“Ha.” Gu Lingzhi laughed lightly.
It has been a long while since she completely looked down upon and was treated like this.
Nie Sang"s eyes hardened as his face turned dark. In a swift movement, he was about to teach this shopkeeper, who only knew how to look down on others, a lesson. Gu Lingzhi was, however, one step ahead. She retrieved the curved blade from her Storage Ring and a tinkling sound could be heard as she unsheathed the sword. The air seemed to split open as she pounced towards the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper"s pupils shrank and his call for help had yet to leave his throat when the curved blade was already against his neck. The sharp edge had yet to reach his throat when the aura of the sharp edge had already cut his skin, causing red beads to appear.
“You, you…” The shopkeeper was dazed from fear and could not even complete his sentence. His entire mind was filled with the sword edge that was pressed against his neck. He was afraid that if Gu Lingzhi"s hands were to tremble, his life would end there and then.
“Let the shopkeeper go!” The guards from the Tianbao Store rushed up, pointing their weapons at Gu Lingzhi threateningly.
The shopkeeper finally found his courage and pulled his neck back slightly as he shouted at Gu Lingzhi, “Y-you dare to make a move in the Tianbao Store!”
Gu Lingzhi lifted her lips and laughed, “I am afraid that you have some misunderstandings towards me. I am not making a move. I am merely demonstrating the weapon that will be given to your vice-manager. How is it? Shopkeeper, do you think that my blade is good enough for your vice-manager?”
As she said this, Gu Lingzhi purposely moved her blade forwards a bit more and another deep red line appeared on the shopkeeper"s neck once again. The blood formed beads as they rolled down his neck.
“Yes, yes, it"s good enough, it"s good enough!” The shopkeeper rushed to say. He was afraid that if Gu Lingzhi s.h.i.+fted any closer, his head was going to be separated from the rest of his body.
Gu Lingzhi raised her brows, “Since it is good enough, then can you get someone to bring us to meet your vice-manager?”
“There is no need to go to the trouble, I am here.” Li Yi was smiling as he walked down from the second level. His eyes were filled with annoyance when he looked at the shopkeeper.
“Li Cai, Elder Black is my esteemed guest, how can you be so slow?”
“V-vice-manager…” Li Cai was about to burst into tears as he looked at Li Yi as if he was staring at his savior.
“I didn"t know if she was telling the truth or not and she had nothing to prove her ident.i.ty. I was doing my duty, who knew that she would make a move…” Li Cai complained indignantly. His tone suggested that he wanted Li Yi to blame Gu Lingzhi.
A pity that Li Yi"s attention was now completely on the blade that was in Gu Lingzhi"s hand. The delight in his eyes was about to burst out.
“Elder Black, is this the blade that you made for me?”
“That"s right.” A hint of regret flashed through Gu Lingzhi"s eyes as she kept the sword back in its shaft and handed it over to Li Yi.
“Vice-manager, please have a look.”
Li Yi did not hesitate. The moment he took the sword, he started to inspect it. The more he looked at it the more he loved it.
What he saw when he was upstairs was right. This blade"s edge actually had an aura. Around the silver-white blade, there was a silver glow that measured about half a centimeter surrounding the blade. It was something that only appeared when a blade was at its maximum sharpness. Just based off this ring of blade aura, the quality of the blade in his hand was certainly of a high quality.
When he attempted to direct spiritual energy into the blade, the feedback from the blade made Li Yi even happier.
Not only was this sword able to satisfy both his gold and fire Spiritual Roots, it also came with the ability to activate three powerful arrays. As long as he directed enough spiritual energy into the blade, the blade would be able to give out three powerful attacks that were way beyond its own size. At the critical moment, this was a weapon that could save his life!
Suppressing his delight, Li Yi pretended to reprimand Li Cai. He tried his best to maintain his normal tone as he invited Gu Lingzhi and Nie Sang to head to the third floor with him. The third floor was normally not open to the public, but he wanted to attend to them properly. He then handed a Storage Ring over to Gu Lingzhi, “Elder Black is certainly a prodigy in Weapon Forging. I like this blade very much. Here is the reward that we agreed on as well as some other materials. According to our agreement, if I need weapons in the future, I will have to depend on you.”
“Vice-manager, you are too polite.” Gu Lingzhi kept the Storage Ring and said pointedly, “To work for the Tianbao Store is my honor. However, if I have to demonstrate the use of my weapon every time I want to meet you, it would be a little troublesome.”
Li Yi burst out laughing, “Elder Black, please do not worry. After today, Li Cai will not block you whenever he sees you in the future. If something like this happens again in the future, I will take responsibility for it.”
Did he think the matter would be over just by reprimanding him a bit more? Gu Lingzhi sneered internally. But Gu Lingzhi knew that Li Yi would not punish his own people because of someone else. Just by looking at Li Yi"s expression, she knew that he was extremely satisfied with this blade and her motive for coming this time had been achieved.
Taking the last sip of spiritual tea, Gu Lingzhi was about to bid farewell when footsteps could be heard from the cabinet behind Li Yi. Soon, a tall and lengthy figure appeared in front of Gu Lingzhi and Nie Sang, smiling towards them. The person held a fan in his hand, appearing distinguished and at ease.
Gu Lingzhi"s pupils contracted as her heart started pounding. She quickly lowered her head to prevent the new person from recognizing anything different about them. She quickly reached out and pulled on Nie Sang"s sleeve.
Nie Sang was slightly confused as he turned to look at Gu Lingzhi. When he looked at her, he saw that her eyes were slightly red as her teeth bit down on her lip, causing the veins in her lips to be extremely prominent. He knew something was wrong. This reaction only appeared after the new man appeared.
Although they were newcomers, they had stayed in the Realm of the G.o.ds for a few years and came across many people. Nie Sang was however, extremely certain that the guy that had just appeared was no one they had met before. If they had not met this person in the Realm of the G.o.ds before, yet he was able to trigger such a strong reaction from Gu Lingzhi meant that he could only be one person. The ident.i.ty of the person in front of them was about to be known!
Surprised at his own ability to figure out the truth, Nie Sang remained extremely composed. He pretended to glance over Pan Luo and smiled, “Since the vice-manager has a guest, then we won"t disturb you any longer. If you need anything from us in the future, just instruct us.”
He then pulled Gu Lingzhi to leave. Li Yi looked at Gu Lingzhi and found her reaction slightly weird but did not think that she would know who Pan Luo was. After all, not many people in the Realm of the G.o.ds knew how Pan Luo really looked like. He had only known how Pan Luo looked like with Pan Luo"s surprise visit.
Getting pulled by Nie Sang, Gu Lingzhi was about to walk down the stairs when she suddenly turned around and looked at Pan Luo. Her face was red as her eyes glistened slightly. Seeing Pan Luo"s gaze on them, she immediately retracted her gaze as if she was a rabbit that had been caught. The redness on her cheeks grew even more intense. In her hurry, she let go of Nie Sang"s hand and took a few steps forward quickly. Unfortunately, she tripped and almost fell down the stairs but was quickly held back by Nie Sang. Luckily, Nie Sang"s reaction was quick and saved her from the awkwardness of falling down the stairs. He then quickly brought Gu Lingzhi away.
It was only when they reached the bottom when Nie Sang asked her, “Lingzhi, what happened to you?”
“I-I…” Gu Lingzhi stammered and could not finish her sentence. Her eyes flitted from left to right, not daring to look Nie Sang in the eye, “That young man…was very good looking.”
“Tsk.” Because of Gu Lingzhi"s weird actions, Pan Luo had concentrated his mind to follow her. He laughed lightly as he heard this and brushed off his suspicions. After hearing Gu Lingzhi say he was good looking, he retracted the focus that he placed on her and did not bother monitoring her movements anymore.
Sensing the feeling of being watched disappear, Gu Lingzhi stopped pretending to be embarra.s.sed and quickly left the Tianbao Store with Nie Sang. She lost the mood to look for Weapon Forging materials in the city and headed back directly on her flying demon beast.
It was only after travelling quite a distance and the Juluan City was now merely a small black dot did Gu Lingzhi finally relax. She felt slightly weak as she leaned on the flying beast"s back.
“That man just now…is it him?”
Although Nie Sang did not say Pan Luo"s name, Gu Lingzhi understood what he meant and nodded her head tiredly, “It is him.”
Nie Sang bit his lips, “He really does put on airs, it is no wonder he is able to deceive so many people. If you did not recognize him, even I would have been mesmerized by his appearance and thought he was a harmless young man.”
“That"s right, people may look charming from the outside, but unless you tear open their hearts, who knows if they are good or bad?” Gu Lingzhi chuckled.
Their sudden sighting of Pan Luo was too much of a stimulus for her and she had almost lost control of her emotions and let her murderous side show. Luckily, it was not the first time that she felt Pan Luo and was able to exercise extreme restraints to prevent her murderous aura from showing.
Unfortunately, she could not control her body"s reaction to Pan Luo and could not prevent blood from rus.h.i.+ng to her face. She had no choice but to pretend to be dazzled by Pan Luo. Thankfully, there was not a lack of girls that fell for Pan Luo in the Realm of the G.o.ds and Gu Lingzhi"s performance would not be strange. Along with Nie Sang"s well-coordinated response, they managed to prevent Pan Luo from being suspicious.
But why would Pan Luo appear there? Didn"t he usually remain in the Deity King"s Palace and hardly appeared before others?
The answer was clear when they returned to the Gui Yuan Clan.
“Every thousand years, the Realm of the G.o.ds would hold a compet.i.tion to determine the positions of clans. It should be about time for the next Clan Tournament and it should be held within the next few years. I believe that was the reason why Pan Luo had left the Deity King"s Palace.” Zhuo Rong who had suddenly visited them said.
“Clan Tournament?” Gu Lingzhi raised her brows.
“Yes.” Zhuo Rong replied and took out an invitation card with a navy-blue seal and gold decorations from his Storage Ring and handed it to Gu Lingzhi.
“I have come this time because of this as well. The Clan Tournament is a huge event that happens once every thousand years. Any clan in the Realm of G.o.ds can register to attend. This is the invitation given to the Gui Yuan Clan by the Feixing Pavilion. The event will be held five years later, and it will be conducted at the current top-ranking clan, Tianyan Clan.”
Gu Lingzhi opened the invitation letter. It was like what Zhuo Rong had said, the contents were an invitation for the Gui Yuan Clan to attend the Clan Tournament. Any Martial Artist above the Martial Sage rank would be eligible to partic.i.p.ate.
Handing the invitation over to Tianfeng Jin, Gu Lingzhi heard Zhuo Rong continue, “The Clan Tournament will enable clans which are strong to rise in their rankings and become more famous. Not only that, the top ten clans would be granted a personal visit by the Deity King to help advise disciples on any problems they may encounter during training.”