"Heh heh, Your Highness the Princess, a bit of friendly sparring among the heirs of the marquises is hardly a big deal. With Your Highness's lofty status and so many important matters demanding your attention, why trouble yourself over such trifles?" Long Yinye managed a bland smile, speaking with surprising composure even under the princess's overwhelming presence.
"Hmph, do you think I have no eyes or ears? Do you think I don't know what happened here? From the moment Jiang Chen showed up, every single one of you has been sniping at him—one insult here, a jab there—just trying to make him lose face. So this is the caliber of our kingdom's first-rank marquises? Afraid of competition from newcomers? You have to resort to these tactics to suppress a rival?" Princess Gouyu seized the opening and pressed her advantage mercilessly.
Her words left Hong Tiantong smiling wryly in exasperation.
"Your Highness was listening from the shadows all along? Then you should have heard clearly—who issued the first challenge? It was Jiang Chen, not anyone else." Long Yinye shrugged.
"That's right, I remember too. Jiang Chen was the one who proposed the contest, said he wanted to liven things up for everyone."
With someone backing him up, Hong Tiantong found a bit more nerve: "Your Highness, it's not that I, Hong Tiantong, am looking for trouble. It's just that this Jiang Chen is genuinely a bit too arrogant. We were only cracking a few jokes with him, and he immediately turns around and challenges everyone to a fight, as if the Jiang family were some great powerhouse."
These so-called nobles—each more shameless than the last. They had provoked Jiang Chen first, yet in their mouths, their provocations were merely "jokes," while Jiang Chen's response was "looking for trouble."
Princess Gouyu was rendered speechless. Her gaze drifted toward Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen rubbed his nose and grinned: "Don't look at me, Princess. I'm not one for arguing. Since Hong Tiantong says I'm arrogant, then I suppose I'll have to live up to it. Youth without a bit of madness is youth wasted. Your Highness might as well treat this as entertainment."
"Now that's what I like to hear—straight talk!" Long Yinye was delighted to see Jiang Chen being stubborn. He had been worried Jiang Chen might take the easy way out and back down from the fight.
Seeing that Jiang Chen cared about his reputation, Long Yinye immediately fanned the flames: "Your Highness, both sides are willing participants. Surely Your Highness won't be such a killjoy?"
Princess Gouyu studied Jiang Chen carefully. He still wore that same lazy, indolent smile, and it irritated her. She thought: I set aside my pride as a princess to step in and save you, and what do you do? Climb right up the ladder someone else is holding out. Can't you see it's a trap?
"Fight! Let them fight!" The onlookers on both sides began clamoring loudly.
Since the beginning of time, spectators have never been afraid of things getting too dramatic. They couldn't care less which side got hurt—who knew, maybe the losers wouldn't even pass the upcoming assessment.
What did any of that have to do with them? The bigger the scene, the more entertaining it was to watch!
"You lot, get ready!" Hong Tiantong barked at his guards, deliberately speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. "They look down on the personal guards of our four great families. Don't you dare go up there and embarrass me!"
Jiang Chen smiled faintly: "Heard that? He's planning to beat you to death out there. You know what to do—no need for me to spell it out."
Having served Jiang Chen for so long, the guards understood his temperament all too well. The calmer his smile, the more likely his fury was boiling beneath the surface.
Besides, Hong Tiantong had just humiliated Guo Jin—which was the same as humiliating their entire guard detail, and by extension their master.
When the master is shamed, the servants must die to restore honor. They understood full well what going into this fight meant.
"When we get in there, don't lose formation. Guo Jin—no matter what they say, keep your composure." Xue Tong, who was usually the most taciturn of the group, spoke up unexpectedly.
"Xue Tong, you're the steadiest. You should lead as captain for this fight," Ke Mu suggested.
"I agree," said Shen Yifan.
"I agree too," Wen Ziqi added softly.
The Qiao brothers couldn't care less about who was captain. All they wanted was to get out there and pound someone—they needed to vent the frustration simmering inside them.
In their eyes, every person standing across from them was scum. Young Master Jiang had given them a chance at redemption, a new life. And these people had the audacity to provoke him? What else could they be but scum?
"Brothers, charge! Kill these animals!" Qiao Shan roared, swinging his massive battle-axe as he strode toward the fighting circle.
Qiao Chuan dragged his bronze staff behind him, the weapon scraping along the ground with a grating hiss and trailing a line of sparks, following close behind.
Then came Guo Jin and Wen Ziqi.
The order of their advance might have looked chaotic and disorganized to the untrained eye, but it actually contained the profound principles of the Eight Desolations Spirit-Gathering Formation. To anyone unfamiliar with the formation, however, these eight people had zero coordination and no sense of teamwork—they looked like a ragtag mob.
Hong Tiantong laughed. A team like this, and Jiang Chen still had the nerve to talk big? Today he would use this chance to crush Jiang Chen's momentum once and for all. The perfect outcome would be to beat every one of these fighters half to death, leaving them unable to pass the upcoming assessment.
If Jiang Chen failed the assessment, that would count as a failed challenge against a first-rank marquis.
For the Jiang family, this was the most devastating blow possible.
And pulling off this kind of strike would surely earn him tremendous favor in the eyes of the Marquis of Teng's manor!
The more Hong Tiantong thought about it, the more excited he became. He shot a signal to his eight guards, and the eight men charged into the circle like wolves, fanning out to surround Jiang Chen's eight guards.
At that moment, Long Juxue seemed lost in thought. She withdrew her fleeting glance from Jiang Chen, walked over to Hong Tiantong, and whispered: "Don't underestimate them. Jiang Chen is full of schemes and tricks—you must be on guard."
Hong Tiantong felt his heart blaze with heat at having such a beauty whisper in his ear. He wished he could pour every drop of his blood into this fight and battle to the end for Long Juxue.
The Eight Desolations Spirit-Gathering Formation—in the mere ten days they'd had to practice, they had only grasped about twenty to thirty percent of its mysteries.
But in a setting like this, twenty or thirty percent of the formation's arcane power was already more than sufficient.
After all, mastering sixty or seventy percent of it would put them on a level where they could directly contend with multiple True Qi grandmasters.