Every Man Harbours Absurd Ideas

We kept our carriage's curtains up mainly due to it being stuffy inside. Opening the two small windows on the sides wasn't enough. It was enough and convenient for Emperor Yuansheng to communicate with us, having said that.

Miss Lyu's cheeks were coloured red the second she saw Emperor Yuansheng with his golden dragon knife.

Hang in there! I can't let you prostit-, what am I saying? I can't let you be a mistress when your father entrusted you to me!

I hate to admit it, but Li Clan was blessed with exceptional appearances. He was over forty for crying out loud, yet he had Lyu Yaoqin around his finger. Regardless, I scoffed and stood before Lu Yaoqin. I leaned forward a little, covering her from even the breeze. I ran my eyes up, down and side to side on Emperor Yuansheng.

"Young Ming, what are you doing? Step forward. Do you want to fight with me or something?"

Huh? This clown is using the framing strategy now. You can't deny it when you the thirty people around us are all your men!

Bai Laimu and the ten behind him didn't move, pretending they didn't hear Emperor Yuansheng, but they had their hands tightly around their weapons.

You lecherous old bugger, resorting to unscrupulous means for girls now. If Princess Hongzhuang found out, she'd turn you into a real abbot!

"Hmph, I do not like trouble. However, I cannot stand certain behaviours, so I have decided to intervene."

Emperor Yuansheng evidently switched to a high vigilance mode and asked Dugu and Tie Hanyi, "Has he found out?"

Dugu: "Possibly."

Tie Hanyi: "Not necessarily. He might have caught onto something, though."

Emperor Yuansheng turned back to me: "Did you find out?"

"Huh? About what?"

Emperor Yuansheng turned back to his two aides: "Does he know or not.

Dugu: "Possibly."

Tie Hanyi: "Not necessarily. He might have caught onto something, though."

Emperor Yuansheng mused over my response then grinned: "So, you don't know."

Oh, I get it now. You're worried I saw through your lust for Miss Lyu? You must think I'm blind. You underestimated my shifu and me! He shared his wisdom daily. You think you can be more lecherous than my sh-, ahem. You think you can be more debauched than a deb-, ahem, you think you're a better player than my shifu?

"If I did not notice, I would have disappointed your expectations."

"You really know?"

"Miss Lyu's secret? Of course!"

Emperor Yuansheng reacted as if humanity's greatest calamity appeared before him: "It seems… you found out…"

There's something odd about this atmosphere…

"Long Zaitian!"Emperor Yuansheng yelled .

From our carriage, Long Zaitian thundered, "Ol' Ming, are you going to surrender or not?!"

Bloody Long Zaitian enhanced his voice with his internal strength, nearly deafening the artisans in the carriage. Even Miss Lyu felt her ears ache.

I flew off the handle: "Long Zaitian, if Boss Shen finds out you've been bullying innocent girls, I guarantee you'll be walking around with empty eye sockets, at the very least!"

Long Zaitian's crush on Boss Shen was genuine, so he flinched, but he could bluff just as I could. He fired back, "Aren't you worried Master will be angry you're so intimate with her? To be frank, Master sent me here to take Miss Lyu over. She is Master's guest. Miss Lyu isn't yours to bed."

"What?! Did you just say Fangzhang wants her in his bed?!" I deliberately yelled.

Miss Lyu grabbed my shirt as if it was her raft.

"You decide whether you will surrender her or not. I've fulfilled my job. Miss Lyu, Master genuinely likes you. He is an exceptional gentleman. Put it this way, his fart would sound different to even deities'. This is a once-in-a-thousand-lifetimes opportunity. As long as you approve, I may have to start calling you Mistress in a few days."

"What are you, a prostitution ring leader?! Approve what? Lyu Chunyang and I are old friends. She's basically my daughter. Shove your bullshit up your a-hole, and piss off!"

"I am here on orders. Even if I can't make things difficult for you, I must take her with me. Who can stop Master? Think about it."

Crap… I work for Emperor Yuansheng. A sovereign's commands can't restrain a general on the field, but the sovereign also happens to be on the field… Drats. Nevertheless, I can't feed Miss Lyu to a predator when she served me a delicious meal.

While I was protecting Miss Lyu, Emperor Yuansheng was strategizing with his men.

Emperor Yuansheng: "He knows. Miss Lu must have informed him. It's going to be difficult to check his background now."

Dugu: "If we want to dig up information on him, we need to put it on hold so that he does not turn on us."

Tie Hanyi: "Dugu is right. If we confront each other now, it will be hard to look into him. How about you pretend to get along with him to calm him down first, Your Majesty?"

"If we don't strike, he will strike. We already have enough on our plate to be worrying about Ming Feizhen. If we don't deal with him now, what if he becomes the rock in our shoes? Stop!"

The coach was able to stop on demand along with the escort. Emperor Yuansheng got off his carriage and fixed his gaze on… me.

What are you looking at?! I wasn't the one who called halt. I was busy confronting Long Zaitian.

Emperor Yuansheng ambled over to me with fire in his eyes, a sign a Just Realm internal energy user was moulding energy. Just Realm focused on one's spirit. It was considered the fastest route to the best internal strength. That was why it was considered the strongest realm among the eight. However, there were few styles that belonged in that category, and not everybody could learn them.

Emperor Yuansheng's internal energy wasn't enough to fluster me, but there were only two possible outcomes if I decided to butt heads with him.

Scenario one: expose my identity and kiss my retirement plan goodbye. Every soldier under the imperial court's employment would be sure to recognise me. All of the people with grudges with me from my past would come back to haunt me. Jingan would be ecstatic to have the chance to finally finish me.

Scenario two: protect my identity but deal with imprisonment in order to stop Emperor Yuansheng's philandering business.

I never planned for the dilemma, damn it!

Little did I know Emperor Yuansheng was thinking, "He's quaking in his boots? Adepts who've reached my level can suppress their internal energy. Those who've gone beyond can even feign death convincingly; they're so proud that they refuse to play possum as a strategy, though. Pretending to quake in one's boots also has signature traits. In saying that, his shaking is erratic. Is he genuinely afraid? That would mean his skills are poor."

Emperor Yuansheng started to look smug, easing up the atmosphere. I didn't have the foggiest idea what he was smug about. Before he could speak, I heard, "Wait."

Su Xiao's qinggong was horrid, so he couldn't jump over to us while the horses were moving. Once they stopped, he came running over.

A pretty maid-, Su Xiao jumped in between us and questioned, "What are you doing?!"