"Order it, we must speed up our return to the underground city immediately."
Lin Zhenfan was furious, veins bulging on his hands, fists clenched, his fingers cracking.
"Brother, don't be angry, let's go back and see first," the Ghost Valley Master kindly advised.
He had cooperated with Lin Zhenfan for over twenty years. Both were for their own benefit, yet they constantly schemed against and guarded each other. Upon hearing that Lin Zhenfan's lair had collapsed, he was inwardly overjoyed.
Lin Zhenfan sneered at the Ghost Valley Master's words. "My lair is gone, and the happiest person is probably you, Ghost Valley Master."
This old fox was the most cunning. On the surface, he appeared as a smiling Buddha, but one would discover he was actually a smiling tiger with a venomous heart if they truly observed his actions.
Lin Zhenfan, in his nearly twenty years of cooperation with him as the leader of the Dark Night Pavilion, had still not uncovered the Ghost Valley Master's origins. He was always extremely cautious when interacting with him.
"Brother, you are right. We cannot just believe what others say. I must see for myself."
"Then I'm afraid I cannot travel to the capital on the same day as you," Lin Zhenfan said, forcing a smile and feigning camaraderie with the Ghost Valley Master as he calmed his anger.
"Alright, then I shall precede you to the capital," the Ghost Valley Master replied with a smile.
A moment later, their carriages parted ways. Lin Zhenfan watched the receding carriage of the Ghost Valley Master from behind, letting out a cold laugh. The smile in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by contempt and mockery.
—
In the bustling capital, Chu Mingxuan strolled leisurely down the street, fanning himself with a folding fan.
Suddenly, a woman carrying two bundles of medicine hurried past him. She accidentally bumped into Chu Mingxuan's arm, and the two bundles of medicine flew out of her grasp. This woman was Aman, who was by Liu Ruyi's side.
"Can't you watch where you're going?"
Aman angrily berated Chu Mingxuan, then squatted down to search for the two bundles of medicine that had been knocked into the crowd.
Chu Mingxuan, seeing she was a woman, had initially not wanted to bother with her. He never expected her to curse him the moment she spoke. This infuriated him, making him erupt with rage.
"You're the one who wasn't watching where you were going and bumped into me. What does that have to do with me?" Chu Mingxuan immediately closed his fan and pointed at Aman to retort.
However, Aman was in a hurry to find the medicine bundles that had fallen to the ground among the crowd and had no time to pay attention to Chu Mingxuan.
But Chu Mingxuan spotted the two bundles of medicine she had dropped first. A wicked grin spread across his face as he quickly ran to the medicine bundles and stomped on them fiercely. The paper wrapping the medicine was immediately torn by Chu Mingxuan, and the bundled herbs scattered.
"You scoundrel, I'll kill you!"
Enraged, Aman raised her hand and gathered a surge of internal energy to strike Chu Mingxuan. However, Chu Mingxuan was also skilled in martial arts and dodged Aman's attack in the blink of an eye.
The two immediately began to fight, drawing a crowd of onlookers.
After fighting for more than ten rounds, Chu Mingxuan gradually gained the upper hand.
But just as he was about to unleash a powerful move to decisively defeat Aman, she suddenly turned around and faced Chu Mingxuan. Upon seeing Aman's face clearly, Chu Mingxuan hurriedly retracted his internal energy, his entire being frozen in astonishment.
"Sister Miaoling, is that you! I didn't expect you to still be alive," Chu Mingxuan exclaimed emotionally.
Seeing Chu Mingxuan's expression of crying and laughing, Aman thought she had encountered someone mentally unstable. She turned to leave.
The medicine that Chu Mingxuan had just stomped on was unusable. She had to return to the pharmacy to get two more bundles for the second young lady to decoct. In fact, she didn't want to entangle with Chu Mingxuan further.
Chu Mingxuan became anxious as he saw Aman about to leave.
"Sister Miaoling, wait for me. I'm Chu Mingxuan, your own brother. Don't you remember me?" Chu Mingxuan followed closely behind Aman, speaking as he walked.
He left behind a crowd of bewildered onlookers. They wondered if this man was perhaps not right in the head. He had been shouting and fighting with the girl moments ago, and now he was calling her "Sister Miaoling" repeatedly.
"My name is Aman, not Sister Miaoling as you call me. Please stop bothering me, will you?"
Aman was extremely exasperated by Chu Mingxuan's pestering. If she didn't have important matters to attend to, she would have given this man a good beating.
"But you look exactly like my Sister Miaoling, and my Sister Miaoling doesn't have any twin sisters. How can there be two people in this world who look so alike?" Chu Mingxuan said with a firm tone.
"Alright, alright. I don't have time to explain clearly right now. I'm not even holding you accountable for ruining my two bundles of medicine. I urgently need to return to the pharmacy to get two more bundles to decoct for my second young lady. Please, stop bothering me, okay?" Aman said impatiently.
"Sister Miaoling, I'm truly sorry just now. I'm a doctor, let me accompany you to get the medicine."
Through his conversation with Aman, Chu Mingxuan had come to understand that his Sister Miaoling must have forgotten him. Therefore, he could not push her too hard.
Following that, Chu Mingxuan, like a transparent figure, followed Aman to the pharmacy to get new medicine. Then, he followed her from behind to the gate of Prince Qing's mansion.
Seeing Aman enter the main gate of Prince Qing's mansion, Chu Mingxuan assumed she was now a maid in the mansion. He felt a surge of pity for her and was filled with concern for her situation.
His Sister Miaoling was once the apple of the Chu family's eye. He never imagined she would fall into such a predicament.
What kind of place was Prince Qing's mansion? Chu Mingxuan knew it very well. To put it nicely, it was a prince's mansion; to put it crudely, it was a den of snakes and rats, where no one was of sound mind.
As Chu Mingxuan thought of this, his concern for Chu Miaoling grew. No, he had to redeem Chu Miaoling from Prince Qing's mansion.
But the owner of this mansion was that perverted Prince Qing. It would not be easy for him to redeem Sister Miaoling.
Suddenly, Chu Mingxuan's eyes lit up. He couldn't save Chu Miaoling from this wolf's den, but his good brothers, the Cold King and the Cold King's Consort, had the ability to save people!
Thus, Chu Mingxuan immediately ran back to the Cold King's mansion to request their help.
At that moment, Jun Mohan and Leng Ruoli had just returned to the Cold King's mansion after having lunch with Leng Jinyu at the General Leng's residence.
As soon as the two sat down in the reception hall, before their derrières had even warmed the seats, Chu Mingxuan rushed in from outside.
"Chu Mingxuan, what's wrong? Are you being chased by someone?" Leng Ruoli playfully teased him.
"Your… Your Highness, Your Highness, Consort, can… can you… help me?" Chu Mingxuan said, panting and stuttering.