Chapter 195

Chapter 195: Meeting the Challenge 1

“Who knows if it was just luck, or if someone deliberately went easy on her?”

A discordant voice said it in a snide, mocking tone.

A male cultivator immediately snapped back, “Oh, come on. What’s the point of muttering here? If you think Master Wei doesn’t deserve her name, then go challenge her during the challenge matches later. Knock her off the arena and you’ll be third place. That proves you’re not just talking, and you’ll get famous in one go.”

Another female cultivator echoed, “Exactly! The top ten in the Golden Core Stage all get rewards. You get fame and real benefits!”

The male cultivator who had been taking cheap shots at Yun Xi’s expense changed expression and turned to leave at once. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to argue back – it was that he only had late Foundation Establishment strength, and he didn’t even qualify to step onto the arena to issue a challenge.

Only then did the female cultivator who had spoken up snort coldly. “What a joke. Who even knows how someone like that got into the inner sect?”

“The sect is huge. It’s not strange for a few people like that to slip in. Don’t waste your energy on him. He’s just jealous,” the male cultivator said.

“Senior Brother’s right. That jealous face of his was disgusting,” the female cultivator added.

The Wei Family disciples watching from the side felt much better after hearing that. Just now, they had wanted to refute that sour-mouthed male cultivator too, but before they could speak, someone else had beaten them to it. It seemed everyone’s eyes were clear.

The male cultivator who had been shut down left Dueling Peak and took a long detour before heading to Alchemy Peak. At their agreed meeting spot, he met a charming female cultivator.

“Junior Sister Yun Qing, I couldn’t get what you asked for done.”

Wei Yun Qing’s eyes flickered. She put on a confused look and asked, “Senior Brother Ji, what are you talking about?”

Ji Cheng paused for a moment before he said, “Weren’t you suspicious that your younger sister’s ranking in the competition had something fishy about it?”

Wei Yun Qing admitted it openly. “Yes, I did say that, and my suspicion is reasonable. She’s not even sixteen yet. How long has she been at Golden Core? How could she compare to seasoned Golden Core Masters? Even setting cultivation aside, her combat experience is far behind. You agreed with my guess back then too. I also said I had no proof.”

Ji Cheng frowned. “But you hinted that I should spread that suspicion…”

“Senior Brother Ji, I only said it’d be best to let everyone judge for themselves. It’s impossible that everyone’s eyes are blind. I never hinted at anything. Besides, we were just chatting,” Wei Yun Qing said, denying it cleanly.

What a joke. Since it had already failed, she was not about to let it drag her down.

Ji Cheng snorted and turned to leave. It looked like he had been too full of himself. From now on, he was going to keep his distance from Wei Yun Qing.

He could see it now as well. This female cultivator was clearly jealous that her own younger sister’s cultivation was higher than hers, so she wanted to use his mouth to smear the other party. He just hadn’t expected that he would speak too directly and get refuted to his face, leaving no chance for the rumor to spread. Now Wei Yun Qing flatly denied the hint she had given.

Wei Yun Qing watched Ji Cheng’s retreating back, her face dark with gloom. It was all that idiot’s fault. Useless at success and even worse at failure. She had never told him to charge in head-on. All he had to do was quietly spread some “reasonable guesses.” He couldn’t even manage something that simple, and he still dared to give her attitude. She had no intention of staying on good terms with someone like that either. It was a waste of her time.

When Yun Xi learned of Yun Qing’s little move from the Flying Rosy Butterfly, she felt nothing but disdain. Only people without ability used such underhanded tactics to smear opponents. If you had real skill, you could challenge them face-to-face.

At this time, the inner sect’s Dueling Peak was holding the final round of the Golden Core Stage challenge matches.

The final set of challenge matches worked like this. The top eight Golden Core cultivators each defended one arena. Each defender could accept three challenges. If the challenger won, they took the defender’s rank. If the defender won, they stayed in their spot. After three defenses, they no longer needed to accept challenges. That counted as a successful defense, and their rank stayed the same.

Of course, defenders could also challenge each other. They still only had three chances. If they lost, they went back to their original spot. If they won, they replaced the other person. However, anyone who wanted to challenge the top eight Golden Core cultivators only had one challenge chance. Otherwise, if those people could challenge endlessly, the competition would probably drag on for another half month.

After True Lord Yu Lian explained the rules of the challenge matches, he waved his hand and announced the start.

Yun Xi had taken a supreme-grade healing pill, and her injuries had recovered to about eighty percent. As required, she stood on the arena that represented third place, silently praying that it would be best if no one came to challenge her.

The first place of the Golden Core Stage was a male cultivator at the peak of late Golden Core, already on the verge of forming a nascent soul. Second place was also a female cultivator at the peak of late Golden Core. The two of them, in perfect tacit understanding, both turned their gaze toward Yun Xi, as if to see whether she would challenge.

Yun Xi smiled, dimples appearing with honest warmth. “It’s already luck that I can stand on the third-place arena. My injuries aren’t even fully healed, so I won’t make a fool of myself.”

After hearing that, the two of them withdrew their gazes. It was unclear whether they truly believed Yun Xi’s explanation, or simply didn’t fear her challenging them.

Only then did Yun Xi take out her meditation cushion, planning to sit and continue healing. In her view, if people wanted to challenge, they would start from the lower ranks first, since that would be a safer bet.

Who would have thought that the moment her butt touched the cushion, someone leaped onto her arena. Yun Xi looked up and saw that it was the male cultivator ranked eighth. Cao Yi, a step too late, could only retreat back to the fourth-place arena.

Yun Xi’s mouth twitched. She could only put away the cushion and look at the challenger.

The male cultivator cupped his fist and said, “I am Wang Ye, here to challenge Junior Sister Wei.”

Yun Xi also cupped her fist in return. Wang Ye was at late Golden Core cultivation, and he had probably been eyeing her early on – the little dark horse who had climbed to third place by luck. Beating her would get him third place. It was a great deal.

With a reach of her hand, Yun Xi gripped her Seven-Star Doom Staff and said to Wang Ye, “Please give me guidance, Senior Brother Wang.”

Wang Ye chuckled, gripping a pair of meteor hammers as he replied, “Guidance is too much. Let’s just spar.”

Before the words even finished falling, one meteor hammer had already left his hand, carrying thick fire spiritual energy as it smashed toward Yun Xi.

At a glance, Yun Xi could tell he had a fire spirit root. She chose to counter with ice spiritual power, channeling ice energy into the staff. As she swung it down, a phantom of an ice-snow blade collided with the meteor hammer.

The impact of one cold and one hot force split the arena in two – half covered in ice and snow, half turned into a sea of fire. It looked dazzling, but neither fighter felt that way.

Wang Ye was shocked by Yun Xi’s reserves of spiritual energy. She was actually comparable to him, a late Golden Core cultivator. Yun Xi was shocked by how pure his fire spiritual power was. In particular, the Profound Thunder Violet Flame in her dantian jumped, as if it wanted to come out and devour this sea of fire, but Yun Xi stopped it.

“Master, he has a strange flame. I want to swallow it.”

Zi Yan expressed its thoughts bluntly.

Yun Xi replied with a faintly exasperated edge, “If you want Lei Hong Xuan to find us sooner, then come out and show off. If you don’t want that, then stay quiet. In front of everyone, you coming out is just asking for trouble. Do you think your master doesn’t have enough problems already?”

Zi Yan had no choice but to curl up in Yun Xi’s dantian again, but it still wasn’t willing to give up. It sent a voice transmission anyway. “Master, if we can’t do it in public, then we’ll act when it’s late at night and no one’s around.”