"You're Song Zhizhi, right?" Suddenly, a gorgeously dressed young man stopped her, looked Song Zhizhi up and down, and said, "I heard you're the one who reached the summit first? You don't look like much, only at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining."
Song Zhizhi gave the other person a puzzled look, feeling rather bewildered. "Who are you?"
The young man raised his chin arrogantly. "I am Feng Yulong."
Song Zhizhi:...
Feng Yulong was a cannon-fodder villain in the early part of the original novel who crazily provoked Song Miaomiao and was repeatedly slapped in the face by the heroine.
The reason Feng Yulong went against Song Miaomiao seemed to be that he believed the heroine had stolen his first-place spot. While reading the book, Song Zhizhi had not liked this character, Feng Yulong.
Feng Yulong was not only petty, but also held grudges and would not stop until he achieved his goal.
Yet now she was in first place, and she was the one targeted by Feng Yulong.
Song Zhizhi was utterly numb. This plot was supposed to happen to the heroine—what was it doing happening to her, a supporting female character? She had no desire to get entangled with Feng Yulong.
She silently took a step back. "You have the wrong person. I'm not Song Zhizhi."
She should deny it for now. Once Feng Yulong secured a spot as an Inner Sect Disciple later on, she would be in the outer sect, and Feng Yulong would no longer remember a small fry like her.
Feng Yulong:?
Looking at the completely shameless expression on Song Zhizhi's face, for a split second he thought he had mistaken his person.
"Zhizhi!" Someone suddenly called her name. The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Song Zhizhi instinctively turned her head and discovered an acquaintance—the girl she had met half a month ago in Ten Thousand Swords City who had been two-timed by a scumbag.
Song Zhizhi was somewhat surprised, but not exceptionally so, seeing as most of the young people who appeared in Ten Thousand Swords City during that period had headed there for the Sword Sect.
The girl familiarly linked her arm with Song Zhizhi's. "Things happened so suddenly that day, I forgot to ask your name. So your name is Zhizhi! I'm Liu Changfei, you can call me by my nickname, Feifei."
Liu Changfei did not say much about her own situation, but from her cheerful mood it was clear that the matter with the scumbag was already resolved.
However...
Song Zhizhi sensed Feng Yulong's chilling gaze and her brow twitched. Turning her head back again, she indeed saw Feng Yulong's dark expression. Looking at Song Zhizhi in disbelief, he gnashed his teeth and said grimly, "Are you playing with me? From childhood to now, no one has ever dared to toy with me like this!"
Song Zhizhi: Uh...
Only belatedly did Liu Changfei realize that the atmosphere here seemed wrong. She turned her head, swept her gaze up and down over Feng Yulong, and let out a cold huff. "Wind-surname, what are you doing here? This isn't your Wind Spirit Island. If you want to throw your weight around, you've picked the wrong place."
Feng Yulong narrowed his eyes. "Liu Changfei, this isn't your Medicine King City either. I advise you not to poke your nose into other people's business."
Liu Changfei was hardly intimidated by his dark face. She put one hand on her hip. "Zhizhi is my friend, and her business is my business. Just try touching a single hair on Zhizhi's head and I won't let you off!"
Feng Yulong looked at Liu Changfei, then looked at Song Zhizhi. Whether wary of the influence behind Liu Changfei or simply unwilling to cause trouble in the Sword Sect, he finally gritted his teeth and spoke resentfully to Song Zhizhi: "I won't settle accounts with you today, but you just wait for me!"
Noticing the ferocity in Feng Yulong's eyes, Song Zhizhi frowned. It seemed he was lumping the frustration he had just taken from Liu Changfei onto her as well; this person's mind really was narrower than the tip of a needle.
Even so, Song Zhizhi was very grateful for Liu Changfei's defense just now and thanked her.
Liu Changfei gave a hearty wave of her hand. "I just can't stand the way he acts. You helped me once, and I've helped you once—we're friends from now on! Friends don't say thank you."
"My dad is the City Lord of Medicine King City. Don't worry, their Wind Spirit Island still relies on my household to provide pills for cultivation; he doesn't dare offend us!"
Medicine King City? Song Zhizhi suddenly remembered a certain matter. She looked earnestly at Liu Changfei and asked, "Do you have any other sisters in your family?"
Liu Changfei shook her head. "No, my parents only have me as a child. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, just asking casually." Song Zhizhi brushed it off casually, but inwardly she was not nearly as calm as she appeared.
She had no impression of the name Liu Changfei, but the status of the City Lord of Medicine King City had appeared in the later part of the original novel. In the original book, however, the City Lord of Medicine King City was not surnamed Liu, but Zhang.
The original novel had mentioned that City Lord Zhang's wife, surnamed Liu, passed away early, and her parents, unable to bear the grief of losing their daughter, passed away one after another not long after. Following their deaths, Medicine King City was smoothly taken over by City Lord Zhang.
Seen in this light, Liu Changfei was that early-deceased wife surnamed Liu, and City Lord Zhang was none other than the scumbag Zhang Xing she had encountered shortly before.
Had she not thrust herself into the middle of it, Liu Changfei would have married Zhang Xing, ultimately either truly dying young from an unexpected accident or perhaps being murdered for her wealth by the scumbag, her bones picked clean until even her family estate fell into the scumbag's hands.
Song Zhizhi looked at Liu Changfei, then thought of her ending in the original novel. With a complex sigh, she patted Liu Changfei's shoulder and said, "There are so many men under heaven; when choosing a man you must keep your eyes peeled and never settle. It's best to find someone with good character. You must never want a man who only has a pretty face to look at while giving you the cold shoulder!"
"Men, you know—if this one doesn't work out, just swap him for another."
Liu Changfei:?
Assuming Song Zhizhi was trying to comfort her so she wouldn't grieve over Zhang Xing, she nodded vigorously. "Don't worry, Zhizhi, I know!"
Little did Song Zhizhi know that her words were overheard by someone else.
Sword Venerable Mingxiao turned off the Water Mirror with a dark face. Recalling that speech of Song Zhizhi's, his gaze grew slightly heavy: what did she mean by those words? When she ran away that day, did she think he wasn't good enough?
Sword Venerable Mingxiao recalled the memories of that night, his pale ear tips turning faintly red: that night, his technique might indeed have been a bit lacking, but he was good! He was very good!
Author's Notes:
The fiercely competitive Sword Venerable Mingxiao stays up all night flipping through XiaoXShu to study techniques (bushi)
Let Her Sleep
Song Zhizhi had no idea that what she had just said had been overheard by a certain someone. Meng Ping had everyone find a place to sit down, then took out a piece of high-grade spiritual Qi. Song Zhizhi seemed to see his expression show a momentary reluctance when he pulled out the spiritual stones, but looking closer, it seemed like an illusion.