Despite feeling uneasy inside, Ah Qing still maintained an excellent dance posture, even feeling a sense of joy from having surpassed Shi Qingjun by so muchâit was supposed to be like this.
As she wielded her sword and pondered various thoughts, the longsword in her hand traversed through space, while her demeanor and dance posture both reached their peak at this moment.
She even gradually adapted to Xu Changâanâs gaze at this time.
But reality is often disappointing, and Ah Qingâs complacency didnât last long. At the moment her skirtâs hem lifted, her heart suddenly trembled, and she had a premonition.
It was a very mysterious feeling, like consciously trying to feel your breath; only when you notice youâre breathing do you shift breathing from passive to active.
At that moment, Ah Qing realized what she had instinctively overlooked, something extremely important.
She trusted this feeling deeply, unlike the inherently invincible Immortal Chaoyun, this feeling had saved her more than once before she fully matured.
âWhat exactly have I overlooked...â
Ah Qingâs eyes slightly narrowed, and at that moment, she finally vaguely remembered what she had overlooked.
She had thought before that among the factors making her uneasy was the name âShi Qingjun,â but she felt it was impossible for them to appear in the brothel, thus she ignored it.
In an instant, the knuckles holding her sword turned white.
So Ah Qing finally became serious. Her gaze began to sweep over every inch of space, like a cyan snake devouring the air, slowly... her gaze enveloped everything around her.
Finally, those light green pupils constricted, and her sight penetrated layer upon layer of space.
She saw a person who absolutely shouldnât be here.
Her body trembled slightly, and Ah Qingâs rationality momentarily collapsed, her steps faltered, and her sword dance came to a halt.
ââ
"?"
Ah Qing, who was supposed to have recovered her strength, suddenly slipped up, and her faltering posture prompted several girls to gasp in surprise. They didnât know if she encountered some accident or perhaps stepped wrong and twisted something?
Yun Qian couldnât find the reason for the moment, so she turned to glance at Xu Changâan, but unexpectedly didnât meet his gazeâhe was turning to converse with Wen Li, who also raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Unlike before, even Wen Li couldnât find any fault with this lapse, as if it wasnât staged.
Upon discovering Ah Qingâs mistake, Xu Changâan immediately looked at Wen Li, wanting to see her thoughts, thus he missed Yun Qianâs gaze.
"..." Yun Qian watched the back of Xu Changâanâs head for a while before slowly turning back to look at the flustered Ah Qing.
She blinked.
It seemed indeed that both Ah Qing and Wen Li were formidable individualsâthey could momentarily draw her husbandâs attention away from her. Itâs hard not to be impressive.
Miss Yun didnât mind these things.
But Li Zhibai did.
Unlike everyone else, Li Zhibai wasnât just watching the sword dance. In fact, she had been paying attention to the Sect Leader, who was also listening to the tunes, only she refrained from looking in her direction to avoid disturbing the Sect Leaderâs enjoyment.
But Ah Qingâs sudden loss of composure still caught her attention... because from her perspective, it was clear that Ah Qing lost composure after noticing the presence of the Sect Leader.
"...How could this be?" Li Zhibai looked at Ah Qingâs trembling and shrinking eyes and squinted her own.
"Ah Bai?" Zhu Pingniang, unaware of the situation and resting with her eyes closed, only sensed some commotion below the stage and Li Zhibaiâs suddenly accelerated heartbeat, so she opened her eyes and asked.
"Itâs nothing; your daughter seems a bit tired." Li Zhibai replied.
"Oh." Zhu Pingniang nodded and closed her eyes again, not dwelling on it.
Once Zhu Pingniang was again immersed in her own aura, Li Zhibai frowned and looked down at the stage.
Ah Qing stared blankly at the stage below.
At the end of her sight, a girl continued to take a bite of an apple.
What on earth happened?
Ah Qing... actually recognized the Sect Leader?
Although Li Zhibai didnât understand this at the moment, without a doubt, Ah Qingâs sudden loss of composure was due to discovering the existence of the Sect Leader, so even though it seemed unfathomable at first, she had to accept this fact.
"If thatâs the case... then I understand." A spark flashed through Li Zhibaiâs mind, and suddenly many things connected in her head; it seemed she discovered the âtruth.â
[Ah Qing... is the student of the Sect Leader?]
This was Li Zhibaiâs thought.
Firstly, there was a restriction on the Sect Leaderâs appearance. Other than special beings like Xu Changâan, those who could recognize the Sect Leaderâs true appearance were undoubtedly acknowledged by the Sect Leader among those of the Qiankun Realm.
Li Zhibai certainly wouldnât mistake Zhu Pingniangâs daughter for the Demon Sectâs Sect Leader, as she had just been calling herself Ah Qingâs aunt, so Ah Qing could only be someone recognized by Shi Qingjun.
But even Li Zhibai, wracking her brain, couldnât possibly imagine that half of Qing Provinceâs celebrated ones would be flaunting their figures on stage.
Therefore, from the outset, Li Zhibaiâs assumption was wrong, but ironically, she formed her own logical narrative in her mind, one that still workedâreferring to her guess that Ah Qing was considered a âcandidate discipleâ favored by Shi Qingjun.
At this moment, Li Zhibai believed that Ah Qing had once been highly regarded by the Sect Leader, and not just ordinarily so... she didnât know the reasons, but if so, it was easy to explain where Ah Qingâs ancient-feeling sword dance, which even amazed her, originated.