We're Really Rich This Time

"Y-you... you two...!"

"Brother Gu, you have to take responsibility for my sister!"

Gu Yuan walked out and saw Lu Ling crouched in a corner in a daze, wearing nothing but her white underclothes.

Lu Ling still hadn't figured out how her clothes had disappeared when she saw Gu Yuan. She immediately rushed over and clung to his arm.

"Brother Gu?"

"Someone stole my clothes!"

Before he could speak, Lu Zhaoming and Dong Wuj iu happened to arrive and saw the scene...

Thinking of what was best for his sister, Lu Zhaoming abruptly spoke up.

Faced with the two's shocked expressions,

Gu Yuan could only explain patiently.

"So Brother Gu wasn't the one who stripped my sister... What a pity..."

???

Gu Yuan froze.

What did he mean, what a pity?

"Lu! Zhao! Ming!"

"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tell our eldest sister you bullied me when we get back and have her teach you a lesson!" Lu Ling ground her teeth and spoke rather fiercely.

"All right, I'll stop. What are you so angry about? Come here and put this on." Lu Zhaoming took off his outer robe and draped it over Lu Ling.

The outer garment was only a thin robe, so its loss didn't make much difference.

Lu Ling was simply shocked that someone had managed to remove it in a single encounter.

"Brother Gu, you're saying a mysterious expert dealt with the evil dragon and the mastermind, then disappeared?"

"That's right."

Gu Yuan didn't reveal much.

After all, he had to report this matter to the empress.

If the empress learned that he had a senior sister who was a First Grade martial artist, an in-depth investigation would be inevitable.

"Miss Lu, sorry for the trouble, but please use your gu insects to bring everyone here. There are plenty of treasures inside, and we can't let them go to waste."

"All right, Brother Gu."

An hour later.

Everyone in the maze had been brought to the center.

Gu Yuan was surprised. Though the Mystic Shadow Guard had suffered losses this time, they had fared much better than he'd expected.

But when he saw the gu insects, he understood.

It was all thanks to Lu Ling.

"Thank you for your efforts, Miss Lu. Once we're back in the capital, I'll make sure you're rewarded."

"It was a small matter, Brother Gu. There's no need to be so polite."

"The same goes for all of you, brothers."

"Thank you, my lord!"

"Brother Gu, who exactly was behind all this?"

"It should have been Ren Rumo, the sect master of the Heavenly Calamity Sect."

"And did you find the festival tribute?"

Gu Yuan smiled. "It's right inside this hall."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and hurried into the hall.

But the place was spotless. There was nothing there.

"Lord Gu, there doesn't seem to be anything here."

Gu Yuan smiled. "See those two knobs on the stone wall?"

"Three turns to the left, three to the right, then give them a twist, and the hidden door will open."

The Mystic Shadow Guards were puzzled, but did as Gu Yuan said.

Rumble.

A tremendous noise rang out.

"There really is a hidden door?!"

"Lord Gu, that's incredible!"

"Brother Gu, you're amazing! How did you find such a well-hidden mechanism?" Lu Ling looked at him with some admiration.

Gu Yuan thought for a moment and came up with an excuse.

"I just happened to see it earlier."

He couldn't very well say he'd worked it out by trying dozens of times before...

They walked through the hidden door.

A dazzling array of treasures greeted their eyes.

There were countless gold, silver, and jade ornaments.

Among them was the jade-and-gold platter the King of Mozhou had presented as festival tribute.

Everyone marveled at the sight.

"Who would have thought the Heavenly Calamity Sect had so many treasures hidden away!"

Gu Yuan was even more excited.

At a glance, he spotted many materials for crafting magical artifacts.

Such materials were incredibly precious. Even the Great Qi imperial treasury might not have many.

If he took all of these... could the empress still put up with it?

Gu Yuan smiled.

"Don't just stand there. Move it all!"

"Record every item in the register."

"These piles here, here, and here don't need to be recorded."

"I intend to embezzle them all."

???

As soon as he said that, everyone froze, dumbfounded.

Was that something he could say in front of everyone?

These treasures all belonged to the empress... Gu Yuan was going to take the empress's belongings?

Lu Zhaoming and Lu Ling were even more incredulous.

"Brother... Brother Gu... you're being so blatant. Aren't you afraid the empress will punish you?"

Punish him?

That was exactly what he wanted!

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"Everything the empress owns is mine!"

Gasp!

"Brother Gu, you mustn't say such things!" Shangguan Weiming hurriedly tried to stop him.

Just what kind of fearless soul had he been in his previous life?!

He even dared to say something like that.

Why didn't he just say the empress was his too?!

Gu Yuan ignored their astonished gazes and walked over to the piles of artifact-crafting materials, packing them away.

Star iron stone, glazed iron, ancient dust sand... every single one was an exceptionally rare material.

He'd struck it rich this time!

Once he returned to the Qi Capital, he could use them to craft himself a set of magical artifact equipment.

There would even be enough left over to make a set for his senior sister.

At the thought of her, Gu Yuan's expression dimmed slightly.

"The evil corruption hasn't been completely removed. I wonder how Senior Sister is doing now..."

"Commander Shangguan... has Brother Gu always been this bold?" Lu Ling's mouth hung open, and she couldn't close it for a long time.

In all the world, this was definitely the first time she had seen someone dare to do such a thing in front of the Mystic Shadow Guard.

Shangguan Weiming sighed.

Before they left, the empress had said they were not to stop Gu Yuan, no matter what he did, but...

With so many treasures at stake, would the empress really be willing to part with them?

They had better wait until they returned to the capital and report to the empress before deciding...

Great Qi's dragon vein.

Dragon qi surged.

Qi Yueli sat cross-legged within it, using all her strength to suppress the evil corruption remaining in her body.

After a long time, she finally managed to suppress it for the time being.

"This evil corruption can amplify the seven emotions and six desires within the body. True essence can't suppress it at all."

"To eradicate it completely, I'll need a Daoist method..."

Qi Yueli naturally wouldn't actually go to the Daoists for help.

No one could be allowed to know that the empress had been corrupted by evil.

Her only option was Gu Yuan...

At the thought of Gu Yuan, Qi Yueli couldn't help recalling what had happened at the center of the maze. A blush appeared on her face, and she felt even more bashful.

Though she was the empress, when it came to matters between men and women, she was as pure as a blank sheet of paper.

"I actually lost control and said everything I was thinking... and I even kissed him..."

Her voice caught, and her jade-like hand unconsciously touched her lips, as though recalling how it had felt.

A moment later, her face grew even redder, and her ears and neck flushed...

At that moment, Qi Yueli was like a woman who had just experienced intimacy for the first time, her imperial bearing nowhere to be seen.

"He shouldn't have noticed anything strange... right?"

He hadn't discovered the diary, and there hadn't been any major flaws in what she'd said...

"If something really had happened then... would he have stayed by my side forever?"

She couldn't get Gu Yuan's figure out of her mind.

Ripples spread through Qi Yueli's heart.

She didn't know.

She didn't even dare imagine how Gu Yuan would react if he discovered one day that Lin Yao was the empress.

Would he blame her for deceiving him?

Or would he be willing to stay by her side...

Qi Yueli gradually fell into a daze.

She felt a little hesitant, a little shy, and a little afraid...

Perhaps she shouldn't go see him for the next few days...