Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei were utterly speechless.
They wanted to tear into Fang Yuan something fierce, but Qiao Si Liu had already given her verdict — if they said anything critical now, wouldn't they be making Qiao Si Liu lose face?
Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei felt as though they had swallowed flies. The discomfort was unbearable, yet they had no outlet for it.
Fang Yuan surveyed the surroundings, inwardly amused.
Qiao Si Liu wore a forced smile. Fairy Tian Lu gazed at her with concern, a hint of sympathy flickering in her eyes. As a close friend, how could she not see through Qiao Si Liu's scheme? It was just that Fang Yuan refused to take the bait no matter what — maddeningly so — and yet there was nothing anyone could do about it.
As for Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei, their stiff expressions were practically comedic.
Fang Yuan looked at the pair. "So? My poem wasn't bad, was it?"
"Not bad?!"
Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei's eyes went wide as saucers. They stared at Fang Yuan, trying to determine just how thick-skinned this man could possibly be.
But immediately after, they heard Fang Yuan continue: "This may have been a flash of inspiration, but when it comes to writing and poetry, it seems the truly great works are created just like this. Si Liu thinks highly of my poem, but I'd still like to hear your appreciation of it as well."
"Appreciation? This piece of... garbage — you call that a poem? Appreciation?!!"
"Si Liu, Si Liu… Why are you calling her so intimately, you scoundrel? Hey! Who gave you permission to use such an intimate name?!!"
Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei were screaming and roaring on the inside.
But outwardly, they could do nothing but hold back. They had to give their evaluation, and they had to say something nice, following Qiao Si Liu's lead — otherwise, they'd be embarrassing Fairy Si Liu.
This was even worse than swallowing a fly.
The man was their love rival. The poem was garbage — utter garbage — that couldn't even be called a poem. And yet Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei had to wrack their brains to "appreciate" it and find something nice to say!
"This poem, well… it's easy to understand, catchy and rolls off the tongue…" Luo Mu Zi stammered out a few words, his face growing paler by the second. He felt like he was going to throw up!
Fang Yuan smiled and nodded, then turned to Lun Fei beside him. "Fellow Immortal Lun Fei, what do you think?"
Lun Fei stared straight at Fang Yuan, the corners of his mouth curling into what might have been a smile but looked more like a twitch. Then he said flatly, "It is a good poem."
Fang Yuan raised an eyebrow. How could he let this man off so easily? He pressed further: "What makes it good?"
Lun Fei's rage surged. His face flushed red with fury, and he roared inside his mind: "How should I know what's good about it?! There's nothing good about it! You wrote the damn thing yourself and now you want me to praise you? You bastard!!"
Seeing Fang Yuan's smiling, contented expression, a powerful impulse surged within Lun Fei — he wanted nothing more than to grab the cup in his hand and smash it right into Fang Yuan's face.
That would be the most satisfying thing in the world.
But he couldn't.
Qiao Si Liu was sitting right there. If he did that, what would it make Fairy Si Liu look like? Wouldn't it be directly slapping her in the face?
Moreover, he, Lun Fei, was no Luo Mu Zi — he was an independent immortal! Meanwhile, Wu Yi Hai was a man of high standing, the own brother of Wu Yong of the Wu family!
Lun Fei had no choice but to suppress the rage in his heart, rummaging desperately through his mind, tearing out words from deep within to "appreciate" Fang Yuan's so-called "poetry."
"Today's moon-viewing has truly been a joy. I never expected I had such a talent for poetry either," Fang Yuan said to Qiao Si Liu with a smile, his gaze loaded with meaning.
Qiao Si Liu felt a slight tremor in her heart but laughed it off. "Next is Stone Uncovering — perhaps you'll come away with a great haul, Yi Hai."
"Indeed, indeed. That's what I'm looking forward to the most. Let's move on to Stone Uncovering," Fairy Tian Lu quickly chimed in, helping steer the conversation along.
"I've prepared a large selection of stones for everyone to choose from. Please, go ahead." Qiao Si Liu had, of course, come prepared. Behind her stood the Qiao family — backed by a super force, gathering a collection of stones was hardly a difficult task.
The atmosphere in the pavilion eased considerably.
Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei both breathed a massive sigh of relief. At least they no longer had to hypocritically praise that awful poem of Fang Yuan's.
The stones Qiao Si Liu had prepared varied in size. The Gu Immortal Guests selected theirs in turn and uncovered them on the spot to see if any Gu Insects were hidden inside.
Mortal Gu Insects were easy enough for Gu Immortals to obtain, so the mood was relaxed — nothing like the solemnity with which Gu Masters treated Stone Uncovering.
Of course, this was only for mortal Gu. If an Immortal Gu were involved, the activity would command the full attention of the Gu Immortals.
When it came to detecting whether mortal Gu Insects were hidden inside a stone, the Gu Immortals had plenty of methods at their disposal. But tonight, no one was going to resort to any trickery or cheating — it was all about each person's own eye and luck.
As for stones containing Immortal Gu — those were once-in-a-lifetime finds. The Gu Immortals' detection methods for those were woefully inadequate. Nothing could be done.
The stones tonight, finding an Immortal Gu among them? That was nothing but a pipe dream, entirely impractical.
No one harbored such delusions. This was pure entertainment.
Only in the eyes of Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei, this entertainment carried a somewhat different significance than usual.
The two had been secretly competing with Fang Yuan, but the results nearly made them cough up blood. In the Stone Uncovering, Fang Yuan's haul topped the charts — from the very beginning all the way to the end.
Stone Uncovering tested a Gu Master's sharp eye, and Fang Yuan naturally had no shortage of that. In his previous life, with five hundred years of experience, he had even run a stone-gambling shop.
As for luck — could Fang Yuan's luck ever be bad?