"Tch~"
The Eighth Prince scoffed disdainfully, seeing the two eunuchs on the opposite side muttering about some chicken-related nonsense, and he began to put on a show.
"Nonsense!"
He naturally knew what the other party was planning.
After all, the Eighth Prince was much more familiar with A Xiang than they were.
They were simply trying to achieve a miracle with brute force, exploiting A Xiang's weakness of small strength to break through their defense.
However, since the Eighth Prince dared to use A Xiang as his trump card, he naturally would not have failed to consider these potential weaknesses that could be targeted.
"Mizi!"
The Eighth Prince called out.
"Coming!"
On the field, the Eighth Prince's attendant, Mizi, responded eagerly, then assumed a horse stance and cupped his hands at his waist.
The Eighth Prince wasted no time, immediately pushing off Mizi, and in a flash, he shot into the air, then twisted his body, executing a Crescent Moon Kick that struck the incoming leather ball dead center.
Such skill showed that the Eighth Prince was also a Qúc Ju master in his daily life.
The leather ball was kicked high into the opposing court, drawing a long arc upwards.
Even with the Eighth Prince's skill, it was impossible to accurately aim for the goal in that situation; he merely managed to clear the ball.
But even so, this kick stunned everyone in the stands.
"This Old Eight…"
"As long as it involves something fun, there's nothing he can't do."
The First Prince shook his head with a sigh, also impressed by the Eighth Prince's kick.
Intercepting the leather ball mid-flight based on the opponent's shooting trajectory was not something an ordinary person could do.
This was not just a matter of strength; it also required considerable experience.
The Qúc Ju goal was set in mid-air, with only a small Fengliu Eye.
In the vast space of the field, quickly determining the leather ball's trajectory was not easy.
"It seems this is Old Eight's talent."
The Fourth Prince also couldn't help but say from the side.
The Sixth Princess, however, pouted and said unconvincingly, "It's just a broken Qúc Ju."
Meanwhile, Little Bean's two attendant eunuchs were greatly alarmed when their combined entanglement technique failed to achieve anything.
"Oh no!"
They watched the leather ball fly higher and higher, and alarm bells rang in their hearts.
They had already suffered a loss once before, so they naturally knew that A Xiang would definitely seize this opportunity to launch another attack.
Therefore, the two of them mimicked the Eighth Prince, using leverage to leap into the air, attempting to block.
But the Eighth Prince had intentionally kicked the ball upwards; its trajectory was completely different from their previous shot, simply heading higher and higher.
Little Bean's two attendant eunuchs, though also martial artists, were not immortals who could ride clouds and mist, so even with boosted jumps, they had their limits.
Moreover, because their strength was inferior to the Eighth Prince and his team, and their coordination was also a bit lacking, the height they jumped was even less than the Eighth Prince's earlier jump.
At that height, trying to touch the high-flying leather ball was simply wishful thinking.
The Eighth Prince had long anticipated this situation, a confident smile on his face as he adjusted his posture and landed.
Mizi instinctively came to the Eighth Prince's feet, raising his hands and gently pushing upwards to absorb the Eighth Prince's force, while he himself rolled on the ground at the opportune moment, clearing the landing spot for the Eighth Prince while also using the momentum to absorb the impact from the Eighth Prince.
The coordination of the two eunuchs on the opposite side was much worse.
The eunuch who jumped up, due to insufficient height, could only watch helplessly as the leather ball flew past him, then A Xiang dove into the Fengliu Eye, scoring another point.
The eunuch who jumped up had only focused on jumping high, and when his upward momentum disappeared, he became flustered.
Even a martial artist with cultivation could not withstand losing control of their own limbs.
He flailed his limbs in mid-air, momentarily losing control of his body, and began to freefall.
"Lift your body, lift your body!"
The eunuch below shouted repeatedly in a panic, reminding the falling eunuch to use his lightness skill to stabilize his body.
But when a person is in a panic, their reaction is naturally slow, and even with someone reminding him from below, he couldn't react, merely looking at the increasingly close ground, growing more anxious.
"Ahhh, stay away from me!"
Little Bean cried out in a panic, looking at the living person falling from above and dodging frantically.
But no matter how Little Bean dodged, he felt as if the person above him was going to fall on him.
He ran three steps to the left, then retreated two steps, realizing he couldn't escape no matter what, and he became so anxious that his face was tear-streaked.
"Your Highness, be careful!"
The eunuch who remained on the ground shouted, looking at his falling companion, gritted his teeth fiercely, and immediately leaped into the air, delivering a flying kick.
"Ah—"
Accompanied by a long, drawn-out scream, the eunuch in the air was fiercely kicked away by his companion, flying off the field and crashing directly into the Flower-Clothed Eunuchs acting as referees on the sidelines.
The Flower-Clothed Eunuchs impassively turned their bodies to avoid the incoming person, then coldly pulled out a yellow card.
"Maliciously attacking the referee, yellow card warning."
"Three warnings, immediate forfeiture."
Little Bean was stunned, protected by the other attendant eunuch, and didn't even have time to react and protest.
And that attendant eunuch had a guilty conscience, so he naturally didn't dare to say anything to the Flower-Clothed Eunuchs.
The stands surrounded the entire field, filled with noble palace residents, so only the referee's side was safer; he had intentionally kicked him in that direction earlier.
The Eighth Prince saw that they not only scored another point, but the opponent also handled it so clumsily, and he immediately burst into laughter, saying,
"This move of mine isn't something just anyone can learn."
The kicked attendant eunuch grunted as he climbed up from the ground, limping as he walked, clearly having sustained a considerable injury.
"You, are you alright?"
The attendant eunuch who had kicked him quickly came over to support him.
The two looked at each other, speechless, unsure what to say for a moment.
After a period of silence, the one who had been kicked spoke first: "It's good that His Highness is alright."
But Little Bean was not having it; he ran over and loudly scolded,
"Is this your so-called 'chance to win'?"
"Whose chance to win is it, really?!"
Little Bean was furious, his small face flushed red.
These two's actions almost got him smashed to death on the field; how could Little Bean not be angry?
The two attendant eunuchs' faces fell, and they could only continue to appease their young master.
As for the match…
Sigh, best not to mention it.
And so, the match continued.
For the rest of the time, Little Bean's team was mercilessly crushed by the Eighth Prince, with a score of twenty-six to zero in just the first half.
Finally, Little Bean couldn't stand it anymore and voluntarily forfeited before the second half began.
Thus, the Eighth Prince became the first person to win in the second round.
The others, after watching this match, all had serious expressions.
A Xiang's role was simply too powerful; the Eighth Prince's side only needed to kick the ball into the sky, and the rest was left to A Xiang to deliver the finishing blow.
And seeing how precise A Xiang's attacks were each time, it was clear that it had put in a lot of effort and trained for an unknown period of time.
"Old Eight's Falcon is truly well-trained."
This time, even the First Prince couldn't help but show a hint of envy.
To have such a coordinated partner was a dream come true for those who enjoyed beast training.
"Big Brother, Fourth Brother."
"How should we deal with Old Eight's bird?"
"If we can't think of a way, he'll win this time."
The Sixth Princess said with some anxiety, seeing the Eighth Prince win so easily.
"The high-altitude advantage is indeed tricky, but it's not unsolvable. After all, the goal is right there, and the Fengliu Eye is only so big; we can completely assign someone to guard the goal."
The Fourth Prince analyzed calmly.
"But if that's the case, wouldn't we be one person short on offense?"
"That bird can also defend well, so at best, it would be a stalemate."
The Sixth Princess felt that given the Fourth Prince's personality, he wouldn't have only such a simple countermeasure.
As expected, the Fourth Prince smiled slightly and instead started talking to them about other matters.
"Do you still remember the rules of the match?"
The First Prince and the Sixth Princess both showed thoughtful expressions, unsure which rule the Fourth Prince was referring to.
And the Fourth Prince didn't keep them in suspense for long, immediately continuing:
"There's a rule in the match regulations that prohibits direct contact between players from opposing sides."
"This should be to prevent the Qúc Ju match from turning into a martial arts competition."
"But while people cannot directly touch people, the ball can touch people."
"Their previous solution was not wrong; although Old Eight's Falcon is agile and has the advantage of flight, it is light in weight and small in strength."
"Just one decisive shot can completely resolve it."
The Fourth Prince narrowed his eyes, a chilling glint flashing within them that was hard to ignore.
The First Prince and the Sixth Princess both showed thoughtful expressions upon hearing this.
The Sixth Princess thought for a moment, then sighed:
"Sigh, I'm just afraid Old Eight won't give us that chance."
"If he flies into the air to block the attack like before, wouldn't we still be unable to deal with that bird?"
The Fourth Prince showed no impatience at his sister's question, continuing to explain unhurriedly:
"If he can block it, then let him block it."
"Ah?"
The Sixth Princess didn't expect the Fourth Prince to give such an answer and thought she had misheard.
"No matter who receives the ball, we succeed."
"Even if Old Eight is good at ball skills, how many difficult interceptions can he perform? Sooner or later, there will be a time when he can't handle it."
"If he can't receive it, even better; we score a point directly."
"Sixth Sister, I've studied today's schedule. You and I will both face Old Eight before the top four are decided."
"It's best if we can beat him, but even if we lose, we must try our best to wear him down, so he can't make it to the top four."
"The rest, Big Brother will handle."
Hearing these words, the Sixth Princess blinked her beautiful eyes, fluttering them for a good while before finally realizing what was said.
But she didn't want to appear slow on the uptake, so she just nodded gently and sat quietly to the side, looking like she was seriously watching the match.
Seeing their sister's reaction, the First Prince and the Fourth Prince exchanged a smile, but they both tacitly agreed not to expose her.
Perhaps the Sixth Princess still needed to process it before she could fully understand the Fourth Prince's words.
"I never thought Old Eight would one day give us such a headache."
The First Prince and the Fourth Prince lowered their voices and continued their conversation.
"Old Eight was never bad; he just wasn't willing to put in the effort himself."
The Fourth Prince smiled slightly, looking at the Eighth Prince who was leaving the field triumphantly.
"His mother consort's incident back then probably left a deep impact on him," the First Prince also sighed.
He realized that none of his siblings seemed to live happily.
Only those Little Bean were still at an innocent age, but such times would only last a few years.
Born into the imperial family, one always matured too quickly.
The day lively and cheerful younger siblings suddenly took on the appearance of little adults was the day they lost their innocence.
This kind of maturity usually came suddenly.
"Qin Shufei probably left some words for Old Eight at the end, otherwise he wouldn't have continued to act recklessly until now."
"That desire to be a carefree prince was practically written on his forehead."
The Fourth Prince shook his head, seemingly disapproving of the Eighth Prince's actions.
"Isn't the name of his small courtyard written clearly for all to see?"
"It's also thanks to that, at least in these past few years, those younger siblings have lived happily."
"When we were that age, there was already no smile on our faces."
The First Prince looked at the nearby Little Bean, a hint of envy hidden in his eyes.
However, the Fourth Prince snorted upon hearing this: "Old Eight entrusts his fate to others, relying on others' benevolence; this is cruelty to himself."
"Utterly foolish!"
The First Prince looked at the Fourth Prince in surprise, rarely seeing him so agitated.
At this moment, the Sixth Princess, who had been silent for a while, suddenly pointed to the field.
"Look quickly, Ankang is coming up."
The First Prince and the Fourth Prince ended their casual chat and all looked towards the field.
The Jingyang Palace team, wearing neat uniforms, entered the Qúc Ju field and began their warm-up exercises.
At this time, the other two matches of the second round had not yet ended.
But because the Eighth Prince won early, a field was freed up.
Princess Ankang felt a bit nervous and wanted to go up and get a feel for the field.
Li Xuan and Yu'er naturally had no objections.
After getting permission from the referee on the sidelines, the Three Little Ones went to the empty Qúc Ju field and started to warm up.
The Sixth Princess saw the Three Little Ones leisurely warming up in full view, as if they were on a spring outing, and couldn't help but grit her teeth and say,
"Show-off, just wait until I deal with you later!"
Ever since the Sixth Princess failed to defeat Princess Ankang last time, leading to their three siblings' defeat in the match, she had been blaming herself.
Especially since the Sixth Princess was knocked unconscious by Princess Ankang's headbutt at the time, she couldn't clearly remember the details, only that the situation was very tense.
She, a dignified eighth-grade martial artist, couldn't defeat Princess Ankang, who had no cultivation.
The Sixth Princess had always considered this incident a disgrace, and even though her two brothers comforted her many times, it didn't help her let go of the matter.
Meanwhile, Princess Ankang was completely unaware of the Sixth Princess's thoughts and began practicing passing with Yu'er.
The Jingyang Palace team brought a cat, and many people off the field cast curious glances.
After all, the Eighth Prince, who was the only one to bring a trained animal onto the field earlier, had taught everyone a good lesson.
Therefore, everyone also wanted to see what kind of trump card Princess Ankang, who won the beast taming competition, would bring out.
However, Princess Ankang's black cat looked very ordinary; aside from its shiny fur and looking very well-fed, there was nothing special about it.
Especially since the cat was now yawning lazily with a wide-open mouth.
"Li Xuan, catch."
Princess Ankang suddenly passed a ball to Li Xuan, but the leather ball hit Li Xuan squarely on the head, making him stumble, and even the half-finished yawn was knocked back down.
Those secretly observing Li Xuan were stunned, and couldn't help but mutter in their hearts:
"That's it?"
They hadn't noticed that the leather ball, after hitting Li Xuan's head, flew precisely to Yu'er's feet.