Chapter 44: This Young Master Turned Back

“Who are you to turn us back?” growled a bushy-haired elder.

Chen Haoran silently thanked the man for asking the question on his mind. Others chimed in with outraged disbelief. Xie Jin rushed up to add his own. Song Yuelin and Lan Fen were calmer about it, but from the way they furrowed their brows, he could tell they were just as confused.

“Turn back,” repeated the guard. His voice was monotonous but Chen Haoran could see him start to sweat. His Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation put in well within the upper echelons of power within Clearsprings City but the pressure put out by an angry crowd of cultivators would cow anyone. Especially with Liquid Meridian Realms present.

The bushy-haired elder angrily closed in on the guard. “We are here so that our juniors may partake in the Palace Exams, just what does your lord mean by interfering?” His qi rose and Chen Haoran felt the familiar weight of the higher realm once again, though the poor guard was getting the brunt of it.

The guard’s shoulders shook but he admirably kept his voice steady. “If you have any questions then you may present them at the City Lord’s manor.”

“Do you think we would run like dogs to him just because of a single guard?” the elder demanded. “I would like to see what the Exam Official has to say about this deliberate sabotage.”

“The Exam Official is at the City Lord’s manor,” the guard reported.

The elder hadn’t been expecting that and looked at the guard in surprise. Nobody else had either going by the murmured whispering other seniors were exchanging.

“Turn back please,” the guard said a final time.

“This is ridiculous,” Xie Jin groaned. “What’s going on.”

Chen Haoran turned to Song Yuelin. “Is this some kind of test?”

“No,” Song Yuelin frowned. “They would have separated the participants from their escorts if that were the case. Doing it this way risks offending too many of the local elite.”

“Maybe they’re just a dick?” Chen Haoran reasoned.

“Nobody is that petty.”

Chen Haoran stared.

“What?” Song Yuelin asked, nonplussed. “I’m not petty.”

Chen Haoran was about to argue the point with him when they were interrupted.

“You seem to be in good health, Lan Fen.”

An elder appeared in front of Lan Fen, white of hair and beard. Chen Haoran almost mistook his coloring to come from age were it not for the three other heads of white hair behind him. Two of them were even familiar, Lan Yao and Lan Jia.

“Hello Great Uncle,” Lan Fen neutrally responded. Her eyes narrowed to slits when she saw Lan Yao and a small, superior smile crossed her face.

Lan Yao looked infuriated.

Chen Haoran frowned and stretched out his sense toward the Lan Elder, he had been around enough powerful cultivators lately that he was not burned when he did so for the man was a proper Liquid Meridian realm. Lan Fen’s Great Uncle looked at him as well, briefly furrowing when he saw Song Yuelin, before returning his gaze to Lan Fen.

“I must say I’m surprised you recovered. I was led to believe your condition was permanent.”

“I was simply fortunate.”

“I would like to hear more of it back at the estate then,” The Lan Elder said. “Perhaps over some tea?”

“I am afraid we will have to do that another time, Great Uncle.”

“We do have quite the trip back through the mountains ahead of us,” he smiled. “More than enough time to reconsider.”

Chen Haoran froze as he processed the words. There was plenty of wilderness between here and the city for the Lan family to ambush them. Thankfully they had Song Yuelin.

Song Yuelin noticed his gaze and smiled. He motioned his eyes toward the Lan Elder, winked, and mouthed out two words.

Not. Deal.

Chen Haoran paled.

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Song Yuelin nodded.

He made a mistake, the deal with Song Yuelin was only to make sure the Earth-rank techniques stayed as Chen family property. Unless the Lan Elder tried interrogating him for it Song Yuelin wouldn’t make a move. He probably wouldn’t even if the Lan Elder killed them all right now.

His thoughts raced, they were still okay for now so long as Lan Fen’s Great Uncle was wary of Song Yuelin. As soon as he tried fighting though they’d be exposed. He looked around, they couldn’t leave alone-

“Is this the time to pursue personal grievances, Lan Xishen?” interrupted the bushy-haired Elder.

“There’s always time for you not to get involved in my personal grievances, Yan Qi,” the Lan elder, Lan Xishen, snorted.

“Not when we have more pressing matters,” Yan Qi said. He waved behind them to the other cultivators. “We will all be going to the City Lord to seek answers for this ridiculous charade.”

“And I will join you, I too desire answers.”

“We will all go,” Yan Qi repeated with deliberate emphasis.

Lan Xishen frowned and looked behind him to the other cultivators who were patiently watching. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned around. Lan Yao gave Lan Fen a poisonous look as they left.

“Thank you, Senior Yan,” Lan Fen said, clasping her hands in a bow.

“I am only looking at the greater picture,” Yan Qi blandly replied before he too left.

Chen Haoran let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t fully understand why Yan Qi had helped them but it probably had to do with politics. They were the ones to expose the Lan family’s secrets, he probably wanted to keep them around as a thorn in the Lan family’s side for the time being. Chen Haoran couldn’t help but think his last words were a warning though.

They didn’t say much else as they joined the group while Yan Qi and the other Liquid Meridian realms organized the journey back to Clearsprings City. The Lan family thankfully left them alone and placed themselves on the opposite side. Along the way, they absorbed other groups of examinees and ballooned to over two hundred in size. As they approached Clearsprings City and marched through its gates the elders barked orders at their younger generations to peel off and inform the families what had happened. The streets quickly cleared as people, both cultivators and civilians, made to avoid their small army on its way to the City Lord’s palace.

“Isn’t this pretty dangerous?” Chen Haoran asked aloud as they reached the palace. A squarish thing built solidly out of large stones and painted bright red. The building reminded him of his manor, except grander, design-wise. There was a significant amount of interests involved here about to enter the seat of the local government. If tensions ran over what was the guarantee it wouldn’t devolve into fighting?

“I for one am interested in seeing what the City Lord is planning,” Song Yuelin said.

Of course he would be. If the City Lord was acting strange then the Chen family would want to be the first to know. At least with his status as a hostage, he could count on being kept safe. Whatever was going on this time should be some kind of spat between the City Lord and the major families.

The guards immediately made way upon seeing them and they passed under the entrance gate, wide enough to allow them all through at once and still have space left on either side.

Right as they entered the entrance hall Lan Fen hunched her shoulders. Her golden eyes narrowed into an intense glare, her previous calm confusion transforming into sharp wariness. “Husband,” Lan Fen whispered, reaching out her hand.

Chills crawled down his spine. He grabbed her hand in a white knuckle grip and stood shoulder to shoulder with her. Song Yuelin and Xie Jin looked at them in confusion. Chen Haoran flicked his eyes to every corner and curtain and past every guard and servant. It was a futile effort, whatever could panic Lan Fen to this extent would be beyond his ability to discover.

The palace entrance hall opened up into a public court, at the head of which sat a long table and ornate throne perched on a dais from which the City Lord would conduct government business and hear petitions. The City Lord stood to the left of the throne, to the right was a tall woman dressed in a robe the color of bloody crimson. A dragon embroidered with silver-white thread wrapped around the robe with its head stopping at her shoulder, its one-clawed arm stretched to her neck as if to grasp it. Both dispassionately watched the Liquid Meridian realms line up in front.

“She should be the Exam Official,” Song Yuelin whispered. “Crystal Transformation realm.”

Yan Qi, the selected spokesperson, regally stepped forward and bowed towards the Exam Official first, then much more shallowly to the City Lord. “As loyal citizens of the Empire, we presented our juniors to the testing of the Palace Exam so that they may serve as righteous officials,” he bellowed. “City Lord, a guard dispatched from this palace and bearing your symbol has interfered with our participation in clear violation of the law. We ask for an explanation, may the Exam Official provide us justice.”

Yan Qi bowed once again at the end of his speech and the other elders bowed and echoed him. The City Lord and the Exam official remained silent. Chen Haoran’s unease grew. The elders waited and did not speak.

Why was the City Lord not sitting on his throne?

Loud footsteps echoed from behind the dais. Doors leading deeper into the palace were pushed open and a young man entered the hall. Song Yuelin immediately pulled Chen Haoran behind him, his jovial smile replaced with stone-like seriousness. Chen Haoran watched Yan Qi and Lan Xishen pale as if they had seen a ghost.

Ghost was a good way to describe the man who entered. He looked as if someone took a member of the Lan family and washed them out even further, his skin paler than snow with bone-white hair to match. His crimson robe, equal to the one the Exam official wore save that his dragon had four claws instead, only served to highlight his lack of color. Except for his eyes. Two bloody irises, a deeper red than his robes, seemed to burn out at them from his skull.

The young man nonchalantly sat upon the throne.

The City Lord puffed his chest and pitched his voice with qi in a thunderous proclamation that beat in Chen Haoran’s chest. “Presenting His Highness Prince Shen Jianyu!”

“Fuck,” Song Yuelin whispered.

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