Qin Lingxi nodded, "Aunt will try her best to arrange this matter, and will notify you once there's a result."
After seeing Qin Lingxi off, Qin Chu fell into contemplation. There were too many things happening, and they were quite chaotic, leaving him with no clear direction.
After drinking a cup of tea, Qin Chu's mind calmed down a bit. Things had to be done one step at a time; rushing wouldn't help. He felt it was still best to first improve his Cultivation. With Cultivation came strength, and things would be much easier to accomplish.
Qian Lingwu still came to Qin Chu every day, accompanying him to Cultivate Sword Arts for a while, and spending the rest of her time Cultivating Spear Intent.
Qian Lingwu was very grateful for the Spear Intent Grass Qin Chu had given her. Although she hadn't caught the Sword Intent eruption period of Heavenly Sword Mountain, Qian Lingwu was not an ignorant woman; she clearly knew the level of treasure the Spear Intent Grass was. She kept this favor in her heart.
Qin Chu diligently Cultivated every day. With Qian Lingwu, a King Realm Cultivator, as his sparring partner, his Dao of Swordmanship continuously improved. His Basic Sword Arts had already reached the Great Perfection Realm, so they couldn't improve further, but his proficiency in combining them with the Startling God Sword Art and Thousand Waves Sword Art rapidly increased.
The Startling God Sword Art, passed down to Qin Chu by Mo Daozi, was a unique skill that complemented the Sword Spirit Realm and Basic Sword Arts. This made every sword strike Qin Chu unleashed a Sword Technique, and with the aid of Sword Intent, its power was immense, making it very difficult for opponents to defend against.
Normal Sword Cultivators, when executing Sword Techniques, would have gaps between their initial moves and follow-up attacks. These gaps were more obvious in weaker individuals and less so in Advanced Cultivators, but they didn't exist for Qin Chu. With the Great Perfection level Basic Sword Arts as his foundation, there were no flaws in the seamless transitions between his Sword Techniques.
According to Qian Lingwu, to break Qin Chu's Sword Arts, one would need to suppress him with Cultivation or Sword Intent; otherwise, it would be very difficult, and even a group attack would be ineffective.
"Insufficient Cultivation is a weakness!" Qin Chu sighed after being repelled by Qian Lingwu's spear.
"Cultivation requires the accumulation of time. It won't be long before your Cultivation rises," Qian Lingwu said.
Qian Lingwu already greatly admired Qin Chu. How old was Qin Chu? How many years had he Cultivated? To reach the Peak of the Fourth-order Spirit Yuan Realm before the age of twenty was the very definition of a Genius.
After chatting with Qian Lingwu for a few moments, Qin Chu left the courtyard and went to the mountain hollow where Shang Shuyu resided.
Seeing Qin Chu arrive, Granny Yu snorted coldly, then turned and went back into the bamboo house, while Shang Shuyu, who had been meditating, ran out of the bamboo house. "Qin Chu, you're here!"
"I'm here. This place is a bit too simple. Are you used to living here? Or perhaps you should move into the manor!" Qin Chu said.
"No need, I'm fine here!" Shang Shuyu invited Qin Chu to sit down.
After sitting down, Qin Chu looked at the bamboo house. He was a bit puzzled; Granny Yu seemed angry, but he didn't feel he had done anything wrong.
"Senior Sister, what's wrong with Granny? She seems unhappy!" After thinking for a moment, Qin Chu still asked.
Shang Shuyu shook her head, "It's nothing, Granny is angry with me."
At this moment, Granny Yu snorted coldly again.
Shang Shuyu smiled at Qin Chu. In fact, she knew why Granny Yu's attitude towards Qin Chu had changed. That day, when she returned from Vermilion Bird Manor, she told Granny Yu about meeting Qin Chu. Granny Yu felt that Qin Chu's desire to annul the engagement might be related to Qian Lingwu, so when Qin Chu came this time, she was a bit unwelcoming.
"Just stay here without worry. This is an area controlled by our Family members. Your Family's spies can't reach here, and it's impossible for them to capture you and take you back. If anything happens, just run towards my place," Qin Chu said to Shang Shuyu.
After chatting with Shang Shuyu for a while, Qin Chu left.
"That bastard kid, he's making Granny so angry!" After Qin Chu left, Granny Yu walked out of the bamboo house.
"Granny, please don't be angry. I shouldn't have told you!" Shang Shuyu said to Granny Yu.
"This kid is indeed good, but if he dares to go to our Azure Dragon Saint Family to annul the engagement for another woman, Granny won't let him off!" Granny Yu said.
"Granny, you can't blame him for some things. In fact, I was extremely resistant to the engagement before. I originally thought that the Vermilion Bird Saint Family had declined, and the engagement on me was nominal, so I could ignore it. I never expected another Merchant Hall to appear. If he wants to annul it, then let him!" Shang Shuyu said.
"Yu'er, what are you thinking?" Granny Yu looked at Shang Shuyu with some confusion. She could confirm that Shang Shuyu cared about Qin Chu.
"Formalities in human interaction are very empty and useless! Take me as an example; if I don't want to accept, Shang Jue's repeated proposals are useless. The same goes for Qin Chu," Shang Shuyu said to Granny Yu.
After Cultivating for another half a month, Qin Chu went to battle with the forces of the Vermilion Bird Saint Family. He planned to use actual combat to improve himself. Moreover, he felt that as the Young Lord of the Vermilion Bird Saint Family, he should set an example, not just stay comfortably in Vermilion Bird Manor.
Initially, Qin Lingxi disagreed, but after consulting Qin Longhan, Qin Longhan agreed. However, he had Qin Longxuan follow secretly, instructing him to rescue Qin Chu immediately if he encountered danger.
Leading the forces of the Vermilion Bird Saint Family, Qin Chu began attacking the White Tiger Saint Family and the Fiery Thunder Saint Family. It wasn't a war of annihilation; after each battle, he and his Family members would leave behind some traceable items, leading the forces of the White Tiger Saint Family and the Fiery Thunder Saint Family to the encampment of the Blade God Valley forces.
After multiple occurrences of this, the Blade God Valley understood what was happening. They knew that the Vermilion Bird Saint Family was displeased with them and was setting them up.
The utterly shameless Blade God Valley dispatched forces and created public opinion, claiming that the Vermilion Bird Saint Family's actions were despicable. However, most Cultivators knew the truth of the matter, and the Vermilion Bird Saint Family was not someone anyone could easily slander.
When such a situation arose, Qin Chu returned to Vermilion Bird Manor and went to the manor's council hall.
Qin Lingxi's face was full of anger. The Blade God Valley's actions were too despicable, too shameless. One had to know that the Vermilion Bird Saint Family had acted early to help the Blade God Valley. Now, the Blade God Valley wanted to extricate themselves first and throw the Vermilion Bird Saint Family under the bus. This was simply beyond the limit.
Qin Longhan sat in the main seat, remaining silent. After Qin Chu entered the hall, he kept looking at Qin Chu.
"Father, what do you say we do about this?" Qin Lingxi asked Qin Longhan.
"What do you say?" the one-armed Qin Longhan retorted.
"Since the Blade God Valley is shameless, we'll teach them a lesson. Let's destroy two of their strongholds first," Qin Lingxi said. She couldn't suppress her anger because the Vermilion Bird Saint Family had already suffered battle losses.
Qin Longhan looked at Qin Chu. "Qin Chu, tell me your opinion."
"Qin Chu supports Aunt's opinion, but Qin Chu thinks we can stabilize things for now. We should withdraw from this battle first, making the Blade God Valley once again the target of the White Tiger Saint Family and the Fiery Thunder Saint Family," Qin Chu said. He felt that Qin Lingxi's arrangement was inappropriate because, in that situation, the Vermilion Bird Saint Family would become an enemy of three parties: the White Tiger Saint Family, the Fiery Thunder Saint Family, and the Blade God Valley. However, he couldn't hurt Qin Lingxi's pride.