Chapter 83

The battle between Zhou Xingyun and Ye Qinghan was not something others could interfere with. This was the first time they were truly facing each other. Ye Qinghan felt a slight heaviness in his heart as he focused on Zhou Xingyun’s position.

In a flash, the clash of their two different sword energies created a harsh friction sound, the overwhelming pressure enveloping the area. In just one minute, they had exchanged more than a dozen probing moves.

After engaging with Zhou Xingyun, Ye Qinghan keenly sensed something was amiss. “Your sword seems a bit unruly?”

Ye Qinghan had heard about Zhou Xingyun’s sword, a spiritual sword said to have developed intelligence. In terms of weapons, Ye Qinghan’s ordinary Xuanyuan Sword was far inferior.

Zhou Xingyun replied, “It’s a bit rebellious.”

The Duanchen Sword was a family heirloom of the Zhou clan. Every chosen sword master was the future head of their family.

Duanchen was unwilling to cooperate with him, but no one else could draw it except Zhou Xingyun.

The sword would only come out of its sheath when held by Zhou Xingyun.

“Is Duanchen really unwilling to acknowledge him?” An elder of Wenjian Sect exclaimed in surprise. “No wonder they lack synergy. Fanfan, how long has it been like this?”

Qin Fanfan, who was being questioned, thought, “How would I know?”

In fact, his understanding of each disciple was limited to their odd behaviors: one slacked off all day, one was cheeky, one liked making toxic pills, one always went down the mountain to play, and another had a penchant for pretending to hang himself.

As for what they excelled in or struggled with, Qin Fanfan was completely clueless.

After the two temporarily separated, Zhu You finally mustered the courage to approach and try to mediate.

“Wait.”

“I’m going to talk to him.” After saying that, Zhu You smiled at the members of Changming Sect and quickly dragged Ye Qinghan away.

They found a quiet place. Zhu You glanced in Yunque’s direction and spoke calmly, “Yeqiao’s contracted beast was thrown off by Yunque. It’s normal for Changming Sect to be angry.”

“This isn’t a gang fight,” she explained seriously, “It’s just revenge.”

Ye Qinghan frowned. He didn’t know the backstory; he had just seen Yeqiao leading a group to gang up on Yunque.

The usually expressionless young man showed a hint of hesitation but still said, “Yunque is a girl.”

Is it appropriate for a group to gang up on her?

Zhu You couldn’t help but shout, “But Yeqiao is also a girl! You can’t ignore her gender just because she acts nonchalant all the time.”

Afraid that Ye Qinghan would still foolishly act as a protector, Zhu You opened a jade slip and showed it to her senior brother, reminding him, “Look, our Wenjian Sect is now ranked fourth.”

Ye Qinghan valued the sect’s honor highly. Seeing the ranking on the jade slip, his brows knitted tightly together.

“Yes, senior brother,” Chu Xingzhi also joined in, speaking earnestly, “Yunque just got beaten up, but if our Wenjian Sect loses again, we might really lose our title as the number one sect this year.”

“Let’s go.”

The three from Wenjian Sect quickly retreated. Without Ye Qinghan getting in the way, the place was entirely under Changming Sect’s control.

Mu Chongxi perked up, “Quick, quick, break her identity token. Let her go to the elimination seat for some tea.”

The two who had been arguing also came to their senses.

Song Hansheng didn’t want to get involved in this matter, but they had relied on Yunque to find the Qingxin grass earlier. He could only suppress his anger, saying coldly, “I’ll have her apologize.”

Ming Xuan grabbed Yunque’s mustard seed pouch, searched it, and indeed found the identity token. Shaking his head, he said in a falsely sympathetic tone, “Our KFC is still missing. What’s the use of an apology?”

“How much do you think your little sister is worth?” Mu Chongxi countered.

Song Hansheng was stumped.

Although Yueqing Sect was wealthy, they couldn’t withstand the constant extortion from Changming Sect.

“You didn’t even suffer any real loss!” Su Zhuo argued, feeling that their little sister had clearly suffered the most.

Mu Chongxi replied, “Our spirits were hurt.”

“……”

Song Hansheng wished he could glare Yunque to death for causing trouble. He took a deep breath and said coldly, “You make her press it.”

A debt note like this had to have a clear culprit. Song Hansheng wasn’t going to be the scapegoat.

Under everyone’s pressure, Yunque shed tears in streams. She was starting to hate these people, already envisioning the scene where other cultivators would point and gossip about her disgrace once she was out.

Ultimately, whoever was eliminated first would feel the shame alone in the elimination seat.

Just as she was about to press her fingerprint, Mu Chongxi suddenly pulled the debt note away.

“Wait.”

“We’ve changed our minds.”

“You should just be eliminated.”

Under Yunque’s incredulous gaze, Yeqiao waved her identity token and said nonchalantly, “Goodbye.”

Even Yunque, as foolish as she was, understood that the people from Changming Sect had been toying with her all along!

Her eyes and ears were bleeding, and under the weight of shame and anger, Yunque spat blood again.

As her identity token was shattered, the teleportation array sent Yunque out. Song Hansheng felt nothing but relief.

He had tried to stop her but couldn’t be blamed for failing. Glancing at Su Zhuo, Song Hansheng said, “Let’s go.”

Having just had an argument, Su Zhuo was a bit dazed seeing his beloved little sister gone.

Song Hansheng sneered, “If you miss her so much, why don’t you go down and accompany her?”

Of course, Su Zhuo wouldn’t get himself eliminated. If he did, the Yueqing Sect supporters would drown him in spit for not taking the competition seriously.

Bishui Sect didn’t get involved in this matter. They had seen everything, so Yunque’s elimination didn’t surprise them.

“Why did Yunque provoke Yeqiao for no reason?” Miao Miao sighed, crossing her arms.

With Yunque gone, the treasure-seeking beast naturally left with her. This meant Yueqing Sect could no longer lead them to find spiritual plants. Si Miaoyan didn’t hesitate, “This cooperation ends here.”

The alliance between the two sects was completely broken.

“How about we go and ally with Yeqiao’s group?” Miao Miao got excited, “With Xue Yu gone, we could rise with them!”

This strange saying made the senior brothers and sisters look at her in disbelief.

Bishui Sect’s fourth senior brother spoke up, “I’ll go discuss cooperation with Yeqiao’s group.”

Everyone else had no objections.

Yeqiao was contemplating the original plot. The original character in the novel had her spiritual root dug out. Now that she had left that role, how did Yunque repair her spiritual root?

With spiritual plants?

“I’ve noticed a problem.” Just as Yeqiao was deep in thought, Ming Xuan spoke seriously.

“Hm?”

The group looked at him in confusion, thinking he had discovered something important.

Ming Xuan said sincerely, “I find that when Little sister is silent, she is quite beautiful.”

Mu Chongxi rarely agreed.

When Ye Qiao stood still without speaking, her brows slightly lowered, dressed in deep blue robes, she looked quietly like some ethereal, refined little sister from a reclusive sect.

“Has anyone here cared about Xue Yu’s well-being?” Ye Qiao was taken aback, not expecting the topic to have strayed so much. She shook her head and sighed, “The world is in decline, and people’s hearts are cold and indifferent. There is not the slightest sense of fellow sect loyalty.”

Prompted by her reminder, the several senior brothers who were slow to realize quickly took out their jade slips to check and confirmed that Xue Yu was indeed alive and well.

While the four from the Changming Sect were engaged in a skirmish, Xue Yu was still wandering alone.

His luck wasn’t too great; he encountered the people from the Chengfeng Sect halfway.

Qin Huai: “What a coincidence.”

Xue Yu smiled slightly: “What a coincidence.” He felt incredibly unlucky.

Qin Huai’s eyes lit up; he hadn’t expected that someone would deliver a pillow while he was dozing off. The environment of Flame Mountain made him restless, and the secret realm occasionally had illusions that could confuse people. Those with fragile or unstable spiritual consciousness could easily get lost.

The Chengfeng Sect’s group was in poor condition the next day.

Originally planning to trade with the Bishui Sect, they were outpaced by the Yueqing Sect. Seeing Xue Yu was like finding an oasis in a desert; Qin Huai’s eyes turned green with envy: “Do you have any Clear Heart Pills?”

Xue Yu firmly replied, “No, I’m poor.”

He indeed had some.

But he needed to conserve them for his own sect members, so the Chengfeng Sect could forget about it.

Qin Huai didn’t believe him: “Then let me see your mustard seed bag?”

Hmph.

How shameless.

“It’s impossible.” Seeing Qin Huai’s eager demeanor as if he wanted to snatch it, Xue Yu suddenly had a flash of inspiration and calmly said, “I warn you, if you force me, I’ll show you how I can die.”

As he spoke, he reached for his identity token to crush it.

“…”

Qin Huai never expected a suicide threat.

Realizing it was effective, Xue Yu quickly began thinking of countermeasures.

This tactic was something he learned from Zhou Xingyun.

If Chengfeng Sect dared to rob him of his mustard seed bag, he would commit suicide to show them.

With clear eyes and a solemn tone, the young man warned, “We are all at the Golden Core stage. You can see whether you’re faster or I am at crushing this token.”

No matter how fast Qin Huai’s reaction was, he couldn’t match Xue Yu’s superior spiritual sense. Xue Yu could easily crush the identity token and be teleported away in the instant they attempted to act.

There would be nothing left, not even the Clear Heart Pills.

Furthermore, the Changming Sect had two talisman cultivators, and Xue Yu had protective talismans given by Ming Xuan and Ye Qiao. If it didn’t work out, it would be a loss.

Qin Huai’s smile froze, and his expression became strained: “Calm down, calm down, let’s talk things over.”

Duan Hengdao saw Xue Yu’s expressionless face and sensed he was not inclined to communicate. He tried to sound more friendly, “Here’s the thing, we don’t intend to rob your mustard seed bag. We can have an equivalent exchange, right?”

“I have various magical artifacts. We can trade. Isn’t that okay?”

Duan Hengdao felt like vomiting blood; he had hoped to gain something for nothing. After all, Xue Yu, being a pill cultivator, couldn’t pose much threat.

But now, he was dealing with this situation.

*

Meanwhile, since the Third Senior Brother was absent, Ye Qiao and her group decided to start searching for people. After losing an ally, the Bishui Sect turned their attention to Ye Qiao’s group, wanting to discuss an alliance with the Changming Sect.

“Should we ally with them?”

The four began another meeting.

Mu Chongxi said, “Forget it. We’d have to protect them.”

Zhou Xingyun: “They are pill cultivators.”

Ye Qiao actually agreed, “If we ally with them, we can get some pills on the way.”

Pills were quite expensive. The pills she and Xue Yu had refined might not last until the end of the secret realm, but if they cooperated with the Bishui Sect, they could enjoy free resources along the way.

“Sure.” Ye Qiao smiled slightly, “Looking forward to the cooperation.”

Miaomiao immediately replied with excitement, “Looking forward to it!”

Ye Qiao had cooperated with Ye Qinghan before, but at that time, it was with ulterior motives, aiming to eliminate each other after making use of one another. The cooperation then was primarily to deal with rival sects on the last day of the secret realm.

Now, the situation was different.

The two sects were engaged in genuine cooperation, and naturally, a leader needed to be chosen to lead the team. The members of the Changming Sect slowly turned their gaze to Ye Qiao.

“She’ll lead the team.” The senior brothers spoke in unison.

Ye Qiao: “…”

“I’ll take the lead,” said the Third Senior Brother of the Bishui Sect, stepping forward and introducing himself, “I’m Liu Yun.”

Ye Qiao assessed him and replied politely, “Hello.”

“Ye Qiao.” Liu Yun nodded and said, “I acknowledge that you are famous, but you are not a pill cultivator. I know this secret realm very well. Just follow me.”

Ye Qiao responded dismissively, “Thank you.” She didn’t even know why she was famous.

Ming Xuan moved his lips, “Are you sure? Do you want to lead?”

Liu Yun sneered: “In the current situation, if not a pill cultivator leading, then who among you talisman cultivators?”

Seeing Ming Xuan still wanting to argue, Ye Qiao stopped him directly, “Alright then.”

Since the had plenty of pills, and he wanted to lead, let him.

*

Four thousand nine, rounded to five thousand!