On the stage, Sect Master Yuchi once again leaned over to Grandmaster Zhangsun. "Grandmaster, it seems the way your disciple fights isn’t your typical direct approach."

"Mn, he didn’t learn that from me." In fact, he did wonder where Qiu Ling had learned this. Thinking of the one time he had seen that person from the dimension fight … Back then, he had suppressed everyone with raw strength. As a dragon, shouldn’t Qiu Ling be able to do the same? So why was he fighting like this?

"Ah." The Sect Master nodded. "Then … are you alright with this style of his? It seems quite flashy."

"Indeed." Grandmaster Zhangsun frowned. Flashy was the right word to describe this. These moves weren’t good for anything but showing off.

Just when he thought so the Grand Elder of the sect that was sitting on Yuchi Bing Xia’s other side chuckled lowly. "I’m afraid you’ll first have to teach him something else before the sword arts, Grandmaster."

Zhangsun Xun Yi raised his brows. The Grand Elder chuckled again and looked at the Sect Master to see if he understood. Yuchi Bing Xia could only stare blankly. He also didn’t understand.

"Well, he’s clearly showing off. All those pretty martial sisters must have gone to his head."

Zhangsun Xun Yi looked over. At this moment, his disciple was looking at those women in front of him with disgust clearly expressed on his face. Was that really someone who basked in their attention? Furthermore, hadn’t that person said that there was already somebody that his disciple liked? The dragons never shifted their affections, did they?

The Sect Master was skeptical too. "It doesn’t seem like that to me. He seems rather … put out because of them?"

"Ah, what do you know? You’ve both never been in love. He’s clearly charmed by one particular martial sister! Of course, he’s showing off to her and now that there are so many other women he is afraid she might misunderstand him as a ladies’ man. That is why he’s angry now."

Yuchi Bing Xia nodded. This explanation seemed plausible to him. "Then which martial sister does he like?" Considering this was a future pillar of their sect he should try everything to support him!

"Well, with all these women around even I can’t tell. But she’s probably standing somewhere at the back. If you had traced his gaze when he was fighting, you would have seen that he was always glancing at the back of the crowd."

All three men looked at Qiu Ling who had to go to the next ring just at that moment. He looked back at the crowd as soon as he stepped onto the ring, his gaze accurately locking onto a place somewhere at the back of the crowd.

"It’s indeed true!" Sect Master Yuchi raised his brows. Who would have thought? The Grand Elder was really observant. "Then don’t you have any idea who it could be?

"Mn, it might be that young girl who fainted before." The Grand Elder stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes, looking at her. "That was obviously a ruse from her to attract his attention. Maybe it worked. He didn’t hurry over when it happened which she had probably expected him to do but maybe he just wanted to stay low-key. It must also be hard being the Grandmaster’s disciple."

Yuchi Bing Xia hardly listened to the last sentence. He was still pondered what the Grand Elder had said before: Fainting could be a ruse to get the attention of a man? Ah, he really had no idea about love! He had always cultivated, taken on missions and then cultivated some more before he started to take over some of the tasks of the old Sect Master. When would he have had time for a woman?

He peaked at the Grandmaster next to him. That fellow would probably understand even less. Had he done anything else but practice in all those years? He was already so old and still not married even though he looked young. There was probably not a chance that this guy would ever find himself a practitioner partner. Mn, maybe it was good that he would be confronted with that thanks to his disciple.

Speaking of which … Yuchi Bing Xia glanced behind him next. Yu Jin was still standing there silently, either looking at the ground or watching the fights down on the rings. His face showed no expression as if all this didn’t have anything to do with him. Ah, if he didn’t do something, then his new disciple might just end up like him and the Grandmaster. He should let him go over and get acquainted with that Qiu Ling. Maybe there was a thing or two he could learn from him.

Yuchi Bing Xia continued to ponder while Zhangsun Xun Yi, on the other hand, didn’t dwell on it. He felt that love wasn’t something a practitioner needed in his life but since his disciple was a dragon, things were vastly different.

Well, even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t forbid his disciple from forming a practitioner pair if he found someone he liked. A partner wasn’t something that necessarily had to distract someone. It was also something that could give a man another reason to follow his chosen path. Maybe his disciple would be one of those men who were spurred on by the thought of protecting the person they loved.

Meanwhile, the gong sounded. Qiu Ling took one look at his opponent, suddenly appeared in front of him and kicked him off the ring. The sound of the gong hadn’t even subsided. As soon as the disciple landed on the ground and the Elder overseeing the fight gave his nod of approval and announced him the winner … Qiu Ling vanished.

All the disciples watching stared at the ring dumbstruck. Where had that genius gone?

The martial sisters who had waited at the side of the ring looked around anxiously. Only those on the guest stand that overlooked the whole clearing could see that Qiu Ling had leaped from the ring into the air and out of that encirclement of women. He had already landed behind them where they didn’t bother to look and slowly made his way over in a certain direction.

The Grand Elder and the Sect Master couldn’t help but hold their breath and inch forward on their seats. Which one would it be? And what was he going to say to her? Then their eyes bulged.

Qiu Ling’s actions really surpassed all their imaginations.