Ye Jingtang slid his feet forward and backward, his arm muscles bulging, and his black robe suddenly tightened.
Bang!
A strong crosswind suddenly blew up, instantly pressing down the surrounding flowers and plants and lifting Dongfang Liren's long hair!!
"Hah—"
The shout was like a rumble of thunder!
Ye Jingtang's eyes were as sharp as blades. He gathered strength from the ground and threw a powerful and heavy punch...
"Hey, hey?!!"
Dongfang Liren saw this imposing stance that could kill anyone in its path and was so frightened that her beautiful face turned pale. She quickly blocked the Chilong Huan Shou Saber in front of her, leaped back several steps, and her eyes were filled with terror.
The big and cute Niaoniao beside them also jumped a long distance away.
Ye Jingtang paused in his punching motion. Looking at the Princess who had been so confident just now, he blinked his eyes:
"Hmm?"
How dare you "hmm"?!!
Dongfang Liren was quite annoyed. She thought Ye Jingtang really had no sense of propriety and glared at him angrily, saying,
"I told you to put some strength into it, but were you planning to beat me half to death with one punch?"
"Uh... I thought the Minglong Diagram was very powerful, and I forgot that it's Your Highness who's been practicing it..."
"What do you mean by that?"
Ye Jingtang retracted his boxing stance, and with a somewhat sheepish expression, he cupped his hands:
"Nothing. Hmm... I was being offensive."
Dongfang Liren knew that Ye Jingtang thought she was not very good at martial arts but still liked to play around. She was really unhappy about it. She no longer gave Ye Jingtang the opportunity to test how strong her fist was and continued to practice her saber technique:
"You want to see the Minglong Diagram?"
Ye Jingtang smiled: "It's a treasure of the Jianghu. Of course, I want to see it. But it's said that this thing is strictly prohibited. If one obtains it, they can gain the whole world. If Your Highness shows it to me, I'm afraid..."
"I believe that one can 'ascend to immortality' with it, but the idea that one can 'gain the whole world' is nonsense. The general trend of the world has never depended on one person or one kind of martial art. It depends on 'the will of the people'. As long as you perform well, it won't be a problem for me to let you have a look at it in the future."
Ye Jingtang knew it wouldn't be that easy and nodded with a smile:
"Thank you for Your Highness's favor. I have to go to the watchtower to meet with Lord Shang and the others to report that I'm safe. How about leaving Niaoniao to accompany Your Highness while I go there first?"
If the secret sentry doesn't show up on time, others will think that something has happened. Dongfang Liren didn't try to keep him and threw the saber to Ye Jingtang:
"Go and come back quickly. I'm still waiting for you to teach me the saber technique. If you can't teach me well, don't even think about learning the 'Dragon-Slaying Order'."
Sigh...
Ye Jingtang estimated that it would take at least a year and a half for him to learn the Dragon-Slaying Order. So he nodded helplessly, put away his saber, cupped his hands in a salute, and quickly left Jingfu Palace...
------
When Ye Jingtang and Dongfang Liren were exchanging ideas about martial arts in the courtyard, neither of them noticed that there was a gaze watching them from the top of a nearby palace pavilion.
The female emperor, dressed in a bright red dress, had her arms crossed. Watching her younger sister and the handsome young man playing and joking in the courtyard where they had grown up together in their childhood, a hint of emotion appeared in her eyes.
When they were young, Liren was competitive and really liked playing with weapons, but she was no match for her at all. She wasn't polite either and often made fun of Liren, calling her a silly little girl.
Those days were really interesting. It's a pity that now both of them have grown up, and it's very difficult to play and practice martial arts together like they used to.
The grandmasters under her, out of respect for Prince Jing, would never openly fight with Liren, let alone play around with her.
But this Ye Jingtang was different. He was extremely handsome and had such great talent that he could tease and scare Liren just like she used to do in the past. However, he also knew how to accommodate Liren's pride and would admit defeat when necessary, so as not to really make Liren unhappy.
Such a man could be said to be exactly in line with Liren's aesthetic taste. No wonder Liren treated him differently and even dared to hide it from her own elder sister.
After Ye Jingtang left, Liren stood there holding the saber, staring in the direction he had gone, with a distracted expression and obviously having something on her mind.
After that, when she practiced the saber technique, she would practice for a while and then turn her head to look in that direction. The eagerness to wait for Ye Jingtang to finish his business quickly and come back to accompany her to continue practicing the saber and chatting was almost written all over her eyes.
It was obvious that she had some feelings for Ye Jingtang and wanted to continue to interact and develop their relationship...
However, it seemed that Ye Jingtang only regarded Liren as a princess and didn't show any signs of being attracted to her. He even deliberately kept his distance...
Thinking of this, the female emperor secretly frowned.
This was a big problem. Liren had a cold and aloof personality and wasn't good at expressing her feelings. If she were to pursue the person she liked on her own, I'm afraid it would take three to five years and still not yield any results. She might even end up being heartbroken and sad in the end...
The female emperor thought for a moment, looked in the direction where Ye Jingtang had left, and turned to walk towards a certain place in the imperial city...
-----
Ye Jingtang entered the palace at the time of the evening drum. After two check-ins, it was approximately ten o'clock at night.
Ye Jingtang turned back from the watchtower and rushed straight to Jingfu Palace with Niaoniao, lest Dongfang Liren wait for too long.
But he didn't know if there was something strange about the palace. Just after passing through several palace pavilions and before reaching Jingfu Palace, he saw a palace maid on the way, walking back and forth alone in the corridor.
The palace maid was carrying a palace lantern, wearing a red dress. Her figure was plump and tall, and her appearance was stunningly beautiful. Even from a long distance, one could recognize who she was from her unique temperament that made her the center of attention wherever she went.
Miss Yuhu?
Ye Jingtang stopped in his tracks in the dark, his eyes full of surprise.
As a guard, it was his duty to question suspicious figures. Seeing the palace maid he had met in Mingyu Building yesterday, who seemed to be full of sorrow, he landed at the other end of the corridor and spoke in the tone of a guard:
"Who is here in the middle of the night... Miss Yuhu?"
In the corridor, the empress of the Great Wei Dynasty, who had been waiting for a long time, had a flash of amusement in her eyes, but she still looked worried on the surface:
"Master Ye?!! Why are you...?"
"Prince Jing ordered me to patrol the palace city as a guard. Why are you alone here, Miss Yuhu? Are you in trouble?"
"Sigh~"
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty had a worried look between her eyebrows: "There's no real trouble. This afternoon, His Majesty took a bath in Canyang Pool, and I was serving beside him. I don't know if I accidentally lost the jade pendant I always carry with me when I was taking off my clothes. The jade pendant was left to me by my mother..."
Ye Jingtang frowned slightly: "Then go and look for it. What are you doing standing here?"
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty gently bit her lower lip. Her pitiful and charming expression would probably shock the civil and military officials who usually feared her like a tiger:
"I can't walk around randomly in the palace. I have no reason to go and look for it... Canyang Pool is cleaned every morning. If the eunuchs or palace maids see it and take it away, I will definitely never be able to find it again... You are serving as a secret guard. I wonder if you can..."
Ye Jingtang was responsible for patrolling the palace city. Except for the emperor's bedroom, he could go to other places openly. Running errands for the palace people could be considered within the scope of his duties. Since it was such an easy thing to do, he didn't refuse:
"Alright, I'll go and take a look for you, Miss. Where did the jade pendant fall?"
"I've already looked on the shore, but it's not there. It must have fallen into the pool. I'm really sorry to trouble you, Master Ye. As long as you can help me find it, I will definitely reward you handsomely."
It's just a piece of cake. Let's talk about the reward after finding the thing first."
Ye Jingtang didn't delay. He asked Miss Yuhu to point out the location of Canyang Pool and then quickly walked towards it.
Canyang Pool was located in the southwest of the imperial city. It was an independent palace pavilion. Inside, there were green plants surrounding a rather magnificent hall. It was already late at night, and since it was a place for bathing, it was quiet and there was no one around.
Ye Jingtang walked into the area outside Canyang Pool openly. He looked around and didn't see any eunuchs or palace maids on duty. Then he directly went outside the hall and pushed open the door.
Inside the door, there were many beautiful screens standing upright. On the shore, there were beauty couches, golden incense burners, and other things. In the center was an "indoor swimming pool".
The swimming pool was entirely built with white jade stones and was quite large. There was a layer of white mist floating on the water surface. On the east side, there was a dragon-head fountain, spraying fresh water into the pool. It looked like an indoor hot spring.
The water mist obscured the view, making it impossible to see the bottom of the pool, and there was no light. It wasn't easy to find a piece of jade pendant.
Ye Jingtang searched around the pool for a while but didn't see the jade pendant. Then he slipped into the pool, dived to the bottom, held his breath, and carefully searched along the edge of the pool...