“Meow, meow, meow? Scared?”
Hearing Li Xuemàn’s answer, Ling Xiaoyou looked utterly incredulous and let out a puzzled sound.
“Yes.”
Li Xuemàn let out a soft sigh and said,
“This Xuantian Martial Tournament has quite a lot of geniuses joining. It seems they all came for that final prize. Among them are even heirs from the great families of the Human Realm.”
“When many people heard about those geniuses participating, they gave up on the idea of joining.”
“After all, even though it is just a competition, there is still a certain level of danger.”
“It is not worth taking risks for.”
After finishing, Li Xuemàn calmly took a sip of hot tea, as if she did not care much about the matter.
Ling Xiaoyou nodded her little head in understanding and glanced at this Elder, feeling that she truly did not care.
Although this was Ling Xiaoyou’s first time attending the Xuantian Martial Tournament, Li Xuemàn had certainly experienced it many times before.
She had probably seen all kinds of situations already.
Thinking of this, Ling Xiaoyou stopped paying attention to the matter.
She looked around, thought for a moment, and ultimately chose not to take out her Mobile Phone.
Instead, she chatted casually with the Old Lady.
In this peaceful and harmonious atmosphere, time gradually passed.
“…The Temple Ghost has already confirmed her relationship with the Tree Demon Matriarch. She even said that after some time, she will invite us to her wedding banquet.”
“Huh? I remember the Book recorded that they were in an adoptive mother and daughter relationship. Why would they…”
“Xiaoyou, this is love. Love can transcend everything.”
“Ugh, that is so profound. I do not understand.”
“It is fine. When you can understand, I think I will be able to see your lover.”
“Elder, that is still far too early!”
“Haha, not early at all. Xiaoyou has already grown up. It is about time—”
Li Xuemàn’s words suddenly paused, as if she sensed something.
Her gaze turned toward the reception room door.
Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou, who had still been feeling a little embarrassed, seemed to understand something as well.
She looked toward the door.
Soon, a knocking sound rang out, followed by scattered murmurs of conversation.
However, separated by the door, Ling Xiaoyou could not hear clearly what was being said outside.
She looked at Li Xuemàn and found that the latter had already shifted from her neighborly grandmother state into a serious Leader.
Li Xuemàn nodded at Ling Xiaoyou.
Understanding immediately, Ling Xiaoyou straightened her posture at once.
Then Li Xuemàn looked toward the door again and said,
“Please come in.”
The door was pushed open, and from outside walked in many, many… beautiful young girls of all kinds!
Ling Xiaoyou was stunned.
She subconsciously covered her small mouth and looked at the girls in surprise.
Although she had expected something like this—after all, the Ghostly Resentment Office was a place where women vastly outnumbered men, practically all girls—she truly had not expected that the other Branch offices would be the same.
This time, those coming to participate in the Xuantian Martial Tournament were all girls as well.
If this were placed in a wuxia novel, their Ghostly Resentment Office could practically be renamed Emei.
“Huh? Did they all arrive this neatly? I thought they would arrive in different orders depending on distance.”
Watching the contestants continuously enter, Ling Xiaoyou looked at Li Xuemàn and asked in confusion.
“That was the old method of travel. Now our Ghostly Resentment Office has adopted Spatial Teleportation technology. When the time comes, it automatically teleports everyone over. That is why they arrived so neatly.”
Li Xuemàn explained.
Ling Xiaoyou nodded her little head in understanding.
Suddenly, her gaze shifted toward the most eye-catching girl in the crowd.
What made this girl eye-catching was not her appearance.
Among these beautiful girls, her looks were merely above average.
Not to mention compared to Ling Xiaoyou—even compared to the most beautiful among the others here, she still fell quite short.
The reason Ling Xiaoyou found her eye-catching was because…
She had a pair of orange cat ears on her head!
Behind her was an orange tail that kept swaying back and forth.
Hajimi… no, a Cat Girl!
Who would have thought that among the other Branch contestants, there would actually be a Cat Girl!
Ling Xiaoyou looked at those fluffy cat ears, then at her own fair and delicate little hands.
She forcefully restrained the urge to go over and pet the cat, sitting quietly in her seat with an upright posture and a gentle expression, like a refined young lady from a great family who had appeared out of nowhere.
However, even though Ling Xiaoyou wanted to leave an elegant and ladylike impression on these newly arrived colleagues, her cute appearance and petite figure only made her look more like an adorable Little Girl trying very hard to pretend to be dignified and graceful.
“Hey, look. That girl is so cute.”
“You noticed too? She seemed to be here before we arrived. She must be from the Division Headquarters, right?”
“Who knows? Look at that little expression of hers. She is really cute. I want to rub her little head so badly.”
“You are not allowed to think that. Let me think first. Since she is that cute, we should rub her little face and make her blush shyly in our palms, showing a pitiful expression.”
“That makes sense!”
Listening to the conversation of several girls nearby, the corner of Ling Xiaoyou’s mouth twitched unconsciously.
Her initial impression of these beautiful girls instantly turned into that of the Division Headquarters’ infatuated female colleagues.
She could even feel that several people were constantly looking at her.
Their hands were already itching to move.
In order not to become these people’s plaything, Ling Xiaoyou cast a pleading look at Li Xuemàn.
The latter smiled slightly, then gave a light cough, instantly restoring the gradually improper atmosphere back to seriousness.
She looked at the contestants from the other Branch offices and said calmly,
“All right, quiet down first.”
As she spoke, Li Xuemàn picked up the cane beside the Sofa and tapped it against the ground.
Instantly, an invisible layer of Strength spread out, silencing the girls who still seemed to want to say something.
Yes, truly silenced.
Ling Xiaoyou watched as the girls kept opening and closing their mouths, clearly trying to speak but unable to produce even the slightest sound.
She was somewhat surprised at Li Xuemàn’s Strength.
She had not expected that Elder to know such Magic Arts.
She felt a little tempted to learn it.
She wondered what price she would have to pay to obtain such Magic Arts from Elder.
But speaking of which, was Elder actually that powerful?
It was completely impossible to tell.
Before Ling Xiaoyou could think further, she heard Li Xuemàn’s calm voice spread from beside her, reaching every corner of the room.
“I will not waste words. Since you registered to participate in the Xuantian Martial Tournament, I assume you already understand it to some extent.”
Li Xuemàn looked at everyone and continued slowly,
“Although you come from different regions, we are all members of the Ghostly Resentment Office.”
“So from this moment on, we are a single whole. I will not force you to be perfectly united, but I do require that at the very least, during this period, you coexist peacefully.”
After sweeping her gaze across the crowd and seeing no objections, she spoke again.
“Next, let us begin with self-introductions.”