Chapter 4: The Battle Begins!
Young Fu Tianqing took a deep breath, looked up at the Cheng Shui Xianzi on the spectator platform, and coldly said, “Can we start the battle now?”
Seeing Hang Yanling appear in such a manner, Cheng Shui Xianzi found it a bit strange, but at this point, there was no turning back in front of everyone. She had no choice but to lightly leap up, riding on a gentle breeze down to the arena, standing between Hang Yanling and Fu Tianqing.
“According to the agreement from back then, you can indeed challenge Ling’er. However… about what happened back then…”
“In that case, let’s begin.”
Young Fu Tianqing interrupted Cheng Shui Xianzi, drew out a dark red thin blade from his waist, and pointed its tip at Hang Yanling. “I’ve waited for this day for a long time.”
“Alright, alright~ Everything is Hang Yanling’s fault anyway~”
Hang Yanling nodded and waved at Cheng Shui Xianzi. “Senior Martial Uncle, go down with Senior Sister too. This arena belongs to the two of us now.”
“No way!! Junior Sister, you will—”
“Don’t worry, I won’t~”
Yan Qiuyu shouted loudly, reaching out to grab Hang Yanling’s shoulder, but her arm was wrapped tightly by layers of lotus petals. Cheng Shui Xianzi helplessly shouted, “Then now, the wager begins!”
As her voice fell, her figure, along with Yan Qiuyu, was enveloped by the lotus petals and disappeared from the center of the arena, leaving behind a young boy radiating killing intent and a girl who claimed she deserved it.
Golden petals slowly drifted down from the sky, and as the first petal touched the ground, young Fu Tianqing stepped forward, charging at Hang Yanling’s face with his blade.
With one slash, Hang Yanling barely managed to step back twice to avoid it but lost her footing and fell to the ground.
“Ah—”
Seeing her younger self directly turning the blade and stabbing down, she hesitated for a moment but rolled on the ground, getting wounded in her side by the blade.
“Damn…”
Taking advantage of Fu Tianqing’s moment to retract his attack, Hang Yanling climbed up from the ground, supporting herself with a cane while using her other hand to cover the bleeding wound on her abdomen. Looking at her younger self, she displayed an expression of helplessness. “Well… is it necessary to be so ruthless to a thirteen-year-old girl? Though…”
Fu Tianqing was speechless and struck again with his blade. Hang Yanling, pierced in the left shoulder, staggered forward two steps, turned her head, and raised her hand, blocking Fu Tianqing’s second slash with the stick in her hand.
“Clang!”
Hang Yanling’s stick broke the moment it touched Fu Tianqing’s red blade, sending half of the stick flying away. A horizontal slash swept across her chest, leaving a line of red blood on her front, causing blood to flow and soak her clothing and bandages.
Ah… I forgot about this when calculating the distance.
Hang Yanling glanced down at her chest, coughed a couple of times, contemplated for a moment, then looked up at Fu Tianqing and tilted her head, asking, “Why… are you still so keen on this?”
Fu Tianqing, filled with anger, no longer cared about such things. He suddenly took advantage of Hang Yanling’s moment of distraction to grab her by the neck with one hand, effortlessly lifting the 13-year-old Hang Yanling.
The boy’s fingers tightly gripped Hang Yanling’s neck as he contemptuously asked, “Where did your arrogance from five years ago go?”
“Cough, isn’t that right…”
Breathless, Hang Yanling’s face turned bright red, but deep down, she still thought, So it turns out I felt so justified when bullying a thirteen-year-old girl back then?
Perhaps finding it uninteresting, Fu Tianqing tossed Hang Yanling to the ground, causing her to painfully roll over again, covered in dust. Just as Hang Yanling propped herself up, the tip of Fu Tianqing’s blade met her nose.
Fu Tianqing coldly commanded, “Stand up!”
Hang Yanling scoffed inwardly.
Stand up?
Standing up would still mean getting beaten!
“I have no strength left, so do as you wish…”
Hang Yanling shrank her neck and then fell back to the ground, lying flat.
This action stunned Fu Tianqing for a moment. Seeing how indifferent his five-year-old rival was towards this revenge battle, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth in anger.
“Hang Yanling, I command you to stand!”
“Don’t—just give me a knife in the chest for a quick end, alright?”
Although saying this was shameless…
Even though it was indeed him in the past who had raised a hand against Hang Yanling.
At this moment, however, “Fu Tianqing” clearly hadn’t accumulated enough hatred towards “Hang Yanling.” After all, it was primarily just being scolded five years ago and having one arm broken.
If Hang Yanling had resisted, she might have been dealt with severely, but what Fu Tianqing faced now was merely a powerless and unambitious waste.
It was about time he regained his composure and realized that continuing to beat up on a weak girl was pure bullying, right?
Thinking this, Hang Yanling shifted her gaze to the audience.
Fortunately, she had bolstered the Pure Water Fairy in advance. Otherwise, with the wound Fu Tianqing just inflicted on her chest…
Hmph.
Just as Hang Yanling was feeling proud of her meticulously crafted plan and considering how to navigate the days ahead.
“Hm?”
Her vision caught… an unnatural flash in the audience.
Wait, what is that—
“No! You need to dodge!!”
Hang Yanling shivered suddenly, shouting loudly at Fu Tianqing, but it was already too late. That tiny flash from the audience suddenly zipped through, and a hidden arrow pierced Fu Tianqing’s shoulder.
Hot blood splattered on Hang Yanling’s face as young Fu Tianqing staggered, looking incredulously at the arrow that had pierced his shoulder.
A cold arrow, shot from the audience.
The disdain on Fu Tianqing’s face was instantly replaced by gloom. He looked down at Hang Yanling, grabbed the arrow in his shoulder, and suddenly burst out laughing, “Hang Yanling, this is your—”
Swish!
Fu Tianqing forcibly yanked the arrow from his shoulder, warm blood splattering in midair.
“Eh?”
Sitting on the ground, happily playing, Hang Yanling also opened her mouth wide.
What kind of nonsense is this?
Where did this cold arrow come from?
I knocked out the Pure Water Fairy with enough tranquilizer to take down ten bulls, how can there still be outside factors involved!?
Have the people from Lotus Flower Palace stooped this low!?
Hang Yanling’s thoughts didn’t last long as the sky darkened.
Black clouds covered the sky, white arcs of electricity rolled among the clouds, and the air resonated with booming sounds.
“…You will die here.”
The boy coldly dropped a sentence, and a white light exploded in the sky.
Hang Yanling started to feel pain in her head again.
It’s over…
Haven’t I already angered myself…
Sigh…
How did it come to this?
“Seriously…”
Hang Yanling sighed and got back up from the ground again.
Faint golden light gradually coalesced in her light purple eyes.
“Although… even if you really kill me here, it wouldn’t matter.”
She untied the bandages wrapped around her arms, revealing the pale skin beneath, with tangled black veins eroded by dark spirit qi.
“But if that’s the case, you will offend the Lotus Flower Palace, and then you will fall out with Xiao Qiuyu, and then the Fu Family will be exterminated… everything will fail just like the last life.”
Amidst the thunder and lightning, the girl’s monologue was swallowed by the sound of thunder.
But Hang Yanling still spoke each word, in a tone tinged with helplessness: “So, no way, kid.”
