Chapter 824: Deserted

Xu Luo’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Though his eyes remained closed, he was fully aware of the situation outside. A grim-faced young man stood in the courtyard, surrounded by over a dozen followers. The coachman and the maid from earlier stood cautiously to the side. They kept their heads bowed, not even daring to glance up. Clearly, this grim-faced young man held a rather high status within Piaomiao Palace.

One of the young man’s subordinates was speaking. He furrowed his brows, glaring at the maid with profound displeasure.

The maid had first been caught in a compromising position with the coachman by Xu Luo and Su Qianqian, resulting in a harsh scolding. Now, they had been caught again by this important figure. Although he hadn’t reprimanded them yet, the freezing aura radiating from him left her almost breathless. She had wanted to say that someone had just come to rush them, but now, she didn’t dare speak out of turn.

“Please wait a moment, sir,” the maid said softly. “I will go rush them right away!”

“Hurry up!” the young man’s subordinate barked coldly. He then shot a frosty glare at the trembling coachman and said indifferently, “You’re a veteran by the Palace Master’s side, otherwise you wouldn’t have been trusted with this crucial task of escorting the bride. Normally, I shouldn’t say anything to you, but I’ll kindly remind you that this is a critical moment! Do you have any idea how chaotic it is outside right now? Yet you still have the mind to flirt here. If you want to hook up with women, there will be plenty of opportunities. But if you mess this up, you’ll probably never get another chance!”

“Yes, yes… it’s my fault,” the coachman replied submissively, standing there and apologizing profusely.

As she walked to the door, a wave of resentment surged in the maid’s heart. She thought angrily, “They are just a bunch of upstarts who have barely gained power! They haven’t even found their footing yet, and they’re already acting so arrogantly!”

Of course, she only dared to think this; she would absolutely never say it out loud.

The maid opened the door, stepped into the first-floor living room, and called out, “Ma’am, they’re rushing us outside! They need you to hurry up!”

“Understood!”

The old woman’s voice drifted out from the room next to Xu Luo’s, cold and completely devoid of emotion.

The maid pursed her lips, turned around, and walked back outside. “Sir… I have already hurried them,” she told the grim-faced young man.

The young man’s brows were tightly knitted. However, as a man, it wasn’t appropriate for him to charge inside and demand they hurry. Even though he knew perfectly well that the situation with this Lady of the Palace was not what it seemed, he still couldn’t do it. Doing so would be equivalent to slapping the New Palace Master in the face! If Zhou Wu found out, he definitely wouldn’t let him off!

Anxious and somewhat annoyed, the young man thought, “It’s just a show anyway. Why are they dawdling so much? Women are so troublesome!”

Little did he know, the person who had just answered wasn’t the old woman at all, but Su Qianqian!

In truth, Su Qianqian’s trick was nothing more than a simple vocal imitation—a parlor trick barely worth a chuckle. But at this particular moment, it proved incredibly effective. Judging by the terror in the eyes of the old woman, who was still clinging to life, it was clear that even she probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference!

“You’re amazing!” Xie Yurou whispered with a smile.

“It’s just a trivial trick,” Su Qianqian smiled, then added, “Kill her. My brother’s side should be finishing up soon too.”

“Do we really have to kill her?” Xie Yurou hesitated. She had just given the old woman a brutal beating, slapping her face until it was swollen like a pig’s head. But when it came to actually killing someone, she suddenly faltered. Ultimately, she was still a kind-hearted girl with little experience in such cruel matters.

Su Qianqian let out a soft sigh. Without even glancing at the pleading old woman, she killed her with a single tap of her finger. “If you had fallen into her hands, I’m afraid you would find that even begging for death would be a luxury,” she said calmly.

Recalling how the old woman had treated her just moments ago, Xie Yurou knew Su Qianqian was right. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she said, “You’re right, Sister. In the future, I definitely won’t be so soft-hearted!”

On the other side, Xu Luo had completely purged the toxins from Xie Yudie’s body. He removed his palm from her lower abdomen and said softly, “Sister Yu Die, it’s done!”

“Ah…” Xie Yudie let out a soft gasp, her face burning crimson. She hastily straightened her clothes, not daring to meet Xu Luo’s gaze, and asked quietly, “Then… what should we do next?”

“Is Zhou Changhai dead?” Xu Luo asked suddenly.

“No, why?” Xie Yudie replied instinctively. Then, she threw her shyness to the wind and looked up at him in surprise. “Don’t tell me you…”

“You’ve suffered so much injustice, Sister. Don’t you want to strike back?” Xu Luo said.

“Of course I do!” Xie Yudie had a gentle and reserved temperament, but that didn’t mean she had no temper. In her heart, she harbored a deep, seething hatred for that beast, Zhou Wu. She looked up at Xu Luo and continued, “But right now, almost everyone from top to bottom in Piaomiao Palace answers to Zhou Wu. Even if we rescue Zhou Changhai, I’m afraid it won’t change anything!”

“What if… Zhou Wu and his people don’t dare to make a move?” Xu Luo said coolly.

“How is that possible?” Xie Yudie looked at him and said gently, “I know you want to help us vent our anger, but right now… it really isn’t the time. The moment Zhou Wu discovers us, he will undoubtedly dispatch a massive force to hunt us down.

“Please don’t be angry with me for saying this… but I think just managing to escape Piaomiao Palace this time is already a victory in itself!” As she spoke, Xie Yudie carefully observed Xu Luo’s expression.

Xu Luo chuckled. “I’m not that petty. You’re looking out for me, so why would I be angry with you?”

Xie Yudie lowered her head in a flurry of panic, her heart thumping in her chest. She figured his words probably didn’t carry any hidden meaning, yet she couldn’t help but interpret them in a different light.

“Is he hinting at something by saying that?” she thought. “Xie Yudie, he is the man your younger sister likes! How can you have such thoughts? He was probably just speaking casually. You absolutely must not take it seriously!”

“Sister Yu Die?” Xu Luo called out softly, noticing that she had spaced out.

“Ah!” Xie Yudie’s head snapped up. Her eyes met Xu Luo’s, and she hastily averted her gaze, blurting out, “Let’s just figure out a way to escape!”

Xu Luo shook his head. “We can’t let this turtle off so easily! Daring to treat you all like this—if we don’t teach him a lesson, he’ll really think there is no one left in Celestial Brilliance to stand up for you!”

Without waiting for Xie Yudie to reply, Xu Luo summoned Lan directly from the Bronze Divine Hall.

At this moment, Lan had recovered about thirty percent of her strength. Upon emerging, she was just about to affectionately greet Xu Luo when she suddenly spotted Xie Yudie. “Brother Fu, who is this?” she asked in surprise.

“Ah, who is she?” Xie Yudie stared in astonishment at the breathtakingly beautiful young girl who had appeared out of thin air, standing frozen on the spot.

Only one thought remained in her mind: “This girl… is so beautiful!” Even a stunning beauty like herself couldn’t help but be captivated, left utterly dumbfounded.

“She is Xie Yudie, Xie Yurou’s older sister. They are both from Celestial Brilliance, and they are my friends who have helped me in the past,” Xu Luo explained to Lan. Then, he turned to Xie Yudie with a smile. “Sister Yu Die, this is Lan, my… well, my younger sister!”

Xu Luo hesitated for a moment before introducing her this way. Because according to Lan, she was his younger sister.

“Lan, now isn’t the time to chat. I need your help!” Xu Luo said, looking at her.

“My brother’s business is my business. What do you need me to do?” Lan asked, looking at Xu Luo with a smile.

Standing to the side, Xie Yudie speculated about the origins of this girl named Lan. At the same time, she thought, “Who could have imagined that the young man we bumped into back in Baihua City would possess such terrifying talent? In such a short time… he has already grown to this height, and even has such breathtaking beauties by his side.”

Xie Yudie had originally been very confident in her younger sister, but after seeing Su Qianqian and Lan, her confidence… suddenly dwindled.

Shortly after, Xu Luo called Su Qianqian and Xie Yurou over and introduced Lan to them.

Unlike Xie Yudie, Su Qianqian and Xie Yurou—though somewhat stunned by Lan’s beauty—didn’t show much surprise at her sudden appearance.

Xie Yudie looked at her younger sister oddly, thinking, “Don’t you care about this kind of thing at all?”

Xie Yurou caught her older sister’s eye, smiled, and said nothing.

However, the two sisters shared a telepathic bond. Xie Yurou’s gaze, which seemed capable of piercing through all illusions, already told Xie Yudie: “I have grown numb… to the various miracles surrounding Xu Luo!”

“Is that so…” Xie Yudie was left somewhat speechless.

Xu Luo swept his Divine Sense over the crowd outside and said to Lan, “Let’s go first!”

Lan nodded. With a wave of her delicate hand, a gentle power enveloped everyone. In the next instant, they vanished from the room.

By this time, the young man outside had grown impatient. He directly ordered his subordinates to go in and hurry them again.

The subordinate bypassed the maid, pushed the door open, and stood in the living room. “Are you done yet?” he yelled up the stairs. “The banquet over there is about to begin!”

The upper floor was dead silent; there wasn’t the slightest sound!

The subordinate immediately sensed that something was wrong. At the same time, the young man outside had a change in expression. His grim gaze landed directly on the maid as he commanded coldly, “Hurry up and take a look! If anything goes wrong, I’m holding you responsible!”

The maid wore a wronged expression, but she felt even more aggrieved in her heart. She thought, “I’m just a lowly maid with no status. If something goes wrong, why should I be the one held responsible?”

With these thoughts in her mind, the maid rushed up to the second floor, her footsteps echoing with a heavy THUMP THUMP THUMP. Holding her breath and throwing caution to the wind, she pushed open one of the doors.

The room… was completely empty.

The maid froze. Then, as if remembering something, she pushed open the adjacent door…

“Ah!”

A scream erupted from her throat. The maid’s shriek was so high-pitched and piercing that it nearly shattered the roof.

Naturally, the crowd outside heard it loud and clear.

The young man’s figure blurred like a phantom, and he instantly appeared beside the maid. Staring down at the old woman’s cold corpse on the floor, his face turned so dark and gloomy that it looked as if it could drip water.