Chapter 56: A Sense of Disconnection

According to the rules, each person could only enter the arena once per day. It counted whether they volunteered or were randomly selected.

Although Bian Chunzhou had lost, he accepted his defeat wholeheartedly. Since he had not suffered any real injuries, he stayed crouched below the arena to watch his fellow disciples battle.

Chen Zui and Wen Xu, on the other hand, could not possibly have won five consecutive matches without sustaining any injuries. They had already gone back to regulate their breathing and spiritual energy.

Seeing Bian Chunzhou alone, Lin Congcong could not resist coming over to needle him. “How come you’re the only one left? Did you fail to win, so—”

“Didn’t you lose too? And you still have the nerve to mock me?”

Lin Congcong choked. Then he gave a soft snort. “Tomorrow, do you dare come onto the stage and fight me?”

“You make it sound like you wouldn’t come looking for trouble if I refused. If Senior Brother Shi hadn’t been up there just now and I’d won, I bet you would’ve been the first person to jump into the arena.”

Did this guy really think he was some innocent little fool? His eyes were sharp.

This was exactly what Lin Congcong hated most about Bian Chunzhou. “You guessed correctly.”

“Then why did you come all the way over here to issue a challenge?” Bian Chunzhou clicked his tongue and shook his head. “There was really no need. But…I accept. You seriously think I’m afraid of you?”

“Good. I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow.”

…

After sending that little bastard Lin Congcong away, Bian Chunzhou continued crouching there to watch the free battles.

Every so often, he picked up a new idea or two. After all…some of his fellow disciples truly possessed boundless imaginations.

One disciple with fire and earth spiritual roots had molded an actual furnace on the spot, a strategy Bian Chunzhou never could have anticipated. More importantly, he had even layered an array inside the furnace.

He was straight-up tempering himself into a pair of fiery golden eyes. Even the Great Sage would have called him a professional.

Then there was this junior brother, an even bigger heavyweight. Although he possessed four spiritual roots, his approach to combat was completely unique.

Could anyone have imagined it?

He actually projected a visual-pollution attack onto a water screen. Good grief, the colors were so bright and saturated that even Bian Chunzhou’s eyes hurt from below the arena.

Oh, but this junior brother’s move would be completely useless against Wen Xu.

Bian Chunzhou watched until the slanting sun sank toward the west and his eyes felt dry and gritty. Only then did he prepare to head home.

By coincidence, he ran into Senior Brother Chang Zhou, who had been guarding the mountain gate.

Senior Brother Chang Zhou was an exceptionally warm person. Every time they met, he would greet Bian Chunzhou enthusiastically. Naturally, Bian Chunzhou returned his greeting with an equally bright smile.

“Senior Brother Chang, finished with work?”

“That’s right. Everything was peaceful today.” Senior Brother Chang smiled. “The arena matches for the Qi Refining disciples began today. How did it feel? Did you go up?”

“Don’t even mention it. I got called up to face Senior Brother Shi Yijian. Senior Brother Shi was just… Well, there wasn’t the slightest suspense about my defeat.”

Shi Yijian.

Chang Zhou knew of him as well. In fact, Chang Zhou had entered the sect several years after Shi Yijian, yet he had already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm while Shi Yijian remained in the Qi Refining Realm.

That was exceedingly rare among inner disciples.

But to claim that Shi Yijian lacked combat strength would be utter nonsense.

“Then your loss wasn’t undeserved. Did anyone qualify for the finals today?”

Now this was a subject that immediately woke Bian Chunzhou up.

“Both my friends did! Five consecutive victories! Hehe!”

“Junior Granduncle-Master?”

Bian Chunzhou nodded. “That’s right.”

…That was hardly surprising.

Chang Zhou offered his congratulations, then remembered Junior Sister Jiang, whom he had encountered at the mountain gate earlier.

“What about Junior Sister Jiang Ying? She advanced two levels in succession. She must have won, right?”

Bian Chunzhou looked surprised. “Senior Brother, how did you know Senior Sister Jiang broke through during her match? Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence. During her fifth match, no one volunteered to enter the arena, so the referee randomly selected someone. And the person chosen was…my friend.”

“Junior Granduncle-Master?”

Bian Chunzhou nodded again.

Then she had lost.

It appeared Junior Sister Jiang still lacked a little luck. No wonder she had seemed rather unhappy earlier. So that was why.

“When I was guarding the mountain gate, I happened to encounter Junior Sister Jiang’s family, who had come to visit her. They seem to have reconciled. I knew it—their argument last time must have happened because everyone was overwhelmed by emotion.”

Bian Chunzhou found this rather strange.

“But didn’t you say last time that…they wanted to sacrifice Senior Sister Jiang’s future to fulfill some promise?”

“Perhaps they spoke without thinking. Now that Junior Sister Jiang has advanced two levels in succession, no matter how important the promise is, they cannot trade her future for it.”

Valuing one’s promises was certainly a virtue. But sacrificing a family member’s interests merely for one’s own peace of mind was completely unreasonable.

Besides, what sort of promise could only be fulfilled if Junior Sister Jiang left Yonglu Mountain?

Back then, Chang Zhou had been so angry that he could not resist speaking up for Junior Sister Jiang. Who could have known that her parents would turn around and bite back at him?

Although Chang Zhou was angry, he was not the sort to take it out on others.

“Besides, I saw Madam Jiang give Junior Sister Jiang an enormous sack of spirit stones today. The matter should already be over.”

An enormous sack of spirit stones?

Bian Chunzhou instantly turned green with envy.

How enviable! He wanted an enormous sack of spirit stones too.

But were there really parents who would demand that their daughter withdraw from the sect one moment, then solemnly shower her with affection and hand her an enormous sack of spirit stones the next?

It all felt a little too fickle.

Bian Chunzhou shook his head fiercely.

What was he thinking? Life was not some melodramatic television drama. He was definitely overthinking it.

“That’s good, then. Goodbye, Senior Brother! I wish you victory in your first match as well!”

…

The next day, Bian Chunzhou went to keep his appointment.

Arena D truly deserved its reputation as the most controversy-proof deathmatch arena for everyone below the Foundation Establishment Realm.

How should he put it?

Bian Chunzhou had thought he had arrived early enough, but unexpectedly…

“What time did you get here? Don’t tell me you came at midnight?”

Lin Congcong gave a soft snort. “As long as I arrived before you, that’s enough. I didn’t expect you to actually come. At least you have some courage.”

“…Courage? Senior Brother Lin, honestly, your cultivation still isn’t high enough to make me retreat in fear.”

It was only trash talk. He could do that too.

“Stop making those sarcastic remarks. My cultivation is still higher than yours. Hmph!”

“So what? I’ll catch up to you sooner or later!”

The two bickered like elementary school children.

Some outer disciples who did not know the situation could not help marveling inwardly at how close these two inner disciples were. They had not even forgotten to chat while watching the competition.

When one was talented, one really could do whatever one pleased.

At just the right moment, someone in the arena completed a five-match winning streak.

The winner was an inner disciple at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm. He did not continue defending the arena, so Arena D was now empty.

“Do you dare go up?”

“Who’s afraid of whom?”

Still snapping at each other, the two reached the edge of the arena.

Then…Senior Brother Liu, another inner disciple at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm, beat them to it.

“Junior Brothers, were you preparing to enter the arena?”

Bian Chunzhou and Lin Congcong: “…Not anymore.”

How should they put it?

Acting on impulse was one thing, but they still needed to qualify for the finals.

They had already been unlucky once. Who would deliberately rush forward to be unlucky a second time?

They only had three opportunities in total!

A person could not—at the very least, should not—

“So you two didn’t manage to fight today, and you arranged to meet again tomorrow?”

Bian Chunzhou nodded. “Tomorrow, I’m definitely setting an alarm. I’ll be the first person into the arena!”

Chen Zui was an honest man. “But what if…your opponent…”

“Pah, pah, pah! You jinx! There’s no way I’ll be that unlucky!”

Bian Chunzhou resolutely defended the reputation of his good fortune.

“Besides, most of the senior brothers with high cultivation advanced today. That’s why Lin and I never got a chance to go up.”

A disappointed expression immediately appeared on Chen Zui’s face. “You actually managed to restrain yourself from entering the arena?”

“…Thank you. Please don’t project yourself onto me.”

In truth, Chen Zui was at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm and cultivated the saber path.

Although his reputation was not as great as Wen Xu’s, he was nevertheless one of the seeded contenders expected to win this sect tournament. If odds were calculated, his odds would undoubtedly be lower than Wen Xu’s.

Of course, all forms of gambling were prohibited within Yonglu Mountain.

Disapproval appeared on Chen Zui’s face. “You two are useless. You cannot even compare to Junior Sister Jiang Ying from the outer sect.”

“What happened with Senior Sister Jiang?”

Senior Sister Jiang Ying had been coming up rather often lately.

“She won five matches in a row today and secured a place in the finals.”

“That fierce?”

“You’ve been too lax.”

After spending so much time together, Chen Zui had begun speaking a little more. Of course, that was only compared to how he had been before.

Around people he did not know well, he remained a man of very few words. If he could avoid speaking, he would.

His mother had once told him that the more one said, the more mistakes one made. Since he was not clever, speaking less meant he was less likely to be wrong.

In front of his friends, however, Chen Zui believed it would not matter even if he said something wrong. Wen Xu and Bian Chunzhou were not petty people. They would not stop being his friends over one or two careless remarks.

“What do you mean, too lax?”

After returning yesterday to regulate his breathing and spiritual energy, Wen Xu had made the rare decision to sleep and rest. He had only resumed cultivating after waking today, which was why he arrived so late.

“Chunzhou, how did your match go today? Sorry, I missed it.”

Bian Chunzhou timidly raised a hand. “For certain reasons, it has been postponed until tomorrow.”

Wen Xu: “…”

“Oh, right! Wen Xuxu, do you remember Senior Sister Jiang Ying, whom you fought yesterday? She qualified today.”

Bian Chunzhou hurriedly changed the subject.

Do not scold him. Please do not scold him. He would definitely enter the arena tomorrow.

“Speaking of which, she’s seriously incredible…”

Like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, he spilled out the entire conversation he had shared with Senior Brother Chang the day before.

“What’s wrong?” Bian Chunzhou stopped his speech praising the cultivation fanatic. “Did I say something wrong?”

Chen Zui also looked toward Wen Xu.

In truth, Wen Xu merely found the situation strange. Given the way he used to conduct himself, he would never casually discuss another person.

But…

“Yesterday, when I fought Jiang Ying in the arena, she broke through during the match. But…”

“But what?”

“It was very strange. Although breaking through a minor level does not require much consolidation or breathing regulation, her spiritual energy moved far too freely. It was as though…”

“As though what?”

“As though she had possessed eighth-level Qi Refining cultivation all along.”

Bian Chunzhou slapped his thigh.

He knew this trope!

“Junior Sister Jiang hid her cultivation so she could pretend to be weak and defeat the strong! But that doesn’t make sense. If she had concealed her cultivation, there’s no way the Foundation Establishment senior brothers in the outer sect wouldn’t have noticed, right?”

Naturally, the cultivation world possessed artifacts capable of concealing one’s cultivation.

But…those were all extremely expensive.

Besides, there was no need to follow the pretend-to-be-weak-and-defeat-the-strong route at Yonglu Mountain.

“That is precisely the problem. I am at the peak of the eighth level of the Qi Refining Realm, so my cultivation should be higher than hers. Yet before her breakthrough, I could only perceive her as being at the sixth level of the Qi Refining Realm.”

“The same was true for me.” Chen Zui frowned. “Are you certain you did not sense it incorrectly? Perhaps Junior Sister Jiang is exceptionally gifted and naturally skilled at controlling spiritual energy?”

Instead, Wen Xu became even more certain.

“No. She used the Blazing Fire Incineration Array against me at the time. Both the ease with which she established the array and her use of spiritual energy were exceptionally practiced. Yet I heard from an outer disciple that her primary cultivation clearly focuses on the Five Elements arts.”

Still, that was not sufficient reason for the three of them to confront an outer disciple.

After all…there was nothing wrong with a cultivator concealing their cultivation or keeping a hidden trump card.

Originally, Bian Chunzhou had not thought anything was wrong either.

But now that he considered it, Senior Sister Jiang seemed completely different from all the rumors about her.

There was even a strange sense of disconnection.

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