The perfect gift for a coward!

When those words escaped from the mouth of the innocent looking Nanlan Qianbing, everyone in the pavilion was shocked into silence!

Just what kind of status did the name Nanlu Tianzi possess right now?

Even if this girl was considered to be still young and ignorant at the age of sixteen, surely she was not blind as well?

Could she not tell that even the upper echelons of the various influences within Bluenight City were trying to befriend him?

Despite that, she still chose to speak to him in such an arrogant manner.

Indeed, the young were truly brash!

However, no matter how much each person wanted to befriend Lu Tianzi, this was not the right time to speak up in his stead.

Even though the chances were low, there was still that slim chance that this was an arrangement made by the City Lord to showcase the young elites in Bluenight Palace!

If they obliviously stepped out and ended up offended the City Lord, then that was not a worthy trade at all!

Lu Tianzi easily caught the mask that had been tossed over to him, but he simply did not know how to react at that moment. He had never expected that this young lady would actually speak to him in such a manner.

"That is Nanlan Qianxue's younger sister, Nanlan Qianbing," Nanqing Haowen's voice suddenly sounded out in Lu Tianzi's head. "While her elder sister is kind of cold, the younger sister is kind of crazy.."

So this really was Nanlan Qianxue's younger sister!

At this point, Lu Tianzi narrowed his eyes to take a good look at this Nanlan Qianbing.

Nanlan Qianbing did share some similar features with Nanlan Qianxue in terms of appearance. Being only one year apart, their heights and figures were almost exactly the same as well. But unlike her older sister who usually let her hair down, Nanlan Qianbing had her long hair tied up in a bun.

"Hahaha, I'm just joking! Please don't take it to heart, Mister top ranker!" Nanlan Qianbing suddenly burst out in laughter.

"Is that so..?" Lu Tianzi forced a smile as he looked at this Nanlan Qianbing.

"Of course!" Nanlan Qianbing nodded before taking a deep and respectful bow. "I am truly hoping to learn something from the great Nanlu Tianzi!"

Lu Tianzi might actually have believed her if not for the smug grin that was plastered on her face since the start.

"If you really want to learn something, then I don't mind teaching you a little," Lu Tianzi kept the mask into his spatial ring.

"Oh really?" Nanlan Qianbing's tone turned cold immediately, completely unlike how she had pretended to be respectful before.

"How do you want to do this?" Lu Tianzi asked.

At this moment, the City Lord suddenly interjected.

"Since this is just a quick showcase, let's not go too far," City Lord Nanlan said. "If the winner is not decided within ten moves, then we will put a stop to it."

The City Lord was actually feeling quite nervous at the moment.

He had wanted the representatives of his Bluenight Palace to show off a little, but he definitely did not expect his daughter to suddenly challenge Lu Tianzi, and acting like a brat while she was at it!

Having grown up in an environment where her father held the greatest authority, this Nanlan Qianbing had truly become quite wilful, doing whatever she wanted without consideration for consequences.

However, it was not like he could reprimand her in front of everyone, especially after trying to show off while introducing the group.

All he could do now was to bite the bullet and hope that Nanlan Qianbing would know her limits!

Even so, this was still a good chance to see Nanlu Tianzi's capabilities.

Exactly how strong was this top ranker of the Nine Suns Trial?

"Sounds good!" Nanlan Qianbing agreed to the City Lord's suggestion immediately. "But is Nanlu Tianzi okay with this?"

"Sure," Lu Tianzi nodded. "Shall we start then?"

The smug grin on Nanlan Qianbing's face grew even wider, "Follow me!"

Even though the pavilion that they were in was quite spacious, it was still insufficient to contain a fight between martial artists.

Thankfully, the garden of the Bluenight Palace had plenty of wide spaces. Right outside the pavilion was a huge patch of grass where a casual spar could be held.

Nanlan Qianbing drew her weapons, a pair of short swords to be held in each hand.

However, she could not help but frown when she noticed that Lu Tianzi was merely standing there with his arms tucked behind his back, watching silently as she got ready.

"Are you not going to intending to draw your weapon?" Nanlan Qianbing asked.

"A martial artist's body is the best weapon," Lu Tianzi answered nonchalantly.

"If that is the case, then I hope you won't blame me for using my weapons!" Nanlan Qianbing harrumphed in disgust.

Before Nanlan Qianbing was even done with her words, she had already sped forward with her short swords in hand.

The distance between the two was less than ten metres. For martial artists at the Peak Essence Building realm, such a distance was definitely within striking distance.

In the blink of an eye, Nanlan Qianbing had already arrived before Lu Tianzi.

She spun her body around, borrowing the momentum of the spin as she slashed upwards!

Under the starry sky, the short swords in her hands reflected the bright moonlight, drawing a beautiful circle in the air that followed the rotation of her body.

Lu Tianzi had just been standing there, watching as Nanlan Qianbing attacked.

Yet the moment the short sword was about to hit him, Lu Tianzi actually moved backwards in a strange manner, as though he was gliding backwards while being carried by an invisible current.

Even though Nanlan Qianbing had been absolutely sure that she would hit Lu Tianzi, her short swords managed to cut through nothing but air.

This caused the many experts watching the fight to narrow their eyes in focus.

No matter how beautiful it was, what good was an attack that could not hit the opponent?

Still, just what was this strange movement technique that Lu Tianzi had just employed?

It seemed familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. But before they could put a finger to it, Lu Tianzi had glided forward once again.

Even though his movement was strange, it was ridiculously fast!

At this point, Nanlan Qianbing had just ended her attack, turning back to face Lu Tianzi after spinning around for her attack.

Yet instead of finding Lu Tianzi, all Nanlan Qianbing managed to see was a palm flying straight towards her face!

Fast!

This attack was way too fast!

There was simply no way for her to dodge at all!

Pa-!

Nanlan Qianbin was frozen in shock as the sound of the slap resounded across the otherwise quiet garden.

Lu Tianzi had already held back with that slap, choosing not to drive his Slaughter Essence to power the attack. But still, even if it was only with his inhuman body strength, a simple slap was still strong enough to hurt.

Nanlan Qianbing hesitantly raised her hand to touch her cheek that was still stinging in pain.

Rather than the physical pain, what she felt was a blow to her pride!

"Is this enough?" Lu Tianzi questioned her with a tone that was did not contain the least bit of friendliness within.

"The top ranker of the Nine Suns Trial truly deserves his fame!" City Lord Nanlan clapped. "With that, the winner is-"

"I can still fight!" Nanlan Qianbing shouted out in indignance, cutting off the City Lord in the middle of his sentence.

With that, she immediately slashed out with her short swords, intending to catch Lu Tianzi by surprise.

However, Lu Tianzi had been well prepared for this.

In fact, even if he had let his guard down, his quick reflexes would have easily allowed him to dodge this attack anyway.

Lu Tianzi's expression did not even change one bit as he glided backwards to dodge the slash, then advancing once again before Nanlan Qianbing even had the time to pull back her outstretched weapons.

Pa-!

Yet another slap!

Nanqing Haowen winced involuntarily as he saw this, and could not help but to steal a glance at Nanlan Qianxue.

However, Nanlan Qianxue's expression remained as indifferent as before.

Had Nanqing Haowen not know better, he might have even thought that the one being slapped right now was not her younger sister!

This time, Nanlan Qianbing no longer refused to concede.

She might be wilful and brazen, but she was not an idiot.

The first exchange might have ended too quickly for her to accept her loss, but coupled with the second exchange, it was already more than enough for her to understand the difference between her and her opponent.

It was not just her as well.

By now, anyone watching the match would have realised that the two of them were simply not on the same level!

An air of awkwardness fell over everyone present as nobody knew how to react.

This was probably not the strength of Bluenight Palace's elites that City Lord Nanlan wanted to show them, was it?

All Nanlan Qianbing could do was to stand there silently, glaring at Lu Tianzi with her hand on her cheek.

Seeing that Nanlan Qianbing was just standing there silently after being slapped, Lu Tianzi dusted his hands before turning to head back towards the pavilion.

"Thank you for the mask," Lu Tianzi mocked her once more before leaving.

All Nanlan Qianbing could do was to close her eyes and take a deep breath to calm down. Even when her companions went out to console her, she did not return to the pavilion, choosing to retire for the night instead.

After all that, the prideful Nanlan Qianbing no longer had the face to remain at the grand feast.

But even as Lu Tianzi took all of this into his eyes, he did not feel bad whatsoever.

If someone wanted to mess with him, then even if it was a family member of an acquaintance.. Lu Tianzi would not hesitate to teach the person a lesson!

When Lu Tianzi returned to his seat, the Elders of of the Nine Suns Sect said nothing to praise him for the victory.

In their eyes, it was only natural for the top ranker of the Nine Suns Trial to beat someone else at their own cultivation level.

They already knew how excellent Nanlan Qianxue was. How could someone who was ranked above Nanlan Qianxue be incapable of beating her younger sister?

City Lord Nanlan sighed helplessly.

He had similarly believed that Nanlan Qianbing would not stand a chance against Lu Tianzi, but had imagined that she would be able to withstand at least ten moves.

Who knew that she would be defeated in a single exchange?

What had originally been something that should showcase the strength of his Bluenight Palace ended up being completely ruined!

"The young ones have worked hard to entertain us with their talents. Let us now return to enjoy the feast for the night!" City Lord Nanlan revealed none of his thoughts even as he called for the feast to resume.

"Indeed, let's not waste the delicacies prepared by the City Lord!"

"Let me be the first to toast the City Lord for this wonderful feast!"

The people attending the feast were all tactful enough not to let the atmosphere turn awkward after such an unexpected incident. With them chiming in one after another, the grand feast quickly regained its liveliness.

By now, most people were already done with their essential networking goals, and were starting to genuinely enjoy the feast with their friends.

"Does Miss Nanlan feel that I was too harsh?" Lu Tianzi asked Nanlan Qianxue hesitantly.

Even though Lu Tianzi did not regret his actions, he was still concerned about what Nanlan Qianxue thought about it.

To his surprise, Nanlan Qianxue beamed brightly at him in response, "Not at all! At the very least, Inscription Master Nanlu Tianzi didn't scare her with the illusion sword technique like what you had done to me before!"

"Eh?" Nanqing Haowen exclaimed in surprise. "You guys sparred with each other? When was this? Why didn't you ask me along?"

"That is not important," Lu Tianzi answered him before turning back to Nanlan Qianxue. "But you were the one who wanted to see it the other time!"

"You could have toned it down a little!" Nanlan Qianxue argued. "You have no idea how surprised I was!"

Lu Tianzi was about to retort when Elder Diansheng came over to address them.

"Nanlu Tianzi," Elder Diansheng called out. "That movement technique just now, is it the Flowing River Silent Strides?"

"It is indeed the Flowing River Silent Strides," Lu Tianzi nodded.

There was no reason to hide this from the Elder. With the Elder's eyes of discernment, it would be easy for them to recognise the basic traits of the movement technique.

"That is the Flowing River Silent Strides?" Nanqing Haowen was shocked. "I have seen a fellow sect member use it before, but it looked nothing like that!"

"Hahah!" Elder Diangsheng laughed upon hearing this. "It naturally will not look the same, because this is an improved version of the original movement technique! Nanlu Tianzi, did you improve the technique yourself?"

"Yes, Elder Diansheng," Lu Tianzi replied respectfully. "But saying that I improved the technique might be a bit of a stretch. I merely made some adjustments so that the technique will suit me better."

When Nanlan Qianxue and Nanqing Haowen heard his words, they were completely shocked!

It was one thing to make slight tweaks to a technique, but Lu Tianzi had done it to the extent where they could not recognise the technique anymore!

Just how many tweaks had he made to the movement technique?

"Good! Very good!" Elder Diansheng nodded in satisfaction. "For the coming Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, I am definitely looking forward to your performance! Do not let me down!"

"Have the sect already decided to send us there?" Nanqing Haowen could not help but ask.

"Since the City Lord has specifically invited the five of you, our Nine Suns Sect naturally will not decline. All five of you shall accompany the City Lord to this Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet," Elder Diansheng answered. "Other than Nanlu Tianzi, we have high hopes for the rest of you as well. You brats better do your best and not let down our expectations of you!"

"We will naturally do our best to bring glory to the Nine Suns Sect!" they replied enthusiastically.

The Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet was a rare opportunity to compare themselves against the elites hailing from other cities.

Even without Elder Diansheng's reminder, as young geniuses of their own right, it was only natural for them to feel a sense of competitiveness against others.

Right now, all of them were already looking forward to possibly sweeping away the rest and achieving glory with their own two hands!