The Cloud Feather of the Red Chamber: A Marriage Arranged with Gong Yuanzheng at the Start

"I've told you everything I know..."

Zhuo Mei spoke weakly, trying to lift her head to see Gong Yuanzheng's appearance, but her vision was blurry, and she could only barely make out a figure.

Just as she had guessed, the previous pain was relieved, but it quickly turned into other kinds of suffering.

The coldness emanated from her very bones, sweeping through her body in waves, almost freezing her to the bone.

Gong Yuanzheng crossed his arms, his innocent smile remaining unchanged throughout, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

Seeing that Zhuomei had nothing more to say, Gong Yuanzheng stretched his stiff body and instructed Jin Shu, "Keep an eye on her, just make sure she doesn't die."

Zhuo Mei realized he was leaving the dungeon. Suppressing her pain, she called out towards the exit, "Yun Weishan, you...you mustn't touch her..."

Before she could finish speaking, another wave of cold air swept over her, making her shiver and her teeth chatter, rendering her unable to speak any more.

Gong Yuanzheng turned to look at her, his face innocent and pure, "Whether or not to mess with her, my word doesn't count."

Gong Yuanzheng's smile grew even brighter as he witnessed Zhuo Mei's transformation.

Having completed the tasks assigned by his brother, he needed to immediately inform his brother of the interrogation results.

------

Inside the Blade Hall, the delicate sandalwood incense rose like wisps of smoke, and everyone was engrossed in their own tasks, with the occasional sound of papers being spun.

Gong Zishang frowned as he looked at the palace gate defense map in his hand.

The defenses of the front mountain are basically fine, but patrols in the Old Dust Valley need to be strengthened.

Gong Shangjiao stared intently at the secret report in his hand, occasionally replying with a few letters and instructing Jin Fu to send them out immediately.

Xue Chongzi was arranging the latest training plan. The strength of the Red Jade Guard was still somewhat weak, and his skills needed to be improved.

With his current skill level, he might not be a match for the Four Directions Demons.

Young Master Hua was not idle either, concentrating intently on drawing the blueprints in his hands.

He knew his weaknesses; his martial arts talent was really limited, and he hadn't mastered the Mirror Flower Three Styles even after studying it for several years.

If his martial arts skills weren't enough, he'd make up for it with external tools! He was determined to create better and stronger weapons!

Lin Qingyue frowned, trying hard to recall the edited videos she had seen in her previous life.

The reality is quite different from the video, and the information she provides is very limited. How effective it can be remains to be seen and requires careful verification by Gong Shangjiao.

In the silence, the sound of bells grew louder as they approached, soon reaching the entrance of the Blade-Holding Hall.

Then, a faint, almost imperceptible stench of blood filled the hall.

Lin Qingyue put down her pen and looked up to see Gong Yuanzheng staring at her helplessly, looking extremely panicked and at a loss.

Lin Qingyue frowned slightly. The smell of blood... was he injured?

"An expedition..."

She had only uttered two words when the person in front of her vanished instantly.

Lin Qingyue: "???!!!"

Gong Zishang blinked hard, and after confirming that there was really no one in front of her, she looked at Gong Shangjiao in a daze, her tone full of uncertainty, "I, I just saw things? Yuanzheng brother, you didn't come to the Blade Master Hall, did you?"

Miyazaki: "..."

I don't want to talk, please pretend I don't exist.

"They're here, they came in with me..."

Young Master Xue was somewhat bewildered. Everyone was busy, so Xue Chongzi sent him outside the hall to practice his sword. He had entered the hall with Gong Yuanzheng, and he didn't know why Gong Yuanzheng had suddenly run out after entering the hall.

Gong Zishang's lips twitched. Was her Blade-Holding Hall a den of dragons and tigers? Running so fast, even using lightness skill, even if she wanted to leave, she should have explained things clearly first!

Smelling the lingering stench of blood in the air, Gong Zishang suddenly understood. She turned to look at Lin Qingyue, a hint of mockery in her eyes.

Lin Qingyue felt her face burning and quickly lowered her head, folding the paper in her hand several times, preparing to hand it to Gong Shangjiao in a moment.

A smile flashed in Gong Zishang's eyes, and she stopped teasing her. She stretched and said, "Let's all rest for a while. Yuanzheng will probably be here soon."

Just as she said, Gong Yuanzheng returned to the Zhiren Hall in no time at all.

She had changed from her original black clothes to a black robe with a red agate fur collar, and her hair was still damp, indicating that she had rushed over after washing up.

Gong Zishang couldn't help but tease, "Oh, did Yuanzheng take a bath before coming over?"

Gong Yuanzheng immediately looked up and glared at Gong Zishang. He hadn't known that Lin Qingyue was also there, and had come directly to the Zhiren Hall without packing anything.

When he saw Lin Qingyue, he panicked. Would the heavy smell of blood on him scare her?

He didn't even have time to say goodbye to Gong Shangjiao before heading straight back to Zheng Palace.

Sensing the moisture on the boy beside her, Lin Qingyue frowned slightly, her face showing concern. "Are you alright?"

Gong Yuanzheng stopped the fierce stare between Gong Zishang and said, "I'm fine!"

Lin Qingyue breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. I thought you were injured when I smelled blood on you earlier."

Gong Yuanzheng froze upon hearing this, and then his entire aura changed, radiating joy, and the smile on his lips could no longer be concealed.

He was afraid the smell of blood on him would frighten her, but she was thinking about whether he was injured.

Gong Yuanzheng couldn't help but reach out and take Lin Qingyue's hand in his. If there weren't other people around, he really wanted to hold Yue'er in his arms.

Gong Zishang had never seen Gong Yuanzheng like this before, and felt a pang of jealousy. She couldn't help but ask directly, "Brother Yuanzheng, tell me, what were the results of the interrogation?"

Gong Yuanzheng was in a very good mood at the moment. He looked up at Gong Zishang and then at Gong Shangjiao.

“Brother, that old woman is a descendant of the Feng Palace, and her original name was Zhuomei.”

Gong Shangjiao raised an eyebrow slightly. "Zhuomei? Zhuomei of the Qingfeng School?"

The Qingfeng Sect had submitted to Wufeng a long time ago, so it's not surprising that Zhuomei infiltrated the palace as a Wufeng spy, but what about her martial arts skills?

Gong Shangjiao did not believe that he could capture Zhuo Mei with just one Hongyu guard.

Gong Yuanzheng nodded and continued, "Both the Qingfeng Sect and Wufeng Sect were founded by descendants of the Feng Palace."

"After leaving the palace, Feng Gong founded two sects, Qingfeng Sect and Wufeng Sect, one righteous and one evil, and they were enemies of each other, but in fact they were secretly supporting each other."

"Zhuomei and Dianzhu are twin sisters. Dianzhu has a high talent for martial arts, but Zhuomei has no aptitude for martial arts. Therefore, both Qingfeng Sect and Wufeng Sect were inherited by Dianzhu."

When Dianzhu traveled the world, he would occasionally use the name Zhuomei.

"Zhuomei later fell in love with a man, and the two married and had twin girls."

“The two sisters are in exactly the same situation. Dianzhu wants to take the older sister away and bring her back to Wufeng to raise her, but Zhuomei and her husband disagree.”

Having witnessed the bloodshed and turmoil of the martial arts world, they only want their children to live ordinary lives.

"During the argument, Zhuo Mei's husband was killed by Dian Zhu's palm. Zhuo Mei was powerless to stop it and could only watch helplessly as Dian Zhu took both children away."

"She searched the whole world but couldn't find her daughter. She knew Dianzhu's character well; if she didn't want her to find her daughter, she would never be able to see her again."

"So she found a way to get to the palace gate and became a cleaning maid."

"She knew that Dianzhu would definitely send her daughter to the palace gate in the future, and as long as she stayed at the palace gate, she would eventually see her daughter again."

Gong Yuanzheng paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Yun Weishan is her daughter."

Young Master Xue asked with some curiosity, "How did she determine that Yun Weishan was her daughter?"

“Yun Weishan and her father look very alike. In Zhuo Mei’s room, there is also a portrait of Yun Weishan’s father.”

Gong Zishang gave Jin Mao a look, and Jin Mao immediately went out the door.

She looked at Gong Yuanzheng with a complicated expression. "Did she say why Feng Palace wanted to leave the palace gates?"

Gong Yuanzheng's expression turned somewhat strange. "The Blade Master of the Palace Gate has always been held by the Feather Palace, and the Blade Masters are all from the Wind Palace."

After saying this, he turned to look at Young Master Hua, "The trial of Hua Palace is to forge a sharp blade and use that blade to cut through one of Hua Palace's famous swords, right?"

Young Master Hua nodded, looking puzzled. "Yes, how did you know?"

Gong Yuanzheng's expression was complicated. "Zhuomei said that the young master of the Feather Palace at that time was unable to forge a sharp blade no matter what he did."

"Later, after consulting ancient books, I discovered that by sacrificing human lives, the sharpest weapons in the world could be forged."

"Even his personal bodyguard, whom he sacrificed, was not successfully forged."

His expression turned somewhat disdainful. "He then tricked his wife into coming to the Flower Palace and pushed her into the furnace."

Lin Qingyue felt a chill run down her spine. She had read in a book that Mo Xie was willing to sacrifice herself so that her husband could successfully forge a sword, but she had always treated it as a story. She never expected that there would actually be such a heartless and insane person.

He cruelly pushed his wife into the furnace.

Gong Zishang covered her mouth, slowly turning her head to look at Young Master Hua, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Young Master Hua blushed and hurriedly offered an explanation.

"Who says human sacrifice is necessary to forge a sharp blade? Every blade from Flower Palace is clean! It's unstained by human blood!"

He looked at Gong Shangjiao, "Young Master Jiao! Young Master Jiao succeeded in his trial without any sacrifices!"

"Only those who are truly incompetent would think of using such heinous methods to forge a sharp blade!"

Gong Zishang sighed deeply, for every messy thing was related to Yu Palace.

The palace's mortal enemy was created by the Feather Palace decades ago.

Gong Hongyu also played a part in the disaster at the palace gates ten years ago.

Yu Gong is sparing no effort to make the palace gates collapse as soon as possible.

She looked at Gong Shangjiao, "Shangjiao, shall we go to the Elders' Council now?"

Gong Shangjiao sneered, "Is there any need to go?"

Wu Feng spent decades developing a martial art specifically designed to counter the martial arts of the palace.

Ten years ago, only one of the four demons came, and it almost slaughtered the Horn Palace and the Zheng Palace. If all of them had come, the palace gates would probably have been completely wiped out.

If the elders truly cared about the palace, they should have spoken up about these things sooner.

The palace gates wouldn't be in such a passive position.

Gong Zishang completely understood Gong Shangjiao's anger; she was also seething with hatred for those three elders.

Young Master Hua felt somewhat embarrassed and ashamed. He truly hadn't expected his father to dare keep such a thing a secret.

That's incredibly immoral!

Xue Zhongzi lowered her eyes, recalling the upright behavior of Elder Xue in the past, and deeply felt that Gong Shangjiao was absolutely right to seize the power of the elders.

They are no longer worthy of sitting in the positions of palace elders.

Although young, Xue Gongzi fully understood Gong Yuanzheng's words. He was somewhat incredulous, feeling as if his world had undergone another tremendous change.

Gong Yuanzheng broke the silence, "Brother, I've interrogated all the servants of Zhi Ren and Yu Gong, and there are no problems."

Gong Zishang pondered for a moment and said, "Let's lock them up for a while. Yu Palace doesn't lack servants right now."

Gong Shangjiao remained silent. Gong Zishang was the one in charge of the blade; how she dealt with her servants was her business, and he would never interfere.

He stood up abruptly. "If there's nothing else, I'll head back to the Horn Palace first."

Jin Fu neatly tidied up all the documents on the desk.

Gong Yuanzheng and Lin Qingyue did not linger any longer. They bid farewell to Gong Zishang and walked out of the Zhiren Hall together.

The moment I stepped out of the palace gate, I passed by Jin Mao.

In Jin Mao's hands was a yellowed scroll.

Gong Zishang took the scroll and, with just one glance, confirmed Yun Weishan's identity.

The person in the portrait is almost a male version of Yun Weishan.

After putting away the scroll, Gong Zishang looked at the trio on the back mountain.

"The affairs of the Wind Palace are now in your hands. Since you will be in charge of the back mountain from now on, they should explain everything to you clearly."

Xue Zhongzi stood up and bowed, and Xue Gongzi and Hua Gongzi quickly followed suit.

"Don't worry, Zhi Ren, I will inform Qian Shan of the results as soon as possible."