"Yu Xianyu, do you know what you're saying?!"
The first to react was not anyone else on or below the stage, but Chunyu Gui, who had been sitting stiffly in the spectator seats for quite some time!
He sprang up like a drawn sword, pointing accusingly at Jing Kingdom's Prodigy on the stage. Furious at her refusal to fight, his rage uncontainable, he roared, "How can mere rumors and gossip harm a great nation? How can schemes and false accusations obstruct the capital!"
"Why care what those people with ulterior motives say? If you stop here and fulfill the wishes of those snide, insinuating tongues, then it will truly be grief to your loved ones and delight to your enemies!"
"Others may surrender or avoid battle, but since this champion's name has fallen upon your shoulders, you must bear it! Can you not carry it? Can Jing Kingdom not bear it?"
"For the sake of your personal reputation, you now wish to flee the sting of rumors—do you mean to disregard the interests of the nation, cast the champion's name into barren ground, and call that honorable?!"
Chunyu Gui was seldom so fierce by nature.
For him to erupt in such outrage and roar before All-Under-Heaven City truly made people turn their heads.
Yet Yu Xianyu on the stage yielded not the slightest bit. Facing the spectator seats and meeting Chunyu Gui's eyes directly, her voice rang like gold and iron. "It is true that once one steps onto this stage, the interests of the nation must come first. My personal honor or disgrace amounts to nothing!"
"But the Central Empire's magnificent reputation, its courage not to care about temporary victory or defeat, and its breadth of heart in allowing those who come after to challenge it—these are the greatest