Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 413 You don't want your grandfather to know either...

Lu Xingzhou hadn't expected the case to be solved so quickly. He had also thought that the face that A Nuo saw might not be the real face, and he would have to find a way to prove it from all angles.

The pig's reaction essentially confirmed the whole story.

Thankfully, the pig couldn't talk, so at least Jiang Yuan could cover for it in public: "This pig, cough, this pig is so cute. What is it doing?"

piggy:"?"

Do you think my two owners are pigs? You think you can fool me?

As it turned out, Lu Xingzhou actually said, "Well, maybe she's a little shy around strangers."

The little pig got anxious and kicked its hooves wildly in Jiang Yuan's direction, looking like it wanted revenge and showing that it wasn't afraid of strangers.

Ah Nuo grabbed it and ran off in a flash.

piggy:"……"

Lu Xingzhou watched as A Nuo ran away, then turned to look at Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan subconsciously took a half step back.

Now they're truly alone together.

She quickly thought that Lu Xingzhou was no match for her individually, and even with the little girl and the pig by her side, they couldn't stop her. What was there to be afraid of?
Lu Xingzhou smiled slightly, then sat down at the table and waved his hand, saying, "Miss Jiang, please sit down."

Jiang Yuan's face was ashen as she sat down.

Lu Xingzhou fetched her a set of cutlery and poured her a glass of wine: "What is the significance of this marriage alliance? Is it to gain the support of the Great Qian Dynasty? To establish a true identity in this world? To prevent the Tianyao Holy Land from making any rash moves?"

Jiang Yuan said with a straight face, "I don't know what you're talking about. The Huo family wields immense power in the Great Qian Dynasty, so what's so strange about a marriage alliance?"

"You have quite a strong palate."

“You…” Jiang Yuan took a deep breath: “It’s none of your business.”

"Why did they try to assassinate me? It must have something to do with me."

“I…” Jiang Yuan said one word, then immediately realized, “When did I assassinate you? I only met you today.”

"Since this is the first day we've met, why did you come as soon as Huo Zhang invited you? Aren't you being discreet?"

"Huo Zhang will soon be my son, so why should I avoid suspicion? Everyone knows that my grandfather and I went to see you this morning. Since you want to continue talking, I've naturally come to hear what you have to say."

As Jiang Yuan spoke, she looked Lu Xingzhou up and down, her eyes saying, "You might be my son too."

Lu Xingzhou sighed: "There's no point in arguing about this. Miss Jiang... since you've come here, your first reason is to see if I've recognized you. If so, how should we resolve this? Instead of arguing about these trivial matters, why not just lay it all out?"

Jiang Yuan remained silent.

Lu Xingzhou added, "You don't want your grandfather to find out that you went to the Holy Mountain Secret Realm and recklessly tried to assassinate me, do you?"

"You!" Jiang Yuan was about to say something when a red cloth appeared in Lu Xingzhou's hand, and Jiang Yuan's words came to an abrupt halt.

“I have evidence; I’m sure your grandfather recognizes this piece of cloth.” Lu Xingzhou shook the red cloth.

Jiang Yuan suddenly reached out to snatch it, but Lu Xingzhou, having anticipated this, had already put the ring back.

Without hesitation, Jiang Yuan changed her move and slashed at Lu Xingzhou's neck with her palm, as if she wanted to knock him unconscious and steal his things.

Lu Xingzhou grabbed her wrist with his left hand, almost grabbing it. Jiang Yuan was startled and quickly withdrew her hand, her eyes widening in disbelief.

At that time, Lu Xingzhou was quite strong, but his cultivation was only at the third rank, and he was still quite far from the peak of the third rank.

How come it's suddenly at the second rank?!

Even if you took drugs, you wouldn't get results this fast!
In theory, the difference between the third and second ranks is merely the difference between the early and middle stages of the ancient cloud-climbing cultivation method. Although the difference seems small, it is actually not that simple.

The energy required for cultivation in the Cloud Ascension stage is far greater than that in previous stages, and the time required for accumulation is much longer. Secondly, since cultivation is carried out using the nine-grade system, the cultivation methods naturally change accordingly. The threshold that was not prominent in the ancient methods has an additional threshold under the nine-grade system. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many third-grade cultivators stuck in the second grade, and there wouldn't be so few first-grade cultivators.

Even Yuan Muyu, who reached the third rank so early, was stuck at the second and first ranks, almost becoming a fallen genius of the Tianyao Holy Land. This shows the difference between ancient and modern methods.

Even if Jiang Yuan didn't have the latter problem, she would still be troubled by energy issues. She herself had to go through countless hardships to reach the sixth level of the Cloud Ascension Realm; cultivation is never that simple.

Lu Xingzhou didn't have the latter problem either. He cultivated the ancient method, which was no different from Jiang Yuan's. As for the enormous energy required... that was the Dragon Emperor's Primordial Yin.

Now that two rank-two opponents were facing off, Jiang Yuan knew he couldn't win silently and quickly, so he had no choice but to stop, gritting his teeth and saying, "What do you want?"

He thought to himself that if such a condition were really proposed, he would risk exposing himself to kill this lecherous man first.

"As I said, I hope to have an open and honest conversation with you, young lady, and get to the bottom of things." Lu Xingzhou calmly poured himself a drink and took a sip. "First of all, I don't know what I did to offend you. Why did you try to assassinate me? Is it because you're in cahoots with Zhao En and the others, and you've come to take revenge for them?"

Jiang Yuan was silent for a moment before finally saying, "No. I infiltrated to steal the remains of an ancient beast, but I hadn't succeeded when you arrived..."

"Then why kill me?" "I didn't intend to kill you, I just wanted to knock you unconscious so I could do my thing." Jiang Yuan sighed, "You guys were obviously planning to use this place for secret cultivation, which would probably take a long time. I had already been away from home for a long time and couldn't stay there waiting endlessly..."

She paused here, then added sarcastically, "Besides, you and Sheng Yuanyao seem to be getting intimate. Am I supposed to just stand there and listen to your live sex show?"

Lu Xingzhou was annoyed: "Why are we getting so close? Isn't it because you secretly manipulated the demonic energy hidden in those corpses?"

“That’s because you two were already thinking about that, that’s why it was effective…wait a minute.” Jiang Yuan paused, “So that’s why you sensed the presence of an outsider…strange, that kind of wildness is subtle and gradual, Sheng Yuanyao couldn’t sense it, how could you know?”

"Should I ask you or should you ask me?" Lu Xingzhou chuckled. "You're quite curious, aren't you?"

Jiang Yuan held back for a moment, then turned her head away angrily, which actually looked kind of cute.

After a long pause, he said, "That place isn't yours, so why can't I go in and search for things?"

“That place is occupied by the Dragon Emperor, it belongs to the Dragon Emperor.”

"So what does the Dragon Emperor's stuff have to do with you!" Jiang Yuan said angrily. "What's wrong with me, a human, stealing a little something from the Demon Realm? You're a treacherous person, and you say you don't want people to know this or that. Let's see if you dare let people know that you're helping the Dragon Emperor guard his home."

"I'm her man." Lu Xingzhou slammed his fist on the table. "You stole my wife's dowry and you're still so self-righteous?"

Jiang Yuan stood there dumbfounded.

"Besides, what traitor? We and the Dragon Emperor are all people of this world. How we fight behind closed doors is an internal matter of this world. Giving things to your ancient world is what makes you a traitor."

The butler, standing in the courtyard, could only hear the sounds of incestuous sex from afar, and was speechless.

Today's young people.

The butler sighed, while Jiang Yuan was horrified: "Wh-what ancient... I don't know what you're talking about."

"I already said to be open and honest, but you're still being secretive." Lu Xingzhou sneered, "You cooperated with Gu Zhanting and followed his orders to launch a sneak attack on the Holy Mountain. As a result, you were attacked from both sides by Si Han. You were cautious and dared not move again, so you temporarily withdrew. But you didn't pack up and go back to Daqian immediately. Instead, you observed the situation from nearby and then you saw the chaos at the Holy Mountain, didn't you?"

Jiang Yuan was genuinely shocked: "You... how do you know so much?"

"I invited Si Han. See how destined we are?"

Jiang Yuan flew into a rage: "So our whole affair was ruined by you from beginning to end, you dog, you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Xingzhou picked up the red cloth and twirled it around: "Compared to whether those trivial matters can be accomplished, I suppose your grandfather is more afraid of exposing his identity in the Ancient Realm. Look at what you've done!"

Jiang Yuan gritted her teeth: "What evidence do you have that we are from the Ancient Realm? Is it just this tattered cloth?"

That's really not something you can prove. Lu Xingzhou wanted to determine if the rag was made using techniques from this world, but it turned out to be just a common technique used in every world. In fact, even if it could be proven to be an ancient world technique, it wouldn't prove to outsiders that the rag belonged to Jiang Yuan... it would only be something she could use to impress Jiang Duxu.

But it's clear that Jiang Yuan doesn't want Jiang Duxu to know about this.

Looking at Jiang Yuan's annoyed expression, Lu Xingzhou said calmly, "Miss Jiang, I hope you know one thing... I want to have a serious conversation with the visitors from the Ancient Realm, not just with someone like you who once tried to assassinate me. If you don't cooperate, my conversation partner will be Jiang Duxu, and I believe he won't be as stubborn and foolish as you."

Jiang Yuan gave him a strange look.

Are you mistaken...?

I always felt like he was trying to control me, but it turns out he wasn't?
But the experience of having his back completely exposed is too hard to bear... Plus, considering this guy's reputation, what can people think?

Jiang Yuan fell silent for a long while before letting out a soft sigh: "I don't want a marriage alliance."

In just five words, Lu Xingzhou was able to connect many causes and effects.

There was even a hint of nostalgic smile in his eyes.

There was once a little demoness who wanted to get rid of her awkward situation within the sect and do something on her own, so she went to capture the Holy Maiden of Tianyao, and then encountered her own burning of the Red Cliffs.

This person tearing off her red dress is very similar to Pei Chuyun in terms of both the cause and the experience.

She must have felt that many problems could be solved without a marriage alliance, but since she had no say in it, she wanted to make some achievements, so she took advantage of the chaos at the Holy Mountain to sneak in and cause some trouble.

The ancient realm might possess secret techniques capable of performing actions on those ancient corpses beyond our comprehension; it might even be a great achievement.

“But young lady…” Lu Xingzhou said slowly, “Your great achievements are meaningless. What your family needs is a stable livelihood, not some earth-shattering feat. Old Master Jiang is already considering a real maritime trade route in the future. What use are all those things of yours?”

Jiang Yuan said, "Why should his considerations be considered correct?"

"The top figures in this world all want your methods, whether it's the Tianyao Holy Land or Dragon Cliff, whether it's the Great Qian royal family or the Tianshuang Kingdom ruler. Once your identities are exposed, you will become the target of everyone's attacks, yet you will be powerless and have nowhere to hide."

Jiang Yuan fell silent again.

Lu Xingzhou said, "I really don't understand. If you can go to Gu Zhanting to negotiate with a tiger for its skin, why not go to Tianyao Holy Land, which has a more reliable character? Is it because you have a grudge against them?"

“Zhao En himself has connections with the Emperor of Daqian, so naturally we only have this one line of communication.” Jiang Yuan said helplessly, “We can’t trust the so-called character of the Tianyao Holy Land. What if Yi Tinglan decides we’re with Zhao En and doesn’t even listen to our cooperation intentions, but directly threatens to kill us? As for the Demon Court, Gu Zhanting is also afraid we’ll switch sides, so isn’t that why we’re being asked to fight at the Holy Mountain as a pledge of allegiance…”

Lu Xingzhou said, "So... what is your purpose in coming to this world to eat dust and make things so difficult for you?"

(End of this chapter)