Chapter 1760 — A Strange Dream (Part One)

Everything had been made ready, all but the east wind—yet during her trial journey the palace mistress Wan'er met Gu Pengzhan, and the two agreed to elope, roaming the wide world to elude the eyes and ears of the Dark Night Palace. The Shadow Group in particular lay under Elder Li's control, and at times he deliberately looked the other way; and so in the end Wan'er and Gu Pengzhan settled in Songshan City, where Gu Mengyao was born.

She had thought she might live out her whole life there in peace, but the Shadow Group was not Elder Li's private preserve after all—the Grand Elder's influence had seeped into it too—and in the end they found Wan'er and dragged her back to the Dark Night Palace by force.

Yet over all these years Wan'er had never broken through to the Heaven Rank, nor awakened the inherited bloodline within her body: partly because she had lost her maidenhood early, and partly because so very little of the bloodline remained in her that the odds of awakening it were pitifully small.

Wan'er's conduct infuriated the Grand Elder and shattered the Dark Night Palace's plan entire. Originally the Grand Elder had intended that Wan'er's child, while preserving the bloodline, be given a Marrow-Cleansing Bone-Tempering Pill to awaken the inherited bloodline. But now Wan'er had borne Gu Mengyao to an ordinary man; since Gu Pengzhan was no martial artist and could not preserve the bloodline, the blood in Gu Mengyao's body had grown all the more impure. Even if she swallowed a Marrow-Cleansing Bone-Tempering Pill, whether it could awaken the bloodline was anyone's guess—and what was more, Wan'er's actions had driven a final, irreparable wedge between the Dark Night Palace and the Xuan Dan Sect. How could the Xuan Dan Sect possibly refine a Marrow-Cleansing Bone-Tempering Pill for Gu Mengyao now?

With no other recourse, the Grand Elder could only pin her last hopes on Wan'er herself: unless Wan'er bore another daughter by some other martial artist, by means of the secret art that preserves the bloodline, the Black Phoenix bloodline would end with her.

But as for Wan'er's situation—setting aside whether she herself was willing to bear another daughter by another martial artist, no other martial artist would want a fallen woman like her. And so the Grand Elder's heart was full of resentment against Wan'er.

She wished to see the Dark Night Palace rise to glory in her own lifetime, so as not to betray the old palace mistress's trust in her; but now...

Wan'er had not understood any of this before. Once she did, she felt no regret—but no hatred for the Grand Elder either.

What use was regret? What use was the absence of it? Nothing could be changed now. She had no choice but to cultivate all the harder...

Of the great upheaval in the Dark Night Palace, Wei Zhao knew nothing; and the strange phenomenon that had manifested on Gu Mengyao never appeared again. The next morning Gu Mengyao woke as usual, and her first words were a startled cry: "The pot... the pot... add water, quick!"

Xiaoshu and Tang Yun had stayed up late the night before out of worry for Gu Mengyao, and were sleeping soundly now; Gu Mengyao's cry startled them awake.

The two of them opened their eyes, still muddled, and Shen Yushu stared at Gu Mengyao in bewilderment. "Huh? Sister Yaoyao, what are you saying? What pot?"

"Didn't you tell me to watch the pot? I must have dozed off..." Gu Mengyao said, herself startled and uncertain—for she had discovered that she was lying on the bed. Shouldn't she be sprawled out in the outer room?

Tang Yun was more clear-headed by now, and at the sight of Gu Mengyao she could not help but laugh. "Yaoyao, do you really have no idea what happened last night?"

"Last night? What happened?" Gu Mengyao was taken aback.

"Sister Yaoyao, you kept it all to yourself!" said Shen Yushu.

"Kept it to myself? Kept what to myself?" Gu Mengyao was more baffled than ever.

"Sister Yaoyao, you really don't know?" Seeing that Gu Mengyao's expression held no trace of feigning, Shen Yushu reflected that the day before she had indeed seemed to have no consciousness of her own, and grew only more astonished.

"What am I supposed to know?" Gu Mengyao shook her head. "Xiaoshu, Yunyun, what are you talking about? What on earth happened yesterday?"

Tang Yun and Shen Yushu exchanged a glance. Neither knew how to speak of yesterday—or whether they ought to speak of it at all—and so each read the other's meaning in the other's eyes: this was a matter better left for Wei Zhao to explain.

"Sister Yaoyao, wait a moment. I'll go get Brother Arrow..." Shen Yushu scrambled off the bed and ran for the door.

"Xiaoshu, your blouse isn't buttoned properly—you're showing everything!" Tang Yun warned.

"It's fine. Brother Arrow's seen it all anyway," Shen Yushu said.

"...What I mean is, what if a maid happens to be passing in the corridor, cleaning the rooms..." Tang Yun said, rather helplessly.

"Oh, right. I'll button up first, then undo them again in a bit," Shen Yushu said with a nod.

Tang Yun and Gu Mengyao nearly fainted. What sort of logic was that? They wanted to say something, but Xiaoshu had already run out of the room.

Wei Zhao had been worrying about Gu Mengyao all along, so when Xiaoshu came he cut short his cultivation and ran with her to Gu Mengyao's room.

At the sight of Wei Zhao entering, Gu Mengyao instinctively tugged at her collar. She wore no undergarment beneath, and from Wei Zhao's vantage point above her a touch of spring would have been visible. But somehow, once she had pulled her collar closed, she felt a little regret: if Wei Zhao stole a look, that would prove she was attractive; not looking was only to be expected!

Living alongside Wei Zhao, Gu Mengyao had even begun to wonder whether she had lost her charm. How could this man's self-control be so formidable? Yet she did not know that although Wei Zhao was a little fond of the fairer sex, he was on the whole a gentleman, and that the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art had the power to calm the spirit and still the mind—which was how Wei Zhao could remain so composed before her and Xiaoshu.

Besides, Wei Zhao was a physician, and at times he regarded her body and Xiaoshu's with a doctor's eye, so no other thoughts arose in him.

"Yaoyao, you're awake?" Wei Zhao walked over, took Gu Mengyao's wrist in his hand, and examined her carefully.

"?" Gu Mengyao found Wei Zhao's behavior even stranger. Tang Yun and Xiaoshu had already been odd enough, and now Wei Zhao had no sooner entered than he began examining her, which made her feel as though she had just risen from a grave illness. "Wei Zhao, what are you doing? I'm not sick."

"You don't remember anything from yesterday?" Wei Zhao had already heard it from Shen Yushu, but he asked once more.

"Yesterday? What on earth happened yesterday? What's wrong with all of you, acting so strangely? Asking me the same question?" Gu Mengyao said in astonishment. "Wei Zhao, tell me what's going on. Xiaoshu and Yunyun look like they're holding something back."

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