Chapter 46 – First Place! Suspected of Cheating

Ye Qingning stopped just short of saying more—some things had to be realized on one’s own. No matter what others said, it might not get through. Enlightenment could only come from within.

The rankings on the Radiant Light Stele continued to be revealed. As soon as the name of Su Ruoxi in seventh place appeared, someone broke down—again.

Yun Mengyao and Lin Yue’er’s expressions were especially ugly. Though they called her “Sister Su Ruoxi” on the surface, deep down, they despised her immensely.

They thought that if Su Ruoxi hadn’t been born into the right family, she would be nothing but a fool.

And yet this fool had actually ranked seventh!

Why?! What right did a fool have?!

How was she any worse than this fool?!

They couldn’t begin to imagine how someone so brainless had managed to earn so many points!

Before the assessment even began, Su Ruoxi had acted like she had it all in the bag.

Now, seeing herself ranked seventh on the Radiant Light Stele, the smile at her lips grew even more smug.

When she looked over at Ye Qingning, her expression practically oozed arrogance.

In Su Ruoxi’s eyes, so what if Ye Qingning had formed her foundation? She was just a weakling who barely made it to the Foundation Establishment stage. How dare she compare herself to Su Ruoxi, the legitimate daughter of the Su family?

Did she even see how many points she had? That sickly piece of trash probably couldn’t even reach a fraction of hers!

She had said it before—she would enter the inner sect sooner or later, become an inner sect disciple, even a personal disciple! That trash better not even dream about it! She’d rot away in the outer sect for life!

And as for Lin Yue’er and Yun Mengyao, they better stop thinking they could outshine her. Now they knew—the two of them, plus that Ye family waste, were no match for her!

From now on, they better address her as Senior Sister!

Ye Qingning saw the challenge in the “Poop Scooping Sister’s” eyes and wanted to say that at least now this sister wouldn’t have to clean up after spirit beasts in the outer sect anymore.

But she was still a little surprised. With that brain of hers, even her two fake plastic sisters wouldn’t have believed she could break away from the pack and place among the top ranks.

[This Breakdown Sister must be cheating, right?! Luckily, Ningning, your points are way higher—just wait till you slap her face hard!]

The assessment hall grew more and more animated.

When it was time to reveal who ranked first, all the disciples—

All held their breath, eyes wide open, some even trying to pop out a second eyelid.

A line of large, bold characters suddenly appeared on the Radiant Light Stele.

[Top of the Points Ranking—Outer Sect Disciple Ye Qingning! Total Points: 2,340. Ranked First! Acquirer of the Secret Treasure from the Assessment Realm!]

In an instant, the entire hall fell silent.

Everyone was stunned. Eyes wide and mouths agape, they stared at the name and score on the stele, faces full of disbelief.

“2,340 points! Someone actually broke two thousand! She’s nearly five hundred points ahead of second place!”

“Ye Qingning—why does that name sound so familiar?”

“Oh right! She’s that Ye family girl who just joined the sect—not even a real daughter, just a fake one!”

“No wonder! It’s her—Ye family’s fake daughter, the sickly one! But she just joined Penglai Sect recently. How could she possibly win the assessment and come in first?”

“She’s already formed her foundation, and she doesn’t look sickly anymore. Maybe her heart meridians have been healed, and with some luck, she managed to get the points and the top spot.”

“No way. Absolutely not! Even if she’s not sick, there’s no way she’d get first place! I don’t believe a newcomer who hasn’t participated in a single assessment before could suddenly find the secret treasure. I didn’t even catch a glimpse of the treasure before the exam ended!”

“Exactly! Do you think maybe she cheated? None of us even saw the treasure, so how did she manage to get it in the assessment realm? It’s too suspicious. Maybe she did something shady! I just don’t buy that she got first place fair and square!”

“Then tell me—how exactly would she cheat?”

“Yeah! How do you even cheat in this? What, did she get advance info about the assessment realm?”

“But the assessment realm is supposedly randomly generated. No one could’ve known what was inside, let alone where the treasure was.”

“Says who? After I was eliminated, I overheard a rumor—apparently, the night before the exam, some disciples from the assessment hall accompanied elders to inspect the realm to ensure there were no anomalies. What if someone leaked information?”

“So what you’re saying is… Ye Qingning might’ve known the layout of the assessment realm ahead of time, which is how she got so many points?!”

Bai Wei listened to the surrounding disciples’ chatter, so angry she wanted to throw punches!

Even as Ye Qingning held her back, she couldn’t help blurting out: “If you have no proof, stop making baseless accusations! This is Penglai Sect! How could anyone possibly cheat!”

“If the Radiant Light Stele says Ye Shimei scored 2,340 points and acquired the secret treasure, then her points and ranking are beyond doubt!”

As Bai Wei spoke, some disciples began to believe her. After all, this was Penglai Sect—the number one immortal sect, where only strength mattered, not family status. There was no way they’d tolerate cheating.

They could doubt Ye Qingning’s capabilities, but they shouldn’t question the sect itself!

Seeing the disciples split between belief and doubt, the expressions on Su Ruoxi, Lin Yue’er, and Yun Mengyao’s faces were absolutely a sight to behold.

Blue, black, white, red, yellow, purple, green, gray.

Big, small, square, round, flat, crooked.

Su Ruoxi was so furious her face went crooked.

That Ye Qingning—motherless, fatherless, worthless trash—was actually first place! She was first!

Did she deserve it? Tell me—did she?!

If it wasn’t cheating, how could she possibly get the treasure?!

The commotion continued, the assessment hall descending into chaos.

Ye Qingning didn’t care how others gossiped about her. Whether she cheated or not—wasn’t the entire test recorded on the projection wall?

The elders hadn’t said a word. So what if the disciples whispered and doubted her?

If they suspected her, then prove it! No proof meant baseless slander. And she would never try to defend herself—because the moment you try to prove innocence, that’s when people start to really suspect you.

“Silence!” The steward elder Tianjizi shouted sternly, his deep and imposing voice reverberating through the hall, instantly quieting the disciples.

Tianjizi’s gaze swept coldly across the crowd. His brows furrowed as he scolded, “What is all this noise? This is the main hall—do you take it for a marketplace?”

All the disciples lowered their heads in shame. Elder Tianjizi was notorious for his temper. Just one glare from him was enough to make their skin crawl—none dared to utter another sound.

It was only then that Ye Qingning noticed Shen Xuanli’s presence. So the guy hadn’t even been here before? Only showed up after the rankings were announced—was he just clocking in to check out?

But no—it wasn’t that simple. From the raised platform, Shen Xuanli seemed to be discussing something with Pei Yin and three other elders. All of them had serious expressions on their faces, as if something had happened.

The disciples sensed something was wrong too. They felt like something big was brewing—very likely connected to this assessment!

They exchanged looks without daring to speak aloud, communicating solely with their eyes. Each of them wondering—was there really evidence that Ye Qingning cheated?

Even Bai Wei was worried as she looked toward Ye Qingning.

Not because she thought Ye Qingning had cheated—she trusted her. What she feared was that someone was secretly trying to frame and slander her Ning Shimei!