An incense stick—Chen Xingchuan had never felt time stretch so long before.
“Me too. I’m really exhausted, Senior Brother.”
Lin Shuang echoed his sentiment. Respectfully, she walked over and extended her hand toward him who had fallen.
“You’re a great sparring partner for sword practice, Senior Brother Chen.”
“…”
Chen Xingchuan remained silent.
Was that how she described someone who simultaneously fed him pills while slicing at him with thirty thousand sword strikes during practice?
Inner sect disciples, although they guarded the sect every ten years, often engaged in sparring matches on regular days.
Victory and defeat were common occurrences in cultivation.
But to be defeated so thoroughly, as he had been, was rare.
Even rarer was having an opponent who fought while simultaneously rescuing him—something unheard of.
Chen Xingchuan’s hand holding the sword trembled.
He had initially thought that his junior brother, Chen Sheng, losing to her was already a disgrace to the Chen family’s legacy.
Yet compared to his own match against her today, that loss was nothing!
“Junior Sister, I mentioned this before.”
Chen Xingchuan staggered to his feet, clutching his chest, and gazed at the radiant woman before him, her face flushed and all her spiritual energy completely drained.
“If I lose to you, I no longer deserve to remain in the inner sect.”
Lin Shuang’s hand, which had been massaging her tired arm muscles, froze mid-motion.
[???]
[…No way, right?]
[He-elp—save him—]
[Is there anyone from the Chen family? Hurry over! Your fourth-stage junior brother is gone.]
[Can’t watch anymore.]
[Well done, Senior Brother Chen Xingchuan! If you can’t beat her, just join her! I’m impressed!]
[…]
Chen Xingchuan’s face darkened, his eyes filled with sorrow as he glanced at the high sky behind Lin Shuang.
Three fighting platforms stood side by side, with an open expanse of sea and sky around them.
He fixed his gaze on the distant heights, as if seeing the senior brothers and sisters watching the projection screen.
His eyes narrowed slightly before he lowered his head. “Junior Sister, I will honor my promise.”
He could no longer remain in the inner sect.
The majority of the inner sect’s seniors were watching!
After such a defeat, he would inevitably face gossip and pointing fingers every time he left his cave dwelling.
If he didn’t leave, he would eventually develop a heart demon.
Only by breaking through to a higher level of cultivation could he face the inner sect again with dignity.
Chen Xingchuan looked at Lin Shuang with an expression that silently asked, “Are you okay?” His lips twitched. “Junior Sister, whenever you return to the outer sect, I will follow you there.”
Lin Shuang took a step back.
Uh-oh.
She had triggered an extra event again.
“You might want to speak with Senior Brother Xu Rui first—he’s in charge of the outer sect.”
“If you wish to go, Senior Brother Xu Rui might not necessarily accept you.”
Chen Xingchuan: “??”
Lin Shuang shrugged. “You might want to prepare a gift for him to cheer him up first.”
[??? Is the outer sect really this arrogant!]
[We’ve only heard in the past hundred years that entering the inner sect from the outer sect requires an examination, but who knew that an inner sect Ning Yuan would need to bring gifts to enter the outer sect!]
[This Senior Brother Xu Rui from the outer sect, isn’t he too detestable!]
[Ah, Senior Brothers and Sisters, you’ve been in the inner sect too long. You probably don’t know Xu Rui. He and our current inner sect manager, Xu Xiang, are twins.]
[Ah, Xu Xiang?]
Sure enough, Lin Shuang beckoned Chen Xingchuan closer and showed him the list of outer sect disciples.
“This year, including those on medical leave and retirement, the outer sect has a total of twenty-one thousand and two disciples.”
“It’s an even number.”
Chen Xingchuan’s lips twitched as he connected the dots.
He lowered his head and saw Lin Shuang shrug sympathetically. “Exactly. He’s the same as your inner sect manager Senior Brother, but he likes even numbers.”
“!”
[! Wow!]
[He likes even numbers, so if Chen Xingchuan goes, the outer sect will have an odd number of disciples. Haha!]
Lin Shuang shook her head.
This would be driving Senior Brother Xu Rui to the brink.
From now on, every day when counting people, assigning labor, and organizing rankings in the outer sect, he would see a glaring odd number.
How could Senior Brother Xu Rui possibly cope?
Lin Shuang gave Chen Xingchuan a meaningful look. “If the gift is too small, it might not work.”
Chen Xingchuan fell silent.
Then what should he do? Could he not even enter the outer sect?
Wait!
He was at the fourth stage of Ningyuan—why was he even thinking about this!?
Would a group of Qi Transformation disciples in the outer sect really dare to reject a Core Formation cultivator?
Wasn’t that unreasonable?
An inner sect disciple who had reached the fourth stage of Condensing Yuan could be considered somewhat perceptive and mentally resilient, unlikely to develop inner demons from a single defeat.
But now, Chen Xingchuan felt that if this continued, he might really go mad.
Chen Xingchuan looked deeply at Lin Shuang. “Junior Sister, ten years from now, if you appear on the inner sect’s arena in the Donghua Realm, I will definitely watch.”
She had a unique talent for infuriating people.
Lin Shuang, currently in the outer sect arena: “…”
She turned and walked away.
She and this senior brother simply didn’t get along.
The man cursed her with every word.
Lin Shuang fled like she was escaping, jumping off the platform and glancing at the other two nearby.
Huangpu Yuan and Meng Zi were still locked in battle.
“Junior Brother, you’ve made me wait until now—thank you.”
Huangpu Yuan coughed, covering his mouth with his fingers, blood dripping from between his slender fingers onto the ground.
“But you insulted my junior sister, and I cannot tolerate it!”
The opposing disciple looked confused. “Wait, when did I ever insult her?”
But Huangpu Yuan appeared not to hear. As he spoke, his jet-black hair lifted, his aura surging to match his opponent at the fourth Condensation stage.
Lin Shuang: “…”
He was still acting.
Without Oscar, she wouldn’t watch.
She took out a bag of peanuts from her spatial pouch and began munching on them with great interest.
Huangpu Yuan’s chest heaved like a bellows.
The blood he coughed up flowed across half a green brick, his face pale as a ghost.
But his eyes were red.
“For her, I can no longer retreat!”
“I won’t let the battles between inner and outer sects rest entirely on her frail shoulders—!”
The opposing disciple opened his mouth, sword in hand, glancing at Lin Shuang behind Huangpu Yuan, who was already eating peanuts and watching like a spectator, and at the defeated Chen Xingchuan.
He pointed behind him.
But Huangpu Yuan refused to look back. He moved his left hand from his lips.
In an instant, he summoned a long sword from his spatial pouch, its hilt entwined with two phoenixes, entirely made of dark gold.
His five fingers gripped the hilt, and the long blade scraped across the bloodstained bricks.
“I haven’t drawn my life-bound sword in twenty years.”
“Today—”
“To give my junior sister the chance to lose—”
[She already won.]
[Oh no, this pair is really getting on my nerves.]
“—Junior Brother, receive my sword strike!”
The disciple on the opposite platform was speechless.
But in an instant, his expression froze.
Huangpu Yuan’s sword qi stirred the forces of heaven and earth, instantly sealing the spiritual energy of the entire platform!
His entire body became immobile, and even his soul trembled uncontrollably.
How could this be?
How was this possible?
Even an ordinary fourth-stage Ning Yuan shouldn’t be able to do this!
“!”
The disciple, who had been careless until now, stared in panic and disbelief at the roaring sword qi rising ten zhang before him.
His face turned pale.
Huangpu Yuan, who had just seemed to overdo his Oscar-worthy performance, suddenly had his eyes lose their dramatic flair.
From the deep blackness, a hint of crimson bled.
“This sword is called ‘Duanwei.'”
“‘Duanwei Qiu Sheng.'”
His thin lips barely moved.
Suddenly, the opposing disciple saw the sword before him split the world—and himself—in two!
In an instant, blood sprayed, splattering into Huangpu Yuan’s eyes, which flickered with a trace of red.
Whose blood was this?
The opposing disciple was bewildered.
[Cloud Crane has lost over 80% of his blood!]
[Considered dead, immediate teleportation—]
The announcement from Zhenchuan was cut off halfway.
In an instant, Cloud Crane vanished from the spot.
Unlike Dao Dong and Dao Xi, there wasn’t even a five-breath countdown to prepare the spirit stones.
[! The injury is too severe!]
[…This sword already carries the qi of soul refinement.]
[He was so ruthless toward a fellow sect member…]
[He… he’s terrifying.]
Lin Shuang’s peanuts fell from her hand into her spatial pouch.
She watched Huangpu Yuan slowly drag his sword across the bricks, creating an ear-splitting screech. Turning, his pale, blood-smeared handsome face, streaked with blood from his phoenix eyes…
The snowy fox fur around his neck was soaked in blood, dripping downward.
He gave her a slight smile.
He closed his eyes and collapsed with a thud!
“Damn it!”
Lin Shuang threw the peanuts into Chen Xingchuan’s hands, who was also shocked and alarmed, then rushed onto the platform and caught him.
“Senior Brother…”
She called out anxiously, glancing at Chen Xingchuan.
Lowering her voice, she leaned down and stuffed handfuls of healing pills into Huangpu Yuan’s mouth.
Her hair brushed past his ear, hiding her murmuring lips.
“Senior Brother, that’s enough. You overdid your performance.”
“You can open your eyes now… think about how to explain this to the elders outside…”
But Huangpu Yuan’s eyelids cast a shadow over his pale face, not moving an inch.
His breathing was barely perceptible.
The healing pills she fed him—three months’ worth—didn’t even restore a hint of color to his face.
Lin Shuang felt his icy, blood-slick wrist with a strange expression.
His dantian was exhausted, his sword arm’s meridians shattered into fragments!
His spiritual sea was in chaos, his consciousness torn.
This man—was he always an experiential actor, risking his life to perform!
Damn it!
“Senior Brother Chen, please tell Senior Brother Meng that we’re leaving this layer first.”
Lin Shuang’s expression was grave as two wide swords flew from her spatial pouch.
“Let him continue fighting at his leisure.”
Fighting what?
Chen Xingchuan’s lips stiffened as he looked at the blood-soaked figure in her arms.
Three matches, two wins.
Meng Zi didn’t need to fight anymore.
But Lin Shuang instantly vanished from the platform, carrying Huangpu Yuan away.
Chen Xingchuan could only sigh, walking worriedly to the adjacent platform.
He wanted to check on his junior brother too.
“Ah! I can’t lose, I must win…”
At the third platform, Meng Zi and his opponent were both covered in blood.
Chen Xingchuan immediately saw that Meng Zi was at a disadvantage, clearly outmatched.
Both were at the fourth stage of Ningyuan, but one had reached the peak of that stage, while Meng Zi had only broken through a few days prior, his cultivation still unstable.
Not to mention, Meng Zi had only obtained the Earth-tier sword technique a few days ago and hadn’t mastered it yet.
There was a real gap in strength between them.
Chen Xingchuan didn’t watch long before seeing Meng Zi retreat again and again, already at the platform’s edge.
A blade cultivator never lets go of his sword, but before he arrived, Meng Zi’s blade had already fallen to the ground.
Outmatched!
Even if given three incense sticks’ worth of time, he wouldn’t win.
Sigh.
Chen Xingchuan sighed.
[Me too. If Chen Xingchuan had won earlier, it would have been two victories.]
[Well, at least we still won one!]
[…Why the rush? Meng Zi is one of our inner sect members.]
[Exactly. The inner sect was only with that outer sect for a few days, yet made rapid progress, slapping so many senior brothers’ faces.]
[…]
“At least winning one is better. Not only for Chen Xingchuan and the other three, but also for Zhenchuan’s disciples below the three thousand layers—it prevents future inner demons.”
Heart demons.
No matter how hard one tries, the shadow of being unable to defeat an opponent can easily become a lifelong obstacle in cultivation.
For demonic cultivators, it’s better. Their bodies are special, and there are many ways to eliminate heart demons.
Like some races that can change genders, reconstructing their bodies leads to a transformation of their minds.
Male-bodied ones can’t do that. Who cares about the female-bodied me?!
Demonic cultivators can keep getting heart demons and keep changing genders to relieve them.
But human cultivators must overcome them on their own. There’s no other path.
[Well, winning one is better than losing all.]
After sighing, the senior brothers and sisters watching, along with Chen Xingchuan, all thought this.
But Meng Zi retreated to the edge of the platform, watching his opponent rushing toward him, his face filled with pain.
He couldn’t help but ask himself.
“Why am I not good enough?”
“There’s no reason…”
Senior Brother opponent: ?
“Why can Lin Shuang and Senior Brother Huangpu unleash a breakthrough and double their sword power when their companions are in danger… but I can’t?”
“Why can’t I? Am I really that stupid?”
“My blade hasn’t gotten the slightest bit stronger. Why! Why!”
Meng Zi had wounds too, but none of these issues pained him more than the wounds themselves.
Since the match began, he had no energy to pay attention to Lin Shuang and Huangpu Yuan’s performance.
But he sensed the commotion they caused.
Why did their swords make him feel fear…
Why did they become stronger, surpassing him, while I couldn’t…
Meng Zi was trapped in this painful cycle of self-questioning.
Right, they were pretending.
They were all innate cultivation prodigies.
“So, my talent is actually this poor…”
“It’s not Lin Shuang who wasted the spirit stones—it’s me, it’s me!”
“When my companion is in danger, I can’t grow stronger. When my companion is about to lose, I can’t grow stronger either…”
“When I’m about to lose myself, I still can’t grow stronger. Why—!!”
“Why is my talent so poor!”
He let out a painful roar.
Unlike Lin Shuang and Huangpu Yuan, no matter how loudly he roared, his cultivation showed no change.
His opponent, who was fighting him, hesitated and stopped attacking.
Why?
Isn’t the answer simple?
Not everyone is gifted.
On the path of cultivation, only a tiny, tiny minority can reach the highest realms, refining their souls into emptiness, breaking through the sky, and ascending to immortality.
Most, like them, rely only on a fighting spirit, refusing heaven’s arrangement, forever struggling on the path of pursuit.
They may never succeed.
No, most disciples know they definitely won’t succeed.
But they keep climbing, striving a little further, gaining a bit more longevity, continuing to chase that faint glimmer of heavenly fate.
All they seek is to have no regrets in their hearts.
“Junior Brother, you don’t need to feel sad. How many heaven’s favorites can there be?”
The senior brother fighting Meng Zi and Chen Xingchuan both hesitated for a moment but soon became resolute.
“Every step you take surpasses thousands behind you.”
“We’re not bad either. As long as we keep moving forward… there’s still hope.”
“Don’t torment yourself and create a heart demon.”
[Sigh.]
I knew it, the lower-stage Ning Yuan in the inner sect would be finished… This is also why the Housekeeping Elder wanted to stop that outer sect disciple from rising to become the leader of the three thousand.
[…]
[Too talented; one glance at her would cause disciples of ordinary roots to lose their faith.]
[Exactly, what does the face of inner sect matter?
An outer sect disciple at the Qi Transformation stage suppressing inner sect disciples at the Core Formation stage will destabilize many inner sect disciples’ Daoist hearts; this is the greatest taboo for Clearwater Sect.]
[It’s not bad that Meng Zi only collapsed today. He and her have passed through so many layers together; only today did he realize the gap in their talents.]
[How thick is his spiritual consciousness.]
Bai Yu stood at the cave dwelling on the 6,000th level, watching the words in the projection and the collapsing, agonized Senior Brother Meng.
A trace of unwillingness and helplessness also appeared on his face.
He had warned Senior Brother Meng many times before to keep his distance from Lin Shuang.
But Meng wouldn’t listen—he just wouldn’t listen.
Now, Meng couldn’t, like his clam race, transform into a woman today and shed the male body’s heart demons.
What was to be done?
Bai Yu looked worriedly at the projection.
In the projection, Meng Zi was already swaying unsteadily. Senior Brother hadn’t even attacked yet, but Meng had already staggered back half a step, about to fall off the arena.
Chen Xingchuan, who was watching, couldn’t bear it anymore and shouted toward the arena.
“Junior Brother, don’t hold back anymore. If you wait any longer, it’ll only be torment for him. Hurry up and strike him down so he can go get healed.”
The heart’s illness still needed a heart remedy; maybe sending him to Lin Shuang’s side would work—perhaps she had a way?
The disciple fighting on the arena immediately nodded.
No longer hesitating with compassion, he stepped forward and swung his blade horizontally.
Meng Zi’s eyes were dull, his pupils red with pain.
He couldn’t do it—he really couldn’t…
But in an instant, his body stiffened.
His scattered gaze slowly stopped at the three-step distance, where his senior brother had stepped closer.
His pupils, dull and lifeless, suddenly constricted.
Senior Brother… had stepped on his sword…
His sword… it had cost 13,000 spirit stones, bought during a special discount at Rongbao Pavilion…
Later, he had it repaired twice, spending another 3,000 spirit stones… and then commissioned someone to carve mountain patterns on it, which cost 5,000 spirit stones…
In total, it had cost 21,000 spirit stones…
In an instant, Meng Zi’s body trembled.
“Junior Brother Meng, I’m sorry, I’ll send you to get healed…”
“Ahh!”
At the same time Senior Brother stepped forward, Meng Zi suddenly let out a tearing roar.
“21,000 spirit stones… 21,000 spirit stones… rounding up… Senior Brother, you actually stepped on my sword worth 30,000 spirit stones!”
Senior Brother’s blade froze mid-swing: “?”
Didn’t something feel off?
“30,000, 30,000 spirit stones, Senior Brother!”
“How could you! How could you step on a sword worth 30,000 spirit stones!”
“Rounding up, that’s 50,000 spirit stones!”
The opponent Senior Brother: “?”
“Senior Brother—you’re going too far!”
Meng Zi’s eyes brimmed with shattered grief, unleashing thunderous flames of rage, burning with fury.
“That was 50,000 spirit stones, rounding up to 100,000!”
“!”
Meng Zi’s entire aura instantly surged from the depths of depression and inner demons, rapidly escalating to the peak of fury.
His sword lying on the ground suddenly let out a long, resonant hum, seemingly awakened by its master’s world-annihilating rage.
It immediately echoed through the sky!
“…”
“Senior Brother, you owe me 100,000 spirit stones!”
“!”
Meng Zi roared with bloody tears, his furious blade slashing down fiercely!
“Senior Brother, do you know how long it takes to save up 100,000 spirit stones—how long it takes! Senior Brother, you’re really pushing me too far!”
[Ding, Mu Wenchang, blood loss at 60%.]
[Determined to have lost the ability to fight. Within five breaths, teleport to the resting and healing cave dwelling, please prepare 500 spirit stones.]
Mu Wenchang: “…”
Chen Xingchuan: “…”
[…]
[……….]
[Holy crap! Who taught him math…]
[So money-driven, so money-driven! His outburst is purely from throwing money around!]
[…The rise and fall of heart demons is but a thin line; I’ve learned much today.]
[What the hell…]
[Layer 2798: If you’re a cultivator, stand up—don’t fall down!]
[One-on-one arena match concluded.]
[Lin Shuang, Huangpu Yuan, and Meng Zi are victorious.]
The elders’ frustration was evident in the hastily dissipating ripples of this layer.
Even the reminder to collect their rewards this time was absent.
Meng Zi, Chen Xingchuan, and Mu Wenchang instantly vanished from this sky containing only three arenas.
All the disciples watching the projections couldn’t react in time.
They only saw the three arenas suddenly reveal beast heads, faintly floating upward.
[“Lin Shuang is the layer master again? No way?”]
[“No way? This time it even took quite a while—the Meng Zi match was much slower, and Lin Shuang wasn’t that fast either.”]
[“They barely won, fighting to the death like that.”]
The beast heads tried to float up, but quickly fell back onto the arenas.
[“Oh, never mind then.”]
[“Yeah, that’s normal. Otherwise, what would those disciples who easily won this layer think?”]
“Fool! Fool! Fool!”
From the rest courtyard three thousand layers below, a pink-robed woman’s furious scolding nearly shattered the walls.
A crowd of surrounding disciples: “…”
Everyone instinctively stepped back.
Zhao Keran, Zhou Xuanwu, and Chen Sixin, who had just been sent back from the 6,000th layer, also awkwardly halted their steps.
With a bang, the jade table in front of the pink-robed woman turned to dust.
Her cat-like eyes lifted, and her right index finger pointed directly at the one standing closest, “You.”
“Explain, why did they almost activate the arena beast seal, and why did they disperse halfway? Hmm?”
The disciple at the front looked like he had just encountered the worst luck in his life.
Oh no, he was just watching the spectacle with everyone else—how did he suddenly get called out by the elder?
He would never rush to the front row again.
The disciple almost cried, desperately thinking.
Those disciples who had entered Zhenchuan three or four times already had some smart ones who had long suspected the pink-robed woman’s identity was no ordinary one.
Unlike those juniors who had only come once, who naively thought she was just a decoration.
“Umm, Elder, is it because they all showed abilities surpassing their cultivation levels when facing danger?”
The disciple’s voice was trembling.
The pink-robed woman’s anger finally slightly faded from her cat-like eyes, and she nodded slightly, somewhat satisfied.
Her gaze swept over them one by one.
“Not bad, you’re more insightful than those useless sweetmeat seniors upstairs at the 6,000th layer.”
The pink-robed woman snorted sideways.
“I think they’ve become dull from too much retreat practice!”
“What’s so special about winning? This isn’t even a match against the elite disciples of the Shanhai Sect inner sect. Winning easily is still just defeating your own sect’s peers—what’s so impressive about that!”
“This arena exists to temper you! To refine your techniques through battle, not just to chase after victory and defeat.”
What’s the point of winning quickly!
Going in with basic sword techniques, coming out still with basic sword techniques!
Wasting spirit stones just to activate the arena!
The pink-robed woman grew angry at the thought, pointing at the disciples who had retreated to the corner, “Dongnanxi, come buy cave dwellings! Minimum ten years!”
Her ancestor’s, every time Zhenchuan opened, so many spirit stones were spent—she had to make it up from these uncooperative disciples!
Dao Shan Dongbeixi took three steps back, their faces pale: “…”
What did this have to do with them?!
“Then, Elder, why did the beast seal of the layer master reward fall back down?”
Someone bravely asked.
The pink-robed woman immediately turned, her eyes suddenly gleaming, “You don’t know? Hmm?”
The brave disciple: “…”
“Does anyone know?” The pink-robed woman scanned the crowd.
No one dared to move—it was too terrifying.
What if she got angry and made them buy cave dwellings?
But soon, a timid hand boldly raised.
It was Zhao Keran’s hand. She had been watching the projection, already thinking about how her senior sister narrowly missed becoming a layer master, feeling deep regret.
At this moment, she had already practiced different sword techniques with her hands and feet about 72 times.
The pink-robed woman looked over and lifted her chin, “Speak.”
Zhao Keran immediately performed sword techniques with both hands and thunderous steps, spinning to the front.
The surrounding disciples twitched their eyes.
Zhao Keran looked toward the transmission array, where several bloodied figures had already been healed by the healing elders.
She thought for a moment before answering.
“My senior sister was fine, but Senior Brother Huangpu struck too heavily.”
“This is a trial, not a real life-or-death crisis. He should trust the elders more, and trust himself even more.”
“If he had better control over the power of his sword techniques, it wouldn’t have resulted in such severe injuries.”
A flicker of approval passed through the pink-robed woman’s eyes, and immediately a stream of spiritual energy shot from her finger.
It flew in front of Zhao Keran, “Good. I bestow upon you ten days of viewing the Liuli Sword Art.”
“!”
All the disciples, including Zhou Xuanwu, were filled with regret.
They had also thought of it, but hadn’t dared to raise their hands to answer, letting Zhao Keran beat them to it.
“The rest of you inner sect disciples,” the pink-robed woman continued, “if you can’t even answer such a simple question, within three days, each of you must come to me to rent cave dwellings, paying rent for at least two months!”
“!”
“Senior Sister, you’re so smart,” Chen Sixin, now the third-ranked outer sect disciple, said enviously.
Zhao Keran was excited, her face flushed with red. Indeed, whatever her senior sister taught her was the fastest way to learn—useful at any time.
“It’s nothing, all taught by my senior sister.”
She proudly puffed out her chest.
The punished disciples perked up their ears, and the pink-robed woman also looked over quietly.
Most of them had only seen Lin Shuang’s abilities through projections, and weren’t close to her.
How did she teach her junior sister?
How could her junior sister be so insightful and promising?
“My senior sister once said that spiritual energy should be used sparingly. Senior Brother Huangpu got too excited and wasted too much.”
“?”
“He seriously injured his peers, and himself suffered injuries in exchange, wasting healing time and spirit stones for pills—it takes time to earn spirit stones, you know.”
“…”
“Also, he caused losses to the inner sect. When disciples are injured, the sect subsidizes pills;
Additionally, other injured disciples have to wait for their treatment before entering the rest rooms for healing, which affects other seniors’ healing and training time.”
“…”
“And us,” Zhao Keran, mid-dance, pulled out her broom, “we wasted cleaning time too. Senior Brother bled so much, the arena was shattered.”
“!!!”
Wait, wasn’t it because he lacked brotherhood!
Zhao Keran paused her thoughts, “Brotherhood is definitely important. But Zhenchuan protects the disciples, right? Senior Brother Huangpu knows that too, right?”
Everyone: “…”
The pink-robed woman looked at her with a complex expression.
Such a small Qi Transformation cultivator had thought so many steps ahead.
Other disciples thought it was just about brotherhood.
Only Zhao Keran had considered so much for the sect.
Indeed, Zhenchuan was intricately complex, consuming massive spirit stones daily, hence it was opened only once every ten years.
Merely breaking the arena with Huangpu Yuan’s sword strike made it impossible for him to become the layer master.
Regarding holding back against peers…
The pink-robed woman looked toward the disciples surrounded by healing elders, narrowing her eyes.
It wasn’t within the scope of performance evaluation.
If anyone deliberately harmed their peers, she would personally enter and kill them!
As for normal arena battles, if one always held back out of brotherhood, how could one break through their own limits in the extreme?
Letting and retreating, how could one compete with heaven?
Disciples trusted Zhenchuan, and Zhenchuan provided protection to the severely injured.
For hundreds or thousands of years, no one had ever died in the arena matches.
That was the confidence of Clearwater Sect!
Moreover, brotherhood…
The pink-robed woman’s eyes flickered, recalling the almost bloodied Yun He who had been teleported out.
When he was teleported out, a fifth-grade Yunxiang Pill from Rongbao Pavilion rolled out from his chest.
After taking it, his bones and flesh could regenerate.
It should have been shot onto him by Huangpu Yuan after his sword strike…
And Chen Xingchuan, while being beaten, had pills stuffed into him by Lin Shuang.
Brotherhood…
The pink-robed woman closed her eyes.
These two were practically screaming, “I have brotherhood!”
How could they be said to lack it?
“You’re good.”
The pink-robed woman narrowed her cat-like eyes again, sending another stream of spiritual energy toward Zhao Keran.
“One entry opportunity into the Myriad Scroll Study Room.”
She looked at the three outer sect disciples, “You may bring your companions.”
With that, she vanished on the spot.
The jade counter, shattered into fragments, reassembled itself, whole and new again.
“Three incense sticks later, the second round of challenges begins!”
“If you lose again, all of you will be fined ten thousand spirit stones and sent to the Ten Thousand Snake Valley for ninety-nine days of reflection!”
A thunderous voice echoed through the cave dwelling.
All the disciples’ expressions changed.
Zhao Keran’s face also changed greatly, “Only three incense sticks of rest time?”
Huangpu Yuan and Meng Zi were both exhausted and unable to fight!
*
Inside the healing cave dwelling.
Huangpu Yuan, wrapped like a mummy, lay on the bed, eyes open, expressionless.
Lin Shuang stood, also expressionless.
“You speak first.”
“You speak first.”
“…”
“…”
Both of them twitched their eyebrows slightly.
“Junior Sister, next time before I take action, could you please not transform into the Ninety-Eight Vajra Qi first?”
“Senior Brother, next time, before you recklessly shatter your meridians and spit blood, could you please tell me first?”
“…”
“…”
Who is the Vajra Transformation?
Who was reckless?
They glared at each other, both clearly displeased.
Meng Zi was teleported out, exhausted but cheerful, pushing open the door of the healing room, “I won! Do you know?!
Hehe, I actually could do it—”
But Lin Shuang and Huangpu Yuan seemed not to hear.
One pointed at him toward the empty healing bed.
The other pointed at the fifth-grade healing pills on the table.
They continued staring at each other, their collaboration clearly unpleasant, radiating thick dissatisfaction.
“Junior Sister, I told you before I left that I would protect you, but what happened?
When I turned around in the arena, you had already transformed into a golden aura, relentlessly striking Chen Xingchuan—you… nearly disrupted my performance.
Huangpu Yuan’s phoenix eyes flickered.
What happened to the plan of ‘protecting the junior sister, unleashing a sword strike after twenty years’?
If it weren’t for his quick thinking—promptly shattering the meridians in his own arm and feigning a state of Qi Deviation, pretending to be so distraught over his junior sister’s injuries that he lost all reason—he would have nearly ruined the entire act on the arena!
The elders would doubt the authenticity of his sudden outburst of strength from his frail body due to his junior sister’s distress.
Lin Shuang’s eyebrows twitched; her current sorrow and anger were almost identical to his.
Almost speaking in unison, they said:
“Senior apprentice-brother, you were the one who nearly ruined me. You dramatized things so much, breaking your own meridians—you should have told me beforehand.”
“If I had known this would happen, I would have revealed my strength after you.”
“Then everyone would immediately understand the reason behind my unusual state of Qi Condensation battling Yuan Formation cultivation! Wasn’t it all to protect my senior apprentice-brother?”
“…”
Huangpu Yuan was taken aback.
So she had indeed thought the same way.
And he had calculated things exactly thus.
Lin Shuang’s eyelid twitched.
What a deep bond between fellow apprentices.
They looked at each other, involuntarily sighing at the same time.
A miscalculation.
They still didn’t understand each other well enough.
“Alright then, next time, junior apprentice-sister will wait for me.”
“Got it. Next time, I’ll let senior apprentice-brother perform first.”
Meng Zi, carrying his blade, said nothing.
What the—!
[Challenge duel reward settlement.]
[Second round begins in three sticks of incense time!]
[Contestants: Gang Yi, Gang Er, and Meixin challenge Huangpu Yuan, Meng Zi, and Lin Shuang!]
All three immediately stopped their quarreling.
Their injuries hadn’t healed yet.
Lin Shuang thought for a moment, then took out an oxygen mask talisman she had crafted herself.
Instantly shattering a fifth-grade pill, she attached a long tube to it, placing the mask over Huangpu Yuan’s pale and handsome face.
“Senior apprentice-brother, you can still be saved. Don’t give up!”
“…”
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