It was Fang Xing pitted against four female Danxia Valley disciples in verbal warfare. Even after three more Danxia Valley disciples decided to join in, Fang Xing was still taking the lead and kept his words steady, precise, and ruthless, with every spoken word a direct attack on his target's vitals. Furthermore, not only was he able to gain the upper hand despite being outnumbered seven to one, but Fang Xing still appeared graceful and immaculate, like a seasoned general of war.
"Shameless brat…."
"Short pumpkin!"
"Your mouth is so foul with curses the second you open it!"
"Crater face!"
"Despicable, shameless, vulgar…."
"Little short-legs!"
The exchange of curses left all of the disciples in the spirit vessel dumbstruck. Even those who had grown angry at Fang Xing in the beginning had forgotten their anger and watched on in astonishment. Not only had they never seen a man who was able to swear in such an elaborate manner, but it was also a surprise to see the darker side of these female disciples who would normally act so gracefully and sincere towards others. The way these female disciples were now was completely different to what all of these people were accustomed to.
As for the disciples from Duanzhen Valley, all of them had their faces covered and wished they could jump off the spirit vessel immediately; this was too embarrassing!
"You…. Why do you always call me short legs? My legs aren't short at all…." Finally, one of the girls—who had also been called "bow legs", "unfit for marriage", and "permanent midget"—was so upset that she began to cry. She lifted her dress to prove to Fang Xing that her legs were not "short" and that the only reason the hem of her clothes touched the ground was because the dress was too long. The moment she lifted her dress, all of the male disciples widened their eyes, followed by a swallowing motion nearly in unison.
Yet Fang Xing was calm and composed. "So much leg hair, what a hairy monster!"
"Wahh…." It didn't take long before the disciple realized people had been drooling over her legs, and with Fang Xing's words added on about her leg hair, she let out a loud cry. The salivating onlookers, however, thought the boy was simply too young to understand and appreciate women. They felt that her leg hair was not long at all and was nothing more than a very fine layer of soft fur—a rather cute feature.
"Enough!" someone else finally opened their mouth and scolded Fang Xing, "How can you belittle our sisters from Danxia Valley?"
After this person's criticism, a few more wanted to join in. In fact, these people had wanted to jump in right from the beginning, it was just that they'd heard about how Fang Xing had slapped Shen Hujun flying with a single strike; they knew that they would be no match for Fang Xing and thus did not want to be the first person to stand against him. Even within a well-established sect, the weak would always be food for the strong, after all, and for someone to knowingly bring trouble to themself when there was a clear imbalance of strength was not a wise move.
At this point, however, not even they could hold it back any longer. For the sake of those from the Danxia Valley, it seemed that getting on the bad side of this little bastard was no longer a huge deal. Besides, Shijie Linyun was just outside; in the worst-case scenario, they would be able to ask for help.
With a "swoosh" sound, Fang Xing held up his blade and coldly smiled. "Are you dreaming of being a hero? Are you daring me to cut you in half?" Within moments, Fang Xing shifted from a calm warrior of words into a soldier of death and locked his gaze on those that criticized him. Silence suddenly filled the air as these disciples took a step back from Fang Xing's ferociousness, their faces pale. Even those chattering female disciples from Danxia Valley nearly choked on hearing these words.
When Fang Xing had been cursing, he was all grins and smiles, yet the murderous desire he just released had been honed and sharpened to excess—this was not a joke.
After sending the first wave of intimidation, Fang Xing turned his head to send another gaze at the group of Danxia Valley disciples, only to stop at Lin Qinxue before speaking with a calm voice, "You don't have to pretend there is nothing between us. I still remember our feud from four years ago, and I also know that when you finished your confinement three years ago, you put a bounty on my head within the sect. Heh, why aren't you being a bit more straightforward?"
Silence reigned as all eyes looked to Lin Qinxue.
It was this moment that many remembered the high-profile bounty issued three years ago. It had been rumored that there was a beautiful female disciple from Danxia Valley who had vowed that if someone was able to eliminate a newly-joined inner court disciple, not only would she devote her life and eternity to this person, but also craft pellets exclusively for them completely free of charge.
It seemed the boy wasn't looking for trouble for no reason after all.
"That was three years ago. I don't recall saying that I wanted to kill you now…" Lin Qinxue finally spoke. Her voice had a tinge of derision, a hint of coldness, and a single trace of… murderous intent.
"You think your grandpa Fang is the type to wait to be killed first?" Fang Xing snickered and brandished the saber in his hand. His left foot also slightly moved, as though he was about to move towards Lin Qinxue.
"You…. Don't you come any closer…." The woman Fang Xing had called "black eel" let out a sharp shriek, frightened quite a bit by Fang Xing's murderous intent. When she saw how he seemingly wanted to walk towards them, she thought he wanted to start a fight and she immediately sent a message note to Xu Linyun outside: 'Please help us, Shijie Linyun….'
SWOOSH
A dark shadow suddenly cast itself atop the spirit vessel, and the head of a large white crane appeared. As the white crane lowered itself, so too did a cold-looking woman that was akin to a clear sky, a pure goddess. It was Danxia Valley's lead disciple Xu Linyun, and her gaze swept across like lightning as she looked coldly towards the spirit vessel. "What happened?"
"He… he…" the "black eel" pointed at Fang Xing, unable to even complete a full sentence.
Yet Fang Xing broadly grinned and turned with a bow. "Shijie Xu, it's been three— no, four years since we've last seen each other!"
Xu Linyun frowned at his words. She knew exactly what the boy was talking about. Just before Fang Xing had entered the inner court, Xu Linyun had made a bet with him. While factoring in the dangers of being in the inner court on top of having a grudge with Lin Qinxue, she had declared he would not last three years before he came begging her to help him leave the Qing-Yun Sect. However, what she had not anticipated was that as soon as he entered the inner court, he would be taken in by Bai Qianzhang for study for nearly four years. By the time Fang Xing had returned to the inner court, three years had well since passed.
No matter which way it was considered, Fang Xing had won the bet. It was just that the fact his luck played such an important part in it left Xu Linyun feeling rather sullen, as though she'd been cheated. It was also because of this bet that Xu Linyun somewhat did not wish to see Fang Xing again. She had been on her white crane as soon as she left the sect doors, and although the main purpose had been to act as a guard for the vessel, she also specifically hadn't wanted to come face to face with the boy.
Unfortunately, she couldn't hide forever and was finally faced with him once again.
"What happened?" Xu Linyun refused to discuss this with Fang Xing and instead calmly looked at the Danxia Valley disciples.
"This Duanzhen Valley disciple wants to kill us…" the "black eel" quickly answered.
Xu Linyun's chilling gaze swept towards Fang Xing once again. "What exactly happened?" It was not at all convincing to her that Fang Xing truly wanted to kill these Danxia Valley disciples inside the vessel, but since her own shimei had said such words, it was likely they'd had quite a bit of an argument. She was not angered by this, and so had only asked in an interrogative manner.
Fang Xing smiled. "There's someone in your Danxia Valley who doesn't quite like me here and wishes to take my life!" Without explaining further, he took a couple more glances to Lin Qinxue.
Knowing the two's previous grudges, Xu Linyun's brows creased even further. She thought the pair had started their verbal argument inside the vessel purely because of the grudges of the past, which immediately caused Xu Linyun to feel a bit of annoyance towards Lin Qinxue. Prior to this trip, she had spoken to Lin Qinxue about the importance of keeping things as peaceful as possible and to not cause trouble for the sake of any personal grudges. She could not scold her in front of everyone else, however, and instead said, "Do not meddle with this any longer. Qinxue, come with me!"
This left the onlookers in dismay. They could feel that Xu Linyun was actually being somewhat tolerant and accommodating towards Fang Xing, but why would a proud core disciple be so tolerant towards someone who had bullied her shimei? This also led them into thinking about another rumor that had formed over three years ago concerning Fang Xing's close relationship with Xu Linyun. The rumor had been short-lived before disappearing altogether after being wholly denied by the Danxia Valley disciples.
From today's events, however, that rumor seemed to be true.
Of course, there were also those who believed Xu Linyun had done such a thing because she was taking the bigger picture into consideration. Such thoughts came mostly from the Danxia Valley disciples. This was because back when Lin Qinxue had wanted to kill Fang Xing, Xu Linyun had not done anything to stop her; if Xu Linyun truly had that sort of relationship as the rumor said, she wouldn't have done nothing at that time.