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On the day the preliminary rounds began, the sky was still dark, and the entire Floating Immortal Island was bustling with activity, full of noise and excitement.
Disciples from various sects either gathered in groups of three or five, in pairs, or alone, making their way from their residences toward the venue for the preliminary rounds.
The air was thick with a sense of tension and anticipation.
Ye Qingning, along with Zuo Wei, Si Qian, and Si Nan, arrived early at the central plaza.
The plaza was located next to the arena, and it was vast. In the center, a giant lottery platform had already been set up.
On the other side, a massive stone monument also began to glow, starting to record the results of the tournament.
The names of the disciples, their sects, battle information, and results for each group would be displayed on the stone monument, so that disciples from all sects could check the details.
During the last tournament, some disciples had broken through to higher realms midway, causing the need to alter the results of the lottery. Since then, the lottery for each group was unified and conducted in a rotating order.
This meant that the Qi Refining Stage disciples would draw lots first. After the Qi Refining Stage matches were completed, the Foundation Establishment Stage group would draw their lots.
Despite this, nearly all the disciples from each sect, regardless of their realm, had gathered at the plaza.
Some came to observe how others drew lots for future reference, while others, even if they weren’t competing today, couldn’t resist joining in on such a grand event.
As time passed and the sky gradually lightened, the atmosphere in the central plaza grew increasingly heated. Disciples from all sects gathered, and the sounds of chatter, discussion, and cheering filled the air.
It wasn’t until an elderly man dressed in a blue robe and with a solemn expression stepped up to the lottery platform that the noise quieted down.
Two disciples from the Penglai Sect carried a jade tube filled with bamboo slips and placed it in the center of the high platform. Everyone eagerly waited for the lottery process to begin.
Ye Qingning stood among the crowd, her gaze fixed on the lottery platform. As in her previous life, each disciple would draw a number in turn. Those who drew the same number would be matched against each other.
Once the lottery number was drawn, the stone monument would record the information to prevent any disciple from swapping numbers or cheating after the draw.
The Qi Refining Stage matches weren’t particularly interesting to the higher-level disciples, so Ye Qingning and her companions left shortly after the drawing.
By the eighth day of the tournament, which was the fourth day of the Foundation Establishment Stage matches, Ye Qingning had been inside her room for seven days, painting talismans and cultivating.
Meanwhile, the five who had shut themselves away to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage still hadn’t shown any signs of movement.
In the past, women would turn into “Waiting Husband Stones,” but now there were dog-like systems turning into “Looking at the Sky Systems,” with their eyes almost going blind, just waiting for thunder and lightning to strike from the sky.
Ye Qingning, fearing that the dog system might go mad, realized she hadn’t left her room for a long time. She decided to get up and stretch a little. As soon as she stood up, she heard Si Qian’s voice outside the door.
She was told that the Spirit Ice Tea sold at the island’s Immortal Flavor Inn had been selling like crazy in recent days. Disciples who had already participated in matches and those who hadn’t were all queuing up, with the line extending all the way outside the island.
Although the inn had specifically sent more people to harvest the spirit herbs and produce the tea, it still wasn’t enough to meet the demand.
Zuo Wei had gone out to queue early in the morning just so the four of them could taste the new version of the tea.
Ye Qingning’s spirits were instantly lifted at the thought of upgraded iced tea. She followed Si Qian to the Immortal Flavor Inn.
When they arrived, they immediately saw a long line stretching out the door, with no end in sight. The excitement around the inn was comparable to that at the tournament arena.
Zuo Wei and Si Nan were at the front of the line. Just as Ye Qingning and Si Qian were about to join them, they overheard a few female disciples gossiping about Zuo Wei.
“Look at the woman in the front with the purple hollow hairpin. She’s Qin Shixiong’s former fiancée.”
“You don’t know the whole story. As soon as she became an inner sect disciple, she immediately broke off her engagement with Qin Shixiong. It’s really ungrateful of her, especially after he was so kind to her!”
“I know her! I heard that after she entered the inner sect, she became close to Li Taiji, a body cultivator who had just entered the inner sect a few months ago. Maybe they were secretly involved before.”
“I’ve heard that too. It’s said that during the last assessment, she recognized Qin Shixiong, but in order to prevent him from entering the inner sect, she secretly worked with Li Taiji to eliminate him! Qin Shixiong was eliminated because that body cultivator beat him in the assessment!”
“My goodness! No wonder they say women’s hearts are the most poisonous. Who would have thought she was so vicious?”
“She’s really ungrateful. What’s wrong with Qin Shixiong? How could she do this to him?”
“Exactly. Qin Shixiong is the most talented outer sect disciple. I don’t think she’s that pretty. What makes her worthy of him?”
“Don’t say that. She’s an inner sect disciple now!”
“So what? Just because she’s in the inner sect now, does she think she’s that impressive? Qin Shixiong will enter the inner sect sooner or later!”
“Oh, forget it. The line’s almost at the end. Qin Shixiong will be competing soon, so I’m going to cheer for him!”
Ye Qingning’s expression turned cold. Si Qian also looked furious. She had a fiery temper and was about to go after those outer sect female disciples to teach them a lesson, but Ye Qingning stopped her.
It would be easy to teach those disciples a lesson, but then what? It wouldn’t do any good and would only make things worse.
Clearly, these rumors were being deliberately fabricated. From the looks of it, they had spread throughout the outer sect.
Not only had these female disciples heard the rumors, but those who couldn’t see them were probably gossiping too.
Si Qian, although quick-tempered, also realized that teaching those women a lesson wouldn’t help. She couldn’t just go around beating every person who spread rumors.
Furious, she muttered, “Who’s behind all this slander and defamation of Zuo Wei? If I find out who it is, I’ll definitely take them down!”
Ye Qingning didn’t need to think hard to guess who was behind this.
That scoundrel, Qin Changlong.
The rumors were clearly that Zuo Wei was secretly involved with Li Taiji and had worked with him to eliminate Qin Changlong. This was something Qin Changlong himself had spread.
In the assessment secret realm, she had indeed given Qin Changlong a good beating. Qin Changlong, thinking she was a male body cultivator disguised as the second miss of the Yu family, had misunderstood her.
After all, there were no female body cultivators in the Penglai Sect at that time. Li Taiji had just won the assessment trial and was also a body cultivator, which led Qin Changlong to suspect the wrong person.
This showed that the rumors had already spread among the outer sect. Even though Qin Changlong later found out she was a body cultivator, he couldn’t change the rumors that had already circulated.
Moreover, since Zuo Wei had broken off her engagement with Qin Changlong, he must be furious and spreading rumors to slander her, in an attempt to build a “wronged victim” persona for himself.
This would also earn him sympathy and admiration from other female disciples, leading them to flock to him. This scoundrel not only deserved to be called a scoundrel, but he wasn’t even worthy of being a human being!
Although rumors stop with the wise, most people still enjoy listening to such baseless talk.
To truly put an end to this, they would have to deal with the source of the rumors.
As cultivators, they had excellent hearing, and Zuo Wei had already broken through to the Golden Core Stage during her closed-door cultivation these past few months. She had already overheard several female disciples gossiping and had long since heard the rumors.
There were even some crazy outer sect female disciples who somehow found her jade slip’s name and sent her offensive messages, cursing her.
Zuo Wei didn’t recognize the names in the jade slips and could only curse back, but they cursed even more harshly.
She didn’t want to waste her energy on this, so she simply ignored them and completely saw through Qin Changlong’s tactics.