Edited by Ea

  After being sluggish, Lin Shu began to think.

  Marriage.

  Yes, he has an engagement with the Big Miss. According to reason, they really are going to be married.

  However, this is a little different from his previous limited assumptions.

  At that time, he thought that he was a person cultivating immortality, and Big Miss was also cultivating immortality. Then, the engagement was to make them become a Daoist couple.

  Dao couples usually plucked the zither, played the flute, exchanged sword techniques, and discussed the Dao together. Although he doesn’t like being too close to others, he can do these things with Big Miss.

  But in this world, there seems to be no big difference between the immortal and the mortal world.

  ——In other words, the engagement is a real marriage.

  About marriage, like modern times, it’s about getting a marriage certificate.

  He doesn’t know how to get along with someone who has got a marriage certificate.

  Lin Shu is a little flustered.

  He asked Ling Fengxiao, “Get married?”

  Ling Fengxiao said, “Get married.”

  He asked, “What do you want to do after getting married?”

  Ling Fengxiao said: “It’s no different from now, just a little closer.”

  Lin Shu thought for a while, if this is the case, it seems that it is okay.

  Ling Fengxiao looked at him and asked, “Why do you ask? You don’t want to marry me?”

  Lin Shu said, “No.”

  Ling Fengxiao was very satisfied: “Then it is decided. When this matter is resolved, we will return to the villa.”

  Lin Shu panicked again.

  He asked, “Is your mother…… Fierce?”

  “Although she is a bit strict, she’s actually very nice,” Ling Fengxiao said.

  Strict.

  Lin Shu has some ominous premonition.

  Ling Fengxiao seems to have noticed his nervous state and rubbed his hair: “She’s just a little more strict with me. If she sees you, she will like you very much.”

  Lin Shu believed it temporarily and nodded.

  Ling Fengxiao seemed to suddenly remember something, and said, “In addition to seeing my mother, you also have to see the Father Emperor and the Empress Mother.”

  Lin Shu: “Empress Mother?”

  Ling Fengxiao is the legitimate Princess of Southern Xia and the Eldest Lady of Phoenix Mountain Villa. Therefore, Lin Shu always thinks that the Grand Master of Phoenix Mountain Villa is the Empress of Southern Xia.

  “In fact, my mother is not my biological mother. She is my aunt by blood; the Empress is my biological mother.” Ling Fengxiao said: “All the Empresses of the Southern Xia Dynasty were born in Phoenix Mountain Villa. If they gave birth to a boy for the royal family, they would naturally be the prince. If they were daughters, they would be sent back to Phoenix Mountain Villa for education and training.”

  It turned out to be like this.

  Ling Fengxiao’s biological mother was the Empress, and she was sent to Phoenix Mountain Villa to be raised by the Grand Villa Master.

  The Grand Master and the Empress are sisters. Naturally, they regard Ling Fengxiao as their own.

  Ling Fengxiao’s background was naturally noble, but it was not entirely dependent on family power.

  Don’t you see, the Order of the Phoenix token, which symbolizes the high position of Phoenix Mountain Villa, is not in the hands of the Grand Master, but in the hands of the Big Miss.

  The Big Miss holding the Order of the Phoenix is equivalent to having more than half of the real power of Phoenix Mountain Villa, not to mention also having the identity of a princess.

  Lin Shu had no family background worth mentioning. He himself didn’t mind this, but he was afraid that outsiders would laugh at Big Miss’s marriage to a salted fish.

  \r \r \r

  However, on second thought, there is no man in the world who is worthy to be matched by such a person as Big Miss. No matter who he is, everyone will set off as a salted fish, which balanced everything out a lot.

  “The Empress Mother is gentle. You will definitely like her when you see her.” Ling Fengxiao looked to the distance: “I have not seen her for many years, I do not know if she has been fine.”

  Just as she was talking, a small white light flashed in front of Ling Fengxiao.

  “Mr. Meng is calling me,” Ling Fengxiao said.

  Lin Shu: “You go ahead.”

  Big Miss’s figure disappeared in place, and only reappeared in the martial arts arena after a while.

  “The Headmaster has approved.” Ling Fengxiao said: “I will set off immediately.”

  Lin Shu said: “Okay.”

  Back in reality, walking down the mountain, he asked, “I’ll see you off?”

  Big Miss suddenly pondered for a moment.

  After a while, he said, “I’m afraid I’ll be taking you with me.”

  Lin Shu: “En?”

  “What if I encounter a strong enemy, or consume too much spiritual energy, or my state of mind is unstable, and I may faint again?” The Big Miss frowned.

  This is indeed a question worth considering.

  The Big Miss fainted twice in total, once when she blocked the lightning tribulation on Huandang Mountain, and then fought with Lord Kunshan, which consumed a huge amount of her spiritual energy. The second time was when they visited Jiang Prefecture Mansion that night, and learned that the real culprit of the Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss tragedy was the Emperor, and her state of mind changed.

  ——Just in case, he should indeed accompany Big Miss.

  Moreover, in the past two years of practicing zither day and night, he has been able to integrate the sound of the zither with the sword intent, which is very powerful. In addition, in the process of practicing the zither, he is now more familiar with the independent control of spiritual power that he was not good at. He thought that although the spiritual power contained in the Ice Stringed Zither is peak Golden Core Realm, but, by relying on his own understanding and skills, he may not necessarily be defeated by someone in the Yuanying Realm either, and probably will not drag Big Miss down.

  He said: “I will follow you.”

  “Also good,” Ling Fengxiao said, “I don’t know how long it will take, and I don’t want to be separated from you.”

  Time waits for no one, and after agreeing on this, they immediately prepared to set off.

  Ling Fengxiao opened a map, which marked the location of the investigation.

  At the junction of the Northern Xia Dynasty and the Southern Xia Dynasty, a little bit closer to the Southern Xia Dynasty, there were wandering living corpses whose constitutions were different from the other living corpses. They appeared near a village called “Linjuan” — and the whole village was slaughtered. The Academy called this dark red living corpse a “blood corpse”. They issued a high-level task and entrusted the disciples to find out the situation and bring back the blood corpse body samples for the Academy’s research.

  The girl’s team successfully retrieved the sample, but they were infected with blood poison, and the blood poison that has never appeared before may be infectious and is extremely dangerous. If it is used in the battlefield, the consequences will be unimaginable – this is the whole story.

  Ling Fengxiao’s trip is to thoroughly investigate the matter, find the person behind the scenes who manipulated the blood corpse, and even take blood poison samples, so that the Academy can study how to deal with it.

  The cat was left in the Academy and followed Cang Min.

  Cang Min was happily discussing with his classmates the topic of “Folding Bamboo Fairy reappeared in the martial arts ranking list”. Unexpectedly, a black cat was stuffed into his arms.

  The cat was very upset and meowed several times.

  Lin Shu said, “Look after the Academy.”

  Ling Fengxiao said: “I will bring you food from outside.”

  Cat: “Meow.”

  The meaning of this kind of meow is “I’m satisfied for the time being.”

  Lin Shu and Ling Fengxiao went out. Based on their strength, as long as they didn’t encounter an opponent whose strength was too exaggerated, such as those in the Tribulation Realm, they should be able to retreat unhurt, but the cat must stay in the Academy.

  The young students in the Academy can’t have an accident. Once they have an accident, the immortals will lose their younger generation, which can be said to put the entire immortal path in danger.

  With an Earthly Immortal sitting in the Academy, the cat can protect the students from danger.

  After settling down the cat, they packed up some talismans, formation stones, pills, etc. that might be used. Big Miss then added a lot of other things and stuffed them into a brocade bag, which was held by Lin Shu.

  After preparing the things, they set off immediately. Because they were going to the border, Zhaoye was too eye-catching, so the two did not ride horses, but instead relied on light movement skills to resist the wind.

  When they arrived at the bottom of the mountain, they saw a group of people from the Confucianism and Taoism Institutes, who also set up a table of wine.

  In the middle is an acquaintance——Xie Zishe.

  Xie Zishe saw them and smiled: “Big Miss, you also came to see me off?”

  Ling Fengxiao: “You’re leaving?”

  “I graduated the day before yesterday, and today I leave for the capital.”

  Ling Fengxiao: “Political Affairs Hall?”

  “Exactly.” Xie Zishe said, “I can finally show off my ambition in life. Big Miss, I’d like to say goodbye to you and wish you a prosperous future.”

  Ling Fengxiao: “I also wish you a bright future.”

  Xie Zishe drank a glass of wine at Ling Fengxiao, she bowed and said: “We will meet again in the Capital, and when the river and sea are clear, we will have a good drink.”

  Then she got up and got on the carriage which was waiting on the side. In the bleak autumn wind, the coachman yelled, the carriage rattled, and the carriage galloped toward the capital. Half a quarter of an hour later, the carriage turned a corner and disappeared, leaving only the setting sun and distant mountains ahead.

  Lin Shu and Ling Fengxiao also set out. Three days and two nights later, they settled down in an inn in a small border town.

  Lin Shu was reading the map in the room.

  This direction is a bit wrong, Linjuan Village is to the west, but the town they’re in is to the east.

  He asked: “We went the wrong way?”

  Ling Fengxiao said: “That’s right.”

  “This is Xinhong Town, and Linjuan Village is……” Lin Shu looked at the map.

  The two locations are a thousand miles away.

  But he saw Ling Fengxiao curl her lips and smile: “Who said we are going to Linjuan Village?”

  Lin Shu: “.……Huh?”

  “I can probably guess the truth about Linjuan village. It’s nothing more than that a sorcerer developed a new blood poison and tested the effect on the border village.”

  Lin Shu nodded.

  “Northern Xia has a Witchcraft Gathering every five years. Famous witches and wizards will go to Northern Xia’s Capital City to have a contest in magic powers. The winner will be awarded by the Great Sorcerer himself. Counting the days, it will be two months later.”

  Lin Shu understood what the Big Miss meant: “Are you going?”

  “The sorcerer who slaughtered Linjuan Village developed such a magical blood poison, and knew that what he had done had attracted Southern Xia’s attention. He must have set off back to the hinterland of Northern Xia, intending to present it to the Great Sorcerer at the Witchcraft Gathering.” Ling Fengxiao said indifferently, “Northern Xia’s witchcraft is very mysterious. We can’t find his whereabouts, but we can stand by and wait for the rabbit to run into us at the Witchcraft Gathering. Besides, if we enter the Witchcraft Gathering, we can see whether Northern Xia has been getting more and more powerful magic techniques in the past five years.”

  Big Miss is right.

  “How can we get in?” Lin Shu asked.

  “I have my own discretion,” Big Miss said.

  Lin Shu nodded.

  Naturally, Big Miss has her ways. He just needs to follow.

  “This matter is not even known to the Headmaster. Only Heaven, Earth, you, and I know. Even if the rest of the people hear the news, they only know we are going to Linjuan Village, no one will know that we are going to the Witchcraft Gathering, and Northern Xia won’t know this, even more so.”

  Lin Shu praised the Big Miss for her steadiness.

  At the next moment, Big Miss said, “Just one more thing. Since Lord Kunshan had gotten into the school, Northern Xia naturally will know some news. You and I need to change our faces and disguise, and can’t use the present appearance, in case others will recognize.”

  As she said this, she put another light blue brocade bag in front of Lin Shu: “Here is something for you, if you see it, naturally you know how to use it.”

  Lin Shu: “Okay.”

  It was late at night, and Ling Fengxiao returned to her room after explaining.

  Lin Shu opened the kit and wanted to see what it was.

  He sank his consciousness into the storage bag, and for a moment he was dumbfounded.

  Then, he took out a dress.

  The white one is similar to the style worn by Folding Bamboo, and it even had a touch of orchid fragrance.

  The second one, also white, is the outer gauze robe, embroidered with silver patterns.

  The third one is still a dress.

  At the end, he took out some hairpin ring jewelry, all of which had simple and elegant styles.

  Lin Shu: “.……”

  He thought of the brocade bag containing the pills and talismans, so he rummaged through it for a long time and found a small bottle of Disguise Pills among the miscellaneous pills in the corner.

  He put the Disguise Pills, clothes, and hairpins together, and was in a mixed mood.

  Big Miss, do you mean to make me dress up as a girl?

  The author has something to say:

  Brother Shao: I have tried my best in order to have my darling wear a dress again.