BXBX NOVEL Chapter 52 - Hidden Sword Pavilion
Chapter 52: Hidden Sword Pavilion
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Seeing that Lin Ran had cut open the bed, the empress came closer and realized that there was nothing under the bed. She couldn’t help but look puzzled. “It ran away?”
“Impossible.”
Although Lin Ran did not use his full strength in that strike just now, it was still extremely fast. Even a grandmaster would not be able to dodge it easily.
Just as the empress was about to say something, the strange sound was heard again.
The two of them looked at each other. Lin Ran pointed at the floor under the bed, indicating that the sound was coming from below.
The empress nodded and took a few steps back. Lin Ran slashed out his sword energy again and cut open the floor. Only then did he realize that there was a secret compartment below. A woman in pink was tied up and hidden inside. It was Consort Rong, who had been missing for a long time!
At this moment, Consort Rong’s face was pale and her breathing was weak. Even if the wooden board in front of her was cut open by the sword energy, she did not react at all. She only kept scratching the surrounding wooden board with her nails. It was obvious that she was already unconscious.
Lin Ran jumped down into the secret compartment and checked her pulse. He turned around and said to the empress, “She’s fine. She was just drugged.”
The empress nodded and was about to call for help when Lin Ran stopped her in a low voice. Before she could ask, she saw Lin Ran take off his yellow robe, revealing his well-defined muscles.
The empress immediately felt her face heat up. She hurriedly looked away and asked in a low voice, “What do you want to do? Now is not the time to do that kind of thing!”
“What are you thinking about?”
Lin Ran rolled his eyes and said angrily, “It’ll be hard to explain if others see us dressed like this. Put on your robe. After you change, give me my clothes!”
With that, Lin Ran hid behind the screen, clearly indicating that he wouldn’t peep.
The empress picked up the yellow robe hesitantly. She could still smell Lin Ran’s scent on it. It was like grass mixed with dew and smelled very fresh. However, this was the robe that the man had just worn!
However, the empress also knew that Lin Ran was right. She was wearing the uniform of a guard commander. If outsiders saw her, she would be put in a difficult position.
Thinking of this, the empress no longer hesitated. She glanced at the screen and made sure that Lin Ran was not peeping at her before she slowly untied her clothes, but she did not notice a puddle of water slowly flowing out from under the screen.
When the empress took off her clothes, the water on the ground suddenly rippled.
“I thought that Consort Jin of He Shang Palace was unmatched. I didn’t expect her to be even more busty than her… As expected, one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
Lin Ran thought to himself and looked at her critically for a while. Only when the empress put on the yellow robe did he reluctantly retreat behind the screen.
“I’m done.”
The empress said softly with a hint of shyness in her voice. At the same time, a few pieces of clothes were placed on the screen.
Lin Ran put on his clothes and walked out of the screen. Suddenly, a few sword energies shot out and disfigured the assassin.
“Lin Ran! What are you doing?!”
When the empress saw this scene, she couldn’t help but reveal a sullen expression. “She’s already dead! Even if she’s an assassin, you can’t treat her like this!”
Lin Ran glanced at the empress and said helplessly, “Do you think I want to? She looks like Consort Rong. If I don’t ruin her face, how will you explain it later?”
Only then did the empress react and stop blaming him.
Then, Lin Ran rescued Consort Rong from the secret compartment, untied her, and placed her aside. He then dragged the assassin’s corpse to the outer hall and gestured for the empress to call for help.
“Assassin! Guard, where is the guard!”
With that, several guards immediately barged in, followed by Li Tianyi with a few eunuchs.
However, when everyone entered, they saw the empress being protected by Lin Ran. There was only an unrecognizable corpse on the ground.
Li Tianyi was stunned for a moment before he hurriedly went forward and asked, “Your Majesty! Are you harmed?”
“I’m fine!”
The empress waved her hand and pointed at the corpse on the ground. “Just now, this person took advantage of my carelessness and appeared from under the bed to assassinate me. Fortunately, Lord Lin reacted quickly and killed the assassin. However, Consort Rong was drugged by the assassin and fainted. Quick, go and summon the imperial physician to treat her!”
Li Tianyi immediately went to fetch the imperial physician.
Lin Ran secretly gave the empress a look and snuck out unnoticed.
By the next morning, the news of the emperor’s assassination had already spread throughout the palace. The civil and military officials waiting in the hall discussed animatedly.
However, the empress had no intention of hiding anything. In the morning court assembly, she briefly explained this matter and rewarded Lin Ran with some gold, silver, and jewelry. The ministers in the hall couldn’t help but flatter Lin Ran.
Similar assassinations happened a few times a year. The empress did not seem to mind, so the others were used to it.
Just like that, this “assassination incident” was forgotten after the morning court assembly. As for how dangerous it was, only Lin Ran and the empress knew.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
During this period of time, Lin Ran changed into Sword God’s attire and appeared in the palace a few times. The rest of the time, he had been cultivating in Mingzhao Hall. The empress summoned him but he turned it down with the excuse that he had suffered internal injuries from fighting the assassin. The empress knew that he was avoiding her, but she couldn’t do anything.
It was strange that Lin Ran’s cultivation speed had slowed down after entering the Half-Saint realm.
No matter how hard he cultivated, he could not sense any improvement. Even the sign-in system went dormant. It seemed that the system had classified the palace as a “location”. He had previously signed in the throne room, so this location was already expired.
This morning, Lin Ran was meditating in Mingzhao Hall when he suddenly sensed someone approaching the door.
He thought that it should be the young eunuch who came to deliver food, so Lin Ran didn’t mind and continued cultivating.
In fact, given his current cultivation level, he no longer needed to eat or drink. However, since he lived in the palace, he was naturally given the best treatment. Therefore, even if he never ate the food, the food would still be delivered to him.
But after half an hour, Lin Ran felt that something was wrong.
In the past, this young eunuch would leave after delivering food. Why was he still here today?
Puzzled, Lin Ran stopped cultivating and got up. He put on his Sword God outfit and prepared to go out to take a look.
Lin Ran activated endless sword intents to protect himself. He waved his hand and opened the door with sword energy. Only then did he realize that it was not a eunuch outside at all, but Zhou Hao, who was ranked second in the martial arts examination.
Zhou Hao stood at the door with a hesitant expression. The sudden appearance of the Ten Miles Sword God shocked him. He hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, “Greetings, Ten Miles Sword God!”
“You…”
Lin Ran subconsciously wanted to ask, “Why are you here?” But just as he opened his mouth, he immediately changed his words. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
Zhou Hao did not suspect anything. He knelt on the ground and explained, “I’m the imperial guard, Zhou Hao! A few days ago, an assassination was attempted on His Majesty, so His Majesty wanted to strengthen the security. The Hidden Sword Pavilion will be opened today to provide the guards with new sets of armors and weapons. I took the liberty to come here to ask you if you’re interested in visiting the Sword Pavilion.”
“Hidden Sword Pavilion?”
Lin Ran’s eyes lit up when he heard this. He had once heard from Daoist Li that Mount Sword wasn’t the only place where swords were collected and stored in the Heavenly Saint Dynasty. The other place was the Hidden Sword Pavilion in the palace!