The Yunchuan Garden Pavilion was vast, looking down from above like a bustling small city.
It was said that within the entire garden pavilion, there were nearly a hundred large and small mountain villas, and countless other courtyards and gardens of all kinds.
Night had just fallen, the time when the garden pavilion was most lively.
Serenity Garden.
This was one of the many gardens within the Yunchuan Garden Pavilion, and also one of the few suitable for conversation.
The reason was none other than the fact that Serenity Garden was relatively quiet. The garden was filled with green bamboo, and the ground was covered with lush green grass. With a dozen or so pavilions, three or five friends could sit facing each other, chatting freely about life. There were also Daoist couples who had fallen in love meeting here for secret rendezvous, speaking sweet nothings and nighttime whispers.
At this moment.
In one of the pavilions within Serenity Garden, three women were seated.
Each of the three women was youthful and beautiful, with an extraordinary aura.
One of them, wearing a long jade-green dress, had a tall and slender figure, an aura as elegant as an orchid, and a somewhat aloof demeanor. This was precisely Yanluo Princess-Royal Tang Manqing.
Another woman, dressed in white, appeared heroic and graceful, gentle yet captivating. This was Liu Yue.
Whether it was Tang Manqing or Liu Yue, both enjoyed great fame within Yanluo Kingdom and were known throughout the land as heaven's favored daughters, hailed as the Twin Flowers of Yanluo.
Apart from these two, there was another woman sitting in the pavilion. She wore only a red tube top on her upper body and a red skirt below, her alluring figure clearly visible, her fiery physique enough to make one's blood boil. With a bewitching face, charming peach-blossom eyes that could intoxicate, and a head of fiery red hair, she was truly a delicate, dewy rose.
And she was precisely Yanluo Kingdom's most famous and popular musical performer, Lin Xiang'er.
The three were friends, confidantes, and good sisters.
Every so often, the three would gather for a small reunion, usually finding a secluded garden to laugh and chat.
The reason they had come to the Yunchuan Garden Pavilion this time was to support Lin Xiang'er, as Lin Xiang'er, invited by the Black Buddha Lord, performed here almost every year.
The three women always had endless topics to discuss when they met, and this time was even more so, especially for Tang Manqing.
Originally, she was the one who spoke the least among the three. However, these past two days, she had truly bottled up a bellyful of words and a bellyful of grievances. If she didn't find someone to confide in soon, she felt she would go mad.
Thus, as soon as she met Liu Yue and Lin Xiang'er today, she recounted in detail the events of encountering Gu Qingfeng in the royal mausoleum two days prior.
"That swindler surnamed Gu is truly detestable. Who knows what despicable method he used to make my Great-Grandfather so utterly convinced of his identity. No matter how much I tried to persuade him, Great-Grandfather wouldn't listen. Not only that, do you know what?
Great-Grandfather even told me to kneel and apologize to that swindler."
Liu Yue asked, "Did you kneel to that swindler surnamed Gu?"
"How could I!
He's a swindler. How could I, Tang Manqing, kneel to a swindler? It's just that..."
"Just what?"
"Just that I got a beating."
"A beating?
Did Old Senior Tang hit you?
Why did he hit you?"
"It was precisely because I didn't kneel."
"Just because of that, Old Senior Tang hit you?"
If they hadn't heard it with their own ears, neither Liu Yue nor Lin Xiang'er would have dared to believe it. They were good sisters with Tang Manqing, so naturally they knew Old Tang Demon was the ancestor of the Yanluo royal family, and they knew even better that Old Senior Tang had always doted on Tang Manqing. They just never imagined that Old Senior Tang would actually beat her simply because she didn't kneel and apologize to that swindler.
"It seems Old Senior Tang truly is utterly convinced of that Gu Qingfeng's identity. Otherwise, he wouldn't have struck you."
"That's not all. That swindler even claimed he could help Rou'er's Pure Yin Extreme Body awaken, and my Great-Grandfather believed that too."
"This..." Liu Yue frowned. "Can that swindler really help Rou'er's Pure Yin Extreme Body awaken?"
"Him?"
In front of her good sisters, Tang Manqing saw no need to pretend to be a proper lady. She cursed, "He can do shit!"
"Rou'er is so pitiful, already weak enough as it is. If that swindler messes around with her treatment, wouldn't that be..."
"That's exactly why I'm so worried now. But damn it, Great-Grandfather trusts him completely. There's nothing I can do. It's giving me a headache."
Tang Manqing said, "Liu Yue, Xiang'er, you two must help me think of a way this time."
"If even your words don't work on Old Senior Tang, and he even beat you, if we go and speak, would we even come back alive?"
At this point, Lin Xiang'er beside them also spoke up. "I think this matter isn't that simple. Old Senior Tang is a highly accomplished expert. His experience and knowledge are far beyond anything we can compare to. If he didn't have solid evidence, he shouldn't blindly believe, right? Moreover, Old Senior Tang dotes on Rou'er so much. I believe if the old senior had even the slightest doubt about that fellow surnamed Gu, he wouldn't allow him to treat Rou'er."
"That's precisely the problem. Great-Grandfather doesn't have a single shred of doubt about that swindler surnamed Gu."
"Why is Old Senior Tang so utterly convinced of his identity?"
"My Great-Grandfather said he tested him. That swindler surnamed Gu knows everything about the events of the past."
Liu Yue said, "That fellow surnamed Gu fused with a wisp of the Monarch's remnant consciousness. He should have obtained some of the Monarch's memories, more or less. It's not strange that he knows about the past. Furthermore, many of the Monarch's private matters have been dug up by later generations and are now common knowledge. That Monarch in Yanluo also knows about the past between the Monarch and your aunt, right?"
"Exactly! I told Great-Grandfather that, but he...
simply wouldn't listen!"
The moment Tang Manqing thought of the events in the royal mausoleum two days ago, anger surged within her. She said indignantly, "You've both seen that swindler surnamed Gu. Do you think he resembles the Monarch?
He has no proper sitting posture, no proper standing posture. He lacks presence, lacks bearing. You could say he lacks everything. He's just an uneducated, frivolous playboy through and through. But Great-Grandfather says the real Monarch was exactly like this. I'm about to lose my mind."
Tang Manqing spoke until her mouth was dry. She picked up a cup of fine wine and downed it in one gulp, then continued, "Do you know how outrageous the things that swindler said in front of my Great-Grandfather were?"
Liu Yue and Lin Xiang'er shook their heads.
"That swindler said that when he was in the Great Northwest, he once fought against the Three Thousand Great Daos. He even said something like, standing there motionless, even if the people of the Three Thousand Great Daos exhausted themselves to death, they couldn't budge him an inch."
"That's too outrageous, isn't it?
Although that fellow surnamed Gu's physical body is exceptionally formidable, to say he can contend with the Three Thousand Great Daos, I'm afraid he's far from qualified."
What were the Three Thousand Great Daos?
They were the entities that ruled over the heavens and earth, the billions of worlds, and all living beings.
For women like Tang Manqing, Liu Yue, and Lin Xiang'er, they were like heavenly deities. How could they possibly be unable to budge a mere human?