Firmament Sword

”Hm? What is Qiqi doing here?” Xu Luo blurted out instinctively.

Sun Donghai sighed softly, then looked at Xu Luo with a somewhat suggestive gaze. ”You really don’t know why she’s here?”

Without waiting for Xu Luo to reply, Sun Donghai continued, ”It’s because of you, of course. After taking the medicine made from the Seven-Colored Flower, the Seventh Princess was finally able to stand. After that, she requested to come to the True Martial Academy. His Majesty must feel guilty. After all, the Seven-Colored Light was right there, but the Royal Family couldn’t get it... Speaking of which, Xu Luo, I really admire you!”

”That was just a fluke. I’m still worried that Tier Nine Spirit Beast will show up at my door one day...” Xu Luo grumbled. He didn’t realize as he said it just how much he was jinxing himself.

”Heh, even if others wanted to get that lucky, they’d need the courage and opportunity first.”

Sun Donghai went on, ”So when the Seventh Princess proposed coming to the True Martial Academy, the Emperor agreed immediately, disregarding the opposition from some. Heh, when the news broke, it stunned countless people. It was common knowledge that a Prince might enter the True Martial Academy, but was there ever a precedent for a Princess to enroll?

Setting aside the Seventh Princess’s unparalleled beauty and sharp intellect, her status as a Royal Princess alone is enough to make countless hearts stir!

Haha, Xu Luo, are you feeling the pressure?”

Sun Donghai asked with a grin. Based on his understanding of Xu Luo, he was a very low-key person. He had endured all sorts of ridicule for over a decade, and though his sudden rise to prominence was astonishing, he had never seen Xu Luo become arrogant or complacent because of it. He had certainly never bullied anyone by throwing his weight around.

Compared to the top dandies of the Imperial Capital... including Sun Donghai himself, this was almost unbelievable!

After all, even Xu Luo himself had been a little tyrant back in the day in the Imperial Capital.

So, Sun Donghai was just making a casual comment.

But to his surprise, Xu Luo raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. ”Pressure? Qiqi is my woman. Anyone who gets any ideas about her, I’ll beat them so bad their own mother won’t recognize them!”

”Er...” Sun Donghai stared, dumbfounded, at the faintly smiling youth before him. The smile even seemed to hold a hint of bashfulness, and he could hardly believe his ears.

”You... you said the Seventh Princess... is your woman?” Sun Donghai asked in disbelief.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the Seventh Princess treated Xu Luo differently from others. But this... the Royal Family had never made their stance clear, and the Xu Family hadn’t made any official statements either.

’Who... had given Xu Luo such confidence and... audacity, to dare make such a declaration publicly?’

Although it was just the two of them, Sun Donghai knew that since Xu Luo dared to say this to him, he wasn’t afraid of the words getting out.

’Or perhaps, Xu Luo was doing it on purpose, wanting to use my mouth to spread the message!’

”You don’t think so?” Xu Luo asked Sun Donghai with a smile.

”Ah, yes, right, ah... no, no.” Sun Donghai, a man who was usually low-key but was a true man of the Jianghu at heart, suddenly felt the urge to run away.

He suddenly felt that this guy in front of him was completely inscrutable.

In the end, Sun Donghai could only give Xu Luo a thumbs-up with a wry smile. ”Xu Luo, you’ve got guts!”

Sun Donghai did not disappoint Xu Luo. He was smart and understood Xu Luo’s intentions. Within an hour, Xu Luo’s declaration from their meeting had spread throughout the entire True Martial Academy!

”Qiqi is my woman. Anyone who gets any ideas about her, I’ll beat them so bad their own mother won’t recognize them!”

This domineering and arrogant declaration from Xu Luo immediately sent all the young men in the True Martial Academy who harbored fantasies about the Seventh Princess into a collective uproar!

”Who the hell does he think he is? Does being a descendant of the National Guardian General make him so great?”

”What right does he have to address Her Highness the Seventh Princess like that? I’m going to accuse him of a crime of gross disrespect toward the Royal Family!”

”He’s just a piece of trash who got lucky and made a comeback. How dare he say something like that in public? He’s really courting death!”

”Hmph, is a Celestial Immortal like the Seventh Princess someone a toad like him is worthy of desiring?”

”He’s just talking in his sleep, ignore him!”

In an instant, all sorts of condemnations against Xu Luo erupted, echoing across the entire campus.

Xu Luo’s ability to attract hatred was unparalleled. Before Qiqi had even arrived at the academy, he had already successfully incurred the public wrath of the entire True Martial Academy.

The Seventh Princess was peerlessly beautiful and exceptionally intelligent. In the past, when she was disabled, unable to stand or walk, it was one thing.

But now, the Seventh Princess could truly stand and walk like a normal person. She had truly become a perfect woman!

Even without her status as a Royal Princess, she was definitely a beauty capable of stirring up storms.

Furthermore, due to her many years of disability, the Emperor surely felt guilty toward this daughter. Whoever married the Seventh Princess would have a meteoric rise to power!

For the top aristocratic families, the enormous benefits of marrying the Seventh Princess were enough to make them wake up laughing from their dreams!

The Emperor would surely dote on this daughter who had suffered so much since childhood. Marrying the Seventh Princess would not only bring astonishing benefits in itself, but her husband would also bask in her reflected glory and receive the Emperor’s favor.

Not to mention, through the Seventh Princess, one could leap into the ranks of the Royal Family and Relatives!

For a Prince with ambitions for the throne, marrying the Seventh Princess into one of his vassal families would be a tremendous asset in the future struggle for succession! It might even influence the Emperor’s decision!

Many families would dare to risk their necks for such immense benefits, to say nothing of a harmless and entirely profitable venture like marrying a Princess.

And within the True Martial Academy, it wasn’t just the noble young masters from great clans who had fantasies about the Seventh Princess. Even those from minor families, and even commoners, dreamed of marrying up and becoming a Phoenix!

Who didn’t know what the title of Princess meant?

Who didn’t know the Seventh Princess was incomparably beautiful and brilliant?

Who didn’t know that marrying such a woman meant a life of luxury and dignity for this lifetime, the next lifetime, the one after that, and even the one after that?

She was a Princess, the Emperor’s most beloved Princess!

A relative of the Royal Family!

This royal status alone was enough to make countless people willing to fight to the death for it.

Lin Chi was one of those from a humble background who harbored fantasies about the Princess.

His family was ordinary, but he was exceptionally talented. He had been highly competitive since childhood and had always looked down on the scions of the great clans.

He believed that if he had been born into a great aristocratic family, he would be dazzlingly brilliant. In Lin Chi’s eyes, those scions were nothing but trash!

”You just have a good background. In my, Lin Chi’s, eyes, you’re not even worth a fart!”

Lin Chi had once said this to a close classmate.

Lin Chi had the capital to be arrogant. At eighteen years old, he was already a Tier Two Sword Master, a student specially recruited by the True Martial Academy from a small, remote Southern town!

He was deeply favored by the Instructors at the True Martial Academy, who had always seen him as the kind of young man who would truly soar in the future!

They believed Lin Chi’s future was limitless!

Lin Chi himself thought so too. ’Grand General Xu Ji was nothing special,’ he even thought. ’Didn’t he suffer a crushing defeat back then and get ruthlessly impeached by court officials? If I were the Grand General, I would never have allowed such a disastrous defeat!’

’If it weren’t for his good family background, that thousand-year Military Family, and you put Xu Ji in my family instead, he wouldn’t even be worth a single hair on my head!’

Proud, conceited, and holding himself in high regard, Lin Chi had always been excellent at disguising himself. He never showed his arrogant side in front of his classmates.

That previous statement had been said unintentionally to his best friend once when he had too much to drink.

Other than that, in everyone’s eyes, Lin Chi was a passionate young man who was hardworking, earnest, and diligent!

Lin Chi was handsome, dignified, and exceptionally talented in both literature and martial arts. Naturally, he had no shortage of admirers in the academy.

However, Lin Chi looked down on them all, even the young ladies from some of the great clans!

In his heart, he had always had a dream!

He, Lin Chi... would marry a Princess!

Only a Royal Princess was worthy of him, Lin Chi!

And only with the help of a Princess could he truly achieve success and realize the ambitions in his heart!

So, after hearing Xu Luo’s shameless declaration, Lin Chi merely gave a cold smile.

’Just because you could beat a loser like Li Tie, you think you’re so tough? Heh... just because you could beat a pretty-boy dandy like the ”Little King of Speed,” who’s all flash and no substance, you think you’ve made it? Xu Luo... if I get the chance, I’ll let you know what... a true powerhouse is! And I’ll make you understand... that a Princess is not someone a sickly weakling like you... can even dream of coveting!’