The Past and a Letter of Divorce?

The youth beside Madam Wang was naturally her only son, Ling Fei, who had never gotten along with Ling Yun.

In the past, whenever he played little tricks on Ling Yun, Madam Wang had never interfered. She had even wished he would drag Ling Yun down from his position.

Unfortunately, though Ling Fei was not stupid, he was no match for Ling Yun.

Now that Madam Wang had scolded him, he was momentarily bewildered and felt somewhat aggrieved. But he respected his mother and would not talk back, so he lowered his head and sulked.

Madam Wang glanced at him and sighed. "When will you grow up and become a little more mature?"

Ling Fei looked at his mother, somewhat puzzled.

"No matter how irritating Ling Yun is, he still represents the face of our Spirit King's Manor to outsiders. Before he was crippled, so many people fawned over him. Now that he's crippled, all those eyes are watching, just waiting for us to jump into a pit."

"However much power we have then, we won't be able to shut people's mouths. Every last one of them will think we crippled Ling Yun and see us as venomous snakes and scorpions."

A complicated look flashed in Madam Wang's eyes, and she continued, "That King Chen, a mere frontier vassal king, used to come shamelessly singing his daughter's praises to your father. He tried every means at his disposal to beg for a verbal engagement between his daughter and Ling Yun."

"Even if Ling Yun hadn't been crippled, who knows whether that would have counted? Now that something has happened to Ling Yun, our Spirit King's Manor hasn't even mentioned that verbal engagement, yet this vassal king's daughter has already learned to manufacture a grievance. She's taking an inch and demanding a mile, coming here to cancel the engagement. Does she really think our Spirit King's Manor has given her that much face?"

Seeing the cold look on his mother's face, Ling Fei understood the main conflict at hand.

"Then, Mother, how should we deal with King Chen's Commandery Princess?"

Ling Fei asked.

Though Madam Wang was speechless at the other party's outrageous maneuver, she still had to think of a way to send her packing.

"Since she attaches so much importance to this engagement, we can hardly neglect the proper etiquette. We must treat it with due care and solemnly annul the engagement."

Madam Wang's lips moved slightly as she ordered:

"Write a letter of divorce in Ling Yun's voice, then go to the Royal Mausoleum and have Ling Yun put his fingerprint on it for me."

"Let me see the completed letter of divorce before King Chen's Commandery Princess comes to me."

As soon as she finished speaking, someone who had been waiting in the shadows for quite some time swiftly got to work.

Madam Wang looked at the guard again and said, "Go on, bring them in."

"King Chen's Commandery Princess?"

In the little hut at the foot of the Royal Tomb Mountain Range, Ling Yun opened his eyes and spoke in mild surprise.

Through the Heavenly Eye Spell, Ling Yun had seen everything that happened at the entrance to the Spirit King's Manor with perfect clarity.

What has King Chen's Commandery Princess come to the manor for?

Ling Yun was utterly puzzled.

No way, could it be because of the engagement?

Before long, Ling Yun finally found a tiny bit of information about King Chen's Commandery Princess in a forgotten corner of the original owner's memories.

Once he understood the reason, he was somewhat dumbfounded.

The matter was simple enough.

The original owner had begun cultivating at ten, but before he displayed his talent, he had already had a verbal engagement. At the time, the Spirit King had not yet fallen into slumber. He had been in his prime, and with his profound Primordial Spirit Realm cultivation, he had been among the strongest people in the entire Ling Kingdom.

Every three years, the kings of the realm had to pay court at Myriad Phenomena City and present thirty percent of the tax revenue from their respective fiefs.

King Chen was one of them.

During that year's visit, King Chen sought out the Spirit King and said he had an outstanding daughter, a fresh-faced and endearing beauty. He insisted on arranging a marriage between her and the Spirit King's heir.

The Spirit King could not refuse him, and King Chen's Commandery Princess was indeed a pretty little girl. The original owner had not been particularly opposed after meeting her, so the Spirit King gave his verbal assent.

For a long time afterward, the original owner did not see King Chen's Commandery Princess. He had almost forgotten he had a fiancée from what amounted to a childhood betrothal.

It was not until after he turned ten, when his talent first began to show, that King Chen's Commandery Princess paid another visit to the Spirit King's Manor.

But by then the Spirit King had fallen into slumber, and the original owner was even less inclined to pay King Chen's Commandery Princess any attention.

Now, several more years had passed in the blink of an eye. Ling Yun had been crippled, and King Chen, far away at the frontier, had actually sent an express letter canceling the engagement. The Spirit King's Manor had been surprised, only then remembering that such a thing existed.

"What a fucking stupid business," Ling Yun could not help saying with a long sigh.

This outdated broken-engagement trope actually came looking for me. Does that prove I have the makings of a protagonist? he thought, poking fun at himself.

After a good while longer, Ling Yun suddenly sensed someone rushing toward the Royal Mausoleum at tremendous speed.

Hmm? Is that the Attendant under Madam Wang?

Ling Yun was somewhat puzzled. He had a feeling the man was coming for him, perhaps even on Madam Wang's orders.

This guest elder is impressive. He's actually a Core Formation Realm Perfection expert. There can't be many like him in the manor, yet he shows Madam Wang such respect.

Ling Yun could not help admiring her for a moment. It seems Madam Wang is quite capable. The original owner was still too immature and didn't know how to win people over. Otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up like this.

Even as he marveled, he did not forget to conceal himself.

Ever since awakening the Immortal Physique of Myriad Daos, Ling Yun had discovered that his presence was extremely harmonious with heaven and earth. If he completely concealed it, he could even become one with them.

Simply put, if he hid himself, ordinary people could not tell what cultivation he had.

I need to find a superb breath-concealing technique in the future, or I could easily be exposed too soon. That won't do. I still haven't found the person who attacked "me."

Ling Yun thought to himself. He walked out of the hut with an air of studied casualness, then looked at the newcomer in surprise. There were slight traces of acting, but they were not obvious.

The guest elder paid no attention to Ling Yun's behavior and charged straight at him.

Damn, what's he doing? Is he going to attack me? In broad daylight, without even waiting until the dead of night when no one's around!

Ling Yun could not help widening his eyes. He nearly summoned his flying sword to fight, but stopped when he saw what the guest elder held.

"A letter of divorce?!"

Ling Yun could not help reading it aloud.

"Pardon the offense."

When the guest elder reached Ling Yun, he seized his hand and, using red ink paste produced from who knew where, pressed Ling Yun's clear fingerprint onto the letter of divorce!

While Ling Yun stood there blank-faced, the guest elder took the letter and hurried back without staying a second longer. He used Ling Yun and ran, without a shred of reason!

"Damn!"

Ling Yun was stunned, his mind barely able to keep up.

He had thought the guest elder was going to drag him off to confront his "former fiancée" in front of everyone, suffer every humiliation, and then have her cancel the engagement while pointing at him!

Instead, he had been greeted by a letter of divorce with ink that had not even dried, bearing his full name. His sole contribution had been that vivid red fingerprint.

"I..."

Ling Yun could not even get the words out. Madam Wang seemed somewhat different from how he had imagined her. Was she helping him slap their faces?

But only a moment later, Ling Yun understood the tangled issues involved.

It seems that although Madam Wang and the original owner didn't get along, her position is unwavering when it comes to dealing with outsiders.

For a moment, Ling Yun felt uncertain.

Previously, he had been almost certain that Madam Wang was the one who had crippled the original owner's dantian. But between the mysterious person who had infiltrated the Royal Mausoleum a few days ago and Madam Wang's subsequent actions, he could no longer tell.

It seems things are more complicated than I imagined. Madam Wang has gone from the obvious culprit to one of the suspects. The other suspects will be a little harder to guess.

Ling Yun frowned, then relaxed his brow after a while.

No matter. With the Heavenly Eye Spell, I can keep my eyes on the manor from now on. Sooner or later, I'll find a clue and work out a way to deal with it in advance.