Chapter 248: Rivals
“Normally in a competition, casualties and injuries are nothing, a very common matter. But these people don’t cultivate any cultivation techniques. Each and every one of them uses poison and Yin magic arts of the Devilish Dao. All the disciples who went against them were defeated. They either indescribably fainted or were poisoned by mysterious means. All of their injuries were extremely cruel and are unable to be easily treated. But fortunately, these because these people felt a bit of fear being inside Yan Ling Castle, there were no serious injuries or deaths. This really is the only silver lining! Sigh, if you two currently saw the Yan Clan on stage, it would truly be too shameful!” Yan Yu said with an embarrassed expression.
“When we went left, we heard that the elders were no longer able to hold their ground and had already called Elder Brother’s subordinates, the Martial Arms Hall disciples. They are the elite disciples of the Yan Clan, cultivating secret magics. They will certainly teach these fellows a lesson.” Yan Ling could not help but say this, waving a clenched fist.
“Making trouble, what does a little girl know about fighting and killing? Right now, these guest have already had us come to receive them and bring them back. Hurry, have Uncle Li send more disciples to welcome the guests, else would you have the other guests wait longer?” Yan Yu stiffened his face and rebuked his little sister. Then he sent the unhappy young girl on her way.
At that moment, Yan Yu turned towards Han Li and Dong Xuan’er and explained, “Because there had recently been many guests, there have been many shadier characters mixed in among them. As a result, a portion of the protection formation guarding the Yan Clan Castle has been activated. Currently within the castle, there has been many particular areas in the castle that no longer allow the use of sound transmission talismans and other long-distance magic techniques. Thus, I could only send my younger sister off! My younger sister and I weren’t originally supposed to welcome guests, but the castle is currently short of hands and there have been many people harboring malicious intentions dropping on our door, forcing us to temporarily lend a hand.” After Yan Yu said this, his face sunk as he gazed into the distance, watching the magic battle between the Yan Clan disciple and the eccentric.“That being said, Senior Martial Brother Yu is an elite disciple of the Yan Clan. Surely you are of a high position in the Yan Clan!” Dong Xuan’er eyes gleamed as she said this with a sweet smile. Since she was already beautiful, this suddenly strong grace caused Yan Yu to despondently sink into her gaze for a moment.
“This... It’s nothing!” Yan Yu restlessly muttered to himself. He didn’t know what to say. He only felt that this young lady Dong was far too beautiful, as if she were the perfect sweetheart of his dreams!
She giggled! “This...”
“Senior Brother Yan, I don’t know if it is convenient, but could we go look a look at the competition over there? This one wants to see who dared to cause trouble at the sacred Yan Clan!”
Dong Xuan’er felt that Yan Yu’s expression was rather amusing and laughed crisply several times. She wanted to tease him some more, but she did not think that Han Li would suddenly speak and interrupt what she was going to say next!
“Ah... you want to watch? Of course you can! This match is against my own Senior Cousin of the Martial Arms Hall. His Dao spells are refined to the point where he is among the top ten. Surely he can give his opponent a hard time!” Han Li had roused Yan Yu. At first, he stared blankly, but he soon delightedly replied.
When Han Li heard this, he inwardly smiled. On one hand, Han Li knew that he had no reason to deny Yan Yu. On the other, he felt that this time, the chances for victory against Dong Xuan’er were great, allowing him to feel refreshed.As such, they flew toward the competition stage nearby and walked toward the crowd.
After Han Li walked closer, he became startled upon discovering that there were no less than a hundred cultivators watching. Furthermore, from their appearances, a majority of them weren’t from the State of Yue but rather travelers from other countries. It was truly strange!
Han Li was greatly puzzled, but as a guest, it wouldn’t be proper for him to ask about too many things! He could only hold his curiosity in his belly and feign ignorance.
As for Dong Xuan’er at the side, she was smiling and happily chatting with Yan Yu. However, she gave a slight look at Han Li with surprise in her eyes. It seemed she wasn’t just a pillow embroidered pretty face after all!
It was unknown what this wicked and unruly girl planned to do, but she was the same as Han Li; although they felt that something was fishy, they didn’t want to ask. This caused Han Li to be a bit gloomy.
“Xuan’er, you also came! This is great. I thought Martial Senior Hong Fu hadn’t released you!” Of three people who walked by, one was a male cultivator with an elegant face who happened to turn his head and saw Dong Xuan’er. This person immediately wore an extremely happy expression and quickly walked over, calling her with great affection.
When this person ran over, Dong Xuan’er stared with a smile, but Yan Yu grew somewhat annoyed. His gaze started to continuously flicker.
As an outsider, Han Li’s expression hadn’t changed in the slightest! He clearly understood that this person was most likely one of Dong Xuan’er’s previous toys! Could this be the ‘Feng Clan youngster’ that his master’s wife had previously mentioned?
“Senior Martial Brother Feng! I truly did not think that Martial Senior Du would send Senior Martial Brother to this assembly!” An exceptional expression flashed on Dong Xuan’er’s face, and after she rolled her eyes, she calmly greeted him as if this person was an ordinary friend.
This caused Yan Yu’s expression to improve by much, but this Senior Martial Brother Feng was startled and immediately paid attention to Yan Yu and Han Li who were at Dong Xuan’er’s side.
Fortunately, Han Li saw this person’s gaze. He then faintly smiled and took a half step back from Dong Xuan’er, revealing his innocence. But when he saw Yan Yu giving an unrestrained gaze in return, Senior Martial Brother Feng clearly knew who his enemy was. His expression immediately darkened as he sized up Yan Yu several times.
Although Han Li found this scene somewhat funny, he was somewhat baffled! Rumors had it that Dong Xuan’er and this Senior Martial Brother Feng had long wished to pair cultivate! But now, this wicked and unruly girl no longer treated this Senior Martial Brother Feng favorably! Could it be that the rumor was wrong?
As Han Li thought of this, Han Li shook his head, disinclined to further this matter. He didn’t want to waste energy by pondering about such gossip.
As a result, he walked a few steps away, leaving the three behind.
Han Li didn’t care if this Senior Martial Brother Feng and Yan Yu were rivals in love, and he cared even less about whether everything went Dong Xuan’er’s way. At this moment, he was completely focused on the battle inside the light barrier.
Yan Yu truly did not boast!
This elder cousin of his was truly a sight to behold. The earth attribute Dao technique he used had reached perfection. He had rushed forth, summoning stones the size of several meters from his palm to smash the opposition. The barrage seemed endless. A yellow triangular banner was erected in front of him, summoning a yellow wind. The wind tightly wrapped around him as protection.
However, this green-robed opponent wasn’t going to take it lying down! He madly hissed and fluttered like a viper, weaving a black net in front of him that wind and rain couldn’t penetrate. The rocks were all bounced back by the net. A few happened to directly bounce back, keeping the hands and feet of that Yan Clan elite busy. As for magic tools, the green-robed opponent had six to seven shining white magic skulls floating all around him. It was unknown what purpose they served.
As such, one person wildly attacked and one steadily guarded; for the time being, a deadlock had occurred!
But it was very clear that these two were probing each other out and hadn’t made any real moves. As a result, although the scene was very lively with stones flying throughout the sky and surging black Qi, they were both calm and composed, neither hurried nor impatient; the slightest appearance of strain was not shown.
As Han Li watched, he was entranced. But then he heard Dong Xuan’er say, “Senior Martial Brother Han, what do you say?” This slightly distracted him. Without even turning his head, he reflexively replied, “Yeah”.
But when he said “Yeah”, Han Li immediately felt this was a mistake and hastily turned his head.
He only saw those two, who should’ve been hostile rivals in love, suddenly show an undesirable expression towards him as if they were teaming up in opposition of a common enemy.
It was obvious he had been framed by that wicked and unruly girl!
“You’ve heard it! Senior Martial Brother Han also admits it. I must keep close to him on this journey. This was an order that came from my own Master!” Dong Xuan’er lamented with a cute, pitiful appearance. She took advantage of the thoughtlessness from the two’s infatuation and immediately had Han Li become the scapegoat, leaving him dumbfounded.
During his time of carelessness, this Dong Xuan’er took advantage of this vulnerability and passed on two great annoyances onto him. It was obviously her revenge towards him because he had long used Hong Fu’s name on the journey to greatly suppress her. Surely if those two taught him a lesson, her mood would greatly improve.
Han Li looked at the two as they gazed onto him like prey and sighed. Just as he thought to say something, the two’s expressions suddenly changed, and their gaze shifted onto the stage behind Han Li. Yan Yu’s expression became especially strained.
Seeing this scene, Han Li naturally realized that something had happened and hurriedly turned his head.
He saw the deadlock in the light barrier break!
The person from the Yan Clan had already stopped summoning the huge stones and was grasping a yellow-green paper fan with both hands. He strenuously waved his fan toward his opponent. This paper fan clearly should’ve been light but every time he waved the fan, he seemed to consume a great amount of physical strength, causing his face to lace with sweat!
