Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 308 Heavenly Net Umbrella

Yuan Muyu didn't hear what the old man was saying at all.

Even if I heard it clearly, I probably wouldn't be able to answer.

She didn't know much about the opposing general, Dugu Qingli, so it was difficult for her to offer any specific advice.

Lu Xingzhou and Lu Nuonuo, she thought she understood them... but deep down she also knew that after being separated for so long, Lu Xingzhou had risen from the seventh rank to the third rank, and he couldn't possibly be the same person she knew...

Even if she knew about it, she couldn't possibly help others deal with Lu Xingzhou.

At most, I'll bully Ah Nuo a little...

But here's the problem: if she can't offer any help, then the initial idea of ​​using others to undermine the prestige of the Tianyao Holy Land will have to be shelved, and it will also affect the strategies of the various demonic factions in her alliance.

For the past ten years, she had worked under Lu Xingzhou's guidance and received his assistance the most. This was the first time Yuan Muyu had experienced what it felt like to be on the opposite side of Lu Xingzhou, even though Lu Xingzhou hadn't taken any initiative to do anything.

It's a mix of sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy flavors, like a jumbled bottle of mixed tastes.

Based on this evidence, ending the relationship was the right thing to do.

Being bound by emotions only disturbs the peace of mind, leaving one riddled with flaws. Even if one has "severed ties," the reunion will still cause turmoil in the heart; what great path can one speak of then?
Only by cutting ties completely can one be free from trouble.

But at least for now... it's not clean.

It's so painful... seeing him stand on his sister's side.

"King Yama? King Yama?" The old man's voice came from beside me, and it felt like it came from the ninth heaven.

Yuan Muyu muttered as if in a dream, "Anyway, the first group isn't going to be playing against them, so let's just watch for now."

After Lu Xingzhou came along, Yuan Muyu, who had long since stopped thinking, was forced to think more deeply after his absence. It must be said that Yuan Muyu at this point was closer to the image of the Yama King in people's minds, at least able to make sound judgments on many matters.

For example, she also keenly realized that this competition had a slightly different feel from previous ones.

In previous years, it was said that the royal family would secretly sabotage the Tianyao Holy Land, but that was always done covertly and never publicly. Therefore, the tricks they could use were relatively few, and they played the game like a gentleman's contest, just like how she was secretly instructing others this time. They would never openly become enemies.

But now that Gu Zhanting's conspiracy in Dongyue Hanchuan and Tianshuang Kingdom has been exposed, even if he can still deny it and say he didn't do it, Ye Tinglan is not a fool to let him shirk responsibility. The relationship between the two sides has clearly reached the brink of collapse, and Ye Tinglan has already begun to support Si Han, the ruler of Tianshuang Kingdom.

Under these circumstances, Gu Zhanting might become even more ruthless and do something even more serious.

Furthermore, it seems that visitors from the ancient realm have appeared in the Frost Kingdom, and they have clashed with Ye Tinglan. The Great World in the Sea is full of mysteries and has always been a place where it frequently intersects with the ancient realm. I wonder if there are any other troubles happening here.

Yuan Muyu originally wanted to be the one to stalk the cicada from behind, but what are you doing standing here, Lu Xingzhou?
While he was lost in thought, the first duel had already begun. The two sides in the battle had nothing to do with everyone else, and Yuan Muyu hadn't bothered to watch anyway.

With a loud "bang," one of the combatants was sent flying off the stage. A young man who looked to be about the same age as Lu Xingzhou stood proudly in the center and said calmly, "Thank you for the concession."

The crowd of more than ten people outside the venue was stunned for a moment.

Ye Tinglan and Yuan Muyu both narrowed their similar eyes.

A duel between three ranks, a single blow resulting in an instant kill.

This is not something an ordinary person can do.

As the person in charge, Ye Tinglan had no choice but to ask first: "What's the situation? Are there any casualties?"

The division commanders who had been knocked off the stage rushed forward to check on the man for a moment, their expressions not very good: "Thank you for your concern, Holy Lord, he is not dead."

Judging from his tone, he was either dead or seriously injured; the other party was quite ruthless.

Ye Tinglan waved her hand, and someone from Tianyao Holy Land stepped forward to provide treatment.

In a sense, if Tianyao Holy Land loses control of the situation and someone dies immediately, it would be a heavy blow to its reputation. Ye Tinglan's beautiful eyes fell on the young man in the arena, her eyes revealing neither joy nor anger, and she simply announced: "Fang Qihao of Jinfeng Island wins. Both sides will send their second person."

Fang Qihao cupped his hands and said, "May I ask Your Majesty, is it permissible for this junior to continue fighting?"

Ye Tinglan said calmly, "No. The Grand Competition in the Sea is about the general cultivation of the disciples, not about a single genius. Even if you can crush everyone, it's not enough to prove your worth."

Fang Qihao sighed with some regret: "I understand."

After saying that, he turned and left the stage.

Lu Xingzhou asked Ye Tinglan in a low voice, "Did he intentionally use such force?"

"Yes." Ye Tinglan replied in a low voice, "I was careless. I didn't expect someone to do this right at the beginning. I failed to stop it in time."

She was still mostly focused on checking if Yuan Muyu was there...

Forget it, whether Yuan Muyu is here or not, we still have to take care of the situation first, otherwise she, as the Holy Lord, will lose face.

I don't know why this little-known Golden Wind Island suddenly became so hostile. Who are they on?
Soon another little girl jumped onto the stage with a smile: "I'm the second one."

Ye Tinglan glanced at the list of participants: Duan Ning from Jinfeng Island, seventeen years old, early stage of the third rank. This age... is even younger than the age when Dugu Qingli and Pei Chuyun broke through to the third rank. She wondered if the age was exaggerated. Ye Tinglan scanned her bone age with her divine sense and found that she was indeed under eighteen.

That doesn't mean it wasn't faked; after all, it was just a scan with divine sense, not a detailed physical examination. In cases like A-Nuo's, blood tests and divine sense scans yield two different results.

However, this matter involves dignity, and neither men nor women are willing to be examined and touched in detail. Generally, the elders in charge of this matter will only scan the bone age, and there is a certain possibility that the truth will be concealed.

Since everyone was already on stage, there was no point in saying anything more. Ye Tinglan simply nodded slightly: "Let the Du'e Immortal Sect produce a second person."

The Immortal Sect of Crossing Calamities was the sect of the one who had just been injured. The crowd was now extremely agitated, and a burly man, a high-ranking third-grade cultivator, quickly jumped forward. He seemed to have originally intended to be the grand finale, but his junior brother, injured, couldn't contain himself and was eager to settle scores.

Duan Ning looked at the other man's thick beard and said with a smile, "You're so old, how can you be so shameless?"

The burly man said in a deep voice, "I'm sorry, but the one who is about your age has already been injured by your senior brother. So don't blame me for bullying the younger one."

"Are you sure you can bully me?" Duan Ning asked with a smile, but suddenly an umbrella appeared in her hand.

The umbrella spun around, its edge like a knife, and hurtled towards the burly man.

The burly man snorted coldly and threw a punch, creating a powerful gust of wind.

With the strength of a third-grade upper-level cultivator, the force of this punch could even cause the opponent's umbrella-shaped magic weapon to flutter away.

As a result, the umbrella wobbled and floated up, but instead of flying backwards, it floated above the big man.

The next moment, the big man's expression changed drastically. Some unknown suction force came from the umbrella and actually trapped him inside.

The umbrella was small, and the man was a large man, but the umbrella seemed to contain the entire universe. The large man was completely enclosed inside, and not even a bulge could be seen. It was as if he had disappeared.

"What a magnificent Heavenly Net Umbrella." Ye Tinglan's voice came from the stage: "Little girl, if you don't release him, are you waiting for him to be refined to death by your umbrella?"

"I'm not letting him go because I'm afraid he'll come out and beat me. I'll wait until he's exhausted before I release him."

Ye Tinglan flicked her fingers.

A look of eager anticipation flashed in Duan Ning's eyes. He waved his umbrella to block the flame, seemingly wanting to experience the skills of the number one person in the world.

As a result, when the wind touched the umbrella surface, it was as if someone had pressed a finger on an ordinary oiled paper umbrella, tearing through it without any fuss and creating a hole in the beautiful umbrella surface.

Suddenly, the umbrella swelled up, and a large man opened it, fell to the ground, and was unconscious.

The people from the Du'e Immortal Sect hurriedly went up on stage, picked up the burly man, and pointed at Duan Ning angrily, saying, "What kind of sorcery did that witch use!"

Duan Ning stared palely at her damaged Heavenly Net Umbrella, ignoring the people from the Crossing Calamity Immortal Sect. Her eyes, however, turned to Ye Tinglan with unprecedented solemnity: "The number one in the world, I know it today."

After saying that, he jumped off the arena and returned to the sect's ranks.

Lu Xingzhou kept staring at her, and Duan Ning seemed to sense it, turning her head and making a face.

"What are you looking at? Is it that interesting?" Ye Tinglan's voice, grinding her teeth, reached my ears.

Lu Xingzhou sighed helplessly: "My wife, am I looking at whether it's good or not?"

"What do you think?" Ye Tinglan asked. "Could you possibly discern where she came from?"

"What is this Heavenly Net Umbrella?"

"A magical artifact for capturing and controlling... but it also has merits in both offense and defense. The method for crafting this artifact has been lost for a long time."

"Ancient Realm?"

"That doesn't necessarily mean that ancient methods are the same as ancient realms. We have also obtained many ancient methods."

Lu Xingzhou's gaze fell on Duan Ning, and he remained silent in thought.

Ye Tinglan asked, "What's your judgment?"

“It’s all just empty talk to make any judgments…” Lu Xingzhou smiled. “We’ll have to fight at least once… According to the procedure, it’ll be our turn soon, won’t it?”

Ah Nuo peeked out: "Who are we facing next?"

Lu Xingzhou flipped through the list: "Angry Dragon Island".

As he spoke, he subconsciously glanced towards the people from Angry Dragon Island. A figure completely hidden under a cloak lowered its head. It seemed that the person had just been looking at him, and when he looked over, the person was startled and lowered their head, unwilling to meet his gaze.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: Another long day, and I was finally diagnosed with a bit of appendicitis. The combination of appendicitis and enteritis made things a bit complicated. However, after a few days of IV drips, the inflammation has improved a lot; at least it's not as painful, although it's still a bit uncomfortable. I'll have a colonoscopy after the inflammation subsides.

I'll try my best to write more; there should be a second update before midnight.

(End of this chapter)