Chapter 84: I'm Also the First Time

County Middle Inn.

Shen Tang stood in front of the window inside the room, quietly looking at the smoke and dust in the direction of the distant Incense Burning Building. The remaining smoke from the beacon fire, which had been reduced to ruins, was still drifting.

On the other side of the city, the county governor's mansion was also in ruins. The hearts of the people in East River County were alarmed and panicked all night.

As the instigators of the two events, they were carrying full bags and quietly observing.

"What are you thinking?" Lu Xingzhou behind her also left his wheelchair. He came up from behind, put his arms around her, and stood with her by the window looking out.

Being hugged like this, Shen Tang's body stiffened slightly. She couldn't figure out when their relationship had become so natural, where he could just hug her whenever he wanted?

But it was indeed she who had invited him into the room "to talk"... in this inn room, just the two of them, at night.

"You..." Shen Tang said with some difficulty, "How can you just hug me like this..."

Lu Xingzhou's voice was close to her ear: "Could it be that today's game is not worth a reward?"

Shen Tang snorted: "Even so, you shouldn't just take it without asking!"

Although she said that, her body did indeed soften. It was as if finding an excuse made it acceptable.

Feeling her body's change, Lu Xingzhou continued to speak close to her ear: "How could I, a person of the Demonic Path, not take things without asking?"

"You..." Shen Tang bit her lower lip. "You weren't like this before... Do you feel I'm easy to bully now?"

"Before... before my legs were healed, I wasn't in the mood to think about other things, ah."

Shen Tang said angrily: "I shouldn't have helped you heal your legs!"

Lu Xingzhou didn't speak.

Shen Tang keenly realized that this sentence seemed a bit different for him. Her tone then softened: "Actually, saying I helped you, I didn't put in much effort... cracking the secret realm mainly relied on you yourself, and refining the bones was also entirely done by you."

Lu Xingzhou didn't pick up this topic. He changed the subject, saying: "You called me in, what did you want to talk about?"

Shen Tang said: "I wanted to ask you... the pill you gave me today, making me favor Zhang Shaoyou and the others, was that you trying to avoid suspicion?"

"Actually, there's nothing to avoid suspicion of, but it's necessary to highlight you... Ultimately, you are the Sect Master."

"And you will eventually leave?"

Lu Xingzhou didn't answer.

Shen Tang pressed on: "Even if we are like this?"

"Like what?" Lu Xingzhou slightly turned his head and kissed her cheek. "Like this?"

Shen Tang's breathing became heavy. Her body tightened slightly, as if wanting to struggle free.

Yet, she heard Lu Xingzhou murmuring indistinctly: "It's not because I want to leave, but because I feel I can't let the guest usurp the host. Some of my actions before... perhaps weren't too good. They might make others grumble inwardly, which is unfavorable to your authority. I will pay more attention to this aspect in the future."

Shen Tang's struggling strength immediately dissipated. She leaned softly into his embrace, closed her eyes, and let him kiss her.

As a princess, she was of course very aware of such matters. She hadn't cared before simply because she doted on him, but she knew in her heart that it wasn't good.

However, she didn't need to deliberately mention these things to him; he had already realized it himself and was intentionally restraining himself.

Just on this point, Shen Tang even wanted to reward him a bit more.

In a daze, she felt her chin being turned slightly by him. Then, his lips moved from her cheek and kissed her lip corner.

Shen Tang's heart startled. Before she could react, her red lips were tightly sealed.

Shen Tang's eyes widened. Her mind suddenly exploded, a blank.

She was unaware that at this moment, Lu Xingzhou's own mind was also quite empty. His heart was beating extremely fast, and for a moment, he didn't even know what he was thinking.

This was also his first kiss in this world.

For a moment, he was as nervous as a completely inexperienced child. Not to mention that he had already forgotten the bit of experience from his previous life, even the many films he had watched were almost forgotten. He only felt that her lips were very soft, very comfortable, a little sweet... He didn't know anything else.

She didn't know how long it had been, perhaps only a moment. Shen Tang suddenly woke up. Her elbow almost instinctively arched backward, and her body also instinctively turned, breaking free from his embrace.

Lu Xingzhou also came back to his senses. Shen Tang retreated half a step, supporting herself on the windowsill with both hands behind her. She faced him tensely and said: "You... you..."

Those lips, just kissed red, were delicate and charming, as if about to drip.

Lu Xingzhou raised his hand to signal that he wouldn't attack. Instead, he walked back a few steps and sat back in his wheelchair.

Shen Tang finally let out a breath. She bit her lower lip and looked at him for a while, then said in a low voice: "Satisfied? Satisfied with your Demonic Path demon person's flirtatiousness, not?"

Lu Xingzhou lowered his eyelids, looking at the tips of his shoes: "I... it's also the first time."

He didn't see it, but in that instant, a look of surprise bloomed in Shen Tang's eyes, like a light.

Then the light dimmed a little, and she said in a low voice: "Xingzhou... I possibly... can't respond to you in any way."

Lu Xingzhou looked up at her.

"Royal family matters are ultimately different from the jianghu, and also different from immortal gates. If I truly want to strive towards that goal, then before marriage, I absolutely cannot have any scandals. Once seen by people, that path is also broken in half. Added to my father's attitude, the other half is also gone, and it will also harm you."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment, his expression somewhat strange.

Honestly, he really hadn't thought about going to bed or anything... and his intimacy with Shen Tang could entirely be counted as mutual attraction that they couldn't help. He hadn't thought about deeper things, otherwise his hands wouldn't have been so proper before, not touching her randomly.

But it seems that Shen Tang has considered it, ah... Yes, in her heart, she feels that I am a demon person from the Demonic Path, definitely more unrestrained in these matters, possibly even having played with who knows how many people, possibly even suspecting if a demon person is intentionally playing with her?

Heh, women.

Shen Tang didn't know what he was thinking. Seeing his stunned look, she still thought he was quite struck.

She slowly paced over, proactively leaned down and kissed him on the face, and said softly: "You said, I once said we want to stand up together, and you valued those words very much... Then now I say, we not only want to stand up together, but also stand side by side, hand in hand, together at the peak of Great Qian, alright?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "Alright."

These words were simply no different from pledging love. In Lu Xingzhou's modern view, they could already be considered girlfriend and boyfriend. After Shen Tang finished speaking, her face also flushed hot. Looking at Lu Xingzhou's smile always made her heart beat faster the more she looked. She couldn't stay for a bit and turned to leave.

Just as she turned, her hand was pulled.

Lu Xingzhou used a little force. Shen Tang was unwilling to resist forcefully and helplessly fell back, being pulled to sit sideways on his legs.

Shen Tang pushed his shoulder somewhat angrily: "What are you doing again, la?"

Lu Xingzhou found it truly amusing: "Sect Master, this is your room, where are you going?"

Shen Tang: "...Inn, inn room, just live wherever, I'll give it to you then."

Lu Xingzhou picked her up horizontally, turned and walked towards the bed, gently put her down, then bent over and kissed her lips again: "Good night, my princess."

The second time their lips touched, neither side had that kind of blank, stunned feeling from earlier. Only a kind of sweet taste remained, spreading.

Shen Tang's eyes were like water waves, looking softly at him, and she said in a low voice: "Good night."

Watching Lu Xingzhou sit back in his wheelchair and go out, Shen Tang bit her lower lip blankly. She didn't know how long passed. Suddenly, she inexplicably laughed.

Then she lay on the pillow, pulled up the corner of the quilt, and covered her head.

Early the next morning, while several involved individuals were still savoring the affection of the previous night, East River County exploded.

After a night of discussion, Wan Cheng and Tu Yugui and others finally reached a final conclusion—

County Minister Mu Feng was a demon who had been lurking for a long time. Taking advantage of the county governor's banquet, he colluded with some traitors from the Incense Burning Building to incite rebellion, causing the deaths of over ten county officials, from the county governor down. Fortunately, Xia State City Lord Sheng Yuan Yao was present at the scene and led the Xia State crowd to barely resist the rebel army until the county Town Demon Department and the garrison army arrived, netting all the rebels.

In fact, City Lord Sheng was precisely because he was investigating the initial Xia State demon case, and followed the vine to uncover County Minister Mu Feng, that he could respond in time, thus having outstanding merit.

It was a regret that East River's good County Governor Hao Jingchuan had managed to hold on until the army arrived, but he couldn't endure in the moment he was about to be saved.

It was a pity that there was no clear evidence of the Incense Burning Building's rebellion, and the county still needed to investigate. However, this matter angered the various immortal gates. That night, the Heaven's Journey Sword Sect and the East River Gang, in revenge for the county governor, quickly attacked the Incense Burning Building, exterminated its followers, and burned it to ashes.

The story linked to the initial Xia State demon case, with a complete beginning and end. Added to the county governor's earlier shouted sentence "Incense Burning Building rebelled," which was transmitted ten li and heard by too many people, this plot could pass anywhere it was told.

As soon as the news came out, it shocked East River, and then quickly spread throughout the world.

Before, it was just Xia State's City Lord raising demons, but now even the county minister himself was simply a demon. This really made East River County famous. The Town Demon Department and the army joined hands and launched a large cleanup in East River County, not even sparing the subordinate counties, thoroughly investigating all officials.

And the world's response to demon matters was instead flat. It seemed that everywhere was intentionally suppressing this heat. The attention of various forces mainly focused on— Heaven's Journey Sword Sect flattening the Incense Burning Building.

When many people first heard this news, they thought the other side had said it in reverse. Shouldn't it be the Incense Burning Building flattening the Heaven's Journey Sword Sect?

The strength of these two sides was fundamentally not on the same level, right? Even with the addition of the East River Gang, there was no reason to flatten the Incense Burning Building in just one night, ah...

After repeatedly confirming and verifying the news was true, various sides were endlessly shocked and simply couldn't imagine how it was done. After pondering for half a day, they could only think that the Town Demon Department and the army must have secretly assisted; otherwise, it couldn't be explained. Since they couldn't find evidence of the Incense Burning Building's rebellion, they could only secretly assist the Heaven's Journey Sword Sect under the guise of sect conflict, which was very reasonable.

No matter how people tried to guess the credit of external forces, it did not hinder the rise of the Heaven's Journey Sword Sect overnight in East River. It became one of the few powerful sects in the entire great state, and no one dared to view it as a fallen household anymore.

Gu Zhanting stood with his hands behind his back in the imperial study, looking at the report and sighing: "Tang's current temperament seems to have changed. Before, she was very serene and gentle, and got along well with people, she wouldn't be so sharp and exposed."

The eunuchs to the left and right flattered with a laugh: "This time is different from that time. The princess is probably also intentionally suppressing all sides with her prestige to avoid endless trouble."

"That's also true. Someone even dared to provoke her at the sect opening ceremony... now no one dares, right?" Gu Zhanting laughed: "My phoenix child, indeed wherever she goes, she is the most dazzling light."

Southern Region, Wonderful Sound Mountain.

Yuan Muyu leaned sideways on a soft couch, holding a volume of the "New Talent List" in her hand, and listened to her subordinate's report: "Heaven's Journey Sword Sect fled far from Xia State like a bereaved dog, yet it rose rapidly, extinguishing the Grade 3 sect Incense Burning Building in just two months... it truly makes people endlessly shocked."

Yuan Muyu's gaze fell on two names on the new talent list.

New Talent Thirty, Heaven's Journey Sword Sect Sect Master Shen Tang; Subsidiary List, Pill Master List, New Talent Thirty-eight, Heaven's Journey Sword Sect Guest Official Lu Xingzhou.

Yuan Muyu closed her eyes and said faintly: "Since it is he who is helping the Heaven's Journey Sword Sect... then no matter how the Heaven's Journey Sword Sect rises, this seat will not be surprised, what is there to be shocked about."

The subordinate muttered softly: "I heard Shen Tang is just a beauty. I judge this is..."

Yuan Muyu was very calm: "You think too much, that's impossible. Even Liu Yan'er was considered a beauty in the eyes of ordinary people, eh... How could Xingzhou possibly look upon those vulgar powders? The position of guest official proves everything. He fundamentally won't be willing to truly join. If I didn't guess wrong, Xingzhou will also leave Xia State soon after doing this."

The subordinate wanted to speak but stopped. He only muttered a bit; he dared not truly refute Yan Monarch, only saying "yes" and retreating.

Just as Yuan Muyu said this sentence, on the official road returning from East River to Xia State, Lu Xingzhou was again riding in the same carriage as Shen Tang. This time, they were sitting side by side. Shen Tang was nestled with her head on Lu Xingzhou's shoulder. Lu Xingzhou lowered his head to kiss her, and Shen Tang turned to respond. The whole journey was full of fragrance.