Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 140 - 113: Lush and Verdant

Upon hearing his daughter's admission, Qian Long felt a rush of anger, surprise, and disillusionment... all sorts of emotions surged into his mind.

It really is Qian Yue...

Honestly, when the suspicion first arose in his heart, Qian Long was somewhat taken aback himself.

How did he come to suspect his youngest daughter? He knew well that the Qian Family was famous for its internal unity, and although his three sons and one daughter each had their flaws, like Qian Ye's inability to count, Qian Yu's lack of focus, and Qian Yue's naïve love-struck mind... in terms of character, they still made Qian Long proud.

If it weren't for the dire situation, he truly didn't want to suspect his children of engaging in acts of sibling rivalry.

But given the previous situation, he could not help but be suspicious.

The attacker was a mysterious figure clad in armor, who displayed undisguised malice towards Qian Ye but struck with precision, causing no harm aside from knocking him unconscious.

This wasn't the style of ordinary demons or evil cultivators; such maniacs would have refined Qian Ye into a blood sacrifice to immediately seize the Qian Family's bloodline divine techniques. Yet the armored figure didn't even touch Qian Long's Qiankun Bag! Moreover, if the intention were to kidnap and extort, they should have kidnapped Qian Ye, not Zhou Yu. Even the wealth of the Celestial Fragrance Pavilion couldn't compare to the Qian Family's.

If it wasn't an evil cultivator, then who could it be?

Upon deeper thought, the armored figure's actions, although exaggerated and erratic, were highly measured. Optimistically speaking, it seemed like a malicious joke!

Additionally, the Qian Family's range near the outskirts of the city was protected by strict defensive arrays. Even if someone had followed Zhou Yu in, it's hard to believe they had no understanding of the arrays. Especially because the array principle was to respond emphatically to any strong intrusion; traversing directly to Qian Ye without triggering the array implied a low cultivation but a high familiarity with the Qian Family's arrays—likely an insider!

All considered, if it's an insider pulling a malicious prank, who else could it be but Qian Yue?

Understanding this, Qian Long had no choice but to rush angrily to Golden and Silver Mountain to confront Qian Yue. Even at the final moment, although his demeanor was fierce, he hoped for his daughter to shake her head and refute it.

Yet Qian Yue disappointed him.

Filled with regret and anger, Qian Long demanded, "Why!?"

"..."

"I'm asking you, why?!"

Qian Yue murmured, "Umm, for revenge."

"Revenge!? Ridiculous, revenge for what? What did your brother ever do to you? You would conspire with outsiders for such a thing!?"

Qian Yue said, "Umm, I wanted revenge on you, Dad. You locked me up on Golden and Silver Mountain without reason, while Second Brother enjoys freedom outside..."

"Your Second Brother enjoys freedom!? Ha, he'd probably spit blood hearing that. He endured pain from cultivating for the family's honor, what do you, a little girl, know!? Keeping you confined might be dull, but it's safe. You..."

"I didn't want to be idle. Speaking of painful experiences, who could endure more than Mr. Wang Jiu's training inside the Li Family's Inner Sect? I sought hardship, but you locked me in a comfortable cage, which sparked my desire for revenge."

At this, Qian Long almost used the Gold-Burning Palm to teach this unreasonable child a lesson but couldn't bear to when he saw the hint of innocence in his daughter's face.

Damn it, why did I have a daughter in the first place, why!? If it were Qian Yu, I'd definitely beat him up!

With a hint of resentment, Qian Long questioned, "Who is the armored figure!? Where did he take Zhou Yu?"

"I don't know either."

"What!?"

Qian Yue shivered as her father's eyes glared like bronze bells, hurriedly stammering to explain, "I really don't know. I've been cut off here on Golden and Silver Mountain; how could I arrange everything meticulously from here?"

Qian Long was dumbfounded. Indeed, this little girl had been locked away early on; how did she conspire with outsiders for such a prank?

For a moment, Qian Long felt he was grasping at something vague, obscured in fog.

Then Qian Yue added, "So, I could only get a powerful organization from outside to teach Second Brother a lesson. Not specifically targeting Second Brother…but mainly aimed at you, Dad. I could only provide a general idea; the specifics were all up to them."

At this, Qian Long couldn't be bothered to hear more nonsense. In Qingyun City, only a few organizations would dare undertake such assignments. Order the spies to contact the leaders and retract the task altogether.

A moment later, having instructed the spy, Qian Long turned and glared at Qian Yue again.

"...You'll be the death of me with your antics!"

——

Half an hour later, Qian Long was furious once more.

"What!? They said no such task exists?!"

Spies Thirteen and Seventeen reported trembling, "Yes, we contacted the leaders of those two organizations. They said they hadn't received any requested tasks recently, from the Qian Family or against the Qian Family. They also said, even with immense courage, they wouldn't dare pull such pranks on the core disciples of the Qian Family."

Qian Long held back his breath, conceding this explanation made sense.

If it was targeting the peripheral disciples of the Qian Family, that would be one thing, but who in QingCloud City doesn't know about Qian Ye's current core status? Although not the family's heir, he is the hot favorite to win the QingCloud Grand Competition, his status temporarily even higher than Qian Yu, the designated heir! Playing a prank on him, aren't they afraid of the Patriarch Qian's wrath?

And to take such a big risk just to satisfy a little girl's prank needs, this business is indeed too unprofitable, who would want to do it?

"What do you all think?"

"We did a comparative investigation and believe that the other party's explanation is acceptable, so..."

Qian Long said sullenly, "So... the problem goes back to that brat!?"

Crack!

With a crisp sound, the armrest of Qian Long's favorite grand master's chair was crushed.

A few minutes later, in the underground chamber of Gold and Silver Mountain.

Qian Yue said with an apologetic face.

"Yeah, I was lying before, sorry dad."

Qian Long felt darkness before his eyes at the time.

"Actually, I didn't want to, but dad, you suspect me without clear justification, ignoring common sense, what can I do."

"..."

Qian Yue argued, "I actually wanted to deny it at first, but dad, you glared at me with a fierce look as if you were going to eat someone, leaving me with no courage to say no..."

"Who scared you!?"

Qian Yue was startled, and said somewhat aggrievedly, "Just like how you are now."

Qian Long was so angry that his chest felt tight, yet he couldn't say a word.

Your dad naturally looks fierce, I'm so sorry for that!

Qian Yue explained softly again: "So, at that time, I thought, dad, you are wise and mighty, with meticulous thoughts, thinking quickly, wouldn't you have thought that I, a little girl confined, couldn't possibly contact the outside world to play a prank on my brother? Dad, you must have thought of it, so why did you come to question me? Is there something else going on? This kind of questioning against common sense of your own daughter, is there some burden? Since so, as your daughter, raised by you, I should without hesitation take the blame first."

"You, you unhesitatingly took the blame..." Qian Long held his heart, feeling darkness before his eyes.

"Yes, after deciding to take the blame, I fully engaged my mind, thinking about what phrase I could use to reasonably cooperate with you in directing this scene. Honestly, for a moment, I had no idea how I, a confined little girl, could arrange such a prank reasonably. Fortunately, you're thoughtful and came to the answer in an instant, old ginger is hotter than young!"

Listening to his daughter's bell-like laughter, Qian Long felt he was about to vomit blood.

"Enough! This time I was wrong to suspect you randomly." Qian Long gritted his teeth and said, "Now I'm seriously asking you, who do you think did it?!"

Hearing her dad apologize, Qian Yue was a bit surprised, then nodded, gathered the smile off her face, and said earnestly, "Actually, the answer should be obvious, dad, you dispatched spies but got no information, then there are only a few possibilities, like the simplest one, have you checked the VIP box at the Drunken Immortal Tower?"

At these words, Qian Long was taken aback.

Indeed, the Qian Family spies had blind spots, at least before he, as the patriarch, requested the highest level intelligence gathering, there were certain places the spies could not freely infiltrate.

Such as, investigations into the family's internal core members.

Then, for example, investigation into a few tacit secret areas within QingCloud City—the VIP box on the top floor of the Drunken Immortal Tower is one of them.

But Qian Long had never thought someone would have the guts to go openly to the top floor of Drunken Immortal Tower to feast after knocking out a core disciple of the Qian Family in the suburbs! Now, with Qian Yue's words, the answer... really seemed obvious.

"Thirteen, take people to the Drunken Immortal Tower!"

A moment later, the spy codenamed Thirteen reported back with a pale face.

"Report, reporting to the master, w-we have found the person."

Qian Long saw his unusual expression and asked, "What's going on? Is there any situation?"

The spy hesitated a bit, and under Qian Long's stern urging gaze, he slowly said, "Well, Miss Zhou Yu, from the Zhou Family, was found at the top floor of the Drunken Immortal Tower."

"Oh, then what?"

The spy hesitated for a bit, and then under Qian Long's stern eyes, slowly said: "That, Miss Zhou, is drinking and eating with a handsome young man, looking... very happy."

"What!?"

"What!?"

At the entrance, just catching his breath and coming to ask his dad about the latest progress, Qian Ye happened to hear this sentence, his mind was struck like lightning, and his face turned pale!