Li Mo Chou saw Hua Wu Que’s expression and realized that this whole thing was a fabrication by this scoundrel. She trembled with rage, her voice shaking as she demanded, “Hua Wu Que, explain yourself! What do you mean I abandoned you after seducing you?”
She always prided herself on her beauty and cherished her reputation. Now, being defamed by Hua Wu Que, she momentarily forgot their power disparity and only wanted to force him to clear her name.
Hua Wu Que looked at her with a sorrowful expression, “Mo Chou, if you’d be happier not knowing me, then let’s pretend we never met. Why get so angry? It’ll hurt your health.”
Hearing this, both Xiao Long Nu and Hong Ling Bo, standing nearby, felt a pang of sympathy and looked at Li Mo Chou with disdain. They felt that this lovesick man was blind to have fallen for such a woman.
Seeing this scoundrel act as if he were truly heartbroken, Li Mo Chou couldn’t bear it any longer. She pulled out her Ice魄 Silver Needle and spat out in hatred, “Hua Wu Que, don’t you dare talk nonsense here! We never had any relationship whatsoever!”
Hua Wu Que lowered his head, appearing somewhat aggrieved, “I knew it. You never took our promise to heart. Back then, at that inn, who was it who said that two months later, on Mount Zhongnan, we would meet and get married? No ifs, no buts!” He suddenly raised his head, his voice filled with a tinge of anger in the last sentence.
Upon hearing this, Li Mo Chou suddenly remembered that she had been pressed by Huang Xue Mei that day and feared they would join forces and defeat her. So, she had deliberately
arranged to meet at Mount Zhongnan two months later for a martial arts competition and propose marriage. Back then, she had thought this Hua Wu Que was a fool and easily fooled. Little did she know that she would end up shooting herself in the foot. For a moment, she was speechless.
Seeing her tacit acknowledgement, Xiao Long Nu felt disgusted and felt even more sympathy for Hua Wu Que. She softly spoke to Li Mo Chou, “Shi Jie, Hua Gongzi is deeply in love with you. You shouldn’t have deceived him like this.”
“Yeah, yeah! Shi Fu, Shi Gong is so devoted to you, and he’s so handsome! You’ve struck gold!” Hong Ling Bo, having recently become her disciple, felt seven parts gratitude and three parts awe towards Li Mo Chou. She wasn’t as scared as she would be later.
Li Mo Chou felt like crying. She thought, nothing could be more absurd than this. She angrily flung the silver needle she held into a tree and turned to leave. She couldn’t explain this, and knowing she couldn’t beat Hua Wu Que, she didn’t care about the Jade Female Heart Sutra and just wanted to get away from this place.
Seeing her rush off, Hong Ling Bo quickly followed, running until halfway. She turned around and shouted softly, “Shi Gong, don’t give up! Come on, I support you!”
“You’re leaving?” Xiao Long Nu waited until they were far away before asking Hua Wu Que. Over this period, she had grown accustomed to being around him. Now, there was a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Long Girl, if you don’t find my presence bothersome or intrusive, I’d like to stay a few more days.” Hua Wu Que was internally laughing wildly. Hearing her question, he quickly collected himself, turned back, stared into her eyes, and smiled softly.
Xiao Long Nu was a little surprised and tilted her head slightly to look at him. Turning back, she walked back to the ancient tomb, “Stay if you want. No one’s stopping you.”
Hua Wu Que spent several more days in the ancient tomb. During this time, he completed his study of the Jade Female Heart Sutra with Xiao Long Nu and then deciphered parts of the Nine Yin Manual from the legacy of Chongyang, passing it on to her for her study.
He knew that such a woman couldn’t be won over overnight. He didn’t have that much time, so he just wanted to leave a lasting impression in her heart and then patiently woo her later.
He took the time to set up various traps and mechanisms within the tomb. Once he was confident she had learned, he decided to leave. Before leaving, he kept reminding her how to take care of herself, much to Xiao Long Nu’s annoyance. She shooed him out of the ancient tomb.
As he watched the stone door close, Hua Wu Que laughed lightly. He felt he had achieved at least half of his goal. Now all that was left was to eliminate those two unstable factors, and then he could confidently wait for his reward.
With this thought, he turned and headed towards the Chongyang Palace.
Xiao Long Nu slowly returned to her quarters and sat on a stone bench. She felt a strange sensation in her heart. After a while, she realized she was hungry and subconsciously called out, “Hua…” Halfway through the word, she realized that Hua Wu Que had left some time ago. A slight sense of disappointment washed over her. She got up and looked for some honey nearby. Finding that it had gone bad, she muttered, “It’s been, that long?”
Meanwhile, Hua Wu Que walked along the road, feeling a little frustrated. He had snuck into Chongyang Palace just now and searched everywhere, but he couldn’t find Yin Zhi Ping or Yang Guo. He questioned a small Taoist priest and learned the reason.
It turned out that Zhao Min had led her troops to surround the mountain that day. Guo Jing, seeing that the Quanzhen Sect was in danger, feared that he would be unable to keep an eye on Yang Guo. So, he left him at the foot of the mountain under the care of the Quanzhen Sect disciples. When he returned, a mysterious old man covered in dirt suddenly appeared, grabbed Yang Guo, and ran away, shouting, “Son, my son!” The people in pursuit couldn’t catch up, and he disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Hua Wu Que knew this was the crazed Western Toxic, Ouyang Feng, who mistook Yang Guo for his deceased nephew, Ouyang Ke. Since that was the case, Yang Guo’s connection with Long Nu was also severed, and he didn’t need to worry about it anymore.
As for Yin Zhi Ping, he had been invited by Chen Jin Nan of the Heaven and Earth Society to rush to Yanjing City to rescue the people of the Mu王府 who were captured by the government.
Hua Wu Que recalled that Zhao Min had mentioned having a residence in Yanjing City. With that in mind, he set off for Yanjing City.