Volume 1, Chapter 39: Let Everything Be Left to the Guidance of the Gods

In the open space of the mountain hollow, a hundred members of the Sky Tiger tribe, young and old alike, including warriors still stained with blood, gathered to gaze up at the stone platform.

He Cang stood upon the high dais, looking down at his tribespeople. As his gaze swept over their resolute faces and eyes filled with faint sorrow, a pang of pain pierced his heart.

When Wang Yuanji was nine, her mother, Madam Yang, fell ill. She attended to her mother day and night, never once loosening her clothes to rest for a long time. She would often anticipate her parents' needs before they even spoke, and her conduct was always so impeccable that when they entrusted her with the management of the household, she handled every matter with perfect reason and fairness.

Qin Lizhi could tell that he was deliberately pitching his voice in that manner, yet she found herself unable to refuse, feeling as though her soul had been ensnared.

"Annihilation!" Violent demonic flames surged across his body, and a terrifying aura swept outward.

"Furthermore, this room cannot be opened from the outside unless one uses a weapon like a celestial artifact to strike it repeatedly."

After receiving the call from Ling Zhixi last night, Xiao Han went out to sea for his usual training. On his way back, however, he picked up a few pieces of seafood that caught his eye, intending to bring them back for Ling Zhixi and Liu Ruihua to taste.

She was selfish, hypocritical, biased, and snobbish, and worst of all, she could not distinguish right from wrong.

The fellow opposite him was even more terrifying; he was actually dividing his attention four ways, splitting his primary consciousness in two—one part monitoring the battlefield outside, the other tracking the progress of refining the Immortal-Slaying Saber.

"Oh, it's nothing, really, I'm fine." Jiang Xiyue looked at Meng Tian and, suddenly noticing her cheeks flushing, waved her hands hurriedly to insist she was alright.

Dong Zhuo, despite his respectable appearance, was full of malice. He had watched the spectacle of the tigers fighting with leisurely indifference, only to step in and take over the "game" as a matter of course.

Although the commander had ordered secrecy, it was impossible to plug every mouth. Gradually, the news that the Tu'ning Garrison had suffered a defeat spread rapidly. The common people, whether out of worry or mere rumor-mongering, caused such an uproar that panic began to take hold.

Tuoba Yao had Chang Dayong help him stand. "Since I have named your eldest, I cannot show favoritism. I shall name your younger brother as well; let us use the character 'Zhao,' and bestow upon him the title of Earl of Peace." Ah Sheng was the Marquis of Changning, and since Ah Teng was the second son, his rank was one level lower than his elder brother, making him an Earl.

Qin Hong said, "Even if he values A-Wan, he cannot bring her into the palace, and besides—" With beautiful concubines and darling children now in his arms, it was questionable how much he would even remember A-Wan.

"Despite our formal kinship, I have always looked upon you as a sister in my heart," Ji Yingyue said with sincerity. She knew of the past between them as cousins and had once probed cautiously, but in the end, faced with the other's candid demeanor, her misgivings gradually faded.

Before Ye Wei could speak, the "Black-Faced God" stepped forward. With a gentlemanly gesture, he extended his hand. "The Madam is looking for you."

Yu Niang rolled her eyes and smiled. "I don't think they will leave. Madam Guo and Qinghe are flowers raised in a greenhouse; they cannot survive outside of it. They would never be willing to give up the wealth and glory they have within their grasp. What does it matter if they are concubines? Ah Sheng is the Imperial Grandson and the future Emperor—is being an Emperor's concubine not better than being any other man's wife?"

On rainy days, listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops striking the roof, one often feels a hidden sense of melancholy.

Did he really think a house could make her return to his side, to let him do as he pleased, only for him to kick her away again the moment he grew bored or annoyed?

Xie Zhi did not believe it for a moment. The Xi family was notorious for being turncoats; when the pretender usurped the throne, apart from the pretender's in-laws, the Wangs, the Xi family was the first to jump out in support of him. Even if such a family were to be purged by the pretender, it would have nothing to do with her biological father.