Chapter 44: Two Plane Tickets, Double Elimination

That night, the stars twinkled like scattered pearls across the sky, creating a serene and picturesque scene.

Ye Qingning had a leisurely day and even spent time outwitting her archrival from her previous life, calling him to the yard to chop firewood.

But the way that wood was chopped—so reluctant, as if he was chopping her instead—made her wonder what kind of deep grudge he held.

Around the third watch of the night, Lvlü came to report that her legitimate sister had avoided the night-watch maids and quietly left her courtyard alone. Ye Qingning restrained her aura and headed straight for the Second Madam’s courtyard.

She had just stealthily entered when she saw Yu Tangtang suspiciously setting something up in the courtyard.

The system shrieked: [Ningning, look! Your legitimate sister is holding a formation disc! She’s going to make a move on the Second Madam! Damn, she’s setting up a barrier with a formation disc and doesn’t even care about being discovered by other examinees?!]

Ye Qingning frowned. Indeed, setting up a barrier would alert other cultivators.

But there was a type of formation disc that embedded a trapping formation within and was refined using Shadowshade Stone. These rare discs created barriers that were hard to see with the naked eye and undetectable by spiritual sense.

The formation disc Yu Tangtang was holding was likely one of these. Otherwise, knowing there were other examinees in the residence, she wouldn’t have dared set up a barrier.

Clearly, she came from money. Ordinary people couldn’t afford such a thing.

Sure enough, once the disc was activated, the entire courtyard was enveloped in a transparent barrier. Yu Tangtang then swaggered up to the door and knocked boldly.

Ye Qingning kept her aura concealed. She was also in the courtyard and couldn’t afford to be discovered. If she were, escaping would be nearly impossible unless Yu Tangtang removed the disc.

“Well, if it isn’t the Eldest Miss. What brings you here in the middle of the night?” Second Madam’s tone was impatient, but the fingers beneath her sleeve clenched nervously.

She wasn’t a talisman cultivator, nor was the identity she drew that of a cultivator. Last night, she used her only invisibility talisman to sneak outside the city, but she couldn’t attack demons or spirits without exposing herself. Only by obtaining the Nine-Turn Yin-Yang Bottle could she make it into the top fifteen.

The problem was, she wasn’t the only one who entered the underground rift invisibly!

She’d finally found something unusual, but someone else beat her to the treasure! How could she not be furious?

And this Eldest Miss Yu deliberately claimed the treasure was in the Yu residence. She must also be an examinee.

Afraid of being penalized for guessing wrong, and unsure of her opponent’s true identity, she had hesitated to verify.

She hadn’t expected to be sought out tonight.

Once the barrier was set up, Yun Mengyao dropped all pretense: “Drop the act. Hand over your identity token, and we can both save ourselves some trouble.”

“Don’t think of escaping either. With your abilities, you can’t break this barrier. Handing over your token is the wise choice.”

When the formation disc was mentioned, the Second Madam grew unsettled. It was then she noticed that not only had the courtyard been sealed off, but her spiritual sense couldn’t detect it at all. No wonder she hadn’t noticed anything.

This kind of disc was extremely rare. Before coming to Penglai Sect, her father had told her the Yun family owned one that could conceal barriers.

It could trap someone without being sensed, killing them without a trace.

On the journey to Penglai Sect, Su Ruoxi had even shown off a magic artifact her family had given her and had asked Yun Mengyao about formation discs.

If not for that, she’d never have guessed that the Yu family’s Eldest Miss was actually Yun Mengyao.

“You’re Yun Mengyao? The identity you drew was Demon?!” Lin Yue’er practically spat the words through gritted teeth.

Before, she hadn’t known how those with a Demon identity gained points. But after someone tried to snatch her token and she ended up defeating them, she learned that Demon-identified disciples could steal others’ points.

She had only guessed that the Eldest Miss Yu was an examinee—never that she was a Demon!

A cultivator from an immortal sect with a Demon identity? She never saw that coming!

Yun Mengyao really had great luck!

And she herself had come to Penglai Sect with Yun Mengyao, Su Ruoxi, and that fake daughter from the Ye family. Now she was a mere servant disciple and possibly about to be eliminated by Yun Mengyao. It was infuriating.

Yun Mengyao narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t expected the other girl to guess her identity.

“You’re Lin Yue’er,” Yun Mengyao said with certainty. Since the girl had identified her through the formation disc, she had to be one of the noble house disciples who came to Penglai Sect with her. Otherwise, she couldn’t have known the disc was hers.

Eliminate the male disciples, and only Lin Yue’er, that sickly girl, and the idiot Su Ruoxi remained.

Su Ruoxi was brainless and likely already eliminated.

The sickly one from the Ye family was clever, but despite the disguised appearance, the aura didn’t match that wretched invalid. That left only Lin Yue’er.

Lin Yue’er gritted her teeth. Yun Mengyao truly was much smarter than Su Ruoxi.

“Since you’ve guessed it’s me, can’t we talk this out? You’re a Demon, can’t you go steal someone else’s token instead?”

“My identity is Beast. I barely earned any points and didn’t even get the treasure. Even if you steal my token, it won’t be worth much.”

“Besides, stealing mine is boring. Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to snatch that useless invalid Ye Qingning’s token?”

Ye Qingning, once again, overheard her name from behind the wall.

Seriously now, wasn’t her name appearing a bit too often?

Also, that Lin Yue’er was truly a piece of work. She was about to get robbed and still tried to drag Ye Qingning down with her. Who spoiled her like this?

[Host, ignore their nonsense! Time to hand them their plane tickets!]

Ye Qingning had to admit, this was indeed the perfect opportunity.

Weren’t those points basically being delivered to her?

She didn’t even need to lift a finger.

Silently, she pulled out her identity token and wrote:
[Liu Ruyan — Beast, Yu Tangtang — Demon.]

Verifying two at once—how satisfying.

Then the assessment prompt rang out:
[Identity verification successful. Points +100. Current total: 570. Rank: 77. Keep up the good work!]
[Those whose identities are revealed will be immediately transported out of the trial realm. Kindly note: in future verifications, please validate identities one at a time. Any error in group verification will result in a full penalty.]

As the prompt ended, teleportation arrays lit up beneath both Lin Yue’er and Yun Mengyao’s feet, startling them as if thunder had crashed above.

Only now did they realize someone had been eavesdropping on their conversation—hiding right here in the courtyard. How detestable!

But it was already too late. In the blink of an eye, both vanished, and the formation disc disappeared with Yun Mengyao.

Ye Qingning rolled her neck.
Eavesdropping like this was, honestly, a bit of a strain.

---

For the next two days, Ye Qingning stayed in her courtyard, living like a proper NPC.

What infuriated Jiang Shaoling was that no one even suspected him. Were those treasure-hunters all useless? Not even checking his possessions?!

When he returned the storage pouch to Ye Qingning, he was utterly demoralized.

These past two days, many disciples had been eliminated. The situation was utter chaos.

Some disciples, knowing they had no hope of making the top fifteen, started guessing identities recklessly. Some even stopped hiding, outright robbing others’ tokens.

The scene was as chaotic as it gets, while that sickly little thing lounged around, trimming flowers in her courtyard.

Now that the assessment was about to end and the treasure was in her hands, it looked like he was going to lose that bet with the old man!

Ye Qingning toyed with the storage pouch, lying low to the max, when the familiar assessment prompt rang in her ears.

[Trial concluded. Disciples who obtained a treasure: +600 points. Total points doubled!]
[All disciples will now be transported out of the trial realm. Final rankings to be announced in the assessment hall.]