"Lin Xiangwen carries... an awful lot of weight with me," Lianshan Xin remarked with deep feeling.
It was only yesterday that he had led the way to raid the Qu household; Nine Heavens had not yet made any public announcement, and He Ruoyu had spent the entire day fawning over Zeng Ningbing, completely unaware of who Lianshan Xin even was.
Naturally, he knew even less about the bad blood between Lianshan Xin and Lin Xiangwen.
Hearing Lianshan Xin put it this way, He Ruoyu assumed he truly had good relations with Lin Xiangwen, and instantly breathed a sigh of relief. "Junior Brother, I understand now. Junior Sister Zeng was simply bitter that you snatched her recommendation spot, which is why she challenged you. According to the rules of the jianghu, now that you've defeated her, Junior Sister Zeng won't cause you any more trouble. You can rest easy."
Lianshan Xin looked at He Ruoyu with a puzzled expression.
His stare made He Ruoyu lose his confidence. "Junior Brother, why are you looking at me like that?"
Lianshan Xin questioned him, "I beat Zeng Ningbing up, so she'll just stop causing me trouble?"
"Yes."
"Do you honestly think that leaving it at this is good for everyone?"
"Is it not?"
Lianshan Xin shook his head, pointing out the crux of how thoroughly He Ruoyu had been conditioned into a spineless simp.
"She picked a fight with me for no reason, and just because she failed to cause me any actual harm, I'm supposed to magnanimously let her off the hook? If she had succeeded, what would have happened to me?"
Lianshan Xin's gaze was cold, his tone dripping with contempt. "If our roles were reversed today, would you, as a bystander, still be so generous? He Ruoyu, you've studied at the academy for two years, and this is what you learned? If you want to stay on your knees, go right ahead, but I'm not that shameless."
He Ruoyu's face flushed crimson. "Junior Sister Zeng is only an eighteen-year-old girl! Is there any need to take things this far? Haggle over every little grudge like this, and you show no gentlemanly grace whatsoever! Can't you repay injury with kindness, Junior Brother?"
"The Master said, 'How then would you repay kindness? Repay grievance with uprightness, and kindness with kindness.' I have the grace of a gentleman; I just don't have the grace of a simp like you."
Lianshan Xin sneered, not sparing He Ruoyu even a shred of dignity.
Why show courtesy to a Demon Cult fiend?
Compared to He Ruoyu, what he was currently pondering was how exactly to deal with Zeng Ningbing.
Once the initial impulse faded and reason reclaimed the high ground, Lianshan Xin began earnestly contemplating a certain question:
"He Ruoyu, does Zeng Ningbing enjoy being beaten?"
"What?"
He Ruoyu failed to follow Lianshan Xin's train of thought.
Lianshan Xin asked again, "Now that I've thrashed Zeng Ningbing, will she fall in love with me because of it?"
Dai Yueying certainly would.
He Ruoyu was nearly exasperated to the point of laughter. "How could you even think such a thing? You stole her recommendation spot—you've already seen her reaction!"
"True."
Lianshan Xin was thoroughly disappointed.
This Zeng Ningbing's temperament was far worse than Dai Yueying's.
At a glance, she clearly wasn't the type to turn from enemy into friend.
In doing so, Zeng Ningbing had severely narrowed her own path.
In Lianshan Xin's eyes, the conflict between him and Zeng Ningbing was actually far smaller than that between him and Dai Yueying.
With Dai Yueying, Master Dai's death stood between them. Moreover, Dai Yueying had secretly sent people to harass his parents, leading Lianshan Xin to conclude that their rift was beyond repair, which was why he had taken the 'slaying the princess' route.
Zeng Ningbing was different; there was no blood feud over a slain father between them. If Zeng Ningbing were to develop an affection for him just as Dai Yueying had, he could genuinely forgive her.
Taking the 'marrying a princess' route wouldn't have been out of the question either.
Unfortunately, Zeng Ningbing lacked Dai Yueying's innate special constitution.
Of course, that didn't mean it couldn't be developed after the fact.
'Young Master Xin of 91 fame' still had some confidence in himself.
He wasn't someone bloodthirsty by nature, nor was he stubbornly fixated on the 'slaying the princess' route.
Looking at Zeng Ningbing, who was still 'sleeping' peacefully, Lianshan Xin shook his head slightly.
As a wild princess, all she had to do was lie knocked out, whereas Lianshan Xin had far more to consider.
At present, he knew too little about Zeng Ningbing; the information gathered was insufficient to help him make a final decision, so he needed to keep observing.
With that in mind, Lianshan Xin reached a decision.
"After all, this is the academy. Before uncovering whether the Golden Scale Alliance is colluding with the Demon Cult, I won't truly do anything to her. Still, she provoked me of her own accord; while she may escape the death penalty, she cannot escape punishment. I should give her a little lesson."
As he spoke, a wisp of true qi coalesced at Lianshan Xin's fingertip once more.
After killing Dai Yueying, Lianshan Xin had thoroughly grasped the heritage of the Dragon Subduing lineage and learned that the Dragon Slaying True Intent possessed an inherent suppressing effect on imperial bloodlines.
And if he injected his true qi into Zeng Ningbing's body, he could, to a certain extent, exert hard control over her for several seconds.
In ancient times, this had been the Dragon Subduing lineage's method for subduing the true dragons of the mortal realm.
However, after the Dragon Subduing lineage changed its guise, no one knew this secret anymore.
Lianshan Xin also knew that once he exposed the Dragon Slaying True Intent's suppression of imperial bloodlines, it would most likely bring fatal disaster upon him.
Therefore, he cautioned himself to use this ability with great prudence, or perhaps not at all.
Yet standing right before him was a wild princess.
A test subject delivered by the heavens.
"May she aid my cultivation, then."
Lianshan Xin flicked his finger.
The Dragon Slaying True Intent was shot into Zeng Ningbing's body.
"What are you doing?"
He Ruoyu was startled and immediately moved to stop him.
But Lianshan Xin had already succeeded.
Ignoring the wary He Ruoyu, Lianshan Xin turned his gaze to Zeng Ningbing, who was slowly coming around on the ground.
Zeng Ningbing opened her eyes again, and after exchanging a glance with Lianshan Xin, the memories from moments earlier rushed back into her mind.
A look of bewilderment overtook her. "You... knocked me out with a single strike?"
"Indeed."
"How did you do it? Aren't you a Body Tempering realm martial artist?" Zeng Ningbing couldn't believe it.
Lianshan Xin smiled. "I cultivate immortality."
"Who are you trying to fool?"
Lianshan Xin snapped his fingers, an enigmatic gleam flickering in his pupils as he calmly uttered two words: "Kneel."
"You—"
Zeng Ningbing was furious at first.
Then, to her horror, she realized her body had begun to slip from her control. In the very next moment, she actually dropped to her knees at Lianshan Xin's feet.
"Kiss my foot."
Zeng Ningbing's delicate frame trembled, overwhelmed by shame and rage. "Lianshan Xin, I'm going to kill you!"
In the end, she did not kiss his foot.
Instead, she seized her longsword again, sprang up, and slashed straight at Lianshan Xin.
Lianshan Xin silently noted the time:
Two seconds!
He had just exerted hard control over Zeng Ningbing for two seconds.
Not a long duration, but certainly a pleasant surprise.
Moreover, it could be further upgraded and developed later on.
Swish!
Striking second but arriving first, Lianshan Xin swatted Zeng Ningbing flat onto the ground before his feet with another palm strike.
It landed her in a position where she happened to kiss his toes.
Even setting aside the hard control, the Dragon Slaying True Intent countered her utterly.
It was a fundamental mismatch of mechanics; Zeng Ningbing was entirely powerless to resist.
"Yield?" Lianshan Xin asked, looking down at her.
Zeng Ningbing's face burned red. She stubbornly raised her head to glare at Lianshan Xin, gritting her teeth. "Lianshan Xin, in this world, I will never suffer such humiliation from any man other than my husband. You... if you don't want to die, you'd best know what you should do!"
"Huh?"
Lianshan Xin was initially surprised by Zeng Ningbing's reaction.
"Huh?!"
Then, Lianshan Xin suddenly sucked in a cold breath of air and looked toward Shenjing in the north in utter shock.
Holy shit!
At this moment, no innate ability had activated.
Yet Lianshan Xin realized that he had stumbled upon a monumental secret:
Who said Dai Yueying's unique constitution had to be inherited from her mother?
Chapter 57