Chapter 302: Provoking Trouble to Punish the Arrogant

"I simply don't understand, Youyuan Hall is swept and cleaned every day, so where did these pebbles come from? What do you think? Xinyi?" Lingxiang adopted the singing tone of a Chenjian opera troupe, and while cracking pine nuts, she cast a light, sidelong glance at Xinyi.

Fortunately, Xinyi had a steady temperament; facing Lingxiang's cold, sarcastic insinuations, he remained expressionless, just standing there motionless like a pillar.

Too much talk leads to mistakes!

Zhao Wuyang was even more so, shrinking directly behind Xinyi. He had never forgotten Lingxiang's actions at Ding'anju; although Lingxiang had not harmed him, the Lingxiang of that time was far more terrifying than usual.

Seeing the three of them reduced to this state, Liu Xia was at a loss for a moment. Fortunately, he looked up and saw Banxia and Lianqiao peeking their heads in at the entrance of Youyuan Hall, so he pretended to greet them naturally and lifted his legs, intending to leave this place of trouble.

However, heaven does not always grant one's wishes...

"As the only female disciple of Senior Brother Donghui, you must be very favored in his eyes, otherwise he wouldn't have specifically instructed Hanyang to keep Banxia behind, would he?"

As Lingxiang spoke, her expression suddenly changed: "Oh! I heard that Banxia has excellent fortune. Such a heaven-chosen one, even in this world where the Immortal Dao is on the decline, is very likely to achieve the true fruit." Afterwards, she sighed with regret: "If such a high-caliber disciple were to be married off, wouldn't Senior Brother Donghui be so angry that he'd start a massacre?"

"Heiya! Tsk tsk tsk! What a pity, what a pity..."

Hearing these words, Liu Xia looked back at Lingxiang, who was shaking her head to herself. The expression on his face changed constantly—suspicion, surprise, shyness... all sorts of emotions mixed together, quite spectacular.

Liu Xia thought that he had only just revealed his heart to Banxia and had not made it public; furthermore, he believed he had hidden this affection extremely well. How did Lingxiang know?

Moreover, he had never heard that disciples of the sect were forbidden from developing feelings. Even if he really married Banxia in the future, it wouldn't hinder her from being Uncle Donghui's disciple, would it? Besides, from what he had seen and heard, Uncle Donghui was not that kind of violent person; how could he be as terrifying as Lingxiang described?

However, this matter still required caution. After all, they would be seeing each other every day in the future, so it wouldn't do to provoke Uncle Donghui, right? And listening to Lingxiang's implication, she seemed to have a countermeasure in mind. Since that was the case, he would endure for now!

Liu Xia retracted the step he hadn't yet taken and walked with a constrained expression behind Xinyi, hiding together with Zhao Wuyang.

Who told Xinyi to be so big? At this moment, he was truly useful; as long as he could shield them from the wind and rain, he was a good shield.

Lingxiang glanced at the four of them, and seeing them standing honestly in place, she said no more and went back to cracking pine nuts.

The four grown men didn't dare to be the first to speak, and the scene was once somewhat awkward. Just as they were about to think that Lingxiang was also here to watch the fun, they heard Lingxiang ask.

"Speak, whose idea was it?"

This question was like a straw to a drowning man; Liu Xia and Zhao Wuyang hurriedly raised their hands to point at Long Qi, and even the serious-looking Xinyi quietly extended a finger at this moment.

Long Qi was greatly astonished, his gaze toward the three of them full of shock.

He... he was just betrayed like this?

"You... you actually... can we still be brothers?"

Hearing this, Xinyi, Liu Xia, and Zhao Wuyang shook their heads in unison.

What did brothers count for? Brothers were meant to be betrayed at critical moments!

Long Qi couldn't help but roll his eyes, but the sound of fruit shells breaking in his ears, steady and rhythmic, kept reminding him that there was still a big problem at hand.

"You... you listen to me..." Long Qi approached Lingxiang at a loss, but for a moment, he didn't know where to begin.

Lingxiang looked at Long Qi, just one glance, as if saying: Speak quickly if you have something to say, otherwise don't disturb my fun.

Just as Long Qi was stammering, Xinyi, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up.

"It is because they spoke rudely to you that it came to this."

"Spoke rudely? To me? How so?"

It turned out that because all the Elders had to go into seclusion, the daily practice of all the disciples in the sect was required to be gathered at Youyuan Hall, supervised by Shangqing Zhenren's second disciple, Hanwu, and the disciples of the Taishang Sect were also arranged here.

However, when school ended the previous day, the gossip those Taishang Sect disciples were spouting was unintentionally overheard by Long Qi and the others.

The topic naturally pointed to Lingxiang, and the pretext was the relationship between the two sects.

Lieyang Zhenren had brought twenty-four disciples on this visit, the head of whom was his second disciple, Huiyan.

This Huiyan was nothing much, bringing some disciples to stand guard outside Wuji Hall, but the rest were unbearable. Not knowing where they heard that Lieyang Zhenren was a disciple of Wuwei Laozu, they all looked at themselves as if they were higher than the sky, boasting that they were peers with the Elders of the Yuanqing Sect.

The day before, these disciples were idly chewing the fat, saying that the reason they didn't bring Lieyang Zhenren's Head Disciple on this visit to the Yuanqing Sect, but brought the second disciple instead, was because they wanted to seek the hand of Fucang Elder of the Yuanqing Sect.

They also said that since she was at that age, if she didn't marry now, was she going to be an old maid for the rest of her life? As a woman, insisting on meddling in a group of men was simply not following the rules, and so on.

This talk, as luck would have it, was overheard by Long Qi and the others. At the time, Long Qi was furious, and even Liu Xia stood up immediately, looking like he was about to make a scene to argue.

However, for some reason, Long Qi forcibly suppressed his anger and held back the furious Liu Xia.

"So you thought of this method?" Lingxiang was unimpressed, as if she were not the one being insulted.

"Miss Lingxiang doesn't know, this is still the light version. That group of vulgar people have no filter; they have said even worse things, it's just not convenient to repeat." Seeing Lingxiang's indifferent appearance, Liu Xia hurriedly spoke up.

As disciples who had entered the Daoist Sect, to actually use a woman's appearance for amusement was truly too much!

"Hmm..." Lingxiang pondered for a moment before she understood.

It seemed that the reason the two sides would end up arguing was likely due to the instigation of these four.

If that were truly the case, it was indeed the fault of those Taishang Sect disciples. Although there was a cause, looking at the current situation, causing such a big disturbance and involving two major sects, it would likely be difficult to clean up now.

It was just idle gossip; even if it were poked in Lingxiang's face, she might not necessarily lower herself to their level, but she was still somewhat moved that Long Qi and the others had stood up for her.

Forget it, forget it; youthful spirit is youthful spirit. As an elder, one naturally has to be more tolerant.

Lingxiang sighed helplessly: I suppose the person who is going to clean up the situation should be here by now.

Perhaps in response to Lingxiang's thoughts, a loud voice rang out from outside Youyuan Hall:

"Stop!"