Elder Dan Qing’s heart instantly tightened. He suddenly turned around, furrowed his brows, and looked at Elder Shu Feng. “You—”

“Rong Xiu isn’t around, but it doesn’t mean that he won’t hear those words.”

As if not seeing the other party’s look of warning, Elder Shu Feng said relaxingly, “Rong Xiu personally chose his princess consort, which shows that it was done according to his wishes. Besides, when Rong Xiu came back to the academy, he once honestly said that the princess consort was the one he really liked. If he finds out that Jiang Zhiyuan has ridiculed his princess consort in front of so many people and even expressed that she should be the princess consort… With his personality, he won’t let this incident slide so easily. Dan Qing, what do you think?”

Elder Dan Qing’s expression changed slightly. Rong Xiu has harsh methods and is ruthless. If not, it would be impossible for him to become His Grace and control the Sky-Cloud Empire in a mere few years! If he really wants to pursue the matter… Jiang Zhiyuan won’t have a good ending. 

Actually, all these years, it wasn’t the first or second time that Jiang Zhiyuan had purposely made her relationship with Rong Xiu sound ambiguous and caused other people to misunderstand.

Rong Xiu was no longer in the academy at that time, so he naturally wouldn’t care. However, it was different now—Rong Xiu was right here. Besides, if he wanted to know something, he would definitely know the details of the matter.

Elder Dan Qing’s heart gradually sank. Others might not know, but as Jiang Zhiyuan’s mentor, he knew clearly what kind of attitude Rong Xiu had toward her. What childhood sweethearts? What seniors’ agreement… They are all Jiang Zhiyuan’s wishful thinking! The legitimate princess consort is in the Sky-Cloud Empire now. How could Rong Xiu allow other people to ridicule her as they wished? 

“I’ll settle this myself,” boomed Elder Dan Qing. “I don’t need other people to teach my students!”

Elder Shu Feng knew that he had heeded the advice, so he smiled and didn’t speak further. Although Dan Qing is stubborn, he is very experienced, and his mind Is clear. However, it’s a pity that Jiang Zhiyuan doesn’t have such brains. Rong Xiu is in the academy, yet she still dares to say such words in front of so many people! 

Elder Shu Feng stroked his beard. Jiang Zhiyuan’s future days won’t be easy… 

…

Lin Zhifei and Jiang Zhiyuan stood opposite each other. There was a chessboard quietly floating in between them.

The two of them took turns to attack.

In the beginning, Jiang Zhiyuan didn’t care about Lin Zhifei at all. However, she gradually realized that something was amiss.

Every time she made a move, Lin Zhifei could follow her quickly, and the positioning of his pieces was very precise! It was as if he didn’t need any reaction time, and his movements were rapid and precise!

At the start, Jiang Zhiyuan could lie to herself and comfort herself that it was just the start and that nothing complicated had taken place. Lin Zhifei could make many moves, so he did it so naturally and easily.

But as time passed, the number of pieces on the chessboard increased, and the situation became increasingly complicated. Even Jiang Zhiyuan had to think repeatedly before she made a move, yet Lin Zhifei didn’t seem to be affected at all. He still made moves as sharply and sensitively as before!

At this moment, Jiang Zhiyuan finally felt that she wasn’t doing as well as she had hoped. She quickly looked up and saw that Lin Zhifei was still calm.

Detecting her gaze, Lin Zhifei still smiled lightly and nodded toward her.

Jiang Zhiyuan clenched her silver teeth. In her eyes, Lin Zhifei’s reaction was clearly an insult!

But no matter how infuriated she was, she couldn’t save the losing situation.

She became increasingly anxious and broke out into a cold sweat.

The spectators had already detected something amiss as they secretly exchanged meaningful gazes.

They were all Xuan Masters, so they could naturally tell what was happening. With the current situation, Jiang Zhiyuan was clearly on the losing end!

“I didn’t expect Lin Zhifei to be so strong… Did he hide his abilities before?”

“Most likely! You need to know that Jiang Zhiyuan is ranked much higher than him on the Qing Yun Ranking, but judging by the current situation… Lin Zhifei is much better than her!”

“If Jiang Zhiyuan really loses this, won’t she be humiliated?”

“The strong will be respected. If she’s incapable, someone will replace her sooner or later! I think that… she hasn’t spent much effort on cultivation recently, so it’s normal that people can catch up with her.”

“I think so too… Didn’t Lin Zhifei say that the Sky-Cloud Empire’s Princess Consort had actually beaten her legitimately? That wasn’t what she said previously…”

“Would you be able to proudly talk to everyone about your loss? Actually, I already felt that something was amiss from the beginning. Rong Xiu is the Sky-Cloud Empire’s His Grace, and his status is very distinguished. How can he casually marry an ordinary woman as his princess consort? I don’t know how much of what Jiang Zhiyuan said is true!”

Although the person talking had already tried his best to lower his volume, everyone present was quite strong, so they could roughly hear it.

This included Jiang Zhiyuan.

She felt increasingly aggrieved, yet she couldn’t righteously say anything in retaliation. This was because whatever they said was the truth!

When everybody didn’t know the truth, perhaps she could still lie her way through. But once they had some form of understanding, she couldn’t do so anymore. This was because when the truth was out, the liar would always be in the most difficult position!

Slap!

A shocking sound came from the chessboard.

Jiang Zhiyuan recovered her senses and looked forward. She then shockingly realized that the move Lin Zhifei just made had cut all her paths!

Lin Zhifei calmly said, “Senior Sister Jiang Zhiyuan, you’ve lost.”

Those nonchalant words were like heavy rocks that harshly slammed Jiang Zhiyuan’s heart!

She was dazed for a moment and didn’t dare to believe whatever happened in front of her. I was only distracted for a moment. How did it become like this? However, I’m indeed in a dead corner on the chessboard—I have really lost! 

This realization made Jiang Zhiyuan’s legs go weak, and she almost collapsed onto the floor.

The young man who previously wanted to challenge her hurriedly went forward to help her up. “Zhiyuan, are you okay—”

Jiang Zhiyuan pushed him away as if she were scared that she would be tainted by something dirty.

That young man’s face darkened, and he silently moved back.

Lin Zhifei raised his brows slightly. “Senior Sister Jiang Zhiyuan, it seems like your abilities… haven’t improved since you came back from the Sky-Cloud Empire.”

These words were like a harsh slap to Jiang Zhiyuan’s face!

She stared at the chessboard intently, took a deep breath in, and suppressed her rage with much difficulty. “I’ve neglected my cultivation lately. Thank you for correcting me, Junior Brother Lin.”

Then, she turned around and walked toward the few elders.

Elder Dan Qing took a step forward worriedly. “Zhiyuan—”

“Mentor, I would like to take leave.”