Regarding the removal of Si Mingyan’s status as the Young Pavilion Master, there had actually been ideas within the Heavenly Secret Pavilion for a long time.
For the past two years, Si Mingyan’s behavior had been exceptionally outrageous—neither cultivating in the Pavilion nor practicing cultivation outside, but solely focused on orbiting Gu Ninglu of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
And the excuse he gave the Pavilion was high-sounding: “Building a good relationship with the Heavenly Chosen One will be of great benefit to the Heavenly Secret Pavilion in the future.”
He even spent more time at the Heavenly Sword Sect than he did at the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.
Although the Heavenly Secret Pavilion elder did not explicitly state that he was going to remove Si Mingyan as Young Pavilion Master, his words very clearly carried that meaning.
Those few Heavenly Secret Pavilion disciples were immediately panicked and hurriedly asked: “Elder, what did the Young Pavilion Master do wrong? Why replace him?”
The Heavenly Secret Pavilion elder raised his eyelids: “What did he do right?”
“As the Young Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, going out represents the Heavenly Secret Pavilion. Does he still remember that he represents the Heavenly Secret Pavilion now? He probably represents Gu Ninglu!”
The elder’s words were already merciless.
Seeing those few disciples in the Pavilion lower their eyes, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion elder let out a long sigh: “In short, whether he can grasp this opportunity depends on Si Mingyan himself!”
After Wen Qixue and Suo Xuanlin finished their meal, they returned to the City Lord’s Mansion.
They were followed by the three from Danxia Valley.
Suo Xuanlin glanced back with some dissatisfaction, then curled his lips: “What are you doing coming all the way to the City Lord’s Mansion? Now that the City Lord’s Mansion has an extra group of people from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, there is no extra room for you to stay.”
Xia Changxun refuted at the first opportunity: “This is impossible. My master has always been boastful; it is impossible for the City Lord’s Mansion, which he refined with his own hands, to have so little space.”
Rong Mingmo, who was trailing at the back, couldn’t help but rub her forehead: “Senior Brother Xia, that’s not how you use the word ‘boastful’.”
However, this was not important.
She took a few steps forward to catch up with the others: “Didn’t you say the Heavenly Secret Pavilion people don’t like you? We’re here to back you up!”
At this, even Wen Qixue felt a bit helpless: “If you want to come, you can just come. There’s no need to find such an excuse. Although it is true that some people in the Heavenly Secret Pavilion seem to have some grievances with Xuanlin and me, not everyone is like that. In most cases, we and they still keep to ourselves and do not offend each other.”
He had just finished speaking when he was called out by several people walking toward them.
“City Lord Wen.”
There were three people standing opposite, and it was the person standing at the very front who spoke.
That person looked at Wen Qixue and the others, his eyes narrowing slightly, and he was impatiently shaking a folding fan in his hand.
The visitor was not kind.
Wen Qixue: ……
He had just said they keep to themselves.
Rong Mingmo turned her head away, unable to help but “pfft” a laugh, though she quickly steadied herself again.
Wen Qixue took two steps forward and stood in front of Rong Mingmo.
He looked the person opposite up and down, pondered for a good while, and finally asked: “Who might you be? What do you want with me?”
In fact, he felt that this person opposite was somewhat familiar and should have seen him somewhere before, but he really couldn’t recall.
Wen Qixue pondered, he should have only met this person, perhaps even met quite a few times, but they had never had a deep friendship.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be unable to remember this person.
The person opposite snorted coldly: “I am Si Mingyan, the Young Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.”
“I’ll be direct, City Lord Wen. What did you say to our Elder?”
Wen Qixue was confused: “I seem to be, not familiar with your Elder.”
This was the truth.
Although they had lived in the City Lord’s Mansion for a period of time, their relationship was indeed as Wen Qixue had said before, keeping to themselves and not offending each other.
The Heavenly Secret Pavilion elder’s cultivation had already reached the peak of the Yuan Infant stage. If the Wen Qixue before reshaping his physical body were here, the two might have exchanged a few pleasantries, but now the difference in cultivation between the two sides was too great, and they were two people with nothing to do with each other, so even if they happened to run into each other, it was just a matter of nodding and saying hello.
The Heavenly Secret Pavilion elder wouldn’t demean himself to curry favor with Wen Qixue, a junior, and Wen Qixue didn’t think about trying to curry favor with the Heavenly Secret Pavilion either.
He didn’t even want to obtain a glimmer of life through the Heavenly Secret Pavilion during the period when he determined that he would perish in the Yuan Infant Tribulation, let alone now.
However, Si Mingyan didn’t believe it, and he frowned tightly: “How is that possible? If you hadn’t provoked and sown discord, would the Elder want to remove my position as Young Pavilion Master? Wen Qixue, you are indeed as sinister and cunning as ever!”
Wen Qixue endured and endured, but couldn’t help but retort a few times: “I don’t think I know you, and what benefit would removing your position as Young Pavilion Master have for me?”
“Also, if the Heavenly Secret Pavilion can be provoked by just a few words from an outsider, then I think you’d better find another sect to stay in. There are so many sects on the Guangling Continent; there’s no need to hang yourself on this sect that has no trust at all.”
Suo Xuanlin applauded openly: “Brother Xue, awesome!”
Looking at Suo Xuanlin, Wen Qixue’s mood, which had been disturbed by Si Mingyan, improved a bit.
He pressed on Suo Xuanlin’s head, and then sighed with some regret: “Xuanlin, I feel like you’ve grown up quite a bit during this time. I always felt you weren’t that tall before, and it wasn’t as satisfying to press on as before.”
Lan Qinchuan followed slowly from behind: “That’s for sure. Cultivation also affects a person’s height. Think about when your cultivation was insufficient before—you could only be that little shrimp.”
Wen Qixue, who remembered his little shrimp appearance: ……
Si Mingyan, who discovered that he had been completely ignored by several people: ……
As the dignified Young Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, when had he ever received this kind of treatment?
He couldn’t endure it any longer and waved the fan in his hand in the direction of Wen Qixue.
A spirit-energy blade slashed extremely fast toward Wen Qixue.
Si Mingyan originally thought that with his Golden Core stage cultivation, he could definitely make Wen Qixue, who was now only at the Qi Refining stage, suffer a bit.
However, the spirit-energy blade stopped suddenly just as it was about to touch Wen Qixue’s neck.
Then that spirit-energy blade was gradually covered with a thick layer of ice.
Seeing this, Lan Qinchuan whistled softly, controlled his summoned life-bound spirit sword to circle around in the hall, and then retracted it: “Beautiful!”
Wen Qixue beckoned to Suo Xuanlin: “Xuanlin, come here.”
Suo Xuanlin immediately arrived at Wen Qixue’s side: “Brother Xue, are you okay? That move just now was so dangerous!”
Wen Qixue didn’t take Si Mingyan’s spirit-energy blade to heart, but pointed at the spirit energy he had frozen and said to Suo Xuanlin: “I heard that Si Mingyan is also a Star Spirit Root. You come over and take a look, see if you can perceive anything from this spirit energy.”
“The Star Spirit Root is extremely rare. Si Mingyan is at least in the Golden Core stage; the spirit-energy blade he used should still be of some use to you.”
Rong Mingmo heard this and looked curiously into the ice layer: “It seems much fainter than just now.”
Xia Changxun said: “That’s for sure. How long has this spirit-energy blade been around? It’s just thanks to Qixue’s ice layer; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been visible long ago.”
He sighed with emotion: “As expected of Wen Qixue. If it were anyone else, this spirit-energy blade wouldn’t have been able to be maintained for so long.”
Rong Mingmo also nodded repeatedly: “Indeed, if it were me, I wouldn’t have been able to maintain it for so long.”
Suo Xuanlin was already watching the spirit-energy blade intently, trying his best to perceive the use of the Star Spirit Root from there.
Lan Qinchuan walked to Wen Qixue’s side at some unknown time: “You are still powerful. Si Mingyan is at least in the Golden Core stage. Now you have checked him by two major realms, and you are not even panicked at all.”
Wen Qixue responded in a very flat tone, as if he were just talking about a very ordinary matter: “Although I don’t have a deep impression of Si Mingyan, when I was at the Heavenly Sword Sect, I also sparred with him a few times. He might have some talent for Words of Power, but whether it’s body movement or secret techniques, they are actually quite ordinary.”
“Although my cultivation needs to be re-cultivated now, my divine sense is still in the Golden Core stage, and my combat experience is still there, so there is no need to panic.”
Wen Qixue’s every word and sentence was like a long sword, stabbing straight into Si Mingyan’s heart.
Lan Qinchuan said with great interest: “This is only for you. Si Mingyan is at least the Young Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion. Even if his usual cultivation is more biased toward Words of Power, it is impossible for him not to practice any body movement or secret techniques.”
He had a flash of inspiration: “In that case, Wen Qixue, let’s have another duel!”