No Worldly Desires

"The true shadow of our time," Nan Gengchen murmured.

For some reason, he always felt that when Li Yinuo said those words, even though it was just a simple sentence, it was full of pressure.

The current power struggle among the nine princes has already attracted the attention of the entire Federation.

Some people were discussing Qing Wen's past as a child prodigy, some were discussing Qing Zhong's talent for cultivation since childhood, and some were discussing Qing Wu's perseverance.

However, compared to those who have become true giants, these people are just newborn calves, only just beginning to show their talents.

For example, Qing Xun, the current head of the Qing family, is a shadow of the previous generation.

The Shadow Candidate were worlds apart from his methods.

"Sister Yinuo, who is the current shadow of the Qing family?" Li Tongyun asked curiously. "Why do I rarely see people mention him? I've never seen him in the media either."

"Qing Zhi Luo, Qing Chenchen, and Qing Huangri, one of the three," Li Yinuo replied.

"Wait, why is it one of three?" Nan Gengchen asked, puzzled. "Hasn't the previous generation of Shadows decided yet?"

"Of course, the winners have been decided, but everyone only knows that the two losers are dead, but no one knows who died or who survived," Li Yinuo said.

"Why is this happening?" Nan Gengchen was even more puzzled.

"Since it's a shadow, it should naturally be hidden in the shadows," Li Yinuo said with a smile. "The Shadow Struggle in the Qing family has always been like this. It only makes a big fuss at the very beginning, and it becomes more and more mysterious as it goes on. Outsiders can't see the truth at all. For example, in the last generation 'Shadow Struggle for the shadow position, even the outside media couldn't know who the final winner was. The three final candidates for the Shadow position disappeared from the public eye for more than ten years without ever appearing again."

Li Tongyun Nan Gengchen were shocked. They couldn't believe such a thing existed.

"A shadow is someone who hides in the shadows, the true Blade Wielder under the patriarch's command," Li Yinuo explained with a smile. "In most cases, it takes a long time for people to realize that the Qing family's shadow had an influence on those events. If they can't even do that, how can they be called a shadow?"

"But someone in the Outer World once said that the contemporary Shadow was afflicted with a chronic illness in the last competition. Who was that referring to?" Nan Gengchen recalled.

"This is because two years ago, the Hu family's intelligence organization sold information that someone claimed to have seen a shadow of the Qing family. Although they didn't see his face clearly, the person kept coughing up blood, so some people speculated that he had been injured during the last competition," Li Yinuo said. "When this information was sold, it caused quite a stir."

"This is too cruel. So many outstanding members of the families died, and even the one who emerged was wounded," Li Tongyun muttered. "Doesn't the Qing family feel any regret?"

"Is it cruel? Is it a pity?" Li Yinuo shook her head. "A Qing family has thousands of members across three generations. They select one shadow from among thousands. On average, a family head emerges every five generations of shadows, ensuring the Qing family's foundation remains stable for a hundred years. It is indeed cruel for ordinary people, but what about the entire Qing family? This is what a family is all about."

"What about the Li family?" Nan Gengchen suddenly asked.

"The Li family naturally has its own methods," Li Yinuo said calmly. "Let's go, it's time. Let's go to the boxing gym to wait for Qing Shi and see what her plans are."

Li Yinuo's convoy sped out of the Pearl Manor where the Second Branch of the Li family lived, and headed towards the Fourth District at breakneck speed.

As everyone knows, the eldest daughter of the third generation of the Li family goes to the Begonia Boxing Gym whenever she has free time, and Jiang Xiaotang has arranged for all of Li Yinuo's cars to be parked in front of the gym, turning it into the gym's storefront.

As soon as Li Yinuo and her group arrived, they discovered that the holographic projection above the Begonia Boxing Gym had been replaced with highlights from Qing Chen's previous ranking matches.

However, these holographic projections seem to have been manipulated, as they are mostly Qing Chen's back view, seemingly designed to create a mysterious atmosphere.

Li Yinuo looked at the staff. "What, is Qing Xiao Tu playing today?"

"Yes," the staff member said respectfully, "He's going to fight Tigerweight boxer Xiao Taibao today, which is the gym's big event recently."

"Isn't your main event usually on Saturday? Why did you put it on Monday?" Li Yinuo frowned and said, "Is he not prestigious enough? I need to see Jiang Xiaotang."

"You've misunderstood," the staff member explained. "This was Qing Xiao Tu's own request, and we were quite surprised. However, if you want to watch the weekend's boxing match, you can still see him. He may be fighting two matches a week for a while in the future."

"Two shows a week? Is he out of his mind?" Li Yinuo raised her voice. "Was this arranged by you, or did he request it himself?"

Li Yinuo had previously told Jiang Xiaotang that if Qing Chen didn't want to fight, Begonia Boxing Gym should never force him.

But now it seems that Qing Chen's competition intensity is much higher than expected.

This made Li Yinuo wonder if Jiang Xiaotang was eager to make money by using Qing Chen.

"It was his own request," the staff member said, sweat beading on his forehead. "We didn't force him. He's the boss's brother now. If you don't believe me, go ask Qing Xiao Tu the boxer yourself."

"Little brother," Li Yinuo wondered. With two matches a week and him being the younger brother of a venomous woman like Jiang Xiaotang, what was Qing Chen planning to do?!

Nan Gengchen and Li Tongyun, who were standing to the side, were already worried. They didn't care about anything else, only whether Qing Chen could withstand the intensity of the competition.

At this moment, Li Yinuo suddenly realized that something was wrong. Just after they entered the room, several plainclothes officers subtly glanced at them.

"What's going on?" Li Yinuo asked curiously, "Something's off today."

Li Yinuo and her group walked towards their private room with heavy hearts, only to find Qing Shi, who had her hair in pigtails, already sitting on the sofa when they opened the door.

She stood up and greeted her with a smile, "Sister Yinuo, nice to meet you!"

Upon seeing Qing Shi, Li Yinuo finally realized, "So it's the Qing family's daughter who arrived early. No wonder there were plainclothes officers outside."

"Please forgive me, Sister Yinuo, please be careful when you're out and about," Qing Shi said with a smile. "Besides, Sister Yinuo asked for this to be kept secret, so I had them all change into casual clothes."

"Casual clothes are fine," the pretty girl nodded, casually Hu Shuo, "After all, we're going to discuss something important, so secrecy is the top priority... Nobody knows you're coming, right?"

"Apart from my father and a few of my close attendants, no one else knows about this," Qing Shi said sincerely. "I just don't know why Sister Yinuo invited me here?"

"Here's the thing, I learned from other sources that your second round of tasks for the Shadow Candidate is to find a member of the Li family to support you, is that true?" Li Yinuo asked.

She didn't mention that she learned it from another candidate...

Qing Shi nodded. "That's right."

"So what do you think of me? Why don't you come and support me?" Li Yinuo asked bluntly.

She figured she still had to meet with five more candidates, and going through all those roundabout ways was too tiring; it would be better to just be direct.

Qing Shi seemed surprised by Li Yinuo's directness, and she paused for a long time before replying, "Okay."

Li Tongyun Nan Gengchen, standing nearby, were both amused and exasperated; this so-called secret meeting was far too simple.

Everyone originally thought the talks would last for several hours, but it was settled in five minutes.

What to do or talk about with the rest of the time? Nobody had figured it out yet...

An eerie silence suddenly fell over the private room...

Li Yinuo suddenly spoke up with emotion, "I've long heard that Qing Shi of the Qing family is pure and untainted by the mud, and that she has a simple mind. I used to think it was all just rumors, but now I finally believe it to some extent."

Qing Shi smiled sweetly and said, "No, not really. I'm quite shrewd too!"

An eerie silence fell over the private room once again...

Just then, the host's voice rang out from outside the private room. "Ladies and gentlemen, you must have seen the holographic projection above the boxing gym, and you must recognize the young man in the projection. Can you call out his name?"

"Qing Xiao Tu!"

"Qing Xiao Tu!"

The sudden noise outside the private room broke the awkward silence inside, and Li Yinuo quickly looked outside.

At this point, the host continued, "He is the winner of last year's ranking tournament and also tonight's home boxer. He is Qing Xiao Tu!"

The next moment, a live video suddenly appeared on the big screen in the boxing gym. In the video, Qing Chen was backstage, warming up with a blank expression. The boy was wearing the loose shorts commonly seen on boxers, and his upper body had an exceptionally perfect muscle group.

Nan Gengchen and Li Tongyun pressed their faces against the glass of the private room again.

Even more abrupt was Qing Shi's surprised exclamation. "Cute and Adorable?!"

In an instant, Li Tongyun, Nan Gengchen, and Li Yinuo all looked over silently, their gazes meeting on Qing Shi's face with a mixture of confusion and doubt.

Cute and Adorable, is this saying that Qing Chen is cute?

But Nan Gengchen felt something was off. He always felt that when Qing Shi said "Cute and Adorable," those four words weren't an adjective, but a noun...

He tentatively asked, "... Cute and Adorable? I feel like you're referring to someone?"

Qing Shi stared blankly at the big screen. She pointed at Qing Chen on the screen and said, "He's Cute and Adorable! Cute and Adorable is his online name. We even met in person this morning."

Nan Gengchen's gaze suddenly shifted to the large screen. Looking at the handsome face on the screen, he couldn't believe that the other person would use such a nickname and do something like meeting someone in real life online!

What kind of person is Qing Chen in Nan Gengchen's eyes?

In his mind, Qing Chen was the academic genius of Luocheng, high above all others, whose IQ crushed his peers.

In his heart, Qing Chen was a person who was pure and detached from worldly desires, as if he had abandoned all emotions and desires.

Now someone has told him that Qing Chen's online name is "Cute and Adorable," and that he's even having an online Online dating becoming real.

It collapsed.

Faith has collapsed.

This "Cute and Adorable" ID is even worse than "A Little Duck"!

Nan Gengchen glanced at Li Tongyun out of the corner of his eye and was surprised to find that the little girl's expression was exactly the same.

Even Li Yinuo's pupils contracted!

This will shock them for a whole year!

Please vote for me, bosses! Have pity on this kid!