Negotiations to Call Off the Engagement

In this land, the officials would only acknowledge validity when parents chose to break off any relations with their children. If the children tried to dissociate the relationship with their parents, not only would they be known as ungrateful, they would also be condemned by the society. Moreover, the disassociation would not be acknowledged officially.

However, if Celestial Master Zuo took up the matter personally to disassociate their relationship between him and Gu Xijiu, in that case, the separation would be official and there would be no turning back.

Di Fuyi turned to look at the Emperor and said nonchalantly, "I heard that the Emperor had remitted the punishment of Gu Tianqing and Rong Yan for plotting a frame-up against the follower of the Lord, is that true?"

The Emperor was struck by a sudden tension. He was smart enough to know how to tackle the situation, "Don’t you worry, Celestial Master Zuo. That was just a rumor, both of them are still in prison awaiting their final punishments."

Di Fuyi flipped the corners of his robe and said, "They’ve killed people and even intended to murder the follower of the Lord. Is it difficult to sentence them?"

"No… no, it's not difficult to sentence them. I will surely punish them justly and fairly. I hereby dispatch my orders – the third daughter of the General Residence, Gu Tianqing, and the Twelfth Prince, Rong Yan will be punished with a death penalty. Their intention of trying to plot the murder of the follower of the Lord is enough to be punished with death. Their identity will be examined first thing in the morning and the execution will take place in the afternoon at the meridian gate. This will be put forth as a warning to others!"

The palace guards took the command and stormed off.

Gu Xietian was still lying on the floor as if he could not move his body. He looked around, hoping that someone would stand out and beg for mercy for his two children, but no one would dare to speak out in the teeth of the storm. Everyone backed off from the situation.

He turned to look at the Emperor. It seemed like the Emperor was raging with anger.

In fact, he had only mentioned to Gu Xietian in private about sending Gu Tianqing and Rongyan into exile. He only told Gu Xietian the plan to set his mind at ease, but little did he know that their conversation would be spilled in advance. Furthermore, the plan was leaked out by the ones who would ruin rather than accomplish things - Leng Xiangyu, and her son. They went as far as to show off to Gu Xijiu with his plans and caused him to fail.

Not only Gu Tianqing, now, he could not even protect his own Twelfth Prince.

Despite handling the case in a fiery temper, Di Fuyi did not go against the law. He did not overdo it, so one could only say that he was unmoved by any personal appeals.

Once Celestial Master Zuo had set the sentence, there would be no more changes. It was even more effective than the imperial edict. No amount of begging for mercy could change his mind.

It was up to this point that people truly understood the value of 'a follower of the Lord’ and how much she was accounted for.

This had caused those who planned to take advantage of Gu Xijiu to back off from their useless pursuits.

One should not plot anything against the follower of the Lord. Otherwise, should Celestial Master Zuo find out, they would be sentenced to the heaviest of punishments.

If only one could conceal him forever. However, it was certainly not easy to deceive him.

It seemed like Celestial Master Zuo would surely be defending Gu Xijiu guardedly.

As he was seemingly defending her to such an extent, would he care to release Gu Xijiu into the Dark Forest tomorrow? Would he have such partiality for her?

Everyone had the same doubts at heart, but no one dared to ask for an answer.

Di Fuyi seemed to realize the doubts from the people, so he got off and said, "Indeed, I owed Luo Xinglan a favor, which is why I agreed to the engagement in the first place. However, I'll never force anyone to do anything against their wishes. Thus, for the sake of the Lord, I'll hereby make her a promise. If Gu Xijiu can make it out from the Dark Forest within eight days and if she's still discontented about the marriage, she can always negotiate to call off the engagement with me. She can regain her freedom and no one will ever be allowed to coerce her into agreeing to any other engagement. Nevertheless, if she chooses to disappear in the Dark Forest on purpose, or she manages to escape only to live in the shadows for the rest of her life, I'll personally go and recover her, and this engagement will never be canceled. She'll only be my concubine."