Sometime later, the disciples were ready to move on to the next event. The Auction was a success, especially for Shen Yue and Yan Yang. People from their camps spent a lot of Spirit Stones in the process.
Lots of useless things to others but not them.
"The idea here is to insert your understanding of the "Way" into the four arts, and have it evaluated by everyone here!" Qin Yue was still unnerved by recent events and would not play a piece this time. "Anyone may go up to display their skill."
"Sister Qin Yue, I hope you stick around to see others play." Ye Xuan tried to get the woman to smile.
"Heh!" Gu Bei scoffed. Qin Yue gave a small smile and gave a smaller nod. 'I just wanted to be far away from this cursed place! If the Skyblaze Sect is cutting away from the Divine Featehrs Sect, it is not safe here anymore!'
She was over thinking it. Shen Y had no desire to force the hand of the Skyblaze Sect.
"Eh, let her go and do something else, I doubt she would find it good to see the skills of others at this time." Shen Ling chimed in.
"Maybe let that girl get up there and play.. what's her name.. oh yeah!" Shen Yue smiled looking in the direction of some Divine Feather disciples. "Little lass Tianming, go up there and play. I heard you had a beautiful screami.. I mean singing voice!"
His Officers already conferred what happened to him at this point. It only took him asked them once after saying the Divine Feathers Sect was not an ally of theirs.
So Long Tianming became an even bigger target now.
"Pfft!" A few disciples laughed at this. Those who knew about what happened and didn't like the Dragonseal scion enjoying his discomfort.
"I do not know what you are talking about." Long Tianming was composed enough. Returning a taunt of his own in a way. "Why not show us what you can do on the Zither?"
"I play for those in the Skyblaze Sect all the time, they are worth playing for. Unlike present company." Shen Yue took a sip of his drink. "Just not worthy of hearing me play, well if the dogs clear out, I wouldn't mind playing."
He gave a look towards Ye Xuan and a few others. They were the dogs of Long Tianming after all. Several members of the Gu family younger generation kept their head down. Without Gu Heng leading the way, it just wasn't in the cards to be arrogant.
"Humph! Just bravado!" Ye Xuan grumbled.
"How about a wager then?" Shen Ling batted her lashes. "I remember hearing you were great at Caligraphy, compete in that field and the loser has to then sing or play to make up for losing."
"Bah, he can't do either, it would just be a shame to have him disgrace the arts." Shen Yue turned to his table. "Duan Jian, what do you think we should do when leaving this boring place?"
Duan Jian didn't get a chance to say anything as Ye Xuan got up and moved to the front. All eyes on him as he picked up to grind some ink for use. Calming himself enough due to the grinding, he prepared a word.
"Alright..." Looking towards a disciple to lift it up after it dried. The word Love was written. ".. what do you think sister Qin Yue?" Qin Yue just smiled and gave a simple nod.
"It is a fantastic word, senior brother Ye Xuan!" A cultivator in his camp cheered. A few females thought it was amazing. All of them never having experienced it themself.
"This word contains a profound understanding of Love and the Way!" A bashful girl spoke up.
"You have never been in love have you child?" Shen Yue gave the silly girl a look. She looked away immediately.
"Heh, how can you write a word you know nothing about? Such a disgrace." Shen Ling threw shade his way. "You are trying to gain favor with sister Qin Yue but earlier you were pining after Xiao Ninger! You are such a dog!"
"Oh, Ninger, Ye Xuan has feelings for you so strongly, I am impressed!" Nie Li gave a soft chuckle.
"Humph, his level of feelings is about the same Ye Ziyun has for you!" She did not like what he insinuated at all. Even for a joke. "Keep it up, and I won't deliver the message to her!"
He immediately apologized and realized his mistake. Which only served to make the gap between the two a little wider. Lu Piao just gave him a look of pity.
"Go show your skills or something, stop making the situation worse!"
"It's your turn." Ye Xuan said smugly.
"Sure." Shen Yue moved to the front and used his Astral Sense to grab hold and make some fresh ink. His eyes lit up with blue-white flames the moment he started. 'This should be easy.'
Injecting his spirit energy in each stroke, the air in the room started to hum. If he used his heavenly Energy, the results would have been to much for them.
Supringsly the cultivators who were talking on the far outside area and in the halls came over. Drawn to the pull created by Astral Sense. With a few strokes, he was done and the room returned to normal.
"Like?" Qin Yue muttered surprised at the word. Her very utterance caused the scroll to burst into flames. "Eh!?" A wave of purple Corruption spread outward.
Several in the room found themselves feeling euphoric. Their very first crushes coming to the forefront of their minds. The feeling of butterflies in the stomach and the heated rush to the cheeks.
It lasted all but a few seconds before dissipating. Just enough to give a taste.
"That was..." Murong had grabbed the table feeling himself still shaking.
"That was Like, but better yet Infatuation. Love is a hell of a lot stronger than that. The small warmth you felt from his word was.. closer to Lust actually. It would be best to steel your minds to keep from being broken. Especially those Nuns in the isolated Heavenly Note Sect."
The disciples started to get noisy with a few looking at Ye Xuan to get up and play or sing since he obviously lost. But the young master just sat down ashamed. Having been unable to resist the effects himself, it was just humiliating to get up.
"Have you been in love before?" Mingyue Wushuang asked the moment he sat down. "You beat him with a word weaker than his own without even trying, so you must have experience."
With the room quieting down again, most heard what was spoken. But the maiden like most in her Sect ere impressionable and curious about marriage and love. As a Sect that doesn't marry, it was definitely a touchy subject.
"Yes.. it is both fun and very painful." Shen Yue smiled. "The painful part is when it is over."
"I thought the chosen members of the three Sects were the ones to look out for, but this guy is creating so much trouble." A disciple from the Divine Feathers Sect said.
"Yeah, but is he better than Long Tianming though?"
"Well, he hasn't acted and they seem to have some kind of trouble." Du Ze muttered not to far from them. After speaking with his sisters, he found out what happened and was quite disgusted he was still able to attend the conference. "Odds are he is scared to."
A few people jeered making the situation uncomfortable for the scions. Some didn't want to get up and embarrass themselves, others schemed to get ready.
"Among us three, I am the weakest." Long Tianming got up to showcase his talents. "But so many up and comers are rising up lately, I must not fall behind."
"Don't worry, you fell behind a long time ago girly." Shen Yue waved his hand at him in a shooing motion. "Make sure you don't disgrace anyone... like your parents.. oh wait, you were born from a pig pit! Pigs don't have real feelings!"
Shen Yue was provoking him more and more. The jeering from other cultivators was also done by himself and his people. Best way to get rid of someone was to remove their support or in his case, his various tools.
"Hurry up already!" Yan Yang shouted. "That stupid outfit takes up to much space up there!"
"Humph!" Tianming picked up the brush and poured his aura into it. 'I will show them the difference in our skills!' Adding some more of his aura into it, he didn't care about those nearby while working.
*Woosh!* A strong aura spread out in the room but was stopped by a simple yawn from Yu Yan. She was actually quite fed up with Long Tianming and wanted to kill him herself. Everything she heard from Long Shuyin was not good.
As the aura did not hit them, the cultivators were not caught off guard and waited in anticipation for the reveal.
Mingyue Wushuang stepped up and lifted the painting up. A few disciples exclaimed a little. Terrified of the feeling the opposing force directed towards them. He did have some skill in the arts.
"Senior brother Long Tianming's Dark Saint Dragon, it reigns the land and is more prideful than any outstanding hero!" Ye Xuan thought the win was in the other's favor as he voiced like a good lap dog. "From this painting, one can see he has a broad mind!"
The ink painting looked close to a wyvern mixed with an eastern dragon. The tail was fluffy and the wings were full of feathers and lacked a distinguished membrane.
"You don't look impressed." Xiao Ninger eyes Nie Li a little. "Care to share?"
"It is defintely Overbearing.. but the Demon energy inside is what bothers me." Nie Li said only for Xiao Ninger could here him. "The type of power... should not belong to him and is not natural at all."
"Should we do something?"
"No. Let Shen Yue continue to deal with it." Nie Li had figured enough out from Lu Piao and Du Ze in regards to them talking with their family members about what the plans of Shen Yue might be.
"Can you do better?" Tianming gave his full attention to Shen Yue. 'If it is discovered the use of the Demonic Energy, it will not bode well. But the eyesore... I want to put him in his place!' A red glare shined briefly in his eyes.
"I can and most of my people can.. you really are just to weak, little baby." Shen Yue walked pass him grinning. "The little.. lizard chicken is quite something."
"Looks good enough to eat." Long Yuyin grinned. "It is just so small though.. a basic appetizer." She had her fingers a few inches apart.
"Well, small drawn by the small.. minded." Gu Lan kept herself from chuckling. She thought the clothing Tianming compensated for was the worse of his image problems before today. "Makes sense why he has the back dress like that, to make him seem bigger."
Shen Yue took a little longer with this one but made sure not to go pass the time it took Long Tianming. With every stroke of the brush, Heavenly energy gathered in the room towards the paper. Spiritual energy danced over the borders making Runes from ink in a formation.
"Mmm.." Mingyue Wushuang was so close she could feel the energy as it gathered. Oddly enough she entered the Anatta State once more. Her comprehension of the arts increasing by the moment.
"Finished." Steeping away, Shen Yue gestured another member of the Heavenly Note Sect to lift it up. "I believe she is busy right now."
Oddly enough, Lanruo walked over and did so. A large smile on her face while doing so.
"You are bad for doing this." She spared a glance looking at the ink painting. "So bad." Lifting up the painting for display, she braced herself. 'I wonder if he will kill someone with this.
"ROOOAAARRR!" It took only a few looking for the Ink painting to come to life. A powerful dragon roar left out. Those who were close in Dragonbloodlines found themselves kneeling on the ground forcefully.
A few thought they felt the ink painting come to life on them. Even brushing against their Soul Realms caused them to circulate their cultivation manuals to resist.
"Grrr!" Long Tianming tried with all his might to lift up but failed. 'Impossible!' In the corner of his eyes, he spotted Nie Li faring better than him but barely able to keep from kneeling. 'Even her!'
Long Yuyin and Xiao Yu were perfectly fine and a few others at the table. They cultivated diligently and improved from the Bloodline Suppression on them. Others with inferior dragons or those who did not have Vortex Core energy inside them were having a really bad time.
As half of the room fainted, Lanruo rolled the painting up. Her eyes never left Tianming who looked pale as his cultivation was greatly damaged by the looks of it.
"I didn't think it was that bad.. maybe I should have taken a little bit longer on it?" Shen Yue muttered. The rolled-up painting was put away on his persons. "My apologies for the display of poor skills."
Not expecting it, the Elders watching were stunned and felt the stimulation to their blood was worthwhile. Enough they thought about trying to buy the painting themselves.