The sudden voice attracted the attention of many people there. And when they looked toward the direction the voice came from, their eyes lit up with infatuation.
"I-it's Senior Sister Gong Qinyin! Is she protecting this young man? Or does she merely have a grudge against Wang Jiaohua?"
"It really is Senior Sister Gong Qinyin! She has been accepted as a personal disciple of the Zither Empress and is recently a rising figure in the inner pavilion. She is also one of the pavilion's top five beauties!"
"Wait, this kid knows Senior Sister Gong? I can't believe his luck!"
"Look who's beside her! It's Lu Xiaoqing! Maybe she was brought here by Lu Xiaoqing?"
"It doesn't matter. Things are going to get interesting."
...
Xiang Shaoyun was also blanking out. He had not expected Gong Qinyin and Lu Xiaoqing to appear suddenly like this.
After a year, Gong Qinyin had become even more enchanting. She had a face beautiful enough to destroy kingdoms, a source of infatuation for many young men; and her curves, which had only grown more alluring as she aged, made the men not be able to take their eyes off her.
She was not wearing the usual martial outfit she used to wear. Instead, she was wearing a thin light muslin outfit. The outfit accentuated her perfect figure, her beauty so flawless one could die just staring at her in a trance. Hanging on her back was a zither, and the combination of her and the zither emanated absolute grace and elegance.
Xiang Shaoyun couldn't help but sigh, "This girl sure has changed a lot."
As for Lu Xiaoqing, she hadn't changed as much as Gong Qinyin, but she had definitely grown prettier as well. Her long hair cascaded down her back, radiating endless gentleness, and her delicate face was incredibly lovable, giving one an urge to pamper her endlessly the moment one laid eyes on her.
At present, a layer of sparkling mist covered her eyes. She stared unblinkingly at Xiang Shaoyun, rich emotions in her eyes. It had been a year and a half, and she had thought that Xiang Shaoyun had died at the Golden River Valley.
She would often recall the time they first met, recall her anger over his shamelessness, and recall how she fell for him more and more. His shamelessness, his unconventional ways, his overbearingness...she loved all of it.
His ultimate disappearance had placed her in a figurative space of ice, making her feel completely at a loss. She could only keep cultivating madly so as to keep her emotions numb with hard work. Now that she was looking at him once again, her frozen heart was slowly thawing.
Before even seeing who the newcomer was, Wang Jiaohua turned while scolding, "Which slut is it? You dare shout at this young lady? Are you tired of living?"
Only after she said those words did she realize that Gong Qinyin was the newcomer. Her face instantly sank.
This woman was not an ordinary inner disciple. Rather, she was a personal disciple of an Emperor, and the number of Emperors the Cloud Margin Pavilion had could be counted on one's fingers. That alone gave her an extraordinary status in the pavilion.
"S-sorry, J-Junior Sister Gong. I did not realize it was you," Wang Jiaohua quickly explained herself. Inwardly however, she was cursing, What a b*tch. If it wasn't for the Emperor, I would have ripped you apart.
"Touching him is equivalent to touching me. Come, let's battle!" Gong Qinyin tossed Xiang Shaoyun a glance before declaring solemnly to Wang Jiaohua. She paused slightly before adding, "Don't worry that my master will trouble you for this. She is unlikely to lower herself to interfere in the affairs of juniors like us."
Before Wang Jiaohua could reply, Xiang Shaoyun spoke, "This is the affair of a man. You have no business interfering. Just stand aside and watch."
The crowd grew resentful when they heard how Xiang Shaoyun was speaking to Gong Qinyin.
"What an ungrateful bastard. Senior Sister Gong, just let him charge to his death."
"Yeah, Senior Sister Gong, he is unworthy of your concern. There's nothing special about him at all."
"Senior Brother Wen, Senior Sister Wang, beat this guy up! Don't spare him!"
...
One could almost hear the sound of hearts shattering when the crowd heard Gong Qinyin's next words.
She merely nodded obediently and said, "Swat them off quickly, then. We'll wait."
They all had assumed that Gong Qinyin would be angry, but she was behaving like she was Xiang Shayun's best friend. No, to be precise, she was so gentle it was like they were a pair of lovers. Many a heart was broken when this scene had unfolded.
Inwardly, Wen Jinrui cursed, Just a little slut who had gotten lucky. Since you are willing to let him fight his own battle, I won't hold back from giving him a good beating, then.
Xiang Shaoyun hopped onto the arena and taunted Wang Jiaohua with his finger. "Old lady, come on up. If the two of you can kill me working together, nobody will pursue this matter any further. I am not a Cloud Margin Pavilion member, so don't worry."
Hearing those words, Wen Jinrui and Wang Jiaohua grew even more confident. They were initially afraid that Xiang Shaoyun would be a personal disciple of some elder. If that was the case, they wouldn't be able to do much to him.
"I'll drop this out of respect for Junior Sister Gong," said Wang Jiaohua after she got on the arena.
For her, offending a personal disciple of an Emperor for a cousin was not worth it at all. Thus, she made the straightforward choice of dropping the whole matter.
"Hehe, too bad I am not willing to let it drop. Of course, I will consider it if you get your cousin to come kowtow to my brother and ask for forgiveness. Otherwise, I won't drop this. What do you think?" Xiang Shaoyun sneered. The other party was at fault anyway. There was no reason for him to let it drop.
"Don't push it!" Wang Jiaohua was once again fuming.
"Enough, don't bother. The fist will always be louder than words. If the two of you can survive one move from me, I will allow the matter to drop," said Xiang Shaoyun nonchalantly.
"What haughty words! Show me then, how are you going to defeat us with one move!" Wen Jinrui himself was an arrogant person. Thus, he could not stand how arrogant Xiang Shaoyun was being. After a roar, he finally made the first move and attacked.
Wen Jinrui moved like the wind; his cultivation base of fifth-stage Transformation Realm erupted fully as he blasted Xiang Shaoyun with both his palms.
Wrathful Bear Palm!
It was as if Wen Jinrui had transformed into a demonic bear as he slammed his palms forward. His palms were as powerful as the paws of a demonic bear with the strength capable of easily disintegrating boulders weighing tens of thousands of catties.
At the same time, Wang Jiaohua, who had offered peace just a moment ago, attacked as well. Her attack was even more ruthless as she aimed her sword straight at Xiang Shaoyun's vital part, trying to kill with one move.
One had to admit that the timing of her stab was incredibly ingenious as it had arrived from an angle nobody had expected. The attack was almost like an ambush that one couldn't guard against.
Wen Jinrui and Wang Jiaohua were nearly equal in strength. When the two attacked together, regular sixth-stage Transformation Realm experts wouldn't be able to easily repel them.
"Shameless!" said Lu Xiaoqing furiously.
"Don't worry, they won't be able to do anything to him," said Gong Qinyin confidently.
Inwardly, she sighed, He is indeed still alive. This is great news.