To them, a mortal’s impending death and a worried young cultivator’s desperation were nothing more than free entertainment before the real competition started.

The arrogance and cruelty of it all were utterly nauseating.

Di Jiang lowered his gaze to Le Gui, who stood alone on the platform. He recalled the pitiful look she had given him earlier, and a sudden wave of unprovoked hostility surged within him.

He wanted to kill them all.

The murderous intent flared in an instant. The crowd, who had been chatting and laughing just moments ago, stiffened. In the next moment, the attack mechanisms were fully activated, and a barrage of flames rained down upon the trial platform.

The strong winds stirred by the fire knocked Le Gui off her feet, making her fall onto the ground. Instinctively, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, a tall and lean figure was standing in front of her, shielding her from the incoming attacks.

“I told you to get lost earlier,” Yaoyao said impatiently, reinforcing the barrier that now covered both herself and Le Gui.

Le Gui stared at her in a daze for a long moment. Instead of saying thank you, she suddenly pulled out a palm-sized mirror from her robes. Yaoyao hesitated, just about to ask what she was doing when she saw Le Gui stomp on it.

Yaoyao: “?”

“You little bastard! Are you insane?!” The Seer Mirror screeched in a voice only she could hear.

Le Gui sneered as she continued to stomp down harder. “You worthless, lying piece of junk! You dare trick me?! Die, die, die!!!”

The others: “…”

Was she so terrified that she had gone mad?

Le Gui, as the only mortal present, had no impressive entrance. Yet her bizarre and ridiculous actions had drawn almost everyone’s attention. While the spectators in the audience below were buzzing with discussion, the powerful figures on the viewing platform fell silent, each of them too afraid to make the slightest noise, lest they provoke the terrifying man beside them.

Di Jiang watched as Le Gui ranted and raved, full of life and energy, and suddenly, his mood lifted again.

The murderous intent vanished.

The high-ranking cultivators on the platform remained silent, clearly exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster they had just endured.

The battle on the trial platform continued, and in no time, over a dozen participants were eliminated. Some, after receiving three hits, chose to surrender and step down voluntarily.

After all, being eliminated in the first round meant they could not participate in the second or third rounds. However, if they suffered severe injuries now, they would be in no condition for the fourth round, the secret realm trial.

For those destined to be in the lower ranks, they had no hope of claiming the major rewards from the sects. Before entering the secret realm, they would also be in a passive position when forming teams. Instead of struggling desperately, it was better to preserve themselves and enter the secret realm in peak condition.

Le Gui had no such considerations. Once she realized that Yaoyao was protecting her, she focused entirely on tormenting the Seer Mirror. She didn’t stop until she had cracked the mirror, panting from the effort.

The trial tournament only accepted elite disciples from various sects, meaning the challenge was designed to be incredibly difficult. Yaoyao, as one of the top contenders, could have easily held out until the end if she were protecting only herself. However, with Le Gui in tow, it became significantly more difficult.

“Yuhuan, why are you still protecting that mortal?!” A senior sister from the same sect noticed the cracks forming in Yaoyao’s barrier and immediately shouted in frustration.

Hearing that, Le Gui quickly stuffed the mirror back into her robes, stood up, and covered Yaoyao’s ears with her hands.

Yaoyao: “?”

Senior sister: “?”

“Don’t listen to her, okay?” Le Gui clung to her thigh shamelessly.

The entire audience: “…”

Never had they seen someone so brazenly shameless.

Di Jiang: “Heh.”

The distinguished guests on the viewing platform were once again filled with dread.

Yaoyao hadn’t expected Le Gui to still have the energy for nonsense in this situation. In the brief moment she was distracted, another crack formed in her barrier.

There were now only seventy or so participants remaining, and the battle had reached a stalemate. If Yaoyao kept protecting two people, her barrier might break before the end of the round.

Sensing Yaoyao’s hesitation, Le Gui awkwardly wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Well… you’ve screwed me over so many times before. Shouldn’t you at least protect me this once?”

The moment she finished speaking, another crack appeared in the barrier.

“You’ve been tricked so many times already. What’s one more?” Yaoyao scoffed, then suddenly dispersed the barrier.

The violent winds and attacks came crashing down. Yaoyao grabbed Le Gui’s collar and dodged with precision, redirecting some of the attacks to her own waist. Le Gui felt a brief sharp pain there, and before she could react, Yaoyao struck her arm as well.

She was weakening the attacks’ force so that Le Gui would take three hits.

Everyone noticed Yaoyao’s actions. Zhao Wuyou nodded in approval. “My disciple has always had a kind heart.”

Le Gui took three hits in succession, while Yaoyao suffered two. Once she reestablished her barrier, she promptly kicked Le Gui off the platform.

Le Gui had already braced herself to hit the ground. However, just as she tumbled to the edge of the trial stage, her body suddenly stopped obeying her. The next thing she knew, she was back on the platform.

“What are you doing?!” Yaoyao roared in fury.

Le Gui was on the verge of tears. She wanted to know that too!

A new wave of powerful attacks came roaring in. Yaoyao, still seething with anger, rushed toward Le Gui, but she was too late. All she could do was watch as the overwhelming energy descended upon her.

A blinding white light exploded across the trial platform, completely swallowing it.

“That mortal is dead for sure this time.”

“Without protection and foolishly jumping back in, there’s no way she could have survived.”

“How stupid. She could have escaped, but instead, she went back.”

The spectators watched the glowing trial platform with curiosity, while Li Xingqiao struggled desperately. His senior brothers pinned him to the ground, his face pressed so hard against it that half of it was deformed. His eyes, brimming with unshed tears, remained fixed on the stage.

Silence fell over the arena. The trial platform was veiled in clouds of dissipating energy, and the first round had come to an end.

Yaoyao, having taken two more hits, now had a bloody wound on her arm. She clutched the injury, staring blankly at Le Gui.

Le Gui shrank back slightly and awkwardly waved. “Uh… hi?”

The tension in Yaoyao’s shoulders instantly melted away.

“She… she actually survived?!”

Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, and a wave of astonishment spread through the spectators. Some with keen eyes noticed the barrier surrounding Le Gui and immediately cried out, “Wait, she’s using a defensive artifact!”

“She’s breaking the rules! She should be disqualified!”

The barrier around Le Gui dissolved as she jumped up and put her hands on her hips in defiance. “Did the first trial ever say we couldn’t use defensive artifacts?”

Everyone: “…”

There really wasn’t any explicit rule against it. However, this trial was meant to test the disciples’ defensive capabilities. To keep things fair, it was an unspoken rule that no one would bring artifacts. Otherwise, it would simply turn into a contest of which sect had the most resources.

Le Gui’s words left the young referee conflicted. With no choice, he turned his gaze toward the viewing platform.

“If defensive artifacts are allowed, then what is the point of this trial? We might as well rank disciples based on their sect’s artifacts,” Zhao Wuyou said leisurely.

“That would be unfair to the others,” someone else chimed in.

Although the sects often disagreed, they were all united on this matter. After a brief discussion, they turned to the Emperor of the Immortal Realm, awaiting his verdict.

The emperor pondered for a long moment, just about to disqualify Le Gui when Di Jiang suddenly spoke. “The trial is over. Keep arguing, and I’ll kill you all.”

Everyone: “…”

That was it. He was getting impatient. If they kept arguing, the entire trial tournament would be canceled. Left with no other choice, the emperor waved his hand and declared that since Le Gui hadn’t broken any rules, she would advance. However, from now on, there would be an official rule prohibiting defensive artifacts in the trial.

[Announcing this rule now, when the next trial tournament is a thousand years away, isn’t it just to make it clear to everyone that my victory was illegitimate?]

Le Gui, who had never worked a single day in the mortal world but had become well-versed in workplace politics after arriving in the Demon Realm, sneered. Ignoring the contemptuous and disdainful gazes around her, she sat down at the edge of the trial stage and slid down to the ground.

“Le Gui!” Li Xingqiao waved at her excitedly.

Le Gui quickly signaled him with her eyes to stay away, but unfortunately, he was too happy to notice and ran straight toward her after climbing to his feet.

“I’m being shunned by everyone right now. It won’t do you any good to be seen with me,” Le Gui reminded him helplessly.

Li Xingqiao smiled. “You didn’t break any rules. You won fair and square. Why would I avoid you?”

He paused for a moment. “Actually, even if you didn’t win fair and square, I still wouldn’t avoid you. We’re friends, after all.”

Le Gui chuckled. “You’re quite loyal.”

“Of course!” Li Xingqiao said proudly, then noticed the blood seeping through her clothes. “You’re hurt?”

“Yeah, took three hits earlier,” Le Gui replied casually as her gaze swept through the dispersing crowd and locked onto Yaoyao.

Yaoyao and her senior sister were following behind Zhao Wuyou, heading down the mountain. Noticing Le Gui’s gaze, Yaoyao glanced back briefly but didn’t look at her again.

Le Gui pressed a hand to her wound. “It’s not too bad. No need to worry.”

“Sorry, I’m only at the Qi Refining stage. I can’t heal you,” Li Xingqiao said, frowning.

Le Gui laughed. “What’s there to apologize for?”

The second trial was set for two days later. Now that the first one was over, nearly everyone had left with their sect leaders. As they spoke, the once-bustling trial stage became almost deserted. After chatting with Li Xingqiao for a bit longer, Le Gui finally sent him away. Then, she tilted her head up to glance at the now-empty center seat on the viewing platform.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled out the Seer Mirror, ready to smash it to the ground.

The mirror panicked. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?!”

“You controlled me and made me return to the stage, didn’t you?” Le Gui asked, her face dark.

The mirror scoffed. “You had a defensive artifact. How could you have died there?”

“How did you know I had a defensive artifact?”

The mirror snorted. “Not only do I know, but I also know you stole them from His Lordship’s palace while cleaning up. And you didn’t just take one—you took several and hid them in that little beast’s field. Before we set off, you said you wanted to say goodbye to the little beast, but you were really just going to retrieve those artifacts.”

Le Gui: “…”

“For a mere mortal, you have a good eye. You picked artifacts that don’t require spiritual energy to activate and automatically defend against fatal attacks,” the mirror sneered. “With those things protecting you, what is there to be afraid of?”

Le Gui huffed. “Those artifacts have been sitting there for thousands of years. What if they stopped working?”

“… Do artifacts even stop working?” The mirror was speechless. “Even if they did, wasn’t I still there? How could I possibly let anything happen to you?”

“So you really were sent by His Lordship to protect me,” Le Gui said slowly, her voice laced with realization. “All that talk before was just to scare me.”

The Seer Mirror: “….”

Le Gui sneered and was about to hurl the mirror to the ground when a flash of black and red fabric suddenly entered her vision. She froze, looking up, and was caught off guard by a pair of deep, inky eyes.

“What are you standing there for?” Di Jiang asked lazily.

Le Gui remembered the moment on stage when she thought he had abandoned her. Her eyes unconsciously turned pitiful, like a puppy seeking comfort.

Di Jiang paused. He couldn’t quite describe what he was feeling. He simply followed his instincts and beckoned her over, as if calling for a little dog.

Le Gui sniffled and immediately threw herself into his arms.

Di Jiang had only intended for her to step closer, so his raised hand awkwardly hovered in the air for a moment before he casually let it fall onto the back of her neck.

“All I did was leave you on stage for half an hour, and you’re this upset?” His voice was rich and magnetic, carrying a natural indifference.

Le Gui pursed her lips. “The mirror scared me. It said I was definitely going to die.”

The Seer Mirror: “…” Why was she tattling?

“You actually believed her?” Di Jiang scoffed mercilessly. “You really are an idiot.”

Le Gui lowered her voice and said, “I thought you really weren’t going to care about me anymore.”

Di Jiang fell silent.

She waited for his response, but when none came, she couldn’t help but look up. From this angle, all she could see was the sharp contour of his jawline.

“Your Lordship, this is the part where, out of courtesy, you should say that you will never abandon me in this lifetime,” she reminded him.

Di Jiang responded flatly, “Oh. I will never abandon you in this lifetime.”

Le Gui: “…”

[That was way too perfunctory… Ugh.]

Just as she was about to say more, he grabbed her by the collar and lifted her away. His expression remained indifferent as he warned, “No acting spoiled.”

“…I wasn’t,” Le Gui protested with a sigh.

Di Jiang continued, “And don’t fake sadness either. It won’t make me overlook the fact that you stole from me.”

Le Gui: “…”

[He saw right through me… Was I that obvious?]

“Once the trial tournament ends, I’ll settle this matter with you.” After leaving those words, Di Jiang turned and walked away.

Le Gui instantly perked up. “Okay! Thank you, Your Lordship!”

The Seer Mirror let out a long sigh. “He just announced your execution, and you’re thanking him?”

“You don’t understand. If His Lordship postponed dealing with me, that means he won’t punish me at all,” Le Gui said cheerfully. She then eagerly chased after him. “Isn’t that right, Your Lordship? Wait for me, Your Lordship! Don’t walk so fast, Your Lordship!”

“If you keep running your mouth, I’ll kill you,” Di Jiang threatened.

Le Gui challenged him, “Go ahead.”

Di Jiang: “…”