On the second day, the “strange news” about the Xuyun Sect spread throughout Liuhua Continent.
Someone howled like a ghost, “What kind of monsters are these Xuyun people?!”
“One moment a medical practitioner comes along! The next moment a weapon practitioner comes along!!”
“Is there no normal person in their sect? Huh? No swordsman?!”
Then someone answered, “Yes, isn’t the chief disciple a swordsman?”
A strange silence followed.
After a long pause, the third person raised his hand tremblingly and asked, “I heard that in the battle at the South Pavilion last night, this ‘sword cultivator’ brother from Xuyun… threw away his sword and defeated his opponent with one finger. Is-Is it true…?”
—Conversations like these soon became popular in the streets and alleys of Liuhua Continent.
As a result, when Xun Mingsi came on stage the next day, the first thing his opponent asked was, “It’s…Immortal Xun from Xuyun, correct?”
Xun Mingsi inclined his head and said, “It’s me.”
“May I ask first, what kind of cultivator are you?”
The blue-robed musician didn’t understand what he meant, but he still answered politely, “I’m studying the art of music.”
“Oh, so it’s a music practitioner, a music practitioner.”
His opponent showed a knowing smile on his face. Then he promptly turned his head and shouted to the arbiter, “I don’t want to fight anymore, I give up!”
Xun Mingsi: “……???”
When Third Xun came back and said this, feeling both amused and helpless, everyone burst into laughter.
Lin Fuqing said, “He probably thought you’re the kind of music practitioner who swings his zither and smashes it on people’s heads.”
The Golden Osmanthus Challenge was in full swing.
Shen Xiaojiang’s injury had not yet healed, and so he lasted just two quarters of an hour before Lin Fuqing asked him to admit defeat.
Anyway, from the beginning, he didn’t expect that this kid would achieve a good ranking. This was a rare opportunity for him to participate in the Golden Osmanthus Challenge, with so many elites gathered. Thus, it was better for him to save his energy and observe a few more competitions and learn from them.
Just like the cultivator who admitted defeat in front of Xun Mingsi, he must have had similar thoughts.
In fact, in every Golden Osmanthus Challenge, at least a few cultivators would gain enlightenment and break through a bottleneck of many years. Their stories still spread in the streets and alleys.
Shen Xiaojiang had just broken through to the foundation-building stage and didn’t have any bottlenecks. Lin Fuqing mainly wanted him to gain more experience.
Fang Zhiyuan was the last one among the six of them to come on stage, and his opponent was Xia Tinglan, the shijie of Furong Pavilion.
Fang Zhiyuan was a Star of Calamity with a terrible reputation, while Xia Tinglan was a talented beauty who had recently become famous in the past decade or so. Sometimes, she would even be compared to Mu Qingxue.
Everyone thought this would be one of the most exciting matches of the first round.
But Lin Fuqing knew that with Fang Zhiyuan’s strength and with his character of not knowing what it meant to be gentle and kind to women, Xia Tinglan would not be able to survive more than a few moves from him.
This competition would probably be boring.
Lin Fuqing was a person who always followed his own will. Once he felt something was boring, he would become extremely bored. Now that he felt this competition would be boring, he was unwilling to watch it.
Fang Zhiyuan understood his personality, and he quickly told his senior brother and other junior brothers and sisters not to follow him. Thus he went to fight alone.
Since he had nothing to do anyway, Lin Fuqing called Shen Xiaojiang and took the kid to watch the other competitions instead.
Along the way, he would use the spiritual jade slip given to him by Fang Zhiyuan to identify the geniuses of the various immortal families and try to find out if there were any reborn people with unusual behaviors.
He was very nonchalant and even bought a few crystal red candied haws on the roadside and put them in a paper bag. While eating, he analyzed the competitions he saw along the way to Shen Xiaojiang.
But when Shen Xiaojiang looked at his da shixiong like this, he just felt that he was becoming more and more… unfathomable.
Because, in every competition they had seen, no matter how strong the two sides were, their strengths and weaknesses could be seen through by his da shixiong.
They even watched the match between Xuanyuan Yi, the eldest disciple of Sword Valley, and the eldest son of the Gu family. Shen Xiaojiang could only open his mouth in confusion as they watched the sword moves, but Lin Fuqing was able to break down each move for him after the match was over.
He even casually analyzed who made the move, why, what their intentions were, and whether their intentions were right or wrong.
Shen Xiaojiang didn’t know if it was his illusion.
He could actually hear faintly from his da shixiong’s tone and expression a hint of an elder commenting on the younger generation.
But it was clear that da shixiong was younger than these competitors.
After the morning rounds ended, Shen Xiaojiang felt as if his head would explode. All kinds of martial arts techniques and combat analysis were spinning around in his head.
“Do you think it’s difficult?” Lin Fuqing saw this and smiled at him. “There’s no rush to realize the truth. Just think about it slowly.”
Early mornings in autumn always brought dew. Lin Fuqing’s ink-black hair was slightly damp, and a sweet-scented osmanthus flower covered with dew fell on the snowy collar of his fur coat.
After he finished speaking to Shen Xiaojiang, he turned around and found a girl in white brocade clothes standing in front of him.
Lin Fuqing took a look at the person who came and said, “Oh, Fairy Mu.”
What a coincidence, they met again.
Mu Qingxue’s clothes were a little messy, as if she had just finished a fight, but her expression was still arrogant and cold.
Lin Fuqing glanced to the side. “Xiao Jiang.”
Shen Xiaojiang immediately said, “Yes!”
Lin Fuqing pointed at the paper bag of candied haws in his hand and said, “Hmm… this is delicious. Can you buy me another bag?”
Shen Xiaojiang knew that his da shixiong wanted to get rid of him, so he responded loudly, turned around and ran away.
Mu Qingxue gazed at the boy’s back with a sarcastic look in her eyes. “I really can’t understand what magic you have that makes everyone so devoted to you.”
“It was so for this group of kids in Xuyun, and it was the same for the demonic cultivators of Snow Bone City.” She gritted her teeth and unwillingly added, “Even Master Fang…”
Lin Fuqing said happily, “Yes, they are all happy to pamper me and buy me sweets.”
“You?” Mu Qingxue’s eyebrows were frozen, and her eyes were suddenly icy with disbelief. “It was you who caused so much trouble for everyone, how can you still act like you don’t care?!”
“What else?”
Lin Fuqing’s eyes were filled with smiles, and he raised his chin lazily, “Should I wail in front of you?”
He said leisurely, “I’m not afraid to tell you that I did cry, but it’s a pity that Fairy Mu didn’t have the chance to see it.”
Mu Qingxue gritted her teeth and said, “Don’t you know that the competition between the Lord and Xia Tinglan of Furong Pavilion is in this arena? Don’t you know that Xia Tinglan is a dual practitioner of medicine and poison, and is extremely dangerous?”
“Of course I do.”
“And you just hang out here eating and drinking?!”
“Why not?”
“I really can’t understand.” Mu Qingxue’s expression finally revealed disgust and hatred, “Why would the Lord do so much for a cold-hearted person like you…!”
Lin Fuqing pondered for a few breaths, and suddenly said, “Fairy Mu, let me ask… In what capacity are you speaking to me like this?”
He leisurely stretched out a snow-white fingertip from his sleeve and pointed at Mu Qingxue. “Fang Zhiyuan…you admire him.”
He spoke in a tone of affirmation.
Mu Qingxue blushed and pursed her lips, saying, “I just think that you’re unworthy of the Immortal Sovereign. He treats you with such deep emotions, but you continue to wrong him like this!”
Lin Fuqing said, “Does he know that you like him?”
“…Lin Fuqing!” Mu Qingxue’s eyes twitched and she took a breath. “Alright, I will respectfully call you Demon Lord Lin. Now that you have reincarnated, everything can start over again. If you still have some conscience, please let him go in this life.”
Lin Fuqing suppressed his laughter. “Me? Let him go?”
Mu Qingxue said coldly, “You will never know how much suffering and injuries the leader had to endure to become the Immortal Sovereign with the fate of a calamitous star. He finally made it through, but he met a cold-blooded evil demon like you. You took advantage of his loyalty and dragged him down so badly. You hurted him so deeply…”
The girl’s shoulders trembled slightly, and her expression became colder and colder. “He lost everything for you, even his life! Even though you saved his life when you were young, a life for a life should be enough!!”
“…….”
Lin Fuqing tilted his head and looked at her helplessly. He suddenly interrupted, “Fairy Mu, do you know…how I, the great devil, and your Immortal Sovereign Fang died?”
Mu Qingxue angrily said, “How could I not know? You were guilty of a heinous crime, and you were to be executed by the True God himself. The Lord gave his life to protect you out of old friendship, and you both died under the True God’s sword.”
She indeed didn’t know that her father was ungrateful and hunted down her leader…
She didn’t know that her own father had designed for Fang Zhiyuan to die together with him on Xuyun Peak.
Feeling a little sorry for her, who was kept in the dark, he couldn’t help but ask, “Fairy Mu, are you and your father close?”
Mu Qingxue was stunned by his sudden question. “What?”
“Alas… Fairy Mu.” Lin Fuqing felt even more distressed. He couldn’t help but take out a stick of candied haws from the paper bag and handed it to her, “Would you like to eat it?”
The candied haws sparkled brightly in the sunlight. Under the crispy and thin golden sugar skin, the round and red hawthorn fruits were strung on bamboo sticks, looking very tempting.
But at this moment, Mu Qingxue only felt that she was being humiliated. She suddenly slashed with her hand, and spiritual power surged out.
It was as if dozens of invisible swords slashed through the air. The candied haws and bamboo sticks were shattered into powder and fell to the ground.
Lin Fuqing sighed and pulled his hand back. The invisible sword blade touched his fingers, but it couldn’t leave any marks on his tender skin.
There was a moment of silence as he stared at the debris on the ground.
The air seemed to change, becoming thick and heavy in the silence.
It was as if mountains were pressing down and dark clouds were oppressing her.
Mu Qingxue’s face turned pale, and she felt a slight tightness in her chest.
Lin Fuqing raised his head slowly, his expression indifferent.
The laziness in his eyes and brows disappeared, leaving only a sense of isolation.
The breeze around them was suddenly filled with a chilling atmosphere. Time dragged out in the stalemate, and every breath seemed like a fierce battle in the dark.
Mu Qingxue’s eyes were stubborn, but her face had turned pale. After a few more breaths, the girl’s throat suddenly moved and she swallowed a mouthful of blood.
Lin Fuqing sighed inwardly. He quietly withdrew his pressure, turned around with his hands behind his back, and started to walk away.
When he looked at Mu Qingxue, it was like an iron-blooded king behind nine layers of purple curtains, looking at a young girl in the enemy country’s general’s mansion who was holding a tasseled spear for the first time.
Knowing that Mu Qingxue had done Fang Zhiyuan some favors in her previous life, he did not hesitate to talk to her for a few more words and did not care about her sarcasm.
But this did not mean that the Demon Lord would really tolerate being bullied.
If Lin Fuqing wanted to, he could even use his spiritual power to force Mu Qingxue to kneel down and spit blood at any time. But he showed mercy for Fang Zhiyuan’s sake.
Unfortunately, Mu Qingxue didn’t appreciate it and angrily said, “Lin Fuqing! You—”
“A’Xue. Don’t lose your manners.”
Suddenly, a deep voice came from behind, interrupting Snow Phoenix Xue’s words.
A tall man in purple clothes and wearing a rhinoceros belt walked forward slowly.
He seemed to be standing casually between Lin Fuqing and Mu Qingxue, but he was like a mountain falling from the sky, separating the invisible confrontation between the two.
Mu Qingxue pursed her lips. “…Father.”
The autumn wind blew softly, picking up a few fallen leaves on the ground and causing them to roll away with the dust.
Lin Fuqing stopped. He slowly turned half his face, still with his hands behind his back, and said softly, “Master Mu.”
In the distance, the sharp sound of swords clashing startled three birds on the branches of a laurel tree, and they fluttered away into the sky.
Mu Hong walked forward and stared at Lin Fuqing. His deep gaze scanned him as if he was examining him, and finally he nodded very lightly. “Xuyun’s Little Immortal Lin, I have long admired you.”
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The author has something to say:
Lin Fuqing: You can scold me, but to waste my candied haws? That made me angry.
There is no rival in love. The childhood sweethearts are too strong for others to get in =w=
omg, it would be crazy if mu hong was also reincarnated…but it doesn’t look like he is, thank goodness. that being said, even though i should find mu qingxue disagreeable, i also feel somewhat bad for her; she’s not evil or anything, just somewhat naive and hot-tempered, and i bet having a father such as hers probably doesn’t help when it comes to her perspective of lin fuqing!