Chapter 13
Mu Qingzhou looked at Shi Anxu's slender, fair hand holding the hair ribbon in front of him, and unconsciously swallowed.
He took the hairband from Shi Anxu and said, "I like it."
When Shi Anxu heard Mu Qingzhou say he liked it, a genuine smile appeared on his face. "I'm glad you like it. I saw it at the stall just now and thought it would suit you, so I bought it."
Mu Qingzhou held the hairband tightly in his palm, bowed, and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother, for the hairband."
Before Mu Qingzhou could finish his movements, Shi Anxu stopped him, saying, "We are fellow disciples, there's no need for such formalities. Besides, your senior brother has never given you any gifts."
Mu Qingzhou looked down at the hair ribbon in her hand. "Well, I will give you a return gift when we get back. Senior Brother, you don't need to be so polite with me."
When Shi Anxu heard that Mu Qingzhou had returned the gift, a faint sense of anticipation arose in his heart. "Okay."
After Mu Qingzhou's words, Shi Anxu was in a daze the whole way.
They had originally planned to prepare a birthday gift for Mu Qingzhou, but before they had walked more than a few steps, they passed by Zuixianlou.
Wen Xingyun couldn't resist going inside the Zuixianlou restaurant as soon as she saw its signboard.
At this moment, Shi Anxu's mind was completely occupied with the return gift Mu Qingzhou was giving him; he had completely forgotten about buying Mu Qingzhou a birthday present. Wen Xingyun wanted to go to Zuixianlou, so he simply waved his hand and led the group inside.
The three of them sat down in the seats in front of the storyteller's platform.
The waiter, with his sharp eyes, immediately slung the white cloth over his shoulder and trotted to the table, asking, "What would you three gentlemen like to order?"
Shi Anxu replied, "A pot of tea will suffice."
"Alright, please wait a moment, sir." The waiter noted down the order and headed to the kitchen.
Zuixianlou was indeed a grand restaurant. Before long, the waiter who had asked the question earlier brought a teapot to serve them tea. "Please enjoy your meal, sir."
Wen Xingyun was eager to watch the storytelling, so she asked, "Waiter, when does the storytelling start?"
The waiter, with his usual standard smile, said, "Please be patient, sir, the storytelling is about to begin."
Shi Anxu picked up the teapot and poured himself and Mu Qingzhou a full cup of tea. He said in a calm and unhurried tone, "Xingyun, there's no use in being anxious now. We still have plenty of time. Let's drink tea and wait."
Wen Xingyun sat down dejectedly, poured herself a full cup of tea, and gulped it down.
Mu Qingzhou couldn't bear to drink the tea that Shi Anxu had poured for him, so he didn't touch the teacup in front of him.
Shi Anxu thought he was just not used to the tea from the human world, so he wrote a note in his mind: He should bring the spiritual tea from the peak with him when he goes out in the future.
At this moment, a man with a fierce face led three henchmen into Zuixianlou with an imposing air.
As soon as the man walked in, the restaurant manager immediately greeted him with a fawning smile, "Young Master Zhang has arrived. Your exclusive listening seat has always been prepared for you. Would you like to go up now?"
The man addressed as Young Master Zhang glanced disdainfully at the shopkeeper, offered no reply, and surveyed the entire hall.
The people at the table next to Shi Anxu and his group started whispering among themselves.
Because Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou were both cultivators, their hearing was much better than that of ordinary people, and they heard everything they said clearly.
Customer A: "Who is this? Why is the shopkeeper bowing and scraping to him?"
Customer B: "You're new here today, so you don't know. Young Master Zhang is the eldest son of the current Prime Minister. He's been arrogant and domineering since he was a child. Now I heard that his older sister, who ranks very high in the Qingyun Sect, has returned. The shopkeeper is afraid of offending him and getting killed by his sister."
Customer A: "How could a prestigious sect like Qingyun Sect allow its disciples to kill each other? You're making a big fuss over nothing."
Customer C: "We thought so at first, but a month ago someone didn't believe in the superstition and offended Young Master Zhang, and was then killed by his sister."
Customer A: "I never expected the disciples of the Qingyun Sect to be like this. You really can't judge a book by its cover."
Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou exchanged a glance, both understanding the meaning in each other's eyes.
Young Master Zhang's scanning gaze also landed on Shi Anxu's table. "I'm not going up today. I want to watch from the main hall. Could you ask that table of guests to make way for me?"
The innkeeper dared not disobey Young Master Zhang's orders, so he could only walk up to Shi Anxu and his companions with a forced smile and say, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, we are full today, so you will have to leave now."
Wen Xingyun was very dissatisfied with the manager's behavior. She had finally come to Zuixianlou, and he wanted her to go back before she even heard the storyteller's voice.
What if we don't leave?
Zhang Yu scoffed at Wen Xingyun's words, "That's not up to you."
Wen Xingyun said dismissively, "Whether it's up to us or not, we'll find out by trying."
Hearing Wen Xingyun's words, Zhang Yu became furious and embarrassed. "She really won't listen to reason. Let's go and let this little girl know whether they can do what they want."
Upon receiving the order, the three men following Zhang Yu clenched their fists and charged towards Wen Xingyun.
Seeing that they were fighting three against one, Shi Anxu wanted to go and help.
Mu Qingzhou reached out to stop Shi Anxu, shook his head at him, and indicated that he would go up and help.
Shi Anxu thought about it and realized that he had neglected his cultivation and was definitely not as good as Mu Qingzhou in terms of mere physical combat. He decided not to go up and make things worse.
He stopped his body from moving forward and stayed obediently in place.
Seeing that he had persuaded the man to stop, Mu Qingzhou flashed to Wen Xingyun's side and knocked down Zhang Yu's three henchmen in a few moves.
Wen Xingyun clenched her fists so tightly they cracked, looked at Zhang Yu, and said, "Now, do we have a choice?"
Seeing his three henchmen beaten to the ground, Zhang Yu showed no sign of backing down. "You've completely enraged me. I already sent a message to my sister while you were fighting. You can call your families to come and make your own arrangements, hahahahahaha!"
Shi Anxu asked with some concern, "Junior brother, are you confident you can beat his sister?"
Mu Qingzhou coldly uttered a single word, "Yes."
Zhang Yu seemed to have heard something amusing, "You guys? My elder sister is the most powerful female cultivator in the Qingyun Sect. You can just wait here to die."
Shi Anxu really didn't believe that the two of them couldn't beat a female cultivator. Besides, his junior brother ranked second in the sect competition and had the support of the top-level immortal magic weapon Zhaoyu. He was sure he could beat the so-called most powerful female cultivator in the Qingyun Sect that Young Master Zhang had mentioned.
Thinking this, Shi Anxu invited Mu Qingzhou and Wen Xingyun to sit down and have some tea, saying, "Come, come, let's drink and wait."
Seeing that Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou were both so calm, Wen Xingyun stopped worrying and obediently sat down to drink tea.
Seeing the leisurely manner of the group, Zhang Yu felt a surge of anger rising to his head. He immediately sent another message to his sister, telling her to come quickly.
It turns out that Young Master Zhang's urging was quite effective. Shi Anxu had just drunk two cups of tea when a loud female voice came from outside the restaurant.
"Which fool dared to offend my brother?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a woman dressed in a black outfit strolled over.
When Zhang Yu saw his older sister arrive, he pointed at Shi Anxu and the others and complained, "Sister, it was them. I wanted them to give me a seat, but they knocked Xu Yi and the others to the ground."
Upon seeing the three unconscious men on the ground, Zhang Xuexin, without saying a word, drew her sword and charged towards Shi Anxu and the others.
The guests still in the lobby saw that a fight was about to break out.
Mu Qingzhou made a sword-wielding gesture, and Qingyuan immediately appeared in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the two swords clashed, successfully deflecting Zhang Xuexin's attack.
Zhang Xuexin's eyes were filled with disbelief as she imbued her sword with spiritual power and attacked Mu Qingzhou again.
Mu Qingzhou didn't want the shockwaves from a real fight to injure the crowd, so he kept using Qingyuan to block Zhang Xuexin's attacks.
This made Zhang Xuexin even more convinced that Mu Qingzhou was incompetent. She increased the force in her hands and used her spiritual power more fiercely, wanting to vent her anger as soon as possible and continue to complete the undercover mission that her master had given her before she went down the mountain.
Because Zhang Xuexin possessed a fire elemental root, and had used even more spiritual power in order to finish the battle quickly, if Mu Qingzhou continued to dodge, the restaurant would become a sea of fire.
Mu Qingzhou released Qingyuan, letting it fight Zhang Xuexin on its own. He then formed hand seals, and his powerful ice spiritual energy instantly covered Zhang Xuexin's fire spiritual energy, making the restaurant foggy for a moment.
Shi Anxu couldn't see clearly the scene of Mu Qingzhou and Zhang Xuexin fighting in the fog, but could only guess from their conversation that Mu Qingzhou was currently in a superior position.
"You're a cultivator too?"
"So what if it is?"
"Wait, you wouldn't happen to be Mu Qingzhou from Qin Nian Peak who lost his master, would you?"
"yes."
"Hahaha, that's perfect, we'll finish today's task at the same time. Now, sister, you'd better get serious."
Mu Qingzhou stopped wasting words with Zhang Xuexin and launched an attack on her first.
Shi Anxu could only see the chaotic red spiritual energy in the fog, and silently prayed in his heart that Mu Qingzhou could defeat Young Master Zhang's sister.
Seeing only red light, Wen Xingyun grabbed Shi Anxu's arm and asked worriedly, "Can Senior Brother Mu win? Will he get hurt?"
Shi Anxu patted Wen Xingyun's hand reassuringly, "Don't worry, didn't you hear him say he was confident? Your senior brother Mu never says anything he's not confident about."
Wen Xingyun nodded, anxiously waiting for the fight above to end.
Zhang Xuexin initially thought that although Mu Qingzhou was also a cultivator, without a master and no one to continue teaching him, his strength couldn't be very strong. Moreover, since her master had sent her to kill Mu Qingzhou, she must have a sufficient understanding of Mu Qingzhou's strength, so she wouldn't lose no matter what.
She fought Mu Qingzhou for a long time, but she couldn't find a weakness to kill him with a single blow.
Zhang Xuexin knew that the only option left was to suppress the situation with force.
In an instant, her spiritual energy surged, and she placed her hands in front of her chest to create a fireball.
Mu Qingzhou tried to step forward to stop her, but he was trapped in place by Zhang Xuexin's sword, just like he had been in the past.
As the fireball in front of Zhang Xuexin grew larger and larger, Shi Anxu and Wen Xingyun, who were standing to the side, could not stand the scorching heat of the fire elemental power.
Shi Anxu quickly cast a spiritual energy shield around himself and Wen Xingyun, while silently worrying for Mu Qingzhou.
Flames shot into the sky as Zhang Xuexin, holding a huge fireball, threw it towards Mu Qingzhou without saying a word.
Mu Qingzhou reacted immediately to block Zhang Xuexin's attack, and the huge fireball exploded directly.
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