The silver King of Ten Thousand Phoenixes spread its wings as if to take flight, the golden True Dragon Token lifelike. Lu Qingwan lightly tapped the table, her eyes fixed on Liu Xunran's face, unwilling to miss any flicker of emotion.
In truth, Liu Xunran had no intention of concealing his true feelings, only exclaiming in shock, "The King of Ten Thousand Phoenixes and the True Dragon Token?! Where did you get these two items?"
Lu Qingwan shook her head and candidly stated, "The origin of these two items concerns people very important to me, and I ask for your forgiveness for not being able to disclose it. However, I am certain that the imposter, Wuan Palace, and many others whose identities I don't know are all searching for these three items. The current state of the world and its changes are inextricably linked to these three items."
Liu Xunran's pupils contracted, "The King of Ten Thousand Phoenixes and the True Dragon Token are also being targeted?"
"Also?" Lu Qingwan keenly caught the peculiar word. Recalling that the intelligence had previously involved Liu Hanyan specifically meeting with Liu Xunran once, she immediately cut to the chase, asking, "Did she inquire with you, or rather, did she demand the Blood Crow Token?"
The Blood Crow Token was the name of the three-headed crow ring that represented the authority of the Reincarnation Palace Master. Liu Xunran's expression was so somber it seemed water could drip from it.
"About two months ago, she returned to the palace once specifically. She obliquely asked this seat to pass the position of Saintess to her young daughter. After this seat showed reluctance, she didn't push too hard. She then indirectly inquired if, since the Saintess's identity was still valid when she left the mountain, this seat hadn't intended to pass the Palace Master's position to her from the very beginning by not giving her the Blood Crow Token."
Hearing this, Lu Qingwan's expression actually relaxed. "It was based on these words that you knew she wasn't the real Liu Hanyan?"
The inheritance of the Reincarnation Palace Master was quite convoluted. While the Saintess was indeed the prospective Palace Master, the Reincarnation Palace actually had dual masters, one overt and one covert. The Saintess inherited the position of Palace Master and became the overt master, inheriting the core knowledge of the Reincarnation Palace. Internally, the Reincarnation Palace would select a male heir to be the covert master, overseeing all important affairs of the Reincarnation Palace. Therefore, the Blood Crow Token was generally in the hands of the covert master. The reason Lu Qingwan was able to obtain the Blood Crow Token was simply that Liu Xunran initially thought she was too weak, and holding the Blood Crow Token could save her life at critical moments. However, the imposter Liu Hanyan believed that as the Saintess, the Blood Crow Token should naturally be in her possession. How could a dignified Saintess of the Reincarnation Palace not even know such an important matter? It was not surprising that Liu Xunran saw through her pretense.
Liu Xunran scoffed, "This is just one of the reasons this seat determined she wasn't your mother. In reality, her knowledge of the Reincarnation Palace was less than that of the lowest-ranked disciple in the Medicine King Valley. Upon entering the Reincarnation Palace, she was riddled with flaws. If not for the matter of soul possession being too incredible, with her acting skills, she wouldn't have lasted even a day in the Reincarnation Palace." Liu Xunran felt both disgust and contempt for the imposter, gritting his teeth whenever he spoke of her.
Lu Qingwan grasped another key point, "It seems, then, that she didn't inherit my mother's memories!" This was good news. Liu Hanyan, after all, was the Saintess of the Reincarnation Palace and knew too much about it. If the imposter had inherited all of her memories, she would have been a major threat to the Reincarnation Palace. Now, it seemed she could only utilize Liu Hanyan's physical form.
As Lu Qingwan finished speaking, before Liu Xunran could respond, she suddenly shouted outside, "Alright, Li Su, tell them to bring her over." Within her line of sight, December and the dark guards had already killed most of the imposter Liu Hanyan's attendants, even her close confidantes had fallen. Lu Qingwan watched Liu Hanyan, holding a small bottle of strange color, getting restless, and quickly asked Li Su to let her in. Judging by the imposter's demeanor, if she lost again, she would resort to using蛊虫 (gu worms). With Teng Snake and Da Bai present, her蛊虫 wouldn't cause much trouble, but December and the dark guards would inevitably suffer some losses, which Lu Qingwan felt was unnecessary. After this shout, Lu Qingwan fell silent, petting Da Bai's fur elegantly, waiting for the imposter Liu Hanyan to enter.
In a short while, Liu Hanyan arrived. Even though she had left the Southern Qi Imperial Palace and was in a foreign land like Da Qian, in the wilderness, her queenly demeanor remained undiminished. She wore a dark base with a phoenix robe embroidered with intertwined dragons and phoenixes. On her towering peony bun rested an exaggerated nine-tailed phoenix crown, and the golden hairpins on both sides swayed gently with her movements. Her perfectly oval face showed almost no traces of time. Her bright eyes, white teeth, and skin like congealed fat gave her the appearance of a typical virtuous young lady, so upright that one would instinctively believe she was a kind-hearted person. However, this naturally righteous appearance was thoroughly ruined by the obvious calculation in her eyes.
Lu Qingwan inwardly lamented, "What a shame, such an upright appearance has been possessed. Even if it were retrieved, my mother, with her strong personality, would likely find it too defiled."
Liu Hanyan was unaware of Lu Qingwan's blatant disdain. She walked step by step to the center of the Medicine King Pavilion, her gaze lingering on Liu Xunran for a moment before purposefully turning to Lu Qingwan. "You don't stand up when you see your mother, is that how that brute Lu Zhenting taught you?" As if afraid that only implicating Lu Zhenting wouldn't anger Lu Qingwan enough, she immediately added, "Or is the upbringing of the Da Qin royal family so unbearable?" Well, with one sentence, she dragged everyone related to Lu Qingwan into the fray.
Liu Xunran's heart leaped into his throat, fearing Lu Qingwan would draw her sword and attack. Just as he was about to speak, Lu Qingwan silently tugged the whip in her hand. A black, unidentifiable object was hurled through the air towards Liu Hanyan. The latter reacted with extreme agility, raising her palm and striking at the unknown object Lu Qingwan had thrown. With a "噗" sound, the unidentified object vomited a large mouthful of blood, crashed against a wall to the side with a "嘭," and after a few rolls, it tumbled back to Liu Hanyan's feet.
"Yicheng?!" Liu Hanyan belatedly recognized that this black, unidentifiable object was her eldest daughter, and cried out in shock. At that moment, Princess Yicheng's medicine had just worn off, and before she could even comprehend where she was, she was sent flying by a palm strike from her respected mother. In just a few months, having engaged Lu Qingwan multiple times both openly and secretly without gaining any advantage, Liu Hanyan's resentment towards Lu Qingwan had reached a boiling point. Moreover, Lu Qingwan attacked her immediately upon meeting. How could Liu Hanyan bear it? The force of this palm strike was such that it even broke the hemp ropes binding Princess Yicheng's limbs. Princess Yicheng lay on the ground like a dead dog, convulsing weakly, vomiting large mouthfuls of blood, clearly only having breath left to inhale, not exhale.