The Formation Competition Begins, the Chu Mother and Daughter

Qin Chuan had already begun the qualifying test for the formation competition. There was a prerequisite for entering: one had to be able to set up at least a third-rank formation.

Qin Chuan's attention was mostly on the competition, but the matter he had just laughed off had changed the relationships within the protagonist group.

Xie An had already resented Yun Yao for giving the spiritual medicine that could regenerate severed limbs to Pei Xuan. After being dragged down by Yun Qian, he had been forced to show everyone his wound again, and Yun Yao had even scolded him. He had also taken it to heart that Yun Yao had saved Jiang Lin first.

On top of that, Yun Yao had protected Yun Qian and stopped Xie An from getting back the spirit stones he was owed. He was counting on those spirit stones to buy the medicine to regenerate his severed limb.

The Xiao Family's few spiritual herbs had just been used to refine pills, so they could not help him. His father had given him a sum of spirit stones and told him that the Wealth and Peace Merchant Guild would be auctioning a spiritual herb that could regenerate severed limbs in half a year, so he could bid for it himself.

Afraid the spirit stones would not be enough, he had gone to Yun Qian to reclaim what he had lent him. In the end, Yun Qian had courted death and dragged him down too, making him lose face again. Even Gu Xiran was avoiding him.

Now he resented Yun Qian, Yun Yao, and the others in their master-disciple group. A great rift had appeared in the supposedly unbreakable protagonist group.

Even on a big day like today, when Jiang Lin was competing, only Yun Yao and Gu Xiran had come. Neither Pei Xuan nor Xie An had shown up.

Jiang Lin finished his test before Qin Chuan. The moment he saw Qin Chuan, he gave a sinister smile. Qin Chuan did not spare him a glance. There was no point in trading threats now; Jiang Lin would get what was coming to him during the competition.

After completing the test, Qin Chuan headed over to where Jin Pang was waiting. Gu Hao was beside Jin Pang, and his eyes lit up the moment he saw Qin Chuan. "Martial Uncle Qin."

"Brother Jin, Brother Gu Hao." Qin Chuan cupped his hands to the two of them.

"Martial Uncle Qin~" Jin Pang drew out the words and waggled his eyebrows at Qin Chuan.

"Brother Jin, stop teasing me. And Brother Gu Hao, don't call me martial uncle either. We can address each other as equals," Qin Chuan said with an awkward smile.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. I'll call you Brother Qin." Gu Hao climbed right up the offered pole, then lowered his voice. "Brother Qin, Jiang Lin is already a peak fourth-rank formation master. If he pushes himself, he can set up a fifth-rank formation. You need to be careful."

"Gu Hao has plenty of spirit stones and spends them freely. Money can make even ghosts turn a millstone. He knows plenty of things other people don't, so this information should be reliable," Jin Pang secretly transmitted to Qin Chuan.

"I know." Qin Chuan's answer was meant for both Gu Hao and Jin Pang.

"They're out! Junior Sister Chu Ling'er and Martial Aunt Chu Lanqiu are both so beautiful."

"Peak Master Chu Xing has an ancient grand formation to study, so Martial Aunt Chu Lanqiu is presiding over the competition this time."

"Junior Sister Chu Ling'er is already a fourth-rank formation master. She's sure to take first place."

"But wasn't Jiang Lin already a fourth-rank formation master long ago?"

"Don't mention Jiang Lin. Bad luck." One of the female leads pursed her lips in disgust.

The crowd's discussion brought Qin Chuan and the other two's conversation to a halt. All three turned to look at Chu Lanqiu and Chu Ling'er.

Chu Lanqiu wore a long purple dress. She had willow-leaf brows and almond-shaped eyes, and a beauty mark beneath her left eye made her even more alluring. Her body curved in all the right places, so voluptuous it seemed ready to burst out of her clothes.

Chu Ling'er bore some resemblance to Chu Lanqiu. Dressed in a light green skirt and adorned with jeweled hairpins, she had a pair of large, limpid eyes and radiated youthful vitality.

"Martial Aunt Chu has such captivating charm. Junior Sister Ling'er is lively and adorable too." At some point, Wang Sang had sidled up to Qin Chuan and the other two. He stared at Chu Lanqiu and Chu Ling'er with a lecherous look on his face.

"Wang Sang, what are you doing here?" Jin Pang was acquainted with Wang Sang, and they had the bond of having tricked Xie An together a few days earlier.

"I heard Martial Uncle Qin was entering the formation competition, so of course I had to come cheer him on. And I came to see Martial Aunt Chu and Junior Sister Ling'er too."

Wang Sang ostentatiously waved his fan and even sniffed in Chu Lanqiu's direction, looking utterly sleazy.

Qin Chuan could tell that Wang Sang wanted both mother and daughter, but he was far too bold. Chu Lanqiu was famous for being aloof and ruthless. Rumor had it that she had personally killed her own Dao companion, Chu Ling'er's father.

Wang Sang continued showing off with his fan, and Qin Chuan caught a whiff of fragrance-the kind that made a man say, "Brother, you smell nice."

"Wang Sang, did you bring that dog today? It's already eaten Pei Xuan's and Xie An's treasures. Jiang Lin, the third junior brother, ought to share the good fortune with his senior brothers," Jin Pang said with a sly grin.

"I borrowed that dog from someone else. I was afraid Pei Xuan and the others would cause trouble, so I already sent it away. Besides, Martial Aunt Chu is here today. I'm not doing anything that would lower my standing." Wang Sang kept ostentatiously waving his fan.

"Senior Brother Wang, there have always been rumors that you often visit Ten Thousand Formation Peak because you're hopelessly devoted to Junior Sister Ling'er. So it turns out you like Martial Aunt Chu." Gu Hao looked as though he understood, though he was also surprised.

"Wang Sang, Wang Sang, and here I thought you wanted to be Junior Sister Ling'er's Dao companion. Who would have guessed you wanted to be her stepfather?" The disciple who had come with Wang Sang also spoke up, then greeted Qin Chuan and the others. "I'm Wang Sang's paternal cousin, Wang Mu."

"But hasn't Martial Aunt Chu already had a Dao companion and a daughter as old as Junior Sister Ling'er? Besides, Martial Aunt Chu kills men without blinking. Wang Sang, take it easy." As a fellow second-generation cultivator, Jin Pang felt he ought to warn him.

"You don't understand. To die beneath the peonies is to remain a romantic even as a ghost. Martial Aunt Chu's charm is something those unripe young women can't compare to." Wang Sang continued staring at Chu Lanqiu, enthralled.

"Married woman, bonus points," Qin Chuan blurted out.

He regretted it the moment the words left his mouth. Jin Pang and the others really had led him astray. He should have kept such words to himself. How could he say them out loud!?

"Yes, yes, yes! Martial Uncle Qin is right. It's that unique, mature charm of Martial Aunt Chu's that I like. Martial Uncle Qin really understands me."

Wang Sang's showy behavior was too much for Qin Chuan and the other two to watch. Gu Hao had thought wearing so many treasures made him showy enough, but Wang Sang was even more flamboyant than he was.

"You keep talking. The competition is about to start, so I'm going to get ready." Qin Chuan did not wait for them. He did not want to discuss women with them. Women would only slow the speed at which he drew his sword, except for Shen Qingyuan.

Jin Pang and the other two were still talking about Chu Qiulan and Chu Ling'er. They were not the only ones, either. Ever since the Chu mother and daughter appeared, every cultivator's attention, male or female, had been on them.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingyuan, who was hiding not far away, looked increasingly grim. Anyone standing a little closer to her felt a piercing chill and shuddered involuntarily.

Her icy gaze swept over Chu Qiulan, her killing intent completely undisguised. Only when she saw Yun Yao and the grand elder, Zhang Daoyuan, arrive did she come to her senses.

Chu Qiulan had sensed Shen Qingyuan's killing intent enveloping her just now. She looked toward where Shen Qingyuan had been standing but saw nothing unusual. Yun Yao and the grand elder were asking her about the formation competition, so she thought no more of it and began speaking with them.

"Why did I feel so cold just now? It's gone again. How strange," said a disciple who had been standing not far from Shen Qingyuan.

"Senior Brother Liang, have you been spending too much energy on female cultivators lately and worn your body out?" someone beside him asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"No, I was cold just now too," a female cultivator said.

"..."

"Never mind that. The formation competition has started."

"Chu Ling'er has gone up onto the stage, and so has Jiang Lin."

"Don't mention Jiang Lin. Bad luck." A female cultivator spat. Yun Yao's three disciples had now lost any chance of being considered as partners by the female cultivators; even mentioning them was bad luck.

"Look, who's that?" A cry of surprise drew everyone's attention, and they all looked at the person in the center of the arena.