The Attack of the Wastrel

Even though Gu Lingzhi did not go to the Battle Arena for a period of time, she still became the main focus of attention immediately upon her arrival.

Without a doubt, the Third Price who was by her side, had caught the attention of everyone. Standing tall and straight in a black brocade robe, every move of his carried the charm and grace of royalty. With his flippant smile, it was impossible not to notice him.

It was no surprise that Gu Lingzhi, who was being protected by him, had also become the focus of the crowd.

Summoning her courage, Gu Lingzhi calmly proceeded with the matches. In the meantime, she received many curious gazes. People who were sharp and observant enough were shocked to find out that Gu Lingzhi had broken through.

Gu Lingzhi, who had advanced to a Level Six Martial Student, experienced a big increase in her strength. After a long battle, she managed to win against an opponent who was once very difficult for her to defeat.

After she defeated her opponent, who was a Level Eight Martial Student, Gu Lingzhi descended from the stage. Rong Yuan complimented her, “Not bad, the way you fight is exactly like mine.”

Can the Third Prince be any more narcissistic? 

Speechless, she walked to another corner to prepare herself for the next match. Without thinking, Rong Yuan followed her immediately, sitting by her side. He laughed lightly, “If you continue getting stronger, we can definitely create a new generation of legends together.”

“What do you mean?” Gu Lingzhi looked at him.

Rong Yuan blinked, “If a husband and his wife owns a Gold Emblem each, they would be the best Martial Artists in their generation. There would be two gods in one household, wouldn’t we be legends?”

Husband and wife? When Gu Lingzhi heard the first few words, her mouth twitched. However, when she heard the full sentence, her eyes suddenly opened wide.

“You have a Gold Emblem?” It was understandable for her to have such a big reaction. After participating in the matches, she realized how difficult it was to win a thousand of them consecutively. When she first registered, that old man had told her that in the past few hundred years, only one person had received a Gold Emblem. How did another Gold Emblem appear? 

“You don’t believe me?” Rong Yuan raised his brows. He felt a little hurt. From his Storage Ring, he took out a gold colored, coin-sized badge with the logo of the Town of the Brave engraved on one side, and the Mercenary Guild on the other.

“Come to think of it, it was thanks to you that I won this Gold Emblem.”

Gu Lingzhi’s eyes was immediately attracted to the Gold Emblem. Rong Yuan passed the badge to Gu Lingzhi to please her.

Gu Lingzhi received the badge and examined it thoroughly. She was confused, “How does it have anything to do with me?”

Rong Yuan laughed, “If it wasn’t for you coming to the Town of the Brave when you weren’t fully recovered yet, why would I be battling anyone? Who knew that after winning for a few days, it would be my thousandth match that I’ve won consecutively?”

Gu Lingzhi knew that the goal of the vast majority of the people was to get the Gold Emblem. She wondered how they would react upon seeing Rong Yuan’s nonchalance. Whatever it was, she had an urge to beat him up.

Gu Lingzhi breathed in deeply to calm her raging urge to punch his face and returned the Gold Emblem. She turned her head to face the side just in case she could not hold herself back.

It was the Gold Emblem! With it, one could buy cultivation resources at the Town of the Brave and the Mercenary Guild at a seventy percent discount. Even though Rong Yuan was the undisputedly the best Martial Artist amongst his peers, he was still so casual about it. It was as though getting the Gold Emblem was useless. Gu Lingzhi swore that if Rong Yuan wasn’t the Third Prince of the Xia Kingdom, he wouldn’t live past twenty years old just by the way he talked! 

Rong Yuan did not know what Gu Lingzhi was thinking about, but seeing her sit there silently at the side, he thought that she was just overwhelmed. He tried to comfort her, “It’s just a Gold Emblem. With your talent, winning a thousand matches will not be difficult.” Gu Lingzhi, who felt that winning even just a hundred matches was extremely difficult, really wanted to punch Rong Yuan now.

Right then, the administrator of the battle arena drew her number. Gu Lingzhi stood up and glanced at Rong Yuan before ascending to the stage.

Gu Lingzhi’s opponent did not know why, but he had a bad premonition and his back was drenched with cold sweat.

As reality proved, such premonitions could be quite accurate at times. Just when her opponent felt that something was wrong, Gu Lingzhi’s attacks had already started. She utilised the Moon Stride movement technique, appearing in front of him in an instant. Before he could even respond, Gu Lingzhi’s sword was already pressed against his neck.

“The victory goes to the Black Thorn.”

Gu Lingzhi kept her sword when she heard the announcement of her victory. She coolly nodded her head at her opponent, then left the stage.

That was the last match of the day. After she descended from the stage, Gu Lingzhi immediately headed for the exit.

Rong Yuan hurriedly tried to catch up. On the way to the inn, Gu Lingzhi glanced around, and her heart stopped. Straight ahead, a delicate figure entered her sight. Beside her, was a loving, middle-aged couple. Who else could it be if not Gu Linglong, Gu Rong and his wife?

“Father… I told you that she was a fox, right? She didn’t send any news of her arrival in the capital, and now we cannot even contact her. She said she wanted to come back earlier to train, it looks to me like she just did not want to go home!”

Lin Yue-er pretended to criticise her, “Don’t spout nonsense. Furthermore, she is your elder sister, how could you say that of her?”

“I didn’t say anything wrong. She still lied about having made arrangements with her friends. I have already inquired about it. Her friends, Tianfeng Jin and the big mistress of the Ye Family have both been at home all this time. Who else could she be training with?”

Gu Linglong covered her mouth as she looked at Gu Rong’s face that had darkened and exclaimed, “Ah! She can’t be fooling around with some other men right?”

“Linglong!” Lin Yue-er reprimanded her daughter, but she was rejoicing internally. “How can you make such speculations about your elder sister? Whatever it is, she is the First Mistress of the Gu Clan. She’s aware of her status, there’s no way she would do something that would embarrass our family.”

As Gu Linglong and Lin Yue-er continued to exchange words, Gu Rong’s face grew even darker until he told them fiercely to shut up.

“Enough! Until we find Gu Lingzhi, do not spout nonsense. Do any of you have self-control at all? At this rate, the Gu Clan will no longer have a reputation!” Gu Rong shouted as he stormed off.

Gu Linglong and Lin Yue-er exchanged a smile before Gu Linglong spoke again.

“Father… I do have self-control. If there’s anyone who made you angry, it’s Gu Lingzhi, not me.”

As she looked at the family of three, Lingzhi hung her head low to hide the ridicule in her eyes.

When she was first enrolled in the Royal School, Gu Rong told Gu Lingzhi that he was busy with work and could not send her to the capital city. He gave the excuse that with the Third Prince fetching Gu Lingzhi to the Royal School, he would feel at ease.

Now that Gu Linglong came to participate in the entrance examination, he could free up his schedule to accompany her here. No matter what, she was treated differently from Gu Linglong. No matter how hard she strived, in Gu Rong’s heart, she was just a dispensable outsider.