Chapter 061

Chapter 61: Always One More Arrow Than Her

Ji Chang Huai’s sixth sense had saved him from a fatal strike. But when he saw who had attacked, his gaze sank.

Her again.

Being pulled back, Ye Qian caught sight of Ye Wan Wan and her expression shifted. She was good at hiding her feelings, but she cared about Ji Chang Huai’s reaction.

When she sensed how he looked at Ye Wan Wan, Ye Qian’s heart tightened: [Didn’t he notice?]

“She isn’t junior sister,” Ji Chang Huai said, as if he knew what Ye Qian was thinking.

That thoughtless use of junior sister made Ye Qian uncomfortable.

Grinding his teeth, Ji Chang Huai added, “Junior sister would never be this cold and ruthless, using such cruel methods.” The features were similar, but the temperaments were worlds apart. She had nearly shaken his Dao Heart. This woman’s heart deserved punishment.

“Senior brother, but she looks so much like senior sister. Should we hold back a little… maybe there’s some connection,” said Ye Qian, biting her lip, her brows worried like she truly couldn’t bear to harm her.

Ji Chang Huai gave a cold laugh, saying, “They aren’t the same person. Why hold back? Since they want our lives, we won’t show mercy.”

Ye Qian said, “All right.”

Indeed, dead is the cleanest solution. It would also spare her any risk if the real one ever returned to threaten her place in the sect. After the Black Ice Cliff incident, their master hadn’t seen her for a long time, and her realm was unstable. Ye Qian didn’t want any more surprises.

As she spoke, Ye Qian gathered power for a killing strike.

Ye Wan Wan was not afraid. The two of them rushed at each other.

They clashed once, and it became a contest of pure body skill.

Ye Wan Wan had heard their whole conversation, but none of it stirred even a ripple in her heart now. Because none of it had anything to do with her anymore. If it had been before, she would have felt hurt. Now? [Go away.]

The change happened too fast. Fang He An and Li Wan Zhi rushed over, checked Bai Jian first, and when they saw she was fine, they looked toward Ye Wan Wan with worry. Li Wan Zhi muttered through his teeth, “These wretches.” To insult their junior sister to their faces, who knew how they had bullied her before.

All three stared at Ji Chang Huai with anger burning in their eyes.

After two exchanges, Ye Wan Wan was forced back two steps.

Someone couldn’t understand and blurted, “She’s a Qi Refining Stage fighting someone in the Golden Core Stage. That’s crazy.”

Mist gathered out of thin air, pooling in Ye Wan Wan’s palm like a soft cloud, like a gentle haze. No one knew how deadly it was.

Bai Jian started to step in, saying, “I’ll go.”

Ye Wan Wan and Shen Nan Zhou spoke at the same time, saying, “Senior sister, no need.”

Bai Jian: “…”

Fang He An and Li Wan Zhi: “…”

[Since when were these two so in sync?]

Ji Chang Huai sneered, asking, “You really want to fight?”

Ye Wan Wan laughed low, saying, “Do you think I’m afraid of you?”

As she spoke, she lifted her hand. With a hiss, endless mist rolled toward Ji Chang Huai and Ye Qian, aimed straight at their eyes. Water pillars hit hard, but thin mist slipped in everywhere. So Ye Wan Wan used mist, not pillars.

Ji Chang Huai sneered again. He wasn’t worried. His junior sister Ye Qian also had a Water Spiritual Root, and hers was Supreme Grade.

Ye Qian raised both hands and gathered mist to answer in kind, wanting to humiliate Ye Wan Wan with the same trick. But to everyone’s shock, when the two powers met, Ye Wan Wan’s was stronger.

Gasps broke out.

“She isn’t Qi Refining Stage!”

Ye Wan Wan smiled, saying, “When did I say I was Qi Refining Stage?”

Her aura burst out. In a breath, she shattered Qi Refining, shot through Foundation Establishment, and surged into Golden Core.

“Early Golden Core!”

Li Yun and the others were stunned. Thoughts spun through every mind. How had she hidden her cultivation? With a spirit tool? But what sect was that rich, giving a disciple such a high-level treasure to hide her realm? Was the Heavenly One Sect really that wealthy?

Ye Qian bit her lip. If Ye Wan Wan wasn’t Qi Refining Stage, then blocking her made sense. But why was she losing? Ye Qian’s Golden Core was Heaven Grade, even higher than Supreme Grade. Why was she still losing?

Losing the opening, Ye Qian seized the next chance to counterattack. She dropped the mist and summoned her treasure, the Phantom Water Divine String. She drew and shaped arrows in one motion and loosed them again and again at Ye Wan Wan. At the same time, she pulled a guarding water ring with her left hand, widening the distance between them.

Cheers rose.

“As expected of Azure Cloud Peak’s top talent. Right hand forms arrows, left hand paints a ring. Defense on the left, offense on the right. Two things at once. Only their peak trains that.”

Cultivators with Water Spiritual Roots looked gloomy. Not just that. Even the arrow technique alone was beyond them. Three arrows in one breath, and so easily.

Three water arrows split the air. Ye Wan Wan dodged calmly. Hearing the comments and seeing the growing pride in Ye Qian’s eyes, Ye Wan Wan chuckled, saying, “So that’s it? Who can’t do that?”

She raised her hand, and a longbow made of pure water essence formed in her palm. Now everyone saw she planned to answer with the same move.

“My goodness, is she really doing this?”

“Junior sister Ye Qian is Mid Golden Core. Ye Wan Wan is Early Golden Core. Is this confidence or arrogance?”

No one knew. But as Ye Wan Wan drew the bow, three arrows took shape on the string at once.

“Wait.”

“It’s four!”

She released and drew again. This time it was a fifth arrow.

People froze. Then they gaped. Then they shouted.

“What is this!”

Water-path cultivators went wild: “How can she shoot five water arrows with a bow formed from pure spiritual power? Who is she? Tell me who she is!”

Others couldn’t see the difference, but the water cultivators could. Ye Qian could shoot three because the Phantom Water Divine String was powerful. Everyone knew that weapon was forged from a phantom-water string taken by Dao Sovereign Yan Ding for his junior disciple from the Far South Water Realm, a Supreme Grade spiritual weapon, just a step below a Divine Artifact.

But if Ye Wan Wan’s casual water bow did the same or better, what did that make the Phantom Water Divine String?

Of course the Divine String wasn’t weak. That left only one answer. Ye Qian wasn’t bringing out her treasure’s true power.

Ye Qian’s eyes reddened as she fired back. The two kept shooting, arrow after arrow. Each pair of arrows collided midair and burst into waves of water power.

But Ye Wan Wan always loosed one more arrow than Ye Qian, and every single extra struck the same spot on Ye Qian’s water ring. Not a single one missed.

At first, people didn’t understand. Then the sharp-eyed noticed the pattern. When Ye Wan Wan sent off the fifth arrow, she said softly, “You lost.”

Most still didn’t know why, but Ji Chang Huai, Bai Jian, and Fang He An saw it clearly. Ye Qian’s water ring had cracked. Her defense couldn’t hold.

“I didn’t lose!” Ye Qian shouted. She gathered seven arrows at once and fired them like a storm.

Ye Wan Wan stayed calm, drew her bow, and formed eight.

Always, always one more than Ye Qian.