8 Heavenly Queens 1st Star. (2/2)
Li Yang looked at Jue Dong with great amusement, glancing sideways at Mei Kongxu to see how she would react. But contrary to all his expectations, she actually looked somewhat revolted at Jue Dong's actions. Giving it a bit more thought made him realize that she had probably been approached like this countless times in her own sect, she was quite the beauty after all. Jue Dong raised his head again after finishing his introduction, Li Yang taking this opportunity to lean so close to Mei Kongxu that their ears were practically touching as he pretended to whisper.
”I...I don't think he knows? Should we tell him? It might break his heart, I mean, just look at the kid, he looks like a lost puppy. Do we wanna break the heart of a lost puppy like that, do we have so little empathy? I mean, he might just start crying here, he might even cry so much that he pisses his pants. Do we need to clean that up if that happens? Would it be considered our responsibility?”
Mei Kongxu rolled her eyes and pushed Li Yang's head away, but he saw the very faint amusement visible within her upturned lips so he chalked it up as a win in his book. Li Yang was just pretending to be whispering, he barely bothered to lower his volume, allowing Jue Dong to hear every single word he spoke. Jue Dong's eyebrows immediately ticked up as his expression froze, fiercely stepping forward.
”What?! Come here, I dare you to say that to my face! Come, say it! Prove that you've at least got some guts before I show you why you shouldn't insult your future superiors! Please forgive me, My Lady, I must show you something unsightly before we can go and enjoy ourselves without this base thing.”
Jue Dong reached for Li Yang's collar, Mei Kongxu not even bothering to acknowledge his existence despite his flattering words. But the moment he tried to grasp Li Yang's collar, he felt his legs vanish from underneath him as Li Yang kicked them from the side. His body was immediately kicked into a horizontal position in the air, Li Yang's knee rising up and smashing into Jue Dong's exposed abdomen so that he was launched higher into the air.
Li Yang jumped into the air after him and immediately caught up, flipping into a somersault and smashing his heel into Jue Dong's back. The attack knocked all the air out of his lungs and sent him crashing towards the ground, Li Yang increasing the gravity slightly so that Jue Dong hit the ground harder than he should have.
Li Yang himself then landed on the ground and heavily sat down on Jue Dong's back, his right hand stretching out and using a field of attractive gravity to gather up all the sticky sauce that had scattered again. He pulled on Jue Dong's collar and stuffed half the sauce down his back, rubbing the other half of the sauce into Jue Dong's ashen hair while talking.
”You shouldn't insult your future superiors like that, it might end with you getting a beating. Now, is the lost puppy gonna start crying, maybe piss his pants a little? Did we break the heart of the lost puppy? Or are you going to be a good little puppy and scamper off? This base person still has to escort 'Your Lady' around for a bit longer.”
Li Yang did not mind rubbing salt into Jue Dong's wounds by insulting him, it was the least he could do when Jue Dong was acting so insufferably just because he was going to become an Inner Disciple. Jue Dong couldn't say anything, the air had yet to return to his lungs after the kick to his back. He grit his teeth and raised his head to protest, or at least drag Mei Kongxu into this, but hearing a very soft giggling sound from Mei Kongxu made him realize that she would just side with Li Yang even if he dragged her into this. And to make things even worse for him, Li Yang let out a short whistle as Mei Kongxu laughed.
”Ey, you laughed again. That's twice today already so I must be doing something right. But I gotta say, Fairy Sister, if you keep smiling like that then I really will end up falling for you, it suits you a few thousands of times better than your usual boring expression.”
Not only had Li Yang beaten him down and dirtied him, now he was even sitting on his back while teasing and flirting with a woman right in front of him. Jue Dong felt his entire face burning from shame, but Li Yang stopped bothering with him and got up from his back, only sparing him a single sideways glance that told him what he had to do.
Jue Dong grit his teeth so hard that they felt like they were about to break but knew that there was nothing he could do. He got up and quickly scurried away to clean his hair and robe, casting a few vicious glares at Li Yang while he was hurrying away. Li Yang didn't bother with Jue Dong or his thoughts, continuing to guide Mei Kongxu while doing his best to force more laughter out of her.
A good portion of the day had already passed while they were observing the sparring matches so the sun set as he was escorting her, the entire city lighting up with lamps placed on each building. Thanks to this he could escort her all the way through the night, only returning her to the people from the World-rending Behemoth sect when the sun started to rise again.
The sparring matches had ended and the sects had announced Li Yang's and Mei Kongxu's engagement while the two were out touring the city so the World-rending Behemoth sect had completed what they came for. They were going to return to their own sect, but Li Yang was informed that he and some people from the Deepsea King sect would head over to the World-rending Behemoth sect in a month's time to return the favour, engaging in a few sparring matches while announcing the matter of his engagement. Thanks to this, Li Yang only gave Mei Kongxu a quick and cheeky farewell.
”Alright, I'll see ya in a month. Don't miss me so much that you end up getting frisky with yourself at night, leave that to me when we meet again.”
Mei Kongxu's vision once again went black as she assaulted Li Yang, in front of everyone this time. But he dealt with her as easily as he did previously, flipping her into a bridal carry so that it looked like they were just flirting all along. She and the rest of her people then used a special spatial array to return to their sect, Li Yang carefreely using the wooden plaque his father had given him.
The plaque teleported him to his father's office, Li Tian already sitting behind his desk again with a new stack of documents. Running a sect wasn't easy, the higher-ranked elders were always swamped with work so that the younger disciples could have slightly easier lives. He raised his gaze slightly when Li Yang arrived, an appreciative light in his eyes as he nodded his head.
”I knew you wouldn't disappoint me, but don't get lax just because you've stopped hiding your strength. I've already prepared a spot for you in the upcoming Stars Ascension competition, you might die if you are too weak.”
The Stars Ascension Competition was the name given to the grand competition that encompassed the 100 largest organizations on the planet. It was a place for all the organizations to show off their younger disciples and their skills, it would also be used to decide the rankings of the various younger disciples of the organizations.
The competition was still a year off but all the organizations were preparing for it with all their heart, not willing to make a fool of themselves. Li Yang nodded his head seriously, Li Tian flicking his wrist and throwing over something that looked like an extremely glistening bone.
”That is one of our sect's most well-hidden secrets, don't let anyone see that you have it. You focus mostly on martial arts rather than weapons so you need to make sure to cultivate your body to best utilize your skills. That bone contains the Heavenly Queen's 1st Star, the first part of the Heavenly Queen's body cultivation technique. That part only focuses on cultivating the bones but it's still better than the other body cultivation manuals you can find in our archives.”
Li Yang curiously studied the bone, which seemed to be the humerus, his pupils contracting when he heard what sort of technique it supposedly contained. The Heavenly Queen was among the peak experts of the universe, she had reached such a realm that she was only below the gods ruling the various elements and concepts.
She was so highly sought after that the number of people vying for her hand in marriage had reached an uncountable number. This resulted in her going into hiding many years ago to get some peace, the last known sigthing of her was already a bit over 100 000 years ago. Li Tian looked at Li Yang with an exceedingly serious gaze, throwing him a box that seemed to be made from burnt wood, traces of lightning still visible on the edges of the box.
”I repeat, don't let anyone see or know that you have it, the skills of the Heavenly Queen will arouse greed in even the noblest heart, our entire sect could be attacked if news came out that we have such a thing, had I not found it during one of my travels long ago we would not be qualified to have such a thing. Always keep it within that box and only take it out when you are 100% confident that no one will be able to see it.”
Li Yang once again nodded his head seriously and placed the bone into the box, closing it shut and putting it into his interspatial ring. Li Tian then gave Li Yang a few more reminders about the upcoming sparring matches in the World-rending Behemoth sect and then sent him on his way, Li Yang giving him a polite bow before leaving to study the body cultivation technique.