Chapter 41

During the standoff, anyone could see that Chang Mingzong was protecting this little sister.

Yun Que had been consoling herself before, thinking that maybe their relationship was just average, and that Mu Chongxi and the others were just looking out for Ye Qiao’s reputation.

After all, the cultivation world has clear hierarchies, and geniuses have never deigned to stay with those of mediocre talent.

Even among direct disciples, there’s mutual disdain.

She lightly bit her lower lip, watching as five people simultaneously gave the middle finger, her fingers tightening as she felt a bit confused.

Why?

Why did the Leaf Qiao she remembered, boring and dull…

If Master knew about this… would he regret giving me the ephemeral grass back then?

Yun Que suddenly paused.

She found her recent thoughts somewhat amusing.

She and Leaf Qiao were different.

How could Master regret it? Clearly, she was the prodigy, wasn’t she? Ever since she broke through to the Golden Core stage, her reputation, whether in the outside world or within the sect, had been described with the words “exceptionally gifted.”

Even Song Hansheng, who had been dissatisfied with her before, showed some comfort and gentleness after she broke through.

So, how could Master regret it?

…

The flying boat was very fast and reached the place where the secret realm would open in less than a day. Just like in modern times, the expenses for food and lodging were covered by the organizers, all funded by the Wenjian Sect. And betting was an indispensable part of the sect competition.

After finding out where the biggest casino in Floating Life City was, Mu Chongxi decisively said, “Let’s go, we’ll go too.”

He dragged them along toward the casino, which was bustling with people, many cultivators placing bets. They even ran into several direct disciples from the five sects on the way.

“Who are you betting on? Have you decided?”

Under the surprised raised eyebrows of the other party, Leaf Qiao threw all fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones to the man, “All of these spirit stones on Changming Sect.”

The short man at the casino weighed them, and upon opening, he was surprised to find they were all high-grade spirit stones. He suppressed his joy and nodded, “Okay.”

“You’ve been doing well recently.” Xue Yu was surprised by her generous action, eyes widening slightly.

Leaf Qiao smiled modestly, “Not really, these were given by Song Hansheng.”

It was from a deal she made with Song Hansheng when they were in the belly of a monster. In fact, he still owed her over a hundred thousand spirit stones.

Taking out fifty thousand wasn’t difficult.

Xue Yu: ??? How many people have you oppressed that we don’t know about?

Mu Chongxi was also straightforward, “I have two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones here, all on Changming Sect.”

Seeing this, Ming Xuan sighed, “Alright.”

With his junior brothers and sisters so decisive, he didn’t hesitate and threw three hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones to the casino owner, “Here, all on Changming Sect.”

Xue Yu followed suit, betting three hundred thousand as well, “And here’s more.”

“This is from Senior Brother.” He took out a bag, “There are one hundred fifty thousand spirit stones inside.”

Among the group, he and Ming Xuan were the wealthiest, but even so, three hundred thousand was not a small amount for them.

Xue Yu earnestly said, “For this year’s sect competition, if we win, we’ll happily return to the sect for New Year. If we lose, see you at the peak.”

If they lost the competition, the five of them might as well jump off the main peak together.

Losing nearly a million high-grade spirit stones would be heartbreaking.

Leaf Qiao said, “For the million.”

The four of them exchanged glances, “For the million.”

Just for the sake of the million, they had to win first place.

“Since that’s the case, let’s discuss our future plans.”

“First, trample the Wenjian Sect, and punch the Chengfeng Sect.”

“Second, take first place in the competition.”

“…”

The casino owner listening beside them: “???”

Are they crazy?

“Good!” Mu Chongxi enthusiastically applauded.

Xue Yu was stunned for a few seconds, then a thoughtful expression appeared on his face, “The Wenjian Sect is full of sword cultivators, not easy to deal with.”

Ming Xuan slowly chimed in, “We can take out Ye Qinghan first when the fight starts.”

“Yueqing Sect is also troublesome,” Mu Chongxi agreed.

The Yueqing Sect had four talisman masters, occasionally popping out to hit you, like annoying glue that you couldn’t get rid of.

Several scattered cultivators who came to place bets were dumbfounded.

Take out the Wenjian Sect first when the fight starts? What kind of confidence is this?

The key was that none of the others showed any doubt, they were even enthusiastically planning which sect to take out first.

Each speaking one after another, as if they had already trampled the Wenjian Sect and won first place in the competition.

The scattered cultivators were stunned.

Did they just run into lunatics on this trip? One dares to say it, and the others actually believe it.

*

Back at their lodging, Zhou Xingyun was lazily leaning against the door frame, “You’re back.”

Leaf Qiao nodded.

Zhou Xingyun didn’t ask what the four of them went to do, he casually said, “Tomorrow we head to the place where the secret realm opens. The first match is the Void Secret Realm.”

He briefly explained the rules, “The winner is determined by who hunts the most monsters.”

First is the team battle, then the individual battle. Individual battles depend on strength, while team battles rely on coordination and individual skills.

After explaining, Zhou Xingyun yawned lazily. Honestly, he wasn’t interested in the competition, even wanting to get eliminated early and go back to the sect to sleep.

If not for the sudden addition of a little sister needing his care, Zhou Xingyun would have found a tree to hang a purple clay pot and play with it.

Leaf Qiao lowered her eyes, thoughtful.

Hunting monsters?

Mu Chongxi thought she was worried about encountering the chaotic situation like before, so he explained, “We’ll have maps after entering the main secret realm, it won’t be as aimless as before.”

After all, they were all the new generation of geniuses in the cultivation world. Competition aside, safety had to be ensured. If something really happened, none of the five sects could bear the responsibility.

Leaf Qiao nodded in understanding.

“Well then, goodnight?” she asked after some thought, “See you tomorrow.”

The four of them, having spent the entire day wandering around, felt tired despite their usual energy. After wishing each other goodnight, they each returned to their lodgings.

The next morning, with the time for the secret realm opening drawing closer, the voices of the cultivators in the audience, which numbered in the tens of thousands, grew increasingly frenzied.

“Xue Yu!!”

“Duan Hengdao!! Look at me!”

“… Ye Qinghan, I love you.”

“Qin Huai, promise me, make Chengfeng Sect the number one sect this year!”

“Pfft, the number one sect in the cultivation world has to be Wenjian Sect.”

The waves of cheers were overwhelming, akin to a large-scale fan convention.

But all this had nothing to do with Ye Qiao and her group because they were late.

Perhaps they had too much fun the previous night, as the four of them slept soundly. By the time they woke up, they found that the elders and sect leaders had left quickly, without waking them.

“Shit. We’re late, we’re late.” Mu Chongxi almost jumped up in panic.

Ye Qiao rubbed her forehead, feeling like she was back in school.

She could only join Mu Chongxi, taking their two senior brothers along on their swords, dodging and weaving along the way, narrowly avoiding collisions due to their speed. Finally, they arrived just in time before the competition started.

As Ye Qiao arrived in a rush and heard the deafening and intense noises, she couldn’t help but lean closer to Xue Yu, “Hey, hey, do you guys have fans?”

“What?” Xue Yu didn’t quite understand the term “fans.”

Ye Qiao thought for a moment, “People who like you.”

Xue Yu looked at her in surprise, “Of course, every sect’s direct disciples are well-known among cultivators. It’s normal to have people who like us.”

“There are a lot of female cultivators who like Ming Xuan.”

Despite Ming Xuan’s snarky talk in private, when he put on his sect robes and smiled slightly, he still looked quite charming.

With a wave of his hand, he could captivate many people.

Ye Qiao rubbed her arm and sighed twice, “It’s a cultivation world that judges by appearance.”

*

“That young girl from Yueqing Sect is quite promising. She reached the Golden Core stage in just half a year of cultivation. Such talent…” In the elders’ seats, several elders were sitting together, and an elder from Chengfeng Sect subtly remarked, “She is on par with, if not better than, Ye Qinghan.”

She was likely to be the strongest dark horse this year.

“Yes, but since the first competition is monster hunting, we mainly need to watch out for the people from Wenjian Sect.”

Sometimes, people’s emotions don’t resonate with each other. While the elders of Chengfeng Sect were discussing the disciples of various sects in this year’s competition, the atmosphere on the Changming Sect’s side was completely different.

Elder Zhao was anxious, wanting to jump up after waiting for so long without seeing his other four direct disciples. “That group of little brats led by Ye Qiao, did they oversleep?”

Qin Fan’s expression stiffened for a moment, “Didn’t anyone wake them up?”

“In the past, except for Ye Qiao, they all got up earlier than the chickens, some even stayed up all night. Did they need us to wake them up with such hard-working attitudes?”

Qin Fan rubbed his forehead, “…You said it yourself, that was in the past.” Before Ye Qiao came, they were all diligent to the extreme.

Who, apart from Ye Qiao, would go to sleep at night for no reason?

And actually oversleep.

Just as the two were anxiously preparing to return to the sect to check, someone shouted:

“Look!! The people from Changming Sect have arrived.”

Because they were in such a hurry, Ye Qiao couldn’t stop her sword in time and drifted, throwing Ming Xuan off.

Mu Chongxi also couldn’t stop in time, and the two of them fell off their swords together.

Not far away, at the seats of the direct disciples of the Bishui Sect, Miaomiao saw the familiar scene and had only one thought: why can’t you people from Changming Sect ever walk properly?

Already late, now with all the audience’s eyes focused on the latecomers from Changming Sect, the four of them were the center of attention due to their dramatic entrance.

The cultivators in the audience stared at them.

“Why are they all staring at us?” Ye Qiao felt like she was walking the red carpet for the first time with so many people watching.

Mu Chongxi shamelessly said, “Maybe because we’re handsome?”

Zhou Xingyun silently stared at them with dead fish eyes. Hearing this, he took a deep breath, his usually calm heart stirred, and he couldn’t bear it any longer, “Idiots, you went the wrong way!! That’s the seats for Yueqing Sect.”

“…”

Silence, was tonight’s Cambridge.

Qin Fan covered his face, unable to look at the expressions of the other sect elders.

Alright, they had embarrassed themselves at the sect competition.

“…”

Elder Zhao’s temple twitched, burning with anger. Unable to control his temper, he slammed the table and stood up, “Ye Qiao!!”

“…”

Ye Qiao looked at the sky.

Elder Zhao turned his wrath to another disciple, “Mu Chongxi!!”

Mu Chongxi immediately imitated Ye Qiao and started looking at the sky.