My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 426 - 288: Phoenix’s Love Potion

King Rui and King Gong started fighting each other.

The court had just experienced a massive shift, from the struggle of the Eight Princes for succession to a tripod stand of three, and in less than a month, two of the legs had begun their struggle.

King Gong and King Rui frequently attacked each other's followers and industries, providing a spectacle for others to watch.

The cause of the issue was that King Rui informed the Minister of Justice that the assassins who had attempted to kill his family last time were sent by King Gong.

This led to severe retribution from the Minister of Justice against the officials in King Gong's camp.

With this justification, even the three provinces dared not intervene.

Party strife has its own rules; even when Li Xuanjing arrested people, he always had ample reasons. Sending assassins to settle party conflicts through assassination was considered a great taboo in the court.

King Gong could not remain indifferent to this.

He could not sit back and do nothing; otherwise, it would indeed appear that he had accepted the accusation.

Nor could he seek revenge against Li Xuanjing or King Chun; that would truly escalate into party strife, and not even jumping into the Yellow River would clear his name.

Thus, he could only direct his spearhead toward King Rui, creating a scenario where he was wrongly accused by King Rui and, out of anger, was forced to counterattack.

Inside King Gong Mansion.

King Gong wore a look of gloom; he was truly frustrated, accustomed to controlling everything from behind the scenes. He had intended to wait until King Rui and King Chun had worn each other down before emerging from behind the scenes to seize the final victory.

He never expected that King Rui, whom he least regarded, would force him to this step and prematurely reveal his strength.

This directly caused all his subsequent plans to be completely disrupted.

Beside him, a middle-aged scholar asked, "Your Highness, shall we continue?"

King Gong waved his hand and said, "No need. Fighting with King Rui will harm the enemy eight hundred but us a thousand. In the end, it's King Chun who benefits. We've done what we need to do, to keep going will only increase our losses..."

A look of suspicion crept onto his face as he murmured, "Something is off with Li Rui recently, has he recruited some kind of expert?"

Inside King Rui Mansion.

A look of realization dawned on King Rui's face as he murmured to himself, "So that's how it is..."

Li Xuanjing had not responded to his letter because he was waiting for him to show up in person. The news he reported about King Gong must have been deliberately leaked by Li Xuanjing...

This way, Li Xuanjing would have a reason to act against King Gong, and to clear his name, King Gong would have no choice but to trouble him...

Though he had been calculated by Li Xuanjing, King Rui did not hold any resentment toward him.

In his uneducated days, he thought Li Xuanjing was nothing more than Father Emperor's dog and looked down on him in his heart.

But as he read more and more books, he came to admire Li Xuanjing increasingly.

Putting aside their positions, to assist King Chun from having nothing to the place he's at now, he could be called a top strategist.

Had he been in the Warring States period, he would certainly have been a top-ranked strategist of the School of Cross and Vertical.

King Rui thought he had learned a lot from books, but still, he unwittingly walked into Li Xuanjing's trap, being led by the nose...

When Li Xuanjing became the top scholar, King Rui was not even ten years old. By the time he came of age, Li Xuanjing was already a prominent figure. His understanding of Li Xuanjing wasn't extensive.

A sudden curiosity about Li Xuanjing surged in his heart, and he said to the effeminate man beside him, "Go get all of Li Xuanjing's information for me..."

For these important rivals, the King Mansion's archives were very comprehensive. He had read Li Xuanjing's information before but had not scrutinized it in detail.

Soon, the effeminate man brought in a stack of thick files.

As King Rui opened the files, his expression varied between confusion, realization, silence, murmuring, furrowed brows, and exclamations as he thumbed through the pages...

Upon reviewing Li Xuanjing's files again, he noticed things he had overlooked before.

He read meticulously over contents he had previously skimmed, discovering new insights.

King Rui faintly sensed that the purge led by King You to clear the emperor's side might also have been a trap set by Li Xuanjing.

By using this incident, he not only toppled King Chun's two greatest competitors but also nearly eradicated his old enemies.

When he was imprisoned, he decisively betrayed his allies and extricated himself alone.

Twenty years later, he finally found the opportunity to personally exact revenge on all his past enemies.

To call him treacherous and ungrateful is correct, or to say he bore his vengeance with patience and resilience is also not wrong; it's difficult to define Li Xuanjing with a simple term, but he certainly qualifies as a generation's hero.

Closing the last file, King Rui took a long breath of relief.

This reading offered genuine satisfaction.

Of course, this satisfaction came from putting himself in Li Xuanjing's position.

From his own perspective, it was somewhat stifling, because Li Xuanjing's satisfaction was built upon their frustration.

After putting down the file, King Rui remained silent for a while, slowly organizing his thoughts, learning something from Li Xuanjing.

As he gathered his thoughts, he recalled an issue he had neglected.

The invitation to the Heavenly Mountain Seven Killers was very secretive, with only a few aware, so how could King Gong have known...

His face darkened as he spoke in a low voice, "Damn it, there's a traitor among us..."

...

At the Honglu Si.

These days, Li Nuo was busy with official duties; he hardly had any spare time to practice his cultivation during the day.

As the end of the year approached, envoys from various countries and some border tribes arrived in Chang'an City one after another to pay tribute.

Honglu Si had to arrange these people's food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, so at the end of each year, Honglu Si was relatively busier.

However, being busy with these tasks was always better than handling funeral affairs for others.

This year, Honglu Si was busier than usual because the delegations they were hosting included not only the vassal states and ethnic minorities of Daxia but also several powerful countries and other small nations' delegations.

Continental countries held a delegation conference every four years.

The conference was hosted in turn by the Five Great Dynasties, and this time it was Daxia's turn to host the event.

The main purpose of the delegation conference was to enhance dialogue and exchanges between the countries of the continent, deepen mutual trust in security, expand commercial and trade cooperation, eliminate major discrepancies and further build consensus.

The most fundamental purpose was to reduce strategic miscalculations and to avoid war.

Now was no longer the time of the Warring States; all countries were focused on recuperation and replenishment, preferring not to start or be provoked into war, thus giving rise to the delegation conference.

Normally, there were only a handful of envoys in Chang'an from different countries.

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

But during the delegation conference, each country would send a strong delegation, which for any nation, was the largest and most significant diplomatic event.

After arranging the delegation from a border ethnic group, it was already half an hour past the end of work.

Today, Housekeeper Wu was not waiting outside.

Li Nuo no longer needed his protection now.

Martial Artists in the Fourth Realm couldn't break through his defense, and even if he encountered someone from the Fifth Realm, he could hold his ground for a short while until reinforcements arrived.

Even a Grandmaster from the Fifth Realm wouldn't dare make trouble in Chang'an City.

This was the main street, patrolled by the Imperial Guard regardless of day or night.

When walking out of Honglu Si, Li Nuo saw Phoenix standing there.

He asked in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

Phoenix replied, "I just happened to pass by. An official here said you hadn't finished work yet, and since I didn't have anything particular to do, I waited here to go home with you."

Since they had met by chance, Li Nuo walked back with Phoenix.

As they walked and talked, Phoenix was asking him about musical tones when she suddenly stepped into a void, her body stumbled, losing balance. Had it not been for Li Nuo's timely support, she might have had a nasty fall.

Li Nuo asked, "What happened?"

Phoenix tried moving her ankle and showed a hint of pain between her brows as she said, "It seems I've twisted my foot..."

Twisting an ankle while simply walking was something Li Nuo found exasperating.

It was hard to imagine how such a fragile girl could get along so well with Jiaren Yiren and Anning.

Li Nuo asked, "Can you walk?"

Phoenix tried to walk a couple of steps, lost her balance again, and fell into Li Nuo's arms.

Li Nuo reluctantly squatted down and said, "Come on up."

Moments later, Li Nuo was carrying Phoenix on his back along the street, drawing the sideways glances of many people.

"This gentleman really knows how to care for someone."

"Ha, if I could carry such a beauty, I'd be willing too."

"That's the top scholar and the lady from Jade Sound Pavilion, Phoenix. They're so intimate in the street, claiming they have no relation, but who would believe that!"

"It's not fair, the three beauties of Chang'an all get taken by one person..."

...

Although these people waited for Li Nuo to move away before they discussed it, his senses had enhanced after breaking through to the Fourth Realm, and he heard them very clearly.

Hearing too many rumors, Li Nuo had become immune to them.

Perhaps it was because he was now an experienced driver, or maybe it was because he was so familiar with Phoenix from their daily encounters, that walking down the street with her on his back, feeling the soft pressure from behind, Li Nuo had no other thoughts.

Carrying Phoenix felt as natural as carrying his wife or Anning.

She was not only a Jiaren, the glue between Anning and Yiren, but also one of the few people to whom Li Nuo could pour out his heart...

Subconsciously, Li Nuo might have already considered her one of the closest people to him.

Back at Li Mansion, neither his wife nor Anning cared that Li Nuo was carrying Phoenix on his back; they both came forward to care for her injury.

It was really just a minor twist of the ankle, which would heal after a few days of rest.

Anning looked at the bruising on her ankle and said, "I'll go to the palace and ask for a female doctor to come over, let them use Medical Family True Qi to treat you, you'll heal faster..."

Phoenix waved her hand and said, "It's just a small wound, no need to trouble them."

Asking for a female doctor from the palace indeed involved some trouble with the Imperial Palace Bureau; Anning suddenly looked towards Li Nuo and said, "Isn't my husband skilled in massage techniques? Let him press on it for you; it should help with the recovery..."

Li Nuo glanced at Anning.

She used to be very cautious of Phoenix, so why was she indifferent now?

Li Nuo's gaze then turned to his wife, who looked as usual, also showing no signs that she thought this improper.

Even Yiren poked his arm and said, "Are you up for it or not..."

Li Nuo didn't know what kind of love potion Phoenix had fed to the three of them, but he felt that she was even more adept at attracting women than men.

Li Nuo shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't mind, as long as Phoenix is willing..."

Phoenix bowed her head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Then I'll trouble you, sir..."