9: You treat me like the center of attention, but I treat you like dust!

Qin Feng was immersing himself in the pleasure of being the center of attention.

Just then.

At the end of the horizon, a clear and high-pitched phoenix cry pierced through the clouds!

That cry carried the biting cold of freezing all things and a supreme holiness, instantly crushing all the noise in the valley and pressing all discussions and flattery into dead silence!

Everyone present felt as if an invisible giant hand had gripped their throats, and they looked up in unison.

The sea of clouds in the distance churned violently.

A magnificent phoenix carriage, carved entirely from ten-thousand-year ice crystals and pulled by eight divine Ice Luan birds whose flapping wings brought falling snow, was tearing through the clouds and coming through the air!

Wherever the phoenix carriage passed, the air condensed into fine ice crystal frost flowers that drifted down.

Sunlight penetrated the ice crystals, refracting billions of rainbow-colored halos, holy and majestic.

An extremely cold, vast, and majestic aura swept across the scene.

All Cultivators felt a tremor originating from their Souls, their thoughts almost frozen by that extreme cold.

"Yaochi Holy Land... it's the Ice Crystal Phoenix Carriage of the Yaochi Holy Land!"

"Heavens! It really is the Yaochi Saintess, she came in person!"

"The pomp of a top-tier Immortal Holy Land is too terrifying..."

After the dead silence was a mountain-shaking and sea-tsunami-like boiling of excitement.

Everyone's gaze was fixed firmly on the slowly descending phoenix carriage, their eyes filled with awe, amazement, and admiration that they didn't dare to voice.

Qin Feng's heart stopped for a moment, then began to beat uncontrollably and wildly.

She's here!

She's finally here!

He adjusted his breathing calmly and straightened his clothes, ensuring every part was flawless.

The gentle smile on his face was adjusted to the most impeccable angle, and his eyes showed just the right amount of appreciation and amazement.

He wanted to leave an irreproachable, picture-perfect first impression on that legendary Saintess.

The phoenix carriage came to a steady stop.

The crystal curtain was lifted by a slender hand as white as jade.

A white-robed figure stepped out.

At that moment, the world lost its color, and all things went silent.

The woman wore a plain white palace dress, untainted by a speck of dust, with her long black hair tied up with only a single white jade ancient hairpin.

Her face was so beautiful it didn't seem to belong to the mortal world.

Every feature was the most favored carving of the Heavenly Dao.

What made one's heart tremble the most was her cold temperament that could freeze the Soul.

She stood quietly in front of the phoenix carriage, her indifferent gaze sweeping over the tens of thousands of Cultivators below.

That look was like examining ants that had nothing to do with her, without any emotion.

More beautiful than the rumors, and... ten thousand times colder than the rumors!

Countless young Cultivators who considered themselves Prodigies lowered their heads in shame the moment their eyes met hers, their courage to even take another look crushed by that coldness.

Qin Feng also had a moment of daze.

But he was, after all, someone with great Luck; he quickly reacted, and a twisted desire for conquest flared up in his heart.

It's her!

Only such a peerless divine maiden is worthy of being the future Dao Companion of me, Qin Feng!

He straightened his chest and met that cold gaze, wearing a smile he thought was most capable of capturing a woman's heart.

He was that piece of unpolished jade waiting to be discovered by the Fairy.

However.

The next scene caused his carefully prepared perfect smile to crack inch by inch.

Ling Qingzhu's gaze merely swept through the crowd casually.

It didn't stop on anyone.

Naturally, this included him, the "Light of the Righteous Path" who was just surrounded by everyone and thought he was the focus of the entire scene.

She didn't see him at all.

Or rather, she saw him but didn't care at all.

How could a person care about a speck of dust by their feet?

In the next second, she moved with light steps, her figure turning into a cold moonlight. She didn't greet any Elders of the major Sects, nor did she say a word to the crowd full of expectation.

She flew straight toward the twisting and rotating Secret Realm entrance not far away.

Decisive and efficient.

The bustling tens of thousands of people were all nothingness in her eyes.

"..."

The entire scene fell into an eerily dead silence.

Everyone was stunned, mouths agape, expressions blank.

She just... went in?

The smile on Qin Feng's face completely stiffened, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably, and his perfect persona mask almost shattered on the spot.

He had prepared a bellyful of rhetoric containing the ultimate truths of the Great Dao.

He had rehearsed a perfect encounter that would amaze the world.

The result... she didn't even give him a direct look?

What was this?

Disregard!

It was a total, bone-deep disregard, a naked ignoring that even found treating you as a background prop too redundant!

He felt like a peerless famous actor who had rehearsed repeatedly, but the noble audience didn't even bother to look at him and just got up and left.

A burning sense of humiliation suddenly rushed to the top of his head, making his vision go dark.

Around him, uncontrollable whispers finally began to sound.

"My heavens... as expected of the Yaochi Saintess, this is too arrogant."

"Naturally, in her eyes, we probably aren't any different from the weeds by the roadside."

"Tsk tsk, just now Brother Qin Feng was looking at her so affectionately, but the result... this is too embarrassing."

These words turned into steel needles, stabbing fiercely into Qin Feng's proud heart.

His face turned blue and white alternately, and his fists in his sleeves were clenched tightly, his nails sinking deep into his flesh.

Good!

What a Ling Qingzhu!

You are arrogant enough! You are cold enough!

However, the more you are like this, the more excited this Young Master becomes!

You think this posture of keeping people thousands of miles away can scare me off? Naive!

Qin Feng was roaring madly inside.

On the surface, however, he forcibly suppressed his hideous expression and squeezed out that elegant appearance again.

He smiled apologetically at the people around him, his smile carrying self-deprecation and admiration.

"Your Highness the Saintess is focused on the Great Dao and is not moved by external things; she is truly a role model for our generation. We should also focus on Opportunities and not be distracted."

With these words, he used retreat as a means of advance and regained some of his image.

After speaking, he cupped his hands elegantly and also turned into a stream of light, following Ling Qingzhu's back and charging into the Tianyuan Secret Realm.

Ling Qingzhu, this iceberg, I will definitely conquer you!

Just wait, when I press you under me and watch you cry and beg for mercy, I will make you pay a thousand times over for today's disregard!

...Not far away, Liu Ruyan, who was mixed in with the Loose Cultivators, saw everything clearly.

She had changed her appearance to look like an ordinary female Cultivator with average cultivation, and the world-toppling charm on her body was perfectly hidden by a secret treasure.

She was holding a newly bought "Nine-Colored Glazed Melon," crunching on it while watching Qin Feng's ever-changing face with great interest, a mischievous smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh my, this is hilarious," she muttered in a voice only she could hear.

"Look at that idiot, being treated like air and still holding on to pretend to be generous. This thick skin of his is really a waste not to be used as a city wall for the Great Xia Imperial City."

"He's truly like a toad crawling on a foot—he doesn't bite, but he's disgusting."

She looked at the back of Qin Feng charging into the Secret Realm, her eyes full of disdain and the excitement of watching a show.

This show is getting more and more interesting.

A hypocrite who thinks he's the protagonist of destiny and is performing hard according to the wrong script.

An iceberg Saintess who holds the correct answers and is holding back a bellyful of fire, ready for a counter-kill.

And then there's her, a demoness of the Demonic Cult who fears no chaos and is ready to add fuel to the fire at any time.

"Tsk tsk, just thinking about it makes my blood run hot."

Liu Ruyan finished the last bite of the Spiritual Melon, clapped her hands, and also sauntered toward the Secret Realm entrance.

In another even more hidden corner, a figure completely integrated with the shadows also moved.

Shadow Guard Commander Xuan Ya, like a ghost of midnight, silently slipped into the gate of the Secret Realm.

There was only one command in his mind: keep an eye on Qin Feng and record everything.

Three factions, three sets of intentions, all gathered in this dangerous ancient Secret Realm because of a man far away in the Su Family "sleeping soundly."

A great show of hunter and prey, revolving around the "script," was about to begin.

But who is the hunter, and who is the prey?

Perhaps only the instigator who is currently having a sweet dream knows best.