Chapter 129

Yun Que chuckled softly, “I’m at the Golden Core stage. You’re only at the Foundation Establishment stage; this is unfair to you.”

Earlier, she had deliberately used her sword techniques to press Ye Qiao, treating her like a cat playing with a mouse, allowing her to dodge only to strike again. This way of fighting was extremely satisfying for Yun Que.

But for some reason, despite being pushed to such a sorry state, Ye Qiao was still able to smile.

Ye Qiao felt the agitation in her dantian and thought it was about time. She sighed lightly, “You’re right.” The young girl surprisingly nodded calmly.

“Foundation Establishment against Golden Core, indeed, is unfair.”

Ye Qiao’s clothes were slashed in several places, her wrist slightly twisted. With her other hand, she calmly wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and then smiled.

She then demonstrated what it meant to break through on the spot.

Golden Core against Golden Core, now, is this fair enough?

With the fatigue from before vanishing, Ye Qiao disappeared from where she stood with the Qingfeng Step and struck Yun Que on the back of the head with a bamboo stick, “Foundation Establishment isn’t enough, how about Golden Core?”

Ye Qiao hadn’t planned to break through in the secret realm. The length of the lightning tribulation was one issue, and the presence of so many personal disciples could lead to accidental injuries.

But now, she thought differently.

At the moment of breaking through, the entire secret realm seemed to quiet. No one noticed a golden light that quickly appeared and disappeared, blessing Ye Qiao. Her dantian felt warm, and the discomfort from the previous realm suppression vanished.

Yun Que’s Vajra Talisman shattered at her fingertips. She quickly pulled back, her expression filled with shock and uncertainty, “You…”

How could she break through three realms in such a short time?

She bit her lip and exclaimed, “Aren’t you supposed to have a middle-grade spiritual root?!”

Ye Qiao sneered, “Who told you I have a middle-grade spiritual root?” She swung backhanded at Yun Que’s face. Golden Core stage was indeed exhilarating; it was much faster than the Foundation Establishment stage. Previously, she could only catch glimpses of Golden Core stage cultivators; now she could see them clearly.

Yun Que hurriedly retreated to block her punch, finding it incredibly fast.

The Qingfeng Step was already quick, and after breaking through to the Golden Core stage, her speed more than doubled. Yun Que could only defend passively. Although she had broken through earlier, her foundation was unstable. Even with a higher realm, she had just acquired her inheritance and couldn’t match Ye Qiao’s years of practiced swordsmanship.

“You’re taking advantage of someone’s crisis.” Seeing Ye Qiao’s deadly stance, Yun Que urgently spoke up.

“Taking advantage of your grandmother’s crisis.” Ye Qiao sneered, the Qingfeng Technique changing again. A sweep of her sword created a large arc, forcing Yun Que to dodge clumsily. Ye Qiao followed with a sidekick to her shoulder.

Yun Que staggered in pain, and before she could steady herself, Ye Qiao’s second kick landed. Finally, the first form of the Qingfeng Technique struck her on the back.

Yun Que screamed, her organs writhing in pain. She collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood, her face contorted, “Ye Qiao!!”

“Your father is here.” Ye Qiao responded, scattering explosive talismans.

Yun Que had plenty of resources, thanks to Yun Hen secretly giving her good items, but Ye Qiao had an abundance of talismans. She activated a transparent shield, screaming, “Ahhh!! Ye Qiao!”

“Here.” Ye Qiao replied, unfazed, as she threw a few bombs.

Each scream from Yun Que was met with an attack from Ye Qiao.

The bombs were more effective than the explosive talismans, causing physical damage. Yun Que’s defensive talisman quickly developed holes, which Ye Qiao exploited by poking through.

Ye Qiao’s sword left a deep cut on Yun Que’s arm, blood gushing out. The pain was one thing, but the humiliation was another.

Two dual cultivators of sword and talisman, both at the Golden Core stage. Yun Que, despite having a higher realm, was completely overwhelmed.

“Heavens!”

“I knew Ye Qiao wasn’t simple.”

Breaking through three realms, Ye Qinghan only managed two.

“But the problem is, she’s breaking through in the secret realm?”

Crazy, right? This is a secret realm.

Watching, Chu Xingzhi instinctively clutched his chest, muttering, “I guess I’m still too young.”

Everyone had a hidden card?

A triple cultivator, a dual cultivator.

One claimed to have an average middle-grade spiritual root, the other… the other did have a high spiritual root.

“Ha. So only Chu Xingzhi, the fool, believed she had a middle-grade spiritual root?”

“Ever since the competition began, I never believed it. Triple cultivation without a strong divine sense would have driven her mad. Could Ye Qiao grow younger instead?”

“I guessed it might be a high-grade root, but seeing the power of her lightning tribulation, it looks like it’s supreme.”

“So this generation of personal disciples all have supreme roots.”

Honestly, the cultivation world hadn’t seen so many geniuses in a long time.

Supreme roots were rare in the past, but this year, they were everywhere.

“Speaking of your little apprentice, breaking through two realms previously and now three, has she found her path?”

The elder of Wenjian Sect seemed indifferent, “I guess it’s the Path of Leisure.”

That fits Ye Qiao’s nonchalant personality.

“Fanfan, what do you think her path is?” someone from Bishui Sect asked.

“Don’t ask.” Qin Fanfan didn’t look up, “If you ask, I don’t know.” He was confused, not knowing when she broke through.

This generation of personal disciples was too hard to handle, each with their own ideas. He felt like an incompetent old father.

“But it might not be the Path of Leisure. This kid is quite extraordinary, as you know.” Based on long observation, Qin Fanfan thought Ye Qiao might have her own ideas, “I’ll ask her when we return to the sect.”

Ye Qiao’s on-the-spot breakthrough was so fast that it caught everyone off guard. As the aura of the breakthrough spread through the secret realm, the thunderclouds in the sky seemed to sense it, quickly gathering in one direction.

“Oh my.”

“She’s going to undergo tribulation in the secret realm? That’s crazy.”

“Watching the thunderclouds gather is going to take a while.”

The scene inside the secret realm was unclear, but the outside world could see everything clearly. They could look up and see the thunderclouds gathering overhead. How long has it been since she broke through?

“Whoa. What kind of thunderclouds are these?”

They were oppressive and dark. The last time they were this terrifying was during Ye Qinghan’s.

“The last time I saw something this scary,” Elder Bishui Sect stroked his chin, “was the last time.”

“But it should be fine.” After all, it’s only the Golden Core stage, several levels below Nascent Soul.

The other elders were calm, except for Elder Zhao from the Changming Sect, whose face turned green, then red, and then white like a palette.

“Notify the kids in the secret realm to come out. All of them! Quickly!”

He was overreacting, which puzzled the Sect Master of Wenjian Sect, “What about Ye Qiao?”

“If she can’t come out, let her stay in there.” The secret realm wouldn’t let her leave.

And looking at the thunder tribulation that was about to break, who knew what would happen.

“You, go notify them. Order all disciples to come out except for Ye Qiao. This is an order.” Elder Zhao was quite excited, it wasn’t easy after all.

Finally, a breakthrough.

He wasn’t worried about Ye Qiao; as long as the other disciples in the secret realm were safe, it was fine.

Being nervous in such a situation was useless.

Didn’t they see that Qin Fanfan wasn’t even worried?

The other elders looked at each other, not understanding why the Changming Sect was reacting this way.

…

The moment they received the elders’ orders, everyone was a bit confused. Press the identity token?

Is something happening again?

“The demons are attacking the cultivation world again?”

No way.

“No,” Mingxuan, who knew the inside story, said, “Take my advice, run quickly. Don’t dawdle.”

Taking advantage of the fact that the heavenly thunder hadn’t struck yet, Ye Qiao watched one by one as the personal disciples prepared to leave. She felt a bit lonely and waved her hand, “Hey, hey, hey, is there any brother who will stay with me?”

The other four retreated simultaneously, in perfect unison, “Take care.”

Ye Qiao clicked her tongue, “If you’re a brother, stay and get struck together!”

Mingxuan sighed, “Being your brother is quite risky.”

Chu Xingzhi snorted, “Cowards.”

There was no need for the others to compete for this position anymore. Currently, the fourth place was already a foregone conclusion.

But—

“It’s just a Golden Core stage thunder tribulation. What are you afraid of?”

What’s there to run from?

Zhu You more or less guessed something, and she decisively pulled Chu Xingzhi, “Let’s go, Second Senior Brother.”

“All Wenjian Sect disciples, press the identity tokens. Quickly.” She commanded. With Ye Qinghan absent, Zhu You took the lead. Seeing the junior sister say so, several personal disciples shrugged and left using the identity tokens.

Xue Yu: “Take care.” This was addressed to the secret realm.

“Retreat, retreat, retreat,” Mingxuan said, “Let’s go quickly.”

In an instant, all the personal disciples scattered like birds and beasts, leaving Ye Qiao alone in the vast secret realm.

She looked up, deeply feeling the loneliness of a master.

Taking advantage of the fact that the heavenly thunder hadn’t struck yet, Ye Qiao picked up KFC, “Oh well, let’s go play in the illusion realm.”

She had something she wanted to ask that illusion realm.

After all the personal disciples left, Ye Qiao was the only living personal disciple in the entire competition. She walked to the inner area of the secret realm with an aloof gait.

“??? Isn’t she going to prepare? This is a thunder tribulation.”

“What’s there to prepare for a Golden Core stage?”

“But looking at her thunder tribulation, it seems different from the usual Golden Core stage.”

How terrifying, the thick thunderclouds seemed like they were ready to strike not just heavenly thunder, but something lethal.

Ye Qiao didn’t know how the thunderclouds outside were brewing. She walked devoutly to the inner area, “Illusion realm, illusion realm. I pray to you.”

The girl in her red sect uniform quietly looked up, her eyes full of seriousness, “Are you there?”

The illusion realm, which had been silent for a long time, was startled by the sound of someone stepping in.

It was raring to go, itching for action.

Ha.

Let’s see which unlucky personal disciple walked in voluntarily, hehe.

It excitedly rushed out, pulling the person inside.

As soon as it appeared, it saw a familiar face.

Illusion realm: “…” It sat up in shock from its dying illness, the unlucky one turned out to be itself.

Instinctively, it wanted to run, but Ye Qiao reached out and grabbed it, “Don’t go, I want to ask you something.”

She sincerely asked, “Is the secret realm alive?”

If the illusion realm could have self-awareness, who said the secret realm must be dead?

It was silent.

Seeing this, Ye Qiao aimlessly controlled her sea of consciousness, making it transform into Cardcaptor Sakura, constantly changing. The illusion realm had no self. Its face changed according to the opponent’s obsession.

Ye Qiao’s random switching obsession made it twist for a moment, and it had to speak, “Yes.”

Ye Qiao: “Where is the body of the secret realm?”

It flared up, “How would I know?”

Ye Qiao changed the way she asked, “Then what does it want to do?”

Always targeting her, there must be a reason, right?

The illusion realm grumbled, “It wants to deal with you. It brewed a Nascent Soul stage beast tide. I’ve told you everything. Can you leave me alone now?”

Ye Qiao: “Wow~”

She was already used to being targeted. The girl looked at the sky and said to the empty secret realm, “Hi? Are you really not letting me out?”

“I can really destroy this secret realm.”

Hearing Ye Qiao’s arrogant shout, the secret realm was disdainful.

It had already brewed the Nascent Soul stage beast tide, just waiting to deal with this troublesome person once and for all.

Let her out? Impossible.

Seeing no response, Ye Qiao clicked her tongue and stepped out of the inner area, “You’re forcing me.”

After collapsing the secret realm once in the second round.

She didn’t intend to ruin another secret realm, but since it insisted on trapping her.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Ye Qiao lazily curled her lips, holding a recording stone, and pointed it directly at her face, waving her hand. “Everyone outside the secret realm, please turn your attention to me.”

The crowd outside: “…”

What now?

What kind of nonsense is Ye Qiao up to this time?

“What does she want to say to us?” Qin Fanfan thought that by the fifth round, Ye Qiao would settle down a bit, but no, not at all.

Ye Qiao was still the same Ye Qiao.

Not a bit of change.

All the eliminated personal disciples were also watching her. Zhu You couldn’t help but remark, “She really is something else.”

At a time like this.

How could she still be so nonchalant and call everyone’s attention?

And now, Ye Qiao was the only one left inside the realm.

She stood there with an air of unrivaled arrogance, on tiptoes, chin up, striking a brazen pose. As if she could see the reactions of the people outside, she smiled slightly, “Yes, yes, yes, just like that.”

“Come, come, come, today I’ll perform a once-in-a-millennium event for everyone: the thunder tribulation striking the secret realm. Fellow cultivators, where are your screams? Where is your applause?”

Surprisingly, the people outside cooperated, all starting to applaud and cheer for her.

“…” Qin Fanfan turned his head and saw the sect leaders of the other four sects looking at him with expressions that said it all.

As if blaming him for the kind of disciple he had trained.

Qin Fanfan snapped, “What are you looking at me for? Applaused!”

*

Eight thousand.

Ah, ah, ah, is there no one? Boohoo, everyone has started school.