away herself, none of it concerned him.

Having settled that in his mind, Chen Fan felt much more at ease.

He glanced at Hong'e and Cuiqiao, who were still diligently pounding his legs, and grinned. Imitating Black Wind Baleful Intent's coarse manner, he swept both women into his arms.

"Come on, let's go have some fun with your master."

He kicked the stone chamber's door heavily shut, shutting out all the disturbances of the outside world.

Qinghe County, the Yuelai Inn.

The window of the innermost private room on the second floor was half open, offering a view of the bustling street below.

Several delicate side dishes and a pot of fine pre-rain Longjing tea sat on the table, wisps of steam rising from the pot.

A woman in a brocade dress sat upright at the table.

She was the "merchant's family member" who had been released from Black Wind Mountain several months earlier: Li Rong'er, the Prince of Xiushan's consort.

But now, on the face that had once been full of defiance and anger, only pallor and a trace of barely concealed terror remained.

Another woman sat across from her.

The woman wore a plain white dress, her long hair held up by a simple wooden hairpin. Her features were as lovely as a painting, and her bearing was cool and aloof.

She was leisurely eating the side dishes, an indescribable elegance in her every movement.

She was none other than the little maid who had followed Li Rong'er, trembling and weeping like a pear blossom in the rain.

"Why aren't you eating?" The woman in white set down her chopsticks, picked up her teacup, and gently blew on the steaming tea.

Li Rong'er's knuckles were somewhat white around her chopsticks.

"Su Xin, what exactly do you want?"

"I don't want anything." The woman in white, Su Xin, took a small sip of tea. "There was just a hitch in the plan, so we need to stay in Qinghe County a few more days."

"The plan?" Li Rong'er sneered. "Your plan was to abduct me and then pin the blame on the bandits of Black Wind Mountain?"

"More than that." Su Xin admitted it openly, even showing a trace of regret. "The original plan was to have Black Wind Baleful Intent give Your Highness a proper 'welcome.'"

Li Rong'er's body jolted.

Ignoring her reaction, Su Xin continued.

"Black Wind Baleful Intent killed people like cutting hemp and was utterly depraved. What would happen if a princess consort as lovely as a flower and fair as jade fell into his hands went without saying."

"Once he'd defiled you, when you cried to heaven and it would not answer, cried to earth and it would not help, I'd step in and rescue you."

"A princess consort whose chastity had been stolen would be a scandal of enormous proportions. Once I had that leverage in my hands, Black Wind Baleful Intent and the hundreds of desperadoes under him would have no choice but to obediently follow our White Lotus Sect's orders and raise the banner of rebellion in Xiushan Province."

The private room fell deathly silent.

Li Rong'er's lips trembled as she looked at the personal maid she had once trusted so completely. A chill seemed to shoot from the soles of her feet straight to the crown of her head.

"You... you're a madwoman!"

"What a pity." Su Xin ignored her curse entirely and merely gave a faint sigh. "Who could have imagined that the bandit chief said to be as fierce as a demon would actually be a Liu Xiahui, unmoved even with a woman in his lap? He actually spat out the piece of fatty meat that had reached his mouth."

"He ruined our holy sect's grand plan."

Black Wind Baleful Intent was one of the pieces the White Lotus Sect had chosen to stir up chaos in Xiushan Province.

The original plan had been to arrange for the princess consort to be captured by Black Wind Baleful Intent. With her beauty, no man could have resisted, much less a depraved bandit like him.

But the result was unexpected. Black Wind Baleful Intent had actually resisted, and not only that, he had also ordered that the princess consort be escorted down the mountain.

That had thrown her plan into disarray.

She raised her head, her cool, aloof eyes settling on Li Rong'er.

"I had no choice but to put the backup plan into action and send someone from the Yellow Robe Army to recruit him in person. And what happened? That fool refused again."

"Neither oil nor salt can get through to him. He doesn't know life from death."

Li Rong'er took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

"Su Xin, give up on that idea! His Highness's army will find this place soon enough! When that happens, all of you in the White Lotus Sect will be buried with him!"

"His Highness's army?" Su Xin suddenly chuckled, as though she had heard a joke.

She stood and walked to the window, looking at the endless stream of people below.

"Your Highness, you don't seem to understand the situation yet."

"His Highness's army came to suppress bandits and quell a rebellion. But right now, all is calm in Xiushan Province. Aside from the few Yellow Robe Army scouts we deliberately sent out, where is there a trace of rebel bandits?"

"Do you think His Highness would have his army search his own fief endlessly for one missing woman?"

Su Xin turned around and walked toward Li Rong'er, step by step.

She leaned down, her cool breath brushing Li Rong'er's face.

"Still... you have reminded me of something."

The corners of her mouth curved into a strange smile.

"Since Black Wind Baleful Intent refuses to wade into these muddy waters of his own accord, we'll give him a hand."

A strong sense of unease rose in Li Rong'er's heart.

"What are you going to do?"

Su Xin reached out and gently tipped up Li Rong'er's chin with two fingers.

"Tell me, if His Highness's personal guards found his long-missing consort in the bed of the Black Wind Mountain bandit chief..."

"A princess consort barely clothed and out of her senses."

"What would happen then?"

Boom!

Li Rong'er's mind went blank.

She looked at Su Xin's face, so close and yet utterly unfamiliar, and all the blood in her body seemed to freeze at that moment.

Quite satisfied with her reaction, Su Xin straightened up and strolled back to the table, picking up the tea that had gone slightly cold.

"That way, the Prince of Xiushan will be furious as thunder and will surely commit all his strength to wiping out Black Wind Mountain. We can take advantage of the depleted forces in Xiushan Province to carry out our grand plan."

"Divert the flood eastward and kill with a borrowed knife."

"Your Highness, don't you think my new plan is much more perfect than the previous one?"

Li Rong'er slumped in her chair, unable to utter a word.

Su Xin drank the last of her tea and gently set the cup on the table with a crisp sound.

"Now, are you still going to use your prince to threaten me?"

The princess consort's face stiffened, and she said no more.