"What happened back there?" Tang Teng asked with a dark expression as he looked at Tang Zhe and Tang Yun. Meanwhile, Li Nanzi didn't scold nor praise Kang Ce. There's just silence between them.
"Uncle." Tang Zhe called. But, before he could explain, Tang Yun spoke.
"That nasty Cheng Sheng!" Tang Yun said, his voice laced with anger. "He's harmed us again!" he said.
"Xiao Yun!" Tang Zhe immediately stopped him. "You know that's not what happened!" he told him.
"But he played us again!" Tang Yun explained.
"It's as he had said. He was interrupted before he could explain!" Tang Zhe said.
Tang Yun's lips thinned in anger. "You're always siding with him!" he told Tang Zhe. "You're stupid!" he added and he ran away.
"Xiao Yun!" Tang Teng called before he helplessly sighed.
Jing Cheng saw what happened and he turned to Jing Rui. "It's as what Tang Zhe said." He told him. "We were about to undergo through the Cleansing Stone, but Cheng Sheng worried for us we'd have a heart demon." He explained.
Hearing his words, the sect leaders who arrived were shocked.
"Yes." Xi Ming said. "He devised another way for us to be checked if we'd have demonic qi in our body and for us to avoid our heart demons to be worsened in case by the Cleansing Stone. Thus, he used an array. However, we were caught off-guard. Then, everyone became mad at him." He explained. "Now that I thought about it… we were at fault." He said.
"Why?" Qian Shan asked.
"Because we didn't even ask him the process. We just went ahead." Qian Lin answered.
"That's right." Guo Cheng said. "What if he really intended to harm us?" he asked. "However, he didn't. One, because of his cultivation. Two��" he didn't need to continue.
"Yet it's us who harmed him instead." Jing Kang said. Everyone lowered their head.
Meanwhile, the sect leaders looked at each other. The Alliance had screwed up big time. They thought. They not only made a mistake, they even offended Cheng Sheng who is an unlimited talent.
Yunxiao Inn.
"So stupid!" Cheng Sheng said as he threw Xiao Ling on the side.
Xiao Ling: QAQ
"I was so stupid to help them!" he said and kicked the chairs.
"Xiao Sheng! Open the doors!" Cheng Sheng heard Xie Lan called as he and his fellow disciples arrived but cannot enter because he erected a barrier.
"Shut up!" Cheng Sheng said as he ran upstairs while he closed his ears. "This always happens…!" he gritted his teeth as he sat on the stairs and curled up.
"What happened?" Sun Rong asked while holding a liquor.
"Cheng Sheng?" Zuo Zhe called when he went out of his room.
"Cheng-shixiong!" Xiao Le exclaimed.
Cheng Sheng turned to them. "Right. You're all still here to watch over Qie Shi." He frowned at them as he rose and walked away.
"Cheng Sheng!" Zuo Zhe called. However, Cheng Sheng had already locked his room.
Outside, Xie Lan finally broke the barrier and they rushed inside. "Where's His Hi -… Cheng Sheng?" Yu Sheng asked when they saw Zuo Zhe and Xiao Le went downstairs looking puzzled while Sun Rong already left to smoke outside.
"He locked himself in his room." Zuo Zhe answered as he and Xiao Le worriedly looked at them. "What the hell happened?!" he asked.
They all looked at each other before Yu Sheng pulled Zuo Zhe away to explain while Li Tian and Feng Mo pulled Xiao Le. They met Lei Qing, You Rou and Lei Ling who were distracted from their meditation. Meanwhile, Wu Xi went to check on Qie Shi.
"Damn the Alliance! How dare they, those ungrateful geezers!" Xie Lan said. "I swear, we won't – "
"Founder." Fei Yin called to stop him. "Cheng-shidi also has a fault." He said. "He deliberately messed with them." He told him.
"What?!" Xie Lan said as he turned to Fei Yin. "Xiao Yin, you…" he said. He wasn't there, after all, so he doesn't know the full story. Now that Fei Yin, the person who understands Cheng Sheng the most, has spoken… "What do we do? Cheng Sheng is prideful." He told Fei Yin. They clearly know Cheng Sheng won't bend his knees.
"… I'll talk to him." Fei Yin said.
Xie Lan smiled and patted Fei Yin's shoulder. "I knew you're reliable – " he said.
"But, the Alliance has a greater fault." Fei Yin said.
Xie Lan's hand froze.
"They're older than Cheng-shidi yet they didn't show respect towards him even if Cheng-shidi was being considerate not only to our fellow contestants but also to the Alliance." Fei Yin explained. "They even harmed him." He added.
Everyone silently listened to Fei Yin. They have been with Cheng Sheng the most, thus they knew that Cheng Sheng has a bad attitude. However, not entirely since he's innately kind and sensible. Cheng Sheng wouldn't deliberately mess with the others.
"So, Xiao Sheng…" Xie Lan said.
"He was provoked by them." Fei Yin answered.
Xie Lan gritted his teeth as he took out a Voice Transmitting Talisman. "Junior Wu. Hurry back here! We're going to war against the Alliance!" he said as his veins throbbed on his forehead.
"Founder…" Fei Yin called.
"Chen-shixiong would do the same!" Xie Lan said. Chen Han who listened beside Li Tian smiled. It's a pity Chen Jing wasn't here or he had already waged war since earlier.
They all looked at each other. Those who were present earlier knows. Cheng Sheng made it large earlier to humiliate more the Alliance. Everyone knew Cheng Sheng's temperament thus, if he's provoked, he'll definitely raise a chaos. Never mess with a scum unless you wished to die. As Cheng Sheng has said earlier, they still didn't know what it meant by him raising a hell.
Since morning after the havoc that happened in the Righteous Alliance, the people were throwing dirty gazes on the Alliance's headquarters every time they passed by.
Zheng Fu Gong sighed as he faced all the sect leaders – including Xie Lan and Wu Yuan who had dark expression on their face, with the other four elders of the Alliance. "Tomorrow is the last stage of the competition, and it will last for seven days…" he started to break the tension in the air.
Xie Lan cut him off. "Elder Jing and elder Qi should apologize to my disciple." He said.
"What?! No way I would - !" Jing Xian and Qi Ling said.
"My disciple is considerate to everyone and kind to help – both the contestants, to not aggravate their heart demon if there was present, and the Alliance for them to not waste their resources." Xie Lan explained. "Yet what did my disciple get? Humiliation and threat to his life!" he hit the table and the other sect leaders were startled.
"Your disciple just wanted fame – " Qi Ling said.
"Dare to say that again, elder Qi?" Pai Lie spoke. "I should have met Cheng Sheng ten years ago. If I just had, I would have a successor now." He said.
"Elder Pai!!" Qi Ling glared at Pai Lie.
"Cheng Sheng is just messing around!" Jing Xian said. "He wants to humiliate everybody – " he said.
"Aren't you turning the tables here, elder Jing?" surprisingly, it was Jing Rui who spoke. "Cheng Sheng may be unrestrained, but he never played with anyone's life. Instead, he saved them." He said and raised his gaze to look at Jing Xian. "Have you forgotten what happened to Shan Lu?" he asked and turned to Tang Teng.
Tang Teng nodded. "He didn't even ask for something in return. He's humble, so why should he humiliate someone?" he asked.
Jing Xian and Qi Ling's face darkened. "You're all siding with Cheng Sheng to be on his good side – "
"We don't have to." Fei Huang spoke. "Didn't Cheng Sheng already say? He only wanted his small world and nothing else." He said.
The two elders gnashed their teeth in anger. "You all… didn't he has a nasty attitude - ?"
"So what if he has?" Wu Yuan said. "Cheng Sheng can grow whoever he wanted. We're all here to support him." He said. "As long as he remained innately kind, that's all that matters. Now, there's no need to question his character, isn't it?" he asked.
The sect leaders nodded while Zheng Fu Gong sighed. Su Yuan grimaced while Pai Lie frowned at Jing Xian and Qi Ling. "Elder Jing. Elder Qi." Zheng Fu Gong called. "You don't need to be present for the competition tomorrow." He told them.
The two's eyes widened in shock as they stared at Zheng Fu Gong in disbelief. "Elder Zheng, you - !" they said.
"You can help the disciples, the elders and the sect leaders to protect the capital tomorrow from the demonic cultivators." Zheng Fu Gong told them.
In short, it was a demotion.
Yunxiao Inn.
"Cheng-shidi." Fei Yin called as he knocked on the door of Cheng Sheng's room. "It's me." He said before he glanced at the others who were hiding in the corner to watch him.
The door opened and they saw Cheng Sheng's dark expression. "Come in." he told Fei Yin.
Fei Yin stood frozen outside before he decided to go inside and closed the door behind him. Only to be shocked when Cheng Sheng suddenly pulled him and kissed him hard. Only a second was spent to his shock before he immediately responded by pulling Cheng Sheng towards him and sucked his lips.