Seeing Chu Yingao’s fierce expression, Ji Yanqing felt puzzled. He hadn’t offended the Duke of Yan’s daughter recently. Sighing inwardly that women were fickle creatures, he moved to leave quickly.
But before he could turn, a garishly colored virtual screen appeared before him.
[Name: Chu Yingao]
[Beauty Score: 97.7 (Noble Duke’s Daughter)]
[Staring at the love poem in the desk’s corner, you’re shocked to learn your current fiancée and former fiancée are close friends. Complex emotions swirl in your heart. Since both are fiancées, past or present, they’re much the same. Current strategy options…]
[Option 1: Commission the Bronze Sparrow Chamber to craft a white silk dress matching Chu Yingao’s, gift it to Su Ningyue, and have her wear it with white stockings, striking a cold, aloof pose, bent over a soft couch with her peach-like hips raised for a thrilling role-play with Ningyue. Reward: Superior aptitude upgraded to Blazing Sun Radiant Body.]
[Option 2: Learning this explosive news, a wicked smile curls your lips. Lean to Chu Yingao and whisper, “You wouldn’t want Ningyue defiled by me, would you? Serve me well tonight, and if you perform, I might spare her.” Reward: Superior aptitude upgraded to Frost Soul Ice Body.]
[Option 3: Both past and present fiancées are connected—is this a twist of human nature, a fall of morals, or another White Album season? When Su Ningyue arrives in Chang’an, kiss her cherry lips deeply in front of Chu Yingao, announcing your engagement. Reward: Superior aptitude upgraded to Cauldron of Ten Thousand Desires.]
Staring at the outrageous text, Ji Yanqing was stunned. The tasks were so detailed he couldn’t find a loophole.
After breaking through to Radiant Sun Realm, cultivation grew harder. Once, he advanced minor realms in days, but now, he lingered at Radiant Sun’s first layer.
Blazing Sun Radiant Body and Frost Soul Ice Body greatly boosted combat prowess, enabling the cross-realm kills martial artists raved about.
The Cauldron of Ten Thousand Desires, through yin-yang harmony, accelerated breakthroughs, potentially multiplying cultivation speed tenfold or hundredfold with another special physique, unstoppable until Sagehood.
Ji Yanqing mused. The first two options were too perverse. Option two, given Chu Yingao’s Qian Yuan seventh-layer strength, risked him being obliterated, blood splattering the hall.
Chu Yingao, uniquely a disciple of both Civil and Martial Colleges, topped both for four years, her talent humbling countless prodigies.
So… defile Ningyue in front of her!
“Why are you staring?” Chu Yingao asked, frowning, displeased.
“You’re beautiful, obviously,” Ji Yanqing said, slipping into his wastrel persona—I’m the Wei King’s Heir, high and mighty. Don’t like it? Fight me.
His acting was flawless, seamless.
“Lecher…” Chu Yingao chided, turning her head, her jade-like face flushed like dawn, though she didn’t bother fighting over it.
Suddenly, a sharp shout came from the door. “Ji Yanqing, stay away from Miss Yingao!”
Curious, Ji Yanqing looked. Chu Yingao had admirers from the Civil to Martial Colleges, but most fumed silently at his antics. Calling him out directly was bold.
Entering White Deer Hall was a Martial College disciple in black, handsome and tall, a jade-sheathed spirit sword at his waist.
Cui Yu, from the direct line of Langya Cui, one of Yanxia’s six great clans. But Taizu’s era saw Duke Qi’s rebellion devastate them, their ancestral graves razed by Han Yu’s Black Armor Army.
Today, their legacy was a tenth of its former glory. Only ancestral literary fame kept them listed among clans, though their true standing was beyond the top twenty.
For a nobody from a declining clan to challenge the heir of a vassal king with millions of troops was either backed by someone or pure stupidity—pig-brained stupidity.
If Ji Yanqing recalled, Cui Yu had a cousin, a deputy Imperial Guard commander, under Prime Minister Liu…
Smiling faintly, Ji Yanqing sat at the desk, addressing Chu Yingao, who pretended to read. “Your suitor’s here for revenge. No explanation?”
Rustle—only the sound of Chronicles of the Marquises answered.
“Miss Chu, you—”
“Shut up, I’m reading,” she snapped.
Ji Yanqing sighed, exasperated, reaching for her book. “Miss Chu, not to overstep, but your book’s upside down.”
“I know, no need to point it out,” she retorted, mortified, hoping to stay out of it as someone disciplined this lecherous wastrel.
But considering the Ji-Chu ties and her insistence on breaking the engagement, which had angered Uncle Ji, she respected the rough-born Wei King Ji Yang. For his sake, she’d help.
Chu Yingao rose, her delicate hands clenched, Qian Yuan Realm pressure radiating, a chilling frost aura plunging the room into an icy abyss—her rare Frost Soul Ice Body.
“Cui Yu, this is White Deer Hall, not for Martial College disciples to make trouble. I tutor the Wei King’s Heir by imperial decree. You can question Ji Yanqing’s character, but dare you doubt the vermilion edict?” she said sternly, her phoenix eyes like sharp blades, unyielding.
Under her Qian Yuan pressure, Cui Yu, only at Radiant Sun third-layer, dared not face her. Bullying the weak, he turned to Ji Yanqing, sneering, “Ji Yanqing, got the guts to stop hiding behind women?”
Ji Yanqing stretched lazily, saying, “I love hiding behind women, especially beauties. What can you do about it?”
He grabbed his cloth-wrapped ferocious sword Nightmare, adding, “But since you’ve ruined my mood, I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”
Reflecting deeply, Ji Yanqing realized his past self-tarnishing was too perfect—a lazy, lecherous, unlearned, arrogant wastrel was too flawless, which was the problem.
He needed a new persona. Entering Chang’an as a hostage was the perfect chance, free from Wei King retainers’ guidance.
A slightly talented, reckless, and arrogant Heir might better ease the Emperor’s suspicions.