"Sister Ming will probably sleep for another hour. Since we have some free time, Master, why not chat with me a bit?" Situ Ling said with a relaxed tone, as if merely making casual conversation. "I'm quite curious—Master Shan was originally a Beast Master, so how did he end up as an envoy?"
His tone was light, truly just idle chatter, so She Tianlin didn’t refuse sternly, only vaguely replying, "Sunspire City has many internal affairs, and no one else could spare the time, so the two of us were sent."
"Just the two of you? Are there no other figures among the attendants?" he asked with a smile.
She Tianlin’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly lowered his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
"During the street congestion, I saw Master Shan lift the carriage curtain anxiously to check the situation outside, then turn back to say something to someone inside the carriage." Situ Ling swung his legs casually. "Master, you weren’t in the carriage at the time, so who else could have made Master Shan sit in the side seat and lift the curtain?"
"Well, I wouldn’t know about that," he murmured, sipping his tea.
Situ Ling grinned at him. "Master She, you’re known for being straightforward and not good at lying. Whenever you lie, your pupils dart to the lower left. You’ve done it twice just now."
"Cough—!" She Tianlin nearly spat out his tea, glaring at him. "You little brat, why do you talk so much?"
"If it were Sister Ming, I’d play dumb as needed. But with you, I just can’t help speaking the truth." Situ Ling shrugged. "Sunspire City is currently in severe internal turmoil, and the one most in need of something to assert authority is your Yong Prince. Let me guess—you planned to bring him to Star Yearn City for a visit, then pin all the hardships of tribute collection on him when you return, right?"
"Nonsense." She Tianlin glanced to the lower left again before hurriedly averting his gaze.
Situ Ling chuckled. "I’m just saying, and you’re just listening. A prince, a future heir, wouldn’t recklessly come to Star Yearn City without precautions, so you disguised him as an attendant. But—even with such tight protection, you still let him go watch the commotion at the Ji residence. That means the fire must have had something to do with him."
She Tianlin looked momentarily confused before shaking his head. "What connection could there be between a prince from Sunspire City and a Fighter from Star Yearn City? The Yong Prince is truly innocent—at most, he just went along to see the spectacle."
"An envoy tasked by the Da Si to harm Ji Bozhai would be extremely nervous. But Master Shan wasn’t. He was calm, even a bit impatient, clearly someone with his own agenda." Situ Ling shook his head. "A man like that wouldn’t easily leave loose ends. Unless it involved the Yong Prince, he’d never let him go watch."
She Tianlin was at a loss for words. After a moment’s thought, he actually found some logic in the boy’s words.
"What grudge the Yong Prince holds against Ji Bozhai is hard to say—maybe it’s for next year’s Six Cities Tournament, or maybe for some other reason."
Situ Ling scratched his head, dissatisfied. "No more clues. How frustrating."
She Tianlin studied him for a while before suddenly remarking, "You’re a chatterbox, kid, but quite clever. To become a Patrol Inspector at such a young age, you must have some talent."
"Master flatters me." Situ Ling cupped his hands in a polite gesture. "If you have any doubts, Master, feel free to share them with me. As repayment for the Kaleidoscope, I’d be happy to offer my insights."
The audacity—to phrase a probe so elegantly.
She Tianlin snorted. "If you ever make it to Sunspire City, I’ll really bring some questions to you."As for now, being on someone else's turf meant relying on them was unreliable.
Situ Ling didn’t press the matter. Knowing the Yong Prince was here was enough. He subtly clenched the hand behind his back, and Fu Yue, standing behind him, noticed and quietly slipped away.
Mingyi woke up from her nap and promptly devoured two bowls of rice.
Food was the priority—no matter what happened, she had to eat her fill first.
Situ Ling was indeed observant. All the dishes she had eaten more of during the welcoming banquet were now laid out on the table. The spicy tripe strips were fragrant and crispy, absolutely delicious.
As she eyed the last strip in the dish, she shoveled rice into her mouth while reaching for it with her chopsticks, but after several attempts, she still couldn’t pick it up.
Someone walked in, picked up the spare chopsticks on the table, and placed the tripe strip into her bowl for her.
She froze, then looked up to see She Tianlin’s stern face.
...She nearly choked on her rice.
“You used to bother your master over trivial matters, yet now that something major has happened, you’re hiding away.” He sat down across from her and casually cast a Nether Domain around them.
Realizing there was no escape today, Mingyi bit the edge of her bowl and mumbled, “My meridians are ruined. How can I still be your disciple?”
“How were they ruined?” he asked.
Mingyi lowered her gaze, stiffly shoveled another mouthful of rice, then set down her bowl and wiped her lips. “I don’t know. By the time I realized, the Sky of Eternal Regret had been in my body for years. There’s no antidote, so it suddenly flared up just before the Six Cities Tournament.”
“After the flare-up, why didn’t you stay in Sunspire City to receive proper treatment? Instead, you vanished overnight!” She Tianlin had been furious about this.
The person before him tilted her head and gave a wry smile. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to—they wouldn’t let me.”
The moment her condition flared, the Meng Family had arrived, eager to expose her as a woman and drag the Empress’s clan down. Without hesitation, her mother had ordered her throat slit, her body burned, and her remains thrown into the moat.
If not for a eunuch who couldn’t bear it and secretly smuggled her out of Sunspire City, she’d likely be nothing but bone fragments by now.
Mingyi still remembered the tone in which her mother—whom she had always respected—had uttered those four words: “slit her throat and burn the body.” As if she were nothing more than a useless rag, too filthy to even look at.
“The eunuch told me to come to Star Yearn City and find Ji Bozhai—that there might still be a sliver of hope. So I came.” She finished the rice in her bowl, folded her hands neatly, and looked at She Tianlin. “I don’t care about winning the Six Cities Tournament anymore. Right now, I just want to survive. That must sound utterly spineless to you. How could I dare call you ‘master’ again?”
She Tianlin’s eyes reddened.
He stood up and began pacing the room, searching for something.
Mingyi thought he was about to hit her and quickly raised her arms to shield her head.
To her surprise, after circling twice, he pulled out a large pouch from his own robes and awkwardly shoved it into her hands. “Here, hold onto this. It’ll make you feel a little better.”
Mingyi was stunned. Looking down, she saw a hefty lump of gold—as big as her fist—clearly freshly exchanged, still bearing the seal of the money house.
“Let me think about where to start.” She Tianlin took a deep breath to steady himself, then met her gaze. “I took you as my disciple because of your immense Essence Power and extraordinary talent. But once you became my disciple, no matter what happens to you, you will always be my disciple.”"Whether you're a man or a woman doesn't matter, nor does your level of Essence Power. But if something happens to you, you should at least let your master know!"
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