Chapter 224 – Fighting for Affection

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

Just as Tianfeng Yi was bracing himself for rejection, Xin Yi agreed to bring him along.

“Since you are so useful, then you can come in with me.” After all, Xin Yi was done using Tianfeng Yi for his personal gains. Since he was the one that was dreaming of making a comeback then no one was to blame if he died following his dream.

Tianfeng Yi was delighted as he quickly handed over a high-grade spirit stone and followed behind Xin Yi into the Secret Territory.

On the other hand, Rong Yuan’s face had darkened as Xin Yi turned and left. Just as Rong Yuan was about to call out to Xin Yi and stop him, Ding Rou’s eyes flashed as she stopped him, “Forget it, he was also only trying to help Lingzhi. I’m not angry.”

“But that is too unfair to you,” Rong Yuan’s posture immediately changed from focusing on Xin Yi to looking at Ding Rou apologetically.

“It doesn’t matter, he is right. I am the princess of the Dayin Kingdom and he does not need to listen to me.”

“Xiao Rou...” Rong Yuan pretended to look guilty but in fact, he was lazy to continue the act.

Seeing this, Gu Lingzhi coughed as she shook out her hands. In a slightly irritated tone, she said, “Are the both of you going to stand here all day and talk? If you are not going in then let go of me. You can continue being lovey-dovey with your princess here!”

“Of course we are going in!” Rong Yuan immediately turned and assured her. With a smile he said, “How can I let you go alone into somewhere so dangerous? Xiao Rou, will you go with us? I won’t feel safe letting you go alone.”

Other than Ding Rou, whose heart melted at this, everyone else wanted to throw up.

Wherever Ding Rou went, she always had a group of guards following behind. Not only that, her brother Ding Wei would also not let her move about alone. Hence, when Rong Yuan said this, it was obvious that he treated Ding Rou specially.

With a serious face, Yan Liang asked Gu Lingzhi, “Do you want to go with me?”

“...For safety, everyone should go together.” Not allowing Rong Yuan and Ding Rou to be alone, Gu Lingzhi tactfully rejected Yan Liang’s kind intentions.

Ding Rou secretly scolded Gu Lingzhi for being thick-skinned before smiling, “What Lingzhi says is right. With my group of guards, I won’t let trouble befall you all.”

Although it sounded like she was praising Gu Lingzhi, she was insinuating that Gu Lingzhi was borrowing her power to protect herself. This caused Rong Yuan to subconsciously frown. If he was not waiting for the right time, he would have asked Yuan Zheng to sew up Ding Rou’s mouth a long time ago.

The group then doubled from their original number of ten to twenty. Ding Wei joined in later, increasing their numbers to thirty. The large group caught everyone’s attention as they reached the place to pay out spirit stones. They each paid their individual amounts and headed down the golden stairs as a group.

As they stepped off the last step, the area in front of them abruptly cleared.

It was completely different from how it looked like from above. When they stepped off the last step, the white wall at the bottom of the stairs automatically disappeared and the scenery behind the wall came into view.

“This is...a palace?”

The view in front of them resembled a majestic and splendid palace. In front of them, a row of palaces sat, intricately designed with beautiful flower carvings. It gave off a feeling of luxury.

Just looking at the extent of the palace and anyone could guess that its original owner must have been someone of an extremely high status.

The group then headed forward on the road paved with gemstones in amazement. Occasionally, they would hear gasps of other Martial Artists along the way.

After they covered a short distance, the road divided into numerous small roads. Wild Spirit Plants, planted on both sides of the road, emanated a thick layer of spiritual energy into the air. There were already numerous Martial Artists frantically harvesting them into their Storage Rings.

“Rong Yuan, should we stop for a bit for everyone to collect a few of these Spirit Plants before moving forward?” Seeing the longing expression in her guards’ eyes, Ding Rou suggested.

Rong Yuan’s eyes swept across the guards as well as the two Martial Students from the Royal School and said, “Whoever wants to stay behind can stay. Now that we are in the Secret Territory, everyone should be responsible for themselves.” Although there were a lot of Spirit Plants here, they were common. The truly valuable items would not be left outside for people to take so easily. However, for the two Martial Students, picking these was much safer.

The two Martial Students hesitated for a while before deciding to split with the group.

Although they would most likely get better items if they followed Rong Yuan, no one knew what the conditions were like outside. The reason for them coming in was also just to check the place out. Once they confirmed that there really were precious gems, they would head back to inform the elders of their own clans. There was no need for them to risk their own lives.

Rong Yuan knew what they were thinking. After reminding them not to be greedy, Rong Yuan then led the rest of the group down the easiest-looking path.

Something was on Ding Wei’s mind as he remained silent the entire time. His eyes occasionally brushed across Wei Hanzi, causing Tianfeng Jin to glare at him. It was then that he realised he had been caught and decided to directly address Wei Hanzi’s mask, “Lady Xiao Hei, do you know what material your mask is made of? How come we are unable to see your true face under the mask?”

“Why? Is Your Highness interested in our Xiao Hei?” Not expecting Ding Wei to ask such a question, Gu Lingzhi immediately interrupted to prevent Wei Hanzi from giving the wrong answer.

“Lady Gu, you’ve misunderstood me.” Ding Wei laughed, “ I am just curious as to how Lady Xiao Hei looks. I heard that no one has ever seen how Lady Xiao Hei actually looks. Lady Gu, aren’t you curious?”

“I am not curious.” Gu Lingzhi stated simply.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

She saw herself in the mirror every day when washing up. What was there to be curious about?

His face turned dark as Gu Lingzhi replied to him simply. Sighing, Ding Wei said no more. However, he kept wondering, who was the Black Thorn? Why did people from the North Qiu Kingdom care so much about her? Before they entered the Secret Territory, someone had told him that there was no need to take care of her. Once there was any movement from her, however, he should send news to the outside world and they will tell him what to do next.

If not for this, he and Ding Rou would not have followed along knowing that they were not welcomed.

On the other side, fury burned in Ding Rou as she saw her brother get talked down. She got even angrier as she saw how Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi were holding hands as they walked. She pointed to the distance and shouted, “Rong Yuan, what is that?”

Rong Yuan looked up and saw that at the end of the path they chose, stood an arched door ten meter tall and ten meter wide.

“There seems to be a garden behind, let’s quickly go take a look!” Ding Rou then grabbed Rong Yuan’s other hand and ran forward like a child.

Rong Yuan got dragged along a few steps before he stopped. He thought that Ding Rou would let go of his hand and continue on but did not think that Ding Rou would grab his hand even tighter, forcing him to continue forwards. Ding Wei played along as he urged, “Look at how happy Xiao Rou is, let’s hurry over.”

As he said this, he inserted himself in between Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi, forcing them to let go of each other’s hands.

Before Rong Yuan could grab Gu Lingzhi’s hand once more, Ding Wei pushed him from behind causing him to take a few steps forward. The distance between Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi increased as Ding Wei smiled, “Go ahead first, we will catch up soon.”

Ding Rou put on a pitiful expression as she took the chance to pull again, “You’ve already spent the entire night with Lingzhi, can’t you accompany me for a bit?”

This sentence successfully forced whatever complaints Rong Yuan wanted to say down his throat. If Ding Rou had said something else, Rong Yuan would have thought of something to reject her. But she clearly showed that she was feeling jealous and no matter how unwilling Rong Yuan was, he had to go along with her wishes.

It was just running a few steps, he would take it as if he was training.

With this, he grabbed Ding Rou’s hand apologetically, “I’m sorry for neglecting you, I will accompany you now.”

Delighted, Ding Rou did not realise that when Rong Yuan had turned his hand over to grab hers, he had sneakily pulled down his sleeves over his palm. Their skin did not touch, just like their hearts, they had never been together.

Reaching the huge arched door that Ding Rou saw, they crossed over and saw the view on the other side. The entire place was filled with the scent of flowers, refreshing their minds. Numerous unique flowers were planted on both sides while a pavilion, a few feet wide, stood in the middle.

“What a pity, there are so many beautiful and unique flowers here but none of them are Spirit Plants,” Ding Rou sighed regretfully as she looked at the plants closely.

“It is not all wasted... at least our eyes are satisfied.” Rong Yuan laughed as he subtly pulled his hand out of Ding Rou’s. Walking to a tree, both his hands reached up and pulled down a branch filled with purple flowers, pulling it to his nose, “I have seen many orchids before but this is the first time I am seeing a hundred thousand year old orchid. Even the smell of these flowers emits spiritual energy.”

Ding Rou copied him and sniffed one of the purple flowers, she said disappointedly, “Even if so, it is just a common plant with very weak spiritual energy.”

What a fool.

Gu Lingzhi thought to herself as she crossed the door.

Everyone only thought of the orchid as a tree that can produce flowers of many different colours and had no other use. But to Gu Lingzhi, who had the Inheritance Space, she knew that a hundred thousand year old orchid was no common plant.

This was because for a common plant to survive so long, it must have been grown using a special technique. This orchid that no one knew exactly how old it was, had grown and morphed into a flower that had gone extinct in the Tianyuan Continent...the Perpetual Flower.