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

The two beautiful young women were startled, their bodies stiffening slightly. There were only two nights left...?

Chapter 265 Money's plentiful, go all out!

After escorting Consort Wan and Princess Chu back to the main pavilion of Tianya Tower, Chu Mingkong sat with them for a while before getting up and leaving to return to Qingxin Mansion.

"I'll be going now, and I'll come back to keep my two mothers company later!"

After he left Tianya Tower, the two beautiful young women lost interest. Consort Wan excused herself by saying she was tired in the afternoon and went back to her boudoir to rest, while Princess Chu sat in front of her desk, picked up the memorials waiting to be processed, but had no interest in dealing with them.

He would lose focus after reading just a few words, and when he forced himself to read a few lines carefully, he would feel bored, put down the memorial, and stare absentmindedly out the window.

She knew in her heart that Mingkong still had to leave, and she felt that she had already made preparations. However, for some reason, she found it difficult to remain calm when he mentioned the specific time of his departure.

Emotionally, I'm reluctant to let him go and want to keep him, but rationally, I understand that he has things he needs to do and I shouldn't interfere.

Lost in thought, the Princess of Chu lay on the desk, her forehead resting on her arm.

She examined her own heart with a puzzled expression, a strange feeling washing over her—a reluctance to part with someone she had never experienced before...

The first separation the Queen of Chu experienced in her life was when she was married and moved to Xiling. It was such a long distance away, and she was going to a strange place. At that time, she did feel reluctant, but this reluctance was the anxiety of a young person in an unfamiliar environment.

Many things happened afterward, and even when he sent his daughter away to study under a master, he never expressed such strong reluctance towards anyone else. He never imagined he would feel this way about his other son...

She slowly sat up, took out the note Chu Mingkong had given her, and wrote on it:

“Mingkong, since the departure time is set so close, how about you come to Tianya Tower during the day these next two days to spend more time with your mother? Your mother also wants you to come earlier tonight.”

------------

Chu Mingkong was making preparations before leaving.

Unlike when I came, I can't get a ride back this time. Now I'll have to rely on my own hard-earned money to go back.

The Xiling Treasury naturally has transportation tools such as floating boats and airships, but these things don't become "fuel-efficient" just because the boats belong to them. They have to bear the cost of the spirit stones burned for the distance from Xiling to the capital.

Burning spirit stones is relatively straightforward; Chu Mingkong simply extracts some scraps and sells them to the Immortal Treasure Pavilion. Therefore, the preparation work mainly involves checking whether the floating boat has any hidden damage or other issues to ensure a smooth arrival at its destination.

However, professional work should be handled by professionals. Chu Mingkong grabbed a few elders who specialized in floating boat refining to work as laborers, and sat aside as a supervisor, urging them to work faster.

"The things sent to the capital should arrive in about a day or two, after deducting the possible obstacles from wind and rain along the way, right?" Chu Mingkong muttered, sensing a spiritual energy fluctuation in a piece of paper.

He was startled. Could it be that a reply had actually arrived? Could it be from Yunhan's side?

Chu Mingkong rummaged through a pile of papers and found the one that had fluctuated. He discovered that it was from the Princess Consort of Chu. After reading its contents, he learned that she wanted him to spend more time with them these next few days.

No, it wasn't them. The Princess Consort of Chu probably just wanted to spend more time with her...

"Does this mean they want me to stay with them until the morning I leave?" Chu Mingkong thought of the "Royal Reception Day" he had experienced before leaving the capital.

Is this going to happen again?

He had barely replied with an "okay" when Consort Wan followed suit with a note, essentially asking him to come to Tianya Tower to be with her as soon as possible.

Okay, now it really is "them".

Chu Mingkong replied with an "okay" to Consort Wan.

"Your Excellency, all these floating boats are fine. Which one do you plan to use?" the elder asked, pointing to the floating boats in front of him.

However, the floating boats he was referring to were not the best quality ones. Chu Mingkong glanced at the larger and better floating boats in the distance. How could the floating boats carrying Zuo Qiuchi and Feng Ying be so shabby and stingy?

Which of those ships is the best?

The elder rubbed his hands together and said tactfully:

"Your Excellency, those ships have consumed a great deal of resources. Xiling has only just stabilized and is still in its early stages of development. There may be areas where resources will be extremely scarce in the future, so it's not wise to waste them..."

This is hamster thinking, stubbornly trying to hoard resources. Xiling's finances can certainly support it, but it is indeed a bit extravagant and wasteful in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Chu Mingkong beckoned the elder over with his finger, then took out a large number of gifts produced by the Filial Piety Blind Box. Many of them were actually of good quality, but Chu Mingkong couldn't use them, so they were just junk. However, many of the junk items were not suitable to be taken out, so most of what Chu Mingkong took out were pills.

"After the Immortal Treasures Pavilion arrives, these items will be sold to them as 'travel expenses' for the floating boat. Any surplus will be deposited into the treasury. Is that enough?"

The elder could hardly believe his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and squatted down to examine the pills that "Lord Zuo" had casually tossed out. Although many of them were low to mid-grade, the quantity was overwhelming, and there were also about ten bottles of high-grade pills.

Although it's absurd and wasteful to turn it into a beauty-enhancing elixir that women like, the medicinal properties are still there, so it can barely be used as a raw material to refine other elixirs!

Chu Mingkong didn't care about these things, but the elders considered them extremely valuable. They couldn't imagine what kind of background this "Left Minister" had, with such a solid foundation. What was he after in Xiling? Was he really after the Princess Consort of Chu?

This elder was not one of the higher-ups and had little knowledge or contact with "Lord Zuo." However, some elders had privately wondered if this "Lord Zuo" might be the heir apparent who was being held hostage in the capital. But now, judging from the extent of his generosity...

The heir of Xiling wouldn't be so arrogant and wealthy; now the elders are starting to doubt his true identity again.

After confirming that everything was in order, Chu Mingkong instructed the elders to send someone to modify the interior of the floating boat, making it more luxurious, comfortable, romantic, and sensual. Then, he stopped supervising the construction and returned to Qingxin Mansion.

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Back at Qingxin Mansion, Zuo Qiuchi and Feng Ying stayed home meditating and cultivating.

Feng Ying was still sitting upright with his legs crossed, meditating, while Zuo Qiuchi was lying on the bed, hugging the blanket, meditating and cultivating.

When Chu Mingkong usually came to visit them during the day, he would take them for a stroll around Tianya City. But when Chu Mingkong was not around, the two of them would quietly stay at home like couch potatoes, basically never going out.

Upon seeing Chu Mingkong return, Zuo Qiuchi shifted her position and said in a sarcastic tone:

"You unfilial disciple, you've come back after giving your two mothers a good beating?"

Chu Mingkong lunged forward, grabbed her waist, and shamelessly said:

"Master, you're also my mother, don't be jealous, I'm going to tease you right now!"

"Get out of here! Don't come any closer, or I'll break you!"

Chapter 266 Touching the Dragon's Hand

Chu Mingkong discussed the matter of returning with Zuo Qiuchi and the others, and neither of them had any objections.

Fengying complained:

“Mingkong, you just got back from the border of the Abyss this morning and immediately ran to Tianya Tower. Aren’t you tired? It seems your injuries aren’t serious. Zuo Qiuchi, you don’t need to protect him anymore. Ask around and find out if there are any good places to go, then go and have a look around.”

"The capital is big, but you've been stuck there for so long, aren't you tired of it?"

"This won't do!" Chu Mingkong exclaimed anxiously, "This is going to sow discord between us!" Before he could speak, Zuo Qiuchi said:

"I have had this idea, but I don't have any good places to go lately. In the past, I would often hear rumors that some fairy islands had opened up in some places."

Recently, it seems there's only one hidden spot: the stone bamboo forest in Xiaoxiang Qin Academy, which isn't very interesting.

In her early years of cultivation, Zuo Qiuchi spent very little time meditating, usually only doing so on the road. She almost never spent long periods of time in seclusion for meditation. She would go wherever she heard of excitement, because where there were many people, she had more opponents to choose from.

“Master, how could you actually have such a thought? That’s inappropriate,” Chu Mingkong said.

"Stop talking about that. You haven't told us about the situation inside the Abyss yet. What's with those Buddhist Dharma images? There are two of them facing off. Does that mean one of them is you? Or has a third force appeared in the Abyss?" Zuo Qiuchi asked curiously.

When she and Fengying saw the distant view of the Abyss, they were both shocked. It was the first time they had ever seen such a commotion in the Abyss.

If there weren't other people who needed rescuing, they would have already found a way to get closer.

"The situation is rather complicated. Basically, I saw a bald man using the method of relic, so I tried to imitate his method and ended up creating a Dharma image."

Chu Mingkong took out the black relic. Feng Ying frowned when he looked at the small Buddha statue. It looked like some kind of evil thing, but the fact that it could produce a Dharma image meant that the relic itself had a lot of potential. It was hard to associate it with Buddhism.

It's more like a token of some wicked or broken monk.

Upon hearing that the Dharma Image originated from the relic of this evil Buddha, Zuo Qiuchi asked with a strange expression:

"I have a question. That black-faced deity, it seemed to be holding a woman in its arms, whose face was that?"

The relic itself doesn't look very similar, but if you probe its interior with your divine sense to see the manifestation of its harmonious meditation, the woman's face inside is exactly like her. Zuo Qiuchi is very concerned about this, which is somewhat embarrassing.

"I don't know either, but it shouldn't have your face, Master. It's just a very common round face like a stone Buddha statue," Chu Mingkong recalled.

They chatted casually, and Chu Mingkong explained the general situation, including his speculations about King Huai of Chu.

Feng Ying listened attentively, sorted through the intelligence clues Chu Mingkong had provided, and spoke first:

“Mingkong, you seem to have omitted a part of the explanation. What role did the Princess Consort of Chu play in all of this, and how did she manage to remain unharmed in the Abyss for so long, even accompanying you through several battles without getting injured?”

Zuo Qiuchi yawned, removed his apprentice's pig's trotter from his buttocks, and then realized that Chu Mingkong had not mentioned the matter of the Princess of Chu.

Chu Mingkong naturally concealed the matter of the Princess of Chu, as the situation was too bizarre to share. He calmly took out the small furnace that had been confiscated at the time and began refining the so-called "Asura Divine Weapon".

"Those things are not important. Let's see what kind of divine weapon is hidden inside this small furnace that would force a reincarnated Dharma Protector to go deep into the Abyss Crevice to refine it."

"You changed the subject so abruptly!" Zuo Qiuchi pinched Chu Mingkong's cheek, feeling a little disappointed with the texture.

Chu Mingkong, with his large body, had no excess fat and was very strong. However, this meant that there was not much flesh to pinch on his cheeks. He could not have thought much of it before, but recently, after pinching his child's cheeks so much, the difference in feel was too great and he found it hard to accept.

Chu Mingkong continued to pretend he couldn't hear, making exaggerated expressions. Before even seeing what was inside the small stove, he started exclaiming "Wow!"

When it comes to top-tier weapons, the size is entirely up to the user, and they are typically forged using a small furnace, like the "Asura Divine Weapon" in Chu Mingkong's hands.

Before he could even see what was inside, he opened the furnace and poured out a tiny, exquisite sword. It was entirely black, with a bold and imposing design. It was clear at a glance that its normal form was a heavy sword. Several kinds of characters were engraved on the blade, including Buddhist Sanskrit and rare, scribbled characters. These characters emitted a dark purple light, exuding an eerie aura, yet still conveying the grandeur of Buddhist teachings.

"I see several small chains inside this furnace. It should be that each chain seals a weapon. How come there's only a heavy sword and a flying sword left?" Chu Mingkong wondered.

"Could it be that it teleported away, leaving only these two weapons which you stole, so it can't be teleported away anymore?" Zuo Qiuchi picked up the flying sword and played with it, feeling like he was playing with a toothpick.

"Maybe." Chu Mingkong shrugged. He didn't feel anything special; it was an unexpected gain after all. "You can have this heavy sword, Master. As for the rapier, Feng Ying, you can take it. Adjust its size, and you can use it as a dagger or a short blade, or even as a flying sword or hidden weapon."

"So generous! This is your spoils of war. Haven't you been lacking a suitable weapon all this time?" Zuo Qiuchi asked in surprise. She already had a suitable Extinction Heavy Sword, but it was a gift from the Hundred Flame Sword Tomb.

"It's the same whether you use it or I use it. Besides, I don't know if my blood is suitable for binding this weapon with blood. If I really need a sword in the future, I can always ask my master for one."

In this matter, Chu Mingkong was very generous with his gift. Zuo Qiuchi had once possessed a fine sword that also required a blood oath to be recognized as its master. At the time, he was merely curious, and Zuo Qiuchi simply erased his own bloodline mark and gave him the sword to play with, not even worried that he would keep it and not return it.

He was so generous that he was a bit oblivious, but it still left a deep impression on Chu Mingkong himself. Who would be so generous as to erase the mark from their beloved sword and let someone else use it? It was already very kind of him to lend it.

Feng Ying didn't say much and accepted it directly, because she knew Chu Mingkong wasn't good with this type of weapon. She thought of Zuo Qiuchi's extermination and asked:

“Mingkong, haven’t you already reached the Great Sword Immortal Realm? There’s an Ancestral Sword at the Hundred Flames Sword Tomb that can sense the supreme sword intent in the world. Didn’t they send you a sword?”

"Oh right. But it's also possible they can't find me?" Chu Mingkong suddenly remembered this.

Zuo Qiuchi recalled for a moment and reminded him:

"Is it possible that you have to go and get it yourself? They've already forged the sword for you, why would you expect them to deliver it to you if you don't go and get it yourself?"

Chu Mingkong thought it made sense: