Nothing uneventful happened during today's afternoon matches aside from sect leader He of the Guhe Sect feeling overjoyed after his son He Shun won against his opponent during the last match of this day. The sect leaders congratulated him and the sect leader of the Guhe Sect felt like he is about to ascend to the heaven because of happiness. He looked at his son, He Shun, with pride filling his eyes.
But, He Shun's face is red because of embarrassment. His father is exaggerating! It is just one match! And his opponent is a disciple from a weaker sect! So, it is expected for him to win! Out of embarrassment, he shut himself in his room in the inn where his sect was staying.
He won't talk to his father until tomorrow!
Yunxiao Inn.
"Tomorrow is the last day of the singles battle." Xie Lan spoke as they all had dinner.
Fan Wen nodded. "Surprisingly, and fortunately, the past days passed peacefully.." He spoke before he frowned. "I can't help but feel that this is the calm before the storm." He said.
Sun Rong nodded with a grave expression. "Although, for now, we can be sure that no enemies can enter the Zhongyang, but – " he looked at them. " – there are still the enemies that have entered before we have been aware of their presence and made a counterattack." he told them.
Wu Yuan sighed. "Fortunately, there is father, uncle Jing, elder Fei and elder Xi." He spoke.
"Yes." Chen Han nodded in agreement.
"With them four, we can be reassured." Tang Teng sighed emotionally.
"But, we also can't let our guard down yet." Sun Yu reminded them.
"Of course." Li Nanzi agreed with a nod. "And there's Cheng Sheng…" he spoke and they all turned to look at Cheng Sheng eating together with Li Tian, Feng Mo, Lei Ling, Lei Qing, You Rou and the elders of the other sects.
"We also have to keep an eye on him for his safety." Jing Rui spoke.
"Yes." Qian Shan nodded. "Even though he said those words before…" he shook his head.
No one then spoke after that and they resumed eating.
…
"So, it was actually spirit servants who attacked us!" Qian Lin exclaimed after he heard the others explained to him and Jing Hei about the current events in Zhongyang.
"Yes. The enemies are formidable since they can use invisibility to attack us through their spirit servants." Xi Ming spoke.
"Utterly shameless." Jing Bai shook his head.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, Cheng Sheng, for saving me. I really thought I'd…" Qian Lin bit his lip as he looked at Cheng Sheng.
Cheng Sheng nodded. "Let's not talk about this anymore." He spoke. "Tomorrow is the last day of the singles battle. Do you think… something will happen?" he asked.
Everybody immediately became silent after he asked that. Not because the matter is grave, but because Cheng Sheng has a crow's beak! Anything he will say will definitely come true! So, they are afraid that something will really happen tomorrow and they have to prepare themselves for that!
"Ah-hahaha." Chen Han laughed, which is obviously forced. "It shouldn't be, right?" he asked as he stiffly smiled to the others. This is the love of the elder brother. Although he knows his younger brother is wrong, he definitely will cover up for him and make him look like he was in the right! "It's just a possibility, right?" he added, obviously wanting to whitewash his younger brother.
Anyone would definitely agree to give him face and admire Chen Han being an elder brother protecting his younger brother… had his brother not Cheng Sheng. Cheng Sheng is definitely a different case.
"Who knows?" Sun Yi just said while Jing Cheng's lip twitched and Jing Kang's face remained emotionless.
Li Tian and the other Xinfaxian Sect elders coughed while Shu Mu and Xiao Le pretended to hear nothing along with Tang Zhe, Tang Yun, Guo Cheng, Shan Lu, Xi Ming and Xi Xing. Kang Ce's face couldn't be any more green.
Qian Tian who was dining with them to help Qian Lin didn't speak all this time, still feeling worried over his younger brother's health.
Just as everyone was harmoniously dining, the doors of the Yunxiao Inn flew open and a small group came rushing in.
"Sect leader He?!" everyone exclaimed when they saw He Run panting and instructed the disciples following him to close the doors.
"I apologize for barging in, but… my son – " He Run said and turned to look at his other disciples carrying the unconscious He Shun.
Everyone's expression immediately changed.
"You were attacked!" Qie Shi exclaimed in shock as he instructed their subordinates to close the Yunxiao Inn's doors and windows and take out the spiritual tools.
He Run sighed in relief when he saw that the Yunxiao Inn has many spiritual tools. They are really the most secure inn in the Zhongyang.
"A spirit servant?!" Jing Kang exclaimed when they all approached the Guhe Sect and saw that some of the disciples are also carrying a figure.
"That's a spirit servant?! I thought that it was just a masked a person!" Jing He exclaimed in shock.
"Fortunately… fortunately I had a Spirit Tracing Bell and Visual Origin Talisman and left it on Shun-er's room." He Run's eyes are red from tears. "But, the enemy was fast and had injured Shun-er. It is also fortunate that Qi Lan noticed some movements in Shun-er's room and saw it from his window the shadows…" he explained and looked at Qi Lan who was standing by the side while still vigilantly looking around.
"I have already stopped the bleeding of his wounds, but you still have to treat them." Qi Lan told them.
"Yes." Cheng Sheng nodded and the Guhe Sect disciples carefully placed He Shun down an empty table. Cheng Sheng then started checking He Shun's wounds. "It isn't life threatening and the enemy must have only intended to incapacitate him." He spoke. "But, He Shun responded with an attack, and there's the Spirit Tracing Bell that made the enemy wary so they fought violently." He explained.
He Run's heart tightened.
"Fortunately, the Visual Origin Talisman and the Spirit Tracing Bell exposed the enemy to He Shun, or else…" Cheng Sheng shook his head and reminded He Run to ask him for a new Visual Origin Talisman after it burned earlier from the fight.
He Run's clenched the Spirit Tracing Bell in his hand tight. There was still a trace of blood on the bell. It was obviously He Shun's blood.
"Fortunately, the disciples have all rested earlier tonight so they won't be scared seeing this spirit servant." Shu Mu spoke as he nudged the spirit servant's arm with his sword.
"Don't move that mask. I have an ill feeling with that." Cheng Sheng reminded them.
Everyone immediately moved away from the spirit servant's corpse and even the Guhe Sect disciples shivered in fright. Fortunately, He Run and Qi Lan reminded them not to carelessly touch the enemy so they only carried the spirit servant and dared not touch anything else.
"Ugh…" after a while, He Shun finally woke.
"Shun-er!" He Lan cried and went to his son.
"Father…" He Shun weakly called. "Qi-ge…" he turned when he saw Qi Lan. "Thank you." He told him and then closed his eyes. He could still see those sharp teeth from the opened wide mouth of the enemy coming towards him after the enemy broke his leg and he fell to the floor while his sword was thrown somewhere.
Fortunately, someone came through the window and flew in. It was Qi Lan.
"Shun-er? Shun-er!" He Run called when he saw He Shun's eyes closed.
"He just fainted." Cheng Sheng told him.
He Run sighed in relief.
"The enemy moved faster than we thought." Sun Yu frowned.
"As expected, they won't just remain silent." Tang Teng shook his head.
"Sect leader He, are there any other sect that is staying in your inn?" Li Nanzi asked.
"No. It's just us. The owner is my friend so we stayed there." He Run answered.
"Since the inn isn't safe, then sect leader He is welcome to stay here in the Yunxiao Inn." Sun Rong spoke.
"Thank you." He Run felt touched. Who could have thought that this afternoon's joy would beget him tonight's sorrow? Fortunately, fortunately… He Shun was saved in time.
It was all thanks to Qi Lan.
"Thank you." He Run told Qi Lan.
Qi Lan nodded before he sat on the side. The waiters of the Yunxiao Inn immediately gave him, as well as the Guhe Sect disciples, food and drinks.
"Sect leader He. Please have some drink first." Qie Shi spoke as he handed He Run a cup.
He Run nodded and thanked him and drank. "Thank you…" he spoke as his tears finally fell.
"Please be strong. Your son is also now out of the danger." The other sect leaders comforted him while Qie Shi had his people call for Zheng Fu Gong and Pai Lie.