Chapter 387: Chapter 260: Arrival of the Rootless Sect

In middle age, everyone has more or less experienced many sights along the road of life.

Men become mature and steady, women become dignified and polite.

As an official working in the Seven Stars Bureau, Linghua had naturally seen many talented and handsome youths in Chang’an.

Simply relying on one’s appearance to move her heart, Linghua had always believed it was impossible.

But when she saw Qin Yuesheng descending from the sky, she was stunned, she was dumbfounded, she blushed, and her heart inexplicably fluttered.

When Dong Zhou saw the bronze toad official token that Qin Yuesheng took out, even though he knew the other was his superior, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of envy and rejection in his heart. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Damn it! How can there be a youth so handsome and charming in this world!

He must have been a good person for many lifetimes, accumulated countless blessings to possess such a flawless appearance.

"Greetings, my lord."

All thoughts changed in an instant. When Qin Yuesheng took out the official order to question, the two immediately knelt on one knee and greeted Qin Yuesheng.

The young girl’s eyes darted around shyly at Qin Yuesheng, her face red. When she saw Dong Zhou and Linghua’s actions, her mind went blank, and she ignorantly began to kneel toward Qin Yuesheng as well. Dong Zhou was suddenly shocked: "Princess, you must not!"

Linghua hurriedly reacted, using both hands to support the girl’s knees, preventing her from kneeling.

Now the world still belongs to the Great Tang, so naturally, the princess is a noble existence beneath only one person and above all others. How can she humbly kneel to a bronze toad official here?

Yet the girl was indifferent. Facing Qin Yuesheng, she felt exceptionally devotional, kneeling as if in front of an immortal, naturally and smoothly, without any resistance.

With a casual wave of his hand, Qin Yuesheng had all three of them standing up from the ground at the same time: "No need to bother me with these mundane rituals. You’re injured, go heal first, and then tell me why you three came to Cyan Yang City, and what’s with this princess."

Seeing Qin Yuesheng’s extraordinary little display, Dong Zhou immediately explained the reason for his journey.

That day, the former emperor passed away, shocking Chang’an.

Originally, everyone thought the Crown Prince was about to ascend the throne and become emperor, but who could have imagined, overnight, the Eastern Palace underwent great change, the Crown Prince mysteriously disappeared, and the Third Prince took his place.

The specific hidden details were unknown to Dong Zhou and Linghua, they only knew that later one night, a masked person in a black robe broke into the Chang’an Seven Stars Bureau headquarters with a long box, forcing the Seven Stars Bureau’s top figure, Seven-Star General Manager Li Mu, the Prince, to come forward and calm them down.

The next day, the Seven Stars Bureau received an imperial decree requiring all officials of a bronze toad rank and above to report to the palace, to contribute to the campaign against the thirty-six rebels.

On the same day, Li Mu secretly arranged for two hundred iron toad officials in pairs, each with an identical box, to leave Chang’an, tasked with ensuring the safety of the box and delivering it as far from Chang’an as possible.

Dong Zhou and Linghua were subordinates of Zuo Zonghao, who quietly approached them before they departed, instructing them to divert their route to Jiangnan. If they encountered danger, they should seek help from a bronze toad official surnamed Qin in Cyan Yang City.

However, before Zuo Zonghao could explain further, he was forcibly taken away by people from the court.

Leaving Chang’an with the box, according to Prince Li Mu’s instructions, the two found an uninhabited place half a day later to open the box, only to discover that what it contained was a beautiful young girl who had been silenced and paralyzed.

This girl, Linghua had seen before while doing business in the palace, was none other than the Crown Prince’s daughter, the Ninth Princess of the Great Tang, Li Qingqiao.

Finding out they had left Chang’an with the Ninth Princess, Dong Zhou and his partner were naturally both shocked and fearful.

Their rank and strength were too low to access the deeper issues, but upon seeing the Ninth Princess in the box, they instantly understood that Prince Li Mu’s secret operation was not simple, and they had somehow been drawn into a significant matter.

The Crown Prince, who should have ascended to the throne, mysteriously vanished, replaced by the Third Prince. A mysterious person carried a box into the Seven Stars Bureau, and Prince Li Mu had two hundred iron toad officials, each in pairs, carrying identical boxes aimlessly across the land...

All clues connected clearly, the situation was apparent, and needed no further explanation.

Understanding the severity of their mission, Prince Li Mu’s use of this smokescreen indicated that those in Chang’an would not let the Ninth Princess escape easily, pursuit was inevitable.

Thus, Linghua released the Ninth Princess from her sealed points, and the three sought refuge with a local family, exchanging money for inconspicuous clothing, then traveled south to Jiangnan by small paths in the least conspicuous way.

After listening to Dong Zhou’s account, Qin Yuesheng pondered silently.

Unexpectedly, the royal struggles in Chang’an had reached Cyan Yang City, and this Zuo Zonghao really knew how to trouble him.

Unnecessarily sending these two to Jiangnan for what purpose, if he weren’t strong enough, wouldn’t he be dragged into this royal whirlpool?

The Ninth Princess is a problem, who knows if more experts from Chang’an would come.

"My lord, your martial skills are profound, which we have already witnessed. If you could protect the Ninth Princess, it would be far safer than with us. Please, keep the Ninth Princess for now; we will continue southward to attract the experts dispatched by the eunuch party." Linghua pleaded, kowtowing hastily seeing Qin Yuesheng’s silence.