(MC POV)

By right, the distance between the competition area and the palace's main doors were not that distant, but having been on the carriage for awhile… It felt way longer than it should be.

The carriage itself has no windows either so we were not able to look outside, kind of a weird design if you ask me

I'm not sure how long has passed but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, and yet it already feels like I've been here for hours.

That's partly because of how Lian Li and the princess had been staring at each other ever since we had boarded the carriage.

I don't even know how to broach the topic of being her Master with this kind of atmosphere.

"Senior sister is Master's first disciple, yes?" The princess finally broke the silence

"Ahahaha~ How presumptuous of you to refer Master so familiarly as though he has already accepted you as his disciple?" Lian Li laughed.

Oh what? I thought they had actually known each other or something by how they had been acting before? Why is she suddenly so hostile?

The princess smiled at her, "Oh that was not my intention at all. Master simply deserves my highest respect for him."

Finding the perfect opportunity, I raised my hand to stop her, "Wait… Is there a reason why you feel this way? I do not remember doing anything to garner such respect from you?"

The princess flashed a genuine smile at me, "Master might not remember, but this lowly one owes her life to you. Had it not been for Master, I would not be alive today."

Now I've got even more questions, "Hmmm? I do not remember saving any princesses?"

She nodded, "You would not have, no one knew who I was outside of my family after all so even if you did see me, I don't think you would have known who I was…"

"That may be true but, I don't recall ever seeing you?"

She giggled, "It's ok Master, I never told anyone about it. But I suppose you're curious on how I ended up there in the first place? Well, it was quite some time ago, I had been taken away by the Dark Sect as they wanted to experiment on one of Royal blood."

I raised my eyebrow, "Someone managed to take you from within the palace just like that?"

"Yes… My parents did not want to lose face in front of the populace and give the other Major Houses and Grand Sects more power, so the entire kidnapping was kept secret."

Huh, so the king and queen would prioritize reputation over their own kin? Then again, most likely it's politics at play once again and I'm not even going to question it.

"What happened then?" Lian Li asked, suddenly showing interest.

"I do not remember most of it. I only remember going to bed one night and waking up in a dungeon next, strapped to a table where various Dark Sect members were around me."

The princess shivered and hugged herself, her face darkening slightly.

"They did… Things… Apparently they found what they were searching for from me and were using me to do something. Something that might have brought an unimaginable horror upon the land."

I'm still trying to figure out exactly when I rescued her by the way.

The princess looked up at me, a little light returning to her eyes when our eyes met, "It was torturous… But Master had shown up one day, killing everyone within that cult. I was sure Master did not want to involve himself with the Royal Family, that's why you did not show yourself and used part of the ceiling to destroy my bindings instead, right?"

Girl, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about right now.

Taking my silence as confirmation, she continued, "I managed to find my way out just when you left, leaving all the dead bodies of the Dark Sect burning within the main hall. I followed you for a distance until you returned to your camp where your two disciples were, that's when I figured out who you were and realised your intentions, so I left. Since you had gone out of the way to not be involved in our politics, there was no reason for me to drag you into it."

Burning the Dark Sect bodies in a hall? Where did that… Oh… Oh… Oh!

That time where we found the Phoenix Ember by the side of the road? The first time I encountered the Dark Sect in this life?! I hadn't even met Cai Hong back then!

Wait, does this mean she was the reason why that flower bloomed there? What the hell were they doing to her?!

Damn, now I regret not checking the place more thoroughly! I had been too worried that Manami and Lian Li might find out about my absence so I returned quickly without doing much of a search, things would have been very different if I had decided otherwise.

And holy crap… From what she said, I must have caused a part of the ceiling to fall on her, if she was any unluckier, I might have accidentally killed her instead!

What is with this turn of events?!

Trying my best to keep my face as calm as possible, I asked, "So your Cultivation Point…"

She nodded with a bright smile, "Yes! It seems there was a silver lining in my suffering after all as I ended up being able to cultivate! Please take care of me in the future, Master!"

I resisted the urge to drag my palm down my face.

If I am not mistaken, in the original timeline where I hadn't gone to accept Lian Li as my disciple, this would be how the two will meet.

Most likely after Lian Li gets rejected from entering, she will come across that flower that would somehow give her a boost in her cultivation, just enough to destroy that Dark Sect hideout and save the princess.

The two of them would then form a bond and train together, then somehow ending up ascending to the other Planes.

Most likely they would share their history with each other which would result in them developing a hatred for the male gender for placing them in their predicament, leading them to be known as the man hater duo.

Hold on a moment then.

The princess got taken from the heavily guarded palace without anyone finding out and not even raising any alarms.

The only ones who even knew how she looked were the ones within the palace.

Yep, this definitely sounds like an inside job to me.

If what I got from that Dark Sect guy is true, the spotlight would be on the third prince since he was supposed to be the leader of it.

But if they were experimenting on the Royal blood, wouldn't his own work? Or does it have something to do with the gender of the blood donor?

Then again, this third prince hasn't exactly been acting very much like a criminal mastermind either. Unless this entire thing was just an act then in which case I would have to applaud him since his acting was way too realistic that it fooled even me.

Next came the question of how the Bei Family was planning to cover up the princess's disappearance after a prolonged period of time?

Surely people would've eventually talked and news would spread and then everyone would know the princess was gone, right?

Unless…

Unless the idea was to completely get rid of the princess? Maybe the king and queen themselves were also in on this?

But why?

Does this have something to do with the talent she possesses? Is this why she managed to gain so much power in a significantly shorter period of time as compared to everyone else except my disciples?

Then again, it's not too hard to cover up the disappearance of someone no one else has ever met. The King just has to issue out an announcement that the princess had passed due to illness and the populace would just buy it.

Damnit.

This is all too messed up for me to take in right now.

I came here to celebrate a birthday, how the hell did I get involved in some political crap like this!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.