Empress Fu Yao [Volume 2] (Completed)✔

Sacrifice in Place of Another

Midnight settled in the small alley, still and soundless.

Yet suddenly, a yell containing both humor and exasperation rang out.

"You scoundrel!"

Moonlight shone on the foot of the wall, allowing one to faintly see a pretty damsel lifting her foot and giving the man opposite her a kick. Swiftly afterwards, she ran off like a butterfly fluttering under the moon.

The Yuan Zhaoxu left in her wake could only faintly smile. Unexpectedly, behind him suddenly emerged a black shadow. The dark-clothed man slightly bowed, then quietly said, "Master ... your wound ..."

Yuan Zhaoxu lifted his hand. Only this time, his finger had already been almost completely covered by a layer of dark gray. With his expression calm he lightly replied. "No need to worry."

Raising his head to gaze towards the direction where Fuyao vanished, Yuan Zhaoxu's expression remained unchanged. "Guo Pingrong is becoming more and more of a good-for-nothing. Not even stopping to ask before using the almost divine artifact-grade weapon 'Brilliance of Heaven and Earth', on a single woman no less. He even poisoned the weapon! Is this how a high disciple of one of the Ten Emperors behaves?"

His back figure was straight like bamboo, while his sleeves fluttered despite the windless night. The black-clothed man subconsciously retreated a step, and his waist bowed deeper by another degree. It was rare for his master to be temperamental – the black-clothed man had even once thought that nothing in the world could move his master to anger. However, from the chilly aura emanating from his master's body, it could be seen that Guo Pingrong's actions had actually touched upon Yuan Zhaoxu's reverse scale.[2]

After ruminating for a while, the black-clothed man forced a smile. "Well, Guo Pingrong is of common birth after all, and his roots are of slums dwellers. It is a given that he does things in a crude and uncivilized manner. On the other hand, this person is adept at battle, similar to the honorable Prince De. He still has contributed much to the Empire."

Yuan Zhaoxu barely lifted his lips in a small smile, staying silent. Only after some time did he reply: "Send someone to keep watch. Protect her to the best of your capabilities."

"Very well."

"However, as long as she can handle it, you must let her solve problems by herself."

"Very well."

"For the next few days I will enter seclusion. Fang Yimo's 'Brilliance of Heaven and Earth' is not some common attack, and even I cannot treat it lightly. Your team will handle outside matters yourself."

"Very well."

Slightly turning his body, Yuan Zhaoxu looked towards the direction Fuyao had gone in for a long time. After a while, he left with a chuckle.

Left behind was the black-clothed man who had stood in place the entire time, gazing forwards with a complicated expression. Suddenly, he thought of something his master had said a long long time ago.

"I hope to meet outstanding women, she who freely grows even amidst the weathering of wind and waves, she who can soar at the same heights as men. Not those golden canaries forcibly protected by layers of feathers, those who can never know of the thrill of flying through curtains of howling rain, who can never understand, how to pursue their own beliefs." ————-

During the past couple of days, Meng Fuyao could clearly feel that the atmosphere at Prince De's mansion was somewhat abnormal.

Most likely this was because from that night onwards, Guo Pingrong had appeared on the premises of Prince De's mansion time and time again. It was unknown what he had said to Prince De, but the prince had now brought a team with him to scour the whole residence several times, with a pair of piercing, narrow pupils that swept back and forth across every person they encountered. Due to this matter Zong Yue forbid Fuyao from going out again. Fuyao naturally knew a formidable opponent when she saw one, and so actually listened to Zong Yue for once. Not only did she not go out, she even purposefully applied a bodily disguise, turning herself completely unremarkable: a yellow-complexioned and flat-chested scrawny brat. In the couple of times Guo Pingrong happened to meet her, his eyes didn't even waver before passing over her.