Chapter 94
Lou Yuqing and Si Nidie tailed Qi Qingxiong's group from afar. After flying for roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn, they finally descended into a secluded valley hidden among the mountains.
Qi Qingxiong swept his gaze across the surroundings and nodded with satisfaction.
"This place will do. The Baishi Sect won't find us easily here. Qingji, what do you think?"
As he spoke, he turned toward the leading disciple of Star Pavilion.
The young man had handsome features, a warm smile, and carried the faint fragrance of medicinal herbs wherever he went.
At first glance, he naturally inspired goodwill.
Of course, that wasn't why Lou Yuqing was staring at him.
The more she looked, the more she felt he resembled Qi Qingxiong. Combined with the fact that both of them had "Qing" in their names.
Could they be related?
Qi Qingji laughed. "Brother Qingxiong, you've definitely chosen well. Back home, Father always told me to learn from you."
The smile on his face made him look somewhat na?ve, like the sort of person who could be tricked into handing over his money after a few compliments.
Unfortunately, Qi Qingxiong knew exactly what kind of person his cousin was.
"Uncle overpraises me." His tone remained calm. "But in this Seven Sects Alliance Competition, I won't show mercy. Once the Snow Lotus is found, I won't hesitate to eliminate you."
The words were understated.
The arrogance behind them was not.
Qi Qingji immediately looked unconvinced. "Brother Qingxiong's swordsmanship is indeed amazing, but I'm not someone who can be underestimated either. Who wins in the end is still uncertain."
Their gazes met.
For a moment, sparks practically crackled through the air.
Lou Yuqing rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
So they really were cousins.
No wonder disciples from two different sects had been able to unite into such a large force.
If their alliance wasn't broken, they would undoubtedly become a major threat.
Meanwhile, outside the small world, the disciples of Star Pavilion were no longer able to sit still.
After hearing the Cloud Soaring Sect disciples bragging that Qi Qingxiong would undoubtedly seize first place by commanding the strength of two sects, they immediately fired back.
"Qi Qingxiong couldn't have done that alone! It's because our Senior Brother Qi Qingji is his cousin and willingly gave up leadership out of brotherly affection. Otherwise, how could Qi Qingxiong have gathered so much power?"
A Cloud Soaring Sect disciple instantly retorted.
"Our Senior Brother Qi became famous long ago through his swordsmanship!
He's unmatched among his peers! Back when Senior Brother Qi was making a name for himself, Qi Qingji was still nowhere to be seen.
Now you're shamelessly using family ties to steal credit! "
The argument escalated immediately.
Before long, disciples from both sects were practically at each other's throats.
Sect Master Qingxuzi withdrew his attention from Song Li's light screen and smiled at Sword Venerable Chengfeng of Cloud Soaring Sect and Fengyun Zhenren of Star Pavilion.
"Your disciples are certainly full of energy."
"...Mm." Sword Venerable Chengfeng responded absentmindedly.
Recently, he had been trying very hard to speak less.
Preferably not at all.
The less he spoke, the lower the chance of saying something embarrassing.
Fengyun Zhenren frowned.
A burst of Nascent Soul pressure swept downward.
"Silence!"
His voice boomed like thunder.
"This is the Seven Sects Trial Grounds. How dare you behave so presumptuously!"
Wherever the pressure passed, the Star Pavilion disciples were immediately forced to the ground. Their heated emotions cooled instantly.
"We respectfully obey Elder's teachings."
They hurriedly bowed.
The Cloud Soaring Sect disciples escaped the direct pressure, but seeing a Nascent Soul cultivator personally intervene, they quickly shut their mouths as well.
That said, neither side truly surrendered.
The verbal battle merely transformed into a silent war of glaring.
If looks could kill, the air between the two groups would already be littered with corpses.
Sect Master Qingxu nodded with satisfaction.
Good.
Minor arguments were fine. Actually fighting would become troublesome.
Back inside the small world, the tension between the Qi cousins gradually dissipated.
For now, they were still allies.
Qi Qingji smiled brightly. "Brother Qingxiong, I trust your judgment. Whatever you decide to do next, I'll support it."
His willingness to hand over leadership was naturally the result of careful calculation.
Qi Qingxiong nodded and began explaining his plan.
Lou Yuqing listened attentively.
Then she felt someone tug lightly at her sleeve.
Turning her head, she heard Si Nidie's voice transmission.
"Junior Sister, I've been observing them. There are seven people in total. Three disciples from Cloud Soaring Sect, three from Star Pavilion... and the last one is actually from Suyin Sect."
Lou Yuqing looked more carefully.
Sure enough, aside from the lone Suyin Sect disciple, who was a woman, every disciple from the other two sects was male.
The imbalance was obvious.
"I suspect she has a special relationship with them," Si Nidie continued. "Otherwise, with such a difference in numbers, she would've been eliminated long ago."
Lou Yuqing nodded. "That makes sense."
The more they listened to the conversation, the more convinced they became.
Not long ago, the Baishi Sect Master had ordered the mines sealed and searched.
A large number of trial disciples who hadn't completed the first stage mission were discovered and eliminated.
At the time, Qi Qingxiong hadn't yet arrived at the mine.
The disciples of Cloud Soaring Sect and Star Pavilion had intended to cooperate, but because Cloud Soaring Sect had one fewer member, they feared being eliminated after the alliance was formed and couldn't reach an agreement.
Then this female disciple from Suyin Sect joined Cloud Soaring Sect.
The numerical disadvantage disappeared.
Together, they fought against the Baishi Sect cultivators and managed to hold out until Qi Qingxiong arrived, ultimately turning the situation around.
Of course, after the crisis passed, the two sects could have discarded her.
But because she knew the Qi cousins personally, neither side was willing to do something so disgraceful.
After Qi Qingxiong finished outlining his plan, the female disciple was the first to respond.
It was Kong Qianyun of the Suyin Sect.
Smiling softly, she said, "Brother Qi's plan is excellent. The cultivators sent by the Baiyan Sect Master have already been killed by me, so he must be furious by now. If we destroy this mine as well, he'll definitely come personally to capture us and walk straight into our trap."
Throughout her explanation, her gaze never once left Qi Qingxiong.
Qi Qingxiong instinctively avoided meeting her eyes. Instead, he turned to the others.
"What do the rest of you think?"
"Since Qianyun says it's good, then it must be good!"
Qi Qingji's eyes lit up the moment he looked at Kong Qianyun. His confidence practically overflowed.
"With us brothers here, nobody else stands a chance in this trial."
A trace of disappointment flashed through Kong Qianyun's eyes when she saw Qi Qingxiong avoiding her.
Even hearing Qi Qingji agree so enthusiastically couldn't lift her spirits. She merely responded with a distracted hum.
Yet Qi Qingji wasn't discouraged at all. On the contrary, he became even happier.
Qianyun talked to him. Every sentence he said got a response.
Surely this was the beginning of love.
If one day Qianyun called him "Brother Qi," he would willingly accept elimination on the spot.
Thinking of this, he shot his cousin a resentful glance.
If his cousin hadn't met Qianyun first, then that "Brother Qi" would've belonged to him.
Qi Qingxiong's lips twitched.
Several times, he looked as though he wanted to say something.
Each time, he swallowed the words back down.
Qi Qingji still hadn't realized Kong Qianyun liked him. If he revealed it now, things would only become awkward.
He had been waiting for his cousin to figure it out on his own. After all, Kong Qianyun wasn't exactly subtle.
Yet somehow, Qi Qingji remained completely oblivious.
People always said sword cultivators were hopeless when it came to romance and had the hardest time finding Dao companions.
At this moment, Qi Qingxiong felt that description fit Qi Qingji perfectly.
Oh?
Lou Yuqing's eyes brightened.
The moment she caught a whiff of gossip, her interest in ruining the enemy's plans dropped straight to the bottom of the priority list.
After all, plans could be ruined at any time. But live drama was a limited-time event.
Without hesitation, she opened the gossip panel and bought all three pieces of gossip.
Qi Qingxiong helplessly pushed thoughts of his cousin and Kong Qianyun aside.
He asked once more, "Any objections?"
The disciples of Cloud Soaring Sect and Star Pavilion all shook their heads.
Qi Qingxiong nodded.
"Then next—"
[What a tragic love triangle.]
A woman's voice suddenly rang out in everyone's mind.
[One loves another who doesn't love them back, while that person loves someone else. One is thick-skinned, one is blind, and one refuses to speak. An endless cycle of suffering.]
Qi Qingxiong's voice abruptly cut off.
The words he had been about to say lodged in his throat as shock flashed across his face.
He instinctively looked around and immediately realized he wasn't the only one who had heard it.
Every person present wore the same stunned expression.
A chill crept into his heart.
What exactly was happening?
Worse still, when Qi Qingxiong tried to speak, he discovered he couldn't force out a single word.
His thoughts immediately raced.
"Thick-skinned" was obviously referring to Qingji.
But who was the "mute" one?
Him?
And if that was the case, did "blind" refer to Kong Qianyun?
The questions piled up one after another, leaving him even more unsettled.
Beside him, Kong Qianyun frowned slightly.
For some reason, she had a strong feeling one of those descriptions was aimed at her.
Unfortunately, none of them sounded particularly complimentary.
Meanwhile, Qi Qingji's expression turned wary. He immediately released his divine sense and swept it across the valley in search of the source.
When it passed over Lou Yuqing and Si Nidie's hiding place, it detected nothing unusual and quickly moved on.
Si Nidie immediately lifted her chin proudly.
Didn't see that coming, did you?
Their concealment artifact could block divine sense.
Thinking about her junior sister's gossip, she instantly understood who the "thick-skinned" person was referring to.
Without question, it was Qi Qingji.
Even she could tell Kong Qianyun liked Qi Qingxiong. Yet Qi Qingji was still foolishly treating them like ordinary siblings.
"Brother Qingxiong, do you think we've encountered some evil spirit?"
Qi Qingji immediately produced a thick stack of talismans.
"I've got exorcism talismans. Everyone take some. Qianyun, you should take extra."
Si Nidie: "..."
Now she understood.
No wonder the evaluation had called him hopeless. Even now, he still hadn't realized the "thick-skinned" fool was him.
Qi Qingxiong was equally speechless.
His cousin was reliable in every serious matter.
Unfortunately, when it came to romance...
The situation was clearly not what Qi Qingji thought it was.
Before he could tell him to put the talismans away, the mysterious female voice rang out once more.
[An evil spirit? What kind of nonsense are you talking about...? Forget it. Let's get back to the gossip.]
[Being thick-skinned is one thing. Being unable to speak is another. But being blind? That's the real problem.]
[And yes, Miss Kong Qianyun, I'm talking about you.]
[Do you even realize you've mistaken the wrong person?]
[The sword cultivator who saved you is indeed from the Cloud Soaring Sect, but he isn't Qi Qingxiong.]
[Just because your savior happened to be a sword cultivator doesn't mean every sword cultivator from the Cloud Soaring Sect is your savior.]
Kong Qianyun's brows drew together.
How could she possibly have mistaken her savior?
The memory was etched deeply into her mind.
Just before she lost consciousness, a figure had descended from the sky wielding the Qingfeng Sword and severed the demon beast's head with a single strike.
And the Qingfeng Sword belonged to Qi Qingxiong.
The more she thought about it, the firmer her conviction became.
That mysterious voice had to be wrong.
There was no way she could have mistaken Brother Qi for someone else.
More importantly, after years of knowing him, her feelings for Qi Qingxiong were no longer rooted solely in that life-saving grace.
She had come to see him as upright, capable, and dependable—a man she could trust without reservation and someone she had once imagined entrusting her future to.
Even though Qi Qingxiong had deliberately kept his distance because of Qi Qingji, she believed that persistence would eventually move him.
She had even convinced herself that if she persisted long enough, Qi Qingxiong would eventually be moved by her sincerity.
Then a puzzled voice suddenly broke through her thoughts.
"...I saved you?"
The confidence in her heart abruptly wavered.