"Why not?" Shi Shi prodded, "Gao Ren is quite handsome. He is already at the first lesser realm of Spiritual Growth and making great progress towards Spiritual Formation."
"I said no, that's my final answer!" Chen Wentian retorted.
He was suddenly boiling with anger. The mere thought of his disciples, his women, marrying other people sent him into an uncontrollable spiral of negative emotion. They were his. How can he give them away to other men? Preposterous!
"If you are unwilling to relinquish Wu Qianyu, then perhaps, that Li Yuechan will also be a suitable match." She tried once more.
It was her responsibility to find suitable matches for her talented disciples. Ones like Gao Ren didn't often fall out of the tree. Marrying within the sect or her province was an option but the choices were limited. It was much better to seek equally talented people from other immortal sects.
From her point of view, Chen Wentian and her were both immortals with notable sects. Her proposal was a reasonable one that could lead to better relationships between them. It was always good to have allies. There should be no reason for him to refuse her unless…
"None of my disciples are marrying anyone!"
Shi Shi sighed. It seemed the rumors were true. He was indeed a serial womanizer. She had hoped it wasn't true. She quite liked this new immortal who popped out of nowhere to widespread fame and notoriety. His aura was quite youthful and refreshing.
"I knew it. You are sleeping with them!" She muttered, resigned to the fact and far more disappointed than she expected.
"This conversation is over!" Chen Wentian snapped back and blocked off her spiritual voice with his flaming aura.
He ignored her reaction and refused to look in her direction. He didn't know what her intentions were and he didn't care. He had no need for alliance and he had no need for nosy old bags interjecting themselves into his business. If her disciple was so talented, then she could marry him. Why did she have to come after his disciples?
He had thought that he was starting to understand women after being around his disciples for a while. But it seemed that old immortal women were a different type of animal. He recalled Immortal Gentle Lotus, that slutty old witch, as well as the beautiful but scheming women of the Order. They were all dangerous creatures and he vowed to stay far away from them.
"Master… are you alright?" Zhou Ziyun's voice broke him out of a stupor.
Chen Wentian coughed a few times and looked up at her, "Yeah."
She looked at him suspiciously before speaking, "I have been analyzing the level of competition. From the performances so far, I have come to a certain conclusion."
"Oh? What is it?"
"The challenge tournament is tougher than I expected. It won't be a problem for Chengcheng, Sister Wu, and myself but Sister Li and the others are at a disadvantage because of their specialization. If we just let the tournament run its course naturally, they have a high chance of missing the final ranking by the end of the third day." She paused to gauge his reaction.
Chen Wentian was still annoyed by the previous conversation with Shi Shi. He understood Zhou Ziyun's implication so he was quite eager to hear what she had in mind.
"I do have a strategy for improving their odds but it will require us to be shameless. It is your choice and depends on how determined you are to get everyone onto the final ranking." She said, confirming his thoughts.
He was fine with that. Since everyone already thought of him as a shameless cad, there was no reason to hold back. If all of his disciples could enter the forest, it would mean that his disciples were the best. That would mean his Ten Thousand Flower Valley was the best and all these jealous sect masters and rumor mongers could eat shit for all he cared.
"Let's go with shameless. The more the better." He said and smirked.
"Alright, this is what we should do…"
Several rounds of duels later, it was Zhou Ziyun's turn to take the stage. She wasn't a critical park of the new strategy so she didn't do anything out of the ordinary. She challenged a random cultivator from a minor sect at the bottom of the rankings, a fight she was sure to win. She was at the 8th Level of the Spirit Initiate Realm while her opponent was at the 9th Level.
Unlike Lin Qingcheng's opponent, Zhou Ziyun's opponent wasn't as skilled so she won easily by utilizing the Flying Dragon Saber Art. A mortal sword art had no chance of contending against a saber art created by dragons.
Although it was over before it had even started, she made sure to drag out the fight and not make it so obvious. She wasn't as overbearing as Wu Qianyu or showy as Lin Qingcheng. She also did not use a questionable strategy like the ice sisters. Thus, her win attracted some attention but not as much as the others, which was exactly what she wanted.
The new strategy only showed its true form when Xu Lanyi was selected to challenge someone. Since she had started the day on the raking pillar, she still had one challenge to expend. She could have chosen a wide variety of options but what she chose was truly unexpected.
"I challenge Wu Qianyu of Ten Thousand Flower Valley!" Xu Lanyi's voice brought silence across the entire convocation.
"Wu Qianyu present!" Wu Qianyu's quick response only astonished everyone even further.
"Are they enemies?"
"Why are they dueling each other?"
"Chen Wentian can't even control his women, is he a man?"
Disciples of the same sect challenging each other was not unheard of but it was a rare sight. There was little point except to settle personal grudges. Those that did so would often get swiftly punished by their sect masters afterward.
This Convocation of Swords was a difficult competition between powerful sects. Sects had to be united and combine their strength to achieve anything noteworthy. A self-inflicted wound such as Xu Lanyi's challenge was ridiculous, a testament to a sect's lack of discipline and the sect master's lack of ability.
"Begin!" Jin Wu's voice brought noise and excitement back to the arena.
The audience was eager to see how these two women would settle their scores. However, Xu Lanyi and Wu Qianyu didn't bother to draw their swords or even attempt to fight. Instead, they stood close together in the middle of the stage and had a pleasant conversation.
"Sister Wu, thank you for doing this for us." Xu Lanyi said.
Wu Qianyu smiled, "Even if master had not instructed us to follow this new strategy, I would have done the same if you or your sisters had asked."
"It was my fault for not being diligent enough. I should have spent more time practicing Dugu's Tenth Sword." Xu Lanyi said.
Wu Qianyu shook her head, "Everyone has their own path. This is master's wisdom. You should continue to work on your ice and fire arts. You will have plenty of time to explore sword arts if you wish after you have ascended to the immortal realms."
"I suppose." Xu Lanyi replied and looked around the noisy crowd, "Well, should we piss everyone off?"
"You always have a way with words." Wu Qianyu said lightly.
She then turned around and glided off the stage, forfeiting the duel.
The crowd exploded in complaints but they were all useless as the judge declared very reluctantly, "Winner, Xu Lanyi…"
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