Chapter 107: War of Words
When their eyes met, it was impossible to pretend they hadn’t seen each other. Chen Changsheng nodded slightly. Beneath the snow pines, a slightly older female disciple from Holy Maiden Peak inclined her head. Though their movements were subtle, it still counted as observing the formalities. The remaining dozen or so young girls then returned Chen Changsheng’s greeting in turn.
One young girl with a childish face, however, made no move. Her small face was covered in frost, and her gaze toward Chen Changsheng was extremely cold. The slightly older female disciple was presumably her senior sister, who whispered a few words to her. The young girl grew slightly annoyed and said, “Will Senior Sister You Rong marry him? Since she won’t, why should I bow to him?”
Hearing this, the expressions of the Holy Maiden Peak disciples shifted slightly, but they didn’t know how to respond. The senior sister was even more helpless. She walked to the other side of the snow pine and gently tried to persuade her a few more times, but the young girl remained unmoved. She looked at Chen Changsheng with a cold sneer and said, “A toad lusting after swan meat? Why bother with such a delusional fool? Senior Sister, don’t pay him any attention either.”
When she spoke, she didn’t lower her voice; she deliberately wanted Chen Changsheng and the others to hear. At first, Chen Changsheng thought she was just a little girl and saw no need to respond. But when he heard her second sentence, he had no choice but to stop, because Tang Thirty-Six refused to walk any further.
The young girl had a pretty, childish face and was extremely young, yet her words were unexpectedly harsh. Her voice carried far. The students from the Azure Thirteen Division opposite were fine, but those from the Ancestral Temple and the Li Palace Affiliated Academy in the distance burst into loud laughter.
The Divine Path of the Li Palace was straight and long. Tang Thirty-Six had been walking under the strange gazes of students from various academies, enduring the words of that Ancestral Temple student for a long time. Now, hearing this girl’s harsh remarks and the ensuing mockery, how could he continue to endure?
Hearing the laughter from both sides of the Divine Path, the young girl was unperturbed, even a little proud. She looked at Chen Changsheng, snorted through her nose, and said to the senior sisters beside her, “Hear that? Even these Zhou people think I’m right.”
The Li Palace was quiet in the early morning, but the laughter echoed between the halls and the woods, grating on the ears.
The students from the Li Palace Affiliated Academy and the Ancestral Temple reacted so strongly to the young girl’s harsh mockery because the phrase “a toad lusting after swan meat” had become the most famous joke in the capital city, referring to the marriage contract between Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong.
No one dared to say it in front of the National Academy’s gate, and naturally, they couldn’t say it to Chen Changsheng’s face. But today, a little girl had spoken it out loud. The students who wanted nothing more than to stir up trouble naturally joined in the jeering.
“I think… this phrase will probably be recorded in the dictionary and become a common saying across the continent, right?”
A voice came from the crowd of the Ancestral Temple, possibly the same person who had mocked Chen Changsheng earlier, sparking another round of laughter.
Chen Changsheng looked at the young girl beneath the snow pine, at her childish face, and thought she was probably around twelve years old, about the same age as Luoluo. He hesitated slightly.
The senior sister from Holy Maiden Peak gave him an apologetic smile.
The young girl met Chen Changsheng’s gaze, unmoved, and sneered, “What are you looking at? Did I say something wrong?”
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment, then said, “You did say something wrong.”
The young girl looked at him with contempt and said, “Then tell me, what exactly did I say wrong? What part of you is worthy of Senior Sister You Rong?”
“She might indeed be a phoenix.”
Chen Changsheng looked at her and said, “But I am definitely not a toad.”
He wanted to add that he, as a toad, wasn’t interested in phoenix meat either.
The young girl didn’t give him the chance. She mocked, “You say you’re not? Then who were all those people laughing at just now?”
“I don’t know who they were laughing at.”
Chen Changsheng suddenly looked into the depths of the snow pines and said, “But I know that there are people who would never think I’m a toad.”
The gate of the guest courtyard had opened at some point. Gou Hanshi led three junior brothers from the Li Mountain Sword Sect through the woods and walked to the edge of the Divine Path.
Gou Hanshi had heard the exchange between him and the young girl and understood the meaning of his last words. He shook his head with an unreadable expression and said, “Of course you’re not a toad. If you were, then what would we be?”
The laughter in the front hall suddenly vanished, replaced by silence.
At the Ivy Banquet, the National Academy had defeated the Li Mountain Sword Sect. Everyone present knew who the key figure was.
Though it couldn’t be said that Chen Changsheng was stronger than Gou Hanshi, at least he hadn’t been at a disadvantage.
If he was a toad, what was Gou Hanshi? What were the Seven Laws of the Divine Kingdom?
Mocking Chen Changsheng was essentially slapping the Li Mountain Sword Sect in the face.
No one dared to speak anymore, let alone laugh. The young girl from Holy Maiden Peak looked at Gou Hanshi uneasily, wanting to explain something but not knowing how to begin.
In the crowd of the Li Palace Affiliated Academy, Su Moyu furrowed his brow slightly, puzzled as to why Gou Hanshi had appeared to speak up for Chen Changsheng.
Only Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi understood that, aside from the Li Mountain Sword Sect wanting to display their magnanimity, there was another reason: Qiu Shanjun. Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong were the two parties in the marriage contract, and Qiu Shanjun stood watching from afar. This matter couldn’t be allowed to become too ugly.
The snow pines were beautiful and serene.
Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi bowed to each other in greeting.
No one paid any attention to the young girl, not even her senior sisters. The silence made her nervous. Offending a senior brother from the Longevity Sect was unimaginable to her. Flustered, she said with a tearful voice, “I didn’t mean that… He… he can’t cultivate anyway, so isn’t he just a waste?”
Hearing this, the atmosphere in the area tensed again.
Guan Feibai raised an eyebrow slightly, displeased with the little girl’s behavior. The Fifth Law, Liang Banhu, shook his head, and even Qi Jian, who was devoted solely to cultivation and indifferent to worldly affairs, found her words too much. He looked at Gou Hanshi, hoping his senior brother would do something.
Gou Hanshi’s expression was slightly bitter, but he did nothing. Although disciples from various mountains of the Southern Sect addressed each other as fellow disciples, the sects were still independent. He was the Second Senior Brother of the Longevity Sect and couldn’t interfere in Holy Maiden Peak’s affairs.
But someone had long wanted to intervene.
“I’m curious—why do you hate Chen Changsheng so much? Though he can be really annoying sometimes,” Tang Thirty-Six suddenly said.
The young girl shot a hateful glance at Chen Changsheng but didn’t answer.
“No matter how talented you are, you can’t surpass that phoenix. Setting aside your personality issues, given your age, you can’t enter Nanxi Zhai yet. So, which mountain gate of Holy Maiden Peak are you a disciple of? Hmm, let me guess… you must be from Cijian Temple.”
Tang Thirty-Six said.
Because he mentioned personality issues, the young girl was furious and wanted to demand what personality issues she had. But when she heard his last sentence, she was stunned. She thought, there are over a dozen mountain gates on Holy Maiden Peak—how could he guess she was from Cijian Temple in one try?
“That’s right, my name is Ye Xiaolian. I’m the youngest junior sister of Cijian Temple. Next year, when I’m old enough, I’ll enter Nanxi Zhai. So what?”
She looked at Tang Thirty-Six, tilting her small face up, not hiding her pride or hostility.
Tang Thirty-Six suddenly said, “Cijian Temple… should be very close to Li Mountain, right?”
Hearing this, Guan Feibai was startled, thinking, this guy isn’t from the south—how does he know so clearly?
“The Longevity Sect has dozens of peaks, with Li Mountain the highest… right next to Cijian Temple. I imagine you often get to see Qiu Shanjun’s grace?”
Tang Thirty-Six didn’t give her a chance to speak and continued, “Seeing someone like Qiu Shanjun so often, it’s natural to develop feelings. Though you’re young, your heart has already been secretly given. Why do you hate Chen Changsheng? It’s because in this matter, he outshone Qiu Shanjun.”
“What nonsense are you talking about!” The girl named Ye Xiaolian was both ashamed and angry.
Even Gou Hanshi couldn’t listen anymore. He shook his head and said, “That’s a gross exaggeration.”
Ye Xiaolian’s small face flushed red as she scolded, “What does my dislike of this guy have to do with Senior Brother? I’m just feeling sorry for Senior Sister You Rong.”
“Don’t lie. Some women might have such kind hearts, but you, little girl, definitely wouldn’t. In fact, you’re probably thinking that since your Senior Sister You Rong is about to marry a toad, you’d secretly laugh yourself awake in the middle of the night.”
Ye Xiaolian was momentarily stunned and said, “How could I possibly do that?”
After all, she was only a twelve-year-old girl. She didn’t realize that her expression, seen by others, was already a kind of proof. The young women from Holy Maiden Peak couldn’t help but frown slightly.
When Tang Thirty-Six spoke, his face was expressionless, making him look extremely serious. But in reality, his words had nothing to do with seriousness, making them even more jarring: “But Qiu Shanjun is your idol after all, and he lost a woman to Chen Changsheng. If I were you, I’d be angry too.”
Hearing this, Chen Changsheng couldn’t help but shake his head, thinking, why go this far?
The expressions of Gou Hanshi and the other three turned somewhat unpleasant.
“What right does he have to compare with Senior Brother?”
Ye Xiaolian’s voice became extremely angry as she stared at Tang Thirty-Six and said, “I just don’t understand why Senior Sister You Rong wrote that letter, forcing Senior Brother to be mentioned in the same breath as this waste. Doesn’t she know that’s an insult to Senior Brother?”
“So, it turns out you don’t hate Chen Changsheng—you hate… your Senior Sister You Rong.”
Tang Thirty-Six didn’t deliberately put on an expression of sudden realization; he disdained such theatrics. He said calmly, “And you still claim you don’t like Qiu Shanjun?”
Both sides of the Divine Path fell silent. People looked at this little junior sister from Holy Maiden Peak with complicated eyes.
Ye Xiaolian was stunned for a moment before she understood what had happened. The thoughts she had hidden in her heart were suddenly exposed. Her small face instantly turned bright red, and her eyes grew moist, as if she might cry. She looked extremely uneasy.
“Why are you crying? Liking someone like Qiu Shanjun is perfectly normal, isn’t it?”
“Because you know you’re not qualified to like Qiu Shanjun… In the human world these past two years, there’s been a strange question: it seems only Qiu Shanjun is qualified to like Xu Yourong, and only Xu Yourong is qualified to like Qiu Shanjun. So Chen Changsheng gets mocked. And now, everyone is looking at you with strange eyes.”
Tang Thirty-Six looked at the crowd and said calmly, “But really, it’s not your fault. Liking someone isn’t wrong. What’s wrong is these people. Why can’t you like him? Just because you don’t dare to like him, you won’t allow others to? That’s ridiculous.”
“So, you shouldn’t hate Chen Changsheng. On the contrary, you should sympathize with each other.”
Ye Xiaolian looked up, wiped away her tears, and saw the unfriendly gazes falling on her. She understood his meaning.
The area remained silent because Tang Thirty-Six’s words, though somewhat rude, made a lot of sense.
Chen Changsheng thought to himself that it was actually different—he didn’t like Xu Yourong—but of course, he wouldn’t say that in front of so many people. At the Ivy Banquet, Xu Yourong’s letter had helped him, so he needed to preserve some face for her.
The morning breeze gently brushed the green locust trees and snow pines, scattering the light. The temperature rose slightly, and the autumn air grew milder.
The students looked at Tang Thirty-Six with emotion, thinking he truly was a child of a noble family, exuding a warm and gentle demeanor. He had easily untied the knot in that little junior sister’s heart. The young women from the Azure Thirteen Division looked at him with even more fervent gazes.
Just as everyone thought this matter would end with a perfect conclusion…
Tang Thirty-Six turned around and looked at Ye Xiaolian again.
“But actually… you and Chen Changsheng are not the same at all.”
“He has a marriage contract with Xu Yourong. Even if they hold hands to watch the sunset, no one has the right to say a single word. But Qiu Shanjun has nothing to do with you, and the entire continent knows he likes Xu Yourong. Yet you, because you like him, go and humiliate Chen Changsheng. Does that make any sense?”
“If he’s a waste… then aren’t you just a little bitch?”
He looked at the little girl calmly, pronouncing the last three words very clearly, so no one could mishear them.
The entire scene fell into dead silence, then erupted into an uproar!
Ye Xiaolian burst into tears with a wail, covering her face as she ran toward the guest courtyard deep in the woods.
The young women from Holy Maiden Peak glared at him fiercely before following her. Even the young women from the Azure Thirteen Division, who had been looking at him so warmly, had their expressions change dramatically. Who could have imagined that his long, emotionally moving speech was only to set up those last three words!
Jin Yulu and Xuanyuan Po had been listening on the sidelines. The demon race had always believed humans were cunning, treacherous, and untrustworthy. After this incident, Xuanyuan Po subconsciously moved closer to Chen Changsheng, not wanting to be too near Tang Thirty-Six. Jin Yulu sighed, “You really are a piece of work.”
Chen Changsheng didn’t know what to say. He bowed to Gou Hanshi in farewell. Although Tang Thirty-Six’s words were harsh and unpleasant, they hadn’t involved the Longevity Sect. Gou Hanshi just shook his head, returned the bow, and led his three junior brothers back to the guest courtyard.
No one liked how that little junior sister from Holy Maiden Peak had acted, but she was still a twelve-year-old girl. Watching her run away with a tear-streaked face, many young male students couldn’t help but feel some pity and resentment on her behalf. Resentment naturally led to voices.
“All he can do is bully a little girl with words.”
In the crowd of the Li Palace Affiliated Academy, Su Moyu said nothing, only felt disappointed. They said the National Academy might be on the verge of revival, but from what he saw today, it was nothing special.
Chen Changsheng was worried that Tang Thirty-Six would waste more time and said, “Let’s go.”
Tang Thirty-Six looked at the young students by the roadside and said succinctly, “I’ll be back after I finish my business. If you’ve got the guts, don’t run.”
The scene erupted again. The young students thought, this is the Li Palace, our academy’s territory, not the National Academy. This guy first bullied a little girl into tears, and now he’s being so arrogant—he’s practically inviting everyone to beat him into a pulp.
Just then, from the courtyard deep in the woods, a clear, melodious bell rang out, mixed with a few stern shouts.
……
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(This is Tang’s war of words. Thinking about Kim Heechul quitting the show, I suddenly realized that Tang Thirty-Six and he might be the same type of person… I’m going out tomorrow. Originally, I planned to update only one chapter today to ensure I wouldn’t miss updates for the next two days, but you all know I’m just a glutton for punishment… I still updated two chapters, and it’s seven thousand words! For the next few days, I can only manage one chapter each! I’ll try my best not to miss updates! On the fifteenth, at the Shanghai Book Fair, there should be an event in the morning. Follow my WeChat account maoni1118, and I’ll release the details later. Also, I probably won’t have time to shout in the next few days: Recommendation tickets! Monthly tickets! Thank you!). (To be continued)