Chapter 741: The Transformed Heroine

Chapter 741: The Transformed Heroine

Yue Hongling was not one to be easily ensnared by such words. She smiled casually and said, "I am but a wanderer of the martial world, a lone ranger with no ties to power struggles. Whether the Central Plains bear the surname Xia or Li, what is that to me? If I remain here, it is merely to drink a cup of wedding wine."

Yue Fenghua sighed. "Hongling, if war erupts and the people are plunged into misery, can you truly stand by and do nothing?"

"If there are those who unleash soldiers to harm the people, your disciple will naturally intervene." Yue Hongling paused, then added with a faint, ambiguous smile, "That includes the Li family’s eastward expedition."

Yue Fenghua was momentarily at a loss for words. He exchanged a glance with Wei Changming, unsure of how to respond.

Unless Yue Fenghua, as her master, forcefully demanded she take a side—but how could he bring himself to say it?

Beforehand, he might have imagined commanding her with the authority of a master, even testing whether his disciple still held the respect she owed him after all these years. The truth was, Yue Hongling still honored her master, and her demeanor was beyond reproach. Yet when she stood, her presence naturally overwhelmed everything, instantly making her the center of attention. Both Wei Changming and Yue Fenghua seemed to shrink in comparison, as if she held the reins of the situation entirely in her hands.

This was a renowned hero who had weathered storms and bloodshed across the martial world for years, no longer the young girl she once was. Her aura was even more commanding than that of a clan patriarch. Perhaps in her eyes, even Wei Changming was nothing more than a man with a price on his head.

Just as Yue Fenghua tried to speak again, Yue Hongling suddenly added, "In truth, disciple has returned home this time for some important matters."

Yue Fenghua swallowed the words he was about to say and asked kindly, "Oh? What important matters? Does your master need to help?"

"Indeed, I do." Yue Hongling smiled, as if a little embarrassed. "I’ve heard that the barbarians once breached the pass and plundered the land. Now, many places in Guanzhong and Longyou are still plagued by their ravages. Disciple wishes to rid our homeland of these evils and restore peace. But alone, it’s hard to even track down the barbarians’ whereabouts. I see that the sect is flourishing now, so perhaps it could help gather some intelligence."

Wei Changming opened his mouth, then closed it again. Yue Fenghua was stunned for a long moment before forcing a dry laugh. "A chivalrous person should indeed act thus! But the barbarians are powerful, and you alone may not be enough. Let us discuss this carefully. Allow your master to send people to gather information first. Know yourself and know your enemy, as they say."

Yue Hongling smiled faintly. "Master’s consideration is thorough."

Wei Changming chuckled dryly. "Then, Miss Yue, please rest. I’ll take my leave now... Ah, by the way, Miss Yue’s return is a major event in Guanzhong and Longyou. If several families were to host a banquet in your honor, would you grace us with your presence?"

Yue Hongling shook her head slightly. "Apologies, Hongling does not enjoy social engagements. I appreciate the kind intention."

Yue Fenghua said, "I’ll see Brother Wei off." Then he instructed the disciples nearby, "Take your second senior sister to the guest quarters to rest."

The disciples, oblivious to the tense undercurrents of the conversation, were all excited. "Yes, we’ll take good care of Senior Sister!"

"No need for so many." Yue Hongling casually pointed at a young girl and said with a smile, "This junior sister will accompany me."

The girl jumped for joy and pulled Yue Hongling toward the back courtyard. "Senior Sister, follow me."

Seeing the girl’s vibrant energy, Yue Hongling’s somewhat gloomy mood lightened a little. She followed with a smile. As she reached the doorway, she turned to see Yue Fenghua and Wei Changming’s figures disappearing beyond the main hall.

Yue Hongling sighed softly and lowered her voice. "I want to visit the master’s wife first."

"Oh." The girl scratched her head. "Then this way..."

At the tomb on the back hill, Yue Hongling solemnly paid her respects. Slowly rising, she gazed at the gravestone and asked quietly, "Was the master’s wife bedridden for a long time? Why didn’t anyone come to the martial world to inform me?"

The girl replied, "No, she fell ill suddenly and passed quickly..."

"What illness?"

"They said it was a malignant sore."

There were many types of malignant sores, some of which in the modern world would be called cancer. If it was that kind of illness, it wasn’t entirely surprising. Yue Hongling shook her head slightly. The memories of her master’s recent behavior flashed through her mind, and the instincts of a martial artist at the Imperial Realm told her something wasn’t right.

"Who is the Wei family proposing marriage to?"

The girl looked around and lowered her voice. "It’s the Li family’s young lady."

Yue Hongling smiled faintly. She had known it. It seemed they were reluctant to say it in front of her, which was why Wei Changming had been so vague. But it couldn’t be hidden; once mentioned, everyone would know. She could ask anyone and get the same answer.

It seemed her return was not a pleasant surprise for some—more like a shock.

At the very least, this marriage alliance with the Li family felt strange to her. On the surface, there was nothing wrong with it. Why couldn’t her senior brother marry a Li family lady? But when she thought deeper, why would the Li family marry a daughter to him? Did they really think the Sunset Manor was so prestigious? It was blatant exploitation—all for her, Yue Hongling. It wasn’t even certain whether the bride would be a direct descendant of the Li family; more likely, she’d be a collateral branch, or even a maidservant.

This was different from the marriage alliance between the Cui and Wang families. No matter how those two families intermarried, it wouldn’t affect what Cui Wenjing and Wang Daoning wanted to do. But if you allied with the Li family, how much say would you have in matters? You’d be nothing more than a vassal, doing whatever they told you...

Once the rice was cooked, when the conflict between Guanzhong and the New Han arose, wouldn’t it be awkward for her, Yue Hongling, to take a stand? Worse, the sect might pressure her to side with Guanzhong.

This was all aimed at Yue Hongling. If Yue Fenghua had any sense of responsibility to spare his disciple trouble, or any respect for her thoughts, he wouldn’t have even discussed this marriage. If he wanted to discuss it, he would have at least tried to contact Yue Hongling first and ask her opinion. Not long ago, the Chaos World Record had flashed news of her killing the Black Miao King in the Miao borderlands, so her whereabouts were known. It wouldn’t have been hard to send someone to find her.

But not only had he not tried to find her, he had been evasive even when she stood right in front of him. It seemed he knew the essence of this matter was to scheme against her, Yue Hongling, and was too embarrassed to say it outright.

Was he taking the reputation she had built, the connections others had made because of her, and treating them as his own? Did he think allying with the ruler of Guanzhong was a great gain?

Yue Hongling turned to look at the bustling estate and sighed inwardly. If it stopped here, it wouldn’t be a big deal. She wouldn’t let sect pressure dictate her actions. They could climb whatever high branches they wanted. What she feared was that once they were deeply entangled, other problems would arise.

For instance, the barbarians she had mentioned.

Why did she need to go out and gather intelligence? There were barbarian troops stationed right here in Chang’an! Were they all pretending not to know?

Was this the chivalry and righteousness you taught me when I was young?

If she insisted on killing barbarians here, it would cause the Guanzhong gentry a great headache. They would stop considering whether they could win her over and would instead find ways to make her leave quickly. And if she started killing barbarians now, what would happen?

Most likely, the various families would set a trap and let her, Yue Hongling, die at the hands of the barbarians.

Just as she was thinking this, footsteps sounded behind her. Yue Fenghua stood there and sighed. "Hongling."

Yue Hongling turned and bowed. "Master."

Yue Fenghua said in a low voice, "If you want to kill barbarians, you’ll be in great danger... and you said it in front of Wei Changming..."

Yue Hongling’s heart stirred. "Master means..."

"Regardless of why they brought the barbarians through the pass earlier—whether because they lacked strength and needed barbarian help, or to use them as a blade to eliminate forces still loyal to the Great Xia, or simply to get rid of those who weren’t of one mind—the point is, now that the world is unsettled, they still need their help. They can’t turn against the barbarians yet. If you kill barbarians here, it will put them in a very difficult position." Yue Fenghua lowered his voice. "In truth, if they win the world, then when you kill barbarians, everyone will support you."

Disappointment flickered in Yue Hongling’s eyes. "I know."

Some were distributing land and promoting education, wholeheartedly serving the people. Others only thought about how to seize the world.

She took a deep breath. "As I said, politics has nothing to do with me."

"But have you considered..." Yue Fenghua hesitated, then finally said, "If you insist on going your own way, you might be able to leave gracefully afterward, but what about the sect? How will we survive here in the future..."

Yue Hongling said, "Not to mention the barbarians’ past massacres, they have ravaged Guanzhong this time as well, taking countless of our compatriots’ lives under their blades. And yet, Master is worried about this? There are even righteous armies resisting in the mountains of Guanzhong and Longyou today! Master, with your cultivation at the ninth level of the Profound Gate, are you afraid of this?"

Of course, it wasn’t survival he feared, but the loss of wealth and glory.

Yue Fenghua was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "Will you contact these bandits... these righteous armies?"

"What if I do?"

"To stab the Li family in the back during their struggle with the New Han?"

Yue Hongling looked into her master’s eyes, and the disappointment in hers reached its peak.

Neither Changhe nor I had thought of that. If we were to contact the righteous armies, it would only be to resist the barbarians. But for now, with too many shadows of gods and demons in Guanzhong, Changhe and I wouldn’t drag these ordinary martial artists into the mire. We wouldn’t even consider it.

Yet in their minds, this was what they thought...

Yue Fenghua finally said, "Hongling, your master has never asked anything else of you... I only hope that this time in Chang’an, if you see barbarians, you’ll hold back and not act rashly."

Yue Hongling stared at him for a long time, until he averted his gaze, then suddenly broke into a radiant smile. "What if I disguise myself and assassinate them, bringing no trouble to the sect?"

Yue Fenghua hesitated for a moment. "That would be acceptable."

Yue Hongling said, "Then could Master investigate and give me a good starting point? For example, which barbarian leader is stationed here and where they usually are."

Yue Fenghua said helplessly, "Fine. Wait for my news."

With that, he hurried away.

The young girl beside her looked at the master-disciple exchange with admiration. In her eyes, both master and disciple were heroes.

Yue Hongling watched her master’s retreating figure and thought to herself, *This is the final test. If the 'starting point' Master gives me turns out to be a trap where I’m surrounded, that would be truly ridiculous. But I doubt it will come to that. Most likely, he’ll just keep stalling.*

She thought for a moment, then slapped her forehead. Getting caught up in these personal matters was pointless. She had come back to gather information about Chang’an for Zhao Changhe. Things like which barbarian leader was where and where to assassinate them could be found out by simply lurking outside for a while. What was the point of returning to the sect? If she was going to come back, she needed to learn things that couldn’t be known from the outside.

Come to think of it, meeting the head of the Wei family on her first day here was already an excellent starting point. Why not use it? Dwelling on what kind of person her master had become—what good would that do?

At this thought, Yue Hongling’s heart suddenly felt much lighter; with a flicker of her form, she vanished with a soft whoosh.

Wei Changming sat in the carriage, on the road from Mount Hua back to Chang’an, swaying all the way, his thoughts swaying as well. Yue Hongling had returned, looking as if she wanted to stir up trouble here and kill the Hu—this would be lively now… As long as Yue Hongling persisted, the inevitable outcome would be that everyone would have to find a way to have her die here. There was no way they could let her destroy the alliance between Guanlong and the Northern Hu.

This matter was a bit of a pity…

He had invested in Luoxia Manor for several years now. Back then, the situation wasn’t like it was now—no major directional troubles, just a simple emotional investment.

Given Yue Hongling’s ability to single-handedly kill the Black Miao King’s corpse puppet, she was definitely at the Heavenly Ranking level, not the Earthly Ranking. What did it mean for a faction to have a Heavenly Rank? It meant they were qualified to contend for supremacy—just look at Li Shentong.

Normally speaking, given his current relationship with Yue Hongling’s sect, if there were some difficult matters outside, or if his family offended someone they couldn’t afford to offend, entrusting Yue Hongling to help would have her agree without a second word. Securing a Heavenly Rank ally as backup—this investment had been very successful.

But as it turned out, from the very start it was about contending for the realm and Hu-Han enmity, and this investment was no longer enough. Not to mention the investment—before the greater cause, even their master-disciple relationship wasn’t enough… All these years of investment might have gone down the drain. What a pity, what a pity.

But looking at it from another angle…

Before his thoughts could finish, a great alarm rose in his heart. Wei Changming swiftly drew his sword, but was horrified to find that the longsword wouldn’t obey him at all—he couldn’t even pull it out.

The next moment, a fragrant breeze swept past, and the other’s longsword was already resting against his neck. He hadn’t even seen the trajectory of her entering the carriage.

Wei Changming was utterly shocked. His so-called Human Ranking strength was like a child’s before her: “Yue, Yue-guniang… Wei has not, has not offended you…”

Yue Hongling said calmly, “Dragging my sect into a marriage alliance with the Li family, putting me in a dilemma—is that not an offense?”

“Ha!” Wei Changming stamped his foot. “You think I wanted to? Li Boping brought it up, and I couldn’t very well refuse. If it were truly up to me, I’d have married into my own family! To be honest, I had already thought of that, but I feared that if I allied with your sect through marriage, it might arouse suspicion, so I shelved it!”

Yue Hongling blinked, a hint of a smile in her eyes: “Li Gongsi is dead. Li Boping seems to be in the middle of the Human Ranking—I forget exactly where, but he’s certainly not your equal. I’m quite curious—why are you still willing to follow the Li family’s lead? This thousand-li Guanzhong, the ambition of a hegemon—have you no interest?”

“Uh…” Wei Changming laughed bitterly, cautiously saying, “Could the lady first put down the sword and then speak?”

Yue Hongling sheathed her sword and sat opposite him.

Wei Changming took out the wine set kept in the carriage, poured a cup for Yue Hongling, and slowly said, “The struggle between factions is certainly not just about experts… Especially when everyone has few experts, it’s simply a comparison of resources, troops, and power. When Li Gongsi was alive, with his prestige and skill, he managed things excellently. After allying with the Hu to eliminate a few disobedient ones, he became even more dominant… That’s only natural. In any case, I can’t compare—far from it.”

Yue Hongling said, “If that’s the case, whether in experts or power, the Li family is completely crushed by the Hu. Then won’t they become a puppet emperor who only listens to the Hu?”

“It might have been possible.” Wei Changming smiled meaningfully. “But under the pressure of the New Han, Temür can’t act too arrogantly either; it’s only a cooperative posture. Li Boping is no fool—he previously courted the Buddhist sect to boost his influence, and later brought in the Jade Void. With this strength, he has the confidence to speak for himself; it’s hard for him to be a puppet emperor.”

Yue Hongling said, “If my observations are correct, the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism is quite intense?”

“Yes, it was originally a balancing tactic—making both Buddhist and Taoist sects serve him. The more they fought each other, the more they relied on the ruler’s favor. But then news from Langya came, and Yuancheng was widely suspected of being a second Guichen, leading to his expulsion—we hadn’t anticipated that… Just when it seemed the Jade Void would dominate, Dayan Temple somehow brought in a new Buddha, and now things seem to be balanced again.”

Yue Hongling thought for a moment: “The Li family is walking a tightrope.”

“There’s no choice. Over in the New Han, the Four Symbols Sect is the established state religion, so others can only vie for influence among other factions. Whether the Li family walks the tightrope or not, this situation was bound to form sooner or later.” Wei Changming took a leisurely sip of wine and pointed out, “Of course, the hidden dangers are great. After all, the Li family itself has no true strong experts. If they fail to maintain the balance and one side becomes dominant, they risk being sidelined. Or they might anger one side into refusing to play along. But for now, no matter how different the various factions in Chang’an think, they are united against the New Han. Their overall strength is actually not weaker than the New Han’s, perhaps even stronger.”

Yue Hongling said, “You don’t need to keep bringing up the New Han with me. I’m not a New Han official.”

Wei Changming smiled warmly: “True. The lady herself can build her own faction.”

This was the tacit understanding they had been dancing around for so long. Yue Hongling had asked, “This thousand-li Guanzhong, the ambition of a hegemon—have you no interest?” Of course, no one could be uninterested, but the situation was so complex that no one dared to make a wrong move. What was certain was that once the Li family lost control, it might become a pack of wolves circling and tearing at them, and one of those wolves would be Wei Changming himself.

But Wei Changming clearly had no desire to collude with the New Han.

Over there, they suppressed aristocratic families and promoted commoners—the attitude was too obvious. In the eyes of the lower classes, this was immensely appealing, but for the current struggle for supremacy, it wasn’t necessarily advantageous. The aristocratic families resisted, and many things couldn’t be done. If the New Han had been favoring aristocratic families, they could have directly tried to win over Wei Changming by now. Unfortunately, Wei Changming would never be willing to follow Cui Wenjing’s example of disbanding his martial arts, so he kept probing Yue Hongling’s relationship with the New Han.

These subtexts, if it had been two years ago, Yue Hongling wouldn’t have understood them. But now, after spending time with Zhao Changhe, her horizons had expanded beyond the martial world, and her thinking on such matters had broadened considerably.

She leaned back against the carriage wall, sipping her wine leisurely, and after a long while suddenly said, “I am on good terms with Changhe, but it truly doesn’t involve factional struggles. Even if I help Changhe, I am not on the same path as Xia Chichi. Can you grasp that meaning?”

Wei Changming blinked and laughed: “I understand.”

The struggle between the East and West Palaces… The West Palace lady also wanted her own power.

Yue Hongling said, “In fact, what I care about is only the Hu. Whoever colludes with the Hu, I oppose. I am not contacting you on behalf of the New Han, but only for myself—your investment in Luoxia Manor was for me, Yue Hongling. I can say this plainly: as long as you provide assistance in the resistance against the Hu, then no matter how the situation changes in the future, I personally can become a friend of the Wei family.”

Having said this, she vanished directly.

Wei Changming looked at the light snow outside the window, his expression shifting between gloom and brightness.

When it came to investment, with this one statement from Yue Hongling, it was worth more than years of investment in Luoxia Manor. What he wanted was Yue Hongling herself—what was Yue Fenghua but a nobody?

Whether it was Yue Hongling’s Heavenly Ranking level or the power of Zhao Changhe behind her… Even if the New Han was unfriendly to aristocratic families, it was still a fallback. If things went wrong, this thousand-li Guanzhong might not necessarily remain in the surname Wei.

This investment was priceless.

But the investment came with a condition… The Hu… The Hu. As it happened, he had no real ties to the Hu, while the Li family did.