"Ugh, keep dreaming!" Ye Qingcheng glared at Wang Xiaoqiang fiercely before turning and walking out first.

"Tsk, even if you really wanted to devote yourself to me, I'd have to think about it!" Wang Xiaoqiang murmured as he watched Ye Qingcheng's alluring, swaying hips, chin in hand.

"What?..." Ye Qingcheng, with her sharp ears, heard Wang Xiaoqiang's mutter and swiftly turned around, glaring at him with her beautiful eyes. "You, you still need to think about it? With a girl like me, you still need to think about it? You, you..."

"So, you're saying that I shouldn't think about it and just take you?" Wang Xiaoqiang spread his hands with a grin.

"..." Ye Qingcheng opened her mouth but found no words. Thinking over their exchange, she realized she had fallen into his trap, her beautiful face flushing with embarrassment.

Just then, her Message Jade Slip vibrated in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw Mo Qiyan's face displayed on it. Ye Qingcheng tapped the Jade Slip with her index finger, and Mo Qingcheng's voice came through, "Hey, why haven't you two arrived yet?"

"Sorry, Senior Sister Qiyan, we're on our way," Ye Qingcheng replied to the Jade Slip.

"Hurry up, I've already ordered dishes…" Ling Qiyan's voice said.

"Okay." Ye Qingcheng swiped her finger over the Jade Slip to end the conversation with Ling Qiyan. Putting away the Jade Slip, she looked up and glared fiercely at Wang Xiaoqiang, "See what you've done? It's your fault Sister Qiyan has been waiting for us forever. Let's hurry..."

Saying this, she again instinctively grabbed Wang Xiaoqiang's hand and started rushing toward the Immortal Gathering Tower in the commercial street.

In the Taiyi Sect, fearing electromagnetic interference with the Spiritual Energy, it was explicitly forbidden to use mobile phones. Communication between disciples was conducted with Message Jade Slips, even when contacting the outside world.

The Message Jade Slip, compared to mobile phones, was equally convenient and practical, without worrying about signal issues.

The two attracting a lot of attention as they ran hand in hand down the street. The Taiyi Sect had three renowned beauties: Hee Saixue, Zhao Wushuang, and Ye Qingcheng. As one of these beauties, Ye Qingcheng was already the center of attention in the sect. Known for her lofty and pure reputation, she had even refused the advances of the acclaimed youth, Lin Jinghong, which surprised everyone. Yet today, she was seen running wildly, holding a man's hand, leading to much speculation among the onlookers. One particularly sleazy-looking man, upon witnessing the scene, his squinty eyes bulging like brass bells in shock, immediately took out his own Message Jade Slip and reported what he had seen to someone—none other than Lin Jinghong.

That's how men are, always desiring the high and mighty, the proud, the women who are hard to get. Lin Jinghong was a distinguished young talent in the Taiyi Sect. At just twenty-five years old, already at the Early Golden Core Stage, he was considered a prodigy. At least among the younger generation disciples of the North Sect, no one could come close. The rejection from Ye Qingcheng was a face-losing blow to him, causing great frustration. At that time, he boastfully declared that if Lin Jinghong couldn't have a woman, nobody else would stand a chance either.

Thus, when he heard that the usually lofty Ye Qingcheng was running through the commercial street holding a man's hand, he couldn't believe his ears.

It was only when his junior, also his underling, Ma Wenbo repeated it and urged him to see for himself, did he begin to believe it, and he set out immediately.

The commercial street was where the Taiyi Sect disciples shopped. One could buy everything here: food, drink, clothing, accessories, and even Talisman Papers, pills, and magic artifacts. The Immortal Gathering Tower, located on the commercial street, was a reputable restaurant that had a wide variety of dishes, including Northeastern cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, and Cantonese cuisine... Running this restaurant was, of course, not an ordinary disciple, but an Elder of the sect. In Taiyi Sect, only Sect Leaders and Elders could run businesses, and their employees were mostly their own disciples.

After Wang Xiaoqiang and Ye Qingcheng arrived on the second floor of the Immortal Gathering Tower, they found that Ling Qiyan was already seated at a table by the window, with dishes already served on the table. She stood up to greet them as they entered. As they approached, she chided them, "If you were any later, the food would've gone cold. What a drag..."

That last complaint was whispered into Ye Qingcheng's ear, not letting Wang Xiaoqiang hear it. After all, in her eyes, Wang Xiaoqiang was a "senior," not someone she could lightly rebuke.

Yet Ye Qingcheng immediately protested, "Hey, it's not my fault; ask him..." She pointed at Wang Xiaoqiang, "If it wasn't for him, I would have been here much earlier..."

Wang Xiaoqiang spread his hands, "If it wasn't for you, I would have been here long ago too."

"Heh, you two, who exactly tripped whom?" Ling Qiyan scrutinized both of them, amused.

"Let's not talk about it; just thinking about it makes me mad," Ye Qingcheng said annoyed as she pulled out a chair to sit down and started picking up dishes with her chopsticks to eat.

Ling Qiyan, eyeing Ye Qingcheng like she was looking at a child, shook her head and said to Wang Xiaoqiang, "Little Qiang, come sit!"

Wang Xiaoqiang nodded, and then they both took their seats.

"Come on, Little Qiang, try the dishes. You look like a northerner, so I ordered some Northeastern Chinese cuisine. I don't know if it suits your taste?" Ling Qiyan picked up her chopsticks and motioned to Wang Xiaoqiang.

"That's right, I'm a northerner, but I'm not picky about food. I can eat anything from anywhere in the country, including foreign dishes..."

"I find someone's changing quite fast. It was just a while ago that you said 'this young master is quite picky!' Now you say you're not picky at all. Such flattery is a bit too blatant, isn't it?" Ye Qingcheng raised her head and looked at Wang Xiaoqiang with a cold sneer.

Wang Xiaoqiang hadn't expected Ye Qingcheng to take his boastful remark seriously. Seeing her say this, he felt somewhat embarrassed and glanced at Ling Qiyan, who, however, laughed it off generously. "Junior Sister Ye, you really have a way with words. What kind of person is Little Qiang, as if he needs to flatter me..."

"What kind of person? You don't know what kind of person he is. He actually is a, a..."

"A Flower Thief." Suddenly, someone chimed in.

Startled, the three of them turned their heads to look, only to see a handsome young man flicking a folding fan, followed by a rather sleazy-looking man, walking up the stairs together.

These two were none other than Lin Jinghong and Ma Chunbo. Lin Jinghong's handsomeness made Ma Chunbo look all the more sleazy, and Ma Chunbo's sleaziness, in turn, made Lin Jinghong appear even more handsome.

"It's true that a dog can't spit out ivory," Ye Qingcheng, despite her disdainful words toward Wang Xiaoqiang, couldn't help but strike back when she heard others insulting him.

Ye Qingcheng didn't quite believe it when she saw her running down the street holding a man's hand. When Lin Jinghong arrived upstairs and saw Ye Qingcheng dining with a man with the company of Ling Qiyan, the Taiyi Sect's South Gate first belle and the second belle accompanying an unknown young man, Lin Jinghong felt even more unbalanced. With a sweep of his divine sense, he saw that this young man's cultivation base had also reached the Early Golden Core Stage, equal to his own. Despite his shock, he still wasn't afraid; his arrogant nature made him fearless, so he "spoke insultingly" outright.

However, his "insulting speech" met with Ye Qingcheng's retaliation. If the retort had come from Wang Xiaoqiang, it might have been one thing; but it came from Ye Qingcheng, which meant what? It meant that the relationship between Ye Qingcheng and this man had become very close.

Ye Qingcheng refused Lin Jinghong because she found him overly pretentious, overly proud, and too arrogant, unwilling to show any weakness in front of women. In other words, he was a chauvinist who saw himself as the sun, always wanting the girls he liked to revolve around him, yet Ye Qingcheng disliked revolving around anyone, especially men. So, she simply rejected Lin Jinghong, though she did so with considerable tact, considering Lin Jinghong's advanced cultivation base marked him as a standout among the younger generation of the Taiyi Sect, highly regarded by the Deputy Leader of North Sect and the six Elders, making him an adversary that could be extremely detrimental to her own cultivation and advancement.

Put simply, she was somewhat wary of Lin Jinghong, but now things had changed; now she had Wang Xiaoqiang as a friend. After all, Wang Xiaoqiang was younger than Lin Jinghong but his cultivation base was not inferior to Lin's, and he was also praised and valued by the Sect Leader, the True Person of Taiyi. Although Wang Xiaoqiang's fame was not yet established within the Taiyi Sect, it wouldn't be long—probably in the next month's grand competition—that he would make a name for himself and become the focus of widespread attention.

Therefore, she straightforwardly told Lin Jinghong that he couldn't expect anything good to come from his mouth. In doing so, she was not only striking back for Wang Xiaoqiang but also for herself.

Seeing Ye Qingcheng counterattack on behalf of Wang Xiaoqiang and insult him at that, Lin Jinghong was furious and immediately pointed at Ye Qingcheng, sternly demanding, "You, who are you cursing at?"

"I'm cursing the one who deserves it!" Ye Qingcheng responded coldly, not even deigning to glance at Lin Jinghong.

"You, you..." Lin Jinghong had originally intended to teach Wang Xiaoqiang a lesson, to make him back off from Ye Qingcheng, but unexpectedly ended up clashing with Ye Qingcheng herself, and even experienced her humiliation. For a moment, he was at a loss but quickly thought of a way to save face, turning to Ling Qiyan and saying, "Junior Sister Ling, as the senior sister of South Gate, shouldn't you intervene? Look how insolent they have become..."

Lin Jinghong knew Ling Qiyan to be mature and prudent, always prioritizing the greater good in her actions, sometimes even accommodating others to avoid losing face and harmony. At this moment, he hoped she would step forward and reprimand Ye Qingcheng, giving him a way out.

"Senior Brother Lin, are you trying to lecture me?" Unexpectedly, Ling Qiyan retorted with such a statement, "Our South Gate's matters don't need your interference, do they?!"

Ling Qiyan had never favored Lin Jinghong's haughty nature; taking advantage of his cultivation, he often bullied disciples with weaker abilities. Once, he bullied a disciple from South Gate and happened to be caught by Ling Qiyan. As the senior sister of South Gate, she of course had to stand up for her junior brother. At that time, Ling Qiyan, out of concern for the harmony between South and North Gates, held back and did not speak out, choosing instead to plead with Lin Jinghong on behalf of the disciple. Since then, Lin Jinghong mistakenly assumed that Ling Qiyan was easy to push around, unaware that this time, Ling Qiyan would turn against him.

Ling Qiyan was mature and prudent, but not the sort to be pushed around. Her previous consideration was about the harmony between South and North Gates within the Taiyi Sect. Traditionally, South and North Gates had been closely allied, while West and East Gates presented a united front, forming two opposing factions. If South Gate wanted to hold its ground in these tensions, it had to join hands with North Gate, so their harmony was critical. With Lin Jinghong being a leading figure of North Gate, highly regarded by the North Sect Leader, he had significant influence, and offending him meant offending the North Sect Leader, which could strain the relations between the two gates. Furthermore, due to South Gate's traditionally weaker posture, with Ling Qiyan being its strongest among the young generation, at Foundation Establishment Mid Stage, strength which would be considered insignificant in the other gates, it was one of the reasons why Ling Qiyan had to occasionally accommodate others. In the Taiyi Sect, strength was key.

But now, with Wang Xiaoqiang having joined South Gate, this young disciple with considerable strength had not yet boosted the reputation of South Gate but had already given Ling Qiyan the confidence she needed. Like a hidden dragon awaiting its chance to soar, it was only a matter of time.

Thus, Ling Qiyan naturally wouldn't stoop low or accommodate Lin Jinghong anymore! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

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