Chapter 64 – A Slap in the Face
Chapter 64 – A Slap in the Face
After watching the grotesque performance of Hua Cao, everyone was stunned and silent. The other young lords had dreamed to show off in front of Qingcheng, with their unique skills, which would hopefully help them to eventually win her heart. However, compared with Feng Zi and Hua Cao’s mind boggling techniques, they woke up from their unrealistic hallucination, as though they were poured by a bowl of cold water.
The only one who wasn’t thwarted by Hua Cao’s excellent performance was Shuiliu. Unlike the other guys, whose confidence had already dropped to zero, he was determined to give it a try. Soon, a ball of Battle Qi was unleashed from within his body, and formed into the shape of a palm. In this palm of Battle Qi, there sat a bottle of top-grade perfume named “Poison”. To everyone’s surprise, this palm went straight in the direction of Qingcheng. It was rare for a cultivator at his level, to substantiate the unleashed Battle Qi into a visible palm. If it was on the battlefield, the force of this palm, which was said to be equivalent to those in the Realm of the Emperor, could be lethal.
Actually, what Shuiliu exhibited was the technique ‘Capturing Dragon Palm’, which he had learned from his uncle, the leader of the Dragon Major Mansion. If this technique was grasped by a cultivator in the Realm of the Saint, he would be able to capture an eighth-grade demonic beast, like the Tyrannosaurus, and throw it effortlessly away, very much like a broken tin can.
Given Shuiliu’s current achievement, the second level of the Realm of the General, it was a piece of cake for him to extract his Battle Qi out. However, it had already reached his limits to substantiate the Battle Qi into a visible palm. To also stand the weight of a bottle of perfume, and finally carry it over a length of more than twenty meters... As everyone could see, the palm of his Battle Qi jolted like a carriage on a rocky road. In the middle of its flight, the bottle of perfume nearly dropped down. When the perfume had successfully reached its destination, and was handed over to Qingcheng, Shuiliu’s clothing was wet with cold perspiration. He was terrified of becoming the laughingstock of all the other young lords.
Following Shuiliu’s awkward, yet brave performance, the other young lords were greatly encouraged. Their hope of winning Qingcheng’s love was rekindled, and they stood up, one after the other, to show off their performance. The camp was soon filled with boisterous noises, and an occasional ovation. However, three young lords still had yet to perform, namely Qianjun, the brilliant young lord from Immortal City; Wuhen, who sat cautiously beside Qianjun; and Qinghan, who was busy eating the fruits on his table, after having finished the suckling pig.
As for Qianjun, he was determined to be the final young lord to show off at this session, as he believed that one should save the best for last. While for Wuhen, who was sitting beside Qianjun like a submissive lackey, he had no intention to join the compet.i.tion. The last one, Qinghan, showed absolutely no interest in Qingcheng, instead, he found the plates of fruits to be more delicious than the holy virgin.
The ongoing performance was indeed boring, and didn’t receive much applause. It occurred to the rest of the young lords, that their self-praised skills were nothing in front of the five prominent families, as well as the young lord from Immortal City. Rather, their skills turned nasty and naïve in comparison with the excellence of the others’. Some timid young lords just lowered their heads once again, refusing to make fun of themselves.
“Wuhen, come on, it’s your turn!” After glancing at the gluttonous Qinghan, Qianjun was sure there were no more candidates, so he arched his brow and asked Wuhen tentatively.
“No, it’s your turn. You’re the best, and you ought to represent us all.” Wuhen shook his head, and replied in a cordial, flattering, and humble tone.
With a long and loud laughter, Qianjun suddenly stood up, overlooking the other young lords, full of conceitedness. To Qianjun, right now, he was like an Emperor, standing high above the ma.s.ses. A moment later, he spoke out coldly, “Haha… Definitely, you’re all making fun of yourselves. I’ll let Qingcheng know what a real performance looks like, rather than these casual performances.”
“Errr!”
The overbearing remarks embarra.s.sed all the other young lords.
“s.h.i.t, I feel like I was slapped on my cheeks by him.”
“Making fun of ourselves? He’s so arrogant!”
Even the great elders, who were sitting in the front row, were outraged by Qianjun, who had made them lose face. Despite his background, and stunning skills, Qianjun’s att.i.tude annoyed almost everyone, except for Yue Qingcheng, and Qinghan.
Qingcheng remained as calm as before, only occasionally stealing a glance at Qinghan, who, right now, was holding a string of grapes in front of his mouth. In response to Qianjun, she showed a sweet smile, and said in an extremely soft voice, “Young lord Qianjun, Please, go ahead. I’m looking forward to it.”
Feng Zi, Hua Cao, and Shuiliu, whose faces were radiant with confidence, suddenly turned tallow-faced.
Today was the Summer Fire Festival, a gala for all men to compete with each other for winning Qingcheng’s love. And the most important thing was Qingcheng’s own decision, rather than the cultivation level or performance… The determinant factor lay in Qingcheng’s hands. Qingcheng had kept a refrained emotion throughout the previous performances, this time, however, she unexpectedly said she was looking forward to it. What did that mean? The young lords were afraid, that she favored Qianjun more than the others.
“Haha… Since Miss Qingcheng is looking forward to my performance. Then I’ll have to show some acrobatics for you.” Looking at the p.i.s.sed-off expression of the other young lords, Qianjun grew even more excited.
As soon as Qianjun’s voice faded away, except for Xue Fei, the other great elders felt humiliated by his remark. The reputation of the five prominent families were bonded together, they couldn’t stand anyone challenging their high status, even if this person was from Immortal City.
“Humph! We’re also expecting your performance, young lord Tu Qianjun!” Elder Feng flared up.
“Hehe, Calm down, Elder Feng. I didn’t show suspicion towards the technique itself, I just doubted that the young lord your family sent out didn’t meet the expectations. Luckily, I have also learned some swordsmanship, you may make a comparison yourself!”
Disregarding the distorted face of Feng Zi, who was so indignant that all his muscles were protruded in an explosive state, Qianjun smiled and made a similar gesture as Feng Zi had previously done.
As Qianjun moved his fingers, the cleaver on the table began to quiver unstably, which left all the other people dumbfounded. Suddenly, the cleaver rose up from the table, and flew to a suckling pig, stabbing into its flesh, before carrying it in the direction of Qingcheng. Barely had the pig fell in front of Qingcheng, or Qianjun maneuvered the cleaver shuttle back and forth through the pig, until it landed on the table with the cleaver stabbed in the body of the pig.
“What the f.u.c.k?”
“Since he had criticized Feng Zi’s skill, he should present us something more impressive. Well, look at him, he didn’t even have the ability to cut the suckling pig into pieces, as the pig was left intact.”
Looking at the whole suckling pig on the table, the young lords whispered to each other. Although they were taken aback by the fact that Qianjun had also grasped swordsmanship, which was supposed to be a secret technique of the Feng family, they raised their doubts about Qianjun’s true capability.
“Young lord Qianjun, I’m impressed with your swordsmanship. I candidly admit defeat.” To other people’s befuddlement, Feng Zi stood up and praised Qianjun’s skill.
- Pai! -
Hardly had Feng Zi finished his words, or the suckling pig suddenly cracked into several pieces, like a blossom. The sliced meat was evenly displayed on the plate!
“Young lord Qianjun, I admire your swordsmanship!” Wuhen also stood up, cupped one of his hands over the other, and his dual pupils were flickering with sincerity.
After a short while of silence, all the other young lords looked at each other in utter disbelieve, as they were now completely convinced by Qianjun abilities!
However, after being embarra.s.sed so many times, the other young lords’ confidence was gradually eroded. They were all caught by depression and an inferiority complex. Their performance did seem to be naïve and hilarious after seeing Qianjun’s. As they concentrated all their minds on soothing their thwarted hearts, they didn’t even notice the disappearance of Qianjun.
Among them, only Feng Zi, Hua Cao and Qinghan noticed the change, and looked at each other with expressions of disbelief.
“What was going on just now? Qianjun can also become invisible all of a sudden?”
“Isn’t this the Invisible Technique specially owned by the Hua family? Where did he learn this skill?”
“Oh, s.h.i.t. Since when did the secret technique of the five prominent families become common property?”
The crowd burst into a clamor, and young lord Qianjun became the topic of everyone’s conversation.
“Hmm, is it because the descendants of Immortal City have inherited the blood from all five ancestors, who had founded the five prominent families?” As he failed to figure out the reason, Qinghan turned to Ye Qingniu for help by silently conveying his voice. At the same time, the other young lords also jerked their heads to the great elders, desperate to find a proper explanation.
“Don’t panic. People from Immortal City are also descendants of the ancient ancestors. We’ll explain to you in detail on another occasion, but not today. Yet, the one thing you need to know right now is, that their skills are but mere imitations of ours, as they aren’t authentic at all. At first glance, you may fail to distinguish these mimicked skills from the original one, however, later on, the strength and destructive power will tell you which one is authentic!”
Ye Qingniu, together with the other great elders, used their special sound conveying technique to quickly inform their young lords. Despite the consoling words that they delivered to their young lords, the elders were p.i.s.sed off by Qianjun’s blatant display of their secret techniques. It felt to them, as if Qianjun was slapping their face in front of so many people.
“Ah! Where is young lord Qianjun!”
The other people finally realized the sudden disappearance of Qianjun, as they were looking around the camp in confusion. It was terrifying, to witness an advanced cultivator become invisible right in front their eyes!
Several minutes later, young lord Qianjun appeared with a bouquet of red roses in his hands, several times larger than Hua Cao’s violent roses! The same Invisible Technique, the same Figure Replication Technique, however, the line of replication figures he created were as long as ten meters, which doubled that of Hua Cao’s.
“Miss Qingcheng, this is for you! These red roses stand for my love for you!” Qianjun stood in front of Qingcheng, holding a large bouquet of roses, and smiling with overconfidence.
“Thanks young lord Qianjun, I really appreciate it!” Qingcheng took the roses, while she stole another glance at Qinghan, and grinned as happy as she could, leaving the rest of the people’s heartbeats accelerated once again.
Qianjun looked around at the thwarted young lords, before he replied to Qingcheng, “Hehe, these are only small tricks. If you like, Miss Qingcheng, I’d like to present to you another gift.”
“Small tricks?”
Feng Zi and Hua Cao clenched their fists, but still kept their head down. They found it unacceptable that their secret techniques, which they regarded as their greatest honor, were degraded as small tricks.
Whereas there was a faint trace of a smile on Shuiliu’s face, as he felt lucky that Qianjun didn’t use his Capturing Dragon Palm to humiliate him. It was very much like those who retreated fifty steps laughing at those who retreated a hundred steps ( 以五十步笑百步).
Nevertheless, the next moment, when Shuiliu raised his head up, he saw a gigantic palm of Battle Qi hovering in the air… His face immediately turned pale.
The palm of Battle Qi reached out outside the camp, s.n.a.t.c.hed the colossal Pterosaur and threw it on the camp ground.
“The Capturing Dragon Palm!”
It stirred another wave of shocks, when Qianjun displayed the same technique as Shuiliu’s. Although his battle beast wouldn’t act rebellious against its master, it still took unimaginable power to grab the Pterosaur and place it on the ground over such a distance.
Back during Shuiliu’s performance, the bottle of perfume wiggled all the way; while in Qianjun’s performance, he carried a giant Pterosaur effortlessly and stably. The gap of their capability was self-telling.
“This little worm is nothing special, except for taking you on the back and flying it around. Miss Qingcheng, this is for you now. I hope that it’ll entertain you in your leisure time.” Qianjun turned to Qingcheng while crossing his arms, as he didn’t give a d.a.m.n about the others’ uncomfortable feelings.