Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

Chu Mingkong's expression was strange, and he muttered to himself:

"Young Master Ling plans to give your mother fake medicine after you finish your business, and then silence you. You plan to have your mother take the medicine and then betray you and reveal Young Master Ling's affair."

The final result was that Songde committed suicide, his elderly mother died of illness because she could not get the antidote, Ling Gongzi's affair was exposed and he was killed, and Princess Ruyu was defiled for no reason.

"Since that's the outcome, why not let me be the bad guy, kill you all first, and then give Princess Ruyu some personal instruction in marksmanship?"

This was, of course, just a joke, but it gave him an excuse to get close to Princess Ruyu.

Chapter 186 No way, no way?

In the training ground, a woman dressed in smart and practical clothes held a coiled dragon silver spear, fighting amidst a series of illusory figures. Her movements were as graceful as a dragon swimming, and the cold light on the spear flashed. Her black hair, tied in a high ponytail, swayed with her movements. She was heroic and radiant, giving off the feeling of a female hero.

The woman holding the gun was Princess Ruyu, quite different from the other princesses. Her phoenix eyes were bright and piercing, her eyebrows arched like silver crescent moons, her features exquisite yet dignified, giving her a heroic air. Her beauty was undeniable, and her figure, honed through years of training, was toned and shapely, without any excess fat. Her pert buttocks were perfectly accentuated by her tight-fitting clothes. Such a woman, dressed in a female general's robe, was even more captivating.

This type of girl wasn't a big problem in Chu Mingkong's eyes, but she was quite controversial within the overall atmosphere of the Tianji Empire—she wasn't feminine enough...

At first glance, that head was probably about 1.75 meters tall, a height comparable to most men. The scholars and literati of the Tianji Empire disliked this, preferring women to be shorter than them and to be petite and dependent.

This is probably also related to the prevailing trend of liking fourteen or fifteen-year-old girls.

After Chu Mingkong secretly entered the training ground, he observed her silently for a while and gained a general understanding of her strength.

Putting aside his actual combat ability, his combat strength on paper is roughly equivalent to a fifth-level cultivator, and his spear skills are barely at the level of a minor grandmaster.

This level of strength would be insignificant among Chu Mingkong's master, sister, and maid team, but it would make him a strong figure among the royal children. Moreover, spearmanship is relatively unpopular, with very few people reaching the Grandmaster level.

Chu Mingkong deactivated the Dust-Free Talisman and gave instructions in a voice:

"Stop poking. Your movement habits are too obvious. It's lucky you're only fighting these training phantoms. If you encountered a stronger one, you would have been punished directly."

Faced with this person who suddenly appeared in her training ground, Princess Ruyu did not question his origins or identity. Her fight with the phantom continued unabated. Taking a moment to retort with dissatisfaction:

"What's your skill level? Are you a grandmaster of spearmanship or a spear saint?"

In this first round of conversation, Chu Mingkong judged that her personality was roughly that of a fiery and spirited woman.

That's good too. Girls with this kind of personality are straightforward enough that you don't need to go through so many roundabout formalities and polite words.

Chu Mingkong didn't reply directly. Instead, he mimicked the speaking style of a certain host surnamed Bai, saying sarcastically:

"No one would break a sweat fighting against a phantom of this Grandmaster level, right? No way, right?"

Princess Ruyu waved her hand, and the phantoms on the training ground dissipated. She stood there looking at the man who had suddenly appeared. He had sneaked into her mansion, not to steal anything or assassinate anyone, but instead he had come to criticize her cultivation.

"I'll temporarily set aside your reasons for sneaking in here. Come out here and give me some pointers, don't just talk the talk but walk the walk!"

Chu Mingkong walked to the weapon rack, took down a long spear made entirely of wood, even the spearhead was carved. Taking this weapon was actually a way of showing goodwill, indicating that he had no intention of assassination.

The moment he stepped onto the training ground, Princess Ruyu charged forward with her spear. Her first move was a lightning-fast thrust; if an ordinary person dodged it, they would be forced into a passive position, forced to deal with the enemy's attacks. But if they chose to block, it depended on the strength and foundation of their opponent. If they could block, all would be well; if they couldn't, it would be goodbye forever.

Moreover, it's very difficult to block, because Princess Ruyu's thrust is delivered at a specific angle. After the opponent blocks it, she can still flick the spear, using the force to deflect the opponent's weapon. This could result in either knocking the weapon away or, at best, shaking the opponent's arm.

Chu Mingkong neither blocked nor dodged, but barely managed to dodge the sudden thrust by sidestepping. Princess Ruyu was about to change her move and sweep the spear at him, but Chu Mingkong blocked the wooden spear first, and pressed down with force, stepping on the spearhead with his foot.

Before Princess Ruyu could react, Chu Mingkong had already pressed the tip of his wooden spear against her throat.

Princess Ruyu was indignant at being defeated so easily, but she remained composed. She sized up the man before her and then asked:

"State your name! What level of skill do you have? What kind of marksmanship do you use? Who did you learn from? Have you ever committed any evil deeds? Depending on the situation, I might let you be my marksmanship instructor and not hold your mistake of infiltrating the mansion against you."

Are you checking my household registration?

Chu Mingkong's motto is to leave someone else's name when doing bad things. But since this isn't considered a bad thing, he won't leave someone else's name. Besides, he's not familiar with Princess Ruyu, so it's better not to reveal his identity.

“My Taoist name is Jehovah Pharaoh. As for pointers on marksmanship, Princess Ruyu, you should first get rid of your habit of poking before we talk about anything else.”

"A humble monk, a Taoist name, and yet you dare call yourself Old King!" Princess Ruyu knew immediately he was just trying to fool her. She didn't care; if he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't ask. Instead, she inquired about his spear skills:

"An inch longer, an inch stronger. The advantage of a gun lies in its length. Using a thrusting motion can maximize this advantage, so why not use a thrusting motion?"

"Then here's the question: you can use the spear to smash, flick, or sweep, and the rotary spear can take advantage of all of these. So why do you insist on thrusting? All habits will become your weaknesses. Don't focus on one advantage. You can only truly practice spear techniques by exploring all the advantages of the weapon."

Of course, Chu Mingkong was not qualified to say this about others. His marksmanship was also somewhat unbalanced. When Chu Mingkong fought with a gun, he preferred to use his groin strike. As long as the opponent was hit in the groin once, he would immediately be in so much pain that he would break out in a cold sweat and his eyes would widen in disbelief.

It's a double blow, both physical and mental. Every time you use it, you feel great. Chu Mingkong's style with the gun is that every attack will eventually turn into a groin strike.

What level of marksmanship do you have?

"Even the Gun Saint would break out in a cold sweat when facing me, worrying about his ability to pass on his lineage."

"Bragging! So you're saying you might barely be a spear master, right? What do you want from me?" Princess Ruyu put away her spear, her delicate brows furrowed, and looked at him suspiciously.

Chu Mingkong had only shown a fraction of his skill, but Princess Ruyu could already feel the oppressive feeling that he had seen through her in that brief exchange. It had nothing to do with cultivation level; it was a genuine crushing display of spearmanship.

If he really wanted to assassinate her, she would have already died!

Princess Ruyu's body only just reacted to the tension; her heart pounded wildly, her blood flowed rapidly, and she didn't even realize that two spots had appeared on her chest. Those unaware of the situation might have thought Princess Ruyu had fallen for Chu Mingkong.

Chu Mingkong glanced at her clothes and really wanted to press those two abrupt buttons, but then thought better of it.

“I’m here to exchange information. I hope Princess Ruyu can tell me about Xiao Fengnan’s martial arts skills. What I can tell you is that someone around you is planning to do something bad. That guy named Songde is going to drug you, and the person who instructed him is your fiancé, Young Master Ling.”

--------

P.S.: I finished up the extra chapters in the first half of the month, so I only took a break, but I still managed to update 20 words this month. It's just that I might have been taking too long to finish the old man's ring, and I was planning to get back to updating four chapters a day these past few days, but I haven't been able to get into the groove.

Let's set a goal: update with the character "W" tomorrow.

Chapter 187 Honey Trap

Princess Ruyu was stunned after hearing this. The topic had taken a sharp turn, and she didn't react immediately. By the time she figured out what was going on, she didn't know how to respond.

How can I put it? It's impossible for someone to suddenly jump out and say that someone close to you is up to no good, and you would believe them completely, especially when the person who reveals this secret is a complete stranger.

This man's appearance was so abrupt that Ruyu really didn't know how to react.

After a long silence, she realized she had been too long and stammered:

"...Oh, really?"

"It's fake, I'm just kidding," Chu Mingkong said irritably, but he could understand her mindset.

If it were him, and a strange woman suddenly told him that Zuo Qiuchi, who was beside him, was going to give him an aphrodisiac, and that it was Feng Ying's doing, he definitely wouldn't...

Seems pretty good? This one's trustworthy!

"Fortunately, I was prepared. No amount of explanation can compare to seeing it for yourself. This is a letter that Songde just wrote. Take a look at the contents as you go over."

Chu Mingkong picked up Songde's letter. Because Chu Mingkong's palm strike was quite powerful, it had a penetrating force. Although it didn't cause any serious damage to Songde, it did make him snot come out, and a little snot fell onto the letter.

Princess Ruyu was a girl who had seen blood, but this magnanimous woman was so disgusted and afraid of the snot stains on the letter paper that she could not bear to touch it with her delicate white fingers.

"It is indeed the gentleman's handwriting, so why is there snot stuck on it?"

"Didn't you see how much remorse and self-blame Songde wrote on the letter? He must have shed some tears and snot back then."

Ru Yu thought the man might be up to some trick, but upon seeing the letter, she knew that things were probably really as he said.

In the past, after Princess Ruyu finished practicing her martial arts, the first thing she would do after leaving the training ground was to take a bath and change clothes to wash away the sweat. But now she couldn't care less about that. She quickly walked to the room where Songde was and saw him lying unconscious on the table. There was a bottle of aphrodisiac medicine next to him and a local dish from Xiling.

How did you obtain this information?

Ru Yu pursed her lips, her eyes filled with complex emotions. Even though someone had informed her beforehand, she still found it hard to accept after seeing it with her own eyes.

Songde was a long-time retainer of her maternal grandfather's family. He had been guiding her through her studies and arranging her outings since she was a child.

Chu Mingkong also knew that it was unreasonable for him to reveal the script to others in advance.

According to the ways of the underworld, when encountering such a situation, one should first use the pretext of "avoiding harming the snake spirit" to let the incident continue. Once the situation is about right, one should then jump out to deliver justice, punishing the villains and establishing a good person image on one hand, and on the other hand, seeing that the princess has been poisoned by the aphrodisiac, one should reluctantly, reluctantly, selflessly sacrifice oneself to detoxify, and frantically deliver the antidote to the princess's little eraser as if one wanted to stuff one's penis inside.

This way, it's easy to gain the princess's trust and create a righteous and noble image. Basically, he gets all the benefits he can, without even having to explain why he showed up. However, Chu Mingkong doesn't really want to be this kind of "good guy." He prefers to be vulgar and direct in his badness, and he's in a hurry now, so he doesn't want to wait for them to slowly finish their meal.

"The gist of the situation is that I wanted to know Xiao Fengnan's specific situation, so I came to eavesdrop. However, I didn't hear what you were saying, and I happened to run into Young Master Ling and Song De whispering to each other."

Regardless of Princess Ruyu's suspicions about me, I think it's not unreasonable to exchange the information I brought for details about Xiao Fengnan, right? I'll leave once I have the information; I won't concern myself with the princess's situation.

After Chu Mingkong finished speaking, seeing Princess Ruyu's reaction, he knew that she only seemed bold and straightforward. In reality, she was similar in temperament to the princesses in the capital. She just had a heroic personality in her daily life, but she couldn't avoid being a little girl at heart.

If you can hesitate and not know what to do about something like this, who knows if you'll end up marrying into that ambitious young master Ling's family and he'll really use you as a stepping stone to seize power.

"Would you like this humble monk to enlighten the princess and share my insights?"

"Why are you switching between 'this humble Taoist priest' and 'this humble monk' all at once...? Tell me."

Chu Mingkong paced back and forth, organizing his thoughts and trying to make his point clear in one go, without having to repeat himself.

After walking a few steps, Songde woke up, and Chu Mingkong casually slapped him, knocking him unconscious again.

"Is the princess now struggling with how to deal with Songde? Does she feel that even if he didn't do anything meritorious, he still worked hard and had a reason for trying to ruin your reputation in order to save his elderly mother?"

His words struck a chord with Princess Ruyu, and the woman in the tight-fitting clothes nodded, saying:

"It's pretty close, but not entirely. From my grandfather's perspective, if we were to rashly deal with such a close advisor who had served for many years, it would discourage the other family retainers."

Oh right, there's another consideration here. It was something he overlooked, but that's because Chu Mingkong doesn't have this kind of trouble and hasn't even thought about it.

Trust issues are mostly resolved through physical intimacy; if a conflict arises, they reconcile after a few attempts to resolve it.

"Then let your grandfather decide. Princess Ruyu, don't worry too much about this. No matter how good he was before, Songde is still doing things that hurt you now."

A person needs to take responsibility for their actions. If someone does something wrong for reasons they have no other choice, they can be pitied and sympathized with, but they should never be tolerated or forgiven. They should be punished as appropriate; this is a principle.

Otherwise, your grandfather's subordinates will all be plotting against their master, thinking that because they have made great contributions, their master will remember their kindness and forgive them for anything they do. That would be a real disaster.

"What should I do? What should we do about the old lady of the Songde family?"

Chu Mingkong focused his attention and asked the system if there were any similar pills in the shop. Unfortunately, he was told that there were none. The reason was that the so-called Cold Fragrance Pill was too weak, and the system's ability did not allow it to produce low-quality, low-efficacy medicines. On the other hand, if the medicine was too strong, the seriously ill elderly could not withstand it and it might directly kill them.

It seems the only way is to start with Young Master Ling.

"Let me add some more information. Young Master Ling has no intention of curing Songde's mother. He plans to give her a fake pill as a consolation prize, and then kill her to silence her. If Princess Ruyu, you really want to lend a hand, you might as well try a 'honey trap'!"

"What is a 'honey trap'? What kind of technique is it?"

That's not wrong; this is a technique that can make money.

"Pretend to fall for the trap, and when he's about to make a move, record it with the viewing stone. Then threaten him by saying you'll use the viewing stone to cause trouble and testify against him, forcing Young Master Ling to hand over the medicine. After that, kill him to vent your anger. In this way, Song De's wish will be fulfilled, and both Young Master Ling and Song De will be punished, each getting what they deserve."

Just as Songde was about to wake up again, Chu Mingkong raised his hand and slapped him again, knocking him unconscious once more.