Chapter 173 - Fight of the Peak

Lu Mingshu looked at Yin Hong weirdly. Seeing her reaction, she smirked and nodded. "Since Senior Aunt Yin has said so, then disciple will accept the gift."

Lu Mingshu took the string of Mystic Dewdrops, turned to Ding Qingqing, and bowed. "Her Highness's generous gift will be engraved in my memory forever. I hope Emissary Ding will express my grat.i.tude to her."

Before she could bow further, Ding Qingqing held her up. "Miss Lu can forget the courtesy. Thank you, Elder Yin, for taking care of her."

After the conventional greeting, Ding Qingqing left with her servant girls, leaving the whispers of the disciples behind her.

Yin Hong sat down happily, but there was a tinge of uneasiness in her heart. The way Lu Mingshu looked at her, and what Ding Qingqing said… had she missed something?

Seeing Yin Hong's face, An Tongchen snickered.

Such a moron! Zhou Yinru sent her here to arrange the marriage, but was she even aware of why? To forge a good relations.h.i.+p between the two parties? To give Lu Mingshu a good home? What a joke!

The reason was obviously the potential that Lu Mingshu had demonstrated during the Heavenly Door compet.i.tion! Zhou Yinru felt an urgent need to put her down, because letting her grow freely would be a threat to the Zhou Family. Since the problem couldn't be solved internally, then just solve it externally! Use the excuse of marrying Lu Mingshu to Xie Lianzhen to get rid of her.

Zhou Yinru's plan was rather feasible; firstly, being married to the Alioth Star Lord of the Seven Truth Platform would reflect well on Nine Jade Palace. Secondly, the queen was a tough woman. With someone like her keeping an eye on Lu Mingshu, Lu Mingshu would definitely behave herself. Lastly, Xie Lianzhen had a high position, but he also had a physical defect. If the female was too powerful, she would take control of things.

If Zhou Yinru's plan worked, not only would Zhou Yinru be able to get rid of Lu Mingshu, but she would also gain a connection with the queen. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

However, while Zhou Yinru may have had her perfect plans, she had left out the fact that, even though the queen was a female ruler like her, they had different circ.u.mstances and att.i.tudes.

Zhou Yinru obviously had high authority in the Zhou Family, but she still had to force herself into the position of caring wife and loving mother to keep Fu Shangqin's favor. As for the queen, she was the true ruler of Zhongzhou.

Zhou Yinru was also still in the Harmonization Realm, and with her age, it was impossible for her to break through to the Spirit Realm. On the other hand, the queen was an expert in the Spirit Realm already, and it was likely that she would only get stronger in the future.

She was afraid that Lu Mingshu would become too strong? Well, as long as the queen was alive, it would never happen.

Furthermore, Zhou Yinru naively thought that the rest of the world shared the same way of thinking as her - that females were always submissive to the males.

Since the queen liked Lin Wuxia, she obviously had a different mindset as Zhou Yinru.

And previously, when queen sent Ding Qingqing here, what would Yin Hong's impatient reaction bring? Ding Qingqing was the queen's trusted aide, and the queen might not enjoy the fact that there was a bossy Zhou Family behind Lu Mingshu's back.

"Junior Niece Lu…" Tan Yubing looked at her pitifully.

Lu Mingshu smiled and put the Mystic Dewdrops into her mustard seed pouch.

After the Qilin Festival, there was another war waiting for her.

An hour had pa.s.sed.

Lin Zixin took the book from the clerk and read out the names that everyone was expecting; "Wei Chunqiu from the Seventh Truth Platform challenging Kou Wei from the Heavenly Sea Pavilion!"

The tents were filled with cheers for them.

Shao Zhengyang turned to Tan Yubing while clapping. "This match is definitely the peak fight of the Harmonization Realm!"

"Yeah! I could chat about this match for years!" She nodded and joked.

In the midst of the chatting, Kou Wei and Wei Chunqiu were already on stage.

"Brother Wei, it's been years, but you're still as graceful as ever!" Kou Wei chuckled heartily.

Compared to Kou Wei greeting his opponent happily on stage, Wei Chunqiu had his poker face on as usual, but he still remained polite, "No, 'graceful' should be used to describe Brother Kou and n.o.body else. Being skilled in Five Dragons Playing with the Pearl while only in the Harmonization Realm is really a pleasant shock for me."

"Compared to Brother Wei, that's mediocre. You've already infused Physical Manifestation of Sword Intent with mystic light. Once you break through to the Spirit Realm, you'll be able to perfect it into the Sword Body. Ah, I'm so jealous of you!"

"I hope we aren't wasting everyone's time by flattering each other. Shall we start now?"

Kou Wei laughed after hearing him. "Brother Wei is indeed straightforward. Sure, let's begin."

Wei Chunqiu flicked his sheath, and the sword flew out, landing on his palm.

His action was followed by an attack. The black sword-light was faster than lighting.

At the same time, Kou Wei wielded his fan, and energy waves started to spread out and dash up.

In the blink of an eye, ten attacks were unleashed.

"That's fast!" Shao Zhengyang gasped in awe.

Wei Chunqiu's speed didn't need to be stated in detailed. In his previous fights, Kou Wei was also fast as lighting. However, his speed was different from Wei Chunqiu's. Wei Chunqiu used his great physical speed to increase his tempo, but Kou Wei used his naturally fast tempo to increase his physical speed.

Wei Chunqiu's sword energy was fast and furious, but Kou Wei found ways to cope with it.

One party attacked while the other defended. Both of them had an equal share of the limelight.

"The peak fight is indeed interesting!" Shao Zhengyang's eyes were full of admiration. Seeing Lu Mingshu on his side, he immediately turned to her. "Junior Sister Lu, I didn't mean…"

Lu Mingshu smiled at him. "Yeah, I know."

Even though she defeated Kou Wei and her match with Wei Chunqiu was interesting, that was still incomparable to this match in everyone's eyes.

It couldn't be helped. Her basics were too weak, and when she fought with them, they always had the upper hand. The only thing she could do was try to use her accuracy to find a gap in their skills, unlike them who fought with genuine power.

The sword energy was bas.h.i.+ng sideways, and the Water energy formed huge waves.

After their probing, they moved on to the second stage of the match.

Lu Mingshu didn't even blink her eyes. She put all her attention on the match, taking in new data.

So, such a method would work on Kou Wei? The previous method that I used is inflexible. And there's such a gap in Wei Chunqiu's skill? If that's the case, then forcefully following his tempo isn't needed anymore….

"How many attacks now?" Tan Yubing asked her. "I can't see clearly."

"More than a hundred for sure." Shao Zhengyang waved his hand. "I've already lost count, just enjoy the match."

After witnessing this match, one would know just how powerful the best Harmonization Realm martial artist was like. No wonder Grand Elder Yuan Xi said that Nine Jade Palace was nothing decent. Without Lu Mingshu, they would've only made it to the top twenty at the most.

"Junior Sister Lu, who do you think will win?"

Hearing Shao Zhengyang, Lu Mingshu answered with her eyes still stuck on the match. "Ability-wise, it's a fifty-fifty, but I feel that Kou Wei has a higher chance."

Shao Zhengyang was shocked by her answer. He thought that it would be a "There's an equal chance" type of answer. He never expected Lu Mingshu to say that Kou Wei would have a bigger chance of winning. He stared blankly at her. "Why?"

"Because…"

Wei Chunqiu's data was unstable.

In the eyes of others, it was just a fight between sword-light and water, but in Lu Mingshu's eyes, it was all data.

Wei Chunqiu's values kept fluctuating, which was different from his previous match. Even though she didn't know what was going on, she knew that his balance was broken.

Chapter 174 - Battle of Secrets

Wei Chunqiu realized that something wasn't right.

When he attacked, he felt like his hands were sluggish. The attacks weren't smooth and complete.

This was something that he had never experience before.

During the previous match with Lu Mingshu, she had used some skills or something so that every time their sword-energy collided, his mystic force would be disconnected from his control. However, the force was pretty small, so it didn't really hinder his attack, and he could still perform as per normal.

However, this sluggishness - as if he had lost control of his hand - was increasing. That's weird, there's nothing odd about Kou Wei's skills….

Five water dragons surged in his direction, cutting off his train of thought. He gripped his sword tighter, and the sword-energy gushed up into the air.

The tip of his sword struck a few colorful sword-lights in the air as if it was a lotus flower.

The water dragon and the lotus flower met. The water dragon made a turn in the air before das.h.i.+ng toward the flower. The lotus flower then unfolded itself and bloomed in midair.

Bang~~~~!

A short but loud bang could be heard. The strong force from both sources created a huge shockwave.

Everyone present held their breath.

Kou Wei used Five Dragons Playing with a Pearl, and Wei Chunqiu manifested his Sword Intent into a lotus flower. This was a direct fight between the two skills.

Gus.h.i.+ng of water could be heard, as well as the hissing of sword-energy,

Following closely, the match had reached a point where they were competing on speed. A sword-energy could be seen shooting up into the air, filling the entire sky. In no time, a water dragon was hovering about the sword energy. The match was now unclear to the spectators since it was all too fast.

"Are they competing on their skills?" a spectator asked.

"I don't know!" Most spectators were at a loss as well.

Shao Zhengyang immediately turned to Lu Mingshu. "Junior Sister Lu, how's the match now?"

Lu Mingshu furrowed her brows, and she paused for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on. "They are now in a vicious cycle."

"Ah?!" Shao Zhengyang's jaws dropped.

Lu Mingshu continued. "Wei Chunqiu seemed to be stuck or something, so he decided to increase his speed. Kou Wei had no choice but to increase his speed too. Now it's too late to stop, and both sides suffer."

"So… what will be the result?"

"I still don't know. Let's see what secret skills they have left."

Lu Mingshu heaved a sigh of relief. It was indeed luck that Kou Wei lost to her. Kou Wei surrendered when his dragons were locked up in order to save energy for the current fight. How many secret skills did he still have? Lu Mingshu didn't know because he had never used them.

Secret skills were called secret for a reason, but this match with Wei Chunqiu would probably force Kou Wei to show almost all of his skills.

At this point, it was impossible to determine who the winner would be.

Suddenly, Kou Wei let out a loud growl. He waved his fan, and a faint golden ray of light flashed.

The water dragon suddenly let out a loud hiss and turned into an icy spike, shooting over to Wei Chunqiu.

Kou Wei was now surrounded by snow, and he had a frozen sword made of ice. In no time, the rooftop had become a land of ice and snow.

The spectators were all gobsmacked. "What's this?! A spell?!"

In this world of martial arts, practicing martial skills was fundamental, but what was this? Even though the Heavenly Sea Pavilion skills were all about controlling water, it was still with the help of a weapon.

The disciples present were obviously far away from Kou Wei's standard; using mystic force to create a water dragon was understandable, but what the heck was freezing the water dragon into ice? It was like some kind of spell out of folklore, and it obviously wasn't considered martial arts anymore!

A lightbulb appeared in Lu Mingshu's head.

Magic! It's magic!

In the Heavenly Wheel, she had read many books about various worlds, so she had more knowledge than the other disciples. There was magic in this world too, but it was only some small stuff used for day-to-day stuff, not fighting. This world was a martial arts world - martial arts techniques were the core, and magic was just a supporting tool on the side. Martial skills had evolved to a very high level, but magic was stuck in the most basic stage.

However, Kou Wei used a rather powerful piece of magic. Freezing the water dragon into ice was obviously a skill known as the Secret of Freezing in some worlds!

So what was going on? Could it be that… there were still secrets left in this world?

Wei Chunqiu looked gobsmacked too.

The snow floated toward him, and he could feel the chilliness in his bones.

It didn't take him long to find out that the freezing of his mystic force was even more serious now.

Seeing the snowfall turning violent and pressing down on him, Wei Chunqiu grit his teeth and took something out of his pocket, pressing it onto his sword firmly.

A red light flashed on the sword as a stream of blood covered it, followed by an abrupt explosion.

Wei Chunqiu transformed left behind an afterimage as he swept over toward Kou Wei.

Snow was everywhere, there was an erect ice spike in the ground, and the sword-energy had gone wild.

Lu Mingshu was flabbergasted, and she nearly dropped her cup on the floor.

Kou Wei used magic, and Wei Chunqiu… used some kind of Daoist talisman. What's going on? Isn't rune carving in this world almost gone? Where did he get that?

Lu Mingshu was drowning in confusion.

Was it that she had underestimated the development of this world, or was there someone else with a Heavenly Wheel as well?

Cheers arose from the tents. Kou Wei's and Wei Chunqiu's tricks had stunned all the disciples.

They weren't as knowledgeable as Lu Mingshu, so they didn't understand enough to be as astonished as her. They all thought that they were just some fancy tricks.

On the contrary, the Spirit Realm experts all looked surprised.

"Are the ancient ways going to be reborn?" the King of Zhongzhou muttered. "So… the Heavenly Sea Pavilion has reached this stage."

The thing that Wei Chunqiu had was a skill that the King was somewhat familiar with, but Kou Wei's technique left the king rooted to the ground.

"Your Majesty…" The queen looked at him worriedly.

The king waved his hand. "I'll go into seclusion after this I guess…."

The hissing of the sword increased in volume and the snowfall was getting worse. The final showdown was about to occur.

A loud bang could be heard as the sword-energy exploded, and the snow turned into a whirlpool, becoming vast and mighty.

A whirring noise could then be heard across the venue. It was so sharp that it felt like it was going to pierce through one's eardrums soon.

The disciples hurriedly covered their ears and grimaced in pain. What's that terrifying noise!?

Seeing this match made most Harmonization Realm disciples' blood run cold. What the heck, are we even in the same realm? There's a world of difference in our ability! I would be dead meat if I went against them!

Boom!

The ice shattered and the sword-energy disappeared. The venue was now peaceful.

After a moment, a disciple tried to warm up his frozen and numb hands.

It was mid-spring right now, and there was a pleasant climate around the Flying Imperial Palace. Most spectators present were wearing spring clothing to celebrate and enjoy the joyous season. However, the venue suddenly turned into a world of ice and snow after this match, and the spectators huddle together to withstand the cold. The branches on the trees were now filled with ice crystals, and the ground was now covered with a thick blanket of white.

The crowd slowly looked up toward the stage.

Is it over?

Lin Zixin slowly went on stage, but instead of releasing the result, he went over to them both.

The tents were quite far from the rooftop, and the people on stage spoke lightly, so the spectators were unable to hear what the conversation was about.

After the conversation ended, Lin Zixin stepped up and announced the winner, "The winner is… Heavenly Sea Pavilion, Kou Wei!"

Chapter 175 - Who's Afraid of You?

Lin Zixin's voice bombarded the whole Flying Imperial Palace. However, there weren't any cheers for Kou Wei; the entire venue was silent. The crowd was still shocked at what they saw during the match.

After a while, the Heavenly Sea Pavilion disciples started clapping and cheering for Kou Wei, eventually followed by the other spectators. Finally, the crowd was cheering and clapping.

This was indeed the best match they had ever seen.

The match between Kou Wei and Lu Mingshu made many people doubt Kou Wei's true ability; "Maybe he actually isn't that good."

After they witnessed this match though, n.o.body dared to doubt his ability ever again.

And even though Wei Chunqiu lost, they had witnessed him fighting against Kou Wei mercilessly.

"Kou Wei won after all. After this match, he's truly the best in the Harmonization Realm."

"Such a pity!" his senior sighed. "He's the best, but he was unable to get first place."

"That's just a false reputation. Everyone here clearly knows who's really first."

"But after years and years, who will remember second place and third place when people bring up the New Generation Ranking?"

"Senior Brother, you worry too much." The guy chuckled. "So what if she's first? It's just the Harmonization Realm. With Kou Wei's and Wei Chunqiu's ability, they will definitely break through to the Spirit Realm. Who will care about the New Generation Ranking when they are going to be on the Hero Ranking?"

"That's true…."

The New Generation Ranking was just a list of names. The Hero Ranking was the thing that was actually carved into stone. If they reached the Void Realm and got onto the Sky Ranking, then their names would leave a mark for generations to come.

But not everyone was so negative. Some saw the potential in Lu Mingshu. "Even though Lu Mingshu only defeated Kou Wei by luck, it's not like she's weak. She defeated everyone else except Wei Chunqiu, but she's only been in the Harmonization Realm for a year and she's only sixteen years old. After some time, she may be just as good as Kou Wei and Wei Chunqiu. Perhaps she will take first place consecutively? That would be impressive!"

"Hey, you're right! I wonder how good she will become."

The updated name list was released, and Lu Mingshu was obviously ranked first.

"All Harmonization Realm disciples please take note. If anyone still wants to challenge, please send in the name to a clerk quickly. After an hour, if there is n.o.body registered for a match, the challenger's fight will come to an end!"

Generally, n.o.body would register for a match at this point.

If there was a person that someone wanted to challenge, then they would have already done so. All that's left would be people from their own sect or those who were too strong for them. Even if there was someone left, it would be pointless to challenge someone if there wasn't at least twenty points at stake.

Moreover, after witnessing this fight between the two Wei's that was so marvelous and beyond comparison, who would still have the mood to fight?

An hour pa.s.sed, and as expected, n.o.body registered for a match. Li Zixin then slowly walked up to the stage and announced the end of the challenger's fight. "The Qilin Festival has officially come to an end! The top ten with the most acc.u.mulated points will make it onto the New Generation Ranking, to be announced to the whole world!"

Lin Zixin then took the name list and went to the main palace.

The king of Zhongzhou was smiling broadly as he took the name list and copied it.

Lin Zixin went back to the stage and read out the names. "The New Generation Ranking for this Qilin Festival: First - Nine Jade Palace, Lu Mingshu, ninety-nine points. Second - Heavenly Sea Pavilion, Kou Wei, ninety-six points. Third - Seventh Truth Platform, Wei Chunqiu, ninety-six points…"

After he finished, Lin Zixin smiled broadly at the crowd and clapped. "Congratulations to the top ten compet.i.tors! Other than being announced to the whole world, there will be a great prize for you too! Remember to collect it!"

The atmosphere became relaxed. Seeing that the sky was dark now, Lin Zixin started to announce the end of the day with a short speech, but someone suddenly leapt up behind him and abruptly cut him off.

"Hold on!"

A green and black complexion, horns on the head, and a weird accent… it was a harpy!

The crowd jumped up at the sight of the harpy.

During the preliminary, the barbarians joined the compet.i.tion. Everyone was exceptionally careful of them back then, afraid that they would clinch a bunch of top ten positions, which would have been a humiliation to mankind. However, as soon as the challenger's fight started, the barbarians lay down their flag and stopped beating their drums. None of them had any matches. Slowly, they were put to the back of everyone's mind with the thoughts of "If the King of Zhongzhou invited them here, he obviously would make sure they didn't mess up the festival" and took them as normal spectators.

Who would have expected that the barbarians would suddenly make an appearance right after the compet.i.tion ended? What on earth do they want?

Lin Zixin was fast to recover from his shock, and he plastered a smile on his face. "Good evening, n.o.ble guest. Do you have something to say?"

"Indeed!" The harpy looked young and extremely arrogant. "My race was invited to this festival by the queen to have a look at China's best martial artists. Our barbarian race's elders have told us that there is no honor in the strong bullying the weak, so we didn't compete with you all, but now that the compet.i.tion is finished, I can challenge your powerful martial artists without it being considered bullying the weak now."

Before Lin Zixin could reply to him, the disciples in the tents were all worked up and started to jeer.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d barbarian! What's with this arrogant claptrap about not bullying the weak, huh!? I'll bash you so badly that your mother won't be able to recognize you anymore!"

"This is our Qilin Festival - China's Qilin Festival. What's wrong with you? Are you only here to be a public nuisance?"

"Don't you only have brute force? Brute force is worthless!"

"If I don't beat you up until your face blooms, you will never know how red a flower can be!"

Hearing all the insults, the barbarian didn't flare up at all. Instead, he casually waved his hand and shouted back to the disciples. "You Chinese people are funny. Who is more powerful? Just fight and we will know! What's the use of flapping your gums? Just fight me if you're unhappy!"

Many seethed with anger upon hearing his reply. Most of their eyes were now on Wei Chunqiu and Kou Wei. How good would it be if they were willing to go and give this little piece of s.h.i.t a lesson?

As for Lu Mingshu, not many dared to mention her. The barbarians had an advantage in terms of their lineage and raw power. Kou Wei and Wei Chunqiu would obviously be able to take them down, but Lu Mingshu? She had a very obvious weakness with her basics, and the barbarians would be able to take advantage.

d.a.m.n it! Why is she in first? How are we supposed to provoke the harpy now?

"Junior Niece Lu…" Tan Yubing look at her worriedly.

Lu Mingshu shook her head. "Let's see what Mr. Lin has to say." She pondered over the next step in her heart. Her current ability didn't matter; what mattered was that she was currently ranked first, and the barbarians' challenge would obviously involve her somehow. If she didn't accept the challenge, it wouldn't reflect well of mankind. It was okay to make a mistake anywhere else, but not when it concerned the prestige of mankind.

Lin Zixin looked over to the main palace. Seeing an indication from the king, he turned to the harpy with a smile. "This n.o.ble guest, may I know how you want to challenge us?"

"Call up your three best!"

"Three fights?"

"Yes! You all send out three, we send out three too. That won't be considered bullying, right?"

"Come on, man! Who's afraid of you!?"

"That's right! Our Senior Brother Wei doesn't fear you!"

"Neither does Senior Brother Kou!"

The Seventh Truth Platform and Heavenly Sea Pavilion disciples argued loudly.

As for Nine Jade Palace, the disciples remained quiet. The barbarians are so strong. Can Lu Mingshu handle them?

Their silence angered Tan Yubing. She stood up and rooted for Lu Mingshu, "Who's scared of you!? Our junior may be young, but she's not afraid!"