"What's wrong, Master? Have you already forgotten about me?" Su Yang took the initiative to speak to Li Xiao Mo when she was seemingly speechless.
"W-What are you doing here, Su Yang? And your clothes… You are an Inner Court disciple now?" The tone Li Xiao Mo used when speaking to Su Yang was not anything like a Master speaking to her servant and instead sounded more reserved, almost as if she was talking to someone above her but didn't want to make it sound so obvious.
"It's all because of you, Master. If it wasn't for your help, I would've never made it here…" Su Yang continued treating her as though she was his master, even throwing in a few lies to make things difficult for her.
"Senior apprentice-sister Li, why don't you introduce this manservant of yours to us already?" someone suddenly said out loud, and the surrounding disciples nodded.
Li Xiao Mo looked at the surrounding disciples with a perplexed expression on her face, silently cursing each and every single one of them inwardly.
After another moment of silence, Li Xiao Mo showed a graceful smile and said: "Junior apprentice-brother Su, why must you tease me like this? You made everyone here believe you to be my servant, which is far from the truth…"
"Huh?"
The smiles on the surrounding disciples froze, and they glared at Su Yang with sharp eyes after realizing that he had played all of them.
"How boring… You really are no fun, Li Xiao Mo." Su Yang shook his head, feeling disappointed that she didn't play along with him.
"Li Xiao Mo?" A few disciples there frowned at the way Su Yang casually addressed her, even calling her by her full name. It gave the two a feeling of intimacy, and that secretly displeased a few people there that felt a certain way towards Li Xiao Mo, who was relatively popular within the Inner Court disciples.
"Who the hell are you, new kid? Do you not know Senior apprentice-sister Li's background here within the Inner Court?" A handsome young man with long hair and sharp eyebrows spoke out loud as he looked at Su Yang with an unfriendly gaze.
"Junior apprentice-brother Gu!" Li Xiao Mo narrowed her eyes at the individual who just spoke, which only made him feel even more irritated.
"Senior apprentice-sister Li protected the newcomer?"
When the disciples saw this, their interest in Su Yang skyrocketed.
Li Xiao Mo was known for her arrogant and overbearing demeanor, so for her to go out of her way to defend someone, that individual must have some sort of special background that even she has to respect.
"A-Anyway…" Li Xiao Mo cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Su Yang. "What are you doing here?"
Su Yang looked around at the surrounding disciples and said: "This is the gathering place for that, right? Why else would I be here?"
"What!? You are also participating in this event?!"
Not only was Li Xiao Mo shocked at the reveal, but even the other disciples were also dumbfounded.
"That's impossible! You are clearly a new Inner Court disciple! There is no way that you could've been chosen for this!" exclaimed the disciple surnamed Gu.
"Are you kidding me? How could someone who'd just become an Inner Court disciple participate this event that upholds the Sect's reputation? Based on what qualifications?"
"Junior apprentice-brother Su… Only those with a substantial amount of experience as an Inner Court disciple may participate in this event, yet you being here does not make sense…" Li Xiao Mo partially explained to him why everybody there was surprised.
"Is it really that surprising for me to be here?" Su Yang nonchalantly shrugged. "As for my qualifications…"
He looked at Li Xiao Mo and continued: "Li Xiao Mo here should know whether or not I am qualified to participate in this event based on her own experiences."
"Eh?" Li Xiao Mo instantly blushed once she realized the meaning behind his words, and even her body began reacting by feeling heated.
"What!?" As for the other disciples, their eyes widened with shock. Some of them even felt as though their heart was being hammered by an invisible hammer.
"Senior apprentice-sister Li! Surely, he must be farting! There's no way that you would've done 'that' with him!" The one surnamed Gu said in disbelief.
"That's right!" The other disciples also decided to join. "After all, you already have—"
"Shut up! Of course, he's just joking with you all!" Li Xiao Mo suddenly shouted.
The place immediately became silent.
And just as someone was able to curse at Su Yang for his untasteful jokes, the sound of someone clearing their throat resounded.
"It's the Matriarch!"
The disciples there quickly began bowing to the approaching Liu Lanzhi one by one.
"This disciple greets the Matriarch!"
"Un." Liu Lanzhi nodded.
However, when she noticed Su Yang, who was just standing there with a nonchalant expression on his face, Liu Lanzhi pointed at him and said: "I see that nothing about you have changed since we last met— still as disrespectful to your elders as always."
Su Yang did not say anything regarding her remarks and continued to stand there silently.
"..."
Liu Lanzhi frowned upon seeing no reaction from him. Did he not hear what the others there just called her? Or was his body along with his face frozen from shock after learning of her real status?
Because Liu Lanzhi did not expose her identity to Su Yang as the Matriarch at the Examination Hall, she believed that Su Yang only saw her as a mere Sect Elder with zero clues as to her true identity as the Matriarch.
"How's that, Su Yang? Are you so shocked that you cannot even react properly?" Liu Lanzhi laughed inwardly.
After the passionate session inside the Examination Hall, Liu Lanzhi has always been looking for a way to pay him back for what he'd done to her. And what better way to get her revenge than to show up suddenly as the Matriarch of the Sect?
But alas, too bad for Liu Lanzhi that Su Yang had long guessed her real identity the instant he saw her. Hell, if she knew that Su Yang was actually the current Patriarch, who knows how she'll react.
"Look at you, shocked speechless over something so small..." Liu Lanzhi suddenly said with a grin on her face, poking fun at him. "Are you regretting your actions at the Examination Hall now?"