บท 135: Which Martial Sister Caught His Eye?

Qiu Ling hopped back onto the ring as soon as the spheres tied to him and his opponent flew out of the cauldron and toward the venue of their fight. In the audience, a migration happened: Most of the martial sisters surrounded the ring and looked up with sparkling eyes.

Qiu Ling furrowed his brow and watched for Jing Yi. The boy had actually hurried over, too, but seeing the wall of women in front of him he hesitated. He looked up at the ring and once again met with Qiu Ling's gaze. He felt compelled to step closer but finally still reconsidered.

Qiu Ling sighed. That was probably his own fault. Ah, but just wait a bit. He would finish these fights as fast as possible and then hurry over to him!

With that thought, he looked at Jing Yi for a last moment before he turned around to his opponent. He narrowed his eyes and stormed forward as soon as the gong sounded. This disciple, too, was sent over the edge of the ring with one kick.

Uh … That hadn't been his intention! Haish, humans were really too weak. He'd have to hold back if he wanted to impress Jing Yi.

Sect Master Yuchi looked at Grandmaster Zhangsun. "You got a fine disciple. If it goes on like this, our Yun Zou sect might actually win the gathering this time."

Zhangsun Xun Yi nodded but he was somewhere else with his thoughts. That disciple of his … what he had could probably not be just called a divine constitution. Maybe he should go and ask that man about it. He originally hadn't wanted to pry further into his matters but if it concerned his disciple he had no other choice.

Qiu Ling knew nothing of his master's thoughts. He was preoccupied with watching Jing Yi and showing off to Jing Yi whenever the gong sounded again. After the first three or four fights, he finally found the right amount of strength so as to not kick his opponents right off the stage and had the opportunity to display one or two of his other skills.

His plan seemed to work. Jing Yi's eyes were practically glued to him. He hadn't even taken a peek at the fights of Shai Hai or Xiao Dong. Actually, he only remembered them when Shao Hai finally had some more time and came over to complain.

"Xiao Yi! You didn't come to watch my fight!" He stared accusingly at him, hoping for at least some soothing words.

"Ah Hai, look at that!" Jing Yi pointed at the stone ring where Qiu Ling was fighting.

The dragon king had finally taken out his sword and was twirling it through the air. The blade glinted in the sunlight and the graceful moves showcased Qiu Ling's well-built body. He kind of regretted not wearing black because that would probably help with his image but white seemed to be alright, too. At least, he could still feel the unwavering gaze of his beloved in his back.

"What's so good about him?" Shao Hai couldn't help but stare at Qiu Ling, too, but didn't want to acknowledge him. "It's just flashy moves!"

"Mn." Jing Yi made a noise of agreement but he hadn't really heard. All of his thoughts were still concentrated on that figure clad in white.

The blade flashed once again and the opponent's weapon clattered to the ground. With a flourish of his sleeves, Qiu Ling sheathed his sword and turned a little to look at his beloved. Mn, he seems reasonably impressed. It's probably time to go over.

He left the ring but found himself in front of a wall of women. He couldn't even see his beloved anymore. Qiu Ling pressed his lips together. This wasn't right. He shouldn't come out of a crowd of women when he officially went over to his beloved. What would Jing He think if he saw that? Mn, in fact, it would be better if they were all alone. He didn't want to have a crowd around. Then again, when he met Jing He for the first time back in the nine heavens, there had been quite a lot of people around, too.

On the stage, Sect master Yuchi once again leaned over to Grandmaster Zhangsun. "Grandmaster, it seems the way your disciple fights isn't your typical direct approach."

"Mn, he didn't learn that from me."

"Ah." The Sect master nodded. "Then … are you alright with this style of his? It seems quite flashy."

"Indeed." Grandmaster Zhangsun frowned. He also hadn't expected his disciple to have such a style. Someone who was able to cultivate sword energy at twenty-seven years of age should be better, no? These flashy moves weren't good for anything but showing off.

Just when he thought so one of the Grand Elders of the sect chuckled lowly. "I'm afraid you'll first have to teach him something else before the sword arts, Grandmaster."

Zhangsun Xun Yi lifted his brows. The Grand Elder chuckled once again and looked at the Sect master to see if he understood. Yuchi Bing Xia could only blink. He also couldn't understand.

"Well, he's clearly showing off. All those pretty martial sisters must have gone to his head."

Zhangsun Xun Yi looked over. At this moment, his disciple was looking at those women in front of him with disgust clearly expressed on his face. Was that really someone who basked in their attention?

The Sect master was skeptical, too. "It doesn't seem like that to me. He seems rather … put out because of them?"

"Ah, what do you know? You've both never been in love. He's clearly charmed by one particular martial sister! Of course, he's showing off to her and now that there are so many other women he is afraid she might misunderstand him to be a womanizer. That is why he's angry now."

Yuchi Bing Xia nodded. This explanation seemed plausible to him. "Then which martial sister does he like?" Considering this was a future pillar of their sect he should try everything to support him!

"Well, with all these women around even I can't tell. But she's probably standing somewhere at the back. If you trace his gaze when he is on the ring, you'll see that he has always been looking at the back of the crowd."

All three men looked at Qiu Ling who had to go to the next ring just at that moment. He looked back at the crowd as soon as he stepped onto the ring, his gaze accurately locking onto a place somewhere at the back of the crowd.

"It's indeed true!" Sect master Yuchi was stunned.

"Mn, it might be that young girl who fainted before", guessed the Grand Elder. "That was obviously a ruse from her to attract his attention. It seems it worked. He hadn't hurried over like she certainly expected but he probably only wanted to be low-key."

Sect master Yuchi could only lift his brows. Fainting could be a ruse to get attention from a man? Ah, he really had no idea about love. He had always cultivated, taken on missions and then cultivated some more before he started to take over some of the tasks of the old Sect master. When would he have had time for a woman?

He peaked at the Grandmaster next to him. That fellow would probably understand even less. Had he done anything else but practice in all those years? He was already so old and still not married even though he looked young. There was probably not a chance that this guy would ever find himself a practitioner partner. Mn, maybe it was good that he would be confronted with that thanks to his disciple.

Zhangsun Xun Yi didn't dwell on it. He felt like love wasn't something a practitioner needed in his life but he wouldn't forbid his disciple from forming a practitioner pair if he found someone he liked. A woman wasn't something that necessarily had to distract someone. It was also something that could give a man another reason to follow his chosen path. Maybe his disciple would be one of those men who were spurned on by the thought of protecting the woman they loved.

Meanwhile, the gong sounded. Qiu Ling took one look at his opponent, suddenly appeared in front of him and kicked him off the ring. The sound of the gong hadn't even subsided. As soon as the disciple landed on the ground and the Elder overseeing the fight gave his nod of approval and announced him the winner … Qiu Ling vanished.

All the disciples watching stared at the ring dumbstruck. Where had that genius gone?

The martial sisters who had waited at the side of the ring looked around anxiously. Only those on the stage who could see the whole clearing with all the rings could see that Qiu Ling had leaped from the ring into the air and out of that encirclement of women. He had already landed behind them where they didn't bother to look and slowly made his way over in a certain direction.

The Grand Elder and the Sect master couldn't help but hold their breath and inch a little forward on their seats. Which one would it be? And what was he going to say to her? Then their eyes bulged.

Qiu Ling's actions really surpassed all their imaginations.