In the rugged mountains at the border between Great Zhou and Great Yan, there was a mysterious valley called “Tianji Valley.” People of the martial world knew that Tianji Zi was an extraordinary person who emerged from Tianji Valley, but many had only heard the name “Tianji Valley” – no one had ever been able to personally reach it and take a look.

Some said Tianji Valley didn’t exist in the mortal world at all.

Others claimed the area around Tianji Valley was filled with poisonous miasma, and no one who approached ever returned alive, so naturally no one could enter the valley.

Still others theorized that strange formations must be arranged around Tianji Valley that ordinary people couldn’t decipher, so they couldn’t find the valley’s entrance or see its immortal palace.

At this moment, Pang Xiao sat on a small stool at the entrance of a grass hut deep in the mountains at the Zhou-Yan border, glowering at the young man before him who had a face like jade but wore a patched robe. He took the wooden cup from the man’s hands, drank a sip, and spat out two or three tea leaf stems with disgust.

“Look at you – you’re supposedly Tianji Zi’s disciple! Your master is a money-grubbing rake, while you’re such a penny-pincher that you’d feel bad about lighting a lamp for even a moment longer. How does your sect produce only such people! What kind of terrible tea leaves are these? Are they even fit for human consumption?”

Pang Xiao disgustedly set down the wooden cup and pointed at the surrounding barren grass hut, sparse bamboo fence, and vegetable plot that had just been fertilized with manure.

“This is all the wealth your Tianji Sect possesses? If those people outside knew that Tianji Valley looked this shabby, with the nominal sect leader wearing patched clothes, wouldn’t they laugh their teeth off!”

Mu Jinghu looked at Pang Xiao expressionlessly, poured the coarse tea that Pang Xiao had rejected into his own wooden cup, leisurely took a sip, then said in his slow voice without any emotion, “My master refuses to acknowledge me as her disciple and only allows me to call her martial aunt.”

This was the first time Pang Xiao had heard Mu Jinghu mention this. He asked curiously, “Oh? Why won’t your master acknowledge you? Is it because you’re too wooden? Or because you’re too stingy?”

Mu Jinghu took another sip of tea, carefully savoring the tea’s fragrance in his mouth before saying, “When Grand Master took Master as a disciple and taught martial arts, Master was too lazy to learn. When teaching medical skills, Master was too lazy to learn. When teaching Daoist methods, Master was too lazy to learn. In the end, Master only agreed to learn some geomancy, saying it would be enough to earn a living.”

Mu Jinghu lowered his head, “Grand Master said that with Master’s temperament, entering the world would just stir up trouble, and since she was too lazy to learn martial arts for self-defense, he picked me up from outside to teach me martial arts and medicine. At first I was supposed to call Grand Master ‘Master,’ but Grand Master pushed me toward Master, saying ‘I’m not teaching you for my own sake. I’m teaching you to protect her – she’s your master, and you’re learning martial arts and medicine to save her life someday.’ So I called Master ‘Master,’ but Master found me troublesome and refused to acknowledge me, saying I should call her martial aunt instead. If Grand Master ever takes on another young disciple in the future, I’d count as her martial brother’s student.”

Huzi listened in amazement, unconsciously chewing and swallowing the tea leaf stems.

Pang Xiao burst into hearty laughter, “That does sound like something Tianji Zi would say. Aside from being wooden, dull, honest, foolish, and stingy, you don’t really have any other flaws. Why won’t your master accept you and insists you be her martial nephew?”

Mu Jinghu raised his head and after a long pause asked, “You’ve already listed so many of my flaws – no wonder Master won’t accept me as a disciple.”

“Haha!” Pang Xiao was again delighted by this wooden block and laughed loudly.

Huzi also laughed, “Has Young Master Mu’s grand master taken on any young disciples?”

Mu Jinghu honestly shook his head, “I don’t know. Grand Master is like a dragon – visible at the head but not the tail. I haven’t seen him for many years.”

Pang Xiao smiled and sighed, “Mutou, I’ve come this time to have you fulfill our wager.”

“Pang Fox, I know. Otherwise you two wouldn’t have been able to find me.” Mu Jinghu set down his wooden cup and said seriously, “After I help you with this matter, we’ll be even.”

“Good. It’s a deal.”

“You’re a fox – too cunning. I don’t trust you.” Mu Jinghu pulled out half a sheet of paper from his sleeve with a written agreement in charcoal and handed it to Pang Xiao, “Press your handprint.”

Pang Xiao looked at the shabby half-sheet of paper and said helplessly, “If you’re going to write an agreement, couldn’t you find better paper?” Still, he dabbed some charcoal and pressed his handprint.

Only then did Mu Jinghu seem relieved, tucking the agreement into his chest, “Tell me, what is it?”

“Mutou, I want you to help me protect someone. Someone very important to me. Just keep protecting her until I can bring her to my side.”

Mu Jinghu nodded without asking who the person had offended, why he needed to step in for protection, when Pang Xiao would bring the person to his side, or what trouble this might bring him. He simply nodded, “What’s his name and where does he live?”

“She’s surnamed Qin, given name Yining, fifteen years old, residing at Marquis Anping’s mansion in Great Yan’s capital. She’s the legitimate daughter of Marquis Anping, Qin Meng. Fourth in the family.”

“A woman?” Mu Jinghu finally showed some surprise.

Pang Xiao smiled and nodded, “Yes, she’ll be my wife someday.”

“Oh.” Mu Jinghu nodded, “Must be another fox.”

Hearing this, Pang Xiao burst into laughter again.

People in Great Yan’s capital had no way of knowing how Pang Xiao was deploying things from Liang City.

At this moment in the palace, the Empress listened to her personal attendant’s report and was already so angry her face was flushed red. In uncontrollable rage, she smashed everything within sight that could be broken. In the blink of an eye, Phoenix Ceremonial Palace looked like it had been ransacked by bandits – broken porcelain everywhere, coral ornaments overturned, incense burners knocked to the ground, jewelry boxes upended, and huge pearl strings snapped with pearls scattered all over the floor.

The palace servants trembled like leaves, hunching their necks as they knelt in corners, afraid of being caught in the Empress’s fury.

Even so, the Empress couldn’t slightly relieve her inner anger. She kicked over a young eunuch kneeling beside her feet, sending the teenage boy rolling on the ground.

The Empress cursed through gritted teeth, “That damned Tianji Zi! How dare she toy with this palace!”

The trusted eunuch making the report whispered soothingly, “Your Majesty shouldn’t be angry. Perhaps Tianji Zi has other matters to attend to and temporarily left, but may return soon. You know this type of person is usually like a dragon – visible at the head but not the tail. Besides, Tianji Zi still needs to attend to His Majesty’s immortality pills. She wouldn’t dare leave the capital for too long.”

The Empress said angrily, “If she dares return, I’ll skin her alive!”

The eunuch smiled, “Your Majesty has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Even if you wanted to skin that bald scoundrel, you’d have to consider His Majesty, wouldn’t you? Please calm down for now. The Imperial Uncle said to ask Your Majesty to remain calm and patient. Whoever dares make Your Majesty unhappy, the Imperial Uncle remembers it all. You are His Majesty’s beloved and the Imperial Uncle’s precious daughter. Whoever dares provoke you is provoking the two most powerful men in the world! They won’t have a good end! Why should Your Majesty harm your health over such people?”

This eunuch had served the Empress for many years and knew well that the two things the Empress was most proud of in her life were first, being born into the Cao family, and second, marrying the Son of Heaven to become the main consort. This comforting statement encompassed the two things that most touched the Empress’s heart, and she immediately felt much better.

“You old thing, you just know how to sweet-talk.” The Empress sighed, “Forget it. Have someone clean everything up. His Majesty might come later, so I need to dress up properly to receive him.”

“Yes, this servant will see to it immediately.”