Chapter 2983 — Bingtang's Heart

As for herself... hmph, she was not worried about her at all—she was only worried about the people around her!

"Aunt Qing, go yourself. If the Dark Night Palace people come looking for trouble with Wei Zhao again over some pretext, shield him from it." Bingtang hesitated a moment, then said, "And if the Dark Night Palace people ask, say that Vice Palace Master Feng ordered you to come. Wei Zhao is her beloved, so it doesn't really violate the ancient rules."

"Ah?" Aunt Qing was taken aback. She had not expected Bingtang, always so aloof and free of desire, to take the initiative in such a matter, and it struck her as rather inconceivable.

"I don't want Wei Zhao's affairs to affect Xiaoxiao's cultivation. Besides, I can't very well ignore how Mother and Tang Yun would feel, can I?" Seeing Aunt Qing's astonishment, Bingtang explained with a faintly unnatural expression, "It has nothing to do with me. I don't want to be anybody's little-little-little-little wife—it'd be better if he just died!"

"Ah?" Aunt Qing had begun to understand from the first half of Bingtang's words, but that added remark only bewildered her further. This did not sound like Bingtang at all! And why had she gone out of her way to explain about being a little-little-little-little wife? What did that mean?

In truth, even Bingtang herself did not understand her own heart. She had grown up in the Ice Palace, where every day was nothing but cultivation, cultivation, and more cultivation. Then, suddenly, she had begun to pay attention to a certain person, though she could not say when it had started. Bingtang might look at this person through a jaundiced lens, but she had to admit that from then on he had entered her life and become the sole novelty in the dull, monotonous existence of the Ice Palace.

Whether this person prospered or fell on hard times, Bingtang would always hear a word or two of Aunt Qing's chatter. If he prospered, Bingtang would feel a little nervous, worrying whether she might end up as his little-little-little-little wife; if he fell on hard times, she would gloat and think, with skill like that, how could he ever deserve to marry me? I was worrying over nothing.

But... hard times or not, if Wei Zhao were to die, Bingtang did not want him to truly die. Otherwise, with no more news of him to hear in the future, she felt her life would be unhappy—and that was why she had sent Aunt Qing to make a round.

These contradictory and tangled feelings Bingtang herself never noticed, and so she blamed them entirely on Feng Xiaoxiao, Tang Yun, and Wang Yujie.

Still, this tsundere temperament was quite similar to that of the eldest young miss. If the Tang Yun of before had not been the real Tang Yun, and the present Bingtang was the true Tang Yun, then she and Feng Xiaoxiao together were truly a replica of the eldest young miss and Xiaoshu.

"Aunt Qing, actually, I'm still waiting for him to refine pills for me. I've been stuck at the peak of the late Heaven rank for far too long, and I want to advance to the Way of Heaven as well, so I'm waiting for Wei Zhao's Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill!" Bingtang added by way of explanation.

"Oh... yes, Palace Master!" Aunt Qing was utterly fogged; even now she had not grasped the true reason Bingtang wanted her to intervene. But she did not care to ask further, and simply nodded, making ready to descend the mountain.

It had to be said that Yu Bing and Zhao Qijiu, as stewards of the outer gate, still had some connections and relationships. The upper routes were impassable, but the lower routes went quite smoothly indeed!

There were no men in the Ice Palace's inner gate—only women. But among the low-ranking disciples who served others—that is, the servants—these people would eventually have to marry when they grew older, and even when they married they had no way to leave the Ice Palace. So their only choice was the male disciples of the outer gate.

With this connection, Yu Bing and Zhao Qijiu, as outer-gate stewards, were naturally well acquainted with the inner-gate stewards. After all, the Ice Palace, as an ancient sect, had its own ancient rules: even after an inner-gate servant married an outer-gate disciple, the two could not possibly meet every day—only on Sundays could they be reunited. So if an outer-gate disciple happened to find that his wife had her period that day, it was a tragedy.

Thus some inner-gate maids or outer-gate disciples would want to swap their shifts at other times to meet in secret. The Ice Palace's rules said nothing about this, but for a thousand years it had been an unwritten custom: so long as the outer-gate steward and the inner-gate steward nodded, shifts could be swapped.

So the inner and outer gates were as one family, and Yu Bing easily found, through the inner-gate steward, the inner-gate maid who served Feng Xiaoxiao, and had her carry a letter to Feng Xiaoxiao.

Feng Xiaoxiao's maids were all selected through strict screening. Though they were under the inner gate's administration, they were also an independent presence. Had it been some other major matter, she would never have taken the risk to help, but for a small matter that harmed no interests, she was naturally glad to oblige!

Especially since she had also heard that Yu Bing and Zhao Qijiu were well acquainted with Feng Xiaoxiao—it seemed they had known each other back in the secular world—so the maid helped without the slightest hesitation.

When Feng Xiaoxiao received Yu Bing's letter, she was somewhat puzzled, unable to understand why Yu Bing would suddenly write to her. If there was a matter to discuss, wouldn't sending word by messenger do? But once she opened the letter, her heart gave a great start!

Wei Zhao had actually had his meridians and dantian destroyed, and was afflicted with a strange poison besides! The Feng Xiaoxiao of now was no longer the girl of before who knew nothing but mischief. As Vice Palace Master of the Ice Palace, and having set foot on the path of cultivation herself, she naturally understood how grave these two things were!

One might even say this had cut off Wei Zhao's path of cultivation! Though Wei Zhao had his own extraordinary qualities, with meridians and dantian both ruined, he could not circulate the mantras of his mental cultivation method, nor could he refine pills. What was to be done?

Feng Xiaoxiao was instantly thrown into a panic, alarmed and frantic. She naturally did not think Yu Bing would deceive her—such a matter could absolutely never be made into a casual joke!

So Feng Xiaoxiao hurriedly ran out from her place of cultivation and headed for Bingtang's.

Others who came to see Bingtang naturally could not gain an audience at once, but Feng Xiaoxiao met no obstruction at all. Aunt Qing was away, and no one in the Ice Palace dared question her, so she went straight to Bingtang's chambers.

"Xiaoxiao? What brings you here? Aren't you in seclusion, striving to break through to the Heaven rank?" Bingtang looked at the newcomer in some surprise. Feng Xiaoxiao's cultivation talent was quite good thanks to her physique; after taking some cultivation elixirs and mid-grade Qi-Gathering Pills, her strength had risen all the way to the peak of the late Earth rank, the great perfection!

Of course, at this level, taking two mid-grade Qi-Gathering Pills or a single Qi-Gathering Pill would allow a smooth advance to the Heaven rank. But when a mid-grade Qi-Gathering Pill was used as a pill to break through a barrier, there was a fatal flaw—even more serious than the inability to cultivate and advance on one's own after taking a Qi-Gathering Pill. So Bingtang had not given any to Feng Xiaoxiao, but instead let her break through the barrier on her own. (To be continued. A wonderful novel—[Net]—remember our website address:)