Chapter 128 - Be the Best
In the Heavenly Wheel, Lu Mingshu stared at the wheel blankly.
After a while, she realized what happened and called for Xiao Sang, "Xiao Sang, what is this?"
The points she owed had been decreased by a hundred!
Previously, when she battled at the pharmacy"s arena, the debt only decreased by five points, and only by two when she went to the rune-carving shop. After seeing that, she gave up on trying anything in the other industries. Battling at the pharmacy didn"t decrease her debt or increase her fame by very much. She might as well just go compete at a martial arts arena.
"The points came from the consequences of your actions," Xiao Sang replied in monotone.
She finally gave an actual answer instead of her usual, "Your points are not enough."
"Consequences?" Lu Mingshu pondered. "The consequences for the world?"
After the battle at the pharmacy, only a few people were even aware of her existence. She didn"t gain much fame or do anything for the industry itself. However, she brought a bunch of benefits and changes to the rune-carving industry. She taught them lost skills, new ways to use talismans and runes, and changed their arena rules, which would bring the industry great benefits as time pa.s.sed.
"So, it"s that…."
She suddenly heard a knock at her door.
Lu Mingshu exited the Heavenly Wheel and went to open the door, "Senior Aunt Tan."
Tan Yubing flashed her a warm smile, "Am I bothering you? It"s getting late."
Lu Mingshu shook her head and smiled at her before inviting her in.
"Save yourself the trouble," Tan Yubing stopped Lu Mingshu who was about to serve some tea. "I"ll be fast," she smiled.
Lu Mingshu turned toward her.
Tan Yubing started slowly, "Today, Keeper Guo came, and the reason she came… is because of you."
Seeing that Lu Mingshu was just looking at her calmly, Tan Yubing continued, "I guess you"re already aware of it then."
"Just a few guesses," Lu Mingshu replied.
Tan Yubing sighed, "Recently, I heard some information. Do you know who Xie Lianzhen from the Seven Truths Platform is?"
Seeing that Lu Mingshu"s face changed drastically upon hearing his name, Tan Yubing burst out in laughter, "You finally reacted to something! You"re always so calm about everything that it makes me doubt myself as a Senior Aunt!" Tan Yubing joked before getting back to the main point, "You shouldn"t lower your guard. He and the queen of Zhongzhou have a very special relations.h.i.+p. As for what the queen is like, I"m sure you"ve heard."
After reaching Tianyun City, she heard stories about the queen. In the eyes of the commoners, she was a wise and farsighted woman, but also tough.
Lu Mingshu already roughly knew what was going on when she met Keeper Guo earlier, but this situation… is the worst possibility she antic.i.p.ated.
"Okay, it"s getting late. I shall leave and let you rest."
Before Tan Yubing left, she looked at Lu Mingshu and she hesitantly added, "If the queen really…. Maybe even Elder An is unable to save you from this mess."
Lu Mingshu walked over to the wall after Tan Yubing left and stared at three circles she had drawn on the map of Tianyun City.
She pondered for a while before erasing one of the circles and replacing it with another.
If it was for the queen of Zhongzhou, the better Lu Mingshu should be!
In the Divine Restaurant, there was a group of people in a small private room.
After the compet.i.tion at the Hall of Immortals arena, this group of people not only practiced martial arts every day, they also sat here and waited for news every single day.
Kou Wei kept making a rhythmic sound with his fan, which annoyed Qi Sheng, "Senior Brother, can you stop?"
Kou Wei smiled and stopped, "Impatient, are we?"
Qi Sheng was listless, "I really don"t get you guys. It"s not like we don"t know where she stays, why don"t we just go to the hotel and find her?"
"Where"s the fun in that?" Yue Lingyin cut him off. "Don"t you feel that it"s more fun this way?"
"I don"t see the fun," Qi Sheng had a poker face.
"Aiya, little Brother Qi, learn how to have fun! Or do you prefer to live a boring life with-"
In the midst of Yue Lingyin"s teasing, somebody rushed in; "Senior Brother Kou, we found her!"
The whole group simultaneously turned toward the disciple who spoke.
Being stared at like that, the disciple became a bundle of nerves, "Erm, Miss Lu is competing at the House of Might."
Kou Wei nodded, "How is it going right now?"
"Two wins," the disciple answered. "The third round should be fine as well."
"Okay, sorry to trouble you. Go have fun with your friends."
As soon as the disciple left, Qi Sheng couldn"t hold back his urge anymore, "Is she going to focus on fighting now?"
After competing at the rune-carving arena, Lu Mingshu had competed at quite a number of martial arts halls, and up to now, she had already been to three.
"Should be," Kou Wei nodded. "The easiest way to gain fame is to go through the martial arts arenas."
"Then why did she go to the pharmacy and the rune-carving ones in the first place?"
Kou Wei was unable to provide an answer to that. Gaining fame through battling in martial arts arenas was understandable; a few of them did that too. But going to the pharmacy and rune-carving arenas? Just to try new things?
He turned to look at Shao Zhengyang, who was staring into s.p.a.ce, "Brother Shao, what"s on your mind?"
Shao Zhengyang bit his lips, "I think… I might know why," he said and sighed.
"Oh?"
What Shao Zhengyang said had piqued everyone"s interest, and they all turned to look at him.
Shao Zhengyang smiled bitterly, "What I"m about to say… can you all please keep to yourselves?"
"Of course. You can trust us," Qi Sheng a.s.sured him. "The last thing we are is a bunch of big mouths, right?"
The others nodded in agreement.
"A few days ago, Brother Kou Wei mentioned something about the Ancient Jade Summit"s Ling Wuxia not attending the Qilin Festival," he sighed and continued, "do you all remember?"
Kou Wei nodded, "It"s true. The Ancient Jade Summit arrived yesterday, and Ling Wuxia was indeed absent." Suddenly, something came to Kou Wei"s mind, and he furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure, "You mean…?"
Shao Zhengyang nodded his head, "Little Brother here heard some stories. I wasn"t sure what was going on until that day. When I went back to the hotel, Keeper Guo from the emissary office came down, and I heard that she came to see Junior Lu."
"Emissary office? Xiahou Shan?" Yue Lingyin asked. A thought suddenly popped up into her head, and she turned red with anger, "What the h.e.l.l is going on with the Nine Jade Palace, huh!?"
Kou Wei held her down, "Lingyin, calm down. Brother Shao didn"t do anything wrong."
Yu Lingyin processed her thoughts again. When she calmed down, she turned to Shao Zhengyang and apologized for her behavior, "Brother Shao, I"m so sorry. I didn"t mean to blame you for it."
Shao Zhengyang smiled in return, "I know. Miss Yue doesn"t need to take it to heart."
Yue Lingyin slammed her chopsticks onto the table forcefully, as if she wanted to break the table, "This is ridiculous! They are treating their own genuine successor disciple in such a manner? If they do not want her, then just give her to us, the Amethyst Phoenix Pavilion, for free!"
The girl called Lan Ruoyun looked at her in confusion, "Sister Yue, does the queen have her eyes on her?"
"It shouldn"t be the queen," Kou Wei answered. "Should be… the Nine Jade Palace is interested in the marriage."
"That"s obviously the case! How long has Lu Mingshu been famous? I doubt she"s so famous that the queen would have heard of her. She"s doing all this because of the Nine Jade Palace!"
"Wait!" Qi Sheng cut them off, "What do you all mean? What marriage?"
But sadly, he was ignored by the rest as they continued their heated discussion.
"But isn"t Lu Mingshu digging her own grave now by battling at the arenas? Wouldn"t the queen be even more pleased with her?"
Kou Wei looked at him and retorted calmly, "But why has n.o.body forced Ling Wuxia? Even if the Ancient Jade Summit turned their back on her, even the queen wouldn"t force her. Do you believe that?"
Of course. Ling Wuxia was the best disciple of Ancient Jade Summit in this generation. She might even be in the a.s.similation Realm already, who knew?
"Oh, so Brother Kou Wei means that Mingshu is fighting for her voice?" Lan Ruoyun"s eyes widened. "If she was as powerful as Ling Wuxia, then even if the Nine Jade Palace forced the marriage onto her, the queen would respect Mingshu"s decision."
"Yeah," Kou Wei nodded. "Her strategy is easy. She competed in some other sectors once each, but she chose the best shops. As for martial arts, she"s choosing the best and most famous shops as well. She should be clear about what"s ahead, that"s why she"s so hardworking."
Chapter 129 - The Stronger, the Better
"Congratulations, Miss Lu! You"ve succeeded in the challenge!"
Baisheng Martial Arts Hall"s arena announcer announced the winner of the compet.i.tion.
The spectators cheered and clapped loudly for her.
Tons of items were thrown up on stage - jewelry, gold, silver, fruits, and more. The clerk from Baisheng Martial Arts Hall carried a bamboo basket up to the stage and started putting the items into the basket one by one.
These were the rewards from the spectators. The martial arts hall would take twenty percent of the rewards, and the winner would get the rest.
However, the newly appointed host did not look happy at all. She thanked the crowd with a straight face and stepped off the elevated stage.
"Miss Lu, you will be turning up tomorrow, right?" the boss smiled widely at Lu Mingshu, anxiously waiting for her answer.
Looking at Lu Mingshu and her expression, the boss pointed at the two big baskets, which were full of rewards, "If you turn up, we won"t take any of the rewards. It would be all yours!"
To no avail, she only replied with a single sentence, "No need. I"ll show up if I feel like it."
But the boss was unwilling to give up. He continued to pester her all the way to the exit, "No matter what kind of opponent you desire, I"ll get them here for you!"
Lu Mingshu kept a straight face as she shook her head.
The boss added, "You really don"t have to go to another martial arts hall. I can even get disciples from the Seventh Truth Platform here for you!"
Lu Mingshu gave him a tight smile and put her rewards into her pocket, "Goodbye."
Over the past few days, she had gone to five martial arts halls consecutively.
The martial arts halls she went to were the most famous and crowded in all of Tianyun City. When she won at the first arena, people took her as a minor hidden talent who got lucky and thus paid no extra attention to her. After the second arena, some people started to admire her. The third and fourth arena made her more famous… and now, she was the biggest topic in Tianyun City.
All of the martial arts halls she went to were enough to prove one"s ability because they were the best. Furthermore, Lu Mingshu went to many different martial arts halls, not just one!
A powerful, young, icy beauty. Not only did she have the ability, she had the looks too. These past few days, every martial arts hall in Tianyun City hoped for her to turn up, for two reasons; one, if they could defeat her, they would be famous in no time, and secondly, even if they lost, she brought them lots of spectators, and thus lots of money.
However, no martial arts halls had managed to convince her to stay for more than a day as a host.
In the middle on Tianyun City, in the Imperial Amethyst Palace, a candlelight lit up the room and shone onto a woman who was sitting behind her desk with a list of names in her hand.
She threw the list of names onto the desk and turned to the female officer next to her.
"Ling Wuxia still hasn"t turned up?" she asked in annoyance.
The official nodded, "Correct."
The officer wore the same purple gown as Xiahou Shan, but the aura she gave off was way different form Xiahou Shan. Xiahou Shan always had a smile on her face, but not this woman - she was pet.i.te, delicate, and pretty, and her eyes were full of worry.
As for the woman behind the desk, she was an icy beauty. Her lips were covered in bright red lipstick, her eyebrows were arched, and she looked very mature.
She pointed to the list of names on her desk and snickered, "So these people think that they are good enough for Xing"er, huh? Well they"re just a bunch of ugly potatoes!"
At that moment, somebody knocked on the door, "Your Highness, Emissary Xiahou is here to see you."
"Let her in."
"Your Highness," Xiahou Shan said as she was welcomed by the scowling queen.
"Is everything ready for the Qilin Festival?"
"Your servant has already gotten everything prepared. Please take a look, Your Highness," Xiahou handed over the doc.u.ments to her.
The queen quickly looked through the doc.u.ments and had a tight smile on her face, "You"re always reliable."
"Your Highness has entrusted me with heavy responsibility, so your servant shall try her best," Xiahou Shan said, then paused for a while, "Is Your Highness perhaps unhappy?"
The queen threw the doc.u.ments in her hand to the official beside her in anger, "Qingqing, tell her about it."
Ding Qingqing pointed at the list of names, "Look at the people sent here by the clans - none of them are good enough!"
"Ah, so it"s that," Xiahou Shan, "These greedy people… they want to make a connection with royalty, yet they are unwilling to send their best."
"You don"t have to be so euphemistic," the queen huffed, "They just think that Xing"er is not good enough because he has some physical defect, but they"re the ones who aren"t good enough!"
Xiahou Shan shook her head, "None of them are good enough. The only one that could barely pa.s.s is Ling Wuxia."
"But she"s not here!" the queen burst out in disappointment.
Xiahou Shan pondered for a while before replying, "Your servant thinks that there may be another girl who is suitable."
The queen waved her hand, "Forget it if she isn"t as good as Ling Wuxia. I would rather have nothing to do with that person in that case."
Xiahou Shan smiled in reply, "Your Highness is so brilliant - she"s indeed as good as Ling Wuxia," Xiahou Shan nodded, "or maybe even better."
"Oh?" the queen"s eyes brightened up. "Let me guess - is it that Xue Yi from the Dengwen Xue family? Or Limpid Autumn Water Clan"s Qiao Min? Oh wait, is it the Flying Star Door"s Huo Jinxin?"
Seeing Xiahou Shan shaking her head, the queen leaned back and waved her hand, "If it"s not one of them, then it"s one of the ugly potatoes, so just stop."
"Ha!" Ding Qingqing burst out in laughter. "Your Highness, Shan must have her reasons for saying such things. I"m now curious… who exactly is she that you would promote her?" the second sentence was directed at Xiahou Shan.
Seeing that the queen had run out of patience, Xiahou Shan got straight to her point, "It"s the eldest daughter of Fu Shangqing, the current Sect Leader of Nine Jade Palace."
"Lu Mingshu?" Ding Qingqing raised her eyebrows. "I remember that Fu Shangqing married the daughter of Zhou Jin, so why is his daughter"s surname Lu?"
"The child is from his previous wife," Xiahou Shan handed some doc.u.ments to the queen, "Her stepmother, Zhou Miaoru, wanted this marriage, and came to me. I once thought she was just like the other potatoes, but she"s actually quite interesting."
"The Zhou family sent you gifts, right?"
Xiahou Shan smiled, "You"re the smartest."
The queen just casually flipped through at first, then she started to read it closely. She slammed the doc.u.ment closed and asked, "Where is she?"
Ding Qingqing looked at her in confusion, "Your Highness wants to call her in?"
"No," the queen bit her lips, "Not to call in, but to observe."
Ding Qingqing looked at her in confusion.
She clicked her tongue, "If what is written in the doc.u.ments is accurate, she"s a match for Ling Wuxia, but she must be very unwilling."
"Your Highness is indeed smart," Xiahou Shan replied. She did not dare to keep something so serious in the dark, "She"s not on good terms with the Zhou family since they killed her mother. Zhou Miaoru wanted to keep her in check by making use of Your Highness, but Lu Mingshu obviously isn"t a puppet."
"This…" Ding Qingqing raised her eyebrows, "if she"s unwilling, this marriage may not be easy."
Xiahou Shan smiled, "She has never met His Highness before. She may be unwilling right now, but she might not be in the future."
Hear that, Ding Qingqing smiled, "True. Mister is so talented. It"s only those commoners who do not see his value because they are commoners. Lu Mingshu might be willing after she meets him."
That Ling Wuxia that the queen was waiting for had the same mindset as well! All of them thought that he was unworthy just because his legs were paralyzed. Weren"t they too superficial?
"You said that she"s competing at the arena?"
"Yes. She has competed at many arenas. From the best pharmacy, to the best rune-carving shop, then five of the best martial arts halls here in Tianyun City, and she has been winning every time. She"s not the most powerful, but she"s an icy beauty, and despite her young age, she has already accomplished Physical Manifestation of Sword Intent. Even if someone is actually better than her, they"ve already been scared off."
The queen smiled in satisfaction, "Break the cauldrons and sink the boat…. Interesting."
But Ding Qingqing"s face was filled with worry. "If she"s the way Shan described, then she must be a very firm woman. Are you sure that"s okay?"
Before Xiahou Shan could reply, the queen cut her off, "What"s wrong with being firm? Xing"er is not weak! Shan, go and observe her. I don"t mind her being too strong, I"m only afraid she"s not strong enough!"
Chapter 130 - Important Person.
"Which arena is she at today?"
"Peak"s Martial Arts Hall! The one at Nan Da street."
"Let"s go, let"s go. Their seats will be full if we"re late."
The bunch scrambled out hurriedly to rush to the martial arts hall.
In a tearoom, a guy stood by the window and looked at them rush into the martial arts hall.
Somebody came behind him and sneered at the bunch of people, "Such idiots, have they not ever seen an arena before? It"s just a compet.i.tion. We would never waste our time there."
The guy at the window remained silent as he still had his eyes on the bunch.
"Senior Brother Wei!" the girl behind him pouted, "Are you listening?"
Still no response!
"Wei Chunqiu!" the girl stomped in anger.
"Now, now, who sent our younger sister into a fit, huh?" the door was pushed opened, and someone walked in, full of smiles.
"Senior Brother Yu!" seeing the person who came in, the girl was all smiles again, "You finally came! I hate Senior Brother Wei; he ignores me!"
The guy who walked in was a graceful teenager. There was always a smile on his face and he was rather lovable.
"It"s not like you only just met Senior Brother Wei," he answered. "Stop bothering him, haha, just come and tell me."
The girl pointed to the building opposite of the tearoom, "When are we going over?"
"What"s the hurry?" Senior Brother Yu laughed. "The main character always makes their appearance last, right?"
"Miss Lu won the second round!"
The spectators gave applause and cheered loudly for her.
Lu Mingshu took the handkerchief that the maid had handed her. She wiped the sweat on her head and sat down at a corner to rest.
Competing at an arena was something that required a huge amount of energy, especially fighting consecutively. On top of that, as her reputation spread, her opponents were getting strong and stronger.
The first few days, she competed with the some of the better martial artists of Zhongzhou. After she got some more wins, the disciples from the visiting clans came to compete with her too.
However, Lady Luck was on her side. She still hadn"t met up with any of the apex martial artists.
Or maybe it was because they were conserving their energy for the Qilin Festival, which was the real deal.
Others could wait, but not Lu Mingshu. She didn"t have any power or fame, and she needed to get anything that she could.
The arenas of Tianyun City all had similar rules - three wins and you"ll become the host. She had already won two rounds, so there was only one more to go and she could finish this.
And then not turn up tomorrow, because the day after tomorrow was the start of the Qilin Festival.
"How should I address this gentleman?" the announcer asked.
"My surname is Yu," the guy smiled.
A new challenger had stepped up.
Lu Mingshu opened her eyes to take a look. She wiped the sweat from her palm and went up on stage slowly.
"I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time, Miss Lu," Gentleman Yu bowed.
"I dare not accept such praise. Please guide me."
"Shall we start?"
Lu Mingshu answered by pulling out her sword.
Seeing that, Gentleman Yu turned serious and pulled out his sword too.
The austere aura had the spectators tense as well, and they all kept quiet as they look on in antic.i.p.ation.
In a split second, both of them attacked at the same time.
Both rays of sword-light flew across the stage. In the blink of an eye, the sword-lights had filled the entire stage.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The sound of swords clas.h.i.+ng could be heard constantly, but the two fighters were too fast for humans to see. The only thing the audience could see were sword-lights.
Lu Mingshu"s heart fell as the compet.i.tion went on.
Just before the compet.i.tion started, she felt like Lady Luck was on her side since she had never met a true expert, but now there was one right in front of her.
This guy shouldn"t be just any random martial artist. There"s a high chance he"s from the Seventh Truth Platform, and perhaps he"s even a genuine successor disciple.
But that could be a good thing for her too; it proved that she was now so famous that even a Seventh Truth Platform disciple would come just for her.
And this was a perfect chance for her; defeating the disciples of the martial arts halls showed that she was better than some regular martial artists, but defeating a Seventh Truth Platform disciple would mean much more.
Lu Mingshu shook the thought out of her head and upped her game.
The harder one party fought, the more beneficial it would be for the other party. Fighting in arena had a shortcoming, which was that there wasn"t enough time to rest. In order to become the new host, one had to fight three rounds continuously. Lu Mingshu had already completed two rounds, so she was physically and mentally drained, while the other party just waited leisurely for Lu Mingshu to exhaust herself. The fiercer she fought, the more advantage the other party gained.
This Gentleman Yu was calm and composed. He focused on defending more than attacking, and he even pretended to mess up a few times in order to trick Lu Mingshu into stepping up her attack.
Probably because of the sweat on her palms, Lu Mingshu missed an attack.
Great chance! Gentleman Yu"s eyes blinked upon seeing that. In no time, he gathered all his strength and attacked.
Lu Mingshu squinted her eyes and immediately went up.
Boom!
The mystic light exploded.
Smoke and dust covered the area. One party stood on top of a flag pole while another one stood on the ground.
Gentleman Yu smiled at her, "Miss Lu, you"re not the only one who has broken through to the ream of Physical Manifestation of Sword Intent."
Lu Mingshu eyed him coldly, "Since you have as well, where are you from then?"
"Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."
"I believe that it will become worth mentioning soon."
Sword-light appeared again, and both of them went against each other.
"What are they talking about?"
"I don"t know, but it"s entertaining."
"Yeah! Miss Lu is so powerful. Which clan is Gentleman Yu from, that he can actually compete with her?"
"His skills make it seem like he"s from the Seventh Truth Platform."
"What? Yu Kuang went down to compete?" Kou Wei was startled at this information.
The disciple that he sent over to scout nodded, "Yeah, it"s him."
"What does the Seventh Truth Platform want?" Yue Lingyin pondered. "Perhaps they find Lu Mingshu too arrogant and want to teach her a lesson?"
Kou Wei shook his head, "It"s just a martial arts hall arena, the Seventh Truth Platform isn"t that narrow-minded."
Lu Mingshu picked a martial arts arena of Zhongzhou to compete in, why would the Seventh Truth Platform be worried? It"s not like she went to battle at their arena. And even if she won at every arena in Zhongzhou, it"s not like their name would be affected.
"Maybe Yu Kuang went out of curiosity?" somebody added. "Miss Lu is famous now. If I wasn"t with you guys, I would probably go down to have a battle with her to check things out."
"Maybe…." Kou Wei nodded. He couldn"t think of any reason other than that.
"Who will win?" Qi Sheng asked.
The group remained silent.
"Lu Mingshu has proven that she"s capable. Her eighteen-win streak wasn"t just lucky. If she partic.i.p.ates in the Qilin Festival, she will be a real opponent to me."
Kou Wei, the best Harmonization Realm disciple in the Heavenly Sea Pavilion , and one of the first few in China to see her as a real opponent had proven Lu Mingshu"s ability.
"Yu Kuang"s not bad either," Yue Lingyin added. "His foundation may not be as strong as Wei Chunqiu, but he"s the best swordsman amongst all Seventh Truth Platform disciples."
"I lost to Yu Kuang before…." someone said solemnly.
"Interesting," Kou Wei smiled. "Lu Mingshu has exceptionally good skills, and Yu Kuang is the best swordsman in his sect. I wonder who"s more of a genius?"