Chapter 173: Fight of the Peak
Translator: xiiannie Editor: adeadaxe
Lu Mingshu looked at Yin Hong weirdly. Seeing her reaction, she smirked and nodded. "Since Senior Aunt Yin has said so, then disciple will accept the gift."
Lu Mingshu took the string of Mystic Dewdrops, turned to Ding Qingqing, and bowed. "Her Highness's generous gift will be engraved in my memory forever. I hope Emissary Ding will express my gratitude to her."
Before she could bow further, Ding Qingqing held her up. "Miss Lu can forget the courtesy. Thank you, Elder Yin, for taking care of her."
After the conventional greeting, Ding Qingqing left with her servant girls, leaving the whispers of the disciples behind her.
Yin Hong sat down happily, but there was a tinge of uneasiness in her heart. The way Lu Mingshu looked at her, and what Ding Qingqing said... had she missed something?
Seeing Yin Hong's face, An Tongchen snickered.
Such a moron! Zhou Yinru sent her here to arrange the marriage, but was she even aware of why? To forge a good relationship between the two parties? To give Lu Mingshu a good home? What a joke!
The reason was obviously the potential that Lu Mingshu had demonstrated during the Heavenly Door competition! Zhou Yinru felt an urgent need to put her down because letting her grow freely would be a threat to the Zhou Family. Since the problem couldn't be solved internally, then just solve it externally! Use the excuse of marrying Lu Mingshu to Xie Lianzhen to get rid of her.
Zhou Yinru's plan was rather feasible; firstly, being married to the Alioth Star-Lord of the Seven Truth Platform would reflect well on Nine Jade Palace. Secondly, the queen was a tough woman. With someone like her keeping an eye on Lu Mingshu, Lu Mingshu would definitely behave herself. Lastly, Xie Lianzhen had a high position, but he also had a physical defect. If the female was too powerful, she would take control of things.
If Zhou Yinru's plan worked, not only would Zhou Yinru be able to get rid of Lu Mingshu, but she would also gain a connection with the queen. It was like killing two birds with one stone.
However, while Zhou Yinru may have had her perfect plans, she had left out the fact that, even though the queen was a female ruler like her, they had different circumstances and attitudes.
Zhou Yinru obviously had high authority in the Zhou Family, but she still had to force herself into the position of caring wife and loving mother to keep Fu Shangqin's favour. As for the queen, she was the true ruler of Zhongzhou.
Zhou Yinru was also still in the Harmonization Realm, and with her age, it was impossible for her to break through to the Spirit Realm. On the other hand, the queen was an expert in the Spirit Realm already, and it was likely that she would only get stronger in the future.
She was afraid that Lu Mingshu would become too strong? Well, as long as the queen was alive, it would never happen.
Furthermore, Zhou Yinru naively thought that the rest of the world shared the same way of thinking as her - that females were always submissive to the males.
Since the queen liked Lin Wuxia, she obviously had a different mindset as Zhou Yinru.
And previously, when queen sent Ding Qingqing here, what would Yin Hong's impatient reaction bring? Ding Qingqing was the queen's trusted aide, and the queen might not enjoy the fact that there was a bossy Zhou Family behind Lu Mingshu's back.
"Junior Niece Lu..." Tan Yubing looked at her pitifully.
Lu Mingshu smiled and put the Mystic Dewdrops into her mustard seed pouch.
After the Qilin Festival, there was another war waiting for her.
An hour had passed.
Lin Zixin took the book from the clerk and read out the names that everyone was expecting; "Wei Chunqiu from the Seventh Truth Platform challenging Kou Wei from the Heavenly Sea Pavilion!"
The tents were filled with cheers for them.
Shao Zhengyang turned to Tan Yubing while clapping. "This match is definitely the peak fight of the Harmonization Realm!"
"Yeah! I could chat about this match for years!" She nodded and joked.
In the midst of the chatting, Kou Wei and Wei Chunqiu were already on stage.
"Brother Wei, it's been years, but you're still as graceful as ever!" Kou Wei chuckled heartily.
Compared to Kou Wei greeting his opponent happily on stage, Wei Chunqiu had his poker face on as usual, but he still remained polite, "No, 'graceful' should be used to describe Brother Kou and nobody else. Being skilled in Five Dragons Playing with the Pearl while only in the Harmonization Realm is really a pleasant shock for me."
"Compared to Brother Wei, that's mediocre. You've already infused Physical Manifestation of Sword Intent with mystic light. Once you break through to the Spirit Realm, you'll be able to perfect it into the Sword Body. Ah, I'm so jealous of you!"
"I hope we aren't wasting everyone's time by flattering each other. Shall we start now?"
Kou Wei laughed after hearing him. "Brother Wei is indeed straightforward. Sure, let's begin."
Wei Chunqiu flicked his sheath, and the sword flew out, landing on his palm.
His action was followed by an attack. The black sword-light was faster than lighting.
At the same time, Kou Wei wielded his fan, and energy waves started to spread out and dash up.
In the blink of an eye, ten attacks were unleashed.
"That's fast!" Shao Zhengyang gasped in awe.
Wei Chunqiu's speed didn't need to be stated in detailed. In his previous fights, Kou Wei was also fast as lighting. However, his speed was different from Wei Chunqiu's. Wei Chunqiu used his great physical speed to increase his tempo, but Kou Wei used his naturally fast tempo to increase his physical speed.
Wei Chunqiu's sword energy was fast and furious, but Kou Wei found ways to cope with it.
One party attacked while the other defended. Both of them had an equal share of the limelight.
"The peak fight is indeed interesting!" Shao Zhengyang's eyes were full of admiration. Seeing Lu Mingshu on his side, he immediately turned to her. "Junior Sister Lu, I didn't mean..."
Lu Mingshu smiled at him. "Yeah, I know."
Even though she defeated Kou Wei and her match with Wei Chunqiu was interesting, that was still incomparable to this match in everyone's eyes.
It couldn't be helped. Her basics were too weak, and when she fought with them, they always had the upper hand. The only thing she could do was try to use her accuracy to find a gap in their skills, unlike them who fought with genuine power.
The sword energy was bashing sideways, and the Water energy formed huge waves.
After their probing, they moved on to the second stage of the match.
Lu Mingshu didn't even blink her eyes. She put all her attention on the match, taking in new data.
So, such a method would work on Kou Wei? The previous method that I used is inflexible. And there's such a gap in Wei Chunqiu's skill? If that's the case, then forcefully following his tempo isn't needed anymore....
"How many attacks now?" Tan Yubing asked her. "I can't see clearly."
"More than a hundred for sure." Shao Zhengyang waved his hand. "I've already lost count, just enjoy the match."
After witnessing this match, one would know just how powerful the best Harmonization Realm martial artist was like. No wonder Grand Elder Yuan Xi said that Nine Jade Palace was nothing decent. Without Lu Mingshu, they would've only made it to the top twenty at the most.
Only
"Junior Sister Lu, who do you think will win?"
Hearing Shao Zhengyang, Lu Mingshu answered with her eyes still stuck on the match. "Ability-wise, it's fifty-fifty, but I feel that Kou Wei has a higher chance."
Shao Zhengyang was shocked by her answer. He thought that it would be a "There's an equal chance" type of answer. He never expected Lu Mingshu to say that Kou Wei would have a bigger chance of winning. He stared blankly at her. "Why?"
"Because..."
Wei Chunqiu's data was unstable.
In the eyes of others, it was just a fight between sword-light and water, but in Lu Mingshu's eyes, it was all data.
Wei Chunqiu's values kept fluctuating, which was different from his previous match. Even though she didn't know what was going on, she knew that his balance was broken.