He stared at the person in front of him and wondered just how this had happened. Hadn't he just thought that he had managed to deal with the situation? How come the other person still had the upper hand?
Well, this wasn't too troublesome to deal with yet. They were guests, after all. He might be able to challenge them to fight but as long as they said no, there was nothing he could do. Everything else would be a risk to the Yun Zou Sect's reputation. Thus Elder Gongxi gave a smile. "Well, normally, with be happy to oblige but …"
Qiu Ling's eyes narrowed. "But you don't have the right disciples with you? Ah, I should've known. Other than your own disciple, they probably can't measure up to that person from the Gathering of Practitioners. They probably wouldn't dare to accept the challenge of one of our disciples.
"But they really don't need to be afraid. After all, it's just me they'd be fighting against. I mean how many disciples have you with you again? Five? Six? I mean six people against one … If they're still scared of that, then maybe being a practitioner isn't the right way for them." He glanced at the disciples that were crowding behind Elder Gongxi and gave them a pitying look.
Elder Gongxi's face drained of color. Oh no! He wanted to speak up but the disciples couldn't take it. One of them pointed at Qiu Ling's nose while his own face turned red. "What are you even saying?! Whether it's six of us against you or six of you against one of us, we wouldn't care either way! We're just afraid that you'd run to complain to your Master after you lost, making trouble for our Yang Huo Sect."
The other disciples nodded eagerly. "Yes! What's so good about that Zhou Wu? We're not able to compare to him? What nonsense! He's just some trash that can't cultivate any longer. There's no reason to even bring him up."
Qiu Ling gave a wry smile. "So as long as my Master won't interfere, you don't mind having that fight after all? Well, that's alright with me. If you want me to, I'll even sign some statement or something." He turned to Elder Gongxi, smiling brightly. "Did you hear that, Elder? You really don't have to be afraid. It seems your disciples are really stroked to have that fight with me. You should really allow them.
"So how about you draft that agreement and we'll just all sign? We can have that fight right tomorrow morning. I mean there's no need to wait any longer, is there? Your disciples won't be able to train much until then anyway. Regardless of whether we do it tomorrow morning or evening. There's no need to keep waiting."
"Yes, let's do it in the morning! I really can't wait to have that fight with you!" The disciples glared at Qiu Ling, not noticing at all that they had been talked into doing something the Elder wanted to prevent at all costs.
Unfortunately for Elder Gongxi, there was nothing he could do. He gave a deep sigh and nodded. Well, it was his own problem that their Yang Huo Sect's disciples weren't smart enough. When they got back, he had to make sure that other than training their sword arts, they would also train the ability to control their emotions and think things through before talking! This really was such a disgrace.
"Well, then I'd better go and write that statement now. We wouldn't want anybody to have any complaints tomorrow, would we? We'll have to make sure that it really is just a friendly spar between disciples of two acquainted sects."
Qiu Ling nodded and put on an earnest expression. "Sure, ah. I won't hold it against you if any of you managed to injure me though. I mean swords don't have eyes, do they? It wouldn't be right to make trouble for somebody just because they weren't able to hold back. That also wouldn't be very honorable. A spar is supposed to be something we can learn from. So we should take it seriously."
"You better remember those words tomorrow!" The Yang Huo Sect disciples were already mad with rage. They clenched their hands into fists to make sure they wouldn't rush over and literally slap this person in the face. They couldn't help but want to hurl verbal abuses at him though.
How dare he compare them with Zhou Wu? How day he insinuate they were afraid of him? Even if he was the Grandmaster's disciple, he was still only one person! If they couldn't defeat him even with the six of them, where would they put their face? They may as well just get killed by him rather than returning to the Yang Huo Sect after such an embarrassment. Otherwise, wouldn't they make themselves to be just as much of a laughingstock as Zhou Wu? They wouldn't stand for that!
Qiu Ling just smiled happily when he saw them react like that. Ah, he really wanted to say some more but if he did, his beloved might get angry. After all, he had promised that he wouldn't go overboard today. Making the disciples angry was already the limit that his beloved would accept. But at the very least, he still hadn't beaten him up. He would wait until tomorrow before he did that so he wouldn't break his promise to his beloved. That should be alright, shouldn't it?
Meanwhile, Elder Gongxi furrowed his brows and turned to the disciples with a displeased look. "You still don't have enough? Go back inside! What kind of behavior is that? Talking like that to the person you want to have a spar with tomorrow? You better go in and reflect!"
The disciples grumbled but didn't dare to defy Elder Gongxi. They threw Qiu Ling another vicious look and then trudged back inside.
Elder Gongxi schooled his own expression and turned back to Qiu Ling and Jing Yi. "Well, I'm sorry you had to see something this embarrassing. These disciples haven't gone out very often in the past. They are easily letting their emotions get over their heads. I'm afraid I'll have to discipline them in the future so they won't make an embarrassment out of themselves again. Thank you for your understanding."
Qiu Ling very graciously forgave them. "Ah, they're still young. There's nothing wrong with being a little emotional at that age. And I'm very happy that they're brave enough to have that fight. There's really no need to apologize for that."
Elder Gongxi gnashed his teeth but still nodded. "Very well, then I'll go and draft that agreement now. How about this? I'll send it over to your Master later. Then you don't have to continue to stand here."
Qiu Ling nodded. "Mn, that sounds good to me. Let's just do it that way. Then farewell. We'll see each other tomorrow." He grabbed Jing Yi's arm and pulled him away, not even waiting for Elder Gongxi to say anything.
Elder Gongxi's eyes narrowed when he watched the two of them leave. This guy … He shouldn't think that he would let him get away with this that easily. No, he would make sure that he paid for this.