While Gong Xue was deeply troubled, the match on stage had already ended, and An Wanggui emerged as the victor.

An Wanggui and Shu Ran walked over to the group where Bing Duoduo stood, and Bing Duoduo immediately greeted them.

An Cheyan also walked over, and the two brothers greeted Bing Duoduo, “Hello, Duoduo!”

Bing Duoduo joked, “Senior brothers, after all these years, you finally decided to come back. Do you know how many senior and junior sisters have been silently pining for you during your absence?”

An Cheyan teased Bing Duoduo mischievously, “Did Duoduo pine for us as well?”

Bing Duoduo retorted, “Dream on! I only like our Shu Ran.”

After some conversation, Bing Duoduo introduced the other disciples one by one.

“You’ve been gone for so long; now we have many more junior brothers and sisters. Let me introduce them to you.”

“This is Yuan Na, my third junior sister, Xin Shu, the fourth junior brother, fifth junior brother Ning Chifeng, and…Hey! Ren Yue! Gong Xue! Come over here!”

When it came to introducing Ning Chifeng, Mu Xian, and Gong Xue were nowhere to be seen. After some searching, they finally spotted Mu Xian standing straight at the back, clearly hiding someone behind him.

“Come over here!” Bing Duoduo beckoned, but Mu Xian only gave an awkward smile without moving.

Everyone was puzzled.

Bing Duoduo laughed and explained, “Maybe the junior brothers and sisters are a bit shy. I’ll go check it out.”

An Wanggui and An Cheyan didn’t think much of it.

Bing Duoduo walked over to Mu Xian and asked, “Junior brother Ren Yue, what’s going on?”

Mu Xian shrugged, indicating it wasn’t his problem. Bing Duoduo craned her neck to look at Gong Xue hiding behind Mu Xian.

Gong Xue’s heart was pounding, and she was sweating profusely.

Seeing Gong Xue’s pale face, Bing Duoduo thought she might be unwell, “Gong Xue, are you feeling unwell? You don’t look too good.”

Gong Xue quickly nodded, and Bing Duoduo, concerned, asked, “What’s wrong? Let me take you to Moonrise to have a look.”

Gong Xue quickly shook her head and clung tightly to Mu Xian’s clothes, hiding securely behind him. Bing Duoduo, feeling helpless, walked behind Mu Xian and reached out to feel Gong Xue’s forehead. It wasn’t hot, but very cool.

“Gong Xue, you shouldn’t delay if you’re not feeling well. I’ll take you to Moonrise,” Bing Duoduo said, reaching out to pull Gong Xue. But Gong Xue shook her head and pointed at Mu Xian.

Bing Duoduo understood what Gong Xue meant, “You want Ren Yue to accompany you?”

Gong Xue nodded.

Bing Duoduo didn’t press further and instead instructed Mu Xian to take good care of Gong Xue.

An Cheyan found the woman behind Mu Xian quite strange and walked closer.

Step by step… Gong Xue knew An Cheyan was approaching. His footsteps felt like nails driving into her heart.

Just as An Cheyan was about to reach her, Gong Xue was so scared she could hardly breathe. In that critical moment, the Dean’s commanding voice rang out, “Wanggui, Cheyan.”

An Cheyan stopped, turned with everyone, and bowed in greeting.

“Greetings, Dean, and Elders.”

An Xuqian and four Elders appeared in a line. An Wanggui and An Cheyan walked up to An Xuqian, “Father.”

“Hmm, you’re back?” An Xuqian spoke calmly.

“We’re back,” they replied respectfully.

Chang Wan stepped forward and roughly patted An Wanggui’s head, “You brat, you’ve grown so tall!”

“Senior…Senior Uncle,” An Wanggui quickly ducked away from Chang Wan’s grasp.

Deng Ying, meanwhile, grabbed An Cheyan, pulling him into a tight embrace that almost broke his waist, “Cheyan, now that you’re back, don’t leave again! Let me teach you all my skills!”

“Cough, cough, cough!” Cheyan nearly turned pale and quickly backed away a few meters, “Thank you, Senior Uncle Deng Ying.”

Xu Tao, still fuming from his recent battle with An Xuqian, asked An Cheyan irritably, “Cheyan, why is your hair white?”

An Cheyan remained silent, quickly grabbing his father and heading towards the Hall of Affairs, complaining to An Xuqian about how terrible the outside world was as they walked.

An Wanggui started chatting with the four Elders.

No one was paying attention to Gong Xue at that moment, and she urged Mu Xian to hurry up and leave.

The two sneaked away from the lively Grand Competition.

Mu Xian openly teased, “Scared like this? Looks like you wronged someone.”

Gong Xue glared at him and gritted her teeth, “Can we skip this topic?”

Mu Xian moved closer with a fake smile, seizing the wine gourd from Gong Xue’s hand. “Alright,” he said.

Gong Xue glared at him fiercely, deeply worried about the days ahead.

“Ah! What should I do now?”

Mu Xian sarcastically remarked, “You’ll be seeing them often, so you might as well have let them see you today. In that situation, they wouldn’t dare do anything with so many eyes watching.”

Gong Xue forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. “You don’t know how deep our grudge runs.”

Mu Xian chuckled, “That An Cheyan, with his red eyes and white hair, is clearly showing signs of becoming a Devil. Look at you, driving someone to such a state. Are you even human?”

Tilting his head back to drink, Mu Xian was suddenly choked as Gong Xue vengefully poured the wine down his throat.

“Cough, cough, cough! You’re enraged and want to silence me?” Mu Xian sputtered, tears streaming from his eyes.

“Serves you right!” Gong Xue cursed, storming off in a huff.

“Hey, hey, hey! Are you really angry? I was just joking, don’t take it seriously. I’ll apologize, all right?” Fearing that Gong Xue would stop brewing wine for him, Mu Xian wisely chose to apologize and chased after her, trying to make amends.