Chapter 1579: Qiqi, I’m Sorry
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Everyone simply stared at the adolescent boy in the air with aghast expressions.
The Guardian Formation of the Luo Clan had stopped many experts in their tracks since the inception of the Luo Clan. Innumerable a.s.saults of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe had been foiled by its formidable prowess. Yet, it did not even last a single second against a small, adolescent boy!
How was that possible?
Just what realm had the adolescent boy reached?
The experts in the area could not help but gulp in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing.
“Have any of you seen that person before?”
“Under normal circ.u.mstances, a person as powerful as that lad couldn’t possibly have remained unknown. So, why do I have no impression of him at all?”
“I have never seen him before either. It’s as if he’s appeared out of nowhere…”
“If even the adolescent boy is this powerful, I can’t begin to imagine how strong the young lady must be! Just who in the world is she?”
The clan heads of the Sage Clans subconsciously backed away, fearing that they would be implicated in this conflict.
To the eyes of ordinary cultivators, these clan heads represented the top fighting prowess of the Master Teacher Continent, but even they did not dare stand against an expert of this caliber. They had no doubt that the adolescent boy would be able to claim their lives with a single flick of his finger. It would be utter foolishness to stand against such an opponent!
Without a doubt, they were severely outmatched!
“You…”
Seeing how the adolescent boy had been able to overcome the collaboration of the many elders and tear apart the Luo Clan’s Guardian Formation so easily, the head of the Luo Clan’s face flickered with rage and fear.
After a moment of silence, he turned around and clasped his fist. “Yang s.h.i.+, I beseech you to lend us your help in this matter!”
The Luo Clan still had its final trump card, but it should only be used in times of absolute emergency. As such, the head of the Luo Clan could only place his hopes on Yang s.h.i.+.
“Of course, there’s no way I can simply turn a blind eye to this matter!” Yang s.h.i.+ said as he turned his gaze to the sky. “How could I be oblivious to the existence of an expert of your caliber on the continent? I really must be growing old!”
Hu!
As he said those words, he slowly took step after step upward.
His movements were very slow, but with every step that he took, an inconspicuous glow emanated from his feet. At the same time, the s.p.a.ce that he trod on seemed to grow even stabler, seemingly reinforced by some mysterious energy.
The adolescent boy was initially unfazed by Yang s.h.i.+’s provocation, but watching as the latter slowly walked over, his eyebrows knitted together into a frown. “Who are you? You aren’t from the Luo Clan, are you? The Luo Clan doesn’t have an expert of your caliber.”
“I am Yang Xuan!” Yang s.h.i.+ clasped his fist.
“Yang Xuan of the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters?” The adolescent boy widened his eyes in realization. He clasped his fist in reciprocation and said, “This is a problem between Milady and the Luo Clan, so I ask you not to interfere in this matter!”
“The Master Teacher Pavilion is responsible for maintaining order on the continent. You have chosen to wreak havoc in the Luo Clan at an important occasion like this, completely disregarding the dignity of everyone here. I might be getting on in my years, but it’s still my responsibility as a master teacher to stop you!” Yang s.h.i.+ replied coldly.
“Since you aren’t going to back down, make your move then. Let me see how powerful the rumored number one expert of the Master Teacher Continent is!” the adolescent boy spat coldly.
He crossed his arms, ready to make his next move, but at this moment, a nonchalant voice sounded beside him.
“Enough, stand down,” Luo Ruoxin instructed.
“Yes, Milady!” Not daring to say a second word, the adolescent boy quickly retracted his palm and returned to his position behind Luo Ruoxin.
At the same time, perhaps out of apprehension for Luo Ruoxin’s strength, upon seeing the adolescent boy backing away, Yang Xuan also stepped back and fell silent.
Luo Ruoxin swept her gaze across the crowd, and after seeing that no one else was going to make a move, she turned to Zhang Xuan and said, “Zhang Xuan, let’s go!”
The next moment, Zhang Xuan felt the restraints on his body being released.
Seeing that the adolescent boy had not killed anyone, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. He nodded in response to Luo Ruoxin’s words, but he still could not help but turn around to face the beautiful young lady dressed in red behind him.
Looking at her tear stained cheeks, he felt a sharp ache in his heart. He walked up to her and said, “Qiqi… I’m sorry.”
He really had no idea how he should express his apology toward this young lady.
The engagement with the Zhang Clan and the Luo Clan was a huge matter on the Master Teacher Continent. Innumerable clan heads, powerful experts, and esteemed seniors had come to witness this momentous event, yet he was simply going to walk out of this.
He knew that his actions would inflict grievous damage on the young lady, but he could not imagine a life without Luo Ruoxin, and he could not let Luo Ruoxin down.
“Why?” Luo Qiqi asked silently.
In the eyes of outsiders, she was an unparalleled genius who had broken innumerable records. But those who knew her would know that she was simply an innocent little girl who lacked a sense of security.
It was due to this that Luo Xuanqing had constantly been looking out for her, fearing that she would be taken advantage of by others.
“I…”
Zhang Xuan had no idea how he should respond to the young lady’s question.
It had never been his intention to hurt her, which was also why he had never rejected her confession directly. He had thought that their fate would have ended with her departure, but who could have thought that life had something like this in store for them?
While trying not to harm her, he ended up inflicting the greatest damage upon her.
After a long moment of silence, Zhang Xuan spoke up. “I always thought that you were the princess of the Baiyuan Empire…”
Back then, when they parted at the Qingyuan Empire, Yu Fei-er had said that the reason Luo Qiqi had been able to enroll into Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy back then was because of an insignia from the Baiyuan Empire’s royalty, which left him thinking that Luo Qiqi was the princess of the Baiyuan Empire.
Not even in his wildest dream would he have thought that Luo Qiqi had anything to do with the Luo Clan.
“In order to hide my tracks from the Luo Clan, I used the powers of the Dimension Silencer to seal my bloodline and cultivation. While I have a.s.similated the Dimension Silencer, I have yet to fully master it, so there are abilities that I’m still unable to fully control. As a result, not only did my cultivation fall to the Transcendent Mortal realm, some of my memories ended up being sealed, too. I had to slowly raise his cultivation in order to unseal my memories once more…” Luo Qiqi looked into the sky and said solemnly, “That is also why I was unable to save you back in the underground cavern despite the danger we were in.”
Zhang Xuan nodded.
When he found out that Luo Qiqi was the little princess, he had already figured most of the story out.
There were indeed some methods on the Master Teacher Continent that allowed a cultivator to seal their cultivation and bloodline. For example, Zhao Ya’s mother had sealed away her Pure Yin Body and hidden herself away in the ancient domains. Afterward, she had married Zhao Ya’s father, and despite having been together for many years, no one was any the wiser of her true strength.
As for the reason that Luo Qiqi had been in Grade 2 back at the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy…
Considering when she left the Sanctum of Sages, there was no way that she could have been in Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy for more than a year. However, Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy worked by a system where a student was promoted by their strength and master teacher rank rather than the time that they had spent in the academy.
Rational explanations could easily be found for most parts of Luo Qiqi’s history, but there was just one doubt that he was unable to make sense of.
The Luo Clan’s little princess possessed the Discarnate Const.i.tution of Divination, which should have made it impossible for him to use the Library of Heaven’s Path on her. At the very least, this was the reason he thought that the Library of Heaven’s Path did not work on Luo Ruoxin.
However, he did use the Library of Heaven’s Path on Luo Qiqi, and a book had successfully been compiled on her. Yet, her true ident.i.ty had not been detailed within the book. Could this mean that those who possessed the Discarnate Const.i.tution of Divination possessed the ability to fool and provide incorrect answers to the Library of Heaven’s Path?
If that was really the case, that would be really fearsome!
He would have to slowly search for the answer in the future, or else he could not fully believe the information provided by the Library of Heaven’s Path anymore.
“Back when I was still the little princess of the Luo Clan, I did the royal family of the Baiyuan Empire a great favor. Even though I had sealed my cultivation, they were still more than willing to introduce me to the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy as a 4-star master teacher. It was with such an ident.i.ty that my clan was unable to find me easily.
“I had always been the center of attention from the moment I was born, and I know that many would love to be in the position I am in. But this is not what I wanted. All I wanted was an ordinary life, living my days out peacefully and happily,” Luo Qiqi muttered with a desolate look on her face.
Even though she had sealed her cultivation and bloodline, due to her past relations.h.i.+p with the royalty of the Baiyuan Empire, she had easily been able to convince them to do her a favor and recommend her to Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy. Furthermore, given her standing, the Baiyuan Empire had been more than willing to allow her to pa.s.s off as their princess.
It was due to this convincing ident.i.ty that she had been able to remain in the Hongyuan Empire for so long without anyone noticing. Even her close friend, Yu Fei-er, was oblivious to her true ident.i.ty.
In a sense, this was similar to how Zhang Xuan pa.s.sed himself off as Yang s.h.i.+’s student. As long as one had a convincing cover, it would be unlikely for others to dig too deeply into one’s ident.i.ty.
“I told you before that there’s someone whom I like, and that person is actually Luo s.h.i.+. All along, I thought that she was the little princess of the Luo Clan, which resulted in this misunderstanding…” Zhang Xuan lowered his head as he spoke softly.
He had to explain this matter properly to the young lady before him, or else the person who would be hurt would not only be her but Luo Ruoxin as well.
“I guessed…” Luo Qiqi nodded quietly before lowering her head, concealing the tears glistening in her eyes.
“Qiqi, I am sorry…” Zhang Xuan bowed deeply.
He finally understood why she had been able to take out so many thousand-year-old medicinal herbs the very last time that they met, as well as why Luo Chengxin suddenly appeared before him shortly after she left.
From the looks of it, it seemed like Luo Chengxin had found her in Qingyuan City, and aware of her impending departure, she had made use of the excuse of needing to practice her pill forging techniques to gift those medicinal herbs to him.
At this moment, he also recalled Luo Xuanqing saying that his younger sister had high apt.i.tude in most occupations, but somehow, when it came to pill forging, her talents seemed to fall flat. He had not thought too much about the matter back then, but everything seemed to fit like pieces of a puzzle to him now.
That would also explain how a 5-star master teacher like her had been able to easily track down the underground cavern that Wu Yangzi had been locked in through the peculiar smithing method when no one in the Hongyuan Empire had been able to…
Even with a huge portion of her memories sealed, her instincts were still far beyond those of ordinary cultivators.
That would also explain why she had been able to improve far quicker than Yu Fei-er and even his direct disciples.
Most likely, when she achieved a breakthrough to the Saint realm in the Qingyuan Empire, the seal that she had placed on herself had begun to unravel, rendering it impossible for her to conceal her bloodline anymore. This had allowed Luo Chengxin to find her, eventually leading to this series of events…
Lifting her eyes to take one final glance at the young man before her, Luo Qiqi decisively turned around, bellowing, “Scram! I never want to see you again!”
“Thank you…” Understanding Luo Qiqi’s intentions, Zhang Xuan muttered softly before turning around and walking away.
Nothing that he could say would mend the damage that he had done. Staying there would only worsen the other party’s pain.
“Where do you think you are going?”
Huala!
Barely after taking two steps, innumerable cold glints suddenly s.h.i.+mmered from the surroundings. The wounded elders of the Luo Clan, along with Luo Xuanqing, had drawn their blades, and every single one of them was glaring at Zhang Xuan with wintry eyes.
“Zhang Xuan! If you dare walk away today, you will be an eternal enemy of the Luo Clan! The relations.h.i.+p between the Zhang Clan and the Luo Clan will become irreconcilable!” the head of the Luo Clan roared furiously.
“If you dare leave with that demoness, you’ll become my sworn enemy. I, Luo Xuanqing, swear that I’ll devote my life to hunting you down and killing you!” Luo Xuanqing bellowed wrathfully.
Zhang Xuan’s footsteps visibly halted for a brief moment, but he still chose to continue advancing toward Luo Ruoxin.
“Die!”
Seeing that Zhang Xuan was still adamantly walking forward, Luo Xuanqing flicked his palm and thrust it toward Zhang Xuan.
“Hold it right there!”
With a flick of his spear, Zheng Yang dissipated the force of Luo Xuanqing’s palm strike. At the same time, Lu Chong, w.a.n.g Ying, and the others also quickly stood in between their teacher and the Luo Clan.