Rise of the Sword Son-in-Law

Chapter 216: Taught a Lesson

"This is Shao Cheng from the Mysterious Sword Sect, a genius disciple of his sect, with strength already at the Fifth Rank Second Layer Realm. This time, he’s expected to make it into the top fifty contenders," Huang Yu said to Xu Ping’an with a smile.

In front of him stood a dashing and elegant young man.

The young man chuckled, sizing up Xu Ping’an with undisguised contempt in his eyes.

"Brother Shao Cheng, this is Xu Ping’an, a disciple from the Beichen Sword Sect of Tianlong County," Huang Yu introduced to Shao Cheng.

Shao Cheng nodded slightly, returning Huang Yu’s smile before turning to talk to others.

Xu Ping’an smiled faintly, unfazed by Shao Cheng’s disdain.

Huang Yu continued to introduce others to Xu Ping’an.

These people were mostly geniuses from secondary forces or non-core members of primary forces.

Their attitude towards Xu Ping’an was without exception, all tinged with a hint of scorn.

Some offered Xu Ping’an brief polite words, but only to show face for Huang Yu.

In their view, Huang Yu did so to curry favor with Li Qingyi.

Thus, they did not harbor much resentment, but they truly despised clowns like Xu Ping’an, who lacked self-awareness and deliberately tried to forge connections.

Xu Ping’an, however, made a mental note of these people and gained some understanding of the upcoming Imperial competition.

Aside from a few from the Imperial Academy and the Immortal Sect, most of the others hailed from various factions.

They included the Tiankui Sect, the Mysterious Sword Sect, the Mountain and Sea Academy, and the Tiancang Pavilion.

All these were secondary forces.

A so-called secondary force is one that has a Seventh Rank Expert within its ranks.

These forces had their foundations, but they were not as profound as those of the primary forces.

As for the thirty-six counties, others also came, aside from them there was just a son of the lord of Anyuan Prefecture.

The other thirty-five counties naturally had no qualifications to attend such a gathering.

After introducing everyone else, Huang Yu did not introduce the core few individuals.

"Brother Huang, who are those few? They seem quite extraordinary," Xu Ping’an pointed at a few individuals near Tang Qingyu and asked.

Upon hearing Xu Ping’an’s question, a sharp light flashed in Huang Yu’s eyes.

In his opinion, Xu Ping’an was insatiable, despite already being introduced to many geniuses from major forces.

He still desired to make the acquaintance of those few.

However, not even Huang Yu himself was qualified to interact with them.

For those individuals, all had the potential to vie for the top five rankings in the Imperial Genius list.

"Junior Brother Ping’an, although what I’m going to say may sound harsh, I still need to say it. Sometimes, if your strength is insufficient, even if you forcibly make connections with these geniuses from great forces, it’s of no use to you. With your strength and status, you’re no different from an ant to them," said Huang Yu sternly.

Around them, many people wore faint smiles.

Huang Yu really had a kind heart; he was even trying to teach a lesson to this ignorant fellow.

Sometimes, even if you do teach them, they think you’re insulting them, and it just creates trouble for yourself.

So, in their eyes, Huang Yu was really putting in a lot of effort to pursue Li Qingyi.

Xu Ping’an gave an awkward smile and said sheepishly, "Brother Huang Yu, I was just asking. I didn’t mean anything by it."

Huang Yu did not seem ready to let it go and continued, "Junior Brother Ping’an, my words still stand. If your strength is inadequate, making connections with others is meaningless. Take for example the people I’ve introduced to you today; they are of no significance to you."

"I introduced them to you because I wanted you to understand this reality and know when to retreat. You’re only at the Fourth Rank Sixth Layer, and while you might be a genius in a small place like Tianlong County, geniuses are different from one another. The gap between you and these people will only widen. In their eyes, you might not even compare to a street dog. They talk to you only because of me. Do you understand?"

Huang Yu’s words were exceedingly blunt, as if he were lecturing Xu Ping’an.

Many people around them were also looking on at Xu Ping’an’s predicament with amusement.

But in his heart, Xu Ping’an sneered. This guy was using education as a pretext to humiliate him.

It seemed he had been holding back for a while, not daring to offend Li Qingyi and risk ruining his own image, so he took this opportunity to belittle Xu Ping’an under the guise of advice.

If it had been anyone else, being humiliated like this would have driven them to furious embarrassment and an outright confrontation with Huang Yu.

As a result, Xu Ping’an had become branded as an ungrateful wretch because, in the eyes of these people, everything Huang Yu said was right.

A nobody, what right did he have to interact with these important figures?

By then, even Li Qingyi would have nothing to say, after all, it was Xu Ping’an who had brought disgrace upon himself.

But all these premises were built on the assumption that Xu Ping’an was weak.

That’s why at this moment, the look Li Qingyi gave Huang Yu was filled with an extremely cold chill.

At a distance, Zhou Mengyue was also frowning deeply. If it had been before, she too would have thought that Xu Ping’an was humiliating himself.

However, after a few encounters with Xu Ping’an, she had discovered that he was even more terrifying than she had imagined.

So at this moment, she did not smile.

Was Xu Ping’an inferior to these geniuses from the great powers?

Perhaps in terms of identity, status, and strength, he was lacking, but Xu Ping’an’s talent was strong, the strongest she had ever seen.

Moreover, she had witnessed Xu Ping’an kill a Sixth Rank Peak expert with her own eyes.

Could such a person really be so eager to curry favor with these geniuses from second-tier forces?

Xu Ping’an must have had other motives.

Now, Zhou Mengyue was no longer naive; she was well aware of how terrifying it was to underestimate this man.

And all these people around her were fools.

In the crowd, there was another person who thought the same.

That was Song Lingxue.

Song Lingxue had noticed Xu Ping’an a long time ago.

Back in Tianlong County, when Xu Ping’an’s identity was exposed, Song Lingxue had already learned of Xu Ping’an’s true identity.

Afterwards, she had even made a point of investigating all of Xu Ping’an’s deeds, and she even had a portrait of Xu Ping’an in her storage ring.

So the moment she saw Xu Ping’an, she recognized that he was her master.

She looked at Tang Qingyu on the high platform with a smug look and sneered in her heart.

You wanted to invite my master, didn’t you?

He’s here, but it’s a pity you don’t recognize him, and he’s been humiliated by the disciples of your Sect.

You’re finished!

Offending my master will bring you a miserable end.

Tang Qingyu and the others were also drawn by the commotion here and were now looking towards Xu Ping’an.

However, after just a glance, they lost interest.

"Brother Huang Yu, there’s no need to be angry, I was really just saying, I didn’t have any intention of clinging on," Xu Ping’an said with a smile.

Many in the surrounding crowd had looks of disgust, this man’s skin was truly thick.

Huang Yu also felt speechless inside, was this guy like a sticky candy?

He couldn’t shake him off?

Since Xu Ping’an had said so, it wasn’t easy for him to continue making things difficult.

"I hope you’ll listen to what I have said. I have other things to attend to, so you can go and wander on your own," Huang Yu did not say any more and directly walked towards Li Qingyi.

"Sister Li, shall I introduce you to the Saintess of our Sect?" Huang Yu said to Li Qingyi with a smile.

Li Qingyi, however, replied with an indifferent face, "No need, I don’t want to meet her either."

At these words, Huang Yu’s face turned awkward.

And the people around were surprised at Li Qingyi’s arrogance, to think that she didn’t even consider the Saintess of the Shangxian Sect worth recognizing.

Li Qingyi didn’t lower her voice, so Tang Qingyu and the others heard her as well, and once again they looked in the direction of Li Qingyi.