Bai Qi nibbled on the ice cream and, wiping away her tears, said, "You like her, but she doesn't like you, so you're just pining away."
Her voice was full of grievance, and she sounded like a sulking child.
"You've always got to have a dream," Fang Ren said with a smile.
"So marrying Sister Hui Qing is your dream?"
"Yes, but that's not all. I want to have a stable life after getting married," Fang Ren said.
"Then it looks like I can fulfill half of your dream," Bai Qi said.
Fang Ren smiled indifferently. Bai Qi had misunderstood him; he was talking about leading a stable life after marrying Mu Huanqing, not just anyone.
"The ice cream you gave isn't sweet at all," Bai Qi said after finishing the last bit of her ice cream.
"..." Fang Ren's smile stiffened.
"You won't understand how I feel, unless one day Sister Hui Qing says to you what you said to today," Bai Qi said.
Fang Ren shook his head. That was an impossibility. He and Mu Huanqing had mutual feelings for each other, and they even had a child.
However, Bai Qi said he couldn't understand her feelings, which he agreed with; indeed, he couldn't, because his relationship with Mu Huanqing was going too smoothly. What was not smooth was the situation.
His current mood was not good either. It felt just like the ti Liu Qianqian cried while confessing to him in front of him. Liu Qianqian, like Bai Qi, was emotionally agitated, and even abandoned her upbringing to curse him, a scene he did not want to witness.
In the past, his thoughts on Liu Qianqian may have been complicated, but now his thinking was simpler—he just wanted to live a peaceful life with Mu Huanqing.
He knew such emotions were laced with a bitterness and sense of grievance he could not understand, but he was powerless to soothe such emotions. To soothe them, the only way was to be with her.
Fang Ren took out his cell phone to check the ti. There were about eight minutes left before the eve of the Alchemy competition's opening ceremony. He estimated that the students outside had already almost entered the venue.
Suddenly, Fang Ren said, "What do you think we should do if your grandfather insists on not canceling our engagent?"
Bai Qi glanced at him. This matter had originally been her biggest worry, but now it had beco what Fang Ren feared the most.
"No way, he can't just push onto soone who doesn't like ," Bai Qi said.
"I'm talking about what if. What if he still insists on doing it?"
"If...," Bai Qi said, "if there really is such an 'if,' I would never agree. I don't want to marry soone who doesn't know how to cherish , soone who only knows how to bully ."
"Have you thought about any specific acts of rebellion?" Fang Ren asked again.
"Running away from ho, using death to coerce them—aren't those thods?" Bai Qi said.
"Hey, hey, you're a princess after all. Doing such things would make you the talk of the town for a lifeti," he said.
"So what? I'd do anything rather than marry you," Bai Qi said with red-rimd eyes, suddenly looking sowhat defiant. "You're not my love; you're just a crush. I can't marry you."
Fang Ren decided to end the topic. This girl was very emotional about such matters, and since she could say such things, she could surely do them.
"Let's go, it's about to start," Fang Ren said.
"Okay."
Fang Ren activated his True Qi to envelop her and sped toward the entrance of the venue. The crowd outside was still very crowded, but most were just there to see the spectacle.
"You've had a breakthrough in your realm again," she noted.
No sooner had they landed than Bai Qi looked at Fang Ren and made that comnt.
Fang Ren gave a wry smile. He had deliberately not flown at full speed and had also suppressed his True Qi. Moreover, this girl had a Dissipation seal on her, yet she was still able to sense the fluctuations of his realm.
"Yeah, I had a bit of a breakthrough today."
"Are you sure it was just a bit?" Bai Qi glanced at him, exasperated.
She could clearly feel the aura emanating from Fang Ren as that of the Peak of Azure Sky, while just that morning Fang Ren was only at the Early Stage of Xianyun Realm, a span of five minor realms!
It's not just Mu Huanqing—she, who was hailed as the future surpasser of Mu Huanqing, had never experienced such rapid progression through the realms while she was in Azure Sky Realm. And this fellow, just out of sight for a few hours, had beco this powerful,
"Uh... Maybe the breakthrough was a little bigger than usual."
As Fang Ren spoke, he began walking toward the entrance of the venue. The guards on either side saw him and didn't ask for his ID, but instead bowed slightly in greeting.
No sooner had they entered the venue than they saw a sea of people. Looking up, the tiers of the spectator stands rose fifty ters high, from the lowest row to the back, with the audience sitting in a circle, hardly a gap to be seen.Fang Ren and Bai Qi stood at the entrance, overlooking the venue from above, where they appeared as tiny as ants, their faces impossible to distinguish.
In the center of the field surrounded by the audience stands, there was a row of specially arranged seats for the world's top guild leaders and the important figures hosting the competition.
And at the very front of the venue, there was another set of special seats, reserved for so of the bigwigs from Tianjiang, such as the heads of great families or the commander of the Tianjiang Security Team, and Mu Huanqing's seat was also there.
However, Mu Huanqing's seat was empty; she must have been maintaining order sowhere else and had not yet arrived.
In the middle of the field, there were also many scattered individual seats, which were for the referees. Although no one would dare to cheat in such a setting, the work that needed to be done still had to be completed to at least make the event seem more serious.
Gazing at the crowded stands, Fang Ren turned to a staff mber and asked, "Could you tell where Yangming Academy's seats are?"
The staff mber turned around, glanced at Fang Ren, and imdiately smiled, "Young Master Fang, your academy's seats are right in the front row next to the special seats. Because there are so few Students from Yangming University, the sign might have been blocked by other people. I'll take you there."
"Next to the special seats..."
Fang Ren looked at the special seats in the center and then at the front row of the audience stands next to them, feeling that it was a bit too conspicuous.
However, there was no helping it; he had to sit in the spot assigned by the event organizers.
As the staff mber led Fang Ren and Bai Qi through the bottom of the audience stands toward the center, almost everyone's gaze began to focus on them.
Even though they were walking around the periphery of the central field, at this ti when everyone was already seated, any person wandering aimlessly would attract attention.
"Look! That's the uniform from Yangming University!"
"Oh my, is that guy the Young Master of the Fang Family? And is the girl next to him the princess?"
"Where? Where?"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't stand up, you're blocking my view!"
"Tsk, too far away to see the faces, but looking at the pictures online, that Young Master Fang is quite handso."
"I heard that not long ago, the Bai Family Head had already proposed marriage to the Fang Family, saying that as soon as this competition ends, Princess Bai Xi and Young Master Fang would get married imdiately."
"They're going to get married right here? That's so romantic! I hope to get married here one day too."
...
Hearing the relentless prattling of the crowd, Fang Ren suddenly felt confused, as among the noisy voices, he seed to have heard the topic of marrying Bai Qi on the spot after the competition.
Is that a mistake?
What kind of on-the-spot marriage? These people are real gossips. The old man from the Bai Family said the wedding would be after graduation. They probably wouldn't move it up so precipitously.
If it were suddenly moved up, and that rumor did co from the old man of the Bai Family, then it must be because the Indra Sky organization had already mastered enough technology to decide to let Bai Qi enter the trial. Otherwise, Bai Chaojin wouldn't be in such a hurry.
Thinking this way, Fang Ren suddenly felt a wave of worry.
He broadened his perception and glanced at the special seats, noting that Mu Huanqing was still not present in the seat with her na, and he wondered what she was doing.
The staff mber led him and Bai Qi to a seat in the front row of the audience stands, where a sign for Yangming Academy was placed, but the location seed too inconspicuous. Fang Ren thought that even if he extended his perception fully, he would have to search carefully two or three tis to notice it.
While it was indeed a front row seat, it was still a spectator spot, hundreds of ters away from the special seats, although just about 10 ters forward from this spot would lead directly into the competition area.
Sitting here, with just half a ter behind them, was a dense crowd of candidates, tutors, and principals from various schools.
Feeling the gaze of hundreds of pairs of eyes from behind, Fang Ren beca uncomfortable. Usually, in any public setting, he would sit at the very back, drawing little attention or discussion about him.
Bai Qi was accustod to such scenes and remained absorbed in her own somber mood, seemingly indifferent to the surrounding chatter.
As the opening ceremony was about to begin in a minute, Fang Ren's attention was centered on Mu Huanqing. Where on earth was she, and why hadn't she arrived yet?
Whoosh—
Just then, a beam of light shone down from the sky above the venue.
Everyone imdiately looked up and saw the entire sky lit up with white light. Suddenly, all attention shifted from Fang Ren to the twenty or so figures slowly descending from the sky.
"It's Mada Xuan! And the elite disciples from the Tiandao Sword Sect!"
"Ah! Today I will finally witness Mada Xuan's grace in person!"
"What do you an 'in person'? I haven't even seen Mada Xuan's grandeur online!"
"They're coming down!"
```
Reviews
All reviews (0)