Martial Cultivator

“Really?”

The Crown Prince’s eyes lit up.

Looking at the Crown Prince, Chen Chao was inexplicably reminded of many years ago. Back then, in a carriage, when he and Song Lian were on their way to meet the Lord Warden Commander, they had also brought up matters of love between men and women. Song Lian’s reaction at the time had been exactly the same as this younger brother of his.

Chen Chao pressed a hand to his forehead, thought for a moment, and left himself a way out with a carefully hedged reply. “If the young lady is from a respectable family, that’s fine. But if her background is dubious, if she turns out to be some kind of demon cultivator or the like, then this subject would advise Your Highness to sever those feelings as early as possible.”

The Crown Prince frowned. “Elder Brother, so what if she’s a demon cultivator? Are we not allowed to love each other sincerely?”

Chen Chao frowned as well. “What? Don’t tell me she really is a demon cultivator?”

In truth, the kind of girl the Crown Prince liked did not really matter, whether she was from an ordinary family or a female cultivator from a sect beyond the secular world. The only thing she could not be was from the demon race.

A Crown Prince of the human race, the actual holder of power in a dynasty, if he were to fall in love with a demon race woman, marry her as Crown Princess, and later even make her Empress...

That would not do.

Of course, if you were not the Crown Prince, but merely my, Chen Chao’s, younger brother, then if you wanted to marry a demon race woman, that would be fine.

With me around, the gossip would be manageable.

But you are not only my younger brother, you are also the Crown Prince of Great Liang, the common ruler of all under the heavens. That makes it impossible.

Very difficult.

Chen Chao rubbed his head. It was not as though it was completely impossible, but it would inevitably become far more troublesome, and certainly not a simple matter.

Fortunately, the Crown Prince quickly smiled and said, “No, no. I still know where the line is drawn on something like this.”

Chen Chao grew interested and asked, “What if the other party really is a demon cultivator, but is hiding it from Your Highness?”

The Crown Prince said, “Then kill her and be done with it.”

Chen Chao was somewhat startled. He did not quite understand, if she really were a demon cultivator, and also the woman you loved, how could you do something like that?

“Hehe, Elder Brother, because I already asked her before whether she was a demon race cultivator sent to seduce me, and she said with absolute certainty that she wasn’t. That’s enough. If I later discover she lied to me, then we deal with it however it should be dealt with. Do you know the logic behind this, Elder Brother?”

The Crown Prince laughed, looking very pleased, as though he had finally found a chance to test this elder brother in front of him.

Chen Chao thought for a moment and said, “It should be that what Your Highness likes is a woman who does not lie and does not deceive you. If she deceives you, then you no longer like her, not because she deceived you in this particular matter, but because you fundamentally dislike women who hide things from you.”

The Crown Prince’s eyes widened, then he visibly deflated. “How can Elder Brother be this smart? No wonder Imperial Father likes you so much.”

Chen Chao ignored that remark and instead asked a question that cut straight to the heart. “If that woman never hid anything from you, then did Your Highness also lay everything bare to her?”

The Crown Prince froze, then worry visibly spread across his face. His brow furrowed deeply, and he said with a mournful expression, murmuring to himself, “It’s over, it’s over... it’s really over.”

Seeing him like this, Chen Chao sighed repeatedly. At this moment, he understood what this younger brother was thinking. He had demanded that the other party hide nothing from him, yet he himself had concealed so much. If she were to find out, she would surely be disappointed. Once disappointed, who knew whether she would still like him?

Between men and women, love and affection, in the end, isn’t it just these few matters?

“Elder Brother, you have to help me!”

The Crown Prince suddenly stood up, his face full of worry. “What if that girl stops liking me? What should I do?”

Chen Chao looked helpless, but still smiled as he said, “Things may not be as difficult as you think. Your Highness should simply explain things properly. In matters like this, it’s always the people involved who are confused, while outsiders see clearly.”

Hearing Chen Chao say this, the Crown Prince finally felt a bit more at ease. After sitting back down, he took a sip of wine to moisten his throat, and then began telling a story that, apart from Li Shou, no one else knew.

It turned out that as early as last year, the Crown Prince had found life in the palace dull. Coupled with the heavy burden of daily affairs, he often felt stifled and bored, and so he kept pestering Li Shou to take him outside the palace to have a look. At first, Li Shou absolutely refused to agree. After all, if anything were to happen to the Crown Prince’s safety while outside the palace, Li Shou would be beaten to death with rods. Even if nothing went wrong, indulging the Crown Prince like this would certainly get him written into the histories as an utterly wicked eunuch who brought ruin to the state and the people.

In the end, however, Li Shou was worn down by the Crown Prince and lost all resolve. He secretly took the Crown Prince out of the palace once. But who would have thought that on that very outing, the Crown Prince would fall in love at first sight with a young woman? That was only on the Crown Prince’s side, though. The woman did not exactly keep him at arm’s length, but she also never expressed any romantic feelings.

This matter was concealed very well by the Crown Prince. To this day, Li Shou still believed that the Crown Prince simply liked eating the white sugar cakes from that pastry shop.

For servants, there are some things they can comment on a little, but there are many more things that they cannot mention at all, let alone discuss.

Chen Chao asked curiously, “Does that girl sell white sugar cakes?”

The Crown Prince shook his head. “At first I thought so too, but later, after chatting a bit, I found out that she’s a cultivator from the Mountains and Rivers Sect. She just also happens to like eating white sugar cakes, so we often run into each other there.”

”Mountains and Rivers Sect?”

Chen Chao raised an eyebrow. If he remembered correctly, that should be a small sect over in Xinliu Prefecture. Its sect master seemed to be only at the Bitter Sea Realm so far.

The Crown Prince said, “She likes eating white sugar cakes, and I like eating them too. Doesn’t that mean we were fated from a past life?”

Chen Chao said calmly, “Then does that old woman who often goes in and out of that pastry shop and also likes white sugar cakes have any fate with Your Highness?”

The Crown Prince rolled his eyes.

Chen Chao laughed. “If you’re lusting after her body, then just say you’re lusting after her body. Why talk about fate?”

The Crown Prince frowned. “Elder Brother, how can you talk about your future sister-in-law like that?!”

Chen Chao gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and simply looked at the Crown Prince.

After a moment, Chen Chao said, “Your Highness wants to marry such a woman, but her identity as a cultivator is a problem. Although Great Liang is no longer something others can bully at will, the foreign lands will definitely be cautious about such matters, extremely cautious. Forming ties with Great Liang, even marrying into Great Liang, how would they establish themselves in the foreign lands? And if you marry a cultivator from the foreign lands, what would the court officials think? Trouble on both sides. Of course, the most troublesome thing of all isn’t even these matters.”

The Crown Prince asked curiously, “Elder Brother, what is that?”

Chen Chao looked at the Crown Prince before him and said, “That the young lady doesn’t like Your Highness.”

The Crown Prince froze for a moment, then smiled bitterly. “If she doesn’t like me, then there’s nothing to be forced.”

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes and said, “So the most important thing right now is to figure out what that young lady is actually thinking.”

The Crown Prince nodded. When it came to matters between men and women, he trusted his elder brother completely. After all, news was spreading throughout the Divine Capital that even a woman as difficult to deal with as Xie Nandu had been taken down by Chen Chao. That alone proved that this young martial artist before him truly had some skill in such matters.

The Crown Prince looked at Chen Chao with some concern. “Elder Brother, is her identity as a cultivator troublesome?”

Chen Chao glanced at this younger brother and did not hide anything. “Troublesome.”

The Crown Prince opened his mouth, feeling somewhat aggrieved. Actually, how could he really not know it was troublesome? Wasn’t he asking precisely so that his elder brother could pat his chest and say that no matter how troublesome it was, he would take care of it?

But why was Elder Brother so completely missing the point?

This wasn’t just missing the point. This was missing it by a mile?!

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