Chapter 297 – Heartache

“This…” Jiang Xian took the Recording Crystal with uncertainty.

Gu Lingzhi’s expression puzzled him when she passed him the Recording Crystal.

Jiang Xian’s guess was right. The Recording Crystal had captured the battle between Gu Lingzhi and the demon beasts in the past 10 days. It also recorded her encounter with Shao Weiming and his desire to kill her up till the end. From the recording, Jiang Xian would be able to investigate how she got wounded.

But Jiang Xian was not in the mood to watch the Recording Crystal, he was more concerned about the horrifying injuries on Gu Lingzhi.

After reaffirming that Gu Lingzhi would remain conscious for a while, he relaxed slightly and placed Gu Lingzhi on the back of a flying demon beast that was waiting nearby. In her condition, he did not want Gu Lingzhi to travel alone and wanted to accompany her, but was rejected by her.

“I’m able to ride by myself.”

Jiang Xian was worried but did not insist. He waited a distance away from his flying demon beast and was prepared to help once something was amiss.

Jiang Xian returned to the Royal School hurriedly. Usually, the flying demon beast would stop at the designated parking area, but this time he directed both flying demon beasts to the infirmary. From afar, one could tell from Jiang Xian’s actions that there was an emergency and quickly gathered where the flying demon beasts landed.

“Who do you think…Teacher Jiang brought back? It looks like she is extremely badly injured and may not be able to submit her results to the office. Could it be that she failed?” one student asked.

“Who knows? I am eighty percent sure she failed.” another student regrettably remarked. “Historically, students who are sent to the infirmary directly for treatment have failed the final graduating examination.”

“Don’t you find the figure a little familiar? From what I know, An Ningxi and the Princess Consort are the only two female students participating this year and An Ningxi returned safely last night.”

There was silence for a second before the crowd burst into a discussion.

“Ha, that’s why I said it was unnatural for her to progress so fast. That’s the difference between self-cultivating and depending on medicine to improve one’s cultivation. If you compare like this, it is obvious,” A female student lamented. She was still resentful of Gu Lingzhi becoming the Third Princess Consort.

Upon hearing this, many others started to resent begrudgingly as if they no longer needed to keep their indignance in.

“Exactly, the rumors from the North Qiu Kingdom must be incorrect. Since she gained her cultivation level by taking medicine, how can she have ascended to the main palace of the Secret Territory when so many other talented Martial Artists didn’t make it? She must have used some obscure secret methods.”

“How could the Third Prince be bewitched by such a lady? Tianfeng Wei is more powerful than her. ”

Tianfeng Jin, Ye Fei and others who had just come out from the hostels overheard their angry comments. Being hot-tempered, Ye Fei sprinted right to where the girls stood and smiled smugly at them.

“That is embarrassing. If His Highness can fall for our lousy Lingzhi, doesn’t that say a lot about how the rest of you compare to her?”

“Ye Fei, what do you mean?” a female student immediately stared at her.

“What do I mean?” Ye Fei sneered, “You can’t even tell that I despise all of you, and yet you still dare to look down upon others”.

“You…”, an angry female student lifted her hand to hit Ye Fei, but was stopped by Tianfeng Jin, who stood behind Ye Fei, and said “If you want to fight, go to the Battle Arena”.

Upon hearing this, the student kept quiet.

Ever since Gu Lingzhi became a Martial Teacher, Tianfeng Jin automatically became the strongest Martial Practitioner student. At best, this student was just a low grade Martial Practitioner, how could she be of any match to Tianfeng Jin? Biting her lips, she rejected Tianfeng Jin’s challenge, knowing Tianfeng Jin’s obvious intention to teach her a lesson.

“You think you are so clever just because you got second in the Interschool Competition? If Gu Lingzhi is so powerful, why is she so badly wounded and has to be carried back?”

“What are you saying?” Catching onto what she was trying to say, Tianfeng Jin’s eyes flashed as she glared at her.

The female student was frightened by Tianfeng Jin’s cold eyes and stuttered, “You- you will know once you go to the infirmary! She was the first participant of this year’s final graduating examination to be admitted to the infirmary directly, yet she was ranked first in the Inter-school Competition.” The girl gloated over Gu Lingzhi’s possible failure in the final graduating examination to alleviate the pressure exerted on her by Tianfeng Jin. She quickly looked at Tianfeng Jin and Ye Fei, whose faces had turned uglier, and could no longer suppress the happiness in her voice, “Aren’t you her best friends? You should hurry, she is waiting for you to comfort her.”

Ignoring her sarcasm and knowing that Gu Lingzhi was injured badly in the Valley of Beasts, Tianfeng Jin and Ye Fei quickly rushed to the infirmary.

Yan Liang, Xin Yi, Nie Sang and Qin Xinran were already there when they reached. They were trying to suppress their anger and heartache.

Tianfeng Jin and Ye Fei felt their heart beating strongly against their chests, when they saw Gu Lingzhi’s shocking injuries. Ye Fei could not not control her tears.

“Lingzhi….how did you injure yourself like this?” Half of her face was badly damaged by fire, and they could only recognise her from the other half. These were only superficial burns, what about those unexposed parts underneath the clothing? With Gu Lingzhi’s face so badly injured, Ye Fei did not dare to think of the wounds on her body.

“I am fine, it’s just some superficial wounds.” Upon seeing Ye Fei’s tears, Gu Lingzhi began to suspect if she had underestimated her injuries? Maybe she should have treated her wounds in the Spiritual Essence Spring before coming out.

“How can it be a trivial matter when your face is so badly burnt?” Ye Fei sobbed. “Which demon beast in the Valley of Beasts is so blind as to injure you? I am going to issue a warrant to arrest that animal and slash it!”

Yan Liang was distressed too on seeing the injuries on Gu Lingzhi’s face, but he was certain with Gu Lingzhi’s capabilities, no demon beast in Valley of Beasts could have injured her so terribly. Nie Sang and Xin Yi saw her injuries and thought it was as good as cold-blooded murder.

Regardless of what or who injured Gu Lingzhi, they would make sure he paid for it!

Gu Lingzhi stretched out her scarred hand to wipe away the tears on Ye Fei’s face. Looking at the despaired look on their faces, she consoled them, “Don’t be like this, I am really fine.”

Before she left the Valley of Beasts, her most critical internal injuries were already treated. Now, other than her hideous look, the injuries were not as serious.

“Right now, her injuries are not very serious, but she nearly lost her life two days ago,” Wen Liao replied lazily as he checked Gu Lingzhi’s injuries. His tone and expression in his eyes were conflicting.

“Almost lost her life?” Yan Liang felt giddy, and seized him from the back. The disappearance of one’s beloved in some unknown place was more painful than one’s beloved being snatched.

On hearing this, the rest turned sombre at varying degrees, Nie Sang looked tired and disgusted but instantly activated his Communication Conch to briefly update Rong Yuan.

Rong Yuan had clearly reminded him to take care of Gu Lingzhi before the final graduating examination, yet he had neglected his instructions. The moment when the flying demon beast placed Gu Lingzhi down quite a distance away at the start, he should have noticed something was not right. He should not have just believed that Gu Lingzhi was capable of dealing with them. He would not complain no matter how Rong Yuan punished him afterwards.

The atmosphere in the infirmary was gloomy. In Sangbo Town, Rong Yuan received the message transmitted by Nie Sang. He immediately threw away the cup he was holding in his hand and his smiling eyes turned grim.

“You said…Lingzhi almost died during the final graduating examination?”

Yuan Zheng was shocked to hear the news. As Rong Yuan’s bodyguard, he knew how important Gu Lingzhi was to him and was worried for him. Despite the calmness in Rong Yuan’s voice, he was able to sense the suppression of his anger and fear. Gu Lingzhi…she was extremely precious to him!

The people from Sangbo Town, who were discussing the strategy for battle with Rong Yuan in the study room, did not understand the situation. All they saw was the Third Prince, their commander, retrieving a grey conch and his expression suddenly changed.

After hearing the frustrations from Rong Yuan, their expressions were stiff. Lingzhi..wasn’t she the Third Prince’s wife?

The next thing they knew Rong Yuan had dashed out. By the time they recovered from the shock, Rong Yuan was already out of their sight.

Not long after, the fastest flying demon beast of Sangbo Town soared into the sky and sitting on the back of the flying demon beast, was none other than the Third Prince. Did he just leave?

“Now...do we still continue?” With the main person gone, Tian Yong, the General of Sangbo Town’s army asked hesitantly.

Zang Guangping rolled his eyes and said, “His Highness treasures his love more than his country, would you be able to do what he did?”

On hearing this, Tian Yong gagged as he smiled charmingly at Zang Guangping.

“You are right. Even if His Highness has left, we should continue, let’s continue…”

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