Chapter 92

After dealing with Ye Fanjing, Ye Zheng turned and went upstairs, pondering a question.

Ye Fanjing’s sense of smell should not be this poor. She had seized the glory the royal family had built for Sykes. Did Ye Fanjing truly believe the emperor was as amiable as he appeared on the surface?

He must be hiding something from her, perhaps a private deal with the emperor regarding her.

The youth’s black eyes darkened further. She had to investigate the situation clearly before the adulthood ceremony.

In the center of the living room, Ye Fanjing stared at his daughter’s retreating back, his smile deepening.

When he first heard the news from the emperor, he could not believe it. Then came fear and unease. He nearly dropped to his knees.

Crown Prince Sykes had returned empty-handed, while Ye Zheng had obtained something so crucial. A small family like the Ye household could not bear such weight!

Until His Majesty graciously proposed a plan, a way for both the royal family and the Ye family to bask in the God of Hope’s glory together.

A middle-aged woman walked wearily into the living room, carrying a bowl of soup. Seeing Ye Fanjing standing inexplicably with a strange twitching expression on his face, she ignored her husband and only asked: "Where is Zhengzheng? Has she gone upstairs?"

After hesitating a moment, Shu Wan asked one more question: "What happened? Zhengzheng looked quite happy when she first came back."

"Of course she should be happy!"

Ye Fanjing patted his wife’s shoulder emotionally. She shrank back uncomfortably, breaking the harmonious family atmosphere.

Meeting her husband’s reproachful gaze, Shu Wan forced an awkward smile. It had been a long time since she had any physical contact with Ye Fanjing. She didn't care about his outside lovers, or even his children.

Shu Wan occasionally fantasized that an illegitimate child would replace Ye Di to inherit the Ye family fortune, or that one day the Ye family would completely collapse. Not only did these possibilities not worry her, she even felt a sense of liberating pleasure from them.

But no matter what, the better the Ye family became, the better it was for Zhengzheng and little Di.

"Sorry, my body is not feeling well. Did something good happen to Zheng Zheng during the competition in the lower district?"

Ye Fanjing lost interest in talking to his wife. He brushed her off: "Of course it's good news."

"Didn’t you mention her adulthood ceremony before? You can start preparing now. I will draft the guest list. The rest you can make as grand and expensive as possible. No need to be stingy with that small-minded lower district style. Our Ye Zheng’s adulthood ceremony is destined to go down in imperial history!"

Listening to her husband’s exaggerated words, Shu Wan’s unease grew stronger.

She had mentioned Ye Zheng’s adulthood ceremony long ago. Only today did Ye Fanjing suddenly take it seriously. It should be good news, right? Ye Fanjing was Zheng Zheng’s father after all.

Shu Wan paced in the empty living room, deciding to investigate herself.

✧✧✧✧✧

Lower district, inside a certain small tavern.

Lu Qi shook the dust off her boots at the threshold. Her gaze suddenly paused on them. She had worn the pair Zhao Mei once gave her.

Ever since she started wearing the boots Zhao Mei gave her, she had never worn small high heels again. She had even bought herself several similar pairs.

Lu Qi abruptly raised her head. Her nose stung. She should not call him Zhao Mei anymore. Her name was Ye Zheng. From beginning to end, only Ye Zheng.

She lifted the door curtain. Her teammates sat around the table. No one’s expression looked good. The atmosphere was low.

"I secretly brought a bottle of wine. Does everyone want to try it?"

Lu Qi placed the red wine bottle in the center of the table. Pei Xi finally lifted his lowered eyes and stared blankly at the bottle on the table.

"My dad doesn't allow me to drink before I come of age. Sneaking just one sip should be fine, right?"

Kyle said hesitantly.

"You guys drink. I don't need alcohol to numb myself yet. It is just losing one scheming trai, cough cough!"

Lu Qi pulled out the cork and shoved the bottle mouth into Roy’s mouth. Roy choked and let out a muffled cry for help.

"No, Lu Qi, you aren't still thinking about her, are you? She played us like dogs!"

Lu Qi’s face showed her usual bright and energetic smile. In the heavy atmosphere, it looked somewhat eerie. "No. I just want everyone to cheer up. Adults always say once you pour down the alcohol, you will not have worries anymore."

The few youths fell silent at the same time. After a long while, Pei Xi wordlessly left the small room. Soon he returned carrying three more bottles of wine.

Under his teammates’ surprised gazes, he suddenly chugged a mouthful, coughed violently for a while, then spoke in a hoarse voice: "Alright. I have forgotten already. Lu Qi, I will not worry anymore."

Kyle and Roy exchanged a glance and also took a swig. Lu Qi only sipped a little. It was somewhat astringent. She still preferred sweeter, simpler drinks.

Pei Xi’s gaze had already started to blur. The red wine on the table seemed the same as the bottle he had brought to the rooftop that night.

Zhao Mei, no, Ye Zheng, had told him underage people could not drink. Instead of drinking, it was better to confide in her.

What had he confided to her back then? Were not every single sentence laughably ridiculous?

He had told her about a hero’s dream, and she had personally shattered his hero’s dream.

Pei Xi suddenly stood up. He looked at his somewhat drunk teammates and declared loudly: "I swore I would bring you all to a bigger stage, bring the people from our hometown far away from the Aberrant Realms’ disasters. This vow, no matter what happens, will never change."

"Our Cloud Soarers team of four will definitely fulfill this wish! Never retreat!"

"Never retreat!"

The other youths solemnly echoed the promise with serious expressions.

Pei Xi wanted to say more, but his phone chimed with a notification. He opened it. The points had updated to 330, an increase of 50. The ranking was still only third, but now only ten points behind the Royal Team.

Ye Zheng, under Zhao Mei’s identity and as a member of the Cloud Soarers team, had acknowledged the results of that Aberrant Realm.

This was Zhao Mei’s final gift to them.

Pei Xi seemed unable to bear it any longer. He suddenly ran out of the small room. Seeing the crowds coming and going on the street, he bent over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

He needed an explanation! Why had she done this? Why, after obtaining the divine sword, had she not spared them even a single glance? Why, at their most ridiculous and pathetic moment, had she suddenly tossed them a match that could ignite a warm illusion?

Pei Xi took a long time to straighten up. Reason returned somewhat, but when he saw the large Saintess poster plastered on the shop across the street, he staggered back a few steps in a daze.

The people saved in the Aberrant Realm had witnessed the miracle with their own eyes. Even though the church had made no statement yet, the scene of Saintess Ye Zheng descending like a god had already spread throughout the entire lower district. Even the casually picked-up newspapers were praising the true agent of the God of Hope. The headlines were no longer about the Cloud Soarers team’s competition progress that once burdened and motivated him.

"Even if it means letting me bear all the glorious yet unbearably heavy duties for you, that is perfectly fine."

The words that had once felt especially warm in the cold wind had now become a shadow that followed him like a curse.

Pei Xi painfully clutched his head.

After Pei Xi left, Lu Qi returned to her room. She picked up a pen for the first time in a while, wanting to write a letter to her mother.

She wanted to tell her mother many things, for example, last time she had promised to bring four friends home to play, but now there were only three. If possible, she still wanted to bring her along. As long as Ye Zheng was willing to come home with her, they were still friends.

What troubled her most was not actually the Zhao Mei or Ye Zheng matter. Lu Qi suddenly realized everyone had their own goals they wanted to pursue, yet her own goal remained vague.

At first, she had wanted to find a very capable and stylish boyfriend. But now she had no interest in that anymore.

Pei Xi had very grand ambitions. Kyle actually wanted most to revive his father’s school. Roy hid some secret, he seemed to come from the upper district too and surely had his own lofty aspirations.

And Ye Zheng, she was hard to understand, but Lu Qi could see the strong drive in her. She must have a goal she had to achieve.

So what about her? As Lu Qi, what did she truly want to do?

Lu Qi could not find an answer. She wrote whatever came to mind and sent it to her mother.

She looked forward to receiving her mother’s reply in a few days. Fortunately, the competition had prize money. She had specially chosen the expensive but fast delivery option for the letter.

But a few days later, instead of her mother’s letter, Lu Qi received terrible news from the western district.

✧✧✧✧✧

The competition was still ongoing, but Ye Zheng had leisurely rested at home for several days. It was impossible for her to return to the Cloud Soarers team as Zhao Mei to continue competing. As for the Royal Team, Sykes probably did not want to see her annoying face anytime soon.

The church only gave a response three days later, the Pope summoned her to bring the divine sword to see him.

When Ye Fanjing learned she had brought the divine sword back, he hurriedly set up a separate room to enshrine it. He even wanted to send people to polish it daily, but Ye Zheng stopped him.

She sealed the longsword in its scabbard and wore it at her waist. Looking at herself in the mirror, Ye Zheng had not expected she would one day carry a sword. She was not particularly skilled in swordsmanship.

It did not matter. This sword was never meant to be unsheathed.

The true divine sword had been left by her in the Aberrant Realm, disappearing along with it, at least that was the report from the Order of Sacred Conduct. They found no trace of the divine sword at the site, and the shattered giant statue had also vanished.

Before setting out, Ye Zheng carefully reviewed the information Wende had sent. It was about Wen Jian.

She had looked over Wen Jian’s file many times before, from every position he had advanced to since age twelve, every person who had promoted him. Ye Zheng knew it all like the back of her hand.

But this time, she had people investigate Wen Jian’s ability.

Everyone in the empire knew the Pope’s ability was the life-restoring 【Spring Hand】. But Ye Zheng had already learned from Qin Lu that 【Spring Hand】 was originally called 【Mother of All Things】, an ability passed down through generations of Popes.

That meant Wen Jian had his own ability besides 【Spring Hand】.

Logically, before the Blood Flower incident, Wen Jian hadn't been doing well. His ability was probably mediocre and unremarkable, as expected.

Yet the information could not uncover his exact prior ability. Even Cheng Cheng and Cheng Che, two skilled hands in the black market, could not dig up Wen Jian’s original ability.

Perhaps to protect the secret of the Pope’s generational ability, traces had been deliberately erased. But Ye Zheng always felt it was not that simple.

Not having the enemy fully figured out left her with a slight unease.

She straightened her expression and stepped into the church. She happened to meet an elderly man just coming out, white-haired, kindly-faced, one of the cardinals, Abel.

Abel smiled benevolently. "He is waiting for you. Go in, child recognized by the God of Hope."

Ye Zheng smiled and nodded, then stepped inside.

When she saw Wen Jian’s cold, emotionless face beneath the painted dome, she knew Abel had not brought him any good news.

The Pope was elected by the College of Cardinals through a secret conclave, requiring more than two-thirds of the votes. As far as she knew, Abel had not been among the two-thirds who supported Wen Jian back then.

"What should I say? Ye Zheng, we truly have fate."

"Or rather, there was never any fate. From the moment you became Saintess, it was all meticulously calculated by you."

Wen Jian relaxed his face, showing a helpless smile. "Back then I told you to remember my name, and you really remembered it well."

Ye Zheng tilted her head slightly. "Calculated? A man in his thirties or forties being schemed against by a teenage girl? You overestimate me."

"Whether becoming Saintess or inheriting the God of Hope’s divine sword, none of it could be controlled by a mere teenager, right?"

Wen Jian laughed, his eyes dark. "Then what about Sela? Do not try to fool me about the Sieg Square incident."

"You disguised yourself to mingle with the lower district team, self-directed and self-acted the whole ‘Saintess execution’. Is that the kind of good deed a child recognized by the God of Hope should do?"

Wen Jian’s voice carried a threat. Ye Zheng, however, smiled without concern.

"It was me."

"You can tell the entire empire that I self-directed and self-acted this whole thing, with the goal of exposing your evil deeds from back then."

Ye Zheng stepped forward, her hand stroking the radiant sword at her waist, closing in on Wen Jian.

Wen Jian watched the girl who was taller than him. He instinctively wanted to retreat but forcibly suppressed the impulse.

"Do you think everyone will hate me, this hypocritical Saintess, and sympathize with you, the Pope who was schemed against?"

Wen Jian’s gaze grew even darker.

"No. This will only stain the church’s one remaining usable good card with controversy. Even if you don't care, what about the others in the church? The cardinals?"

The middle-aged man listened to the girl’s words and fell silent for a long moment before letting out a cold laugh. "I really cannot handle you."

The controversy surrounding the Pope had left the entire church in chaos. Who could have imagined that the one now salvaging the church’s reputation and public support was Ye Zheng?

"Ye Zheng, what exactly do you want? Revenge for what happened back then?"

Wen Jian’s tone now carried barely concealed anxiety.

"I just want to climb higher. And you are a hidden danger."

Ye Zheng weighed each word carefully. She was not lying, just selectively expressing.

She still remembered what Zhuo Ya had told her about the Oath-Binders. In front of an Oath-Binder, anyone who went against their own words would suffer death’s backlash. That was the crucial reason Zhuo Ya had always kept it hidden.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed Ye Zheng’s mind. The legendary Oath-Binder, Wen Jian’s unknown initial ability…

“You wanted to climb higher, but I am afraid the real hidden danger is not me, it's the royal family.”

Wen Jian spoke mockingly, his gaze fixed on the calm-faced girl.

“You don't want the royal family to strip away the power, status, and honor you currently possess, do you?”

“What do you know?”

Ye Zheng asked bluntly. Since the two had already torn away all pretenses, there was no need for her to continue acting.

“Hahahahaha… The emperor is the most cunning and ruthless person I have ever seen. If you knew what he has done, you would not think what I did counts for anything.”

Wen Jian shook his head, looking at Ye Zheng as though she were an ignorant child.

“In the empire, stripping a woman of her wealth, status, and even abilities is very simple.”

“Ye Zheng, you chose to become a Saintess who serves the god for life because you understand that very well, do you not?”

Ye Zheng forcefully closed her eyes for a moment. Wen Jian had directly exposed the royal family’s scheme. She wasn't surprised at all.

Seizing everything from her through marriage was truly vicious and effective.

She was a Saintess. According to church rules, she could not marry. But if the emperor wanted to achieve his goal, he would stop at nothing. From now on, he probably would not let her live in peace.

“Wen Jian, you must use all the church’s power to protect everything I currently possess.”

Wen Jian laughed as though he had heard the most absurd joke in the world. “You just stabbed me hard a moment ago, and now you are asking me to protect you?"

“Ye Zheng, I admit you are clever and capable, but the world does not revolve around you!”

Not only would he not help her, once the situation stabilized, he would find an opportunity to kill her. Ye Zheng absolutely could not be allowed to live!

She wanted to climb higher? How high? To the position of Pope?

In five hundred years, no woman, no, aside from the very first one, no woman had ever become Pope!

Every Pope rose from priest to bishop to cardinal, accumulating seniority and defeating countless rivals. Even setting aside gender, Ye Zheng was still just an underage child!

Utter fantasy.

“Wen Jian, the royal family didn't hold back in your incident either. Just hating me is not enough. Or are you afraid to act against the royal family?”

“Don't provoke me. When enemies weaken each other, I bide my time and hide my strength. That is the smartest choice.”

“Does Abel give you the chance to bide your time?”

Ye Zheng asked abruptly. Wen Jian’s face twitched with a hint of distortion.

Ye Zheng knew she had guessed correctly. A trace of amusement flashed in the girl’s eyes. Instead of continuing to attack with words, she deliberately furrowed her brows, showing a hesitant expression.

“Pope, we are both now surrounded by enemies on all sides. Adding more enemies for ourselves is hardly wise.”

“I know you are worried I will harm you. I admit I did have that intention before. Only now do I see clearly what the greatest obstacle truly is.”

Wen Jian’s gaze carried cold scrutiny. The corners of his mouth curved into a smile. “You want to ally with me against the royal family, but handing my back to a two-faced little girl like you is truly hard to trust.”

“If you will not believe my words, then let the legendary Oath-Binder witness everything.”

“Before the Oath-Binder, those who break vows die. We can swear together.”

Ye Zheng spoke faster, as though desperately trying to convince him.

Wen Jian was stunned at first. He had not expected Ye Zheng to bring up the Oath-Binder herself. Church members had always feared the Oath-Binder’s existence. It was one of his key tools for control and one of his proudest creations…

“You are sure? Breaking the vow means death by backlash.”

“Provided, Wen Jian, that you swear with me.”

An unusual white mist suddenly filled the space around them, as though an invisible overseer had arrived.

Wen Jian laughed, like an indulgent adult. “Of course I will not break my promise. I can swear not to harm you and to assist you. How about that?”

Ye Zheng’s eyes brightened slightly. “I can also swear never to harm you.”

“Not enough, Ye Zheng.”

So Ye Zheng spoke each word solemnly: “I swear to never harm you, Wen Jian, and to be forever loyal to you.”

After the vow, Ye Zheng’s body shuddered involuntarily. A chill ran through her, as though enveloped by something utterly terrifying. But she quietly let streams of water coil around her arms, and the sensation soon eased.

The mist also dissipated.

Seeing this, Wen Jian let out his first genuine laugh of the day.

Only after Ye Zheng left the church and got into the car did she finally show a relaxed expression. She even laughed out loud, startling the driver in front, who curiously turned his head.

Miss rarely laughed so happily.

God of Hope above, sorry about that. She had lied in the church. Ye Zheng thought without the slightest remorse.

She had finally figured it out. The Oath-Binder was Wen Jian’s initial ability, and there was no such thing as violators die. It was probably just a mental-type ability, which was why Stream’s soothing effect worked.

With Wen Jian’s bottom line, if he had such a useful ability back then, he never would have been demoted to an obscure priest in the lower district.

Ye Zheng had not been completely certain until Wen Jian himself readily swore, promising never to harm her.

Wen Jian would never let her go, and she would never let him go.

Now that Wen Jian did not know she had seen through the Oath-Binder secret, she could use his psychology against him instead.

But the most troublesome issue at the moment was still the emperor’s vicious scheme.

That kind of thing, She could forget about it.