Sudden Heavenly Thunder

"Right now, what you should be worrying about isn’t making soup, but healing up fast! With injuries like yours, how are you supposed to compete? How will you win the championship? How are you going to become the general’s wife?" Grace said.

"Hmph! Save your concern for yourself!" Queenie Zhu sneered. "I am definitely taking first place!"

Grace just smiled and said nothing.

She was only a third-rank Spirit Practitioner. Grace really didn’t know where her confidence came from.

As far as Grace knew, there were girls in the Four Great Houses with cultivation equal to or even higher than hers...

At that moment, things started happening on the Imperial Advisor’s side.

Leon Zane was still dressed in white, holding a peachwood sword. He prayed to the gods above, then took the birth charts of Minister Zhuo and Grace Wan, pierced them with the sword, placed them on the fire, and began chanting incantations, pointing the sword skyward.

Grace Wan exchanged a glance with Second Uncle, then smiled at the Imperial Advisor.

She had already used her connections to make arrangements with the Imperial Advisor.

Today, no matter if their birth charts matched or not, there wouldn’t be any trouble.

Very soon, she would be the true mistress of the Zhu Estate!

She’d have both the power and the title!

That Lena had been a thorn in her side for years, always getting under her skin. But she’d pull that thorn out, one way or another!

Just as she was plotting how to get rid of her, suddenly—BOOM!

A bolt of Sudden Heavenly Thunder struck down, landing right on Leon Zane’s raised peachwood sword.

Leon Zane was blasted to the ground and didn’t get up for a long time.

Grace Wan’s smile froze on her face. Her eyes widened in shock. She was completely stunned.

The other members of the Zhu family were also scared stiff. It took them a moment to recover, then they rushed over to help the Imperial Advisor up.

Leon Zane’s hairpiece and robes were singed and blackened, making him look absolutely miserable.

But thankfully, he wasn’t seriously hurt.

He picked up the now-charred peachwood sword, eyes narrowing in concentration.

Strangely, the two talisman papers on the sword hadn’t burned away or been destroyed by the thunder. Instead... they’d turned blood red.

"Imperial Advisor, what’s going on?" Minister Zhuo and the clan elders asked, all looking uneasy and suspicious.

Leon Zane stood up, his face solemn. "Everyone, I can’t divine this. You’ll have to find someone else!"

With that, he tried to leave.

But the Zhu family wasn’t about to let him go.

They surrounded him, pestering him with questions about what had just happened.

Unable to escape, Leon Zane finally said, "I can’t say much. But my advice: cancel today’s event and never mention it again! Otherwise, the Zhu clan will face disaster!"

"Imperial Advisor, what do you mean? You need to be clearer!" Dowager Lady Evelyn Zhu said anxiously. "It’s just matching Minghan and Grace Wan’s birth charts. Why would there be Sudden Heavenly Thunder? Why talk of disaster?"

"Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed. That’s all I can say. Farewell." With that, he straightened his scorched hairpiece and hurried away.

The Zhu family members gathered together, buzzing with speculation.

"Dowager Lady," one of the clan elders said, "after what just happened, I’m afraid Aunt Wan and Minghan’s birth charts can’t be matched!"

"Not only can’t they be matched, it’s a sign of great misfortune!"

"Dowager Lady, what do you think we should do?"

Dowager Lady Evelyn Zhu thought for a moment, glanced at the pale and stunned Grace Wan, and said, "We’ll do as the Imperial Advisor says—cancel it! From now on... no one is to mention this again!"

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear.