Chapter 3993: Chatting The Night Away By The Candlelight

Someone on the walls warned, “Young lady, please step back. This place is dangerous.”

Yu Xiang'er looked up. Her eyes swept over the crowd, and then she proceeded to walk the rest of the way to the city wall.

Someone considered stopping her, but they refrained from doing so. Thus, Yu Xiang'er reached the top of the wall. With that, she walked straight to Lu Yin and the Ling siblings.

Ling Guang stared at the woman in a daze.

Why did Yu Xiang'er come here? Judging by her attitude, is she looking for me?

No... It’s Fugui.

Lu Yin looked at Yu Xiang'er in complete bewilderment.

Why is she looking for me?

Yu Xiang'er smiled. “Fugui, we meet again.”

Behind her, the little maid winked at Lu Yin.

He was still confused, but he proceeded to offer a slow bow. “Greetings, young lady.”

Yu Xiang'er chuckled. “I told you that we would have a proper talk once we returned to the city. Come, let’s go to the city lord's manor.”

Lu Yin froze.

What’s going on? And how am I involved?

“Come, Fugui. Your chance to soar has arrived,” the maid urged with a smile.

Lu Yin frowned in confusion. “What exactly is this about?”

Yu Xiang'er looked at him again. “Come.”

She only spoke a single word, but the full pressure of a Spirit Ancestor fell upon Lu Yin. Yu Xiang'er was a peak powerhouse, and not a weak one either. Against a mere Envoy like Fugui, she could lead him by the nose without any effort at all.

Lu Yin had no way to refuse or even resist. His only option was to follow Yu Xiang'er away from the wall.

From beginning to end, the Ling siblings remained absolutely dumbfounded. What was happening?

Lu Yin stared at Yu Xiang'er’s back.

Has something slipped out of my control? Why would Yu Xiang'er suddenly seek me out? Something’s wrong. Aside from Greater Sancte Awe Gate, no one knows that I’m hiding in Blackmarsh City.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate also had absolutely no relationship with Yu Xiang'er.

So why had she summoned him?

“I’m sorry for dragging you into things, but don’t worry. As soon as this matter is over, I’ll grant you a great fortune. You’ll have enough to be free of your status as an independent cultivator, and you’ll soar into the heavens. Be at ease,” Yu Xiang'er’s voice entered his ear as a whisper, and the pressure of a Spirit Ancestor vanished.

Lu Yin pretended to heave a sigh of relief as he wiped the fake sweat from his brow. “Young lady, may I know what this is about?”

“We’ll speak when we arrive in the city lord's manor.”

Lu Yin shot a curious glance at the maid. She smiled back at him but said nothing.

Countless eyes watched as Lu Yin followed Yu Xiang'er into the city lord's manor just a short while later. There, they stopped in front of the phantom of sword intent.

“Please move the sword intent aside,” Yu Xiang'er called out while looking in a certain direction in the manor.

Within the courtyard, the young man who had left the sword intent glanced outside. “Enter on your own.”

Yu Xiang'er calmly replied, “The contest for the First Scion has nothing to do with me. Please move the sword intent aside.”

The man offered no further reply, which caused Yu Xiang'er to frown.

The maid angrily snapped, “Who are you, to block the gate of Blackmarsh City’s city lord?”

The man still refused to answer.

Far away, someone shouted, “You want to sneak in through the back door? As if it could be that easy. That man refuses to give face to even one of the Seven Fairies; he’s clearly not an ordinary figure.”

“Exactly. Does this man think that he can get in just by following one of the Seven Fairies? That that would be enough for others to see him as a peer of those geniuses from the Scion Spire? Ridiculous. He should recognize his own worth.”

The maid shot a furious glare into the distance. “Shut up!”

People fell silent. A bit of mockery was fine, but truly offending any of the Seven Fairies was simply courting death.

They had only thrown out those insults because they refused to accept Fugui. Why should that guy be allowed in?

After all, so many famous geniuses had been refused entry.

More and more eyes turned to watch the gate to the city lord’s manor.

Lu Yin remained calm, startlingly so. He was so calm that even the maid found his behavior abnormal.

He was being mocked and provoked, and yet he did not show even the slightest bit of concern or reaction.

Within the depths of the manor, Yu Sheng became upset. He stepped out, ready to sweep the sword intent away.

“City Lord Yu, there’s no need to rush,” Little Lotus King called out.

Yu Sheng looked over, his mouth opened to reply, but he suddenly froze and looked back at the gate, his eyes drawn by a strange sight.

A lotus?

At that moment, countless eyes from both inside and outside the manor were focused on the gate.

They watched as Yu Xiang'er pressed her palms together, causing the afterimages of countless hands to blossom into a lotus that rose up and enveloped the sword intent. A green light illuminated Blackmarsh City, as well as Lu Yin’s face.

He stared on in astonishment.

What an incredible battle technique!

“Thousand-Petaled Lotus Hand!” someone blurted, their eyes wide with shock.

Some of the bystanders appeared to be confused, while the name reminded others and were just as badly shaken as the one who had spoken.

Inside one of the manor’s courtyards, the man who had left the phantom of sword intent stared at the gate. His sword intent had been picked up and moved.

Little Lotus King slowly smiled.

As if any of Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s disciples could fail to move a mere phantom of sword intent. Do these people think that the Seven Fairies are nothing more than a title? Wrong. No disciple of the Greater Sancte Green Lotus has ever been just a name.

This was the true Seven Fairies. Their beauty and the prestige of their backgrounds and titles had overshadowed their own abilities. Their status as Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s nominal disciples meant that they were untouchable, and because of that, everyone had forgotten about their individual strength.

Even if they had never entered cryostasis in the Scion Spire, each fairy was unquestionably among the best of their generation. This was also true of those who were from different generations and eras. For example, the eldest sister was someone whom not even Little Lotus King could see through.

Yu Xiang'er had not wanted to deal with the sword intent, but not because she was incapable. Rather, it was simply because she did not care to.

With a single display of her abilities, she left countless people shaken.

“Thousand-Petaled Lotus Hand... Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s ultimate technique. It’s been so many years since it was last seen that it’s almost been forgotten from history. Greater Sancte Green Lotus wields not only karma, but also his invincible lotus technique,” Yu Sheng murmured.

Outside the manor, those who had mocked Yu Xiang'er had been struck mute. They stared blankly at the sword intent being lifted up. The maid pulled Lu Yin through the gate, and Yu Xiang'er followed right behind them, walking slowly. As soon as she was past it, the sword intent dropped back down, blocking the gate as it had before.

A single sword intent could only bar entry through the manor’s main gate. It could not possibly seal off all the other entrances as well.

Still, as long as the sword intent was present, any who sought to compete with Little Lotus King and the others from the Scion Spire could not take any other path. Their pride would not permit it.

Yu Xiang'er was the first to pass by the sword intent.

After entering the manor, Yu Xiang'er and her companions headed straight for her courtyard. As they calmly strolled along, they ran into the man who had left the sword intent in the gate. He stood to block their path.

The maid angrily erupted, “So it was you! You’re the one who left that sword intent. Step aside!”

The man looked at her with interest. “You’ve never laid eyes on me before, and yet you can instantly see that I left the phantom of sword intent behind. You have good eyes.”

The maid snorted. “Shameless!”

He proceeded to ignore her and instead turned to look at Yu Xiang'er. “I’m very interested in your Thousand-Petaled Lotus Hand.”

Yu Xiang'er refused, “I don’t like fighting.”

“The Thousand-Petaled Lotus Hand is Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s ultimate technique. Surely, you don’t want it to fall into obscurity? Since he taught you the technique, he must have had hopes that you would carry it forward.”

“You’re mistaken. All seven of us sisters know it, as does Senior Brother. You will be able to see it for yourself soon.”

“Little Lotus King is Little Lotus King, and his Thousand-Petaled Lotus Hand is not the same as yours.”

“I don’t fight.” With that blunt statement, Yu Xiang'er led Lu Yin and the maid past the man, not even gracing him with another glance.

His eyes narrowed, and his attention moved past the maid and landed on Lu Yin. “As a man, aren’t you ashamed to hide behind a woman?”

Lu Yin blinked once as he met the man’s gaze.

Yu Xiang'er gently tugged on his arm, whispering, “Ignore it. This has nothing to do with you.”

Lu Yin looked at the man. “What’s your name?”

The man coldly replied, “Jian Heng.”

“Just wait. I will eventually repay today’s humiliation,” Lu Yin stated gravely.

Jian Heng laughed, mockery dripping from his voice. “You? With what?”

Yu Xiang'er shot back, “Jian Heng, you are able to compete with Little Lotus King. Practically none of your peers are capable of fighting against you. Why trouble an independent cultivator?”

A somber expression on his face, Lu Yin turned to stare at Yu Xiang'er. “You’ve gone too far.”

Yu Xiang'er froze, staring at Lu Yin in confusion.

Her maid was also dumbstruck.

Is this man insane?

Even Jian Heng was stunned, and he stared blankly at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin continued to speak, an unprecedented seriousness in his voice, “You shouldn’t have stopped him from testing me. Doing so only impairs my motivation to improve further. I am also striving to improve myself so that I can one day stand above my peers. To have a worthy opponent like Jian Heng is something that I can only wish for. I don’t need you to refuse such challenges on my behalf. Refusing him doesn’t comfort me, but because your intentions are good, I’ll let this go.

“Earlier, you also shouldn’t have brought me in. I should have been forced to find my own way. No matter if it took a year, two years, or even ten, I would have eventually forced my own way in. I won’t give up.

“However, since you’ve already brought me in, so be it. Just don’t interfere like this again. Let’s go.” With that, he walked off, following the path.

His words left everyone bewildered. Something about it felt off.

In the distance, Gui Ji, who was trying to challenge Xue Zhan, blinked and muttered, “Good grief... he’s eating soft rice as if it was still hard.”

Yu Xiang'er exchanged a glance with the maid before following after Lu Yin.

“Hey, that’s the wrong way.”

“Sorry.”

Still standing where he had been blocking the path, Jian Heng was staring at Lu Yin’s departing back.

That fellow spoke such lofty, ambitious words and then just ran away? How absurd

.

He had never encountered such a situation in his entire life. He had casually taunted the man, but somehow, he was the one left feeling like he had swallowed a dead fly.

A stifling sense of frustration welled up within him for no reason.

As the three continued on to Yu Xiang'er’s courtyard, the maid kept giving Lu Yin strange looks.

Yu Xiang'er also looked at him differently after his speech. This was not the same man that she thought she knew.

“Please, sit.” Yu Xiang'er gestured invitingly.

Lu Yin politely answered, “Thank you, young lady.”

Yu Xiang'er intently studied Lu Yin. His attitude was quite different from earlier. The man before her seemed to be two completely different people in public and in private.

The maid observed Lu Yin with great curiosity.

This man’s attitude changed so quickly.

“I wonder, young lady, why exactly did you seek me out?” Lu Yin pressed.

Yu Xiang'er replied, “To ruin my reputation.”

“What?”

“What?”

Lu Yin and the maid shouted in unison, both of them staring at Yu Xiang'er in stunned disbelief, absolutely certain that they must have misheard her.

Not even Yu Xiang'er’s maid had had any idea of what her young lady had been plotting.

Yu Xiang'er let out a sigh and proceeded to explain her reasoning.

After hearing it, Lu Yin was rendered speechless.

This woman is absolutely ruthless

.

Yu Xiang'er’s father, Yu Mi, was forcing her to choose a husband. Personally, he favored Little Lotus King or some other genius from the Scion Spire who was capable of competing with that man. However, Yu Xiang'er was unwilling, and even after she had made her refusal clear, and also after Little Lotus King and the others had declined, her father still refused to believe it. His persistence seemed endless. Aside from the matter of her being wed, he treated his daughter quite well, and she did not want to disgrace him too much.

With no other choice available to her, Yu Xiang'er had resolved to ruin her own reputation. On one hand, she would put on a public display of obeying her father, openly meeting with Little Lotus King and the others. On the other, with her reputation sullied, not only would those men refuse to marry her, but her father would also have to stop pressuring her as well.

And the method she chose to ruin her reputation was...

“It’s simple. We’ll spend the night chatting by candlelight,” Yu Xiang'er calmly informed Lu Yin.