Wen Jinrui's bear paws and Wang Jiaohua's quick sword arrived at the same time from two different directions in a flawless combination. Unfortunately, in Xiang Shaoyun's eyes, their attacks were as slow as a snail.
By the time their attacks arrived, Xiang Shaoyun had already vanished from their vision. Both attacks only hit an afterimage. The two were greatly alarmed, and just as they were about to look for Xiang Shaoyun, his attack arrived from an angle they never expected.
Pa! Pa!
A series of crisp slaps sounded as both Wen Jinrui and Wang Jiaohua felt an aching pain on their faces. The slaps even caused them to feel lightheaded. They couldn't even see how Xiang Shaoyun had attacked. By the time they wanted to strike back, Xiang Shaoyun had already pulled away from them.
"Ten slaps for each of you. That is payback for your mouths. Come again, I will let you attack again, but my next attack will be much less merciful," said Xiang Shaoyun in an uncaring manner as if he had done something that was completely unimportant.
Clear palm marks could be seen on the faces of Wen Jinrui and Wang Jiaohua. Their faces were badly swollen, and blood was dripping off the corners of their lips.
"Y-you dare humiliate me like that? Die!" Wang Jiaohua had never been this humiliated before. With a shout, she erupted with all her strength, preparing to fight Xiang Shaoyun with her full power.
But she was quickly stopped by Wen Jinrui who whispered, "Jiaohua, calm down! He is stronger than both of us!"
One ought to admit that Wen Jinrui was quite the smart one. They hadn't been able to react to Xiang Shaoyun's attack at all. If they really threw all caution to the wind and continued the fight, the two of them would be the ones to die.
Hearing Wen Jinrui's words, Wang Jiaohua lost all her courage. She had been slapped without even seeing how the slaps came. How could she hope to contend against an opponent like this?
Wen Jinrui then gazed at Xiang Shaoyun and said, "We admit defeat. Do whatever you want."
Xiang Shaoyun looked at Wen Jinrui in astonishment as he had not expected that the latter would be able to swallow the humiliation like that. But because the two had submitted, it would be improper for him to keep on attacking.
"Scram. If you dare bully my brother Xia Liuhui and my martial nephew Wang Zhenchuan again, you won't be spared so easily," said Xiang Shaoyun unhappily.
The only reason he had even agreed to fight them was to establish his dominance, to reduce the amount of unnecessary trouble Xia Liuhui and Wang Zhenchuan might suffer during their time here.
Wen Jinrui and Wang Jiaohua quickly slipped away, cutting sorry figures doing so. At this point, the crowd was already looking at Xiang Shaoyun in a completely different light.
"Who is he exactly? Why have I never seen him before? Even two inner disciples were made to leave without daring to fight back."
"I have never seen him before, but he is probably a year or two older than us. At such an age, he is already so powerful. Is he a hidden disciple of some elder?"
"No, that isn't right. Didn't he say that he wasn't a Cloud Margin Pavilion disciple? Maybe he is a genius from some other organization? No wonder he has the respect of Senior Sister Gong!"
"Hmph. Look how arrogant he is. If the true geniuses of our pavilion show themselves, he might not necessarily be able to stay so arrogant anymore."
...
They couldn't guess who Xiang Shaoyun was, and they were embarrassed to ask him to his face, so they left one after another.
Xiang Shaoyun left the arena and smiled at Gong Qinyin and Lu Xiaoqing before saying, "It has been a while."
In truth, Lu Xiaoqing was the main recipient of his words. After all, he had not seen her in a longer amount of time compared to Gong Qinyin. On top of that, he felt some sort of resentment, as Gong Qinyin hadn't been completely honest to him during their trip to the Flame Mountain. Right after he spoke, a figure pounced into his arms and hugged him tightly.
Xiang Shaoyun was stunned. He had not expected Lu Xiaoqing to bravely hug him in public like this.
There goes my chastity! Xiang Shaoyun grumbled inwardly.
If others heard what he was thinking, they would definitely think that this fellow was asking for a beating! Look at him complaining even after benefiting! For some reason, Gong Qinyin felt sour when she saw the scene. She couldn't help but to look away from them.
As for Xia Liuhui, his eyes were wet as he was so touched by the scene that he was crying. He knew clearly how Lu Xiaoqing had felt during the past year. Finally, her wait was over.
Xiang Shaoyun felt that it would be rude to push her away so he could only say, "Lu Xiaoqing, calm down! There's still a lot of people here!"
He knew how thin-skinned Lu Xiaoqing was. Those words would be enough to make her let go of him. But he had guessed wrongly this time. Instead of letting go, Lu Xiaoqing started hugging him even tighter than before. She even started sobbing.
"Why are you crying, Lu Xiaoqing? Who bullied you? Tell me. I will beat him up so badly his mom won't recognize him anymore!" said Xiang Shaoyun as he patted Lu Xiaoqing's back. Her sobbing had caused his heart to go gentle.
"You are the bully! You are the bully!" Lu Xiaoqing replied in between sobs.
Xiang Shaoyun replied awkwardly, "Cough, cough, I still need to make a living with my face, but fine, I'll allow you to hit my face as punishment."
Lu Xiaoqing pushed Xiang Shaoyun away and said, "Bah, shameless!"
Looking at the tears on Lu Xiaoqing's cheeks, Xiang Shaoyun felt his heart aching. He raised his hand and gently wiped her tears. "Don't cry anymore, girl. If you keep crying, you won't be pretty anymore."
The gentleness deeply touched something in Lu Xiaoqing’s heart and caused her to hug him and start crying again. This time, she was crying because she was moved. That was the first time he had ever been so gentle with her. Had he accepted her finally?
"Alright, a lot of people are looking at us. Let's find a place to sit down and properly catch up," said Gong Qinyin, who couldn't keep watching their intimate interactions any longer.
Like a startled rabbit, Lu Xiaoqing quickly bounced off Xiang Shaoyun with a blushed face.
"Boss, you can chat with my sister-in-law and Senior Sister Gong. I'll go get myself treated with Senior Brother Wang," said Xia Liuhui tactfully before dragging Wang Zhenchuan away.
Holy shit, it seems like Senior Sister Gong is interested in boss as well! The heavens are unjust! Boss is only slightly more handsome than me, why is the difference so big? Xia Liuhui howled inwardly.
"The two of you know this place better so just take me on a stroll, then," said Xiang Shaoyun with a shrug.
"Everywhere you go you will be attracting everyone's attention. Just come to my place. We can have more peace there," suggested Gong Qinyin. In truth, she should have left and allowed Xiang Shaoyun and Lu Xiaoqing some time alone as well, but she was obviously not willing to do so.
"That's not proper, right? Shaoyun is not an inner disciple," said Lu Xiaoqing.
"It doesn't matter. Nobody will dare to say anything if I only want to bring one person," said Gong Qinyin. With her new status, she had grown much more confident as well.
"That's not necessary. We can just talk at a restaurant," said Xiang Shaoyun.