I like him very much

After lunch, the princess knelt by the stream, tilting her head to the side, and carefully combed her hair.

Her figure was blurred in the water, but it was precisely because of this blurriness that she possessed a hazy beauty, a beauty unique to the princess.

Yingying glanced at Xu Qi'an, who was sitting cross-legged under the shade of a tree across the stream, and a strange feeling welled up in her heart, as if she had known him for many years.

She clearly disliked him from the beginning; he picked up her sachet and didn't return it, picked up her wallet and didn't return it, and even hit her feet.

After confiding her feelings, the princess felt much more at ease. As for what the future held, she hadn't thought about it, since she had resigned herself to her fate many years ago.

What else could she do but accept her fate? Could this timid woman, who screams at the sight of insects and cowers under the covers at the mere sway of the bed curtains, really possibly outwit a king and a prince?

She still doesn't know what fate awaits her, but for some reason, she feels safer than when she's staying at the Prince of Huai's residence.

"Alas, I am truly a femme fatale," the princess sighed.

Beautiful women are all proud, let alone the most beautiful woman in the Great Feng Dynasty.

Under the shade of the tree, Xu Qi'an used meditation to communicate with Monk Shenshu in his heart and extract the Essence Blood of four fourth-rank masters. Monk Shenshu's Wi-Fi was much more stable; he could connect after just a few shouts.

"Master, you already know about the Prince of Zhenbei's plot, right?" Xu Qi'an got straight to the point, without wasting any words.

"I don't always pay attention to what's happening outside. In fact, I never actively pay attention to what's happening outside," Monk Shenshu said after a few seconds of silence.

Huh? Your answer lacks any masterful flair. Xu Qi'an relayed the information about the Blood Slaughter of Three Thousand Miles to Shen Shu, probing:

"Master, are you interested in the Essence Blood of the Prince of Zhenbei who attempted to break through to the Great Perfection of the Third Rank? Also, I have a question. The Prince of Zhenbei needed the soul of his queen, yet he slaughtered three thousand miles. Does this mean that he needs both the Essence Blood and the spiritual essence of his queen to combine in order to advance?"

Xu Qi'an was willing to bet that the monk Shenshu would definitely be interested and wouldn't let the Essence Blood tonic slip through his fingers. This was the source of his confidence to threaten to punish, or even kill, the Prince of Zhenbei.

He was met with silence.

"Master, Master?"

Xu Qi'an called out to the monk Shenshu several times in his mind before receiving a response, "I was thinking about some things just now."

I thought you'd lost signal again. Xu Qi'an asked casually, "What's up?"

Shen Shu did not answer, but spoke eloquently, "Do you know why the martial arts system is difficult to navigate? Unlike other systems, the martial arts system is a selfish one."

"Seizing every power that can strengthen himself and using it for his own purposes, focusing on building his physique and Primordial Spirit, it's not surprising that this Zhenbei King of the Great Feng slaughtered living beings and seized their life essence. However..."

This matches the behavior of the monk Shenshu, who absorbed Essence Blood to replenish himself. Xu Qi'an pressed, "But what?"

Shen Shu was silent for a few seconds, then slowly said, "At least hundreds of thousands of lives."

Xu Qi'an remained motionless like a statue, then his breathing became heavy, his cheek muscles twitched slightly, and the veins on his forehead bulged out one by one.

He exhaled a breath of stale air, calming himself, and asked in a low voice, "Why not just launch a war directly, instead of slaughtering civilians?"

The monk Shenshu said gently, "It's not that simple. A third-rank person is no longer an ordinary person. If one wants to improve oneself by seizing the life essence of mortals, one must transform the Essence Blood of mortals."

"Therefore, he needs time to refine and purify his Essence Blood until it reaches his desired state before he can seize it."

To put it bluntly, it's a matter of quantitative change leading to qualitative change, which is why the Essence Blood of hundreds of thousands of living beings is needed. Xu Qi'an frowned and pondered:

"Therefore, war cannot fulfill the conditions. Because the enemy will not give him time to refine his Essence Blood, and such a thing must, of course, be done in secrecy."

This explains why the Prince of Zhenbei did not refine his Essence Blood through war. During wartime, spies on both sides were active, and it would be difficult to hide the large-scale transportation of corpses to refine Essence Blood from the enemy.

So the Prince of Zhenbei secretly slaughtered civilians and refined their Essence Blood, but for some reason, this was discovered by a mysterious group of Warlock who betrayed him to the barbarians, which is why we have the frequent espionage incidents we see today.

The monk Shenshu continued, "I can try to participate, but I'm afraid I won't be able to kill the Prince of Zhenbei."

Xu Qi'an frowned. "Even you don't have a chance of winning?"

Shen Shu scoffed, "Since he's confident of advancing to the second rank, it means he's no ordinary third rank martial artist; he's only a hair's breadth away from the Great Perfection. In his current state, at best, we can only compete with him; even defeating him would be difficult, let alone killing him. A third-rank martial artist is very hard to kill."

"But you even defeated a peak-level second-rank ancient corpse in the ancient tomb."

"That was just a corpse. Besides, the strongest aspect of Daoist School is Law Technique, which it doesn't possess at all."

So you and the ancient corpse are both tigers fallen into the plains, one without eyes and the other without a tail, let's see who is more crippled. Xu Qi'an almost covered his face.

After the conversation ended, Xu Qi'an pondered what he should do next.

Upon learning of Master Shenshu's poor performance, he had no choice but to change his strategy, shifting his objective from "killing the Prince of Zhenbei" to "sabotaging the Prince of Zhenbei's advancement."

First: Locate the crime scene, which is very likely the place where the Prince of Zhenbei was refining his Essence Blood. Find the place, stop him, and ruin his good deed.

Second: He must conceal his identity and not let the Prince of Zhenbei discover that the dignified man from last night was Great Feng Xu Yinluo.

Third: How should the princess be settled?

The first clue is Xikou County. Go there and see what's going on, but be quick, because we don't know when the Prince of Zhenbei will have completed his mission, so we can't waste time.

So she had to continue carrying the princess on her back along the way. She hadn't expected the princess to be so tolerant; her second uncle was right.

Secondly, how to conceal one's identity? One certainly cannot reveal one's golden body. Although this is a Buddhist School secret technique, and there are probably quite a few martial monks who possess it, it's still not enough to guarantee safety.

Xu Yinluo is also invincible. Xu Yinluo happens to have infiltrated the northern border and is no longer within the monitoring range.

If there is even the slightest suspicion, the Prince of Zhenbei will investigate. Never underestimate someone's intelligence, and never take chances.

"Fortunately, Monk Shenshu has another set of skins: an indestructible body. This is something I have never shown to others, so no one will suspect me. Well, the Supervisor knows; the demon Demon Race to me knows; the mysterious Warlock gang knows."

"But they all have designs on me, and they won't rush to deflower me before I'm ready. No, that's not right. The mysterious Warlock group probably does want to deflower me, but before that, they need to find a way to get rid of the monk Shenshu. Well, I'm still safe."

"On the contrary, my face is unusable. This is a burden that Erlang, at his age, cannot bear. But a human skin mask is definitely not an option; it will fall off with a single blow. My 'Deceive the Heavens and Cross the Sea' disguise technique is not yet fully developed, so I can only imitate the people I am most familiar with, such as Erlang, Second Uncle, Aunt, Lingyue, Wei Yuan, and Xu Lingyin."

"Why not disguise myself as a little kid and let the Prince of Zhenbei see how powerful this 'Hardcore Barbie' is, hahaha!"

Xu Qi'an tried to find some humor in his suffering, hoping to ease the pent-up frustration in his heart.

After he finished laughing, his expression gradually calmed down, and he murmured to himself, "Actually, there's one person I know best."

Thirdly, how to become a princess?

We definitely can't return it to the Prince of Zhenbei. We can only take it back to the capital and raise it secretly. We can't keep it at home; we have to buy her another small courtyard.

Originally, Xu Qi'an planned to hand over the princess after the journey north. Now, however, he has learned of the Prince of Zhenbei's atrocities and the princess's past.

Xu Qi'an plans to secretly hide the princess.

"But that would be troublesome for those maids. Let's not think about that now. We'll ask Li Miaozhen later if there's a way to erase their memories. The Daoist School is an expert in this area."

Chuzhou City.

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review rode in a carriage back to the post station from the Provincial Administration Commissioner's office.

The three of them walked through the main hall and into the inner courtyard, going straight to Yang Yan's room. Before they could knock, Yang Yan's voice came from inside:

"Come in."

Pushing open the door, I saw Yang Yan and Constable Chen sitting at the table, staring at the eight-thousand-mile map of Chuzhou, lost in thought.

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review poured himself a cup of cold tea, took a big gulp, exhaled comfortably, and complained:

"It's incredibly hot today. After a day of traveling, my mouth is parched. The driver, who's been driving under the scorching sun the whole way, hasn't broken a sweat. It's true what they say, the environment shapes people."

Imperial Censor Liu joked, "Perhaps it's because the Vice Minister of the Court is too weak."

The lecherous Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review blushed and retorted, "A womanizer reveals one's true nature, unlike Imperial Censor Liu, who is of noble character and integrity."

He was subtly mocking the upright officials like the censors, who were lecherous yet pretended to be virtuous gentlemen.

Yang Yan waited quietly for the two civil officials to finish arguing, then asked, "How are the official correspondence between various places in Chuzhou?"

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review's expression turned serious. He shook his head, his tone grave:

"No problem. Judging from the regular official correspondence, apart from the resistance against barbarian invasions, there are no other clues in the area. If we want to confirm further, we would need to conduct an on-site inspection, but I don't think that's necessary."

Chuzhou stretches for eight thousand miles; when will it ever be finished? Moreover, as a seasoned veteran of officialdom, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review can tell the authenticity of official documents with just a glance.

Officer Chen nodded. "Moreover, there are spies everywhere around the post station; we'll be followed whenever we travel."

Yang Yan looked at the map again, drew a circle north of Chuzhou with his finger, and said, "Judging from the scale of the barbarian invasions of the border, the massacre of three thousand miles wouldn't happen in this area."

As long as the city walls remain standing, the imperial court will not pay much attention to the massacres of villagers.

Merely plundering villagers does not qualify as the story of "slaughtering three thousand miles of blood".

Yang Yan thought for a moment, then drew circles around Xikou County and Yunsheng Prefecture, one in the west and the other in the east.

"Is the official correspondence between these two places normal?"

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review nodded and said, "No problem."

Yang Yan was silent for a moment, then said, "Captain Chen, take your men and wander around Chuzhou City these next few days, gathering information from the streets. Imperial Censor Liu, come with me to the Military Commandery; I need to see Duke Que Yongxiu, the Protector of the Nation."

Imperial Censor Liu nodded slowly.

A mountain range in Chuzhou.

On the steep cliff face, cleaved by a knife and axe, a gnarled, century-old pine tree grows outward at an angle, its branches spreading out like a canopy.

On a rock beneath an old pine tree, sat a woman in a white dress, her hair and skirt fluttering in the wind, outlining an indescribable figure.

Her temperament is ever-changing; sometimes she is pure and beautiful, like a mountain fairy; other times she is languid and charming, a peerless beauty who can captivate all beings.

The woman in the white dress held a six-tailed white fox in her arms, letting out a high-pitched, low whimper; it was obedient and docile.

At that moment, a soft laugh rang out, "Your Highness, twenty-one years have passed since we parted at Shanhai Pass. You remain as beautiful and elegant as ever, no less so than the King."

The woman in the white dress giggled sweetly. "You've never even met my mother, how do you know I'm no less than her?"

Suddenly, a figure in white appeared behind them, his face shrouded in layers of mist, making it impossible to see his true appearance.

"The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox lineage embodies the essence of heaven and earth, gathering the wisdom of the world. Each celestial fox possesses a unique appearance." The man in white paused, then added:

"In terms of appearance and spiritual essence, no one in this world can compare except for that princess. It's a pity that the princess's spiritual essence belongs exclusively to you, while hers can be plucked by anyone."

The woman in the white dress smiled, her voice soft and alluring. "She is truly one of a kind in this world."

She lowered her head slightly, stroked the six-tailed white fox's head, and said calmly, "What do you want with me?"

The man in white sighed, "The princess not only destroyed Sangbo and released Shenshu, but she also stole my fruits of labor, almost causing my twenty years of hard work to be wiped out in a single day. I hope she will be lenient this time."

The woman in the white dress smiled and said, "In chess, each player makes their move based on their own skill. If you want me to be lenient, that kid has a famous saying that I really like: ' Equivalent Exchange.'"

Tell me what the prison is planning?

The white-clad man with indistinct features shook his head. "If I reveal even half a word, the Supervisor will appear in Chuzhou. Within the Great Feng territory, no one can rival him."

"You've taken half of the Great Feng Dynasty's destiny, and the Supervisor is no longer the same person he once was. Don't be afraid," the woman in the white dress laughed, tilting her head to look at the man in white.

"That kid is nothing more than a vessel to you. In the past, I wouldn't have cared about his life or death. But now, I like him very much."

"You like it?"

The man in white frowned, seemingly surprised that she would say such a thing.

The woman in the white dress didn't answer. Gazing at the beautiful landscape in the distance, she said leisurely, "Anyway, as long as you prevent the Prince of Zhenbei from advancing to the second rank, it doesn't matter who gets the Essence Blood."

"No!"

The man in white said in a deep voice, "I want the barbarians to send out a second-rank official."

PS: Thank you to "Little Umaru's Brother" for the generous donation. The timely update is fantastic.