Chapter 42: Lotus Hidden in the Womb

Three years ago, Gu Yuye planted a secret agent by the Sixth Prince's side, where the operative has been lurking in the prince's manor disguised as a counselor.

Over these three years, this hidden agent gradually earned the Sixth Prince's trust, eventually becoming one of his closest subordinates.

Every single covert operative currently at Gu Yuye's disposal had been cultivated with the utmost care to ensure absolute loyalty and an unblemished background.

Reaching a stage where they could actually be deployed proved just how much painstaking effort had been invested.

Once activated, Gu Yuye had to ensure that the agent could exert maximum impact.

Originally, someone as important as the Sixth Prince, Xiao Yi, warranted having an agent planted beside him reserved for a far more crucial moment.

Such an asset might well have become the turning point of a decisive game.

Yet now, he was forced to expose this hidden agent prematurely just to deal with Gu Fangchen.

Making a move within the imperial city was tantamount to the agent blowing their own cover.

For Gu Yuye, years of painstaking effort going down the drain simply to resolve the variable that was Gu Fangchen was truly an unacceptable trade-off...

And yet, he had no other choice.

If it were merely the original Gu Fangchen, even as a variable, Gu Yuye would still have deemed him unworthy of fear. That was an abandoned pawn he had sculpted with his own hands; no one knew better than him how to destroy Gu Fangchen.

However, following a series of unexpected events, Gu Yuye's habitual, blind self-confidence had been shattered, forcing a shift in his mindset.

Gu Yuye's nineteen years of complete control and suppression over Gu Fangchen had forged a psychological prison for Gu Fangchen, but was it not equally a psychological prison for Gu Yuye himself?

Trapped by habitual thinking, he had committed far too many errors.

Until a short while ago, he finally realized that standing opposite him was no longer that discarded pawn, but rather another chess player!

"It is truly a rare sight for the Prince to ignore his own family affairs and concern himself with the sacred artifact of my Mother of Matriarchs Cult instead."

Behind the white curtain, Princess Prajna's lazy, cold feminine voice carried no discernible emotional fluctuation.

"Family matters are important, no doubt, but for the sake of all living souls under heaven, they may be set aside for the moment."

Gu Yuye stood with his hands behind his back and slowly spoke:

"Ever since Kong Zhao, the sixth generation saintess of the Mother of Matriarchs Cult, betrayed the sect five hundred years ago due to the enticement of the demonic 'Life Path' doctrine, she took away the 'Lotus Treasury in the Womb'. This legendary sacred artifact capable of cleansing one's innate marrow has remained missing ever since, causing the Mother of Matriarchs Cult to enter a period of decline and nearly failing to recover."

"Yet Kong Zhao was actually a descendant of the Peacock clan... As everyone knows, the World-Guiding Buddha Mother worshipped by the Mother of Matriarchs Cult is, according legend, the Peacock Buddha Mother who swallowed Shakyamuni and gave birth to him anew, achieving a golden body through great suffering and great merit."

"According to the teachings of the Mother of Matriarchs Cult, the fruition rank of the Peacock Buddha Mother is supreme in this world, far surpassing Shakyamuni."

"Shakyamuni, mindful of her grace, willingly stood in attendance by the seat of the World-Guiding Buddha Mother to manifest the suffering of the world for her, becoming that very [Heavenly Drum Sound Tathagata]."

"The so-called 'Lotus Treasury in the Womb' is precisely a treasure lotus manifested through great merit when the Buddha Mother gave birth to the Tathagata."

"Meanwhile, Garan Temple worships Shakyamuni, honoring him as the Buddha Lord, and naturally denounces the doctrines of the Mother of Matriarchs Cult as blasphemy. The sectarian schism of the Buddhist orthodoxy stems from this."

Princess Prajna said indifferently:

"These matters are known to everyone. Could it be that the Prince of Northern Suppression speaks of all living souls, yet has actually come here to chat with me about family trivialities?"

As the saintess of the Mother of Matriarchs Cult, how could she possibly be unaware of what Gu Yuye was saying?

To her, this was no different from casual chit-chat.

Princess Prajna could not help but frown; engaging in idle banter was certainly not the style of the Military Sage.

Her heart sank. The more Gu Yuye acted this way, the more it indicated that he was supremely confident about what was to come.

And it still concerned the "Lotus Treasury in the Womb"...

"What Princess Prajna says is not entirely incorrect; this matter can indeed be considered a family affair."

Gu Yuye smiled faintly and continued:

"After Kong Zhao took away the 'Lotus Treasury in the Womb', her bloodline merged with it once more. By the time she finally suffered a sudden awakening, it was already too late. To preserve the sacred artifact, she had no choice but to take her own life and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation."

The smile on the face of the Prince of Northern Suppression grew rather eerie as he uttered softly, word by word:

"The sixth-generation saintess of the Mother of Matriarchs Cult, the sole surviving lineage of the Peacock clan, her reincarnated form—"

"Is none other than my little daughter, Gu Lianxian."

...

Gu Fangchen strode past Xiao Yi and walked toward the imperial palace.

Yet this Sixth Prince, who had antagonized him for over a decade, clearly still could not accept such a reality. Standing frozen in place for a moment, he dropped his sword and gave chase.

On the sword he had cast to the ground, a cruciform trace flickered faintly before vanishing altogether.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Xiao Yi bounced up and down with wide eyes:

"Did you conceal some invisible magic artifact on your body?! Despicable! Shameless!"

Without breaking his stride, Gu Fangchen replied indifferently:

"Then when you brandished a sixth-grade sword against an innocent person who, in your eyes, possesses no cultivation and is utterly unarmed, was that not despicable and shameless?"

That sword possessed the strength of the sixth grade. In the hands of a normal eighth-grade martial artist, dealing with anyone below the seventh grade would be as easy as slicing melons and vegetables.

However, Xiao Yi was poorly trained and flashy in his moves, following the sword manual with rigid adherence.

One could say his movements were as fixed and predictable as a video game NPC's, and Gu Fangchen had spotted the flaws at a single glance.

Naturally, this was not without conditions.

Had it been his previous physical condition, even if he had spotted the flaws, he would have been utterly incapable of making a move.

Yet in his current body, in terms of sheer physical strength, he had already reached the peak of the seventh grade. With his rich experience in memorizing boss patterns, someone of Xiao Yi's caliber fighting him was no different from children brawling.

This was the first time Gu Fangchen had made a move using his own strength, and he was very satisfied with the result.

At the very least, it proved that combat experience from video games could indeed be applied to reality.

For instance, just from the single move Xiao Yi had executed, he could instantly react and tell which page of which movement in which sword manual it originated from.

Basically, he was no different from Wang Yuyan.

At the same time, Gu Fangchen had just discovered that someone had set up a teleportation coordinate on that sword.

The moment he came into contact with the weapon, that teleportation coordinate had stamped itself onto his body.

This belonged to the art of spatial tethering, meaning that people from the demonic cult were moving behind the scenes...

Without a doubt, this was certainly the faction of demonic cult members that Gu Yuye had been in contact with.

Xiao Yi's face flushed red, and as it dawned on him, he stiffened his neck and argued:

"I'm despicable? Do you dare claim you have no collusion with the demonic cult?!"

Gu Fangchen's expression remained unchanged:

"Naturally not."

How could he possibly collude with the demonic cult?

He was already one of the big bosses of the demonic cult now... Could that even be called collusion? Those demonic cult members were all his subordinates!

Seeing how righteous and confident he looked, Xiao Yi was momentarily rendered speechless. Then, recalling what he had just said, a sense of guilty panic washed over him.

Originally, he had acted purely on a momentary impulse, but now that he realized something was amiss, the core problem quickly dawned on him.

If things truly were as Gu Fangchen had stated, then the sword he had just thrust...

Had he not committed a catastrophic blunder?

He looked pleadingly at Xiao Qiu, but Xiao Qiu merely shook his head and explained helplessly:

"This matter is a long story. Your Highness would do better to listen to this old servant explain slowly later. His Majesty is still waiting for the Heir Apparent in the Ziji Hall."

We're doomed!

The moment Xiao Yi heard those words, he knew things had taken a massive turn for the worse.

For Xiao Qiu to still address Gu Fangchen as "Heir Apparent" meant not only that he had not been charged with a crime, but that his status had not even been stripped away!

————

ps: I ordered a bowl of mildly spicy rice noodles for dinner, but I didn't expect it to be Jiangxi's definition of "mildly spicy"... I've been running to the restroom ever since, and I'm feeling a bit exhausted.