Chapter 73: The Top Three

Admittedly, during the sect tournament, quite a few disciples would make breakthroughs right before a match. There was no need to look far—Bian Chunzhou and Wen Xu had both advanced by one minor realm.

As for those who broke through an entire major realm, they existed too. One senior sister from the inner sect who had been at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm during the arena matches.

There were even people who advanced from the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Golden Core Realm.

The reason everyone was so shocked was because the person who had advanced was Shi Yijian.

Before today, Shi Yijian had practically been the representative example of someone with a damaged spiritual root. Had his spiritual root not been damaged, he should have advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm long ago.

Although everyone gossiped enthusiastically, they also understood very clearly that in a few decades, whether it was Bian Chunzhou with his dual spiritual roots or Lin Congcong with her single spiritual root, both of them would leave Shi Yijian far behind.

Yet just as this understanding was about to become deeply ingrained, Shi Yijian—the inner sect’s perennial holdout at the Qi Refining Realm—advanced.

And he did it in three consecutive leaps, shooting straight into the late Foundation Establishment Realm.

That was simply—

Far too outrageous.

So this guy had been suppressing his cultivation all along? What was the meaning of that? Did he dislike the Foundation Establishment Realm and plan to leap straight into the Golden Core Realm in one go?!

Then why had he suddenly stopped holding back now?

Could it really have something to do with that ridiculous piece of gossip?

After all, how did that saying go again?

The more ridiculous something was, the more likely it was to be true.

“Does anyone here know Senior Brother Shi well? I really want to know the truth! I’m dying of curiosity!”

“Hey, who isn’t? But… no. Even the senior brothers in the inner sect are desperate to know. After asking around, everyone agreed that the person closest to Senior Brother Shi lately is…”

“That Junior Brother Bian?”

“Exactly! And one senior brother said that during Junior Granduncle-Master’s match against Senior Brother Han Yu, Junior Brother Bian exchanged a few words with Senior Brother Shi beside the arena. But no one knows what they talked about.”

“…So was Senior Brother Shi’s spiritual root actually damaged or not?”

“Probably not. Otherwise, how could his cultivation jump three times in a row? I’d love to have that kind of damage too!”

“Dream on. You can have anything in your dreams.”

“…Pah.”

As the sect disciples discussed the matter endlessly, Bian Chunzhou—the “widely acknowledged” person closest to Shi Yijian—fled straight back to Ruoshui Peak.

He couldn’t take it.

He seriously couldn’t take it at all.

How was he supposed to know whether Senior Brother Shi’s spiritual root was damaged? It wasn’t as though he had hidden beneath Senior Brother Shi’s bed to secretly watch him cultivate.

Besides, damage to a spiritual root was not necessarily irreparable. Senior Sister Ming Jing’s spiritual root had once been damaged too, and hadn’t it eventually been restored?

Were people not allowed to encounter fortuitous opportunities?

And since Senior Brother Shi could continue cultivating, perhaps the damage to his spiritual root had never been that severe in the first place.

“Even you came to ask me?”

Wen Xu rubbed his nose. “Everyone has a little curiosity.”

“Fine, but I truly don’t know anything.” Bian Chunzhou planted his hands on his hips and sighed. “Didn’t I say last time that Senior Brother Shi looked like some hidden expert concealing his strength? It seems my intuition was pretty accurate after all.”

It was merely inaccurate whenever it needed to be accurate, yet terrifyingly precise whenever he spoke nonsense.

“Do you know the latest rumor going around the sect?”

Bian Chunzhou let out an ah. “Since when did you start keeping up with trends? Wait, that’s not right. Who dared make up nonsense within your hearing?”

Did they have a death wish?

Were they hoping to be sent to Alchemy Peak to dig soil for free?

Wen Xu smiled and shook his head. “It isn’t nonsense.”

“…If it isn’t nonsense, then what is it?” Bian Chunzhou looked completely unconvinced.

“They’re saying that although you lost your arena match, you successfully made it impossible for your opponent to continue participating in the sect tournament.”

Bian Chunzhou’s breath caught.

…

“How is that not nonsense?! Was that because of me?! He was clearly the one who ate that strength-boosting spinach!”

Bian Chunzhou became so angry that he started speaking incoherently.

“So Senior Brother Shi isn’t participating in the rest of the sect tournament?”

“Mm. For one thing, his cultivation now exceeds the tournament’s limits. For another, after advancing to the Foundation Establishment Realm, he needs to enter seclusion to stabilize his cultivation.”

This was also Wen Xu’s first time hearing of someone leaping directly from the peak of the Qi Refining Realm to the late Foundation Establishment Realm.

Had he been capable of doing the same, then by rounding up, he would be only one step away from returning to the Mortal Realm to take revenge.

“Oh, right. That makes sense. But in that case, won’t the round of ten advancing to five become ten advancing to three?”

Bian Chunzhou stamped his foot in delight.

“Doesn’t that mean you and Chen Zui have already locked in places among the top three? Don’t the top three all receive prizes?”

Wen Xu had already been notified in advance, which was why he had come down from Spring-Crossing Peak.

“Yes. I was just over at Kaiyuan Peak, where I ran into Chen Zui.”

Bian Chunzhou looked down the mountain. Vast clouds and mist churned below, but there was not a single figure in sight.

“Then where is he?”

“He went back to his peak to practice his saber. His next match is against Huo Shengyin.”

“Oh? What about you?”

“I drew a bye.”

“And then?”

“Then I’ll fight whoever loses. If I lose, I’ll take third place. If I win, I’ll continue on to fight the victor.”

Bian Chunzhou understood. “What about the prizes? Have they been announced?”

“There are three additional rewards in total: a third-grade artifact, a place in the secret realm behind the mountain, and fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones.”

According to Kaiyuan Peak’s arrangement, the top three would choose among the rewards in order of placement.

“The artifact is being provided by Artifact Refining Peak, so it can be custom-made according to the winner’s needs. Entry into the secret realm behind the mountain normally has to be exchanged for sect contribution points, and only those at the Foundation Establishment Realm or above are permitted to enter. But this place is exempt from those rules. The winner can enter the secret realm to gain experience while still in the Qi Refining Realm, and the elder guarding the realm will provide appropriate assistance.”

“Wow, what a crafty set of rewards!”

Bian Chunzhou understood at once.

One was a custom-made artifact. Another was an opportunity to enter the secret realm ahead of schedule.

Compared to those two, fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones were simply…

A perfunctory consolation prize.

Then, when he thought about who the top three were, Bian Chunzhou realized that Kaiyuan Peak’s intentions were truly sinister.

“Who decided on these rewards? No wonder they didn’t announce them at the beginning. So they were planning to pull something like this.”

Bian Chunzhou could not help leaning closer.

“Based on what I know about Chen Zui, he’ll definitely choose the secret-realm place.”

“I’ve fought Huo Shengyin once before. Her guqin does not perfectly suit her, so she will most likely choose the artifact. Of course, she may also choose the secret-realm place.”

Wen Xu analyzed the situation with complete composure.

“As for me, I already have the Folding Wind Fan, so my first choice will also be the secret-realm place.”

Bian Chunzhou fell silent.

…

How thrilling.

Family, my two best friends are about to fight tooth and nail over a single place!

When the time comes and I’m standing below the arena, who am I supposed to support?!

Save me! This is clearly making things difficult for me, Panghu!

“Are fifty thousand spirit stones really that unpopular?”

Had it been him, he would choose…

He would choose the secret-realm place too.

Wen Xu smiled, and the sharpness of his presence intensified by three degrees.

“It isn’t that they’re disliked. It’s simply that they lack… as you would put it, value for money.”

The secret-realm place was something special.

As for fifty thousand spirit stones, Wen Xu already had that much in his pocket.

Wow.

How intense.

Bian Chunzhou rubbed his hands together.

“Then who do you think is more likely to win, Chen Zui or Senior Sister Huo?”

In all fairness, Bian Chunzhou naturally hoped Chen Zui would win.

But Senior Sister Huo had made a modest breakthrough recently, and her reputation had risen rapidly. Since she had managed to reach the top three, her abilities naturally could not be underestimated.

Yet Wen Xu answered with unexpected directness.

“Chen Zui.”

“No personal bias?”

“With personal bias, I should be hoping Chen Zui loses.”

Bian Chunzhou fell silent again.

…

Your bias and my bias seem to be rather different.

But who cared?

The palm and the back of the hand were both flesh.

Bian Chunzhou stood and patted his friend on the shoulder.

“Good luck. I hope you get what you wish for!”

Come to think of it, the last time he had heard the words get what you wish for, they had come from Senior Brother Shi Yijian.

Could it be that because Bian Chunzhou had spouted nonsense that day, Shi Yijian had gone back, thought things through, and reached some kind of realization?

Surely not.

Although Bian Chunzhou was rather narcissistic, even he was not narcissistic to that extent.

Wen Xu gave a soft oh. “What about Chen Zui?”

“I hope he gets what he wishes for too. Hehe. I’m Yonglu Mountain’s famous master of keeping the scales balanced.”

He planted his hands on his hips and laughed.

“Hahaha!”

Wen Xu fell silent.

…

He was saying strange things again.

The day of the finals soon arrived.

The first match was the competition for those below the Foundation Establishment Realm: Chen Zui against Huo Shengyin.

Chen Zui was an absolute close-combat cultivator.

His attacks could be called simple and direct, yet they carried an overwhelmingly dangerous force. Once he closed the distance, even someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm would have to carefully measure their own spiritual power before daring to clash with him face-to-face.

Huo Shengyin, on the other hand, cultivated the Dao of guqin music.

Music cultivators specialized in long-range control and were not suited to close combat. When she had fought Wen Xu previously, the two of them had exchanged attacks evenly because they both favored long-range spell combat.

But Chen Zui was different.

The moment the match began, he launched a ferocious assault. Concepts like treating a delicate woman gently did not exist in his mind.

To him, men and women, the old and the young, were all the same.

However, this was not Huo Shengyin’s first encounter with a cultivator specializing in weapons.

In fact, the opponent she had defeated in her previous match, Li Anqu, was a sword cultivator through and through.

Huo Shengyin remained calm and unhurried.

Throughout the tournament, the only time she had stumbled was during her match against Junior Granduncle-Master, but that had not been entirely her fault.

She had not practiced the guqin for long, so naturally she could not yet control her art with perfect harmony. Junior Granduncle-Master had defeated her purely because he was far too versatile.

But Chen Zui was different.

She had asked around about him.

He was a block of wood who could not understand guqin music at all.

And there were ways of dealing with a block of wood.

For the first time, Chen Zui felt as though his saber had sunk into thick paste.

The paste robbed his saber of its speed and accuracy. Even its edge crashed down where it should not have.

An invisible force entangled his saber, making it feel as though it was no longer his own.

Chen Zui was merely straightforward. He was not stupid.

Of course he understood that his opponent’s guqin music was interfering with his saber.

So this was what interference through music felt like.

How was she doing it?

Chen Zui swung his saber entirely on instinct.

As Wen Xu had once said, Chen Zui was not an especially quick-witted person. Rather than relying on his mind to find a solution in the middle of battle, he was better off honing his physical reactions to their absolute limit and allowing his body to decide how to evade danger and strike directly at the heart of the matter.

He did not understand guqin music.

He did not understand the cause.

That was fine.

He had never relied on his mind in the first place.

Whether he could win or not, he would know after fighting!

His body would remember how formidable his opponent was.

On the arena, the saber’s edge suddenly traced an eerily smooth gleam.

It resembled a shooting star—brilliant and dazzling. For a single instant, it even seemed to slice apart the sound in the air.

Then, in the next moment…

The guqin did not sound again.

Chen Zui had won.

The guqin music might have been excellent, but Chen Zui had practiced his saber since childhood, from the moment he had first been able to stand.

His saber and his body had long since become one.

The guqin music could hinder the saber in his hand, but it could not obstruct the saber that had fused completely with his body.

The secret-realm place was bound to be his.

In the next match, he would definitely…

Huh?

Why wasn’t he fighting Wen Xu next?!

He was going to make a scene.

Next Chapter >