Chapter 183

Chapter 183: She Is Yu Zhao?
The shock in Liu Zheng’s eyes faded at this moment into calm.

She gave Li Jing Rang a once-over from head to toe, then turned and left without leaving behind a single extra word.

Li Jing Rang suddenly felt uneasy and shouted: “Liu Zheng, you are not allowed to leave. Make things clear!”

He quickly took a few steps forward and reached out, wanting to stop Liu Zheng.

Then he only heard a buzzing sound as a streak of sword light swept past the front of his fingertips.

The icy sword qi made him involuntarily shudder all over.

He jerked his hand back, fear flashing in his eyes, followed closely by surging anger.

He shouted: “Liu Zheng!”

But when he lifted his head again, Liu Zheng’s figure had already disappeared around the corner.

A chill ran through his whole body, as if he had fallen into an ice cavern.

[Could Liu Zheng really be planning to blow this matter up and break off the engagement with me? Does she not care about her own reputation?]

He immediately denied his own thought: [No, it must be that she feels guilty, so she does not dare stay. As long as I do not relent, breaking off the engagement is nothing but nonsense.]

Even though he comforted himself like this, Li Jing Rang was still uneasy for several days. It was only when the day the Sect Grand Tournament began came and he still had not heard any other rumors that he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Standing among his sect’s ranks, Li Jing Rang looked around and felt boundless pride surge in his chest.

[Today will be the day that I, Li Jing Rang, shine brilliantly in the cultivation world and make a great name for myself!]

Just as he was imagining his glorious future, someone crashed hard into his back.

That person said casually: “Sorry, coming through.”

He turned his head in anger and saw a group of people striding past him, full of pride and vigor.

Leading them was none other than Liu Zheng of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Someone from Tai Bai Academy asked worriedly: “First Senior Brother, are you alright?”

The people of Tai Bai Academy looked at Li Jing Rang, for his face looked truly awful right now.

On the surface, Li Jing Rang pretended to be calm, but in his heart he took note of this with a vicious stroke.

[Liu Zheng, you had better pray you do not run into me in the Sect Grand Tournament, or I will definitely make you lose all face!]

A Heavenly Sword Sect disciple said quietly: “Senior Sister, that person is Li Jing Rang? He doesn’t look like much.”

The disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect had intentionally gone to provoke trouble, and also to see what the Li Jing Rang who dared to step on two boats actually looked like.

But after seeing him in person, they were terribly disappointed.

One of them muttered: “Exactly, he’s not even as good-looking as Senior Brother Ji!”

Another said: “Forget Senior Brother Ji, I think he can’t even compare to the monk from Clarity Sound Temple!”

At this moment, the Buddhist cultivators of Clarity Sound Temple were standing right next to the Heavenly Sword Sect’s group. Hearing their conversation, they did not quite know how they were supposed to react.

Bu Yan rubbed the uneven bumps on his bald head and grinned as he said to his Senior Brother Bu You beside him: “The disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect have better eyes than their Sect Master.”

Bu You gave him a faint look and said: “Junior Brother, you are talking too much again.”

Bu Yan only felt the bumps on his head start to ache faintly, and he immediately shut his mouth.

In the Sect Competition there was no double elimination round. Just like the third round of the Individual Competition, they went straight to drawing lots for head-to-head matches. The winners advanced and the losers were eliminated. The teams that made it into the top sixteen would receive spots to enter the Floating Island, and the top three would receive additional rewards.

Wen Ding Pavilion had set up forty dueling platforms in the arena. The twenty platforms on the left were used for the Sect Competition, and the twenty on the right were used for the Individual Competition. The two contests were held at the same time, which saved time and also pushed the atmosphere of the tournament to its peak.

The Sect Masters and elders of the various large sects who had come to watch the matches were already seated on the high platform in front of the arena. Although they all wore smiles, their conversations were filled with hidden blades.

At this time, Yu Zhao was standing in the thousand-person lineup for the Individual Competition together with Yao Wu Ji and Si Tu Xuan, waiting to draw lots for the final round of the Individual Competition.

While they waited, Yao Wu Ji suddenly gave Yu Zhao a mysterious smile and said: “Yu Zhao, guess what odds the gambling house opened by the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion of Yanyi City has set on you taking first place?”

Yu Zhao said: “One to one?”

Yao Wu Ji shook his head and said: “Wrong, it’s one pays half!”

Yao Wu Ji’s voice was full of disbelief.

“One pays half” meant that even if you bet on the winning result, you could only win back half of your stake.

In other words, the Myriad Treasures Pavilion had already decided that Yu Zhao was the only one who could take first place. They were not leaving anyone any chance to exploit.

At first, Yu Zhao was a little surprised when she heard this, but when she thought about it again, she felt that the Myriad Treasures Pavilion did not lack reason for doing so.

After all, she had once slaughtered the assassins of the Shadow Pavilion under the Myriad Treasures Pavilion so badly that for a long time no one dared to attempt to assassinate her on the road again.

Yu Zhao asked curiously: “Then what are the odds for you and Si Tu Xuan?”

Yao Wu Ji snorted lightly and said: “Si Tu Xuan is the young family master of the Si Tu Clan, so of course more people are betting on him than on me. His odds are one to two, and mine are one to five. Besides him, they are also optimistic about a female cultivator named Yao Ji, whose odds are also one to two.”

Yu Zhao nodded.

You had to admit that the Myriad Treasures Pavilion had sharp eyes. In her previous life, both Si Tu Xuan and Yao Ji had made it into the top three.

Elder Ji Dao’s voice rang out: “The third round is about to begin. When I call your number, step forward to draw your opponent. The rest will stay and wait.”

Elder Ji Dao’s words made everyone’s expression tense.

The third round had finally arrived.

At the same time, another elder of Wen Ding Pavilion stood in front of the sects and announced the rules.

The atmosphere in the arena instantly grew tense, as if a storm were about to break.

Someone called out: “Numbers one to twenty, step forward.”

The cultivators holding the number plates from one to twenty stepped forward one after another to draw their respective opponents.

A voice announced: “Number one versus number six hundred sixty-nine.”

As Elder Ji Dao’s voice fell, Yu Zhao, Yao Wu Ji, and Si Tu Xuan all looked at the number plate in Yu Zhao’s hand at the same time.

It was number six hundred sixty-nine.

Yu Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly and walked forward calmly.

The number-one cultivator, who had been full of confidence, saw Yu Zhao step out of the line and his shoulders immediately slumped. He looked as if he were going to a funeral.

Elder Ji Dao looked at Yu Zhao in surprise and asked: “You are number six hundred sixty-nine?”

Yu Zhao said: “Yes.”

The number-one cultivator showed a smile that looked worse than crying.

He knew that his journey in the Cultivation World Grand Tournament would end here.

Someone in the crowd sighed emotionally: “Heavens, that sir is truly a righteous man. He would rather sacrifice himself than leave such a tough opponent to us.”

Another person snickered: “His luck is really terrible. He deserves to be unlucky!”

Someone else said with relief: “Thank goodness it’s not me!”

The others all burst out laughing.

Very soon, the other nineteen cultivators had also drawn their opponents, and then they all stepped onto the dueling platforms together.

As soon as Yu Zhao took the stage, she drew countless gazes. The disciples of Greenwood Sect and Hundred Flowers Valley even stopped watching the Sect Competition and hurried over to cheer for Yu Zhao.

Yu Zhao smiled in thanks, which made the cheering grow even louder.

Seeing this scene, the unlucky number-one cultivator felt his heart sink even further into despair.

The Sect Masters and elders on the high platform heard the commotion and all turned to look.

Although Yu Zhao was not wearing the disciple robes of the Five Elements Dao Sect, her entire bearing still displayed the demeanor of a sect disciple in every way.

As a result, an uninformed sect elder asked aloud: “The female disciple on the number-one dueling platform looks rather extraordinary. I wonder whose favored disciple she is among those present?”

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Those who knew the inside story found it hard to speak, and those who did not know had no way to answer.

Sect Master Ji Yuan glanced at the expressionless Master Qing Yan beside him and sighed inwardly before saying: “That girl is named Yu Zhao, and she is a disciple of my Five Elements Dao Sect.”

Someone nearby exclaimed: “She is Yu Zhao?”

It was clear they had already heard of her deeds.

There were also Sect Masters and elders from small sects who did not know the inside story and asked the people around them in confusion who Yu Zhao was.

Before long, everyone knew that Yu Zhao was the discarded disciple of Master Qing Yan, and their expressions all changed in different ways.