Chapter 167

Chapter 167: She Only Fears Yu Zhao Is Not Strong Enough
Ever since Ye Cong Xin was born, she had been weak and sickly. Her mother died in childbirth, so her father Elder Ye brought her back to the sect and raised her himself.

When she was ten, Elder Ye died in an accident, and her position in the Five Elements Dao Sect became awkward.

Luckily, she had a pleasant personality and a pitiful background, so it did not affect her too badly.

Later, she fought Yu Zhao, was badly injured, and coughed blood in front of everyone. To silence the gossip, Master Qing Yan took her in as his disciple.

Even though Xiu Luo had never really paid attention to Ye Cong Xin, she could still recite her life story without missing a beat.

She had never thought much about it before, but after Yu Zhao’s reminder, she finally noticed how strange Ye Cong Xin was.

“Strange, why did I never think of that?” Xiu Luo looked puzzled.

Yu Zhao stayed silent.

This was the second suspicious point.

She knew Ye Cong Xin’s secret, so during the melee between the eight teams, she paid special attention to Ye Cong Xin.

Then she discovered something unusual.

The reason Ye Cong Xin could stay on the field for so long was not because her strength had grown much, but because the disciples fighting always, whether on purpose or not, seemed to sweep past her, as if they could not see her at all.

Even when Yu Zhao was only a little distracted, Ye Cong Xin’s figure would vanish from her sight until she deliberately searched for her and locked onto her again.

Yu Zhao realized this was no coincidence.

It seemed Ye Cong Xin had once again made a deal with the Malevolent Spirit in exchange for a strange cultivation technique that could hide her presence.

A sense of crisis rose in Yu Zhao’s heart.

While she was working hard to move forward, Ye Cong Xin had not stopped her own plundering. The speed at which she was eating away at fortune was actually faster than in her previous life.

Yu Zhao glanced again at Zhou Jin Yue, who was being praised up ahead, and made up her mind.

After the Selection Trials ended, the disciples all stepped forward to congratulate the winners, Zhou Jin Yue, Fang Cheng Lang, and the others.

Yet once they got close, they discovered that aside from Pu Xing He, Quan Ye, and the lucky He Luo Luo, the others did not look happy at all. Instead, their faces were heavy with worry.

The surrounding disciples were confused.

Zhou Jin Yue simply thanked her fellow disciples, then excused herself and walked toward the outer edge.

Fang Cheng Lang, Lan Zi Yu, and the others all knew that Zhou Jin Yue must be going to find Yu Zhao. They watched her leave with complicated looks, filled with mixed feelings.

After Yu Zhao and Zhou Jin Yue met up, neither of them spoke. They first went to a quiet place.

“Senior Sister Zhou…”

“Junior Sister Yu, listen to me first.” Zhou Jin Yue looked seriously at Yu Zhao. “You cannot represent the Five Elements Dao Sect in the Sect Grand Competition, but you can join the Individual Competition as a lone contestant. As long as you rank in the top twenty, you can still get a place to enter the Floating Island. I believe that with your strength, you can definitely do it.”

The Cultivation World Grand Tournament was divided into the Sect Competition and the Individual Competition. The top twenty in both types of contests would qualify to enter the Floating Island.

Compared to the Sect Competition, the Individual Competition gathered elites from all sides, and the time, effort, and difficulty involved were several times higher.

On top of that, the rules of the Individual Competition were far less strict. In other words, any accident you could think of or could not think of might happen during the fights, and deaths were all too common.

The top twenty in the Individual Competition were all outstanding experts who had fought their way out of a storm of blood.

Because of this, unless it was absolutely necessary, not many sect disciples were willing to enter the Individual Competition. The risk was too great compared to the benefits.

But based on what she knew of Yu Zhao, Zhou Jin Yue was sure that Yu Zhao was not someone who backed down when things were difficult.

“Senior Sister Zhou, that is exactly what I was thinking.”

Yu Zhao smiled slightly.

To her, there was not much difference between the Sect Competition and the Individual Competition.

In her heart, she actually preferred to join the Individual Competition. Only by hovering between life and death could she draw out her full potential.

Besides, in her previous life, Wu Shao Zhen had managed to break out from among countless monstrous talents.

Yu Zhao felt that she now was no worse than Wu Shao Zhen.

She could even do better.

“Since you have decided to take part in the Individual Competition, you need to set off for Wen Ding Pavilion as soon as possible. There is less than one month left before the registration deadline,” Zhou Jin Yue reminded her.

The Cultivation World Grand Tournament was hosted in turn by the seven sects led by the Five Elements Dao Sect. This year, it happened to be held by Wen Ding Pavilion, which was famous for artifact forging.

Yu Zhao said: “I will set out as soon as I return to the sect.”

Zhou Jin Yue nodded, then paused and said: “Do you have something you want to tell me?”

“You really do understand me, Senior Sister Zhou.” Yu Zhao’s face turned serious. “There is something strange about Ye Cong Xin. Senior Sister Zhou, you must be careful around her.”

If it were someone else, they might have doubted Yu Zhao’s words.

But the one standing in front of Yu Zhao was Zhou Jin Yue, the clear-sighted First Senior Sister.

She took Yu Zhao’s words to heart at once.

“I know. I will pay more attention.”

Zhou Jin Yue did not tell Yu Zhao that she was also watching Ye Cong Xin.

Without proof, saying more would be useless.

If there was truly something wrong with Ye Cong Xin, she would reveal a flaw sooner or later.

“Senior Sister Zhou, see you at the Grand Competition.”

“See you at the Grand Competition.”

Yu Zhao stayed in the sect for less than a day, then set out again for Wen Ding Pavilion in the Eastern Domain.

Meanwhile, when Zhou Jin Yue returned to the Main Peak, she was summoned by Sect Master Ji Yuan.

“Jin Yue, what did Yu Zhao say? She is not angry at the sect, is she? I truly had no choice as your master.”

Zhou Jin Yue had felt a bit of misplaced anger toward her master, but when she saw how troubled her master looked, she could not bear to blame him. She sighed softly: “She has already gone to Wen Ding Pavilion to prepare for the Individual Competition.”

“The Individual Competition?” Sect Master Ji Yuan froze for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands and laughed loudly. “Good, the Individual Competition, good! The Individual Competition is very good!”

“Master!” Zhou Jin Yue said angrily.

Sect Master Ji Yuan hurried to explain: “Jin Yue, I am happy for Yu Zhao. Since Master Qing Yan looks down on her, this is the perfect chance for her to show her strength.”

“But every Grand Competition, the number of cultivators who die in the Individual Competition is countless. I am afraid…”

Only when Yu Zhao was not here did Zhou Jin Yue dare to reveal the worries in her heart.

“You are underestimating Yu Zhao.” Sect Master Ji Yuan gave a mysterious smile. “Even if you faced her yourself, the odds of winning would only be fifty-fifty.”

When she heard that, Zhou Jin Yue’s expression relaxed instead.

She did not mind Yu Zhao overtaking her in the future.

She only feared that Yu Zhao would not be strong enough and would not get what she wanted.

“All right, child. The ones who should be worried now are not you, but the people of Lone Moon Peak. When the Grand Competition officially begins, they will know just how wrong they were.”

He only wondered what kind of expressions they would have then.

…

Lone Moon Peak.

Lan Zi Yu, Su Ming, Quan Ye, and Ye Cong Xin stood outside Master Qing Yan’s cave dwelling, glancing inside from time to time.

Su Ming paced back and forth anxiously: “Master called First Senior Brother in alone. Will he punish First Senior Brother?”

Quan Ye crossed his arms and gave a cold laugh: “First Senior Brother spoke up for an outsider. Of course Master will be angry.”

Su Ming glared at him: “Fifth Brother, did you forget everything we taught you yesterday? Do you need Second Senior Brother to help you remember again?”

Lan Zi Yu looked coldly at Quan Ye.

Quan Ye stiffened his neck and stared up at the sky, but he did not dare say another word.

Among the four senior brothers, Lan Zi Yu had the worst temper and never held back when scolding people. Quan Ye was most afraid of him.

“Senior Brothers, please stop arguing. We should worry about First Senior Brother first.”