Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 292 - 29: A Calamity for Generations

Li Wanqing's words gradually erased the smiles from the faces of everyone in the Shen Family Outer Courtyard.

It was as if the child in the fairy tale had exposed the emperor's new clothes, turning the whole scene awkward in an instant.

Initially, there was an unbearable silence, as everyone in the courtyard stared dumbfounded at the two involved individuals. Then, murmurs began to spread through the crowd.

Such private whispers were usually intolerable to the instructors in the Outer Courtyard, yet even Shen Herong was too preoccupied to stop the kids' chatter. His own mind was becoming muddled.

Because a lot of what Li Wanqing said was something he could confirm to be true.

The family indeed catered to Shen Feihong's competitiveness by providing a training room of excessive intensity beyond the norm, and it was true that Shen Feihong would be covered in bruises each time, followed by doses of various precious miraculous elixirs. Theoretically, this method of cultivation was very uneconomical and inefficient, but who would bother about thriftiness for the heir of the family?

Moreover, it was true that there was a girl who had feelings for Shen Feihong but never dared confess because Shen Feihong always insisted he could not let romance interfere with his cultivation — that girl crying in Li Wanqing's arms was Shen He. Everyone in the Outer Courtyard except Shen Feihong himself was aware of this, and they even once marveled at Shen He's astonishing taste…

But Shen Qing suppressing his cultivation to protect Shen Feihong's dignity!?

Even Shen Herong had never heard of such a thing!

Indeed, Shen Qing was exceptionally talented, and with his cultivation speed, it was only a matter of time before he surpassed Shen Feihong — most likely by the end of this year. In truth, considering only the True Essence Realm, Shen Qing had already taken the lead, but Shen Feihong had more combat experience and was more adept at Flesh and Blood Divine Techniques, leading everyone to believe his practical combat ability was slightly superior.

This wasn't Shen Feihong's conceit, but a consensus in the Shen Family Outer Courtyard! As an instructor in the Outer Courtyard, Shen Herong was well-versed in everyone's cultivation levels, especially those of the leading figures… When did Shen Qing hide so well?!

At first, Shen Herong didn't even doubt whether Li Wanqing's words were true or false.

This tone, on this occasion, and the candid admission of being inferior, made it hard to imagine that Li Wanqing could be lying. Besides, with Shen Qing's cold demeanor and warm heart, he was indeed capable of doing such a thing, so…

Shen Herong looked at Shen Feihong, whose expression was cold and eyes were vacant, then at Shen Qing, who appeared slightly flustered, and concluded that the likelihood of this being true was very high.

However, at that moment, Shen Qing's face reddened slightly, resembling white jade smeared with cinnabar. He stepped forward with a trace of irritated trembling and said, "Nonsense! You speak so casually, it's utterly shameless!"

Li Wanqing nodded with a smile, "Sorry, sorry, I exposed your painstaking efforts without consulting you."

Shen Qing was so enraged that his hands started trembling, "Utter nonsense! What painstaking efforts!? How could I, Shen Qing, conceal my cultivation to accommodate others? I'm fully aware of my own cultivation. If indeed, one day I surpass Shen Feihong, I will challenge him and reclaim the title of chief of the Outer Courtyard! No need for you to sow discord here! And there's no need for you to feign humility here, if you can beat Shen Feihong, naturally you can beat me, inferior to others, I admit defeat!"

This statement left the people of the Shen Family Outer Courtyard with mixed feelings.

Truly a proud genius of the Outer Courtyard, telling a lie seemed harder than killing. He really left no stone unturned to protect his brother's dignity.

Li Wanqing chuckled, "You really admit you're no match for others?"

Shen Qing took a deep breath, "At least for now, I am indeed slightly inferior to you. Your Magical Treasure, I cannot unravel." Yet he refused to admit that his Immortal Technique Divine Techniques were inferior to his opponents.

"Good, that's enough." Li Wanqing waved her hand unceremoniously and then said to Shen Herong, "Now that both the first and second in the Shen Family Outer Courtyard rankings have conceded, is it not time to skip the formalities?"

Shen Herong was momentarily choked by this, and then glared at Li Wanqing, "So this is what you were waiting for!?"

"Haha, whether it is or isn't, you can ponder slowly, anyway I've won and I'm running off, no further engagement needed!"

Shen Herong was so infuriated that the scars on his face nearly burst open, yet he was helpless.

Winning and then leaving is still winning; could they really have the elites of the Outer Courtyard engage in a battle of attrition?

After shaking off Shen Herong, Li Wanqing bent down and whispered a few words to Shen He in her arms. Shen He's face blushed, and she lightly nodded, breaking away from the embrace, and jumped back into the ranks of the Shen Family, her little face slightly puffed, like a soldier about to go into battle.

Shen Feihong was being stared at by Shen He, feeling a prickling sensation at his back, but inexplicably couldn't make sense of it.

——

On the other side, Li Wanqing used a technique to sound transmit and softly asked Wang Jiu, "Is this enough?"

Wang Jiu replied, "That's enough, thank you."

After speaking, Wang Jiu curiously glanced at Shen Qingming, "Where are your basic manners? She just helped you win a tough battle."

Shen Qingming rolled her eyes at him before reluctantly saying to Li Wanqing, "Sister Wanqing, thank you for your help."

"No need to be so polite between sisters," Li Wanqing laughed. "How can we let Little Sister Qingming handle the rough task of teaching a gorilla a lesson? Besides, for Shen He's sake, I was planning to teach him a lesson anyway. I'm quite happy to righteously beat up a Shen Family gorilla like this."

Shen Qingming smiled slightly upon hearing this, curiously asking, "Sister Wanqing, how did you deduce the Shen Family matters so accurately? Have you been to Shen City before?"

At this point, Shen Qingming was genuinely curious.

Shen Feihong's psychological issues were unnoticed by most of the Shen Family. They merely assumed his usual seriousness was him strictly demanding himself by the standards of a Shen Family heir, never considering the struggle behind such strictness.

While visiting Lingshan, Shen Qingming had heard tour guide Shen Rong talk about Shen Feihong, but afterward, all she could picture was an unsmiling, elder brother and fatherly figure, never imagining it from Li Wanqing's perspective.

Li Wanqing chuckled, "I have to thank my new little close friend, Shen He. Once she shared her thoughts, I understood everything."

"Huh?"

Li Wanqing explained, "When we just arrived at the Outer Courtyard, there was an emergency assembly, remember? The instructor counted down from 10, and anyone not at the training field was considered late. I was late because I encountered a girl in a daze, tangled in a trap, on the way."

Shen Qingming said, "Shen He?"

"Yes, when I saved her, she shared her thoughts with me. In short, this cute young girl, orphaned from an early age, was thrown into the Outer Courtyard by her family for closed training. While she has the camaraderie of siblings and comrades, she lacks family warmth. Whenever there's a holiday, her siblings reunite with family, leaving her alone. This led her to fall for the mature Shen Feihong due to her psychological deformity."

Li Wanqing spoke lightly, but Shen Qingming, Li Chaolu, and the others felt an eerie chill while listening.

From the assembly countdown to everyone being gathered, how much time had passed? Li Wanqing actually extracted the most private thoughts from that girl!?

Isn't this what it means for a Heart Demon to enter the body!?

"Nothing more, just skilled hands," Li Wanqing modestly remarked, then got back to the main point, "Up to this point, there's nothing unusual. But then the problem arises: everyone in the Outer Courtyard knows Shen He likes Shen Feihong, yet Shen Feihong seems unaware. This makes no sense. He's not like Wang Jiu; is he really that oblivious?"

Wang Jiu frowned, "What?"

"Nothing, it's unrelated to you," Li Wanqing brushed it off, continuing, "This led me to deduce that Shen Feihong must have serious psychological issues."

"Wait, what kind of deduction is that? Maybe he doesn't respond because he doesn't like her and pretends not to know," Shen Qingming reasoned.

Li Wanqing scoffed, "With his appearance, who is he to say he doesn't like her? Ask Li Xinyu, if a girl like Shen He liked him, how would he react?"

Li Xinyu earnestly responded, "All the Primordial Yang I've cherished for years would be hers!"

"See, that's the right attitude," Li Wanqing stated. "Besides, examples like this, I've seen many on Yuqing Mountain. Sister Yuqing used to often handle cases like these. Filled with uncertainty about the future, they seek psychological comfort through self-abusive practice, stubbornly refusing to accept fate. For such people, you have to crush their ego and pride to bring them back to normal."

After speaking, Li Wanqing turned to Wang Jiu, "Now I'm curious, how did you realize that gorilla had psychological issues and especially asked Little Sister Qingming to suppress him?"

In a sense, if Shen Qingming were to defeat Shen Feihong, it would be even more effective — publicly beaten by someone six years younger and two realms lower, Shen Feihong would never have any confidence in cultivation again.

However, every time Shen Qingming participates in such battles, it's always as a mount, transforming into Princess Qian Gu under Wang Jiu's superb control. The scenes are so intense they can leave a psychological shadow on young viewers. Out of sisterly affection, Li Wanqing naturally stepped up. Now with the fight over, Shen Family's intimidation tactics utterly failed, and when Li Wanqing thought back, there was only this one thing she couldn't figure out.

Could Wang Jiu, with his dullness and lack of understanding of human nature, really perceive someone else's thoughts?

Wang Jiu pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, I don't know anything about psychological issues since I've never studied mount psychology. But being a descendant of the Shen Family, and resembling Shen Kaishan so much, he probably needs a good training session. And the best way to train a Shen Family member is through mentally and physically tormenting them."

"..."

Seeing the stunned expressions around him, Wang Jiu added, "This was also personally instructed by Shen Kaishan."