Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Saving Face

“Yes, Eldest Sister!”

Yun Xi tapped the tips of her toes and leapt onto the arena. She cupped her hands toward the young girl about her age and said, “I am Wei Yun Xi. Please teach me.”

“Qin Tong Shuang!”

The other girl returned the salute coolly. As soon as she lowered her hands, she swiftly formed hand seals, and an ice spike shot straight at Yun Xi.

Yun Xi was startled for a moment. To run into an ice spiritual root cultivator in the Outer Sect – that meant the other party’s background was probably not simple, so Yun Xi handled things even more carefully.

She did not want to embarrass herself. With a light tap of her foot, she used the Thousand Shadow Wind-Supporting Technique. The instant her steps shifted, she dodged the ice spike.

After the ice spike stabbed into the arena, it quickly shattered into icy shards. Then the ice scraps spread rapidly toward Yun Xi’s feet, trying to freeze her in place.

Yun Xi immediately left where she stood. As her footsteps moved, she appeared behind Qin Tong Shuang and swung her fist at the other girl’s back.

Qin Tong Shuang reacted quickly too. Her body swayed, and Yun Xi’s fist wind brushed her. Then she stepped on the ice on the ground, spun, and slid backward, widening the distance between them. She formed seals again, sending the ice on the ground creeping toward Yun Xi.

Yun Xi also formed seals and raised an ice wall, blocking the spreading freezing technique.

That made Qin Tong Shuang pause in surprise. She had not expected someone else to be familiar with ice-element spells. Interest rose in her eyes. She withdrew the freezing technique and began condensing ice needles. Forty ice needles were already her limit, so once they finished forming, she flicked her hand and launched them.

Yun Xi condensed the same number of ice needles. Almost at the same time, she threw them out. With her early Foundation Establishment spiritual sense, every ice needle she formed precisely met one of Qin Tong Shuang’s needles.

The pairs of ice needles collided and shattered at once. Yun Xi poured spiritual power into her legs. The Thousand Shadow Wind-Supporting Technique burst out, and she was already in front of Qin Tong Shuang. This time her punches were fast and simple. Her fist, without any spiritual power wrapped around it, struck Qin Tong Shuang’s shoulder and sent her flying.

When Qin Tong Shuang landed outside the arena, Yun Xi finally withdrew her fist. To be honest, she had cheated. Her spiritual power reserves were far greater than that young girl’s, so even while she drew out spiritual power to form seals and create ice needles, she still had extra spiritual power to pour into her legs and use the Thousand Shadow Wind-Supporting Technique, catching her opponent off guard.

Not wrapping her fist in spiritual power was her protection for the girl, and also a way to avoid giving herself away. After all, forming seals and using the Thousand Shadow Wind-Supporting Technique should have already exhausted a sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator’s reserves. If she used more spiritual power, people would grow suspicious.

You could have a little more spiritual power than ordinary disciples, but you could not exceed them by too much. Other people were not fools. Yun Xi had never doubted the local cultivators’ cleverness – otherwise, how would those cultivation techniques have ever been created?

Yun Xi cupped her hands and said, “Senior Sister Qin, I concede.”

Then she immediately leapt down from the arena as well. At times like this, you needed to know when to stop while you were ahead.

“No, you were the one who held back.”

Qin Tong Shuang also cupped her hands in return. Yun Xi had not used spiritual power to attack her – Qin Tong Shuang could tell. The other girl had shown mercy and had not made her lose too badly, so she was not very upset. She had only been pulled in to make up the numbers anyway, and her goal was to train herself, so she straightforwardly went to stand with the other group.

Three matches. Aside from the troublemaker Wei Yun Qing herself, the Wei Family disciples won the other two. That made the watching Outer Sect disciples realize that the Wei Family was not made up of useless people.

Senior Sister Mu’s expression did not change. She walked up to the Wei Family group, cupped her hands, and said, “A bet is a bet. I will give up my courtyard…”

Before she could finish, Wei Yun Ting cupped her hands and said, “Senior Sister Mu, Wei Yun Qing lost. She has no right to live in your courtyard. We won, but only because we didn’t want the Wei Family to lose face. If Yun Qing refuses to accept it, she can challenge you again. This time, the other Wei Family disciples will not take part.”

Beside them, Wei Yun Qing kept her head lowered. Her face looked like a palette – red, then white, then green. It felt like if the two sides kept talking, her face would turn purple.

Senior Sister Mu understood what the other Wei Family disciples meant. And she was not stupid – she could see that they did protect their most talented younger sister, but not much. To put it plainly, the other Wei Family disciples did not flatter her, and that made Senior Sister Mu feel a lot more comfortable.

In truth, she had already expected this kind of outcome. The Wei Family had Foundation Establishment disciples backing them in the Inner Sect, and there was also a Golden Core Stage elder. She did not want to offend the Wei Family to the death, so beating Wei Yun Qing was necessary – it would knock down the other girl’s arrogance.

But in the end, she would still yield her courtyard and give the Wei Family enough face. As for what happened if she ran into Wei Yun Qing again later, that was another matter.

The development of things matched what she had imagined, but the result was different. It was obvious the Wei Family disciples had no intention of using power to bully people. They handled things with restraint.

Senior Sister Mu nodded, but did not agree right away. Instead, she looked at Wei Yun Qing and asked, “Junior Sister Wei, what do you think?”

What could Wei Yun Qing say? This time, she had lost face in front of the entire Outer Sect. With her head lowered, she said, “I was not as skilled. Please forgive me, Senior Sister Mu. I will choose another courtyard.”

After saying that, she cupped her hands, turned, and left. She did not even thank the Wei Family disciples who had fought for her.

Wei Yun Ting and Wei Zong Han shook their heads but said nothing. They only cupped their hands to Senior Sister Mu in farewell.

Yun Xi and the others were about to return together to the outermost disciple peak when Qin Tong Shuang blocked their path. She walked straight up to Wei Yun Xi and said, “Your ice-element techniques are impressive. I want to be friends with you. In the future, we can take missions together.”

As she spoke, she offered her transmission talisman.

Yun Xi had not expected to catch that young girl’s eye. Smiling until her eyes curved, she said, “You’re impressive too. I’m happy to be friends with you.”

She took the other girl’s transmission talisman and handed over her own.

After Qin Tong Shuang received it, she cupped her hands to Yun Xi and left without wasting any time. She felt today’s spell duel had helped her a lot. She wanted to go back and think about how to counterattack when her spiritual power reserves were insufficient.

Yun Ying said sourly, “Yun Xi, you’re really popular.”

Yun Xi smiled and said, “We got to know each other through fighting. Sister Yun Ying, you can come to the arena more often too. I’m sure you’ll make friends as well.”

Yun Ying pouted and did not respond. She felt it was humiliating to be knocked off the arena.

After that, the group returned smoothly to the disciple courtyard. Yun Xi and Zong Hao both hung up closed-door cultivation signs, wanting to properly digest what they had gained from the match.

This matter also reached the ears of the Wei Family’s Golden Core elder in the Inner Sect. After she watched the recorded duel in the Image-Recording Stone, she smiled faintly. Then a trace of ridicule flashed through her eyes as she murmured to herself, “The Wei Family is always like this. The one with the best talent and the most favor is the worst. The disciples the clan doesn’t value are the ones who end up most promising.”

Afterward, she sent out a transmission talisman and closed her eyes to meditate.

Meanwhile, Wei Yun Qing picked a courtyard at random on the outer three peaks. She shut herself in her room and smashed things like mad, cursing Yun Xi and the others.