Chapter 35: Was She Being Too Sensitive?

A sharp crash of shattered porcelain echoed through the opulent great hall.

Chu Fenglan had hurled the teacup from her hand.

“Your Grace, please calm yourself.” At once, everyone attending the hall dropped to their knees.

Seated on her chair, pain radiated from Chu Fenglan’s knees, as if her legs were about to give out entirely. On such a sweltering day, she had been forced to kneel on the uneven paving stones and recite the palace rules three hundred times.

“It’s excruciating! Are you trying to kill me with pain?” she shouted furiously at the maid applying medicine to her wounds.

“Your Grace, I beg your forgiveness! I deserve to die,” the maid pleaded.

“What infuriates me is that His Majesty actually dined with Ji Yin!”

“Please, Your Grace, don’t distress yourself,” interjected Qing Lian, her personal attendant, moving forward and gesturing for the two other maids to withdraw. “The Emperor is not truly interested in that useless Ji Yin. It’s simply because of Ji Yin’s family background. Besides, the man is an ordinary Awakener—he can’t compare to our young lord at all.”

With these words from her loyal maid, Chu Fenglan felt a measure of comfort.

“But the way the Emperor looks at Ji Yin unsettles me,” she muttered. She recalled the words of the late Emperor: Among the daughters of the Ji family, one is destined to become the mother of the nation.

“Your Grace, you mustn’t overthink it. If Ji Yin were a woman, we might have reason to worry. But he’s a man—he poses no threat to us whatsoever.”

Chu Fenglan considered this. Perhaps she was being too sensitive? After all, Ji Yin was indeed a man.

Suddenly, gritting her teeth against the pain, Chu Fenglan stood up.

“Your Grace, what are you doing? Your legs are still injured!”

“I must go see His Majesty. I cannot allow the Emperor to become disenchanted with me because of Ji Yin. What happened today was simply a moment’s carelessness—Ji Yin set a trap for me. I’ll find another opportunity to deal with him in the future!”

...

Ji Yin had no idea how troublesome a royal meal could be. She hadn’t even eaten her fill.

“Your Majesty, the Grand Diviner requests an audience.”

“The Grand Diviner? What is it?”

“He says he’s come to escort Young Master Ji Yin to the Tianyuan Sect.”

Beiming Yu glanced at Ji Yin with a smile. “It seems you’re quite the handful—if the Grand Diviner doesn’t see you safely out of the palace, he can hardly rest easy.”

“My father’s just afraid I’ll cause trouble. He always says that with my luck, even nine lives wouldn’t be enough for me.”

“The Grand Diviner speaks the truth,” Beiming Yu replied, unfastening a jade pendant from his belt. “Take this.”

“What is it?”

“The late Emperor granted it to me when I was Crown Prince. I’ve carried it with me for more than ten years.”

Ji Yin picked up the pendant. The jade was crystal clear and cool to the touch, exquisitely comfortable. This was no ordinary jade, but the finest forging material—perfect for crafting weapons or armor.

In this bleak, polluted exile where spiritual energy was so thin, such a treasure was a rare find.

“If I keep this with me, will Chu Yu dare trouble me again?” Ji Yin thought back to what Mo Chuan had done at the Hundred Flavors Hall.

“Of course. Possessing this jade is tantamount to having me present. If he dares lay a hand on you, it’s an insult to me.”

“Great! Then I’ll take it!” Ji Yin quickly tucked the pendant into her robes.

“Go on, don’t keep the Grand Diviner waiting.”

Ji Yin rose and started for the door.

“Ji Yin,” Beiming Yu called after her.

She turned and looked back. “Your Majesty, is there something else?”

“With this jade, you may enter and leave the palace as you please. If you ever need anything, come straight to me.”

“Thanks!” Ji Yin waved to Beiming Yu as she left.