34: Stunning young woman, peerless beauty

Cao Bu gazed at Liu Ruyan's departing back, dark glimmers surging in his eyes.

Back then, Gu Qingtian had pursued Liu Ruyan for ten years without even receiving a single glance from her.

Later, the two made a wager, and it was only after Liu Ruyan lost that she agreed to serve the Gu Clan for a hundred years.

She was not only the woman Gu Qingtian could not obtain, but also an existence that none of the supreme powerhouses in the Spirit Realm could obtain.

It was rumored that back then, some evil cultivators wanted to forcibly take her, but in the end, Liu Ruyan remained unharmed, and those evil cultivators vanished without a trace from then on.

Among them, there was no lack of a Great Emperor Peak existence.

Whether it was her appearance and figure, or her talent and cultivation, Liu Ruyan was at the pinnacle of the Spirit Realm, hailed as a peerless beauty rarely seen in a million years, and was also recognized as the number one goddess of the current Spirit Realm.

The moment he saw Liu Ruyan, a goal formed in Cao Bu's heart: to conquer her, to possess her, to give her a warm home.

No matter what means he used, he had to at least obtain her first time.

Thinking of this, the dark glimmers in his eyes intensified slightly.

Suddenly, Gu Yingying leaned over, her face full of disdain: "Big Brother, you were smiling so evilly just now."

Cao Bu immediately restrained his smile, turned his head, and glared at her: "This is called evil? This is appreciation!"

Gu Yingying nodded seriously: "Really, I had goosebumps all over just watching you."

Cao Bu quickly scanned the surroundings, leaned into her ear, and lowered his voice to ask: "No one saw, right?"

Gu Yingying shook her head: "No one noticed. You forgot, you are just a piece of trash in the clan; besides me, who else in the Gu Clan would care about you?"

Cao Bu's mouth twitched, and he flicked her forehead: "If you don't know how to speak, then say less. Is that any way to talk to your Big Brother?"

Gu Yingying stuck out her little tongue, patted his shoulder, and said with a haughty expression: "Don't worry, so what if you're trash? In this Gu Clan, you have your Auntie here to protect you."

As she spoke, she winked playfully at Cao Bu.

Cao Bu feigned a bow with cupped hands: "Many thanks, Auntie."

Gu Yingying immediately beamed, lifting her little chin slightly: "Sensible!"

At night, the Gu Clan's banquet hall was brightly lit.

Cao Bu sat alone in a corner, drinking wine while admiring the several beautiful figures in front of the banquet hall.

He was already accustomed to such scenes; as a fringe member of the Gu Clan, he had always been an existence outside the crowd.

At this moment, Su Li's telepathic message rang in his mind: "How is it? What do you think of this woman?"

Cao Bu nodded calmly and replied telepathically: "A top-tier stunner!"

"Then, compared to her, who is better?" Su Li pressed, her tone carrying a hint of imperceptible rivalry.

Cao Bu said indifferently: "You two have different styles; there's no way to compare."

Su Li asked curiously: "What is my style?"

Cao Bu said: "You are an alluring young matron, and she is a peerless beauty."

Su Li's pretty face flushed, and she continued to ask: "Then if I were eighteen, and she were also eighteen, who would you choose?"

Cao Bu did not hesitate at all: "I want both."

Su Li replied telepathically with slight anger: "Bad guy, you can only choose one."

Cao Bu replied telepathically with firm resolve: "I want both!"

Su Li retorted crossly: "You really are greedy."

After a pause, she changed the subject, getting straight to the point: "Do you want to obtain her?"

Cao Bu said in a deep voice: "Even a Great Emperor Peak couldn't succeed; as a Quasi-Emperor, what can you do?"

Su Li said: "Did you forget how you managed to hook me?"

Cao Bu almost spat out his wine: "You knew I was seducing you back then?"

Su Li retorted crossly: "I didn't know what kind of person you were before, but ever since that incident, I've been clear about the little schemes in your heart."

Cao Bu feigned dissatisfaction: "Woman, sometimes don't be too smart."

Su Li didn't respond to that, but instead asked again: "So, how is it? Are you confident?"

Cao Bu shook his head: "I'll know once I try."

Su Li said confidently: "If you take any one of the four poems, 'Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River', 'Song of Everlasting Regret', 'Qingping Diao', or 'Die Lian Hua', it would be shocking enough."

Cao Bu frowned: "Didn't you say these four were yours alone, and that I wasn't allowed to use them on other women?"

Su Li said: "I'll make an exception this time and allow you to use them, but only this once."

Cao Bu nodded imperceptibly: "Fine!"

The telepathic conversation ended, and Su Li immediately stood up and smiled at Liu Ruyan in the seat of honor: "Sister Ruyan, why don't we do this: let everyone compose a poem for you. Whoever's poem satisfies you, you reward him with a treasure, how about that?"

Hearing this, before Liu Ruyan could express her stance, Xia Yuan and the others couldn't help but agree: "Good, I think that's fine."

"Why don't we make beauty the theme, writing poems to express our admiration for the Empress."

The others also chimed in one after another; even the Azure Emperor, a married man, couldn't hold back.

Liu Ruyan's title as the "Supreme Goddess of the Spirit Realm" was no empty boast; regardless of whether they were single or not, everyone harbored a dream of obtaining her.

If they could perform in front of her, who wouldn't be willing?

Seeing that the atmosphere was right, Liu Ruyan found it hard to refuse. She nodded coldly, her red lips parting slightly: "Very well."

"I'll go first!" Xia Yuan was the first one who couldn't hold back.

If he could make Liu Ruyan remember his name, it would be worth it even if he died.

The banquet hall immediately quieted down, and everyone's gaze focused on Xia Yuan.

He cleared his throat and recited loudly: "Ice skin and jade bones congeal like frost and snow, eyes turning like the galaxy rippling with moonlight..."

A few moments later, the poem concluded, and bursts of exclamation echoed throughout the hall, lingering for a long time.

"Old Xia, I didn't expect you to have such eloquence." Song Hao punched Xia Yuan's chest.

Xia Yuan looked triumphant. He raised his eyes to look, only to see Liu Ruyan sipping tea to herself, as if the poem hadn't attracted even a fraction of her attention.

The triumph on his face slowly faded, and he shook his head and sighed helplessly.

Song Hao quickly comforted him: "It's okay, if it were that easy to move the Empress, it wouldn't be our turn anyway."

Xia Yuan nodded, taking it as self-comfort.

"Good, I, this Emperor, will compose one!" Lin Xiaotian also couldn't hold back. Who wouldn't want to show off in front of the goddess?

Ignoring Zhao Wei's obstruction, he stood up and recited loudly: "In the cultivation world, she is the most beautiful; every frown and smile makes the whole city sway; one glance knocks over three thousand cultivators, a stomp..."

"Mmph..."

Lin Xiaotian looked at Zhao Wei, who was covering his mouth, with a bewildered expression, his eyes full of confusion.

Zhao Wei had a face full of black lines and sent a telepathic message: "What kind of bullsh*t is this that you composed? Look at their eyes!"

Lin Xiaotian scanned with his peripheral vision and saw that everyone's expressions were calm, but their mouths were twitching slightly; clearly, they had objections to his poem.

His old face flushed, and he quickly laughed dryly: "You guys go ahead, you guys go ahead; I'll just drink."

Damn it, the poem I made wasn't bad; why are these people's eyes so weird?

Looking at Liu Ruyan again, her expression was without a ripple, and he was immediately deflated.

This woman is really hard to move.

Next, everyone took turns reciting poems, but not a single one could cause the slightest fluctuation in Liu Ruyan's expression.

Gu Yun, as the finale, was the last to compose a poem, and the response he received was second only to Xia Yuan's, which inevitably made him somewhat proud.

Although he hadn't attracted Liu Ruyan's attention, he wasn't discouraged; after all, this was a woman that even his father couldn't obtain.

From this, one could imagine how difficult it was to obtain Liu Ruyan's Qingxin.

At this moment, he caught sight of Cao Bu drinking alone on the side, and a plan came to his mind.

"Big Brother, we have all composed poems for the Empress; shouldn't you come up with one too?"

"Don't worry, everyone's level is about the same; you don't need to have any psychological burden."

Hearing this, everyone, whether they knew Cao Bu or not, turned their gaze toward him.

Gu Yingying, who was on the side, couldn't stand it and pointed at Gu Yun: "Gu Yun, Big Brother is just here drinking; did he provoke you or offend you?"

"Don't you know that Big Brother can't even write words straight, yet you still ask him to compose a poem?"

Gu Yun's face showed dissatisfaction.

This girl didn't call him Big Brother but was so close to Cao Bu; how could he endure this?

He immediately sneered: "Is that so? Could it be that the Adopted Son of my father, Sword Immortal Gu, is actually a brute?"

"Or is it that he didn't receive a good education growing up, and can't even compose a mere poem?"

"In my opinion, he should just get out of my Gu Family!"

"Gu Yun..."

Gu Yingying's little face was flushed with anger, and just as she was about to retort, Cao Bu had already interrupted her: "Yingying, forget it."

"Big Brother..."

Cao Bu slammed his wine glass heavily on the table, stood up with his hands behind his back, and turned to walk out of the hall.

Gazing at Cao Bu's back, a cold sneer curled at the corner of Gu Yun's mouth.

The entire Gu Clan only needed one Big Brother: and that was him.

Cao Bu must leave.

At this very moment, Cao Bu's faint voice came from outside the banquet hall, clearly reaching everyone's ears:

"A solitary peak, a peerless beauty with a cold, frosted face."

"With a flick of a finger, the heavens tilt, proud of the world."

"Borrowing no east wind, leaning on no moon..."