Chapter 215 - Rebound
Among all the Ye Family"s disciples of his generation, Ye Zhenxing was the wittiest, and this was something that he had always been proud of. Even though he wasn"t comparable to his Third Brother, he was still able to compete with other elites from the bigger sects.
But now, they were all just staring with wide eyes at what was happening in front of them.
Lu Mingshu leapt up, fusing their Mystic Water Force into her own Physical Manifestation of Sword Intent.
Lu Mingshu went back and forth, changing her position as if she was in her own world. The layers of Sword Intent pressing her down might as well have not been there. She was like a fish, swimming along with the Mystic Water Sword Manifestation
"Tenth Brother!" the Ye Family girl shouted.
Ye Zhenxing was brought back to reality, and he shouted, "Three-seven!"
This was a secret code for the Ye Family"s Mystic Water Sword. Three-seven, symbolizing the distribution and flow to utilize.
The manifestation changed, and the formless water-type mystic light caused a tremendous wave.
This was useless too. To Lu Mingshu, she could still move back and forth, moving freely like a fish in the water.
"Two-eight!" Ye Zhenxing shouted in panic.
The manifestation changed again, relying on himself and Ye Zhenfan. Both of them were more capable, so the main portion of the two-eight formation would be on them. In this case, two bodies were now bearing the sword manifestation of four.
Ye Zhenxing gritted his teeth. I can"t fall here. Even if I do in the end, Lu Mingshu will fall first!
However, there were still no changes.
"Younger brother!" Ye Zhenfan urged him.
Ye Zhenxing made up his mind. "One-nine!"
"Tenth Brother!" The Ye Family girl and Ye s.h.i.+yi shouted in unison. One-nine, that"s…
"Faster!" Ye Zhenxing"s veins looked like they were about to explode.
The others kept quiet and followed his instructions.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Mystic Water Sword Manifestation let out a huge explosion sound, even louder than the strong winds nearby.
Ye Zhenfan"s eyes had turned red. 90% of the sword manifestation was being borne by himself and Ye Zhenxing. The force was so powerful that it was hard to even imagine.
Lu Mingshu looked at them and smirked.
She could hear the sword cries overlapping with the sound of waves, but she was still submerged in the Mystic Water Sword Manifestation, swimming freely.
Anyone"s technique would have a loophole, and it was the same for four people working together. Even though they were coordinating very well, the difference in their abilities was too huge, making the loophole even more obvious and easier to take advantage of. With such a huge loophole, what was the point of this spell? Them coordinating only gave her an advantage; it was even easier than going against them one-on-one!
"That"s enough, take a break, you guys."
As soon as she spoke, she attacked.
Rays of mystic light sped up inside the Mystic Water Sword Manifestation.
"Oh no!" Ye Zhenxing yelled.
But it was too late; the mystic light rose in revolt, and the Mystic Water Sword Manifestation was suddenly frozen like an ice cube.
Boom!
Another sound could be heard coming from the manifestation.
The sword manifestation fell apart, and it suddenly turned back toward the Ye Family members!
The huge force dashed toward them, and gallons upon gallons of water pushed them down.
"Ah!" The Ye Family girl was the first to be sent flying.
She was followed by Ye s.h.i.+yi. Luckily for them, they only received a part of the force. After the initial burst of high pressure, the force died down quickly.
Pui!
Ye Zhenfan said nothing. He simply fell to the floor after vomiting blood.
"Ninth Brother!" The Ye Family girl was scared out of her wits as she half-crawled toward her Ninth Brother.
There was blood coming out of the corner of Ye Zhenxing"s mouth, but he tried to swallow it back in. At this moment, he was still thinking about how to make his injury less serious. As long as it doesn"t damage my meridians….
Pui!
He could no longer control the force and spit the blood out. Like a broken kite, he floated away in the force of the water.
Fortunately for him, Ye s.h.i.+yi reacted quickly and grabbed him.
The one-nine Mystic Water Sword Formation is really not something that we can use freely. The elders really didn"t lie to us….
Ye Zhenxing felt numbness in his head and then fainted.
"Wake up, Ninth Brother! Tenth Brother, nothing can happen to you!" the girl called to them, but unfortunately, neither woke up.
At this moment, Lu Mingshu spoke in monotone, "Where are the Yellow Mystic Stones?"
The Ye Family girl looked at her with wide eyes. "You… even now, all you think about are the Yellow Mystic Stones?"
Lu Mingshu raised her eyebrows. "What else would I be thinking about? Isn"t that the whole point of your trap?"
She was originally unsure if there were Yellow Mystic Stones here, but after she arrived, she was sure that the other party wasn"t lying. There was a high chance that the information was true, and the other party was just using it for an advantage against her.
"But my Ninth and Tenth Brothers…"
"Hurry up!" She looked at them as if they had nothing to do with her. "If you don"t tell me, their meridians might be ruined."
"You…!" The girl gave her a death glare. "Evil!"
"Whatever!" Ye s.h.i.+yi shouted. "You want the Yellow Mystic Stones, right? Here, take them!"
He threw some stones over in anger.
"Eleventh Brother!" the girl cried out. "That"s what you left for yourself to make a sword!"
"Their lives are more important." Ye s.h.i.+yi glared at Lu Mingshu. "Can we leave now?"
Lu Mingshu nodded. "Yes." She just wanted to scare them, not ruin their lives.
Both of them immediately held their older brothers up.
Before they left, the girl turned around. "Just wait and see. Offending the Ye Family will-"
Lu Mingshu looked up at her as if she was going to get up.
The girl swallowed her words and nearly fell.
Lu Mingshu smiled. Aristocratic family disciples… they all look tough but are actually cowards.
Afraid that Lu Mingshu would go back on her words, both of them kept quiet and left with their elder brothers.
Lu Mingshu didn"t leave immediately. Instead, she went back to the hill.
The Ye Family disciples would have done this secretly without their Elders knowing, and it took a total of six days for them to travel here and go back. She still had some time.
Lu Mingshu searched for a day on the hill, then she found the mine. She looked at the stones in the mine before leaving.
"There she is!" Seeing her come back, the Ding Family came over to welcome her.
"Miss, are you okay?"
"You defeated the Ye Family members, didn"t you?"
They held their breath when they saw the Ye Family members" boat a while ago. After a few moments, the boat turned back, and the Ye Family girl gave them a death stare before speeding off.
They had guessed that the Ye Family members didn"t get what they want. However, they were worried because Lu Mingshu hadn"t come back either.
Now that she was back, they could finally release the stone in their hearts.
Lu Mingshu jumped up on the boat and walked into the cabin. "I"m alright, let"s go back."
Chapter 216 - The First Name
Lu Mingshu went into the Heavenly Wheel and called the tool-refining master. She gave her all the materials that Brother Six found for her along with the Yellow Mystic Stones.
"There are three more materials, but I can"t find them right now."
"It"s fine, I"ll only need them later. I"ll make the foundation first, just pa.s.s them to me when you get them."
"Okay."
As she was about to exit the Heavenly Wheel, she saw something different.
"Xiao Sang."
"Yes?"
"Why did my points increase by ten?"
After the Qilin Festival ended, her points hadn"t changed, but today, they suddenly increased by ten.
"You can try to recall what you"ve experienced."
"Experienced? Getting some Yellow Mystic Stones?" Doesn"t seem like it. The Heavenly Wheel never cared about what treasures I got before. "Perhaps defeating those four?"
Lu Mingshu suddenly realized something. During the Heavenly Door compet.i.tion and the Qilin Festival, she always thought that the points came from becoming more well-known, but maybe the main reason was something else. From both of those experiences, she had a huge improvement in her ability. So it"s that?
After fighting the four Ye Family disciples, she gained quite a bit. For example, she learned about Mystic Water Sword Manifestation and the pros and cons of it.
Furthermore, the Heavenly Wheel"s actual use seemed to only activate after she entered the Harmonization Realm. Except for the cultivation limitation, is there also a problem with not having enough points?
If that was the case, there was no need for her to neglect the root and pursue the tip. She could just use the simplest method - non-stop challenges. She was a martial artist anyway, so that was the best way for her to improve.
Whatever, I"m just here to travel. I"ll deal with that afterward.
After going back to Green Hills Bank, Captain Ding came to find her.
"Miss Lu, since you and the Ye Family have a feud now, let"s not travel to White Heron State now?"
The first meeting on the water that embarra.s.sed the one Ye Family disciple wasn"t a big deal. However, she had offended the Ye Family quite badly now, and the Ye Family Elders would surely interfere with this matter. If she still traveled to White Heron State now, she would just be searching for trouble.
Lu Mingshu didn"t reject. "Where does Sir think we should travel to next?"
Captain Ding stroked his beard. "This old man thinks that Remainder Island is a good choice."
Green Hills Bank was situated near Zhongzhou. Going east would lead one to White Heron State, and going west would lead to Black Crane State. Remainder Island was situated somewhat in the middle of them both. White Heron State was long, and Remainder Island was connected to the western end of White Heron State. Thus, it was called Remainder Island because it looked like an extra bit.
Remainder Island was technically part of the Ye Family"s territory too, but the Ye Family was situated in the eastern side of the state, so there wouldn"t be many Ye Family members lurking around there. As long as they didn"t offend the guards there, they would not meet up with much trouble.
"Sir is indeed thoughtful. Let"s do it."
Captain Ding went over gladly and called Ah Lang and Ah Ling to get ready to leave.
Lu Mingshu braved the winds and the waves, but on the other hand, the Ye Family was in a mess.
"Eleventh Young Master, please." The guard, who looked like a guard of h.e.l.l, held out his hand emotionlessly.
Ye s.h.i.+yi gulped. He calmed himself down and went in.
As the Eleventh Young Master in the Ye Family, he obviously wasn"t afraid of the guard, but the guard"s master.
He went past the screen, and he saw a wide stone table in front of him.
A lamp was placed in the center of the stone table, and it was currently lit up, brightening the whole room. Gems were placed on top of the table, emitting a dazzling radiance. The brilliant colors attracted everyone"s attention.
A man in blue stood beside the stone table, lightly wiping it.
He was not old - only in his twenties - but his posture and serious expression gave a different feeling to the same clothes that Ye s.h.i.+yi was wearing; confident, proud, and hard to grasp.
"Third Brother…." Ye s.h.i.+yi called out softly.
The man looked up. He had a well-defined face, with a sharp nose and chin. His almond-shaped eyes looked cold, making him rather handsome.
He glanced over at Ye s.h.i.+yi before looking back down. He never stopped wiping the gemstones the whole time.
"Spill it, what happened?"
Ye s.h.i.+yi felt like crying.
After causing both of his elder brothers to nearly die, why would he and Eighth Sister hide it? The sped home, causing a total mess.
Not mentioning himself or Eighth Sister, Ninth Brother and Tenth Brother were disciples that the Ye Family put a lot of effort into cultivating. They suddenly came back home with serious injuries, so how could this not be an important matter?
When Ninth Brother and Tenth Brother were brought in to check their injuries, he was on tenterhooks.
It was such a serious matter, so he would definitely be questioned. He didn"t know who, but among the various uncles, there were a few who were more lenient.
However, he never would have guessed that it would be his Third Brother.
His Third Brother belonged to the same generation. He wasn"t much older, but he was the best in their generation. He had an excellent body const.i.tution, and he was very intelligent. He played a leading role in their generation, and he was already learning how to take charge of the household since a young age. He was even better than many of the uncles.
However, no matter how good he was, to his younger siblings, this Third Brother was… too difficult to cope with.
He had an odd temper; he was erratic and unpredictable. He was also hard to read. Ye s.h.i.+yi couldn"t imagine what would happen if he talked about what happened.
However, he had no choice but to tell the whole story with a sullen face.
When he got to the point where they planned the trap to have the other party go the eye of the Ming River, his Third Brother stopped wiping his gemstone.
When he finished talking, he realized that his Third Brother had stopped wiping and was just staring at him quietly.
Ye s.h.i.+yi trembled. His Third Brother had a hobby, which was collecting different types of gemstones. When he was bored, he would stay in his room and take care of them carefully. To him, nothing was more important than his gemstones.
However, he stopped polis.h.i.+ng them now.
It"s a big deal. Ye s.h.i.+yi looked down.
"You guys set a trap and tricked her to the eye of the Ming River?"
"Yes…."
"You all joined forces and still lost?"
"Yes…."
"The Mystic Water Sword Formation was broken by her?"
"Yes…." After answering the third question, Ye s.h.i.+yi shut his eyes tight in despair. Will Third Brother skin me?
The Ye Family never cared about how arrogant and despotic their disciples were. They were such a huge aristocratic family; if their kids couldn"t be arrogant, what did their ancestors work so hard for? However, it was a taboo to be embarra.s.sed by others. In the Ye Family, being born here made you superior already, so if you lose, what"s the point in living?
Especially his Third Brother. "Winner take all" was his motto. Ability spoke the loudest, and if one was not capable, heh….
However, the scary punishment in Ye s.h.i.+yi"s imagination didn"t come true. He looked up to see his Third Brother sneering, making chills run down his spine.
"Say it, what"s her name?"
"Lu Mingshu, a Nine Jade Palace disciple," Ye s.h.i.+yi stammered.
In an instant, he saw his Third Brother reach out and throw a scroll at his face.
Ye s.h.i.+yi caught the scroll. It was t.i.tled, "The New Generation Ranking."
"The first name - read it out!"
Ye s.h.i.+yi opened the scroll, his eyes widening upon seeing the name.
Chapter 217 - Even I Don"t Dare
Ye s.h.i.+yi"s hand trembled as he stammered. "The fifty-first Qilin Festival, New Generation Ranking, first place; Nine Jade Palace, Lu Mingshu…."
He almost burst into tears. That Lu Mingshu? How could it be?
"Continue!"
Ye s.h.i.+yi gritted his teeth. "Second place; Heavenly Sea Pavilion, Kou Wei. Third place; Seventh Truth Platform, Wei Chunqiu…."
"Enough." Ye San put his wiping cloth on the table and looked down at him. "Do you know now?"
Ye s.h.i.+yi nodded furiously. "Yes, yes, now I know…."
He was about to fall apart. That young girl is ranked first in the Qilin Festival? What joke is this? How old is she? Wei Chunqiu from the Seventh Truth Platform and Kou Wei from the Heavenly Sea Pavilion are below her? These two names were the two people who were just famous as Ling Wuxia, and their ability was equal to her.
Who was Ling Wuxia? In Beiming, she had a well-known reputation.
She was the best disciple in the Ancient Jade Summit, and she was famous in Beiming. Even someone as outstanding as his Third Brother would have to bow down in front of her.
Ye s.h.i.+yi couldn"t believe his eyes. "Third Brother, is she just using the name? Her age is around the same as us, and she looks like she only just entered the Harmonization Realm. How could she be better than Wei Chunqiu and Kou Wei?"
"Names can be faked, but ability?" Ye San stared at him coldly. "How bad can the Mystic Water Sword Formation be?"
Ye s.h.i.+yi kept quiet. With one person, the power may be normal, but with four of them together, even their Third Brother wouldn"t just sit there and do nothing. That"s why they didn"t expect Lu Mingshu to counter-attack.
"Besides, the Lu Mingshu ranked first is also sixteen, similar to the one you described."
Ye San furrowed his eyebrows. According to a reliable source, Lu Mingshu only just left Zhongzhou. Who would have guessed that her first fight in Beiming would be against his siblings?
"The Qilin Festival ended not long ago, and the news only just reached Beiming. It"s said that Lu Mingshu can"t defeat Kou Wei or Wei Chunqiu. She does not have the ability, and the first rank only comes from her luck. However, even if it"s because of luck, she still managed to get first place even though she fought both Wei Chunqiu and Kou Wei. Do you know what that represents?"
Ye s.h.i.+yi stared at his Third Brother.
"This shows that, even if she isn"t as good as Ling Wuxia, she can still go a few rounds with her." Ye San sneered. "Do you even know where you stand? Even I dare not plot against her."
"We didn"t know…." Ye s.h.i.+yi whispered.
"If you all knew and still dared to provoke her, I would give you a standing ovation," Ye San said sarcastically.
Ye s.h.i.+yi looked down.
"Third Brother. We, we did wrong…."
"What did you do wrong?"
"We shouldn"t have gone and provoked her…."
"Bulls.h.i.t!" Ye San sneered. "Someone has come to slap us in our face, yet you take it lying down? Is your surname even Ye?"
"Third Brother…" Ye s.h.i.+yi stared at him with wide eyes.
Ye San took the cloth again and continued what he was doing. "Nevermind. This is a chance for me to visit her and see how much value first place on the New Generation Ranking holds!"
Ye s.h.i.+yi blinked.
"I"m done, you may leave now."
Ye s.h.i.+yi stared at him, jaw dropping. It"s all over now?
Ye San looked askance at him. "You don"t want to leave? Do you perhaps think that I owe you a beating?"
Ye s.h.i.+yi came to realize what happened and left in a hurry. "No, I will leave right away."
Ye s.h.i.+yi left, leaving Ye San alone behind looking at the gemstones in his hand. "Such a coincidence that you came to Beiming now. Lu Mingshu, will you turn into a variable?"
From Zhongzhou to Green Hills Bank only took about five or six days, but from Green Hills Bank to Remainder Island took at least half a month.
It was a smooth journey. Lu Mingshu used this half a month to refine her mystic force and nourish her spiritual tool and Mystic Dewdrops.
Finally, they reached Remainder Island, and they went down the boat to have a look around.
Ah Ling was very excited. "Miss, since Remainder Island is located at the border of White Heron States and Black Crane State, there"s a big market here. If you go through the door there, they exclusively sell rare treasures, and there"s a lot of fun things!"
"All you think about is playing!" Ah Lang chided and turned to Lu Mingshu. "Ah Ling is right, this is the biggest market in the southeast, so they have a lot of Beiming"s specialties. Miss shouldn"t miss it when you come here to travel!
Captain Ding smiled. "Miss can shop at the Treasure a.s.sembly too. It"s organized by the Ye Family, and they have the best things in Beiming." He then sighed. "In the past few years, the aristocratic families have gained even more control over resources. Low-quality items can still be seen in markets, but for high-quality ones, you can only get them in their shop, and even Pure White Grace Pavilion"s standard has dropped.
Lu Mingshu sighed. Normally, Zhongzhou was like this too. However, after the queen defeated the aristocratic families, the market became lively. But there"s no royal family in Beiming, so who would do such things?
High-rise buildings stood in great numbers, and the floor was made of blue-colored bricks. The market in Remainder Island was gorgeous; pictures carved on the fences, and nicely-painted buildings with pearls and jade as decorations, making the market glorious.
"Pure white pearl - best quality pure white pearl! Drinking it every day can help get rid of the poisonous gas in your body!"
"Mermaids, selling mermaids! When they grow, you can ride them in the water!"
"Looking for apprentices to learn casting. I"ll fix your weapon for free too…."
The shouting on the streets made the atmosphere heated.
Lu Mingshu stopped in front of the booth that was selling mermaids. The fry was even smaller than her palm, and she couldn"t even see if they had a human face.
The booth owner greeted her enthusiastically. "Miss, do you want a mermaid? You can ride it when it grows! It"s fast and pretty, which suits Miss a lot!"
After he said that, a pa.s.serby roasted him. "What the h.e.l.l? Mermaids? We don"t even know if mermaids really exist in this world, and yet you"re selling some? Plus, they"re so small. How long would it take for one to grow until I"m able to ride it?"
"Get lost, get lost!" The booth owner yelled, afraid that it would affect his business. "So what if I like to call them mermaids? And whose mount doesn"t need to be raised from a young age? Or do you give birth to your mounts?!"
"You should be the one giving birth!"
Seeing that the booth owner and the pa.s.serby were going to have a heated argument, Lu Mingshu chipped in. "How much for a fry?"
Seeing some business, the owner smiled happily and ignored the pa.s.serby. "Not expensive, just one gold."
Gold, the standard that the Zhongzhou royal family came up with. Normal resources related to cultivating could be gotten with normal silver taels and gold, while the better ones required golden extract. One gold was equivalent to two hundred silver taels. To normal people, it was very costly, but to a martial artist, it was the amount of a low-quality medicine.
Lu Mingshu nodded. "Give me one."
"Sure!" The owner quickly got her a fry and threw it into the bamboo tube that he prepared. "Here."
Lu Mingshu took it, but she didn"t keep it. She placed the bamboo tube next to the portable stable.
The next minute, the owner saw a tongue come out from the portable stable, and in no time, it took the "mermaid" with it.
"This…"
The pa.s.serby laughed out loud. "Hahaha, like I said, who would buy a "mermaid"? It was just for feeding a pet!"
After feeding Little Daze, Lu Mingshu returned the bamboo tube and went off.
"What"s there to see here? Hurry, let"s go to the Treasure a.s.sembly."
Two people pa.s.sed by and went into a high-rise building.
Lu Mingshu went over and asked. "Where is the Treasure a.s.sembly held?"
The pa.s.serby smiled. "Here. Does Miss have a name card?"
Lu Mingshu shook her head.
"Then you"ll have to pay a deposit to enter."
"How much?"
"A hundred gold."