Chapter 96: Embarrassment

　　Shao Zhengyang? Lu Mingshu furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

　　Aside from Gao Xiang, Shao Zhengyang was the one that gave her the most favourable impression. Back when she was in a predicament, it was him and his master who gave her a helping hand. But now, he was also the one that she loathed the most.

　　Why him and not Zhou Yinru, who tried to kill her, or Jie Wenhan, who didn’t help her? Why Shao Zhengyang?

　　He only wanted to help Lu Mingshu because he wanted to use her for his schemes.

　　In fact, Lu Mingshu didn’t really hate him, because there wasn’t any reason for Shao Zhengyang to help her in the first place. She was just disgusted by how fake he was, just like how she was disgusted by that ungrateful father of hers and how all the Nine Jade Palace cared about were benefits.

　　Benefits. It was all about the benefits. It was as if that was the only thing worth treasuring in the whole world.

　　And that’s the reason Lu Mingshu was here as well – benefits.

　　“Senior Brother Shao, you shouldn’t come up here yet.”

　　“What should come will eventually come. Now or later makes no difference,” Shao Zhengyang replied.

　　“But if you fight me now, there’s a lower chance that you would win,” she explained. “Seeing the

　　first three fights, you should already know my current status. Why not wait until I finish a few more rounds and use up most of my mystic force, then you come to fight me? Your chance of winning would be greater. That’s more like you, isn’t it?”

　　Shao Zhengyang blinked his eyes. He seemed to get her hidden message.

　　“It wouldn’t be any fun if I did that. I would rather get a taste of your ability than win,” Shao Zhengyang replied after he made a small plan in his head.

　　Before Lu Mingshu could reply, he fished out his sword.

　　“C’mon, let me see how good you are. Even if I don’t win, I’ll still get to be part of the legend of people who tried to defeat you.”

　　That sentence signified that nothing more should be said.

　　“Please start!” Lu Mingshu stood up upon hearing his words.

　　In the previous fights, she never took the initiative; she only attacked after her opponent.

　　This time, she attacked right away.

　　On the high stage, there was a lot of discussion going on.

　　“Is he nuts? He shouldn’t take up her challenge now!”

　　“Uh, maybe he’s overconfident?”

　　“But he isn’t someone who’s frivolous.”

　　“Hard to say. Youngsters nowadays all think highly of themselves.”

　　Yu Wenshi smiled when he heard the whispering behind him. He held up his wine cup as he stared into the phantom mirror.

　　Stupid disciple… but at least he knows how to mend the pen after the sheep are lost.

　　Losing or winning doesn’t really matter. Even if the position of genuine successor disciple is lost, it’s nothing. The genuine successor disciple spot isn’t his main goal in the first place. I’m glad that stupid disciple understands that.

　　Their attacks were like meteors, falling to the ground in pieces and surging up violently like an ocean wave.

　　Shao Zhengyang’s fierce attacks followed one after another, not allowing Lu Mingshu to counterattack.

　　Ban Qin turned pale upon watching this scene

　　“What, you feel bad now?” Jie Wenhan asked him sarcastically.

　　Ban Qin chose not to respond and looked away. He watched the fight from the corner of his eyes.

　　Shao Zhengyang is sneaky indeed! He didn’t display his true ability during the previous fight!

　　Upon facing Lu Mingshu’s powerful attacks, he attacked without reserve.

　　The mystic lights were like lightning, moving fast and furiously, making the swords look magnificent.

　　The disciples on the high stage were stupefied. They watched the fight as if they were drunk.

　　They didn’t care much for the previous fights, which ended before they even knew what was going on. The fight with Ban Qin ended in the blink of an eye. With Tang Jingrong, as soon as he attacked, Lu Mingshu counterattacked and ended the fight. At least the fight with Xi Qing was something to look at, but the gracefulness of it made it hard to tell when either of them was even attacking.

　　However, with this current fight, both parties were giving it their all. Sword-lights clashed, revealing whose sword skills were better as they had a fierce contest for victory.

　　Their attacks became bigger and more powerful. Everyone around the platform could feel their ferocity.

　　Lu Mingshu waved her sword. Sparks could be seen as she chopped down with all her might.

　　Shao Zhengyang eyes shone. With his sword, he went to counterattack.

　　Everyone held their breath.

　　Clang—–

　　Both swords clashed.

　　A ray of sword-light shot up, and just like the previous fights, it landed in the ground.

　　The spectators all stood rooted to the ground when they saw this scene.

　　Shao Zhengyang was just standing there with his sword still held upright… only, the sword was cut in half.

　　What’s… happening?

　　When she bisected Tang Jingrong’s sword, all of them felt that it was just her sword that was stronger. When she bisected Xi Qing’s sword, all of them felt that it was normal for Xi Qing’s sword to be chopped in half – it was made of bamboo. But now, even Shao Zhengyang’s sword was chopped in half.

　　One by one, everyone felt suspicious of Lu Mingshu’s sword.

　　All eyes were glued to Lu Mingshu’s sword.

　　What kind of sword was it? A treasured tool? But no, a treasured tool wouldn’t have such an ordinary appearance. It couldn’t be a spirit weapon either. There was only a limited number of spirit weapons in all of Ancient China. In the Nine Jade Palace, only someone in the Spirit Realm would even have a chance to touch a spirit weapon. No matter how they looked at it, it was just a mystic weapon, but it had the ability to chop someone else’s mystic weapon in half, wasn’t that too impressive?

　　Ding!

　　The other half of the sword fell to the ground.

　　Shao Zhengyang stared at his broken sword, lost for words. He had predicted this outcome, but it was still hard to accept when it arrived.

　　He sighed with a heavy heart and waved his hands, “Junior Sister Lu is indeed very skilful. I’m convinced.”

　　Lu Mingshu nodded to return his politeness.

　　In this Heavenly Door competition, she initially didn’t want to stand out. She didn’t expect things to go this way either. Neither Lu Mingshu nor her master hoped to get anything more than a genuine successor disciple spot out of the Heavenly Door competition.

　　That’s exactly what she did at the lower door – passed without any distractions.

　　However, Zhou Yinru ruined everything.

　　Seriously injured, being assaulted, and almost dying. At that point, Lu Mingshu knew how she was perceived by everyone else.

　　One party felt that she was useful and tried to take advantage of her, while the other party tried to act “nicely,” advising her to give up.

　　As for who she was or if she got to be a genuine successor disciple, nobody cared.

　　All of them were idiots in this game, just chasing after benefits. Either you were a puppet to be manipulated or you were an enemy.

　　Thus, Lu Mingshu chose to stand up and challenge everyone.

　　She might not have been able to change the rules of the game, but at least she would let them know that she wasn’t a pushover.

　　Lu Mingshu stood in the middle of the platform and faced the crowd.

　　With her winning streak of four, she had proven herself.

　　On the other hand, the elders on the high stage started to feel embarrassed.

　　She had already won four rounds continuously, and yet she wanted to continue? Even though

　　she was too powerful to be true, they couldn’t afford to let her win again.

　　Just look at who she’s defeated up to now: Ban Qin, the best of the line of Dawn’s sixteenth generation, Tang Jingrong, the best disciple of the line of Scarlet Sunrise, Xi Qing, the elder senior sister of the line of Emerald, and Shao Zhengyang, Yu Wenshi’s favourite disciple and the successor of the line of Jade Terrace.

　　The names of every line were at risk!

　　“Senior Brother Yu, look….”

　　Yu-Wen shi lifted his hand to indicate that he understood.

　　“That youngster is pretty good. Let her be,” he replied with a smile.

　　Yu-Wen shi’s response left the elder in shock. What? His disciple was defeated by Lu Mingshu in front of everybody and yet he said she was pretty good?

　　In another area, Fu Shangqing received a voice transmission from the elder of the line of Fluffy Clouds, “Pass the message to Wen Han.”