The Elders Quarrel

“Thud—”

The menacing longsword was sliced cleanly in two, and the two halves clattered to the ground.

The arena fell silent.

This was no ordinary sword. Li Hao had spent a fortune on the famed Count, inscribing fifty-six thunder talismans into it to greatly increase its power.

More importantly, Li Hao was the son of an elder. He had been raised on immortal arts since childhood; no matter how one looked at it, he should not have been so completely helpless.

But there was nothing to be done.

He was facing Qi Xianqing.

Li Hao stood frozen in place, his expression blank. “How could this be? My Thunderbolt Count would never—”

Qi Xianqing sheathed her sword and said nothing, but that detached gaze looked like nothing but deep contempt in Li Hao’s eyes.

It cut him to the quick.

His eyes quickly turned bloodshot. With a roar, he lunged at Qi Xianqing and threw a heavy punch at her.

Qi Xianqing did not counter; she only retreated at an unhurried pace. In the sunlight, her movements were elegant, as though this were not a fight at all, but a leisurely stroll.

Each time Li Hao threw a punch, Qi Xianqing took one step back.

Yan Jue stared up at Qi Xianqing on the martial platform, dazed.

Every attack from Li Hao was effortlessly deflected by Qi Xianqing with just two fingers. Yan Jue watched her movements closely, and suddenly remembered a Buddhist boxing technique she had once seen in a book at the Library Pavilion; it was exactly this kind of graceful way of subduing an opponent.

Under Qi Xianqing’s hands, Li Hao looked as pathetic as a stray dog.

Li Hao: “Aah!!”

He raised one hand and smashed it toward Qi Xianqing, but Qi Xianqing sidestepped.

It was no different from putting on a monkey show.

The immortal sword Count had fallen to the ground; Li Hao’s heart felt like it was bleeding. He no longer cared about his posture or dignity. Lifting a leg, he kicked toward Qi Xianqing in an utterly vulgar stance.

Qi Xianqing suddenly moved. She caught Li Hao by the calf and, using that force, hurled him away.

-

Thus, the first day of the tense Five-Dragon Summit came to an end.

The afterglow of the setting sun bathed the green mountains; the sky gradually darkened, stars glittering overhead, leaving only a deep band of purple.

At night, Qi Xianqing stood in the grand hall.

Opposite her stood a man in a purple robe.

“I originally thought that even if you ran into Li Hao at the Five-Dragon Summit, you would at least give him some leeway for my sake,” Elder Li Tian said, barely holding back his anger. “I’ve always taken good care of you. Is this how you repay me, by going after my son?”

Qi Xianqing lowered her eyes and said nothing.

Li Tian continued, “I’ve gone to great lengths to protect my son’s dao heart. How could I let you ruin it like this?”

In the corner, a young man in a purplish-red dao robe crouched on the floor with his head in his hands, his expression terrified. “Father!”

Li Tian turned to look at Li Hao, whose soul seemed to have been scared out of him, and his expression softened. “Don’t be afraid, Hao’er. Father will teach her a lesson for you right now!”

Li Hao had never suffered hardship since childhood.

But after what Qi Xianqing had done today, she had made him lose face in public; he would probably think of today every time he saw a sword in the future.

Qi Xianqing: “Has Elder Li ever considered that Junior Brother Li Hao’s dao heart is so fragile precisely because you protected him too well when he was young?”

Li Tian had not expected Qi Xianqing to dare talk back. His face went pale at once. “You! Kneel.”

Qi Xianqing had grown up in the sect; in a sense, she had been watched over by these elders as she grew up.

She had received no small amount of care from the elders in her cultivation, so naturally she would not casually defy an elder’s order.

Qi Xianqing immediately knelt.

Li Tian: “Do you admit your fault?”

Qi Xianqing replied, “This disciple is not at fault. I do not know what I should admit.”

Li Tian snapped, “You!”

Qi Xianqing: “Although Junior Brother Li Hao’s immortal sword is precious, it is usually kept on display and has lacked proper training. That is why it was so helpless before Zhuying. As for the sword breaking, Junior Brother could have simply stepped off the platform, but he still didn’t; I naturally took that to mean he still wanted to continue the challenge.”

Her face was as still as deep water. Though kneeling on the ground, she remained neither servile nor overbearing; it truly made Li Tian feel as though something were stuck in his chest.

Qi Xianqing was the Immortal Spirit Physique who had been cherished by the sect since childhood. If he remembered correctly, when Qi Xianqing was still small, the elders in the sect had taken turns teaching her.

Though Li Tian had never punished her before, that did not mean he dared not.

Li Hao shrank in the corner, frightened out of his wits. “Sword! Sword! Where’s my sword?”

Li Tian: “Don’t be afraid, Hao’er. In the future, Father will have another fine sword forged for you!”

Like a gust of wind, Li Tian strode up to Qi Xianqing and lifted his hand to slap her.

Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind him: “Who’s going to hit my disciple?”

Li Tian froze. The hand he had raised stiffened in midair, and his scalp prickled.

He suddenly felt an extremely terrifying aura behind him.

A gust of wind swept through; the doors over there flew open with a bang.

Yun Zhen wore a floor-length dress of rose-red brocade embroidered with begonias. The hem swayed in the wind as she strode over furiously. “My disciple showed your son mercy over and over on the arena today; she didn’t even dare strike back, and she still made a complete fool of my Thunderflame Sect. I haven’t even come looking for you yet, and you’ve already come to make trouble for my disciple?”

Li Tian had not even reacted when Yun Zhen’s figure turned into a shadow in midair and dropped straight in front of him.

“Smack—”

Yun Zhen slapped him.

Five fierce red scratches immediately bloomed across Li Tian’s face.

Though Li Tian was an elder, he was only at the Sixth Realm. Faced with the terrifying pressure of a mighty expert at the Eighth Realm, he had no room to fight back at all.

Li Tian cursed, “You shrew!”

Yun Zhen grabbed Qi Xianqing and left. “I’m warning the both of you, father and son: don’t ever come looking for trouble with my disciple again. Otherwise, you know the consequences!”

A fresh breeze blew the grand hall doors open once more. Outside, the stars filled the sky, with white clouds drifting past.

Yun Zhen made a beckoning gesture with her right hand, and a long shuttle of white jade suddenly appeared beneath her feet. It reflected the hazy moonlight, carrying Yun Zhen and Qi Xianqing as they rode the air away.

When flying, the shuttle was actually translucent; only when it met the moonlight could one see a trace of dustless mist within.

This was Immortal Lady Yun Zhen’s magical treasure.

The Moon-Scouring Shuttle, which had once slain tens of thousands of monsters and demons in the Immortal-Demon War.

Qi Xianqing left with Yun Zhen.

Yun Zhen controlled the Moon-Scouring Shuttle, still grumbling nonstop. “That old fossil actually dared to bully me? Does he really think my seclusion was for nothing?”

Qi Xianqing: “…”

“You, too, are just too good-tempered. That’s why people in the sect bully you. His dao heart wasn’t stable to begin with; of course it could be ruined so easily, and yet he still dares blame you for a proper competition?”

“Today, when you were fighting that Li brat, why did you keep yielding? Why did you still give him time to swing a punch at you? Wouldn’t it have been better to kick him straight in the vital point?”

It was nighttime. The mountain breeze was cool against her ears. Qi Xianqing’s gaze fell on the bright moon in the distance; she lowered her eyes and said nothing.

Though quarrels among elders made for an ugly scene,

Qi Xianqing still curved her lips slightly.

-

After finishing the day’s matches, Yan Jue was already exhausted.

By the time she returned to the Watercloud Sect dormitory, before she had even reached it, she saw a newspaper lying on the ground.

The Five Dragons Encyclopedia.

Yan Jue looked at the newspaper on the ground and couldn’t help smiling.

During the Five-Dragon Summit, updates to the Five Dragons Encyclopedia would definitely be the most frequent, because the competition always provided plenty of material.

Yan Jue slowly returned to her room, sat on the bed, and opened the first page of The Five Dragons Encyclopedia.

Shocking! Li Hao and his little wife were beaten up?!

Yan Jue and Qi Xianqing had already made plans?!

Yan Jue stared at those words for a long time, and suddenly remembered the scene she had seen at the Five-Dragon Summit today, where Qi Xianqing had toyed with Li Hao as though he were a monkey.

Yan Jue couldn’t help but laugh.

Others might not know, but she could see it.

Qi Xianqing had done it on purpose.

As Yan Jue looked at the words on the newspaper, a thought slowly took shape in her mind, and wave after wave of warmth rose in her chest.

As a Senior Sister beloved by everyone in the sect, how could Qi Xianqing possibly go out of her way to tease a junior disciple for no reason?

It was because a few days ago, on Five Dragons Square, Li Hao had once spoken provocatively to her.

At the Five-Dragon banquet, Li Hao’s elder father had also made things difficult for her with a Qiankun cup.

Though it was also possible that she was overthinking it… Yan Jue still couldn’t stop herself from overthinking as she lay on the bed.

It was dusk; the sun was setting in the west.

Yan Jue lay on the bed. Her body gradually shrank until she became a red fox.

She climbed out through the window and slowly made her way into the forest.

The forest was quiet, filled everywhere with a pleasant fragrance.

Yan Jue padded along on her four black paws and headed toward a road she had not taken in a very long time.

Valley of a Hundred Flowers.

The flowers in Valley of a Hundred Flowers were always in bloom. Multicolored blossoms opened in the sunset, swaying with the wind; the huge round sun hung on the edge of the sky, painting everything around it with a brilliant glow.

Yan Jue sat in the flowerbed, her large black ears twitching.

Strictly speaking, she was no longer a little fox.

She was a big fox now; her four tails danced in the wind like flames, fluffy and beautiful.

Her amber eyes were clear and gentle, but if she bared her sharp canine teeth, she could even look a little frightening.

“What is the master thinking about?” A soft voice suddenly came from behind her.

A white fox with a slender waist and graceful figure slowly emerged from the flowers, leaning over to rub ingratiatingly against the red fox’s neck.

Yan Jue stepped back and looked at the white fox expressionlessly.

Bai Ying immediately put some distance between them. “This concubine knows her mistake.”

Yan Jue looked at the setting sun gradually fading at the edge of the sky and sighed.

She suddenly thought of the Demon Lord’s corpse in the cave beneath the cliff, and of the enemy hidden in the shadows somewhere she did not know.

This world concealed many unknown dangers.

Although she was fine for now, Qi Xianqing had an Immortal Spirit Physique and was the female lead; in the future, she would surely face great hardship. That much was certain.

And then there was… her inexplicable feelings toward Qi Xianqing.

The little fox had something on her mind; she was very troubled.

After looking at Yan Jue for a while, Bai Ying said cautiously, “Is the master troubled because of Lord Meng Heng?”

Yan Jue was about to deny it reflexively, but after thinking about it, decided against it. “Yes.”

Bai Ying: “Has the master heard of a fox’s innate instinct called repaying a debt of gratitude?”

Yan Jue froze slightly.

“The master’s troubles may stem from that. Foxes are the most adept at repaying kindness in this world. If someone has once saved a fox’s life, then even repaying it with one’s body in a future life is possible.”

Bai Ying: “Lord Meng Heng saved the master’s life. It is only right that the master should keep her in mind. Perhaps if the master repays that debt once, she won’t feel this way anymore.”

The moon had come out.

The night was quiet, moonlight like water.

Yan Jue felt that Bai Ying made a lot of sense.

Qi Xianqing had saved her life.

From this moment on, she would protect Qi Xianqing well.

She would not let anyone hurt her.!