Chapter 258 – News

Back in Tianyun City, in the palace:

Like always, the queen was busy with her work.

“Your Highness.” Xiahou Shan came in.

“Yes?” The queen didn’t even look up.

Without Ding Qingqing around, she had become busier. It wasn’t easy to find a suitable helper in such a short time.

“A Spirit Realm cultivator came from Beiming, called Yu Ruohan. She said that she’s one of the founders of the Bon Voyage Fleet and hopes to see Your Highness.”

The queen waved her hand. “It’s not a big deal, just settle it yourself.”

Even as the founder of the Bon Voyage Fleet, she was still not that important for the queen to meet her.

“Your Highness,” Xiahou Shan felt it was better to tell her. “Miss Lu went to Beiming, and the news brought back was that the last place she was seen was Remainder Island, where this fleet is located.”

The queen finally placed her brush down and looked up.

“So what’s the main point?”

“Miss Lu…” Xiahou Shan muttered, finding it hard to speak about it, “has gone missing.”

“Missing?” The queen’s face turned dark.

“Yes. Does Your Highness want to learn more from the Miss Yu that came?”

Even though Lu Mingshu wasn’t actually her daughter-in-law, Lu Mingshu’s status in the hearts of both the mother and son had increased a lot.

“What are you still standing there for? Get her in here!”

“Yes.”

“Wait!” The queen furrowed her eyebrows. “Do not spread this news, especially not to Xing’er.”

“Your servant understands.”

After a while, Yu Ruohan came in.

“Greetings to Your Highness, I’m Yu Ruohan.” Yu Ruohan looked beaten. Even before leaving Beiming, she hadn’t slept while camping at the mountain. Then travelling to Zhongzhou non-stop was a chore too.

“Spare the courtesy.” The queen went up and lifted her up. Yu Ruohan was a Spirit Realm after all. “Please take a seat, Miss Yu.”

Yu Ruohan didn’t beat around the bush. “Your Highness, Miss Lu has been missing for ten days. Let me summarize the whole situation…”

Since the Grandmaster had already left, there was no need to keep it a secret. Yu Ruohan told the story from the beginning.

After she had finished, the queen stared into space blankly.

“Your Highness, should we…?” Xiahou Shan asked softly, “Should your servant get someone down to Beiming right now?”

“No!” The queen commanded. “You will go!”

Xiahou Shan blinked her eyes and looked at the queen, dumbfounded. She was currently so busy that she couldn’t leave the queen right now, yet the queen was sending her to Beiming?

“But the matters on my hands now…”

“Let Lin Zixin take over first.” The queen rubbed her forehead. “If you do this well, you will be rewarded greatly.”

There was nothing more that Xiahou Shan could say, so she agreed. “Yes….”

“Miss Yu.” The queen turned to her, smiling gently. “I’ll have to trouble you to get back to Beiming right away….”

…

“How long has it been?”

“Four months, Young Master.”

“Four months have passed, huh?”

Seventh Truth Platform, Alioth Star Lord’s palace:

Xie Lianzhen stared blankly at the map pasted on the wall. His eyes followed from Tianyun City to the Ming River, then to the bank, checking everything out one by one.

“From here, to here…” he mumbled. “Green Hills Bank, White Heron State, Remainder Island….”

Xie Zhanghui couldn’t help but smirk at him. “Young Master.”

“Hm?” Xie Lianzhen hummed.

“Aren’t you tired?” Xie Zhanghui had followed him for more than ten years, and this was the first time he had seen his young master in this state. Staring at the map daily, guessing where Miss Lu was and what she was doing right now. Even when there wasn’t an answer to it, he still enjoyed it and never got tired of it.

What was there to even guess? Xie Zhanghui didn’t get it. Xie Lianzhen could even look at the map with heart-eyes. Is this what love is? Turning into a possessed idiot, that’s not something I want to try.

The Alioth Star Lord smiled, tender and soft as water. “It’s a tough thing to be alive, but this is something in my life that’s not tough.”

“…” Xie Zhanghui rolled his eyes. “Young Master, don’t forget, you’re about to enter seclusion soon. How are you going to do that with so much on your mind?”

“Why do you have so many opinions about me?” Xie Lianzhen sighed. “I will discard all the distracting thoughts when the time comes.”

Xie Zhanghui side-eyed him. Discard all the distracting thoughts? Don’t lie to yourself!

But what was the use of saying so much? Xie Lianzhen wouldn’t take it in, so Xie Zhanghui could only continue to watch him be an idiot.

Somebody knocked on the door.

“Senior Brother Xie, the medicine is done.”

Xie Zhanghui took the medicine. “Okay. Go do your stuff.”

He then took the medicine to Xie Lianzhen. “Young Master.”

Xie Lianzhen furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the medicine in disdain. “Smelly.”

“Good medicine tastes bitter.” Xie Zhanghui coaxed. “This is the last bowl you’ll have to take. After this, your true energy will be smooth. You can get out of seclusion early if you break through to the Spirit Realm early, then you can go find Miss Lu.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Xie Lianzhen nodded.

Seeing him gulp down the bowl of medicine, Xie Zhanghui heaved a sigh of relief. At the same time, the urge to roast his young master was irresistible.

In the past, he always thought that his master’s lifestyle was no good for him; it was too depressing, and he seemed like a zombie. Xie Zhanghui had always hoped that his young master would become more cheerful and positive, but now, he missed the depressing young master.

He indeed found the will to live and was way more cheerful, however…

Nevermind, it was hard to explain in a few words.

Xie Zhanghui took the empty bowl and started, “Do you want to visit Her Highness?”

“No need.”

“But seclusion takes quite a long time!” Xie Zhanghui blinked his eyes. “Aren’t you on good terms now?”

“She’s very busy right now. I do not want to bother her with such a small matter.” Xie Lianzhen smiled. “Quickly arrange for my seclusion. The earlier I break through, the earlier I can get out.”

“…”

“…”

“Then your servant shall go now.” Xie Zhanghui bowed.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re so naggy right now.”

“…” You’re so abnormal right now, how can I not be naggy? My goodwill is going down the drain.

But that was only what he thought. If he said it out loud, Xie Lianzhen wouldn’t let him off, so he swallowed his words back into his belly.

As soon as he left the room, he saw Xie Lianzhen’s informant rushing toward him.

“What’s the matter?” Xie Zhanghui eyed him. Swaggering over here in broad daylight, was he afraid that others wouldn’t know what their relationship was? Could this informant still be used?

“Guardian Xie.” The informant didn’t even feel that there was something wrong. He grabbed onto Xie Zhanghui and wiped his sweat that was trickling down his head. “Big news!”

“What news is so big that you don’t even care if people know who you are?”

“Didn’t you say to bring you any news of Miss Lu no matter what price I have to pay?” the informant stuttered.

Xie Zhanghui’s eyes widened. “Is Miss Lu in trouble?”

The informant nodded. “This morning, somebody came to see Her Highness…” He summarized the whole story and tried to catch his breath. “Your servant brought this piece of news to you almost immediately!”

This is indeed a serious matter, but the young master is going into seclusion soon… how do I tell him?

As Xie Zhanghui was pondering, he realized that something was out of place. He immediately pushed all the things in his hand to the informant and ran back to the room at lightning speed.

“Young Master!”

The door was ajar, and all that he saw was an empty wheelchair, with Xie Lianzhen nowhere to be found.