Chapter 156: The Taste of One’s Own Medicine

　　Huo Jiang couldn’t wrap his head around what he was hearing.

　　In order to convince him, that other party gave him a price that was high enough to make him willing to take risks. The price was something that a disciple of a small clan would never get in their life.

　　But Lu Mingshu? She was forcing him to give her all his treasures without any reason.

　　No, not just “without reason”… she was robbing him!

　　But did he have a choice? From what she said, it proved that she was aware of the story. Once it got out, the reliability of the Qilin Festival would be affected, and, without a doubt, the king of Zhongzhou would definitely punish everyone involved. Not only would he get punished, he would drag his entire sect down with him. Between the sect’s reputation and an ordinary disciple like him, it was obvious how the elders would react.

　　The sword-energy was wrapped around him. Huo Jiang felt chills run down his spin, and he sighed.

　　Asking him to give away these treasures was like forcing him to cut his own flesh. As an ordinary disciple, being able to get his hands on such a thing was like gold falling from the sky. He planned to use these items to craft a treasure tool, or at least exchange them if he was unable to do it himself.

　　If he had known this is what would happen, he would have changed the deal and exchanged these items for resources instead.

　　But what could he do at this point? He was already at this stage, so he had no other choice.

　　Huo Jiang took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He slightly moved his weapon.

　　Clink—-!

　　The sword-light shone, and the concealed weapon attached to the sword.

　　Lu Mingshu gave Huo Jiang a smile and put it into her mustard seed pouch.

　　“Could you tell me how you discovered them in the first place?” Huo Jiang asked

　　“Easy.” Lu Mingshu looked at him. “This concealed weapon is quiet and hard to see, but since it goes after the target automatically, it would make some noise by vibrating when I change my direction because of the air resistance. As long as I was fast enough, I would hear it.”

　　Huo Jiang remained silent. It had been a few years since he first received the concealed weapons, yet he had never realized its true value. However, Lu Mingshu realized after one match with him.

　　I’m not as good as her. He was convinced in his heart.

　　Huo Jiang leapt off of the stage. “I concede.”

　　The match ended just like that. Most spectators were baffled and found the match boring.

　　It was a one-sided fight, with Lu Mingshu attacking furiously and Huo Jiang just dodging. There wasn’t any suspense.

　　It was hard to even count the number of spectators mumbling under their breath, complaining about the match being pointless. Huo Jiang already lost the previous match, so Lu Mingshu wouldn’t gain many points, and if she wanted to take revenge, hadn’t she had enough yesterday? Huo Jiang was already in such a poor state yesterday.

　　In the main tent, the king sighed. He then turned to the queen. “That child is really stubborn. She could be the next you.”

　　The queen smiled at him sweetly. “What, doesn’t the king think its a good thing?”

　　The king smiled at her with love. “In my eyes, my queen is the best.”

　　The queen blushed and giggled.

　　Lu Mingshu went back to her seat, and the matches continued.

　　Huo Jiang had given her four more concealed weapons today, so there was now a total of six weapons. According to Xiao Sang’s prediction, it was enough to craft a sword.

　　Whether Huo Jiang had left some for himself, she didn’t want to know. Even if it was extortion, one should still leave some leeway. Extortion wasn’t something to be proud of, to begin with.

　　During the afternoon, the announcement once again shocked everybody. “Cai Zheng from the Celestial Pole Mountain, challenging Lu Mingshu from Nine Jade Palace.”

　　After hearing this, there was mumbling across all the tents. No matter how stupid one was, they would realize that something was off.

　　Celestial Pole Mountain’s Cai Zheng… another disciple from a small sect.

　　For Huo Jiang, one could argue that he was trying to gain fame and simply underestimated Lu Mingshu. However, in that match, Lu Mingshu displayed her abilities, so nobody would still be so stupid as to challenge her unless they had confidence.

　　“Did she offend somebody?” a spectator asked.

　　“Maybe.”

　　“Interesting, huh? Seems like somebody doesn’t want her in the New Ranking.”

　　“Hey! Who asked her to be so ambitious? Going around all the arenas to compete before the Qilin Festival? She ruined the reputation of many martial arts halls, there’s no doubt she offended someone!”

　　“True, it’s normal that people would hate her.”

　　“Huo Jiang had concealed weapons. I wonder what this Cai Zheng has?”

　　Cai Zheng jumped onto the stage, looked toward the Nine Jade Palace tent, and sneered.

　　“Miss Lu is such an outstanding person. I look forward to your generous teachings!” Unlike Huo Jiang, Cai Zheng provoked her immediately.

　　Lu Mingshu leapt up to the stage. “Shut up and start.”

　　“…” Cai Zheng sneered. “Be careful, Miss!”

　　As soon as he finished his sentence, Cai Zheng dashed toward Lu Mingshu.

　　His weapon was a long whip. It was silver, and it shone brightly under the sunlight. When it moved, it was like a silver snake coming for Lu Mingshu as it created huge waves of wind.

　　“Eh?” In the Heavenly Sea Pavilion canopy, Kou Wei strummed his fingers. “This Cai Zheng isn’t bad!”

　　Other than some unique weapons, Huo Jiang was nothing more than ordinary. However, Cai Zheng’s ability was comparable to the A-class people. If he was lucky, he could become a dark horse.

　　It was such a pity to use an opponent like that to stop Lu Mingshu.

　　“So what if he’s good?” Qi Sheng huffed. “Miss Lu will surely win.”

　　Kou Wei sighed. “Of course she’ll win, but we don’t know what price she’ll have to pay this time around.”

　　He was starting to suspect his earlier guess. When Huo Jiang challenged Mingshu, he thought that somebody wanted to take Lu Mingshu down because her presence would take up a spot on the New Generation Ranking, but now, it didn’t seem like that was the case.

　　Cai Zheng was comparable to Shao Zhengyang. Every Qilin Festival, one or two people at their level would make it into the New Generation Ranking and gain plenty of fame and generous rewards. Convincing someone like Cai Zheng, who had a good chance to make it into the New Ranking, to throw that away to take down Lu Mingshu… it would cost much more than convincing Huo Jiang.

　　What small or medium sect could afford such a thing? To completely stop Lu Mingshu, they would have to bribe way more than just two people.

　　On the rooftop, the fight started after some probing.

　　Lu Mingshu held her chest. “Using my own method against me?”

　　Cai Zheng grinned. “Miss Lu, could you show me the techniques you used to fight Xing Kun? I came to challenge you because of that! Please satisfy my curiosity, Miss. I want to know how you did it.”

　　When she fought Xing Kun, Lu Mingshu used a strengthening seal to freeze his mystic energy, and that seal only lasted for one day.

　　As for this Cai Zheng… he had mastered a special technique that could freeze his opponent’s mystic force!