Chapter 262 – It Is On

It was already midnight when Gu Lingzhi finished her meeting with the Great Elder.

A small side pavilion was prepared for her to be wedded out the next day. At that point, Tianfeng Jin and the others were still in the hall and Gu Lingzhi chatted with them for a while before she went back to her pavilion reluctantly.

When the girls left, leaving Gu Lingzhi with her servant, she washed up and headed to the room on the second floor of the pavilion.

A bright red decorated room with wedding sashes draped all over the room greeted Gu Lingzhi’s eyes as she opened the door of the room. This was a room specially prepared for her wedding. Even the chair in the corner of the room was made out of red silk and as Gu Lingzhi walked further into the room, she noticed an extravagant red bedside table.

After that day, she would no longer be by herself. When others mentioned her name, they would address her ‘Your Highness’, since she was now a Princess Consort. Any future events she encountered would be with Rong Yuan and she would never leave his side anymore.

This was a wondrous thought…

The image of Rong Yuan and his bright eyes turned Gu Lingzhi’s face red but her lips involuntarily curled into a smile. No matter what Gu Rong was planning to do in Chiyang City, she would not change her mind to marry Rong Yuan.

Just as Gu Lingzhi was smiling to herself as she thought of the wedding the next day, she suddenly heard a soft thump that came from the window. Gu Lingzhi thought she heard wrongly and was surprised in the next instant when a loud knock sounded from the window again.

Who would be looking for her now?

Gu Lingzhi stared at the window with a deep frown. Could it be that the mysterious visitor was Gu Rong?

After the third knock on the window, she flipped herself out of the bed and walked towards it. With a careful push of her arm, she slowly pushed aside the red curtains and gathered her spiritual energy in her body as an act of precaution. Gu Lingzhi stared out of the window and was surprised to see Pan Yue holding rocks in his hand, just prepared to throw another one at her window.

“…You finally came out.” Pan Yue was slightly stunned when he saw Gu Lingzhi. In a swift motion, he dropped the rock in his hand and motioned for Gu Lingzhi to open the window fully.

Gu Lingzhi hesitated for a slight moment before she opened the window fully. Pan Yue expertly jumped into her room without making a single sound.

“Are you not afraid of Ye Fei being angry at you for sneaking into my room in the middle of the night?” Closing the window, Gu Lingzhi crossed her arms across her chest and stared at Pan Yue with a frown.

Pan Yue would not be up to no good for finding her at this timing right?

At the mention of his beloved, a foolish smile spread across Pan Yue’s face and his eyes turned soft as he explained, “She is asleep, she wouldn’t know.”

“So that is why you can sneak out like that? It seems that your feelings towards Ye Fei are nothing much,” Gu Lingzhi coldly uttered.

“Since when have I done anything wrong?” Offended that Gu Lingzhi questioned his love for Ye Fei and afraid that Gu Lingzhi would accuse him for climbing the ranks with his lover. Pan Yue hurriedly explained, “My feelings for Ye Fei are true and I came to find you to tell you that Gu Rong is in Chiyang City.”

“Oh? How did you know?” Gu Lingzhi was surprised and she did not understand why Pan Yue would inform her about that. Was he selling out his own family tribe for love?

“I found out about your identity a long time ago. Black Thorn, how long were you planning to act for?” Pan Yue rolled his eyes.

At the beginning, he had not thought that the Black Thorn was Gu Lingzhi. However, Rong Yuan had made it too obvious. The moment he saw the Black Thorn in danger, he protected her and even brought her along to the Inter-school Competition. This was in addition to the fact that Rong Yuan arranged for Gu Lingzhi to rest at his living quarters.

Most importantly however, he trusted his intuition. He was a person who had to act as someone else his entire life and Wei Hanzi could not fool him by pretending to be the Black Thorn. He had sensed that something was wrong when Wei Hanzi acted to be the Black Thorn the second time. In addition, Gu Lingzhi’s actions showed that she was hiding something.

“…When did you know about it?” Through Pan Yue’s confident expression, Gu Lingzhi knew that Pan Yue was certain about her identity and hence she did not bother lying to him anymore. She was more worried over how he was able to see through her lie.

Since Pan Yue had seen through her tricks, were there other people who knew about it?

“I knew about it ever since you and the Third Prince went to eat at the Eight Treasure Jade Restaurant,” Pan Yue wore a smug smile and suddenly felt that he was very smart. “I am an expert at acting. You lag behind me by a far cry in terms of acting.”

Gu Lingzhi frowned, finally seeing her mistakes. She felt that she was dumb by trying to deceive a master at trickery.

“Whatever, I am here to remind you that Gu Rong is here and you should be prepared. He is here with the North Qiu Kingdom’s envoy and I am sure he is up to no good.”

“The North Qiu Kingdom’s envoy?” Gu Lingzhi frowned turned deeper, and she asked, “When did the North Qiu Kingdom send an envoy? Are they trying to be diplomatic about the matter?”

“Who knows? Those old men like to stir things.” Pan Yue scoffed, his tone was unpleasant and his gaze turned dark. “I have already told you what I know, the rest is up to you and Rong Yuan.” With that, Pan Yue turned and prepared to leave through the window.

Gu Lingzhi gritted her teeth tightly and finally asked the question on her mind, “Why are you helping me? Are you not afraid of the day North Qiu Kingdom destroys us and the Pan Family gaining fame through the continent?”

“I am afraid, why wouldn’t I be?” Pan Yue was just about to flip out of the window and he replied Gu Lingzhi without second thought, “However, I am more afraid of never ending slavery.”

In the next instant, Pan Yue threw himself skilfully out of the window.

He had thought of Gu Lingzhi’s question to him before. His family’s status placed invisible locks on him and where blood was thicker than water, how could he bear to see the Pan Family go downhill? The Pan Family had a long history and he had forgotten his identity a long time ago and why he bothered to cultivate such a high rank. Besides, many in his family were fine with the situation, wasn’t he just a spy in Tianyuan Continent? That did not matter to Pan Yue at all.

However, he had not expected Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan to expose the North Qiu Kingdom’s scheme.

Back when he sent a message to Rong Yuan, he had only warned him about Ding Rou. Who knew that Rong Yuan would dig deeper and discover the scheme of the North Qiu Kingdom? Things could have changed and Pan Yue had debated with himself over whether to interfere or not. Unfortunately, he gave up on that idea in the end.

That was good as well, the Pan Family had been in a privileged position for a very long time and it was time for them to learn a lesson. After all, as Pan Luo’s weapon in the Tianyuan Continent, he would not watch the Pan Family fall apart. At the very most, the Pan Family would suffer a blow and recover with time.

Another point that Pan Yue considered was that if the Pan Family’s plan worked, they would rule over the entire Continent and the Spirit Tribe would not be able to rise again. Without anyone who would be able to keep Pan Luo in check, the Pan Family would always be a slave for another. Even if the family enjoyed the admiration of ten million people, the slave mark engraved onto their spirits shamed them forever.

Pan Yue kept these complicated thoughts to himself. Staring out of the window into the night sky, Pan Yue’s eyes brightened when he turned his gaze and locked it upon the guest room that Ye Fei was sleeping at.

Why let such a beautiful night go unappreciated?

In the dawn of the next day, Gu Lingzhi was awakened by the wedding helpers. After a round of make-up and draping a red dress, she was ready.

“Your Highness, you are very lucky. This red dress is made up of valuable silk and the embroidery was carefully hand sewn by the best seamstresses. You look like an angel that descended from heaven with it. After so many years of being a wedding helper, I have never seen anyone who was more dedicated than the His Highness nor a prettier bride than you.”

As the wedding helper brushed the comb through Gu Lingzhi’s hair, she complimented. Gu Lingzhi stared at her reflection in the mirror and her ears instantly turned red from embarrassment. This caused the blush on her cheeks and her face to flush even redder.

“Of course, it’s His Highness’ fortune to be able to marry Lingzhi. How can he not be dedicated?” Ye Fei nonchalantly chimed in as she leaned against the doorframe.

Beside her, Pan Yue was in an uncomfortable state. Stupid Rong Yuan, a marriage is just a marriage. Why make a big deal out of it? With such a performance, would he be scolded by Ye Fei if their wedding was sub-par to Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi’s?

Pan Yue made a resolution to learn more about wedding proceedings and designs once the royal wedding was over. He was determined not to fall behind Rong Yuan!

A royal wedding was similar in proceedings to any ordinary citizen’s wedding, except that it was held in the palace where not everyone could enter.

The wedding helper draped the veil over Gu Lingzhi’s head, covering her beautiful facial features softly before she sat Gu Lingzhi down on the bed. Not long later, drums sounded off in the distance, signalling the arrival of the groom.

As the drum sounds drew closer and closer, Gu Lingzhi’s heart slammed against her chest in tandem with the thumps. Sweat pooled in her tightly clasped palms and Gu Lingzhi nervously waited for Rong Yuan to arrive.

Just as Gu Lingzhi’s heart was about to burst out of her chest, Rong Yuan’s voice finally echoed through the room.

“Lingzhi, I am here to bring you home.”

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