47. You Don’t Move, I Don’t Move!
The two stood facing each other for a long moment.
The more Wu Shijie probed Gong Yiling’s aura and cultivation, the more he frowned, his heart filled with uncertainty.
No matter how he examined her, she only seemed to be at Foundation Establishment.
Disguised auras were different from genuine ones. They felt forced, like suppressed power.
And when emotions fluctuated, a stronger aura would leak through.
But this woman’s cultivation felt perfectly natural, as if she truly was at Foundation Establishment.
But that was impossible.
The Left Protector was a Return to Origin cultivator, not to mention Yan Danyang, who was also at the same realm.
For this woman to easily defeat them both, she couldn’t possibly be at Foundation Establishment.
This meant her control over her aura was absolute.
Such a cultivator couldn’t be underestimated.
He would wait and see. She didn’t move, he wouldn’t move.
If she moved, he would react accordingly!
As for Gong Yiling…
—Would he discover she was just a paper tiger?
Miss Gong felt her tricks could only fool idiots, but the cultivator before her was the renowned leader of the Hehuan Sect.
He shouldn’t be so easily fooled, right?
He wouldn’t overthink things like those two idiots, right?
If he realized she was just a Foundation Establishment or Core Formation weakling, wouldn’t she be done for?
And look, he was already frowning.
Frowning meant he had noticed something amiss.
Why couldn’t Elder Yan and the others see through such a simple facade?
This wasn’t scientific.
But whatever.
Standing still might confuse him.
This was called strategic stillness.
He didn’t move, she didn’t move. If he moved, she would run!
So, they stood there for ten minutes, while everyone else watched.
No movement, no movement, still no movement.
Finally, after Gong Yiling’s feet went numb, someone spoke.
“You two, if you’re going to fight, can you do it somewhere else?”
The voice was clear and melodious, like a lark’s song.
The speaker wore a palace dress and a luxurious white fur vest.
She had fiery red hair, styled elegantly, and wore a butterfly mask covering half her face.
This seemed to be… the Fifth Princess of the Heartflame Empire, Shangguan Ziyuan.
Hearing this, Wu Shijie finally relaxed.
He had been stuck in a difficult situation, waiting for someone to offer him a way out.
“Hmph.” Wu Shijie feigned composure, sneering. “Since the Fifth Princess has spoken, I’ll give you face.”
“However, I advise this young lady to be careful when walking. If she accidentally falls off a cliff… heh.”
His threat wasn’t too harsh. He shouldn’t even be giving Shangguan Ziyuan face.
Normally, the Hehuan Sect Master would have unleashed a torrent of insults.
—Even though he didn’t dare to truly offend the Fifth Princess, who was the disciple of the Heartflame Empire’s Grand Elder.
Seeing Wu Shijie leave, Gong Yiling almost broke character.
She shouldn’t have gotten involved in that mess. It led to all these unexpected developments.
She didn’t know how much of the book’s plot would change because of her actions.
But before that, she needed to think about her next move.
“As expected of an Immortal Master!”
Returning to her group, Miss Gong was met with praises.
“I could sense that Wu Shijie probed her almost a hundred times, but the Immortal Master remained as steady as Mount Tai, her aura perfectly concealed.”
“In their initial confrontation, Wu Shijie lost to the Immortal Master by at least ten moves.”
“More like fifty moves.”
“You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. Wu Shijie lost by at least a hundred moves, a complete defeat.”
“No, you’re the one who doesn’t understand. The Immortal Master made one move, and Wu Shijie couldn’t counter it even after a hundred moves. That’s why he left so abruptly.”
“Hey… that makes sense. The Immortal Master is truly amazing!”
“Yes, with the Immortal Master here, that loser Wu Shijie wouldn’t dare act so arrogant.”
Damn it.
Their exaggerations were getting out of hand.
They were practically saying that Gong Yiling defeated Wu Shijie with a single move.
With such rumors spreading, the public’s imagination was truly boundless.
Gong Yiling, listening to these praises, wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Her legs suddenly weakened, and she almost fell.
Fortunately, Qiu Shui quickly rushed to her side and supported her. “Master, what’s wrong?”
“I stood for too long. My legs are numb. Help me for a bit.”
“Okay.”
Before they could walk far, several guards from the Heartflame Empire approached, and the princess who had spoken earlier walked towards them.
“This is…?”
“May I borrow some of your time, Senior, and this young lady’s?”
“What is it?” Gong Yiling replied coldly.
“It’s like this…” Shangguan Ziyuan felt like she was getting the cold shoulder.
But this senior was supposedly a cultivator from the Great One Engineering Sect, so there was no need to be polite.
“I’ve heard that the cultivators of the Great One Engineering Sect and the Cloud Rainbow Sect possess unparalleled medical skills and acupuncture techniques.”
“I wonder, Senior, if you could help treat someone—”
“Treat your master?”
Before Shangguan Ziyuan could finish, Gong Yiling interrupted.
“You know my master?”
“I’ve heard of him.” Gong Yiling recalled some information from the novel. “Daoist Huaiyuan. He fought against the Hall Master of the Hundred Ghosts Hall from the Five Demonic Abysses. You want me to treat the aftereffects of the Hall Master’s signature move, the Myriad Souls Heart Erosion Finger, right?”
Shangguan Ziyuan’s eyes widened.
Her master’s fight wasn’t a secret, but the fact that he was injured in a two-on-one ambush was known to very few, even within the empire.
Was this senior truly as powerful and knowledgeable as the rumors suggested?
“Then… Senior, do you have a solution?”
“I don’t.” Gong Yiling shook her head honestly. “But there’s someone I can recommend, if you dare to use her.”
“Who?”
“The eldest daughter of the Yan family, Yan Chuyue.”
Leave a Reply