h4Chapter 705: Chapter 710: The Cunning Ling Chen/h4

    Noticing Yang Tao’s actions, Ling Chen was instantly overjoyed; he had finally pinpointed Yang Tao’s weakness. With this thought, Ling Chen paid no heed to the iron blue face of Du Kang next to him and kept lifting up the wine jars, smashing them towards Yang Tao.

    In order to ensure the wine jars remained intact, Yang Tao had no choice but to concentrate all his energy on them, to prevent them from being damaged and the wine spilling onto the ground.

    This repetition continued until Ling Chen suddenly turned his head and looked at Du Kang not far away: "Elder Du, has a minute passed?"

    Du Kang looked at Ling Chen displeasedly, then said to Yang Tao, "Alright, stop it both of you."

    Hearing this, Ling Chen breathed a sigh of relief as if he’d been exonerated. Thankfully, he found a method Yang Tao dreaded; otherwise, if he really had tost a minute under Yang Tao’s hands, he likely couldn’t have managed.

    Seeing Ling Chen’s smug face, Du Kang said unhappily, "You still have the face to smile, using such treacherous tactics. If it weren’t for Yang Tao being concerned about the wine I brewed, you would have failed already."

    Ling Chen touched his nose and replied sheepishly, "That... Elder Du, didn’t you say earlier that any means could be used, so I..."

    "Enough! Even if you passed, if you’re seeking death, I won’t stop you. That’s it then, go back first ande find me here in two days. The grand event won’t start for another three days. Rest well these next two days, adjust your condition, and don’t disgrace Old Su when the timees."

    "Yes, I’ll take my leave then." With that said, Ling Chen turned to face the approaching Yang Tao, cupped his fists, and said, "Big Brother Yang, my apologies for earlier. Please don’t take it to heart—I’ll invite you for a drink next time to make amends."

    Yang Tao’s expression was indifferent, and it was unclear whether he had taken Ling Chen’s words to heart.

    Leaving the Yangxin Pavilion, Ling Chen headed straight for his room. Seeing his beaming face, Qiu Yong knew things must have gone really smoothly, so he did not inquire further.

    Returning to his room, Ling Chen kept Elder Du’s instructions in mind, to rest well for the next two days and be in good spirits before the grand event began. Just as Elder Du said, at that time, he would not just be representing himself, but also Su He. Su He had also mentioned this to him.

    To maintain his condition, Ling Chen rejected invitations for drinks from Zhou Jun and Song Ge, spending all his time in his room, meditating in silence.

    ...

    A day passed by.

    While in meditation in his room, Ling Chen suddenly heard a ’dong dong dong’ knocking at the door.

    "Who is it?" Ling Chen asked aloud.

    However, there was no response from outside the door. Ling Chen found it odd and asked again, but still, no one responded.

    "Who could it be so early in the morning?" Ling Chen muttered to himself, climbing off the bed and walking towards the door.

    Opening the door, Ling Chen looked outside only to discover that no one was there. Although he didn’t see anyone, he found a small paper note on the ground.

    Heh! Ling Chen secretly smirked, finding it interesting. He didn’t know who it was, but they were ying such tricks.

    Despite his thoughts, Ling Chen still picked up the note.

    "Meet at the north gate in half an hour."

    Looking at the content on the paper, Ling Chen grew curious. He wondered who had left the note, doing so secretly—could they not have directlye to his room to talk? As Ling Chen pondered, he took another few looks at the note and noticed that the handwriting was very elegant, likely that of a woman.

    A woman?

    Within the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, Ling Chen only knew one woman, Su Mei. Other than Su Mei, who else would secretly arrange a meeting with him?

    Never mind! Ling Chen shook his head, not bothering to think about it anymore. He would just go to the appointment when the time came. After all, this was the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion; surely no one would dare harm him here.

    After sitting in his room for a while, estimating that it was almost time, Ling Chen tidied up a bit and then headed alone towards the north gate of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.

    Having toured around the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion with Zhou Jun before, Ling Chen was quite familiar with its surroundings. The north gate was another exit of the pavilion, but it had been sealed off with stones many years ago, and many trees had been nted around it. Now, the north gate had essentially be a garden.

    When he arrived in the garden, Ling Chen searched for any traces of other people. However, even after waiting a few minutes, no one appeared.

    The agreed time had long passed, yet the person had not shown up. Could it be that he had been fooled? This thought made Ling Chen feel indignant, so instead of waiting any longer, he turned around to leave.

    But just after taking a few steps, a faint voice suddenly reached Ling Chen’s ears. He quickly turned around and looked behind him, only to see an elegant figure stepping on the fallen leaves, walking towards him gracefully.

    Seeing who it was, Ling Chen was shocked and eximed, "Porridge girl?"

    He never expected that the person who had arranged to meet him would be the Porridge girl.

    "How... How could it be you?" Ling Chen asked in surprise.

    "I just arrived at the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion and happened to see that Qiu Yong and Xu Ming from the Eight Odd Men were also here. I thought you might be here too, so I checked, and sure enough, you were, so I called you out."

    "Aren’t you friends with the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion Master? Since you have a friendly rtionship with the pavilion, why all the secrecy? Why not just say what you have to say directly in my room?"

    The Porridge girl shook her head and said, "I can’t do that. The people of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion still don’t know I’m here; I sneaked in."

    Hearing this, Ling Chen was taken aback and asked puzzledly, "Why?"

    "I don’t want people to know I’vee to the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion. I have an important task this time that may cause a falling out with the pavilion, so it’s better to avoid contact with them as much as possible."

    A falling out?

    Ling Chen was shocked; the Porridge girl was actually saying such a thing. Could it be she was preparing to do something detrimental to the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion?

    Seeing Ling Chen open his mouth, the Porridge girl beat him to the punch and said, "Don’t ask. It’s my business, and it has nothing to do with you. You’d better not get involved to avoid getting dragged into it."

    "If you didn’t want to involve me, then you shouldn’t have called me here and told me so much."

    "I know. But I thought it through carefully—this matter is too dangerous, and there might not be another chance to see you. So, there are some things I must tell you. I believe you must also have many questions you want to ask me. If I don’t tell you now, I’m afraid there won’t be another opportunity."

    Hearing how grave the Porridge girl’s tone was, Ling Chen said solemnly, "What exactly do you want to do?"

    The Porridge girl sighed softly, shook her head, and said, "Don’t ask; even if you do, I won’t tell." She paused for a moment and then changed the subject, "Aren’t you curious about what happened to Ling Kun?"