75. Yue Huasheng’s Invitation
Yue Huasheng?
Hearing this name, Miss Gong, besides being surprised, was also speechless.
This guy’s divination skills were too absurd. She had only just arrived at this tavern, and he had already found her?
But she also found it strange. If she hadn’t read the script beforehand, could divination really be so ridiculously accurate?
And this peeking into heavenly secrets, did it have no consequences? If it did, what were they?
“Yue Huasheng?” Qin Huaiqiu had never heard this name. He knew the current State Preceptor of the Baiyao Dynasty was named Yue Linqiu. “Never seen or heard of him. Tell him to leave.”
“But Senior Brother Qin, he not only said your name,” the disciple explained, “but he also said that if you still don’t want to see him, you can ask the person beside you, and you might get a different answer.”
“The person beside me?” Qin Huaiqiu instinctively glanced beside him.
He didn’t even need to look. Who else could it be but Gong Yiling?
“Ling’er, do you know him?”
At this moment, Miss Gong really wanted to say—Who is this guy? I don’t know him. Tell him to get lost.
But since Yue Huasheng had come to her directly, he must have something important to discuss.
“Let him in,” Gong Yiling sighed. “He helped us out today. He’s a temporary ally.”
“A temporary ally?”
“Yes, temporary.” Gong Yiling nodded. “Because I don’t know what his motives are. He might turn against us at any moment.”
Qin Huaiqiu heard the caution in her voice and frowned, but he still said to the disciple outside, “Bring him here.”
“Yes.”
Soon, Yue Huasheng entered the back room.
When he saw Gong Yiling and Qin Huaiqiu, he also removed the robe he used to conceal his appearance.
And the moment Qin Huaiqiu saw his face, a flicker of confusion and disbelief appeared in his eyes, but his sword was already at the other man’s neck.
“State Preceptor, changing your name is a meaningless trick.” Qin Huaiqiu sneered. “And you dare to use this identity to deceive my daughter.”
“With such actions, do you have no conscience?”
“Conscience?” Yue Huasheng calmly pushed the sword away, but before he could push it far, Qin Huaiqiu pressed it back.
“I’ve already told your beloved daughter that I have no such boring thing.” Yue Huasheng smiled and threw the question back to Gong Yiling. “Besides, this girl knew from the beginning that I was both Yue Huasheng and Yue Linqiu. Otherwise, how could a powerless person make the Emperor believe my words?”
With his words, he had turned her hiding his identity into something of a revelation.
“Speaking of which, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.” Gong Yiling said, “Why do you use two names?”
Yue Huasheng seemed to have anticipated this question and explained without much thought,
“Traveling, acting in two different capacities, one name is too conspicuous.”
Ah… come to think of it, Miss Gong was quite familiar with this.
She had already used four or five different names, and some of them were good for a long time, without fear of being exposed.
“So, the cautious State Preceptor Yue, didn’t we already agree to meet tomorrow? Why did you come looking for me now?”
Yue Huasheng sat down and turned to Gong Yiling. “Now that you’ve found your father, and the Wind and Cloud Sword is in his hands, I wonder… am I qualified to ask you two to do something for me?”
Do something for him?
Gong Yiling felt something was amiss.
He was the one who approached her, revealing he could find people through divination, and his power in the Baiyao Dynasty was almost enough to fool Baili Yue.
Although he claimed to be betting on both sides, it now seemed he felt Baili Yue was unreliable, or perhaps he had already seen a part of the future.
However, that was his previous stance.
Now, Miss Gong no longer believed him.
If he approached her from the beginning, just to quickly create the current situation—”What do you want?”
“Baili Yue is an extremely suspicious emperor.” Yue Huasheng didn’t answer her directly, but said with a hidden meaning, “Other emperors have never taken the matter of the Eight Desolations Sword Alliance and the Sword Master seriously. They all believe that the Baili family’s position is unshakable, that a mere descendant of the Sword Emperor can’t do anything.”
“Not to mention, the Baiyao family has long since disappeared. Even if they re-emerge, will the people of the Baiyao Dynasty recognize them? Will they risk rebellion to support the truth?”
“All of this is just a lingering fantasy of the Sword Emperor’s lineage and the Baiyao family. In reality, it will never happen.”
As he spoke, Yue Huasheng’s eyes flickered.
He gently stroked the Wind and Cloud Sword’s box, a strange light in his eyes that no one could decipher.
Or rather, even if they could, they wouldn’t understand its true meaning.
Like a pale flame erupting from a decaying object.
What did it represent, and what could it represent?
“But Baili Yue is different.” Yue Huasheng’s gaze fell on the two of them. “He empty-headedly believes that all of this is built on a false illusion. He thinks he will one day see the fall of the Baili family, the change of the Baiyao Dynasty, and all of this is because of those who have helped the Sword Emperor’s lineage and the Baiyao family.”
“Those who have forged swords for them, those who have sheltered them for a time, those who have donated money to them, those who want to help them leave the Baiyao Dynasty, and some who truly want to use this matter to achieve their own political goals and complete a coup.”
“Even if some of them are just sympathetic, Baili Yue sees them all as enemies of the dynasty who must be eliminated.”
“And so, he launched a massacre against so many noble families.”
