243 Chapter 242: Bluffing (1/2)

The bodyguards from the Martial Arts Alliance immediately sprang up and imposed themselves between Song Ting Yu and Mo Long the moment they sensed the air of hostility emanating from him. Even though they were no match for him, they would not hesitate to sell their lives to protect their lady. With grim determination, they held their fists up and accumulated qi for whatever martial arts techniques they deemed appropriate.

Mo Long didn't even place them in his eyes, and laughed scornfully.

”If I want to kill that brat, there's nothing you can do to stop me.”

”My father will send high-level experts to hunt you down if you do this,” Song Ting Yu warned. She was bluffing, of course. Her father had no idea what was going on, and she had yet to contact him and informed him of what had transpired in the few days she spent at Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and Wu Ling Academy.

”Go ahead. They won't be able to reach me in time before I complete my mission.” Mo Long wasn't even the least intimidated.

Song Ting Yu smiled stiffly. ”You misunderstand me. The Martial Arts Alliance will destroy Green Dragon Sect for this act of betrayal. If you disobey an order from the Alliance Chief, through me as a proxy, it will be counted as treason against the Martial Arts Alliance.” She narrowed her pearly eyes. ”Even your sect leader, Jian Ao, will not survive the purge.”

”Why would you go so far just to protect an insignificant brat?” Mo Long snorted. ”Do you really expect me to believe that the Martial Arts Alliance will go so far as to protect a former enemy? One with the means to destroy them, even?”

”Those same means can destroy you too,” Song Ting Yu reminded him, and then smiled sweetly as a strange light flickered in her eyes. ”And he is a valuable person. For someone of his age to create something as devastating as the Sunburst bombs…don't you think he will have more to contribute to the future of the Great Zhou Empire? Even if he is part of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, who had a falling-out with the Alliance, it's not as if we can't strike an understanding and form a partnership. True, we have done irreparable damage to his sect, and he is wise not to trust us, but that doesn't mean we still can't form a relationship of mutual benefits.”

”So what does that have to do with you marrying him?” Mo Long scoffed disbelievingly. ”If what you say is true, then why would he ever agree to marry someone from an organization he cannot trust? Surely he still holds a grudge against the Alliance?”

”You underestimate my powers of persuasion, and my charm.” Even though Song Ting Yu maintained a confident façade, inside her heart was thumping wildly as she hoped that Mo Long would not see through her bluff.

The handsone Green Dragon Sect assassin regarded her suspiciously. Seeing his hesitation, Song Ting Yu tried one last push.

”My father is also interested in recruiting Mister Fei into the Song family. With his Heaven and Earth Formula, his potential is limitless. He will surely not be restrained by Nine-Tailed Fox Sect alone. He will move on to much larger things.” Song Ting Yu's dazzling smile widened. ”He might even become the future Alliance Chief…”

Mo Long scowled, hardly believing the words coming out of Song Ting Yu's mouth. Despite his skepticism, he could see that Song Ting Yu truly believed what she was uttering. Her eyes were glinting in fevered passion, and her cheeks were flushed pink. She really looked like a maiden in love. He had never seen Song Ting Yu so taken with a boy before.

Little did he know, it was most probably because Song Ting Yu had her own charm technique reflected upon herself.

However, Mo Long was wavering slightly now. He realized that he couldn't afford to be careless. If Song Ting Yu was telling the truth, and the Martial Arts Alliance had really accepted the engagement between her and me, then his assassination would bring the wrath of the Alliance upon his Green Dragon Sect. Moreover, the Green Dragon Sect had suffered horrendous casualties in the last battle. Though they were not as bad as the near-annihilated Snow Valley Sect and the other nine sects who had taken part as the vanguard of the invasion of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, right now they couldn't afford to go to war against the Alliance, who still had three other major sects at their beck and call. Even after the cessation of White Tiger Sect, Red Phoenix Sect and Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, and the demise of Snow Valley Sect, they still had Black Tortoise Sect, Kunlun Sect and Heavenly Way Sect under them.

Even Green Dragon Sect had remained under their umbrella, so unless Jian Ao was willing to enact a total break from them like my Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, they couldn't afford to recklessly offend the three families who governed the Martial Arts Alliance. Of course, the Alliance wasn't stupid enough to waste their time putting down civil wars and dealing with infighting, so Song Ting Yu was playing a dangerous game here. It was unlikely that her father would be bothered to crush Jian Ao and Green Dragon Sect for ”disobedience.”

However, Song Ting Yu was aware of other methods that would be more effective. Such as assassinations. They didn't have to punish Green Dragon Sect – they had top-level assassins who could remove Jian Ao (and Mo Long in the bargain) so that he would be replaced with a more amenable sect leader.

Mo Long furrowed his brow and watched Song Ting Yu hesitantly, trying to see if there were any openings, anything that would give her away. When he found none, he relaxed and put on a vague smile. ”Then Green Dragon Sect will be the first to congratulate Miss Song and Mister Fei's joyous union.”

With that parting remark, he turned and vanished into the shadows.

Even after he departed, Song Ting Yu maintained the dazzling smile on her beautiful face. Her eyes gleamed mysteriously, flickering with rainbow colors as she watched the shadows. A few seconds later, her smile curled into a knowing smirk.

”You're hiding right now, hoping to find a chance to expose my bluff. You're waiting for me to meet up with Fei Wu and slip up, then you will immediately kill him. Did you really think I wouldn't know?” Song Ting Yu had already seen through Mo Long's intentions, and giggled inwardly. ”I'm more skilled than anyone at acting. You're just wasting your energy.”

Aware that Mo Long had concealed himself somewhere and was waiting for a chance to kill me, Song Ting Yu also realized that she had no way of preventing him from enacting Jian Ao's vengeance, even with the bodyguards surrounding her.

As if reading her mood, her bodyguards shuffled.

”Miss, what should we do?” the leader of her bodyguards asked. ”Should we track that Green Dragon Sect expert down and incapacitate him?”

”We're no match for him.” Song Ting Yu shook her head. ”It'll be suicide.”

Running through the options in her mind, Song Ting Yu deduced that the moment Mo Long confirmed that she had no relationship with me – that the engagement she claimed to have with me was a lie – he would not hesitate to attack me right in front of her in order to execute the mission that Jian Ao had assigned him.

Upon encountering Mo Long and learning of his intentions, Song Ting Yu stopped trying to erase my imprint from her mind despite trying so urgently to do so before. Instead, she gestured to her bodyguards and gathered them before marching into Wu Ling Academy again.

Unfortunately, nobody knew where I was. Thankfully, Song Ting Yu wasn't going to do something as stupid as riding her Flowing Cloud Rainbow Butterfly and roaming above Wu Ling Academy. No matter how high her status was, that was liable to have her kicked off the campus grounds on the grounds of suspicious loitering.

And thankfully she didn't have to wait five days. Like…seriously, who was that patient? The martial artists in Spirit Realm clearly had a lot of time in their hands to waste, and had nothing better to do than wait around.

I only spent a couple of hours going into Martial City and buying a few potions and antidotes that we would need for the trip to the Toxic Marshes, and being a straightlaced guy, I headed straight home after dinner instead of going to game centers or seeking for entertainment. My idea of entertainment was reading manga and webnovels, and watching anime on my computer, so I couldn't be bothered to spend money in game centers and other expensive luxury facilities, or waste both time and money in maid cafes or hostess clubs.

That was when Song Ting Yu noticed my presence, and a light flickered in her brilliant eyes. She sat up straight and headed toward my direction, flanked by her bodyguards.

”You've finally appeared!” she gushed, my imprint on her mind still pretty strong. Hopping onto her Flowing Cloud Rainbow Butterfly, she urged it to fly speedily toward me.

Not far away, Mo Long's figure silently slipped out of the shadows. He had been hiding near Song Ting Yu, and thanks to his skills and level, he was able to avoid detection from her and her bodyguards. Completely veiling his presence, he had stuck close to her because he guessed correctly that she would meet up with me sooner or later.

Song Ting Yu was correct. There was no way Mo Long would abort his mission based on her words alone.

Similarly, Mo Long was also correct in his guess that she would lead him to me. He smiled as he followed her, certain that there was no engagement between me and Song Ting Yu. Obviously, he wasn't going to fall for that intimacy bullshit, because anyone could fake intimacy. Actually, shouldn't he contact the Martial Arts Alliance and confirm with them if there was an engagement? He could just call them and ask, couldn't he?

Then the whole idiotic bluff would fall apart. What was with characters not doing the smart thing and just falling into plot-induced stupidity?

Anyway, Mo Long dashed after Song Ting Yu and her guards while maintaining a cautious distance so that they wouldn't detect him.

While I was on my way home from the pharmacy, running several calculations and plans through my head while trying to remember which episode of which anime series would be uploaded on my favorite anime streaming website tonight, I spotted Song Ting Yu and her gigantic butterfly. Damn it, just call that butterfly Mothra already.

”I've waited a long time for you.”

Song Ting Yu's sweet voice drifted from above as her Flowing Cloud Rainbow Butterfly descended gracefully to land in front of me.

”Where did you go?”

Song Ting Yu disembarked from her Flowing Cloud Rainbow Butterfly and approached me, her eyes filled with a lot of emotions while sulking at the same time. Sort of like an impatient wife who was fed up with waiting for her husband.

I watched her for a moment, bemused, and cocked my head to the side.

”…who are you again?”

Song Ting Yu's jaw dropped, because she completely did not expect my reaction. Even Mo Long fell over from the shock.

”How mean!” Song Ting Yu cried in outrage. ”It's only been a day, but you've already forgotten how your fiancée looks like?!”

”I don't have a fiancée,” I replied coldly, staring at her. ”You've got the wrong person.”