## AST 295 - The Power Levels Of The Various Halls In The Heavenly Palace. Qing Shui’s Father, Yan Zhongyue, Has Died??

Gongsun Jianwu felt really happy, although normally in a huge and powerful clan such as theirs, the freedom of marriage wouldn’t be under the control of individuals. The fate of most children born in these powerful clans was that they were used as chips, e.g. setting up an alliance with the other powerful clans to secure business benefits.

“Lass, grandpa won’t interfere in your marriage. You can make your own decisions. However, Grandpa has to warn you: A good man has to be fought for. A man of his calibre wouldn’t lack any beauties by his side. In addition, there was some friction between our clan and him so I don’t think he would approach you out of his own initiative.” Gongsun Yikong laughed.

“Grandpa, do you really wish for me to marry him?” Gongsun Jianwu blushed as she snuck a glance at her grandfather.

“Heh heh, grandpa promises you that no one in our Gongsun Clan will interfere in this. And as for that guy Qing Shui, I strongly approve. You could try hanging out with him and see how it goes.”

Back when the young master of the “Cotton Hall” proposed marriage to her, Gongsun Yikong also allowed Gongsun Jianwu to make her own decision. But to think that he was actually ‘promoting’ Qing Shui on his own initiative this time round.

“En, en. I understand, Grandpa!” Whenever Gongsun Jianwu thought back to that disdainful attitude Qing Shui had towards her, she would involuntarily grit her teeth in frustration.

“Hmph, even if I don’t marry him, I must make him fall in love with me.” Gongsun Jianwu determinedly stated in her heart. But soon after, as she thought back to what she just said, she couldn’t help but to jump in shock.

Gongsun Yikong had a knowing smile in his eyes as he noted the reaction of his granddaughter. Although the expression in her eyes wasn’t love, there was determination, but more importantly… curiosity. With his experience, he understood that curiosity was the most critical criteria in the beginning before couples got together.

…….

Qing Shui was still with the two ladies over at Cang Wuya’s place listening to Fei Wuji expounding the situation and common info and knowledge of the Heavenly Palace to them.

“Martial uncle, can you tell us more about Misty Hall? We have no knowledge regarding that at all.” Canghai Mingyue implored Fei Wuji.

“Hehe, the Misty Hall? Very well, just listen to what I say. No questions are allowed.”

“Wh..okay!”

“Ever since the time of the Heavenly Palace Old Man, the Misty Peak was headed by the only female disciple of our sect ancestor. And from then on, it only accepts female disciples unlike the other halls who had a mixed ratio between males and females.”

“To tell you the truth, the techniques and cultivations arts of the Misty Hall are actually all duo-cultivation techniques! However, their duo-cultivation techniques are rather special. It’s possible to cultivate the set of techniques alone and although it couldn’t be compared to the strength gained if they really duo-cultivate, the strength gained from cultivation alone is not too bad as well. Not only that.. their set of duo-cultivation techniques are unsuitable for male-female coupling, which was why the disciples of the Misty Hall are all females.”

The two ladies, Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li, immediately turned red. Even Fei Wuji’s expression was somewhat unnatural. After all, he was an elder and was talking about sketchy stuff like duo-cultivation to two young girls.

However, Qing Shui was only thinking about the legendary supreme beauty mistress of the Misty Hall practising the duo cultivation technique. After which, he suddenly remembered. Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li belonged to the Misty Hall as well. Doesn’t this mean that.. they will be practising duo-cultivation techniques, too?

Qing Shui cast a glance at the two ladies, locking gazes with Liu-Li. Liu-Li immediately shifted her gaze away in panic. Her shyness was extremely adorable, so adorable to the extent where it could drive men mad.

“The cultivation art the disciples of the Misty Hall are cultivating is known as the [Mystic Art]. It can be considered a high-tier technique, but the requirements to cultivate it are quite stringent. It required a higher-than-average comprehension before one can successfully cultivate it.”

“The Misty Hall is slightly stronger when compared to Starmoon Hall. However, the number of disciples for the Misty Hall could be considered the lowest among all the other Halls. Because of the stringent conditions to cultivate the [Mystic Art], there are only about five thousand disciples within Misty Hall, compared to over eight thousand for the other Halls.”

After explaining this far, Fei Wuji paused as he laughed before continuing, “For the five-yearly inner competition among the Halls of the Heavenly Palace, the Misty Palace never really had any interest in competing, so they are always ranked last. As for Starmoon Hall, our disciples are seriously too… weak. In the end, a decision was made to rank the Misty Hall above the Starmoon Hall to give our disciples a healthy dose of humiliation as well as to encourage them to work harder.”

“Five-yearly inner competition?” Huoyun Liu-LI involuntarily asked. After all, this was the second time she had heard of this.

“Haha, I knew you would ask this, but even if you didn’t, I would still explain it.” Fei Wuji laughed, causing Huoyun Liu-Li to stick her tongue out at him.

“Every five years, members of all Halls would gather in the public square in front of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall to have an exchange among disciples of the different Halls. Only third generation disciples are allowed to participate, and the criteria was that at the very least, one must be at the 5th level of Xiantian. There’s no limit to the number of disciples per Hall that can participate and the rulings of the competition was as such. As long as you lose a single match, you will be knocked out of the competition. Victory and defeat are also recorded, and at the end, the scores will be tabulated which thus results in the ranking of the Halls.

“Then.. what about the inner competitions of the chief disciples?” Qing Shui knew that the chief disciples wouldn’t easily compete against others. They were all the strongest disciples of each Hall.

“They are limited in the sense that they can only compete against each other. Their matches would usually be scheduled near the end of the competition. If not, it may affect the morale of each Hall.” Fei Wuji smiled.

Qing Shui chortled. Initially he had still wanted to challenge the chief disciples, but it seemed that it wasn’t possible now.

“Qing Shui, the end of next year would be the commencement of the five-yearly competition. I want you to participate in the competition with the status as the chief disciple of our Starmoon Hall,” Fei Wuji remarked.

Qing Shui was stunned. After recovering, he asked, “What about the original chief disciple? And would even the palace lord agree?”

Speaking of the palace lord, Qing Shui realized that even till now, he had no idea who the palace lord was. Despite that, Qing Shui wasn’t as interested as him compared to the legendary supreme beauty, the palace mistress of the Misty Hall. Qing Shui truly wanted to compare the palace mistress with that portrait of beauty to see if her beauty was truly that mesmerizing.

Cang Wuya silently laughed as he sipped his tea, not saying anything.

…………

Qing Shui left.On his way back, he suddenly discovered that many people were staring at him with looks of shock and wonderment on their faces. Not only that, there were people greeting him and there were even some taking their initiative to befriend him.

“Hey, Qing Shui!”

“Hey…”

Qing Shui was somewhat depressed that his name was already public knowledge. On the way back, he was somewhat taken aback that many females would randomly pop out to introduce themselves to him, and as long as he replied a single sentence, they would be full of smiles and bounce away in delight.

“I’ve greeted him, now it’s your turn…”

Qing Shui was speechless. So it was just the girls wanting to get a thrill out of teasing him...

The time was still quite early when he returned to his residence. However, he didn’t expected to run into Yan Ling`er who was standing by his door. Upon seeing Qing Shui, Yan Ling`er approached with a radiant smile on her face.

“Brother Qing Shui!”

Qing Shui stared at the petite girl. Indeed, she should address him as elder brother, but sadly, he would never acknowledge their blood ties.

Qin Shui sighed. “Forget it, what will be will be. In any case, this isn’t her fault. She doesn’t know anything as well.” Qing Shui helplessly thought to himself.

But still, Qing Shui hardened his tone, “So what do you want exactly?”

“Brother Qing Shui, are you still angry? I also know that the Yan Clan was in the wrong in this matter. But what can I do about it..?” Yan Ling`er’s eyes glistened with wetness as she spoke pitifully.

“What has the conduct of the Yan Clan got to do with me? I just don’t like those whose character can’t even be compared to humans. They can’t even be compared to demonic beasts.” Qing Shui smiled.

Yet, his smile in Yan Ling`er’s eyes, when compared to his anger, made her heart even colder.

“Brother Qing Shui, let me explain to you some of the matters of our Yan Clan. Maybe after you hear that you will understand why Sister Qing Qing would sell tea leaves out there in the streets.” Yan Ling`er bit on her lips as she lightly spoke.

At this moment, Qing Shui’s heartbeat quickened immensely. Even he himself could hear the thumping sounds his heart made. After all, the incident with the Yan Clan had been buried in his heart for almost twenty years and the day of reckoning would come soon. This matter could be said to be the reason for all his efforts and hard work earlier.

Yan Ling`er had also asked herself before whether Qing Shui was an enemy of their Yan Clan. But after thinking about it, she realized that he was not. Back then when Qing Shui passed by the Yan Country and saw the lady of the Yan Clan getting humiliated, no one stepped out to help her. She knew that in his heart, the members of Yan Clan were all worse than beasts.

“When uncle Zhongyue was still around, nobody dared to bully Sister Qingqing. Even Mistress Xiao had to step carefully on the surface…”

After the first part of the sentence, Qing Shui stopped paying attention to what Yan Ling`er was saying; there was only a notion of thought in his brain. “Yan Zhongyue died, even before he could take revenge on him. The man his mother had been pining for, left silently just like this. What about the debt Yan Zhongyue owned for abandoning Qing Shui’s mother?!”

Qing Shui felt a bout of anger so intense that his body trembled. Even his face turned red.

“Brother Qing Shui, are you okay? What’s happening?” Yan Ling`er panicked as she asked in concern.

“I’m fine.” A hoarse and heavy voice unlike his own rang out from his throat. He knew that this matter had just gotten complicated.