## AST 291 - Wild Fight! Another Technique, Strike!

“Do you guys think he will accept the challenge from the second son of the Gongsun Clan?” some asked curiously.

“The second son of the Gongsun Clan is at the pinnacle of the Xiantian level. The only person who can beat him within the 3 generations of the Gongsun Clan is their eldest daughter. Seems like he’s the next candidate in taking over the clan in the future,” a long haired man with a horrible scar running down the left side of his face answered.

“Look that facial expression of his. He can still be this calm right now. I think he will be able to put on a good fight this time.” Quite a lot of people joined in on the fun.

Right at this moment, Gongsun Jianwu appeared in the distance. Her elegant, sexy body and that small smile which was always on her beautiful face attracted all the attention.

She was watching Qing Shui from a distance but he was already immersed in his own world with his eyes closed, oblivious to his surroundings.

By now, quite a number of people had crowded around the arena and Qing Shui. It wasn’t like Qing Shui couldn’t sense them while in his Qi stance, he just didn’t bother with them. They were just like the ants around him, they could be completely ignored also.

Qing Shui felt weird about this too. Was this confidence? Or was it arrogance? Or was it conceit?

Qing Shui couldn’t help but open his eyes and saw that everyone around him was looking at him. Both compliments and derogatory remarks from their discussions travelled to his ears, but he didn’t particularly care about them as long as they didn’t involve his mother.

If anyone touched this, Qing Shui would make them disappear at all costs.

The youth raised his head and looked at the arena. He was considered a youth due to his young appearance. In fact, anyone around the age of 40 was still considered a youth in the world of the nine continents .

The youth was very handsome. His eyebrows were sharp like a sword, and his eyes were bright like the stars. He had a sharp nose on his beardless white face The two corners of his mouth lifted. Qing Shui smiled. Such arrogance was across his face.

It reminded him of that burly man, the third son of the Gongsun Clan. Then he thought about Gongsun Jianwu. They shouldn’t be siblings of the same mother, but perhaps Gongsun Jianwu and Gongsun Jianyun were.

It was already late in the morning, but Qing Shui was not in a hurry. As long as he walked into this arena within the next 2 hours, it would mean that he had accepted Gongsun Jianyun’s challenge.

“Qing Shui!” Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li arrived.

“Oh, why are you both here?” Qing Shui smiled at the two girls. Although he didn’t really take this competition seriously, he still felt quite happy when two of them took the trouble to come. This was kind of like the care one would receive from a family. Just like being sent off when you were leaving the house. It wasn’t just about walking a distance together, but the warmth received could very well last a very, very long time - even for a lifetime.

“How can we not come to cheer for you when you are facing off against someone today? Could it be that you don’t like me and Sister Mingyue coming?” Huoyun Liu-Li said, seemingly sad but the sly look on her face betrayed her true intentions.

“Why would I? I don’t even have enough time to be happy to see two ladies with beauty that can cause the downfall of cities and countries to come cheering for me. Come, cheer for me!” Qing Shui said and gently hugged Huoyun Liu-Li.

He didn’t have any bad intentions; it was just a gentle embrace with Huoyun Liu-Li. Such an intimate embrace was especially heartfelt. Two hearts beating at close proximity was very wonderful.

The hug they shared was as short as a breath, but it was satisfying. He let go of Huoyun Liu-Li gently then turned towards Canghai Mingyue.

He spread open his arms slowly, but there was no reaction from Canghai Mingyue. She just kept her head lowered, not daring to look at Qing Shui. Qing Shui just hugged that delicate body the same way then slowly walked towards the arena.

But right at this moment, someone in a distance caught Qing Shui’s attention because many around her didn’t dare to approach her. She stood there like a crane, her figure was tall and alluring.

Gongsun Jianwu smiled when she saw Qing Shui looking in her direction. She couldn’t forget the words he said before he left. No one had ever dared to talk to her in such a sarcastic tone.

“So the people of the Gongsun Clan are human and the family members to you, the eldest daughter of the Gongsun Clan, are the most important. I only deserve to be tortured? Do unto others as you would be done by.”

She had lived an extravagant life since she was young. Anything she wanted would be in her hands effortlessly. She would get the best and the most precious things before anyone. No one would dare to refute anything she said.

She was gifted and had an attractive face. On top of that, she was the Chief Senior Disciple of Starmoon Hall! Everyone spoiled her and a big number of men in Starmoon Hall were infatuated with her. To be able to serve her was an honour, so countless men were willing to risk their lives for her.

Qing Shui’s appearance had let her realise the existence of a man who could actually ignore her and disobey her. She quite liked this kind of weird feeling. She liked a challenge because she never liked the feeling of having everything within her reach.

Qing Shui took his eyes off Gongsun JianWu and walked towards the arena. He didn’t understand the intention behind her smile. Was it a greeting? Or was she hoping that he’d go easy on him?

When he walked up to the arena, the man in front of him looked at him in disdain. Qing Shui could never understand them. But he knew that big aristocratic families like them would look down the most upon people without a background like himself; someone who would even latch onto someone else without dignity when his identity was found out by the public.

Although it was only a rumour that he had become Canghai Wuya’s grandson, nearly everyone believed the saying that everything happened for a reason and that there was always some truth behind a rumour.

The Gongsun Clan must have known about the situation with Canghai Wuya, so Gongsun Jian Yun must have scorned at his own undignified way of doing things.

Qing Shui ignored his look of disdain. He could care less about other’s opinions except for one person. Moreover, sometimes even betraying dignity didn’t guarantee that one would be able to latch on to the rich and powerful.

Small characters lived a hard life and also lived in sadness!

After all, the number of pyramid peaks were very limited, so people at the bottom of the pyramid naturally needed to get used to being oppressed. Learning how to live between the cracks, or even live in humiliation while being oppressed was very important. Honourable and well-respected young masters like them would never understand living in poverty and the feelings of weak cultivators. People from two different worlds would never be able to understand each other, just like how the poor could never understand the way the rich splurged on everything.

“Why are you deliberately making things difficult with us, the Gongsun Clan?” Gongsun Jianyun frowned and asked Qing Shui in a condescending tone once they were in the arena.

Qing Shui smiled at him. It was a funny feeling. He didn’t know why, but Qing Shui hated this kind of person the most in his previous world. Spending money like water, changing women like changing clothes, settling everything with money. Of course Qing Shui knew that it was jealousy, hostility to the rich and cynicism.

“You’re the eldest of the Gongsun Clan?” Qing Shui asked in disdain. He never liked to let irrelevant people win by words.

“Of course not. Why do you ask?” Gongsun Jianyun asked curiously, but his expression remained as majestic as a cock.

“Then why are you standing here in such ignorance? What do you know? You think you’re very great? You think it is appropriate of you to simply challenge others?” Qing Shui said with a smile.

“All I need to do is just defeat you!” Gongsun Jianyun naturally said.

The tone that he used made it sound like defeating Qing Shui was something natural which annoyed Qing Shui. That prideful smirk on his face rendered Qing Shui a little speechless.

Was he being arrogant or was he retarded?

“Have you ever thought of what would happen if you can’t beat me?” Qing Shui smirked.

Gongsun Jianyun was taken aback then shook his head: “No way. I can for sure win this.” That firm tone even convinced Qing Shui that he could defeat himself.

“Are all geniuses this confident?” Qing Shui couldn’t help but think to himself. After all, Gongsun Jianyun could definitely be considered a genius. Maybe it was this reputation that made him so proud, so wild and so haughty.

Qing Shui didn’t want to say anything else. Talking to this kind of person would only make his blood boil. Why made things hard for himself. Qing Shui silently stood there and nodded at him.

Gongsun Jianyun pulled out a “sword”, a glimmering “longsword” three feet in length. Though it looked more like a drill than a sword. The sword hilt was wide, but narrowed sharply towards the tip. The tip didn’t even look like a sword tip.

“Take out your weapon!” Gongsun Jianyun reminded him when he looked at Qing Shui’s empty hands.

When sons of nobility like them fought, especially under the watch of so many, it was inappropriate for them to get a handicap. It would make their victory less glorious.

“No need. I’m in a rush, hurry up and come!” Qing Shui said calmly.

Qing Shui’s words were like a stone thrown into water and it aroused thousands of waves! As soon as everyone surrounding the arena heard him, they broke into discussions.

“Madness, such madness! Did he think that he’s a Martial King Grade Cultivator?!” A few voices immediately rang out.

“When will I ever have such balls to stand on the arena and say same thing to a Xiantian Grade 10 cultivator? If I die right after saying that I’d have no regrets,” said a youth yearningly, his face was a little pale.

“This is what I call a man! Such breadth of mind! He’s too manly! If he can survive today, I shall marry him,” a curvy woman in a revealing outfit said to herself.

“Forget about it. Even if he can live today, I’m pretty sure he’s not into a woman like you who is in a different man’s room everyday,” a man said in disgust.

“The losers’ scorn for the award is pure sour grapes. Even if I change a man everyday you still wouldn’t get your chance, dumb balls!” the woman sneered.

“You have a death wish!?” the youth became enraged.

“I dare you to lay your finger on me. See if you can live another day if you did, soft balls,” the woman looked at him even more disdainfully.

The man could only slip away silently!

…………………………………………………………...

Gongsun Jianyun’s face was also flushed red with anger. The youth standing opposite of him was astoundingly handsome, but he definitely looked younger than himself in age. Only a handful of youngsters could win against him and they would need to be a little older than him to be able to fight on par with him.

“You’re the one seeking death, don’t blame me!”

Gongsun Jianyun let out a yell then moved his body along with his sword. He was using the Cloudmist Steps of the Heavenly Palace. Although it was fast in the eyes of average people, it wasn’t so for Qing Shui who had fused the Cloudmist steps with the Free Spirit Steps. On top of that, for the past two days, he had been practising like crazy for a month in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

“Slow! Too Slow!” Qing Shui shook his head at the silhouette of his opponent.

Qing Shui knew this was because he was very familiar with the Cloudmist Steps. After all, he had lost count of how many times he had practised it for the past month and on top of that, since he was pretty good at it too, he was able to fuse the Free Spirit Steps into it.

Qing Shui shook his head and moved. He also used the Cloudmist Steps. Nothing special, just faster. So dizzyingly fast that it could make one dazed.

The moment Qing Shui moved, the insights he had gained from the carving of the Tiger forms depicted on the stone monuments gave the already powerful stance of Tiger’s Might even more tremendous and impressive effects.

Tiger's Mount!

Qing Shui raised the Qi Stance to the peak within just a moment and rushed straight towards Gongsun Jianyun with his Cloudmist Steps. He single handedly pounded Gongsun Jianyun’s shoulder with a taichi single whip movement!

KACHA!

The sound of a bone being broken rang out clearly! Gongsun Jianyun was thrown out from the powerful yet soft impact from Qing Shui’s taichi, in the direction of Gongsun Jianwu.

Qing Shui stood in the arena and looked at Gongsun Jianyun struggling to stand up. He landed right beside Gongsun Jianwu!

Gongsun Jianwu hurriedly examined Gongsun Jianyun and discovered that only the bone of his shoulder was broken. He should recover in a month. From the look of it, she must have been extremely worried just now.

“Thank you for going easy on him!” she sincerely said to Qing Shui with a smile.