Cousin

Mo Yuanjiao glanced over. He originally intended to ignore it for now and continue keeping his grandmother and mother company.

Unexpectedly, Old Madam Mo also saw Baojian. With a kind look on her face, she said to Mo Yuanjiao:

"If you have matters to attend to, go deal with them quickly. Our Yuanjiao is no longer a child and has many important things to do. You must not delay your proper business just for my old bones."

However, Mo Yuanjiao did not obediently leave. Instead, he plopped down right next to Old Madam Mo:

"What could be more important than Grandmother! Today your health is finally feeling a bit better and you can come out to sit, so of course I have to keep you company."

After Mo Yuanjiao stayed with Old Madam Mo for another hour, seeing that she looked a bit tired, he and his mother finally escorted her back to her room.

After coming out of Old Madam Mo's courtyard, Mother Mo said to Mo Yuanjiao:

"Alright, I am here to accompany your grandmother. If you have business, go quickly."

Mo Yuanjiao didn't stand on ceremony with his mother. After saying, "You must also take good care of your health!", he slipped away and ran off.

Mother Mo looked at his retreating back, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Returning to his own courtyard, Mo Yuanjiao saw that Baojian was already waiting respectfully at the gate.

Seeing him return, Baojian immediately went up to meet him. Following quietly beside him as they walked into the room, he reported:

"Today, all the people in the Shangyang Sect's station left the city. It seems they went to look at land, wandering around several mountain peaks. Because you instructed us, Young Master, that the other party likely possessed profound cultivation, our people didn't dare to follow too closely, so the exact details are unclear."

As early as the second day after Mo Yuanjiao's return, Baojian had investigated the identity of that fortune-telling Daoist.

Just as Mo Yuanjiao expected, it was the elder of the Shangyang Sect, named Song Jusheng.

Later, Mo Yuanjiao went to inquire for information from his father.

Originally, General Mo did not intend to tell him.

But upon hearing that Mo Yuanjiao had actually analyzed the situation almost perfectly from just this little clue, he felt that this son of his had perhaps truly grown up.

Thus, he also began to share with him matters in the imperial court regarding these immortal cultivation sects.

Therefore, it became much more convenient for Mo Yuanjiao to mobilize the family's forces to investigate matters.

After all, they dealt with immortal cultivation sects year-round, so the people trained under them had a very strong sense of reconnaissance. Moreover, Mo Yuanjiao and his men didn't seek to pry into overly deep secrets; they merely wanted a general understanding of their movements.

Because of this, even for a Golden Core cultivator, if they weren't paying close attention, it would not be easy to discover those veteran spies under their command.

Hearing this, Mo Yuanjiao nodded to show he understood, and then asked:

"What about the other two sects? Are there any movements?"

Baojian replied:

"The Yunyan Cult and the Qinghe Sect stations both sent people to visit the Shangyang Sect over the past two days, but for some unknown reason, the people of the Shangyang Sect did not receive the visitors."

Walking into the room, Mo Yuanjiao sat at the table and fell into deep thought.

Previously, his father had told him about the Shangyang Sect changing hands and how these Shangyang Sect elders wanted to rebuild their mountain gate.

Combined with his father's analysis of the situation between the royal family and the three great sects, as well as the Emperor's decision to try to win over their Lingxian Sect, he could be certain that the imperial court probably had no intention of setting a trap for them.

Thus, he immediately took out the positioning sound transmission talisman imbued with Liu Yunan's spiritual energy and sent the intelligence he had recently acquired back to them.

Speaking of which, although the matter regarding the Lingxian Sect was said to be a decision of the Emperor and the entire imperial court.

In reality, not many people knew about this matter.

After the official document from the magistrate of Anqun County was sent to the Grand Secretariat, it happened to be seen by Chief Minister Yang.

Therefore, this document did not go through the normal process of multi-level approval. Instead, it was directly presented to the Emperor's desk by Lord Yang as a confidential letter.

Later, the Emperor summoned several important ministers to discuss the matter in detail privately.

It was never brought up in the royal court.

Thus, currently, the only people who knew of the Lingxian Sect's existence, aside from the few county offices near Xiushui Village, were those in General Mo's estate.

Mo Yuanjiao pondered for a long time and finally decided: he was going to out himself.

Having made up his mind, he immediately stood up and walked toward his father's study.

He was going to enter the palace to seek an audience with the Emperor!

There was no other particular reason.

It was just that he and the Emperor were actually quite familiar with each other.

When he was little, he had even peed on the python robe of the Emperor back when the latter was still the Crown Prince.

Of course, he had no memory of this; it was his grandmother who had told him.

There was no special reason either, except that his mother and the Emperor's mother, the current Empress Dowager, were good sisters.

Blood sisters.

Therefore, in terms of seniority, Mo Yuanjiao should call the current Emperor his older cousin.

Just like that.

After Mo Yuanjiao entered the palace, he was led by a eunuch to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

He saw this cousin whom he almost exclusively saw only at the annual banquet every year.

It couldn't be helped; his Emperor cousin was a very busy man.

Moreover, he had an exceptional number of siblings.

Even though he, as a younger cousin, had peed on him, their relationship wasn't actually all that close.

After all, Mo Yuanjiao was playful and disliked being restrained.

So in the past, he would avoid entering the palace whenever possible.

But now, for the sake of the sect, he had actually taken the initiative to step into this imperial palace that made him feel uncomfortable all over every time he entered.

Seeing Mo Yuanjiao enter, Li Zhouxuan raised his eyebrows in quite some surprise:

"You brat, don't you hate entering the palace? Usually, you don't even come when I summon you. How come the sun is rising from the west today, and you actually came to find me on your own?"

Hearing this, Mo Yuanjiao felt slightly embarrassed and gave him an awkward yet polite smile, saying:

"Emperor Cousin, long time no see."

Suspecting nothing, Li Zhouxuan nodded and said:

"It has been a long time. Since the Spring Banquet, I haven't seen you again. However, I heard that you tested positive for a spiritual root but didn't join the three great sects, and instead went out to clear your mind. Have you returned from your trip now?"

Looking at his Emperor cousin standing above while he stood alone below, Mo Yuanjiao felt extremely unaccustomed and uncomfortable all over. Not wanting to waste any more time here, he simply got straight to the point and said directly:

"Emperor Cousin, actually, I am here to confess. I didn't go out to clear my mind; I went to seek my fortuitous encounter. And quite coincidentally, that sect you've been pondering over recently is my fortuitous encounter."

Li Zhouxuan, who was casually flipping through the memorials beside him, froze for a moment, then looked up at him:

"What did you say?"

Seeing that his Emperor cousin was being so slow on the uptake, Mo Yuanjiao had no choice but to patiently repeat it once more:

"I went to cultivate immortality, and the sect I joined is that very Lingxian Sect you've been thinking about trying to win over recently!"

"So if you have anything on your mind, you can just tell me directly. I can help you reply to my sect, and if you have any questions, you can ask me directly. Isn't this much faster than you guys blindly guessing on your own?"

After hearing it clearly, Li Zhouxuan was utterly shocked.