Sword in hand, the young lady in black slowly walked towards the mountain creek. The numerous disciples would give way one after another wherever she passed, fear and respect in their eyes. They could clearly feel the deadly sword Qi emanating from the young lady.

Moreover, a golden sash was wrapped around her slender waist, clearly indicating her identity.

An inner mountain golden sash disciple.

One must know that most of the inner mountain disciples that came to the outer mountains to teach were merely black sash disciples. With regards to status, they were far from being able to match this young lady in black.

However, the girl in black paid no attention to the gazes of the many surrounding disciples. There was only icy haughtiness in her eyes. None of these outer mountain disciples were worth even a single glance.

She continued to walk, ultimately arriving at Zhou Yuan and Gu Hongyi’s location.

Zhou Yuan warily stared at her. This woman was Lu Feng’s elder clan sister. Suddenly coming here at such a time could only mean that she likely did not have any friendly intentions.

However, the girl called Lu Xuanyin merely swept a nonchalant glance at him, before looking towards Gu Hongyi.

Only then did a smile appear on her cold and haughty face. She walked forward and pulled Gu Hongyi’s hand, smiling as she said, “Hongyi, I’ve been wanting to meet you ever since Lu Feng told me you have also come to the Cangxuan Sect. This is great, when you enter the inner mountains, we will be able to meet more often.”

Gu Hongyi felt a little unnatural in response to Lu Xuanyin’s enthusiasm. She and the latter were indeed acquainted due to the friendly relations between their two clans, and had spent some time together when they were younger.

However, these feelings had dulled during the past few years while Lu Xuanyin was training in the Cangxuan Sect.

Hence, Gu Hongyi was unable to acustom herself to the sudden friendliness.

Gu Hongyi seamlessly retrieved her hand as she responded, “Senior sister Lu, why have you suddenly come out from the inner mountains?”

Lu Xuanyin laughed softly. “Isn’t it because I heard that you’re here and wanted to see you. I just notified Lu Feng earlier too, the three of us can have a little gathering. I recall you and Lu Feng were pretty close when you were young.”

Gu Hongyi frowned slightly. An intelligent girl like her realised that Lu Xuanyin was not here for Zhou Yuan, but herself.

Her conclusion was spot on. Lu Xuanyin had indeed come here to create chances for Lu Feng to better his relation with Gu Hongyi. From what Lu Feng had told her, Gu Hongyi seemed to be growing more and more distant towards him, instead becoming chummy with a country bumpkin from another continent.

Lu Xuanyin found this rather difficult to accept. The old ancestor of the Gu clan was the illustrious master of Cangxuan Sect’s Hongya Peak. If Lu Feng and Gu Hongyi were to become a couple, it would be greatly beneficial to the Lu clan.

It was such an important matter that even the master of the Sword Cometh Peak had personally asked her about it.

In Lu Xuanyin’s opinion, Lu Feng had outstanding qualities, and was also exceptionally talented, a practically perfect match for Gu Hongyi. And yet, some country bumpkin had suddenly emerged out of the blue and ruined this fairytale, a truly disgusting act.

Therefore, she put aside her training, and came over to the outer mountains in hopes of finding an opportunity to match make the two of them.

Gu Hongyi shook her head, and responded as if she was in a somewhat difficult position, “Senior sister Lu, the peak selection ceremony is just around the corner, and the only thoughts on my mind are to concentrate on my training.”

Lu Xuanyin hurriedly smiled and said, “It’s also important to relax, choosing the appropriate time to rest will not hinder your training.”

Gu Hongyi felt an oncoming headache; a woman like this was truly difficult to deal with. She tried to reject once again. “I’m training the Ethereal Form technique with Zhou Yuan, and he only has limited time everyday. So I’m really not free.”

Lu Xuanyin was stunned for a moment. A sliver of iciness emerged in her eyes as she turned towards Zhou Yuan and said with a faint smile, “I believe this must be junior brother Zhou Yuan? I’ve heard of your recent exploits even in the inner mountains.”

Zhou Yuan did not comment, merely smiling in response.

Lu Xuanyin offhandedly said, “How about this junior brother Zhou Yuan, you’ll give Hongyi some time off today, and make up for it at a later date. How does this sound?”

She had a slight smile on her face. Although she seemed to be asking a question, her tone indicated that she had already decided the matter.

Zhou Yuan’s expression remained indifferent, his eyes lowering slightly as he replied, “The daily training sessions have already been fixed. If she misses it, she’ll have to wait for the next one. There are too many disciples learning Genesis techniques here, so we do not do make-up lessons.”

The smile on Lu Xuanyin’s face froze a little. She had originally believed that given her status, a mere outer mountain disciple like Zhou Yuan would surely tactfully follow her wishes. After all, this was only a small matter. She never imagined that Zhou Yuan would be so ignorant.

“Junior brother Zhou Yuan really has some character.” Lu Xuanyin withdrew her smile.

She began to observe Zhou Yuan with indifferent eyes. Lu Feng had naturally mentioned the disagreements between himself and Zhou Yuan. However, neither Lu Feng nor Lu Xuanyin felt that it was worth their concern.

As for Zhou Yuan declaring that he would take away first place from Lu Feng in the peak selection ceremony, Lu Xuanyin merely laughed in amusement, feeling that this country bumpkin was really overconfident in his abilities.

In her eyes, a first layer Alpha-Origin Zhou Yuan did not even have the right to challenge Lu Feng.

Hence why she had come here purely because of Gu Hongyi, no intentions whatsoever of doing anything to Zhou Yuan. From what she could see, during the peak selection ceremony, this country bumpkin would naturally be crushed under Lu Feng’s heels and be thoroughly humiliated.

However, she never expected that the country bumpkin would dare to even not give her face.

Zhou Yuan shook his head. “I’m merely following the rules, rules that will be the same regardless of who it is. I hope that senior sister Lu does not blame me.”

His tone was calm, as if he was being earnest.

However, Lu Xuanyin did not think so. She coldly stared at Zhou Yuan as the Genesis Qi around her began to tremble, and the faint but extremely sharp cry of a sword rang out.

A piercing pressure swept towards Zhou Yuan.

“Senior sister Lu!”

Gu Hongyi was the first to detect it and immediately took a step forward to stand in front of Zhou Yuan, her brows knitting together as she said in a somewhat angry voice, “What are you doing!”

Lu Xuanyin pursed her lips for a brief moment. She could sense Gu Hongyi’s anger, and immediately withdrew her sword Qi as she regretfully said, “Hongyi, are you really not going to take this chance to hang out with me?”

Gu Hongyi curtly replied, “I’ve been busy with training recently, and really do not want to be distracted

However, she understood that Lu Xuanyin would not relent so easily, and could only compromise. “If that’s really not okay with you, we can find a time to meet up after the peak selection ceremony.”

Lu Xuanyin was naturally aware that Gu Hongyi had finally made a concession. The former immediately grinned and nodded. “Alright then, I’ll wait till the peak selection ceremony is over. Don’t worry, I’ll surely be here to attend such a grand occasion.”

After finishing, she turned around and left.

While leaving, her icy gaze seemed to sweep across Zhou Yuan.

Under the attention of numerous gazes, Lu Xuanyin left the mountain creek, eventually arriving at the entrance of the mountain, where she met Lu Feng in his usual white attire.

Lu Feng frowned slightly upon seeing that Lu Xuanyin had exited alone. “Is Hongyi not coming?”

Only then did Lu Xuanyin’s pretty face turn stormy, iciness flashing in her eyes as she coldly said, “That little peasant boy is indeed a hateful one.”

She had clearly placed all of the blame on Zhou Yuan.

“Lu Feng, if you find a chance during the peak selection ceremony, cripple him.”

“I want to let him know that a peasant boy should obediently stay in his little peasant village dump, and stop dreaming of tasting a swan’s meat!”

Her voice was chillingly cold.

Lu Feng nodded, an ominous look in his eyes as they swept towards the direction of the mountain creek.

“Don’t worry, I will make him understand that he has offended someone he should never have offended.”