Chapter 270 - 184: Heading to Guangfeng Prefecture Again
The announcement of the suitor selection results would have to wait until the Wen Family’s Patriarch returned to Yujing City.
During this time, all the candidates, regardless of their chances of being chosen, were now under the Wen Family’s scrutiny. Clearly, Luo Wei would be unable to make a move during this period unless he was willing to risk offending the Wen Family.
And clearly, Luo Wei didn’t have the guts for that.
As much as he wanted to kill Fang Yue, the suspected murderer, he valued his own life far more. When it came down to it, self-preservation was the clear priority.
Where there’s life, there’s hope.
As long as he was alive, he would have another chance for revenge.
"Hmph. Don’t be so anxious, Luo," Wu Wende said with a sinister sneer. "I’ve received reliable intel. That Fang Yue has already left Earth City and is on his way to Guangfeng Prefecture. It’s difficult for us to make a move here, but once he’s in Guangfeng Prefecture... well, even an Inspector from the Observatory can be killed by the Roving Bandits’ ’Grass Character King,’ can’t they?"
At the start of the suitor selection, he hadn’t paid any mind to someone like Fang Yue.
He was just a weed to be conveniently plucked by Luo Wei while Wu Wende dealt with his actual rivals.
If the weed wasn’t plucked, it was no great loss.
But then, Wu Wende received news: the weed that should have been discarded had actually caught the eye of a young lady of the Wen Family and been put back on the list of candidates.
And just like that, Fang Yue had become his, Wu Wende’s, direct competitor.
So now that the weed had grown large enough to trip someone, it had to be uprooted.
And so, Wu Wende sought out Luo Wei once again.
It was obvious from their previous "murder exchange" that Luo Wei definitely had a grudge against Fang Yue as well.
That gave the two of them a foundation to cooperate once more.
"That’s true," Luo Wei said, catching on. "Guangfeng Prefecture is a chaotic mess these days. If an Inspector or two really were to die there, who’s to say which traitor did it!"
All this talk of a rebel "Grass Character King" was nonsense; they were just a bunch of Roving Bandits.
Besides, even the most troublesome of these Grass Character Kings wouldn’t dare go near the major cities where the Imperial Court’s power was concentrated. So it was virtually impossible for them to kill an Inspector from the Observatory.
In other words, they would still have to do the deed themselves.
They simply wouldn’t be doing it near Yujing City, but in Guangfeng Prefecture.
"In that case, I look forward to our pleasant cooperation," Wu Wende said with a slight smile.
Luo Wei roared with laughter. "Excellent! To our pleasant cooperation!"
~~~~~~
"What? The Young Miss ran away from home? She left Yujing City, and her whereabouts are unknown?"
This was the scene at that moment, inside the Wen Family’s ancestral home in Yujing City.
When Grandmaster Wen heard the news that his granddaughter had run away from home, his face instantly darkened.
He couldn’t believe it. Wen Wanrou had always been gentle and demure; she had never done anything out of line.
"How could that girl be so foolish? She’s never traveled far from home in her entire life! The world is not at peace right now; won’t she be in danger out there?"
Grandmaster Wen slammed his hand on the table in anger.
Then, his glare fell upon the steward before him. "And what about the hidden guards protecting her?" he barked. "What do I feed them for? How were they watching her? How did they let her get away?!"
The steward, his face a mask of misery, hurriedly explained, "Grandmaster Wen, the Young Miss’s cultivation, at some unknown point, broke through to the Innate realm. The hidden guards were caught unawares for a moment and lost track of her! All we know for now is that she headed west."
Hearing this, Grandmaster Wen froze. The rage that had filled his face a moment ago melted away in an instant, like ice and snow in winter.
Then, he burst into a booming laugh. "That’s my good granddaughter, all right! Her cultivation is progressing at lightning speed!"
At this, his gaze hardened, and he commanded sternly, "Don’t bother chasing her. Just consider it an opportunity for her to train. Let her gain some real-world experience!"
With that, he rose to his feet, clasped his hands behind his back, and started to walk out, a smug grin spreading across his face.
"Father, where are you off to?" Just then, Wen Tailai hurried in from outside and asked upon seeing Grandmaster Wen.
"Oh, I’m off to see Old Man Sun," Grandmaster Wen said, beaming.
"What, to play chess again? I wonder who it was that lost eighteen games in a row last time and swore they’d never go back. It hasn’t even been half a year, and you’re going again?"
Wen Tailai pursed his lips, shaking his head with a helpless sigh.
"Tch, what do you know? It’s called a meeting of worthy opponents, a battle of wits, you understand? Besides, this time, I’m definitely going to make that old codger admit defeat and yield!"
Grandmaster Wen waved his hand dismissively, as if he didn’t want to discuss it further, but he couldn’t hold back the look of pure delight on his face.
"Father, what on earth has gotten into you? Also, I haven’t seen the girl today. Where is she?" Wen Tailai asked.
"Oh, your mentioning her reminds me," said Elder Wen, having suddenly recalled something. "When the girl went to your study the other day, what did she see? Were there any masterworks?"
According to the steward’s report, Wen Wanrou’s breakthrough must have been triggered by some poem or essay she saw at the Wenyuan Pavilion, which his third son managed.
’So, does that mean there’s a true genius of the Literary Dao among this batch of suitors?’
"Er..." Wen Tailai thought for a long time, but he couldn’t recall receiving any poems or essays worthy of praise.
As one of the great scholars of the current age, Wen Tailai’s standards were sufficiently high.
Among the young masters from the Noble Families participating in the suitor selection, there were a few decent ones.
But they only had the potential to reach his current level in the future.
As for now, their works could only be called decent, certainly not masterworks.
Wen Tailai shook his head. "I don’t think so, Father."
"Really nothing? Impossible, how could there be nothing? Did the girl have an epiphany on her own?" Elder Wen didn’t believe it and pressed again.
Although Wen Wanrou’s Talent was extremely high, the Literary Dao required both insight and accumulation to achieve a breakthrough.
It was a matter of building a deep foundation for a sudden burst of progress.
Wen Tailai shook his head again, but this time, he sensed something was amiss.
’Why is Father pressing the issue like this? Did something happen to the girl?’
’Did she see a masterwork?’
’Could it be... the girl broke through? She became an Innate Martial Arts Grandmaster?’
At that thought, Wen Tailai immediately shook his head in disbelief.
How long had it been since Wen Wanrou reached the Great Success stage of Qi Sensing? It seemed to have been just over half a year.
How could she possibly have accumulated enough to break through to the Innate realm so quickly?
The transition from Qi Sensing to the Innate realm was a major bottleneck in the Martial Dao. Its difficulty was immense, and many talented Martial Cultivators found themselves stuck at this stage.
Many were unable to break through even after more than a decade.
’Even with her incredible Talent, Wen Wanrou shouldn’t have been able to break through in just half a year, right?’
As for what Wen Wanrou had seen in his study...
He had learned from a servant that Wen Wanrou had taken the poem written by Fang Yue.
He didn’t know why, but if Wen Wanrou had seen anything in the Wenyuan Pavilion, it must have been the poem written by Fang Yue.
"Father, I honestly don’t know about that!" Wen Tailai had only glanced at Fang Yue’s penmanship. Seeing that it was ugly, he had immediately dismissed the poem.
Penmanship was a reflection of a person’s cultivation. Since the man’s writing was so poor, his abilities in the Literary Dao must be equally lacking.
As a result, Wen Tailai himself still had no idea what Fang Yue had actually written.
Wen Wanrou had already taken the two sheets of paper.
Thus, Grandmaster Wen was unable to get an answer from Wen Tailai.
He sighed. "Forget it. We’ll naturally find out when the girl returns."
With that said, Grandmaster Wen headed straight out the door, evidently not having forgotten his plan to go show off to Old Man Sun.
Watching his father’s retreating back, Wen Tailai immediately turned to the steward beside him. "Mr. Fu," he asked, "what exactly happened to the girl?"
His intuition told him his father was hiding something, and it was about Wen Wanrou.
"Third Master," Mr. Fu replied respectfully, "after the Young Miss broke through to the Innate realm, she took advantage of the hidden guards’ inattention and ran away from home."
"What? How is that possible? It hasn’t even been half a year! How could the girl have broken through again?" Wen Tailai exclaimed in utter shock.