The moment his question fell, Xu Yuan distinctly felt the atmosphere within the carriage suddenly tense up again.
Yet this tension was no longer directed at him; rather, it stemmed from between Tianyan and Su Jinxuan.
Su Jinxuan's stunning eyes lowered slightly, and a faint, subtle smile curved on her enticing, lustrous red lips.
Tianyan, expressionless, remained silent.
With Xu Yuan's question, a faint scent of gunpowder was ignited between the two women.
Observing closely for a moment, Xu Yuan realized the clash between them did not stem from jealousy over him. After a brief thought, he spoke again:
"Jinxuan, in the secret letter you sent to the Prime Minister's Manor, you mentioned this journey was for the Divine Maiden of the Great Desert. And from what I observed, Madame Wan seemed to possess relevant information. Did the two of you go there for that?"
Tianyan did not speak.
Upon hearing this, Su Jinxuan lifted her eyes and gave Xu Yuan a radiant smile:
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
"Due to the Qin family's concealment, there are discrepancies between the contents of the secret letter and the actual situation."
In a clear, seductive tone, Su Jinxuan explained softly, "The Saintess and I did not come to the Western Desert to abduct the Divine Maiden, but to receive her."
As she spoke, Su Jinxuan glanced at the silent Tianyan across from her.
Bound by her allegiances, it was inconvenient for the Saintess to discuss these matters, but as an undercover agent who had already exposed herself, Su Jinxuan naturally had no scruples about speaking freely.
Hearing this, Xu Yuan's brow furrowed slightly in spite of himself.
In the casual letters Li Junwu had sent him, she had mentioned leading troops in a raid against the Divine Maiden's personal guard and discovering a plea for help while clearing the battlefield.
That actually tied into this.
Still, what valley had Li Junwu said that place was called back then?
Searching his memory briefly, Xu Yuan asked softly,
"Was the agreed-upon location called... Tuwang Valley?"
Hearing this, Su Jinxuan and Tianyan turned startled gazes upon him simultaneously.
"Young Master Xu, how did you know such top-secret information?"
It really was.
Chuckling softly, Xu Yuan explained in a low voice,
"I learned it from a friend. But if your rendezvous point was Tuwang Valley, I imagine you must have found only devastation there?"
Su Jinxuan's eyes still held a trace of doubt and uncertainty.
Tianyan, however, had already caught on. She said with a mocking chuckle,
"Ha... The commandery princess from the Marquis of Zhenxi's household, right? You really are blessed with women, Xu Yuan—beauties everywhere you turn."
Hearing her sarcastic tone, Xu Yuan didn't back down this time.
He and his well-endowed bro shared a purely innocent friendship; at most, she occasionally let him massage her thighs.
Such innocence was not to be slandered.
Xu Yuan turned his eyes with a beaming smile and stared at the golden-eyed girl:
"My, what a sour stench~ Whose vinegar jar just overturned? But someone might be disappointed to hear this: Li Junwu likes women."
"How do you know she really likes women?"
"I heard her in bed with women with my own ears, and more than once."
"..." Tianyan fell silent.
After a brief silence, Su Jinxuan broke the awkwardness with a charming smile and steered the conversation back:
"That commandery princess is quite a remarkable woman indeed. Young Master Xu is not mistaken—our rendezvous point was indeed Tuwang Valley. At the time, unaware of what calamity had occurred, the Saintess and I followed the faint traces left behind. After an exhaustive search, we eventually reached that nameless manor.
"Madame Wan received us, and the Saintess and I planned to use my charm technique to pry information about the Divine Maiden from her lips. But later..."
"And later, you, a master of three great charm techniques, got brainwashed instead?"
Xu Yuan interrupted with a laugh, teasing this disgraceful succubus.
Yet unexpectedly, Su Jinxuan did not show the slightest embarrassment. Instead, she shot a glance at Tianyan across from her and said coldly,
"On this matter, Young Master will have to ask the Lady Saintess."
"..."
There was another hidden truth behind Su Jinxuan being brainwashed and soul-controlled by Madame Wan?
Puzzled, Xu Yuan looked toward Tianyan:
"Wasn't the contingency you left in Su Jinxuan's sea of consciousness meant to save her?"
Su Jinxuan let out a soft laugh and crossed her arms over her chest, staring at the washboard across from her, her crimson silk skirt swaying slightly:
"Save me? If not for you, Young Master Xu, Jinxuan would likely be nothing more than a dead soul devoured by Madame Wan by now."
"..."
Tianyan let out a sharp breath, her voice rising slightly:
"I didn't know back then that this vixen had such a relationship with you!"
"This has nothing to do with Young Master Xu."
Su Jinxuan's eyes shimmered like cherry blossom petals as they narrowed slightly:
"Lady Saintess, when we discovered Madame Wan also possessed soul-controlling secret arts, what did you say to me?"
"We represent different sides; each uses their own means. You believing me only proves you were foolish."
"The situation was so dire then; neither of us had any other choice. Yet after the fact, you went back on your word and chose betrayal, and now you stand there justifying yourself with righteous indignation—doesn't the Lady Saintess find that utterly laughable?"
By the time she finished, Su Jinxuan's breathing had grown slightly ragged.
Clearly, she was genuinely furious about this.
In the silence, Tianyan looked at Su Jinxuan, then at Xu Yuan, who had fallen completely silent beside them. Anxiety surged within her, but for a moment, her tongue failed her, and she could only harrumph coldly:
"You and I were merely traveling companions of circumstance. How can you call it betrayal?"
"When our motives were exposed and we lost the direct clash against Madame Wan, I used my charm technique to bewitch that ghost infant and stall Madame Wan, creating an opening for both of us to escape together! But what did you do?"
"..." Tianyan had no answer.
"You clearly had the chance to trigger your contingency and awaken my consciousness, yet you fled on your own and left me behind to Madame Wan! What is that if not betrayal?!"
"Su Jinxuan!"
Her defenses breached once more, the punching-bag Saintess abruptly surged to her feet, fists clenched, gold light flashing in her eyes, her chest heaving rapidly.
Su Jinxuan met her glare without yielding an inch, an ethereal, dreamlike charm radiating all around her.
Ran Qingmo silently tugged Xu Yuan over and shielded him behind her back.
Just when Xu Yuan thought Tianyan, fresh from fighting Ran Qingmo, was about to brawl with Su Jinxuan, he saw the golden-eyed girl part her tightly bitten red lips and utter a single word: "Blink." Her figure vanished instantly from within the carriage.
Unable to win the argument, she had stormed off in a huff.
Looking at the carriage that had fallen quiet again, Xu Yuan suddenly felt thoroughly exhausted, in body and mind.
He hardly dared imagine what chaos would ensue once the breast-binding princess joined the battlefield in the future.
Every single one of them bickering day in and day out!
No sooner was a fire put out on this side than another erupted over there.
If not for the cautionary precedent of his own near-fatal stunt, Xu Yuan didn't doubt for a second that Tianyan and Su Jinxuan would have torn into each other right inside the carriage.
Sighing, Xu Yuan had Su Jinxuan give a general recounting of their experiences in the nameless manor. He then circulated his cultivation technique, barely managing to support his weakened body as he stood up, and murmured to the three women in the carriage,
"I'll go outside and question Tianyan further."
Ran Qingmo nodded understandingly.
With pale arms crossed over her chest, Su Jinxuan turned her face away, gazing with indignant eyes at the murky, chaotic sandstorm outside the window.
After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Bai asked timidly,
"Young Master... can you catch up to her?"
Xu Yuan rolled his eyes at her.
"She's sitting right on the carriage roof. You tell me if I can catch up or not."
Chapter 592