Chapter 182

Chapter 182: Li Jing Rang, Let’s Break Off the Engagement
Su Ming went back to his room still feeling depressed. After thinking it over again and again, he decided to run over to complain to his Junior Sister, but when he got there he saw Li Jing Rang standing outside Ye Cong Xin’s room.

His brows furrowed hard as he said: “Senior Brother Li, why did you come over? This is my Junior Sister’s room.”

Li Jing Rang saw Su Ming and looked a bit awkward as he said: “I just happened to come up with a good line of verse and wanted to discuss it with Junior Sister Ye.”

Su Ming said: “Junior Sister has been rushing around and working hard for days and is already very tired. She is resting right now. Senior Brother Li, you should go back.”

Su Ming was just short of directly chasing him away. No matter how much Li Jing Rang did not want to leave, he had no choice but to go.

He said: “Fine, then I will come visit again in a few days.”

He did not give Su Ming a chance to refuse again, turned around, and left in a hurry.

A voice sounded from inside the room, soft and gentle: “Third Senior Brother.”

As soon as Li Jing Rang left, Ye Cong Xin opened the door, a faint look of gratitude in her eyes.

Li Jing Rang’s lack of sense of propriety really troubled her. Su Ming had come at just the right time.

Su Ming frowned and said: “Junior Sister, you should interact less with those shady people in the future. That Li Jing Rang clearly has an unwed Dao Companion, yet he still comes to look for you when no one is around. You can tell he is not an honest person.”

Su Ming was born in the Imperial Capital. He might not have personal experience in matters between men and women, but he had seen plenty.

Li Jing Rang obviously had other thoughts about Ye Cong Xin, yet he still waved the banner of ‘discussing poetry and prose’. His words did not match his heart; he was not a good person.

Ye Cong Xin responded gently, not showing the least hint of displeasure on her face.

Su Ming suddenly thought of the rebellious Yu Zhao and began to pour out his grievances.

He said: “Junior Sister, why can’t Yu Zhao be as gentle and cute as you? Clearly we all used to get along so well before.

“If she felt wronged, she could have just said so and let Master or First Senior Brother stand up for her. But she insisted on bottling it up and never saying a word. Who knows what she is thinking!

“Now we already know we were wrong. First Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother apologized to her in turn, and Fourth Brother even gave up being an alchemist to win her forgiveness. What else could she be unhappy about? Does she really want us to kneel down and kowtow to apologize before she is willing to forgive us?

“Wouldn’t that make her even more unreasonable…”

Su Ming rambled on and on, airing out all his complaints. Ye Cong Xin listened quietly, occasionally echoing a few words, but in her heart she was sneering again and again.

[So this is the great Fated One favored by the Heavenly Dao?]

He was obviously a fool who was blind in both eyes and heart.

Even now he still did not understand why Yu Zhao had left.

Yu Zhao was never someone who cared about external possessions. Otherwise she would not have lent him all of her spirit stones back then.

They only knew how to demand that Yu Zhao be obedient and docile, like a pet they could call and dismiss at will, yet they had never seriously listened to what Yu Zhao wanted.

She had held out her sincere heart and given for over ten years, and in the end what she received was not understanding, but indifference.

Even Ye Cong Xin almost could not help but feel pity for Yu Zhao.

If it were her, she would have long ago found ways to gain their favorability, then drain all of their fortune in one stroke, saving herself from having to watch them act like idiots in front of her.

Suddenly, Ye Cong Xin’s whole body trembled.

[So Yu Zhao was not trying to play hard to get, but had finally thought things through and decided to completely give up on them?]

The more Ye Cong Xin thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and the more stifled she felt.

These idiots whom even Yu Zhao had given up on, yet she still had to patiently tangle with them. Ye Cong Xin could not help thinking: [Will Yu Zhao feel that I picked up the trash she did not want?]

Her breathing even started to feel a little tight.

In the past, Yu Zhao had been better than her in every way, and she could only suppress Yu Zhao by snatching the affections of people like Fang Cheng Lang. Now that Yu Zhao no longer had any restraints, would it not be like the sea wide for fish to leap in and the sky high for birds to fly?

No wonder, no wonder her cultivation level had been rising so quickly recently, no wonder…

Su Ming waved a hand in front of her and said: “Junior Sister? Junior Sister, what’s wrong? Have you been listening to me?”

Ye Cong Xin came back to herself at Su Ming’s call. She forced a smile and said: “Third Senior Brother, I am sorry, I’m not feeling very well.”

At this moment Ye Cong Xin’s face was slightly pale and her expression dazed. Su Ming did not doubt her, grumbled a few unhappy words, and stomped off.

Inside the room.

Ye Cong Xin’s face was hidden in the shadows, making it hard to see clearly.

However, the whitened joints of her hands gave away her emotions.

She lowered her voice and murmured: “Yu Zhao, don’t think you can shake me off. I will catch up to you very soon, very soon…”

As the time of the Sect Competition drew near, the various sects of the cultivation world all gathered at Wen Ding Pavilion.

Yu Zhao also met Mo Ci and Jing Nan of Hundred Flowers Valley, as well as Ji Han Zhou of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Mo Ci and Jing Nan were as warm toward Yu Zhao as ever. They even invited Yu Zhao to Hundred Flowers Valley’s residence to introduce her to the other disciples of Hundred Flowers Valley.

Even several days later, Yu Zhao still felt that the tip of her nose was full of those young women’s sweet fragrance.

In contrast to Mo Ci and Jing Nan, Ji Han Zhou’s mood was not so good. Although he did his best to hide it in front of Yu Zhao, she still noticed that something was off.

You could only say that Li Jing Rang was courting death. With the Sect Grand Tournament about to begin, he still did not know to restrain himself and spent all day going to other sects’ residences to sing praises of Ye Cong Xin. The Heavenly Sword Sect had now received the news, and Senior Sister Liu Zheng was probably already on her way to find Li Jing Rang.

Yu Zhao had guessed right.

When Li Jing Rang was called out by Liu Zheng, he was still walking with his head held high, paper fan never leaving his hand, putting on an air of arrogant disdain for the world.

His betrothed Dao Companion had barely arrived at Wen Ding Pavilion and already could not wait to meet him. His charm was truly unmatched.

Liu Zheng looked straight at him and said: “Li Jing Rang, let’s break off the engagement.”

Li Jing Rang cried out: “Liu Zheng, are you crazy!”

He was so shocked that he almost flung the paper fan out of his hand.

His engagement with Liu Zheng had been decided by the Sect Masters of their two sects. How could it be changed so casually?

Besides, for Liu Zheng to come to break off the engagement for no reason at all was simply not putting him, nor Tai Bai Academy, in her eyes!

No man could swallow such a humiliation!

Liu Zheng’s brows and eyes were sharp, her back straight, her whole person like a sharp sword, her presence fierce.

She said: “Since you admire Junior Sister Ye, I will fulfill your wish. From this moment on, our engagement is canceled. As for the remaining arrangements, my Master, Sect Master Chong Yang, will personally discuss them with your academy’s dean.”

Li Jing Rang’s face twisted ferociously as he shouted: “No! I do not agree! Junior Sister Ye and I are as pure as clear water. It is obviously you who have other thoughts and want to splash dirty water on my head. Keep dreaming!”

He could not break off the engagement!

Once the news spread, where would his dignity as First Senior Brother be? What would the Dean of Tai Bai Academy and his fellow disciples think of him?

He clearly had done nothing. They could forget about framing him!

Liu Zheng looked at him in puzzlement.

She said: “The fact that you like Junior Sister Ye is known to everyone now. Why do you not dare to admit it? If you are worried that breaking off the engagement will make people laugh at you, I can also clarify things for you.”

When Liu Zheng first received the news, she had not been as angry as the junior brothers and junior sisters. On the contrary, she had secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Originally, her engagement with Li Jing Rang was essentially a disguised alliance. The two of them had only met twice in total, with no feelings to speak of. Now that Li Jing Rang had someone he liked, it was the perfect excuse to dissolve the engagement so they could both be free to marry as they wished. She really did not understand why Li Jing Rang was against it.

He shouted: “Who said I like Junior Sister Ye? The relationship between her and me is as proper as that between a gentleman and a lady! Do not think of us as something so dirty. That is an insult to me, and even more an insult to Junior Sister Ye!

“And you are also a young woman, so why is your heart so vicious!”