Nan Zhijin was beaten without the slightest ability to fight back and could only dodge left and right. He felt that he had never been so embarrassed in his life.
"So you're taking revenge? But every time I asked you to spar with me, you seemed quite happy, didn't you?"
Shen Qing's sword sliced across Nan Zhijin's arm. The stabbing pain almost made Nan Zhijin drop the sword in his hand.
"It's true that I was happy for you. But you shouldn't have gone too far!"
"I regarded you as a respected senior brother and sparred with you with all my wounds. But you only saw me as a mute wooden post. You complained that I couldn't fight you on equal terms while smugly enjoying the feeling of defeating me."
Shen Qing still remembered Nan Zhijin's look at that time.
Although he was a sword fanatic, on Worry - Free Peak, Pei Xuanjing had higher talent than him, He Yu had the support of the He family, Lin Yibai was the one he held dearest, and even Shen Chuyun was his brother.
Only she, Shen Qing, was worthless in Nan Zhijin's eyes.
The sense of frustration he felt from Pei Xuanjing and the others, he regained his superiority by taking it out on Shen Qing.
Nan Zhijin's dark thoughts were exposed by Shen Qing's words, and his face flushed red.
Before Nan Zhijin could say anything, Shen Qing continued, "Forget it. Why should I waste my breath on you?"
"Anyway, after all these years of your hard - training in swordsmanship, you never thought there would be a day when I'd beat you down, did you?"
Shen Qing's words were full of provocation, which made Nan Zhijin let out a roar.
Before he could gather his strength for a counter - attack, Shen Qing directly struck him down to the ground with a palm.
Shen Qing didn't hold back her strength. With this palm strike, Nan Zhijin spat out a mouthful of blood essence heavily, and his whole body instantly wilted.
"Shen Qing... you..."
He covered his chest, and blood kept gushing out of his mouth.
Shen Qing suddenly felt rather bored. After making a beautiful sword flourish, she sheathed her Biluo sword.
Li Xian watched as Shen Qing effortlessly knocked the two of them down. His eyes were full of pride when he looked at Shen Qing.
"Fellow Daoist Pei, Shen Qing has made great progress, don't you think?"
Li Xian deliberately said this in front of Pei Xuanjing, leaving Pei Xuanjing at a loss for words.
Shen Qing walked up to Li Xian and looked at Pei Xuanjing warily. "What? Do you want to fight me too?"
Pei Xuanjing took a hasty step back and shook his head repeatedly. His mouth opened and closed a few times, and finally he decided to speak.
"Junior Sister, we were wrong. Please forgive us."
Pei Xuanjing was full of apologies, but Shen Qing no longer needed this apology.
In Shen Qing's eyes, Pei Xuanjing's apology was as light as a feather, not as important as a single word of encouragement from Ling Zhou.
"Oh, I thought Senior Brother Pei was going to blame me for hurting your beloved junior sister and junior brother."
Pei Xuanjing looked at Shen Qing with a troubled expression but didn't spare a single glance for Lin Yibai.
Lin Yibai had been waiting to watch the show behind them but didn't expect Shen Qing to defeat the two so easily. She was almost grinding her silver teeth to pieces.
Pei Xuanjing turned around and motioned for Lin Yibai to come over.
Lin Yibai was overjoyed, thinking that Pei Xuanjing was calling her over to scold Shen Qing in front of her.
So she deliberately acted coy for a while before slowly walking over. In the past, in Pei Xuanjing's eyes, this would have been seen as hesitation, fear, and uneasiness.
But now, Pei Xuanjing suddenly thought she was being affected and artificial, without the dignity of a disciple from a major sect.
Thinking of this, his face darkened, and his tone became cold. "What are you wriggling for? Come here quickly!"
Lin Yibai originally wanted to squeeze out a few tears, but Pei Xuanjing's words interrupted the mood she had been building.
The pretend - to - be - weak expression froze on her face.
She bit her lower lip and finally walked over in a normal posture.
"Senior Brother... I..."
"Xiaobai... no... Junior Sister Lin... Since you've said that all the previous incidents were misunderstandings, why don't you just apologize to Shen Qing in front of me and Fellow Daoist Li."
Lin Yibai's eyes widened, and tears immediately welled up. Her teeth almost dug into her lower lip.
"Senior Brother... Do you have to humiliate me like this?"
Lin Yibai looked heart - broken on the surface, but in her heart, she was scolding Pei Xuanjing thoroughly.
Especially when she saw Shen Qing crossing her arms and Li Xian looking like they were watching a show, she got furious.
Why should she apologize to that bitch Shen Qing? Shen Qing was just a supporting character, a tool for her to climb the ladder. There was no reason for the protagonist to apologize to the supporting character!
Pei Xuanjing frowned and said unhappily, "How can asking you to apologize be considered humiliation? Shen Qing also apologized to you many times before. Were those all humiliations?"
Shen Qing thought, "Sure they were..."
Lin Yibai was stunned. She didn't know what had gotten into Pei Xuanjing and why he had suddenly become so uncompromising.
Shen Qing had the same question.
Normally, Pei Xuanjing always protected Lin Yibai. Part of the reason why Shen Qing was gradually marginalized on Worry - Free Peak was that as the senior brother, he treated Shen Qing and Lin Yibai differently.
Although Shen Qing knew that there might be the reason of the love curse, who could be sure that Pei Xuanjing didn't have other feelings for Lin Yibai in his heart?
"Senior Brother, since Senior Sister Lin is unwilling, don't force her. We don't want any more misunderstandings."
When Pei Xuanjing heard Shen Qing call him senior brother again, he felt happy and deliberately ignored the sarcasm in her tone.
He turned to urge Lin Yibai. "Hurry up and apologize to Junior Sister!"
Seeing that Pei Xuanjing was unyielding, Lin Yibai lowered her head and said in a voice as soft as a whisper, "Junior Sister, I'm sorry..."
"What did you say? I can't hear you."
Shen Qing curled her lips and deliberately said while looking at Lin Yibai's flushed face.
Pei Xuanjing and Lin Yibai both knew that Shen Qing was doing it on purpose, but Pei Xuanjing didn't say anything. He just used his eyes to urge Lin Yibai to speak louder.
"Junior Sister Shen! I'm sorry!"
Lin Yibai closed her eyes and shouted at Shen Qing loudly, but her expression was extremely aggrieved.
Pei Xuanjing was like a child waiting for praise, expecting to see an expression of forgiveness on Shen Qing's face.
But Shen Qing's face suddenly darkened, and she said coldly, "I don't accept it!"
Lin Yibai's eyes were red - rimmed, and the resentment deep in her eyes almost burst out.
"Shen Qing, do you have to insult me like this?"
Pei Xuanjing also had a livid face but forced out a smile. "Junior Sister, Junior Sister Lin has already apologized. Why don't you let bygones be bygones and forget about the past?"
Shen Qing almost burst out laughing. Her face was full of sarcasm.
Forget about the past?
Was she supposed to forget how she had walked on thin ice on Worry - Free Peak and how her true feelings had been trampled on?
Or was she supposed to forget how she had had her spiritual bones taken away in her previous life and died miserably in the mouth of a demon?
Pei Xuanjing's seemingly fair words stabbed right at Shen Qing's most painful spot.
Without hesitation, Shen Qing directly slapped Pei Xuanjing and Lin Yibai hard.