Chapter 96 - Victory in a Second

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

What?

Even though she had suspected Rong Yuan’s intentions for a while, it still shocked her when he had voiced his thoughts aloud.

Did he mean that... he broke off his engagement with Tianfeng Wei because of her?

“Are you touched?” Rong Yuan chuckled.

“No, just shocked.” She could already imagine herself being battered to a pulp by all the girls in the capital city and in the Royal School.

Fortunately, she had assumed the identity of Black Thorn so no one knew who she really was. She celebrated internally that she had been well-prepared.

“So, what’s your answer?” Rong Yuan asked before she was done relishing in her joy.

She turned red as the warmth of his breath brushed against her ear.

“My answer to what?” Gu Lingzhi replied back with a question. When she finally understood what he meant, she took a step backwards and increased the distance between the both of them.

“I am honored to be receiving your misplaced love, but I would like to focus on training.”

Focus on training? That would still require him to accompany her.

Rong Yuan knew that he could not rush into things so that Gu Lingzhi could see that he meant what he said. He looked around for his opponent that he was battling today.

The battling arena for Martial Lords was different from the one for Martial Students. Martial Lords were more experienced and therefore they had more tasks to do on a daily basis. As such, not many people had the time to come and battle every day. In the entire arena, there was only one fighting stage. However, there were a lot of people in the audience; almost the entire arena was filled.

As both of them and Yuan Zheng inched closer to the stage, there were gasps of shock in the audience. Most of the eyes were looking directly at Gu Lingzhi.

The news of the Third Prince breaking off his engagement had occurred just a few days ago, and today he was already seen with another girl. It was easy to guess what was going on, especially with the way the Third Prince was looking at her. It seemed that he had no intention of covering up the situation. This immediately sparked jealousy in the ladies that were present in the crowd.

Now that Tianfeng Wei was no longer in the way, suddenly there’s another masked girl? Look at that mask and how ugly it is!

“Slut!” Tianfeng Wei, who wore a veil amongst the audience, angrily cursed under her breath. She hoped that the handkerchief that she was gripping so tightly in her hand was Gu Lingzhi.

“Mistress, she must be so ugly that she doesn’t want her face to be seen in public, just look at the ugly mask she is wearing. If she was a girl with some sort of social status, why wouldn’t she be able to afford a nicer mask?” Cai Wei tried to calm Tianfeng Wei down. “She must have deceived the Third Prince into falling for her. When he sees her true appearance, he’ll definitely come back to you.”

“So what if he does? I’ve already been embarrassed!” Tianfeng Wei raised her voice uncontrollably. When she sensed that some people had heard what she said, she immediately shut her mouth. Her heart was full of hatred for Gu Lingzhi.

Ever since Consort Rong had cancelled their engagement, Tianfeng Wei had already received lots of criticism by the elders in her clan. Many people have advised her to go find the Third Prince and convince him to change his mind. However, how could she try to change his mind when she did not even get a chance to meet him in person?

Now, her peers who had always fawned over her, seized the opportunity to mock and laugh at her, which made her extremely uncomfortable.

She had thought that she would feel better after leaving the house, but it turned out that the capital city suddenly seemed to be full of girls who were at the right age for marriage talking about how the Third Prince had broken off their engagement. They were all more dressed up than usual and it did not take a smart person to know the reason behind it.

It was not easy for her to find out that Rong Yuan would go to the Town of the Brave to battle today. She did not think that she would be met with a scene that would make her even angrier than she already was.

When was Rong Yuan ever gentle towards her? Yet, he held such a gentle expression towards the masked girl that it made her want to dig out her eyes. It made her realize that she should stop lying to herself that Rong Yuan had ever liked her.

“Third Prince, you’re finally here?” the invigilator asked. He was an old man whose hair had turned completely white. He could not be happier to see Rong Yuan.

“Ever since there were news of you coming here, the number of participants who signed up to battle was reduced by half! If you come here every day, it would be bad business for us!” the elderly man joked.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

“Elder Qi, you can’t say that.” Rong Yuan pointed towards the audience, “More than half of the people in the audience are here to watch me. It can compensate for your losses and even then, there should be lots of leftovers. I’m still waiting for you to split the profit with me.”

“You...” Elder Qi shook his head laughing, knowing that he cannot win Rong Yuan at this argument. The elderly man turned around to look at Gu Lingzhi and squinted his eyes, “So she’s the reason why you broke off your engagement with that lady from the Tianfeng Clan? It seems like she is not very interested in you.”

Just from one look, Elder Qi had managed to hit his sore spot. Rong Yuan furrowed his brows and replied, “She may not be interested now, but she will be eventually. I’ll feel more accomplished if I have put in the effort to chase her.”

“Alright, it’s good that you are staying positive,” Elder Qi commented. What is the point in faking confidence when he obviously looks discouraged?

Rong Yuan sighed. It was hard to talk about Gu Lingzhi.

Just as Elder Qi had finished his sentence, he turned back to randomly pick a number from the box to determine who would battle today.

Due to the small number of participants, it was not surprising that Rong Yuan had been picked.

With a confident laugh, Rong Yuan turned back and ordered Yuan Zheng to keep an eye on Gu Lingzhi before making his way on the stage. Just that swift and confident action alone was enough to make the ladies in the crowd turn red, who were cheering him on boisterously. Rong Yuan’s competitor already looked defeated even before he had gone on stage.

“Rong Yuan, peak grade Martial Lord. It’s a pleasure.”

Regardless of one’s cultivation level, it was part of his ethos as a Martial Artist to greet his opponent and treat them seriously.

“Liang Po, middle grade Martial Lord.”

Rong Yuan’s polite attitude had made his opponent feel better, who greeted him back. His opponent thought that he should be proud of the fact that he had once battled with the Kingdom’s War God, even though there was a high chance that he would lose.

After they greeted each other, the audience immediately quietened down to focus on the match. No one blinked. Most of them had indeed turned up to observe how Rong Yuan looked like when he was fighting.

Gu Lingzhi was no exception. She was extremely focused on the match, staring straight at the stage.

Shortly after, Liang Po took out his weapon. Rong Yuan, on the other hand, charged straight at him.

Then... the battle ended.

As fast as lightning, he appeared next to Liang Po and grabbed him by the throat. Smiling delightfully, he said, “You’ve lost.”