Chapter 196: The secret under the surface

Ren Yingying would be considered stupid if she still didn’t realize what Song Qingshu’s intention was. She felt embarrassed and angry, but she had no choice but to tightly close her thighs, cover her chest with one hand, and block the private place below with the other.

“Father can’t help but worry. In the past, I was rescued by Zhang Wuji in Meizhuang. Although I knew that he had the idea of controlling ​​the Sun Moon Holy Cult, but at that time the thief Dongfang had controlled the Cult for more than ten years, and he had already secured his position as the cult master. In order to regain my position as the cult master, I had no choice but to make a deal with him. Unfortunately, in the battle at Chengde Hall, Linghu Chong and Xiang Wentian were both seriously injured, and I also became blind in one eye. Yet, Zhang Wuji showed his incredible martial arts skills, and it seems that his martial arts is more terrifying than even that of the thief Dongfang! It was only then that I realized that it is easy to invite a god, yet difficult to make him leave.” Ren Woxing sat outside the screen and sighed deeply.

“Father’s martial art is unparalleled in the world, we just have to wait for Uncle Xiang and Brother…Chong, to recover from their injury. After that, you naturally won’t have to be afraid of Zhang Wuji.” Speaking of Linghu Chong, Ren Yingying couldn’t help but become conscious of the fact that she was lying naked in a bathtub with another man at this very moment. So, even while she was speaking, she felt a sharp pain in her heart.

“It’s easier said than done!  Father was afraid of making you worry, so I have never told this to you— your Uncle Xiang was stabbed in the chest by that thief Dongfang, and all his martial art is almost gone. If I hadn’t used my Cosmic Absorbing Power to protect his body, I’m afraid he would have already been well on his way to the underworld. Now the internal injuries on his body will take at the very least three to five years to heal.” Ren Woxing’s tone was full of desolation. It was worth paying this loss to regain the position of the cult master, but unfortunately there was an extra leader of the Ming Cult, which made him anxious day and night.

“Uncle Xiang…” Ren Yingying exclaimed. Since childhood, Xiang Wentian had been very kind to her. In her heart, Xiang Wentian was like a father to her.

“After the battle that day, we were all seriously injured, and Zhang Wuji took the opportunity to propose the merger of the Sun Moon Holy Cult with the Ming Cult! Hehe, my Sun Moon Holy Cult has been separate from the Ming Cult for more than two hundred years, and it has long become equal to the Ming Cult in both status and power. Yet, he brought it up in this situation! He’s obviously taking the opportunity to threaten me.” Ren Woxing slapped his palm on the chair. He was obviously very angry! His palm was like a knife, and it immediately cut off half of the handle on the chair.

“Didn’t father deal with it that time?” Ren Yingying softly asked. She looked at the dark shadow underwater, frowned, stretched out her jade-like leg, placed it under Song Qingshu’s arm, and tried to push him slightly upwards. She wanted to raise him up from the bottom of the water. Who knew that the other party not only stayed motionless, but he also grabbed her calf in his hands! Ren Yingying couldn’t help but exclaim when she felt the touch of a big hand on her leg.

“What’s wrong with you, Yingying?” Ren Woxing was stunned for a moment, then turned back and asked.

“It’s nothing, Father…” Ren Yingying gritted her teeth and tried to pull back her leg. She tried several times, but failed, and felt so angry that her eyes became filled with tears.

“This is Zhang Wuji’s shrewdness. He knows that it has been more than 200 years since the Sun Moon Holy Cult has been established. In the cult, from the grand elders to the elders and the disciples, they all have a strong sense of identity with this sect. If he’s too hasty, even if he kills us, he wouldn’t be able to control the hundreds of thousands of members of the Sun Moon Holy Cult. So he changed his strategy and began to win over the middle and lower-level disciples of the Cult. Once he controls a certain amount of power, it won’t matter if I, the Cult Master, exist or not. I will become irrelevant!”

Ren Wuxing understood that he had miscalculated, and by the time he did, the damage had already been done. When Zhang Wuji proposed the merger, he didn’t expect Ren Woxing to agree from the start. He just used that as a leverage to make sure that Ren Woxing agreed to a series of insignificant conditions. Ren Woxing finally managed to dispel the idea of the merger, heaved a sigh of relief, and relaxed his vigilance. Looking back now, those conditions that seemed to be insignificant at the beginning were now all stabbed into his flesh.

One the other side, sensing that her calf was being played by Song Qingshu, Ren Yingying felt angry and ashamed. Ever since she became the saintess, no man had dared to even look at her, let alone do such a blatantly frivolous and shameless act. The numbness coming from her calf made her fall into a trance for a moment, and she didn’t hear a word Ren Woxing was saying.

“Amongst the ten elders of the Cult, some are the supporters of that Thief Dongfang, and some of them have secret dealings with Zhang Wuji. There are very few who are truly loyal to me. This time, he even sent a saintess here! Hmph, my Sun Moon Holy Cult has its own saintess, why do I need the saintess of the Ming Cult to tell me what to do? However, now that my strength is at its lowest point, there is no way for me to act against Zhang Wuji. The people below have the illusion that the Sun Moon Holy Cult is a subordinate faction of the Ming Cult, and they don’t care about it that much.” Ren Woxing was a great hero, and he naturally wasn’t willing to be controlled by others, but he also understood the reality. So, at this moment, he couldn’t help but express a hint of helplessness and resentment in front of his daughter.

Although Song Qingshu was acting a little naughty underwater, he had been listening carefully to what Ren Woxing had to say. Hearing him mention the saintess of Ming Cult, he immediately pricked up his ears, but unfortunately he didn’t get any useful information.

Feeling that Song Qingshu had stopped moving, the numbness gradually disappeared, so Ren Yingying was finally able to take a breath of relief. She had always been quite resourceful, and when she heard what her father said, she became worried, and she asked, “Father, what’s wrong? Can’t you think of any countermeasures?”

Ren Woxing glanced at his daughter across the screen, and said in a deep voice, “Father intends to betroth you to Zhang Wuji.”

“What?” Not only was Ren Yingying surprised, Song Qingshu was also shocked and angry, and he pinched the skin on Ren Yingying’s leg to show his anger.

Ren Yingying’s skin was already dyed with a layer of red, and when she heard what Ren Woxing said, she didn’t care about being taken advantage of by Song Qingshu, and hurriedly asked, “Why?”

“Yingying, if you marry Zhang Wuji, then he and I will become a family. Naturally, he will feel no need to merge the Sun Moon Holy Cult and the Ming Cult anymore. Then, I won’t have to worry about being annexed by the Ming Cult all day long as well. Isn’t it the best of both worlds?” Ren Woxing said.

“Father, are you really telling the truth?” Ren Yingying suddenly pulled back her legs, intending to use the element of surprise, and see if she could escape from Song Qingshu’s grasp. But who knew that the guy was still holding her tightly in his arms! Feeling frustrated, she couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“Yingying has been smart and clever since she was a child, I know I can’t hide it from you.” Ren Woxing smiled, “Yes, marrying you to Zhang Wuji is just to distract his mind and make him mistakenly think that the Sun Moon Holy Cult is within his grasp. And Yingying, you will also be able to quietly send me messages to let me know his plans in advance.”

“You don’t need to say anymore! Father, I won’t marry him even if I die. If I marry, I will only marry Brother Chong.” Ren Yingying gave a decisive answer. However, thinking that there was another man hiding in the bathtub at this moment, she felt really angry. So, she used her other foot to kick him like she did before, but as expected, Song Qingshu managed to grab it and began to play with it as well.

“What’s so good about Linghu Chong! He used to be a sick child, if I hadn’t used my Cosmic Absorbing Power to dissolve the foreign True Qi in his body, he would have turned into a pile of bones. His martial arts are also only so-so. Although he has the Nine Swords of Dugu, he is nothing compared to Zhang Wuji, the difference is akin to heaven and earth.” Ren Woxing stood up in anger and circled back and forth.

“It would be fine if he just wasn’t good at martial arts. After all, he could be considered one of our own. Unfortunately, he is stuck in the distinction between righteousness and evil, and he thinks about his Mount Hua Sect all day long. I invited him several times and asked him to be the left envoy of Guangming. After several years, he would be the next leader! Who knows that stinky boy doesn’t know what’s good for him, and he rejected my good intentions several times! Now he is half-crippled by Dongfang Bubai’s palm strike, and it makes me upset every time I see his face.”

“Father, don’t say anything more. This daughter won’t marry unless it’s with Linghu Chong.” Song Qingshu was grabbing both of her legs, and her pure skin was being caressed over and over by his hateful palms. Adding to that, when she heard that her father wanted to separate her and Linghu Chong, Ren Yingying couldn’t help but feel even more sad, so she couldn’t bear it any longer, and choked up.

His wife had died early, so Ren Woxing had always doted on his only daughter. Hearing her crying so sadly, he suddenly panicked, “Okay, Father is wrong, I won’t force you to marry Zhang Wuji.” His tone was full of endless pity.

Crying out the grievances in her heart, Ren Yingying felt much better, and her reason slowly recovered. She noticed the unwillingness in Ren Woxing’s tone and said, “The relationship between the leader of the Ming Cult, Zhao Min, the Mongolian princess, and Zhou Zhiruo, the head of Emei, is well known in the world. If Father sends this daughter over to him, will I have a place there? Could it be that you want me to be a concubine?”

Ren Woxing listened to her tone and said with joy, “You don’t know about this. Zhou Zhiruo has already been married to another man, so she naturally withdrew from the competition. As for Zhao Min, she has already left this emotional battle. I don’t know why, but she suddenly returned to the Ruyang Palace in Mongolia a few days ago. She led an army of her own, and specifically looked for trouble with the Ming Cult, making Zhang Wuji devastated. It was thanks to that, he was only able to send a saintess to Heimuya. Otherwise, if he came here in person, I would definitely lose my place as the cult master. Now that there are no other women around him, if I express my intention to betroth you at this moment, he will definitely agree to win the power of the Sun Moon Holy Cult. You will have your place and become the wife of the leader of the Ming Cult.”

‘Zhao Min and Zhang Wuji broke up?’ When Song Qingshu heard this, he subconsciously exerted force in his hand, and immediately heard Ren Yingying’s pained voice. But he didn’t care much, and pondered, ‘Their relationship was so good, how could they break up? Could it be that Zhao Min knew about his affair with Zhou Zhiruo? Probably not. Zhao Min has always been very aware of the entanglements between the two, and the event at the Lion-slaying Assembly proved that I had misunderstood the relationship between him and Zhirou. So, Zhao Min has no reason to turn against Zhang Wuji. Could it be that something happened between him and Zhou Zhiruo recently, and Zhao Min saw it, which made Zhao Min turn against him completely…’ Song Qingshu thought of a certain possibility, and his expression suddenly became very ugly.

‘No, could all this be an act by Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min, with the purpose of plotting against Mongolia?’ Song Qingshu suddenly thought of another possibility, but felt that the possibility was too low. Although Zhao Min would do anything for the person she loved, leaving Mongolia and her family was the biggest sacrifice she had made, and it was impossible for her to help her lover to deal with her own family.