Yi Wenjun 7

After ordering her subordinates to bandage Su Changhe's wounds and posting guards outside the room, Yi Wenjun began suturing Su Muyu's arm.

With her skill in pill refining, it naturally wasn't difficult to refine a spirit pill capable of growing flesh on mortal bones. But while spirit pills were easy to obtain, the tools were hard to find. Whether a Pill Cauldron containing spiritual fire or the spirit herbs needed to refine the pills, both were nearly impossible to find in this world where Spiritual Qi was scarce.

Even if she found them, she would certainly keep them for her own use rather than waste them on Su Muyu.

So, drawing on some miscellaneous books she had read in the Kunlun Sect, Yi Wenjun had developed a method for reattaching severed limbs during her confinement.

The method's requirements, however, were fairly stringent: the limb could not have been separated from the body for more than six hours, a medicinal formula rich in vitality was required, and the person performing the procedure had to possess profound internal power to ward off contamination from the outside.

At the Prince of Langya's Residence, with the Shadow Sect behind her, Yi Wenjun, a Great Unfettered Realm expert, happened to meet every requirement.

By the time Yi Wenjun had reattached Su Muyu's arm, the sky had already grown dim.

After supper, Yi Wenjun left the two assassins in the maids' care. She was just preparing to go to bed when Xiao Ruofeng, who never set foot in the rear courtyard in a thousand years, made a rare visit.

Yi Wenjun naturally knew why Xiao Ruofeng had come, but when he said nothing, she slowly sipped her milk tea, in no hurry either.

In the end, Xiao Ruofeng was the one to speak. "I heard you brought back two Dark River assassins today?"

Yi Wenjun laughed inwardly. Heard? More like he had me watched every step of the way. But she had made no effort to hide the two men she had brought back today, so she nodded.

Xiao Ruofeng continued, "Those two are Dark River assassins, after all. It isn't good to have them staying at the residence. You should have them leave as soon as possible."

Yi Wenjun smiled. "Your Highness's Four Guardians stand watch over Heavenly Revelations, so why were these Dark River assassins able to enter so easily? They struck down members of my Shadow Sect without mercy today, and I should have killed them. But in the end, these two were willing to leave Dark River and become my guards in exchange for a chance to live.

"Now that neither of them will work for Dark River again, my Shadow Sect has two fewer enemies, and I have two more guards. Senior Brother is very happy for me. What does Your Highness think?"

Xiao Ruofeng continued, "Those people from Dark River have neither heart nor feelings. How can you guarantee they won't turn around and bite you someday?"

Yi Wenjun smiled. "Naturally, that's for the Shadow Sect and me to worry about. In any case, the emperor's safety is entrusted to the Shadow Sect and the Four Guardians of Heavenly Revelations, and you'll protect your own son. As for everyone else, Your Highness needn't care whether they live or die, I suppose."

Yi Wenjun placed particular emphasis on the word "son," reminding Xiao Ruofeng that the Shadow Sect he intended to destroy was also his son's maternal family.

Xiao Ruofeng realized that every time he faced Yi Wenjun, it ended with him at a loss for words. No matter how many righteous reasons he had for destroying the Shadow Sect, it was true that they had forced Yi Wenjun to marry for the sake of the sect's power, and it was also true that the family they now intended to destroy was hers. No matter how he looked at it, he had wronged her.

A gentleman like Xiao Ruofeng truly could not bring himself to say something as shameless as telling her she should not disrupt his plans to save her own family.

He could only leave in silence and order the guards at the residence strengthened.

Yi Wenjun watched Xiao Ruofeng's retreating figure and gave a mocking smile.

That was why Xiao Ruofeng would never be happy in his lifetime. He had a strong sense of justice, but he had also been born into the imperial family and felt deep affection for his elder brother, the current emperor.

So nothing he did could satisfy both sides. He would always wrong one or the other: if not his conscience, then his brother.

Over the following year, Yi Wenjun continued cultivating, while Su Changhe and Su Muyu recovered from their injuries and served as guards. The greatest changes took place in the Shadow Sect.

Although Xiao Ruofeng and Dark River's plan had failed, and they had neither killed Luo Qingyang nor destroyed the small building, Luo Qingyang had realized that the imperial family would not tolerate the Shadow Sect. His strength was now insufficient to deter the various parties.

In the end, Luo Qingyang left Heavenly Revelations. In a deal with the emperor, the Shadow Sect surrendered its right to guard Heavenly Revelations in exchange for the uninhabited Muliang City and a promise that no further moves would be made against the sect's remaining members.

When Luo Qingyang left Heavenly Revelations to practice his swordsmanship in Muliang City, all the Shadow Sect's people were placed under Yi Wenjun's command.

She had little trouble taking control of the Shadow Sect. After all, she alone had resolved the sect's crisis with two strikes of her blade. Yi Wenjun was no longer a tool for a political marriage, but an acting sect master in both name and reality.

The word "acting" remained only to appease the suspicious emperor on the surface. After all, he was growing increasingly wary of his younger brother's power.

A year later, news reached Heavenly Revelations: Ye Dingzhi had subdued all the sects beyond the borders and become sect master of Beyond the Heavens.

Everyone turned their attention to Yi Wenjun, but she felt little about the news. All her attention was now on a report from her subordinates: every year, Zhuoqing left the imperial mausoleum for a few days to meet someone.

As for who it was, Zhuoqing's martial arts were too formidable for her informants to follow him when he left.

But Yi Wenjun had informants not only in the imperial city, but elsewhere as well. In particular, all the eunuchs of the previous generation and the current one were within the scope of her attention.

Yi Wenjun thought back carefully and realized that at the same time, one of the palace's chief eunuchs would always leave as well: if not Jinxuan, then Jinwei or Jinyan.

Yi Wenjun considered it. Her strength had now reached Half-Step Divine Wandering. With the aid of formations and poison, it was not impossible for her to kill Zhuoqing and a eunuch of the Jin generation as well.

As for the Dragon Seal Scroll, Zhuoqing either carried it with him or had hidden it in the bedroom he scarcely ever left.

The risk was worth taking. Even if she failed, so long as she did not die, Zhuoqing would not dare spread the matter.

So, while the people of Heavenly Revelations were all discussing whether Ye Dingzhi would bring Beyond the Heavens to snatch his former fiancée away, Yi Wenjun first had a letter delivered to Beyond the Heavens. It stated that she would not be with Ye Dingzhi again, and that Xiao Ruofeng was now preparing to clear General Ye Yu's name. If Ye Dingzhi did not want his father's name stained again on his account, he should refrain from acting rashly for the time being.

She also ordered her subordinates to keep close watch on the chief eunuchs' movements and report immediately if they left.

Finally, she instructed Su Muyu and Su Changhe to slip into Zhuoqing's bedroom after he departed and search for the Dragon Seal Scroll.

She was not afraid that Su Changhe would get hold of the scroll and use it to threaten her. The Dragon Seal Scroll was far more important than Su Changhe; as long as she obtained it, what did it matter if she gave the two men their freedom?

Although Yi Wenjun had not said it aloud, Su Changhe saw her attitude, and his own formerly careless attitude changed. He resolved to use every means at his disposal to find the thing Yi Wenjun wanted.

Soon, Jinwei left the imperial palace at the same time he did every year.