"Your Majesty, please... please spare my life!"
The proprietress knelt on the ground, her face pale as she trembled uncontrollably. "I was blind before, failing to recognize Your Majesty's presence. I have been disrespectful, and I hope Your Majesty can forgive ."
She was terrified of dying. She still had a family and a fiancé waiting for her to return for their wedding.
Luo Xiu waved his hand impatiently. "Alright, get up. If I wanted to give you trouble, I would have sent you to the afterlife back then. What was that... what's the na of that drink you mixed earlier?"
"In response to Your Majesty, it is called Starry Moon Radiance."
"Right, Starry Moon Radiance!" Luo Xiu's eyes lit up, and he smiled. "Please bring three cups, along with a few of your restaurant's signature dishes."
The proprietress stared at Luo Xiu, completely dumbfounded. It took her a mont to snap back to reality before she quickly kowtowed. "Please wait a mont, Your Majesty. I will go and prepare it for you at once!"
...
「In the romantic private room.」
Xia Chan sat beside Luo Xiu, her gaze sweeping around the room. It landed on the rose petals arranged in a heart shape on the wall. "This place really is quite romantic," she comnted.
Luo Xiu leaned back casually in his chair, his hands pillowed behind his head. He said with a laugh, "Whether it's romantic or not depends on who you're with. If you're with the right person, even taking a shit together is romantic."
Hearing this, Xia Chan pursed her lips and suddenly asked, "Is this how you interact with all those concubines in your harem?"
Detecting a hint of sourness in her tone, Luo Xiu said, "You're different from them."
Xia Chan gave a faint smile. "Everyone is unique." Realizing what he had implied, she shot him an annoyed glare and said in a petulant tone, "I'm not part of your harem! You don't need to compare to them!"
Luo Xiu laughed heartily. "Actually, what I ant to say is that you're not as easy to flirt with as they are."
Xia Chan gave him a strange look. "From what I can see, you don't even need to flirt with them. They'd probably be the ones to co and flirt with you, right?"
Luo Xiu nodded. "That's also true. Can't help being this handso."
Xia Chan snorted in disdain. "What a scumbag."
Luo Xiu shrugged nonchalantly. "I've never claid to be a good man. Perhaps I'm a bit too affectionate, but I treat every one of them the sa."
Xia Chan nearly gagged. "Affectionate? I think you an promiscuous!"
"Think what you will. That's just how I am."
Xia Chan suddenly gave him a secretive look. "Let ask you a serious question... which one of them will be your Empress in the future?"
Luo Xiu was speechless. He was completely stumped. "Who taught you to ask sothing like that?"
Looking determined to get to the bottom of it, Xia Chan continued, "Is it Xi Yue? Or Luo Ying? Or maybe Qian Qing? As for Su Shanyue and Zhang Yi, I don't think they stand much of a chance. Oh, right... Su Shenyun seems like a strong possibility."
Luo Xiu turned to gaze out the window, ignoring her. It was a question he had never even considered. "You know, I think I prefer you when you're being cool and reserved. It's much more lovable."
...
As they were talking, the still-graceful proprietress returned with a tray. Unlike their first eting, her charm was no longer elegantly seductive. She no longer swayed her hips as she walked; instead, she moved like a shy young maid, her every motion filled with caution.
"Your Majesty, your drinks are ready."
After placing the three glasses on the table, the proprietress was about to turn and leave when Luo Xiu spoke. "Sit down and have a drink with us."
Hearing this, the proprietress's body went rigid, a look of flattered shock on her face. She dared not refuse or even ask why, so she simply took a seat opposite Luo Xiu, her nerves frayed.
"Cheers," Luo Xiu said with a smile, raising his glass.
The proprietress's hand trembled as she reached out her snowy-white hand to pick up a glass as well. Only then did she understand why Luo Xiu, who was with one other person, had ordered three drinks. As it turned out, one was for her.
「A short while later.」
After downing half a glass of wine, Luo Xiu let out a long breath, followed by a small burp. He felt incredibly refreshed. The wine was strong but not harsh, fragrant but not cloying. It was truly a fine vintage.
Beside him, Xia Chan also found the drink excellent, far superior to any of the wines on Earth. She was about to offer a word of praise when her eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. She saw Luo Xiu reach his hand toward the collar of the proprietress sitting across from him, as if he intended to slip it inside her clothes!
That lecher! How dare he do sothing so filthy in broad daylight! Xia Chan wanted to curse him out loud.
The proprietress herself was blushing furiously, feeling utterly mortified. Yet, if Emperor Shura intended to take liberties with her, she dared not resist or flee. All she could do was tense up and sit perfectly still, awaiting the invasion of his hand. At the sa ti, a small thrill of triumph coursed through her heart. This must an I'm quite charming.
However, the scene that both Xia Chan and the proprietress had imagined never ca to pass. Luo Xiu's hand stopped a few inches from the proprietress's chest, never making contact. In truth, he had never harbored such intentions. He simply wanted to prove sothing.
With a slight movent of his fingers, he ford a seal. A mont later, a green lotus totem appeared on the pristine white skin just below the proprietress's neck. Luo Ying had an identical lotus totem on her body.
Luo Xiu withdrew his hand and looked at the proprietress. "Is your surna Luo?"
With no ti to think, the proprietress hurriedly replied, "My na is Luo Yue. I am an exiled mber of a branch of the Luo Clan from the Lingtian Plateau."
Luo Xiu smiled, his gaze toward her suddenly growing warr. "Just as I suspected."
In fact, the very first ti he had co to this tavern and t the proprietress, he had sensed the aura of this Green Lotus totem on her. It was the clan mark of the Luo Family. To be precise, mbers of the Luo Family did not originally have such a totem; only those loyal to the Azure Emperor would brand themselves with this mark. Luo Ying had told him this long ago, and it was the very reason he hadn't made things difficult for the proprietress back then. His return to this tavern was rely to confirm his suspicions.
Luo Xiu asked, puzzled, "Why would soone from the Luo Family be in the Swordfire State, serving the Swordfire Divine Sect?"
"It is a long story."
"What exactly is your duty?"
"To answer Your Majesty, my duty is to monitor the Swordfire Divine Sect and report their every move to the intelligence group in the Heaven Azure Empire."
Luo Xiu frowned slightly. "So, you work for Luo Hao?"
Luo Yue's expression turned grave. "My loyalty is to the Heaven Azure Empire and to the Azure Emperor."
Luo Xiu waved his hand. "Go and prepare the food for now. We can talk more later."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
...
「After a long while.」
Luo Xiu and Xia Chan left the small tavern. Luo Yue watched them depart, tears streaming down her face.
"Azure Emperor, rest assured," she vowed to the empty air, "I will carry out the tasks you have entrusted to ."
...
Luo Xiu found a deserted spot, opened a spatial gateway, and returned to the Land of Lawlessness.
「Outside the Green Lotus Palace.」
Upon the vast lawn, all sorts of Heaven and Earth Treasures, Elixirs and Miraculous dicines, and Magical Treasures and Weapons were literally piled into several mountains. They were all Luo Xiu's spoils of war.
Staring at those "mountains," Xia Chan couldn't help but sigh in amazent. She suddenly asked, "Did you win over Luo Yue to use her for getting information on Luo Hao?"
Luo Xiu replied, "Not entirely. In fact, a minor, exiled spy like her wouldn't have any crucial information. I need her to gather all the Luo Clan mbers who bear the clan mark."
"I see."
"Soon, I'm going to the Lingtian Plateau, and you have to co too," Luo Xiu stated.
"Why are we going there?" Xia Chan looked at him, her face filled with confusion and a hint of fear. She was well aware of the relationship between Luo Xiu and Luo Hao. Going there was no different from walking into a dragon's den and a tiger's lair!
Luo Xiu said, "Because I have a reason I must go. And besides, it's for the poison in your body."
He couldn't help but recall the words Guan Zhongbao had shared with him before they parted ways. According to Guan Zhongbao, curing the poison in Xia Chan's body required finding the Three-Star Clan, because the Shu Poison was a weapon originally created by them. However, the Three-Star Clan had been imprisoned by Luo Hao long ago, so Luo Xiu had to go to the Lingtian Plateau to have any hope of discovering their whereabouts.
"But before that, I still need to make a trip to the Heavenly Moon Cult."
...
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