Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

Standing in the main hall, the handsome and well-dressed young man stood in the center of the woman's line of sight with a gloomy expression. He felt quite uncomfortable being looked down upon.

"I should be sitting in that seat..."

He couldn't help but mutter something under his breath, his tone tinged with dissatisfaction.

The woman sitting above him, looking down at him, had a youthful and somewhat naive face, but her gaze was incredibly sharp. She frowned slightly and spoke with an authoritative question.

"Li Xuanfei, what did you just say?"

"No..." Li Xuanfei, the Palace Master of the Palace of Offering, whose authority was lower than others, shuddered and shook his head with a wry smile: "Nothing, nothing... Compared to this, Palace Master... Your Excellency—"

Just uttering the words "Palace Master" was enough to make him feel incredibly frustrated.

He slowly straightened his posture, but his tone was still somewhat reluctant: "The gifts are basically ready. This time when we go to the Emperor's Pavilion, we will at least not lose to those families in the Extreme Heaven Domain."

"Hmm..." Fang Qingzhu nodded, lying lazily on the throne, her right hand supporting her chin, her eyes narrowed into slits: "This time we're going to curry favor with the new successor of the Imperial Pavilion. Giving more gifts is no problem. If we can get some connections with the Imperial Pavilion, any amount of gifts will be worth it."

To this, Li Xuanfei unusually did not contradict Fang Qingzhu: "Palace Master, you are wise..."

"but--"

A hint of confusion appeared on Fang Qingzhu's face. She gazed at Li Xuanfei and then asked, "Why at this particular time? Isn't it a bit too fast for the successor of the Emperor's Pavilion to take over?"

"quick?"

Li Xuanfei did not understand Fang Qingzhu's meaning.

Fang Qingzhu's lazy eyes slowly flashed with a sharp light: "If I remember correctly, the old master of the Emperor Pavilion has only been in office for a few hundred years. Before that, each master would basically stay in office for over a thousand years before stepping down."

"Why are you in such a hurry to give up your spot?"

“I think it’s fine.” Li Xuanfei glanced at Fang Qingzhu and muttered to himself, “There’s no need to sit in this position for long. We should give the right position to the right person.”

In an instant, his sharp gaze pierced Li Xuanfei like a blade.

Fang Qingzhu knew exactly what this kid was thinking—he was always going against her, and all he could think about was how to pull her off the throne so that he could become the palace master and take control of the entire Northern Ice Palace.

But before he could utter his retort, hurried footsteps sounded outside the hall.

"Your Majesty!"

The sound didn't seem to come directly from a person's mouth, but rather as if it were covered by something, making it sound somewhat muffled.

Fang Qingzhu and Li Xuanfei looked in the direction of the sound and found that the current captain and deputy captain of the trial team were standing outside the main hall, panting heavily.

Liang Jue and Xiao Yu.

Both of them were dressed in relatively simple attire, not in the uniforms of the trial team as before, but Liang Jue was still wearing a helmet as always.

Fang Qingzhu frowned. She knew that neither of them were reckless people, and their sudden entry into the hall without prior notice must mean something was wrong.

"Don't worry, what's wrong?"

As the palace master, she didn't care too much about trivial details.

Liang Jue took a deep breath, slowly regaining his strength, and led the equally exhausted Xiao Yu to Fang Qingzhu.

He reached into his pocket and took out a letter.

"Your Highness, please take a look at... this letter."

"A letter?" Fang Qingzhu didn't take the envelope immediately, but asked first, "Whose letter is it?"

“Yes…” Xiaoyu gasped for breath, her face pale. “It’s the captain… no, it’s Sister Luo Kui’s…”

"Kui'er's?!"

Fang Qingzhu and Li Xuanfei were both taken aback; they hadn't expected Fan Luokui to send a message at this time.

In fact, Fang Qingzhu knew that Fan Luokui had a habit of writing letters to the Northern Ice Palace regularly, but in the past, most of the letters she wrote were about meaningless trivial matters, which she would read and then move on with.

But this time, judging from the expressions of Liang Jue and Xiao Yu—

It doesn't seem that simple.

She took the envelope, opened it, and carefully read the delicate handwriting at the top.

The letter wasn't long, and Fang Qingzhu quickly skimmed through it. After reading it, she fell silent, her brows furrowing.

Upon seeing this, Li Xuanfei became interested in the contents of the letter.

"Your Highness, may I take a look?"

Fang Qingzhu glanced at him, but did not refuse, and gave him the letter as well.

Unlike Fang Qingzhu, Li Xuanfei's expression changed several times while reading the letter. In the end, he seemed to have seen something unbelievable and froze on the spot.

A few seconds later, he finally reacted, looked at Fang Qingzhu with her brows furrowed, and said, "Palace Master... this... Miss Fan... she really didn't damage her brain?"

"What...what do you mean?" Upon hearing Li Xuanfei speak ill of Fan Luokui, Xiaoyu jumped out: "Why are you saying such things about Sister Luokui?"

Li Xuanfei poked the letter with a helpless expression, his tone flat: "She actually told us not to associate with the Emperor Pavilion under any circumstances, and said that there would be a big mess at the Emperor Pavilion's banquet. No matter how you look at it, this is a letter full of nonsense."

"I find it hard to believe that Ms. Fan is not mentally unstable."

"Let's not even talk about whether anyone would dare to cause trouble at the Emperor's Pavilion banquet. Even if someone did, that's the Emperor's Pavilion. Its foundation might even be stronger than our Northern Ice Palace. Anyone who dared to cause trouble would be dead long ago. Besides, this banquet is our best opportunity to make contact with the Emperor's Pavilion. If we miss it, we'll have to wait until the monkey month. How could we not come with the Emperor's Pavilion..."

Li Xuanfei had not yet finished speaking his reasoned argument—

Fang Qingzhu had already made her decision.

She glanced at Liang Jue and Xiao Yu and asked, "Are you sure this letter was given to you personally by Kui'er?"

“Yes,” Liang Jue nodded, “The captain sends us letters every now and then. In the past, she used magic arrays and magical artifacts, but this time, she made a special trip to come here…”

"I see."

Fang Qingzhu nodded, already having made up her mind.

With a wave of her hand, she issued the Palace Master's order under Li Xuanfei's incredulous gaze.

"Li Xuanfei, there's no need to prepare any more gifts. Put what should be put back into the treasury, and return what should be returned to its rightful owner. We don't need to give any gifts for this trip to the Emperor's Pavilion, nor do we need to get involved with the Emperor's Pavilion."

"what?!"

Li Xuanfei thought he had misheard.

Why would you pass up such a good opportunity to befriend the Imperial Pavilion and instead believe the words of a mere young girl?

Li Xuanfei stared at Fang Qingzhu, seemingly trying to confirm if she was joking: "Palace Master, you don't actually believe Miss Fan..."

"Are you the palace master or am I the palace master?"

Fang Qingzhu glared at her, her aura rising sharply, as if an emperor were questioning a prisoner. The majesty emanating from her made Li Xuanfei speechless.

He had no choice but to swallow the rest of his words.

"Alright, you're the Palace Master, I'll listen to you."

Li Xuanfei dared not confront Fang Qingzhu directly, so he turned away in dissatisfaction, pouted, and said, "To miss such a good opportunity, I really don't know if the Palace Master's head is broken."

He tossed Fan Luokui's letter to Liang Jue, then strode out of the main hall.

Fang Qingzhu didn't take Li Xuanfei's mocking words to heart and watched him leave.

There were some things that Li Xuanfei didn't know, but she did.

The reason that girl Luo Kui wrote this letter was definitely not to embarrass the Northern Ice Palace at the Imperial Pavilion banquet. On the contrary, Fang Qingzhu believed that Fan Luo Kui had always cared about the Northern Ice Palace.

She wouldn't do such a thing, and the letter contained her reasons.

On the day of the Emperor's Pavilion banquet, if nothing unexpected happens, please be sure to avoid getting involved with the Emperor's Pavilion.

[Because he was very angry when he found out about this, I don't know what he's like when he's angry...]

Him...?

Although she could roughly guess a thing or two, Fang Qingzhu still felt it was a bit far-fetched.

Heaven knows why the Emperor Pavilion got involved with him.

However, if he really did clash with the Imperial Pavilion, or if the Imperial Pavilion did something to anger him...

Fang Qingzhu sighed.

Seeing the Palace Master's expression, Liang Jue seemed to realize something. After hesitating for a few seconds, she asked in a low voice, "Palace Master, about this matter..."

"Do as I just said. Pass down the order that the Northern Ice Palace does not need to prepare any more gifts."

"Then... are we still going?" Liang Jue was a little unsure if she understood correctly: "The Imperial Pavilion Grand Banquet..."

"go."

Fang Qingzhu's answer was concise.

"If things really get out of hand, we might be able to help the Emperor Pavilion."

"Huh?" Xiaoyu was taken aback, looking at Fang Qingzhu with some confusion: "The Emperor Pavilion shouldn't need our help, right...? Besides, Sister Luo Kui also told us not to get involved..."

"fine."

Fang Qingzhu waved her hand with a smile, a genuine smile appearing on her face.

That was a smile that seemed to enjoy watching the drama unfold.

"If things really escalate, there's only one thing we can do to help the Imperial Pavilion."

"what?"

"Help them collect their bodies."

82. Travel

"How's it going at the Ice Palace?"

Wasteland Territory, Jinglin City.

Inside the not-so-spacious courtyard, a beautiful woman with long, curly red hair sat on a stone bench. Her calves were wrapped in purple fabric, and the exposed area beneath her gorgeous light blue skirt was a truly stunning sight. Coupled with her excessively low neckline and slightly exposed breasts, she looked like a tempting temptress.

The handsome young man with black hair and black eyes standing next to her didn't have any particular thoughts about this beauty who was already over three hundred years old and about to turn four hundred.

The cherry-haired girl named Fan Luokui frowned, subconsciously touching the scabbard at her waist, and replied, "I'm not quite sure, but the letter has definitely been delivered to them. Whether they believe me or not... that depends on the Palace Master."

"The Palace Master of the Northern Ice Palace... I heard that Fang Qingzhu is currently in charge?"

"Ah."