Chapter 1088 — The Gu Family in Grave Danger: Though Gu Mengyao Knew She Could Not Interfere in Wei Zhao's Actions, She Still Felt a Small Measure of Disappointment

"Sister Yao-yao, what is it? You look so disappointed." Shen Yushu studied Gu Mengyao, who was plainly out of sorts, and asked with a grin, "Is it because Brother Arrow-Brand hasn't shown his face at the villa all day?"

"Don't talk nonsense. When have I ever been disappointed? Wei Zhao has real business to see to. Feng Xiaoxiao hasn't much time left. I am not a woman who cannot see the larger picture. Even if he has failed in a follower's duty, it makes no difference to me." Gu Mengyao spoke coolly.

"Actually, Sister Yao-yao, you could always pretend to be ill!" Shen Yushu offered. "Then Brother Arrow-Brand would have to stay at your side!"

"What sort of nonsense is that? If you want to fake it, you fake it." Gu Mengyao shot her a glare and switched on the television.

Shen Yushu's idea was far too unreliable. Who was Wei Zhao? A physician of no small skill. If he ever learned she had feigned illness, she would become a laughingstock. Gu Mengyao would never stoop to anything so foolish.

In the Dark Night Palace, within a dim chamber, Palace Mistress Wan'er sat upon the couch, staring into nothing, and no one could say what she was thinking...

So many days had already passed. Were they well? Had they settled their quarrels with the Yu and Xiao families, and with the hidden Zhao family? She was sick with worry, and yet there was nothing she could do. The Grand Elder had placed her under house arrest, and beyond her door stood two elders no weaker than herself, set to watch her. There was no escape for Palace Mistress Wan'er.

There were times when Palace Mistress Wan'er wished only to die. Yet she knew she could not die. If she died, who would avenge her husband and her daughter? As matters stood, there was nothing for it but to cultivate all the harder, to break through to the Heaven rank as soon as might be, to come down from the mountain at the earliest day, and to have her vengeance upon those who had wronged her husband and her daughter.

Footsteps came from beyond the door. Palace Mistress Wan'er started slightly. It was not the hour for meals; by rights the elders set to guard her would not be moving about so freely, nor entering her room. That footsteps should sound outside could mean only one thing: someone had come.

Sure enough, before long the door was pushed open, and in came the Grand Elder and Elder Li.

"Grand Elder, Elder Li..." Though she bore the Grand Elder a good deal of resentment for keeping her under house arrest, Palace Mistress Wan'er showed her no disrespect whatsoever. After all, Palace Mistress Wan'er understood that, stubborn and pitiless though the Grand Elder might be, everything she did was done for the Dark Night Palace.

She had never married in all her life, and for one reason only: she had given her whole life's strength to the Dark Night Palace, and her fondest dream was to see it become the first palace of the martial world.

"Wan'er, you may go out." The Grand Elder announced her decision without inflection.

"What?" At the Grand Elder's words, Palace Mistress Wan'er could not help but start. She had never expected the Grand Elder to actually consent to let her out! Amid her delight she could not help turning to look at Elder Li. Could it be that he had made some effort on her behalf?

Seeing Palace Mistress Wan'er look his way, Elder Li could only smile a bitter smile and shake his head. "Congratulations, Palace Mistress. The son-in-law and the young lady..."

"Ahem!" Before Elder Li could finish, the Grand Elder cut him off. "What son-in-law? Where would a son-in-law come from?"

"This..." At the Grand Elder's words, Elder Li was thrown into embarrassment. He hastily corrected himself: "Mr. Gu Pengzhan and Miss Gu Mengyao. They are out of danger now. They are safe."

"Ah!" Palace Mistress Wan'er cried out, joy and astonishment mingled in her. The worry of so many days was swept clean away at last! They were finally safe, finally unharmed! Palace Mistress Wan'er was beside herself with delight. "Elder Li, was it you who stepped in?"

"No. This time it was I who misjudged matters... Wei Zhao was never wounded at all. Yu Bide, younger brother of the patriarch of the secular Yu family, was struck down and killed by Wei Zhao's own hand. Pi Bo, the Xiao family's guard, was beaten by Wei Zhao into a living death. The Gu family's crisis dissolved the moment he moved," Elder Li said.

"That is wonderful!" Palace Mistress Wan'er breathed out in relief, delight in her voice. "This Wei Zhao is truly no simple man. To think that he really did dissolve the crisis. But was he not wounded?"

"He may have been feigning it, precisely to make his enemies leap out into the open!" Elder Li himself did not know the crux of it. After all, even the Yu and Xiao families, the parties to the affair, were hardly clear on what had really happened behind the scenes. How much less could Elder Li know the key to it all?

"Hmph. A handful of Xuan-rank buffoons, and nothing more." The Grand Elder held no particular opinion of Wei Zhao. She merely knitted her brows and said, somewhat dismissively: "Wan'er, you may go out."

With that, the Grand Elder turned and departed. In truth, there was a dull bitterness in her heart. Why had that adulterer and that bastard not died? Had they died, Wan'er would have had nothing left to hold her back, and could have broken through to the Heaven rank, free of desire and free of feeling.

To be bound by feeling was, for one who cultivated, never a good thing.

She herself was a woman without feeling. She had never been in love, and she did not understand what passed in the hearts of lovers. In her eyes, all such sentiment was a lie; only strength was the true matter.

Only after the Grand Elder had gone did Elder Li let out a bitter, relieved breath. "Miss, that is simply the Grand Elder's temper. You must not hold it against her..."

"I know. How could I hold it against her? Her thinking differs from mine, but her intentions are good. She acts for our Dark Night Palace as well!"

"Yes!" Elder Li nodded, then lowered his voice. "Miss, though this time the son-in-law and the young lady passed their trial safely, it has also earned them an undying hatred with the Yu and Xiao families. The Hidden Yu family behind the Yus, I cannot say whether they will come forward to seek redress for them. And Pi Bo, the Xiao family's guard, his background is not to be made light of either. His clan is a hidden family as well, and behind him there is even the backing of the Xuandan Sect... The Xuandan Sect and our Dark Night Palace have never been on friendly terms. I fear that this time..."

"Ah!" Palace Mistress Wan'er had thought the whole affair resolved, and never imagined that it had only just begun! Behind the Yu family stood the Hidden Yu family, and among all the hidden clans, the Hidden Yu family was the strongest of them all. It might well be said to be no less than an ancient sect.

And Pi Bo, the Xiao family's guard, had turned out to be a man from a hidden clan as well. Most crucially of all, behind him there stood the support of the Xuandan Sect.

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