<h4>Chapter 1243: Route of Retreat; Resolve</h4>
Trantor: RITF_Rain Editor
On the next day.
The Moon Queen convened another high-level meeting to confirm and announce several matters officially.
“First, as the Saintess of Qiong-Hua Pce, Yue Gongxue knowingly vited the rules of the pce, and secretly gave her virginity to Ye Nantian. Eighteen years of imprisonment is merely a meager punishment for that sin. Since she intends to break away from the pce, we shall not waste any more time trying to ask for her stay. From this day, she is no longer a disciple of Qiong-Hua Pce. The rules of the pce do not have the power to restrain her will. From now on, Yue Gongxue and Qiong-Hua Pce are no longer rted. What has happened is done. We shall all let it go!”
The first announcement was a matter of extreme severity and firmness. She didn’t show any hesitation but only pursued to the brutal end.
Yue Shuang and Yue Han both thundered up in anger, nearly started a big fight right away. Luckily, the others kept holding them down and made them calm down. The twodies managed to hold down the anger in their hearts in the end after all. [We wonder what else the Moon Queen could possibly say after the fxcking bullshxt she just let out! She better understand that we two are willing to start a fight inside the pce!]
“Yue Gongxue was, after all, born and raised in Qiong-Hua Pce. She used to be our Saintess. Even though she will no longer be one of us after marrying her man, Qiong-Hua Pce should not show any narrowness and indignity on this matter. Before the wedding ends, Qiong-Hua Pce isis still Yue Gongxue’s family.
“The wedding should be held under the direction of the ancient tradition! No detail should be missed! Dowry, includes four Qiong-Hua Pearls, three Pure Lotus Seeds, one piece of Ice Essence Soul, ten thousand pieces of spiritual jade! Other than these, Yue Gongxue has the right to choose any three pieces of Qiong-Hua Pce’s treasures, and take her maids away with her...”
The second announcement was also pretty mind-blowing.
Comparing to the strictness of the first, this one was extremely favoring. These two announcements had twopletely different meanings, like one was heaven while the other was hell.
“After the wedding, Yue Gongxue is nobody else but the wife of Ye Nantian, daughter-inw of Ye n. She is no longer a member of Qiong-Hua Pce. She has no rtion with the pce, and should never make use of Qiong-Hua Pce’s name to travel the martial world. Once caught in vition, she should be sentenced in the severe penalty!”
The third one was pretty confusing though. People had no words to say about it, except Cheng Bingmei. She must be quite happy about it at the moment.
After all, the biggest enemy in her life, Yue Gongxue, was going to disappear in her sight forever.
Not just that, the enemy was going to disappear in the rest of her life!
She wouldn’t bother noticing if Yue Gongxue was alive or dead anymore.
Nor would she spend time on plotting and scheming anymore...
[What a stupid woman! She actually gave up on the crown of the Moon Queen for the so-called true love that only considered meaningful for mortals. She was so close to bing the new queen. How foolish!]
“Four! The wedding should be the most significant event in a person’s life. Thus, I hope that everyone in Qiong-Hua Pce can be happier to enjoy the joyous asion and give our girl, Yue Gongxue, the warmest wishes!
“This is the first time, also thest time Qiong-Hua Pce ever holds a wedding! This shall be the only exception!”
When the Moon Queen said so, her face was seen in a big smile, but the elders all clearly felt the worry and anxiety were deep behind her eyes.
The elders were surprised about the Moon Queen being anxious, because they did have the same anxiety in their minds. [The Vice-prime Master and the Prime Enforcer haven’t sent back a word. There is going to be a disaster in the martial world. What is the point to keep eyes on the petty things at such a critical time?]
[Since Yue Gongxue was determined to leave... we shall just let her go.]
[Nobody has the time to bother thinking more on this matter now...]
That was why nobody stood opposed to the wedding anymore. Even those who had strongly objected to it chose to remain silent at the moment.
What they were having in mind was wondering what was going on in the martial art at the moment.
They wonder to what end this unpredictable cmity would lead the world into.
After done with all the announcements, the Moon Queen uncurled the roll of paper in her hand that she had been holding tight since the beginning, ndly said, “Those who have no more duties to this meeting should be off. Now!”
The elders were all shocked when they saw the scroll in the Moon Queen’s hands.
After a few seconds, all those stood below the position of elders were gone. Whoever stayed were at least elders of Qiong-Hua Pce.
The Moon Queen was sitting the highest spot on the chair, casting a look around the leaders of the sect. She was worried and heavyden. Suddenly, the mountainous stress was hovering down on everybody’s heart.
They were all holding their breaths, waiting for the Moon Queen to speak.
The Moon Queen looked around their faces and finally said, “Here. I have some news from the replies of the two great halls, the two other great pces, and the seven great sects.”
The others were all frightened, ready to hear what came next at the same time.
“The West Hall says... None of their people has sent a word back. Nobody has made it back to their sect yet.”
The Moon Queen finally continued talking, yet what she said had drawn the atmosphere into darkest hell.
Suddenly, they felt like a massive wave of murder came from nowhere suppressing them all.
Their eyes started to glow in dim lights, and everybody began to breathe heavily.
“ording to the East Hall, no message received from their people in Heaven’s Terrace. Nobody returned... To the date they sent the letter, their people had been missing for twenty-three days!”
The Moon Queen’s cold eyes cast around the others’ faces, and she ndly said, “The Prime Enforcer and Vice-prime Master lost contact twenty-four days ago. They were lost on the same day... Is it a coincidence or...”
Nobody made a sound.
“Cold Moon Pce has sent a message too. Their Prime Master, Yue Changtian led sixteen disciples to Heaven’s Terrace, end up missing. No more message from him. None of them returned. Twenty-seven days already!”
“Saint Sunlight Sect says that their Prime Master Wu Huitian...”
The Moon Queen shared the replies from all the other dominant sects to everybody in the meeting. Two great halls, three great pces, seven great sects... Nobody had returned from Heaven’s Terrace! None of these sects had ever received a word from Heaven’s Terrace!
Finally, all the messages were finished.
The Moon Queen was pacing around her armchair, ndly said in a cold tone, “I think you all heard clearly what the messages say. I believe you all know what is happening and how serious it could be...”
“Qing-Yun Realm has been in peace for tens of thousands of years indeed, but... maybe it is time for the world to be reformed, isn’t it?” The Moon Queen asked, but had the answer in her heart. Sheughed in self-mocking, and then started to speak in a furious tone, “I don’t care what is going to happen in Qing-Yun Realm! I don’t care how it will change! Qiong-Hua Pce will always be the same Qiong-Hua Pce!”
That was like bolts of lightning striking around the hall!
Everybody else was shocked and frightened.
“If Qiong-Hua Pce has to be involved into the cmity, we shall face it with all we have full-heartedly!”
The Moon Queen was casting cold and frosty light out of her pretty eyes.
“If Qiong-Hua Pce was doomed to end up copsing in this disaster, I don’t want any of you to beg for survival!
“We have always been ruling a piece of thend for centuries! We are beyond mortality! Even if the world is going to be the territory of one, we should still be the second reigning force in the world! If we can’t achieve that, we should at least keep our dignity and not to bring shame to our forefathers!
“We would rather die with the pce!
“We live and die with the pce!
“Qiong-Hua Pce stands, our honor shining upon the sky; Qiong-Hua Pce falls, our dignity casting light in the history!
“Qiong-Hua Pce will never surrender!
“This is the attitude that we should hold up to from the beginning till the end!”
The Moon Queen’s speech had boil everybody’s blood!
“No more words to be said. All is clear. From now on, I will have only one answer to any question about theing cmity we are about to confront.”
She cast a look around everybody’s face with cold eyes, spoke out word by word, “We give all in to fight!”
“We give all in to fight!”
All thedies gave a loud positive response at once!
Although they were all women, at this moment, the rising aura of them all was more shocking and heroic than any men, strong enough to move anybody in the world!
“Prime Master, as it is what it is now, should we put off the arrangement of the wedding, or maybe we should scale it back. I am sure Xue-er will show her understanding when she realized what we are going through at the moment...” The Second Elder said, brows frowning.
Everybody else was enlightened.
[We are currently at a critical moment. If we are making such a huge event for Yue Gongxue’s wedding, wouldn’t it be too much of putting the cart before the horse? Maybe it is quite the opposite to what we should do at the moment, isn’t it?]
The Moon Queen made a sigh lightly.
She ndly said, “What I am going to say, is absolute ssified. None of you are allowed to leak the information in any way! If we can get through the cmity safe, what I am going to say will only be an unnecessary statement. But if we can’t... Listen. If anybody dares to leak out anything about this, she will be expelled from the pce, and none of her rtives will hold the right to sleep their long sleep in our Divine Cemetery ever!”
Thedies were shocked.
“There was nothing about this cmity heard in the world. Suddenly, it started. For some days, nobody even noticed it’s existence. Whoever is performing it must be powerful enough even to turn the world upside-down... Therefore, even though having faith in our sect Qiong-Hua Pce, I still can’t be certain for a positive result. Nor can I face it with a rxed mood.”
She ndly continued, “In this critical time, I insist that we should hold a big wedding ceremony, because first of all, we need to show the world our unquestionable dominant power, to tell the world how destructive our counter-attack can be to those who dare to offend us, and second, we should tell the entire world that Yue Gongxue is no longer a member of Qiong-Hua Pce!”
“We may get through the cmity till things were settled, and by then, Yue Gongxue won’t be one of us anymore. It is reasonable that we hold a proper wedding for her before anything unfortunate happens. If... If Qiong-Hua Pce doesn’t get the fortune to survive the disaster...” The Moon Queen spoke in a deep voice, “If we all die before the end... Yue Gongxue, whom we are expelling from the sect, will be... the only remaining seed of Qiong-Hua Pce... She used to be our Saintess. Maybe she is weak in cultivation, but what she has mastered were all the best parts of Qiong-Hua Pce’s martial arts. We all know that this is why I wouldn’t let her go with Ye Nantian. I would never take the risk of leaking our secret martial arts to the world! However, things have changed. We may need her to keep the continuity of the great Qiong-Hua Pce!”
“No matter she is or not resentful and full of grudge about the pce, what she has... the significant knowledge in her head...” The Moon Queen took a long breath and said, “...is always the heritage of Qiong-Hua Pce!”
“That would be thest step we make! The most helpless one!”
The elders all took a tumble. They never thought that the Moon Queen would have had such a profound view of the future.
No matter what the cmity in the future would bring to Qiong-Hua Pce, the Moon Queen had prepared for it.
The inheritance of a great sect always went beyond the vicissitude of it, because it was much worse to lose inheritance than to end in copse. If the inheritance were cut, the sect would lose the possibility tost any longer!
“I am afraid I am not the only person in the pce who are making way open for the future...” The Moon Queen spoke in a deep voice, “I hope that... what I said will be the what happens in the future.”
The others nodded, with sullenness in the face.
It was an important issue for the pce to protect the inheritance. Whoever leaked the information would definitely be a sinner in the history of Qiong-Hua Pce, that would be ironed with the mark of a traitor for a lifetime!
“From now on, all members of Qiong-Hua Pce, including the elders and the grand elders... must keep in mind the names of the people to whom you have the most toin about... because for theing days, you will be practicing with the people you hated the most in the pce so that we can be more and more in unity and harmony. We shall give up all the personal animosity against any others, and prepared both your souls and bodies to confront the cmity before us!” The Moon Queen sounded strict. “Whoever dares to haggle over every petty thing during this critical time... I will be happy to see her death!”
The main hall was in sudden silence.
“Ladies, let’s wait for more messages toe!”
The Moon Queen looked around thedies with a profound look in the face and then walked away.
“The wedding is tomorrow. It is a good day! All must join the ceremony! We don’t need the other sects toe for congrattion. Just cut it.”
Thest few words were resounding in the hall, yet the Moon Queen had already gone.
Thedies in the hall all looked sullen and anxious. Nobody dared to leave even after a long while.
...
When Yue Shuang and Yue Han arrived at the Moon Queen’s residence, the Moon Queen was staring at the ice and snow of the mountains in the distance. All that filled her sight was destion.
“Yue Gongxue will leave for Ye n with Ye Nantian. You two will protect them on the way... I am afraid there will be troubles... Please, elders, go with them on the same way back to Ye n. Make sure everything goes right.” The Moon Queen didn’t turn to look at them.
Yue Shuang nodded and said, “We certainly will. However...”
“What?” The Moon Queen ndly asked. That was just one word, yet it sounded powerful like the abruption of a volcano.
Yue Shuang hesitated and said, “We, all that have attended the meeting, understand what you have in your mind as we all heard your words... However, Yue Gongxue, as the bride, doesn’t know a word of it. She will be an abandoned disciple, leave the sect to marry a man... Isn’t it unfair for her to keep the truth from her?”
The Moon Queen fast turned around and stared at Yue Shuang.
In her eyes, there seemed to be tears, but also the me of anger.
Yue Shuang was frightened, so she said, “Moon Queen! Why? Did I say anything wrong?”
The Moon Queen couldn’t bear the emotion anymore, so she grabbed Yue Shuang’s clothes and spoke in a sincere voice word by word, “Elder Shuang, I know you are asking this dumb question for the sake of her... even for the sake of Ye n... But... you know what...”
She paused and spoke in a low voice, but with the voice growling through her teeth, “Yue Gongxue... is my daughter!”
“She is my daughter! I brought her to the world after ten months of difficult pregnancy... I am her mother! Elder Shuang, I will give up everything to protect her! How would I do anything to hurt her?”
Her voice was no longer elegant and imposing as usual. She was more like a wounded animal, growling in pain for her beloved child.
Yue Shuang and Yue Han were both stunned!
[Yue Gongxue... is the Moon Queen’s daughter?]
[What...]
[Is this even possible?]
[Isn’t it unbelievable? Isn’t it scary?]
“You have all the rights to have doubts about it, but I won’t waste my time exining it. I can only assure you that all I am doing is merely the best way to protect Xue-er. Don’t you agree, elders?”
The Moon Queen bitterlyughed and continued, “Two halls, three pces, and seven great sects have sent people to Heaven’s Terrace. It made an incredibly powerful team... All these people together must be even stronger than the entire Qiong-Hua Pce. So many superior cultivators... actually all have gone missing at the same time... We can’t be careless on this, can we? Isn’t it obvious? Don’t you see what is going to happen?”
“I am surely not as good as you at shouting out for fights and acting on impulse without consideration!” She fiercely said, “But when we are talking about self-protection, protecting the inheritance, ying schemes, cutting our hearts to achieve the greater thing for the pce...”
“You have to know that you are not a patch on me!” She shouted out thest words.
Yue Shuang and Yue Han both lowered their heads.
“Grievance... they say... Well, who can really escape from grievance in the history?” The Moon Queen furiously said, “Is there anybody who actually had a sessful and fortunate life? If we can not even endure such grievance, then Qiong-Hua Pce deserves to die, and the only people we can me are ourselves!
“Yue Gongxue is my daughter! And she has to ept the fate to be a daughter to me!
“She was the Saintess, so she had to bear the responsibility!
“In the past, at present, or in the future... she has to bear it!
“No excuses!
“Do you understand?
“Do you?”
She tried to lower her voice down and growled through her teeth like crazy. Finally, she got the opportunity to vent out all the grudge and sadness that had been buried inside her for all those years!
The growl of her made every of her word sound like bursting out from deep inside her heart with sting!
She didn’t know why she would lose control either. Nor had she thought that she would expose the biggest secret in her heart to someone else!
After all, she needed to let it out!
If not... she might never be going to have the chance anymore.
...
The next day.
It must be the most memorable, enjoyable, and cheerful day in Ye Nantian and Yue Gongxue’s lives!
Qiong-Hua Pce had approved the marriage due to the Moon Queen’s promise. Yue Gongxue was going to marry Ye Nantian officially.
The entire pce would wish them all the best!
However, they would also expel Yue Gongxue on the same day. Yue Gongxue and Qiong-Hua Pce wouldn’t be rted anymore after the wedding. Even though she would still be in touch with Qiong-Hua Pce, the pce would never admit her!
That meant Yue Gongxue got to do whatever she wanted after leaving Qiong-Hua Pce.
No matter what happened afterward—maybe she would be wealthy, powerful, dominant, or world-reigning... Qiong-Hua Pce would share no joy of it.
No matter what happened to her, death or life, honor or shame, she would never get any warmth from Qiong-Hua Pce.
She was no more than a stranger to the pce.
When Yue Gongxue heard the announcement, she nearly freaked out because of the sadness.
She was still recollecting the warmth of her master’s arms... enjoying the tenderness...
Yet after just one night, her world was turned upside-down. She was no longer close to the Moon Queen anymore. In fact, she felt like just a stranger to her master and the pce!
...