The number of Martial Lord participants were few to begin with and before long, it was time for one of Pan Yue’s bodyguards to battle.

In order to start off on a high note, Pan Yue purposely chose one of his strongest guards. Before the guard started, Pan Yue patted his shoulder and said loudly, “Go and show these people from the Xia Kingdom how strong Martial Lords from the North Qiu Kingdom are.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the people around them all turned to look at them. They could not believe that there would be anyone foolish enough to say this in the Xia Kingdom’s Town of the Brave. Upon seeing Rong Yuan standing beside him, they then understood that this person was probably of high status and scoffed.

Although Pan Yue had only been in the Xia Kingdom for less than ten days, there had already been many rumors about him. From the ridicule and complaints of students from the Royal School, there were only a few people that had not heard about him. Now that they saw him in person, their disgust doubled.

A few more attentive ones saw the participant that was getting ready on stage exchange glances with Rong Yuan. Reading his intentions, his mouth turned up in a small smile.

After Gu Lingzhi saw who the participant that was getting ready on stage was, she started to feel sympathy for the bodyguard that was going up against him.

The person on the stage was the captain of the third unit of Rong Yuan’s Silver-Armored Troops, Yuan Hang. He was Yuan Zheng’s biological older brother. He was also the one that escorted her home the first time that she returned home during the Royal School’s break. To think that the first time Pan Yue wanted to show off, he would bump straight into an iron panel. Yuan Hang was rumored to be on the verge of becoming a Martial Sage like Rong Yuan. On the other hand, the bodyguard that was about to compete was at most a Peak Level Martial Lord.

Very quickly, the result of the battle was out. The outstanding bodyguard whom Pan Yue had placed his hopes on, could not even last more than three blows against Yuan Hang. He had even gotten his leg injured, unable to continue to fight.

Pan Yue’s face looked as if he had swallowed a fly as he reprimanded the bodyguard that was lying on the floor in pain. The bodyguard was in so much pain that he could not stop trembling and breaking out in sweat.

“Useless! What have you done with the salary that I’ve given you every year? Did you feed it to the pigs? How can you not even win a fight? What is the use of keeping you by my side? Aren’t you guys going to carry him away? Embarrassing wastrel!”

Under Pan Yue’s tirade, the first bodyguard to fight was carried away in an extremely unsightly position. Following that, the next few battles were equally exciting with the participants being the captains and vice-captains of the different units in the Silver-Armored Troops. There were a total of eight smaller troops in the Silver-Armored troops and each captain and vice-captain were formally and personally selected by Rong Yuan from around the country. There were all extremely outstanding Martial Lords.

With sixteen of these talented Martial Artists competing, who could measure up against them?

Against this unstoppable victorious run, Pan Yue could not stop scolding his own fighters and eventually became numb. He completely lost the arrogance he had when he first stepped in.

While losing the battles were embarrassing, it was the ridicule and sneers from the people around him that made it intolerable.

“Useless, you are all so useless!”

He stepped forward and kicked one of his personal attendants. Pan Yue had no interest to continue watching as he turned to leave, the bitterness evident on his face.

The bodyguards that had yet to compete looked at each other blankly, as they turned to follow Pan Yue in a coordinated fashion. There was a look of relief in their eyes.

They were also confused on how the Martial Lords of the Xia Kingdom trained. How could each one be stronger than the previous? For a few of the matches, they lost not because of the difference in skill level but because of their opponents pure grit.

They had clearly felt like they were going to win but it was like their opponents were on drugs and had no intention to defend themselves. They went full out on their attacks as if not caring if they got injured in the process. It was as if losing would cost them their lives.

Wasn’t it just a fight? Was there a need to be so serious?

What they did not know was that after Rong Yuan had helped them register the previous day, he had instructed Yuan Zheng to bring the sixteen captains to register as well. He then told them that whoever lost today would have to put on a woman’s outfit and dance in front of the entire Silver-Armored Troops.

With their reputations at stake, how could these proud captains stand to lose?

With the absence of Pan Yue, Rong Yuan, who was the host naturally had to leave as well. Gesturing a thumbs up to his subordinates, he dragged Gu Lingzhi to chase after Pan Yue happily.

“How come everyone from your Silver-Armored Troops is here?” Gu Lingzhi refused to believe that this was a coincidence. Both the captains and the vice-captains of all eight troops were present. If they took out a table, they could even hold a meeting right there and then.

Tilting his head, Rong Yuan shushed her as he whispered, “Since the Fifth Prince of the North Qiu kingdom wants to compete with the Martial Lords of our kingdom, how can I disappoint him? Of course I would send the best to compete with him.”

“…” For a moment there, she felt sorry for Pan Yue’s bodyguards.

“Lingzhi… I am very happy.” All of a sudden, Rong Yuan grabbed Gu Lingzhi’s hand and squeezed her palm. The corners of his eyes were curved into an uncontrollable smile.

Gu Lingzhi rolled her eyes. She was unable to deny that seeing Pan Yue lose made her feel an unexplainable satisfaction.

However, Rong Yuan’s happiness was not due to this.

“Do you know what Elder Qi meant when he said that to you?”

“What did it mean?” Gu Lingzhi looked at him baffled.

Rong Yuan purposely lowered his head and moved nearer to her ear, “Do you still remember the first time I brought you into the Martial Lord Arena? At that time, Elder Qi could easily tell that you were not interested in me. But this time, he said it was interesting. Lingzhi, do you know what that means?”

Gu Lingzhi pursed her lips without commenting. Rong Yuan’s hot breath beside her ears had caused it to turn red. And that answer… was something she clearly could not deny.

“This means… Lingzhi, I am finally not experiencing unrequited love.”

Rong Yuan then sighed and grabbed Gu Lingzhi’s hands even tighter. He then lowered his head and placed a kiss on Gu Lingzhi’s hands that were pink from the strength of his grasp.

Gu Lingzhi’s heart palpitated wildly as if the kiss he gave was not on her hands but on her heart. It caused her breathing to pause for a few seconds.

Ever since they started “living together”, they started to get along more. Rong Yuan was starting to become more daring and took advantage of her more frequently and easily now. She had changed from initially being conflicted to getting used to it.

Rong Yuan’s slow and steady tactic in approaching her has made her change her attitude towards him to the point that it was hard for even her to believe, especially after Rong Yuan declared that she would be the only woman in his life. No matter how hard she tried to pretend that she did not care, she could no longer deny the throbbing of her heart whenever he was present. The good feelings that she used to suppress towards Rong Yuan started racing through her as if being freed. It made her feel that if she continued to resist, she would be lying to herself.

“Mm.” Pulling back her hand, Gu Lingzhi murmured that one word.

Now, it was no longer unrequited love on Rong Yuan’s part. It was… reciprocated.

After embarrassing himself, Pan Yue remained well-behaved for two days. But only two days.

On the third day, he reverted to his old ways of teasing the ladies from the Royal school.

Back to her usual routine, Gu Lingzhi headed to the Town of the Brave to fight whenever she was not with Rong Yuan. After three battles, Gu Lingzhi left the Town of the Brave and headed towards the Royal School.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

As Gu Lingzhi was deciding on where it would be best to change, she knocked into a young boy around the age of eight.

“It is okay, just be careful next time,” Gu Lingzhi kneeled down and comforted him before proceeding on her way.

Taking two steps forward, she felt something missing around her waist. Looking down, she realised that the charm that Rong Yuan had given her the night before had gone missing. It was a charm that could protect her against a full out blow from a Martial Lord rank. The boy that had bumped into her had also disappeared into a small alley.

“Return my charm to me!” Gu Lingzhi started to chase after him without thinking.

If Rong Yuan knew that she had lost the charm that he had given her, she could not imagine what he would ask for to compensate for it.

Hearing Gu Lingzhi’s shouts, the boy ran even faster as his footsteps became more nimble. It seemed like he had undergone some training.

But no matter how quick the boy was, he was not as fast as Gu Lingzhi. Before long, Gu Lingzhi had caught up to him.

“Give the charm back to me and I will let you go.” Gu Lingzhi instructed as she cornered the boy.

However, the young boy did not seem to be flustered even though he had been cornered. He was suspiciously calm. When Gu Lingzhi stopped talking, he laughed lightly and entered into a hole.

It was then that Gu Lingzhi realised that behind the boy, there was a very narrow hole. The young boy had entered this hidden hole. Behind her were seven tall and sturdy figures.

She had been set up!

This was the first thought that came into Gu Lingzhi’s mind. Without waiting for her to react, they started attacking her.

Using her Earth-Level Moon Stride movement technique, she dodged the attack as the Qingfeng Sword appeared in her hand. She then faced the seven unwanted visitors squarely.

In the desolated alley, shadows continued to shuttle back and forth. The sound of weapons hitting each other filled the air. However, due to the alley being too far away from the city, no one noticed. Even if someone had noticed, they might have ignored it not wanting to interfere.

As time passed, Gu Lingzhi started to become suspicious. Although individually, none of her attackers were stronger than her, but together, she was not their match.

In actual fact, with them ambushing her, she was bound to be defeated within half an hour. However, until now, it seemed like they were just playing with her. The blows on her landed with increasing succession but never really injured her. It only caused her to become more and more tired. She had exhausted all her moves and even the hidden moves from her Qingfeng Sword had been used. Yet, she was still not able to break away.

In about fifteen minutes, if she was still not able to escape, she would release a signal to call for Rong Yuan to rescue her.

Making the decision, Gu Lingzhi’s body shifted as she dodged another attack. Her heart jumped as fear rose in her heart. A silver spearhead shot out, aiming for between her eyebrows.

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