Chapter 129: Lou Mu Yan’s Dead?

The news that Lan Si brought made the Lou Clan’s father and son fall into deep thought.

“Have you investigated the force that attempted to assassinated Yan’er?” Lou Zhan Tian asked.

Lan Si slid his fingertip over the rim of the teacup and after a long pause, he replied: “I suspect that there are influential officials of the Empire who colluded with other kingdom’s powers. After all, Le Xiang and Hu Fei taking action against Lou Mu Yan meant that they should be chess pieces buried in Yan’zhou Kingdom by that force.”

Lou Mo Yu tapped his fingers irregularly on the table. Lan Si’s words were exactly what they had guessed. If they followed this clue, then the Gu Clan was most suspicious.

“Lan Si, now our main concern is when my family’s Yan’er could safely return.” Lou Mo Yu temporarily put aside the complex affairs of the Kingdom. What he worried most about now was the safety of his treasured daughter.

Ling Yue Xin’s beautiful face was filled with worries, and there was a haze in her eyes: “If any misfortune befalls my daughter, your Empire Academy won’t be removed from the responsibility either. After all, that person named Hu Fei is your Trial instructor this time.”

If anything happened to her baby girl, she must make the Empire Academy pay the price.

To begin with, she didn’t approve of Yan’er going to the Glacial Mountain Range for some Trial. If it weren’t that the Principal found her husband to discuss the details and guaranteed Yan’er’s safety, how could she put her daughter in that kind of danger.

Lan Si also knew that this time Lou Mu Yan being knocked into the lava pond by Hu Fei was also the Academy’s responsibility. If it weren’t for Monarch Ming taking action to kill Hu Fei, he would’ve wanted to tear his body into thousands of pieces too.

Originally, he was just left as bait for fishing, but who knew he turned out to be a scourge in the end. This was also a lesson to be learned.

“Don’t worry. I can guarantee that Lou Mu Yan will be fine.”

With the strength of Monarch Ming, he probably already found Lou Mu Yan. If even then she died, then Monarch Ming needn’t bother living.

Despite hearing such assurance from Lan Si, the hearts of those in the Lou Clan were still not at ease. Now, Ling Yue Xin always carried the Soul Tablet, which had Lou Mu Yan’s Soul Energy within it, everywhere. Only when the Soul Tablet was intact could they temporarily feel relieved.

In a beautiful, imposing, and majestic Mansion in the Imperial Capital.

Gu Yan Ran played chess with Gu Yuan Kai in the study, when a black-clothed man suddenly appeared in the room on one knee.

Gu Yuan Kai stared at the chess game without lifting his eyelids and asked: “Is Lou Mu Yan really dead?”

The man in black replied respectfully: “This subordinate has discovered what happened that day. If there’s no accident, then Lou Mu Yan would definitely have died.”

Then, he revealed the news that he inquired about, and he didn’t hide the fact that Monarch Ming went into the lava to search for Lou Mu Yan.

Gu Yan Ran’s originally gentle and pleasant temperament had already undergone earth-shaking changes. There was always a lingering haze on her face, unable to be rid of, her face was pale, and her entire person looked gloomy and depressive.

Hearing that the masked man in red who rescued Lou Mu Yan at the auction last time disregarded his life and jumped into the lava to look for her, the jealousy in Gu Yan Ran’s eyes appeared as if it were about to erupt. She gritted her teeth and said bitterly: “That woman’s just a vixen. This way of death is too easy on her.”

Gu Yan Ran wasn’t reconciled. In her heart, she didn’t want Lou Mu Yan to die like this. It wasn’t pity, but instead, the hatred in her heart made her want to torture Lou Mu Yan to death with her own hands.

Gu Yuan Kai placed a black chess piece on the board, his face calm, and his voice was stern: “Yan Ran, you lost.”

Gu Yan Ran looked down at the chessboard, feeling even more annoyed. Her expression was full of grievance: “Dad, daughter really can’t swallow this anger.”

Now that her dan’tian was destroyed by Lou Mu Yan, and her entire cultivation base was useless, she would be gloated about and looked at with contempt and sympathy if she went outside. How she hated!

Once she was the most dazzling pearl in the freshman class of the Empire Academy. Lou Mu Yan was just a trash grit that chased after Chi Yi Xuan. Now she also tasted what it felt like to become trash, but it also made her feel even more resentful against Lou Mu Yan.

“Yan Ran, that person already promised to repair your dan’tian after the matter’s done. The loss of your cultivation base is only temporary. Lou Mu Yan is also just a touchstone for you to grow into a strong person. You shouldn’t accumulate too much resentment against her, otherwise you’ll definitely be troubled by heart demons in the future.”

Gu Yuan Kai was a clear-headed and rational person. He didn’t agree with his daughter’s endless hatred towards Lou Mu Yan. If a heart demon appeared, then it’d be exceptionally difficult in the future to advance to a high-level Sword Master.

Gu Yan Ran also knew that what her dad said was truth, but the long-standing grievances had already been buried in her, so how could it be resolved. Unless she personally killed Lou Mu Yan, then could her hatred by dispelled.

“Dad, when that time comes, I want to massacre the Lou Clan with my own hands.” A ruthless look flashed in Gu Yan Ran’s eyes. Even if Lou Mu Yan died, she’d also make the Lou Clan pay the price by having their entire clan exterminated.

Gu Yuan Kai not only didn’t feel frightened by Gu Yan Ran’s cruelty but was instead very gratified. This was right. This was the daughter he had carefully nurtured.

“Alright. I’ll let you personally exterminate the entire Lou Clan when that time comes.”

The next day, Lou Zhan Tian took Lou Mo Yu into the palace to find the Emperor and the Imperial Teacher to settle their debts, and also personally led people to smash the Empire Academy’s inscribed boards.

Afterwards, the door of the Lou Clan remained closed and there was a faint sound of crying that came from within.

This also confirmed the news that Lou Mu Yan had died in the Glacial Mountain Range. In addition to those who gloated and watched the good show, there were also some people who sympathised and felt sorry about it.

The Lou Clan’s father and son did this as they wanted to let the secret forces in the dark relax their vigilance and lure the snake out of the cave.

As if they would tolerate venomous snakes on the bed, spying from the darkness1. Failure to remove them wasn’t only harmful to the Lou Clan, but also to the entire Empire.

A secret room in the Imperial Palace.

A middle-aged man in a purple robe sat on the main seat, and the Emperor Yun Tian Chen and Imperial Teacher Yun Cang sat beneath him with respectful expressions.

The man held a string of Buddhist beads in his hand. Each black bead was very smooth, and could be seen that it was caused by frequent rubbing, “Lou Mu Yan is really dead?”

“According to the current information, she should be dead.” Yun Cang sighed. It was a pity for such a good seedling that was Lou Mu Yan. He originally even wanted Ruan Li to focus on raising her.

Yun Tian Chen was silent for a while and said: “I feel that Lou Mu Yan may not be dead.”

Hearing what the Emperor said, the purple-clothed man’s expressionless face displayed a bit of interest, “Why do you say so?”

“I found that the Lou Clan’s reaction to the news of Lou Mu Yan’s death appeared normal on the surface, but there’s just something that feels wrong.”

Yun Tian Chen paused, then continued to say: “I know that all the descendants of the Lou Clan’s main bloodline have a Soul Tablet. You would know whether one’s dead or not by looking at the Soul Tablet, so whether Lou Mu Yan was dead or not after falling into the lava pool, the Lou Clan would know the clearest.

“Coming to the Imperial Palace to cause trouble and smashing the Empire Academy’s inscribed board, although it appeared to be venting, but based on my understanding of the Marshal and General Lou, if the Lou girl really died, then they would definitely have already done something crazy long ago, and not just touch the surface of things.”

Yun Cang furrowed his brows and asked: “You mean to say they did it for others to see?”

“Indeed. Let alone the Lou Clan’s fear of that hidden power, even our Imperial Family must also find the power that will secretly endanger Yan’zhou Kingdom.” Yun Tian Chen nodded.

The middle-aged man in purple chuckled lightly and his eyes that looked at Yun Tian Chen carried a rare hint of admiration.

“Indeed. The Lou Clan is indeed pretending. That old little kid Lou Zhan Tian already came to find This Eminence2 to discuss this.”

1I think it’s a play on 卧榻之上，其容忍他人鼾睡 – ‘How could one tolerate people snoring by their side on the bed?’ Also meaning, ‘How could one tolerate others encroaching on own territory’? Similar idea, how could one allow snakes to encroach their territory.

2honestly, Chinese people and their love of addressing themselves with their own titles instead of ‘me/I’ to show their status like 本尊 (‘This Highness’ used by Ming Xiu), 本皇 (‘This Monarch’ used by Bing Ji), now 本座 used by this person lol. I even considered ‘This Magnificence’ to translate 本座 but that’s just too much now HAHA. Honestly I’m just randomly assigning a word to them now. XD After translating 剑尊 to Sword Venerable, I even considered changing 本尊 to ‘This Venerable’, but even when the same word is used, sometimes it might have slightly different connotations, so I left it. Plus I wasn’t bothered HAHA. Now, I just remembered that there’s still ‘Your Excellency’ that I haven’t used. Hmmm, who should I use that for next HAHA