The few who heard Jun Lanyue’s inner thoughts were immediately caught between laughter and tears.
The tension they had felt for her moments ago eased considerably thanks to this amusing yet exasperating remark.
Shen Guiyi suddenly noticed that her junior brother’s expression today was unusually fierce, a stark contrast to his usual demeanor.
Smack!
A sharp, resounding slap echoed through the air, leaving Tang Qing’s face swollen.
He had just seen his senior sister appear out of nowhere, and just as he was feeling both nervous and aggrieved, she had slapped him without a word of explanation.
Senior sister had always been the kindest, never once raising a hand against him before.
His head ringing from the blow, Tang Qing was utterly bewildered.
He couldn’t understand why his senior sister had suddenly struck him. Was it because he had hit that woman earlier? But that woman had provoked and insulted him first!
As these thoughts swirled in his mind, deep resentment welled up in Tang Qing’s eyes.
“Tang Qing!” Shen Guiyi’s voice was icy and stern. “Have you forgotten the teachings of our sect and our master?”
For some reason, Shen Guiyi’s emotions were in turmoil at this moment.
She pitied her second junior brother, who had been secretly mocked for his appearance over the years, but she was also disappointed in him. Their master’s teachings, the sect’s principles—cultivation was not meant to be used to bully the weak.
“Senior sister,” Tang Qing said, his eyes reddening. He clenched his fists tightly and glared fiercely at Jun Lanyue, who was still embedded in the wall. “She insulted me first, so—”
Before he could finish, Shen Guiyi delivered another harsh slap. “Silence!”
The same side of his face, struck twice in the same way—now it was even more swollen.
Tang Qing’s words only deepened Shen Guiyi’s disappointment. “Tang Qing! Your Dao heart has been corrupted. Return to the sect, admit your wrongdoing, and accept your punishment.”
She still held a sliver of selfishness in her heart. While her second junior brother was at fault, he was still her junior brother, after all.
They had both become disciples under their master together and had spent so many years side by side. It was impossible for her to feel nothing for him.
Bullying the weak, especially a fellow disciple—if he returned, he would undoubtedly face severe punishment.
But that was what he deserved. If they waited for the three senior brothers of their junior sister to arrive…
Shen Guiyi had a premonition that if the three senior brothers of their junior sister descended today, her second junior brother would either die or be crippled.
Yet Tang Qing was completely oblivious to Shen Guiyi’s hidden concern. The gazes and whispers from the crowd below only amplified the resentment in his heart.
“Senior sister, she didn’t just insult me!” Tang Qing gritted his teeth, his face swollen like a pig’s head, but it did nothing to hinder his speech. “She insulted our master too!”
A voice inside him screamed that if he let this go today, the disciples of the sect and outsiders would spread rumors about him and their master.
He couldn’t understand what had gotten into his senior sister today. In the past, she had always revered their master and cherished her junior brothers.
“Tang—”
Before Shen Guiyi could even utter the second syllable of his name, a dark figure suddenly appeared before her.
It was Rong Jue!
Her eyes widened in shock, and she thought, It’s over.
With a flick of his hand, Rong Jue sent Shen Guiyi flying off the stage with overwhelming force.
If not for her decent cultivation, she would have been sent sprawling to the ground.
Rong Jue’s utter lack of chivalry left Jun Lanyue, who was still embedded motionlessly in the wall watching the spectacle, dumbfounded.
[Senior brother actually stepped in? I thought his aloof nature would keep him from intervening. It’s over! With senior brother’s combat prowess, Tang Qing is either dead or crippled this time.]
[“Once this person is fought, the feud between our Clear Breeze Peak and Yun Luo Chen will officially begin. Although we’ve already made our plans, still…”]
[“But isn’t Senior Brother being a bit too rough? Throwing my dear Senior Sister off the stage like that—well, now Senior Sister definitely won’t like him anymore.”]
Rong Jue: When I don’t step up, you say I’m cold; when I do, you hesitate and complain. What exactly do you want?
Shen Guiyi: Junior Sister, at a time like this, you’re still thinking about such things…
After Rong Jue stepped onto the stage, Pei Yan and Song Qiguang instantly teleported to Jun Lanyue’s side.
“Junior Sister, bear with it a little. Third Brother and I will think of a way to pry you out right away.”
Pei Yan felt the phrasing was a bit amusing, but he held back.
“Second Brother, this wall is so thick!” Song Qiguang was sweating bullets, desperately holding back his laughter. “Junior Sister is embedded too deeply; prying her out won’t be easy. We’ll need some tools.”
Pei Yan: “…”
Song Qiguang: “…”
The two brothers stood there in front of the wall, discussing their strategy, paying no attention at all to the situation on the dueling platform.
After all, their Senior Brother was a formidable fighter. Dealing with that ugly creature could be left to him.
[“I say, you two rascals! Discussing strategy while laughing at me? I know my current posture and situation are pretty funny, but couldn’t you laugh out loud? Holding it in like this is making me uncomfortable, okay?”]
Looking back at the dueling platform, Shen Guiyi hesitated for a moment before silently going off to find tools. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to send a spiritual power message to his second junior brother: “Run, quick!”
Who would have thought Tang Qing wouldn’t listen to her at all…
First, he himself had been insulted, then his master, and now this suddenly appearing man had thrown his beloved Senior Sister off the stage. The fury in his heart blazed fiercely.
In Tang Qing’s mind, Senior Sister was so wonderful—how dare this man bully her?
“Who is that man? He even dares to strike Senior Sister? Does he not know who Senior Sister is?”
“Exactly! Senior Sister is the Supreme Elder’s first disciple. Usually, the Supreme Elder dotes on her like anything. I think that reckless man is done for.”
“The Supreme Elder is someone even the Sect Leader treats with deference. That man bullied the Supreme Elder’s beloved disciple—he’ll be lucky to survive. Just wait and see; the Supreme Elder will probably arrive soon.”
“It’s no surprise you don’t recognize that man. After all, he only arrived at the Mysterious Heaven Sect yesterday.”
“Do you know him? From your tone, his identity must be quite significant? Hurry up and tell us, who exactly is he?”
“You know the Clear Breeze Sect, right? He’s the first disciple of Yue Xuanji, the Sect Leader of the Clear Breeze Sect.”
“So it’s him. I heard the day after tomorrow is when Yue Xuanji takes up the position of Deputy Sect Leader. But what does a Deputy Sect Leader matter? His status isn’t higher than the Supreme Elder’s.”
“You don’t know about this, do you? I heard a rumor that Yue Xuanji is from the Yue family of the Eastern Continent. You know the Yue family of the Eastern Continent, right? One of the major families in the Eastern Continent! No matter how high the Supreme Elder’s status is in the Mysterious Heaven Sect, it can’t surpass the Yue family of the Eastern Continent, can it?”
“Who knows if that rumor is true or false? There are plenty of people surnamed Yue in the world. Does being surnamed Yue automatically make you part of the Yue family of the Eastern Continent?”
“…”
The spectators below the dueling platform whispered among themselves, their discussions intense.
Tang Qing’s hearing was quite sharp, and he roughly gathered the identity of the man opposite from the whispers of the crowd below.
He truly didn’t believe that Yue Xuanji was from the Eastern Continent. If she really was from the Eastern Continent, why would she willingly stay in a small place like the Southern Continent?
“What’s the matter?” he sneered, casting a provocative glance at Rong Jue. “I hit your junior sister, and now you’re here to back her up? You’re just from a fallen sect. So what if your master is about to become the deputy sect leader? In the future, when he meets my master, he’ll have to bow his head and respectfully address him as Supreme Elder.”
At that very moment!
As Tang Qing’s words fell, the wooden window of the second private room on the right side of the second floor of the martial arts arena swung open with a sharp crack.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Yun Xiao reacted swiftly, ducking his head down the moment Yue Xuanji opened the window. “Couldn’t you have given a heads-up before opening the window?”
Yue Xuanji glanced down disdainfully at Tang Qing, then flicked her fingers. “However he hit your junior sister, you hit him back twice as hard.”