Whenever he was with Shi Chun and there were other people around, Wu Jinliang habitually raised his guard and played along. As he instinctively scanned their surroundings, he saw Li Hongjiu getting beaten and nudged Shi Chun with his elbow, signaling him to look.
Shi Chun glanced over distractedly and asked in puzzlement, "Even if he earned no merit, he at least put in the work. Why beat him?"
His words briefly drew Yan Qufeng's attention away from Tong Mingshan. Following his gaze, Yan Qufeng also saw someone getting beaten.
Wu Jinliang chuckled. "Nothing strange about it. To save his own skin, he even spilled the beans about his master fooling around with another woman. Isn't it perfectly normal for someone like that to get beaten?"
Shi Chun nodded slightly, conceding the point. He had no interest in whether Li Hongjiu lived or died just now, and turned his attention back to Tong Mingshan.
Beside him, however, Yan Qufeng looked startled and suspicious. Wasn't Li Hongjiu's master Qu Wuming, the sect master of the Treasure-Evolving Sect? Li Hongjiu's master was fooling around with another woman? Which woman?
He was secretly alarmed. He seemed to have overheard a secret...
The last trace of incense burned away in the censer. The presiding elder of the Blazing Fire Sect stepped forward and amplified his voice with magic. "The competition is over!"
The competition was over, but the results were another matter.
The elders from the various sects serving as judges were still taking turns examining the Exquisite Heart Tong Mingshan had refined. From time to time, the rumble of thunder sounded as they activated it.
They were all experts. Whether it had any flaws was no longer in question. Rather than examining it, they were taking the opportunity to admire it. A True