Chapter 062

Chapter 62: The Top Genius

Ye Cong Ying’s harsh voice kept echoing in Ye Qian’s ears from the time she first learned to read: “Remember the name of Supreme Sect’s Azure Cloud Peak top genius; your goal is to surpass her!”

He repeated, full of iron will: “Surpass her!”

Then he warned, cold and final: “If you cannot do it, you are not my daughter.”

From childhood to now, Ye Qian had only one name and one goal in her mind: become a genius, and surpass Ye Wan Wan.

Everyone knew Supreme Sect’s Azure Cloud Peak had a prodigy who entered the Qi Refining Stage at eight years old. After becoming a disciple for only two short years, she amazed countless cultivators and became the youngest cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage. Many people dreamed of seeing her in person. But Azure Cloud Peak protected her very well. Whether it was the peak master or her senior brothers, they praised this junior sister without end.

When eight year old Ye Qian first visited Supreme Sect, every time people mentioned the junior sister from Azure Cloud Peak, their eyes and voices were full of pride and joy. People said with shining faces: “That is our junior sister; you have no idea how sweet she is. She is a genius, but she is also polite, considerate, and kind. She never acts proud.”

Another person chimed in with excitement: “Yes, yes. Last time the Sect Master rewarded her with a Qi Nurturing Pill, and she gave it away without a second thought to an injured senior brother. She was not even close to him. She only gave it because, when she came back to the mountain, she saw him kneeling all alone at the foot of the peak. She asked why, learned he was badly hurt by a Savage Beast, failed his mission, and was punished by his master to kneel.”

A third person added, full of admiration: “She went to plead for him, then gave him the pill so he could recover.”

Someone sighed from the heart: “How can there be such a good junior sister.”

These words of praise poured into Ye Qian’s ears. In that moment she understood the deeper meaning behind her father’s demand that she surpass this person. She wanted to become the genius on everyone’s lips. She also wanted to become the junior sister everyone praised.

So she worked step by step and planned step by step. At last, she also entered Azure Cloud Peak and reached the girl’s side, calling her senior sister again and again to close the distance between them. The girl was exactly as everyone said. She treated Ye Qian without defenses, with a pure and open heart.

Because of that, Ye Qian slowly discovered the secret that troubled this genius: after Ye Wan Wan broke through to the Golden Core, her cultivation stopped. This was Ye Qian’s chance. She could surpass her.

But Ye Qian never expected that she would fail her own Core Condensation. At her lowest moment, her gaze turned to Ye Wan Wan. In a duel, she used a scheme and took Ye Wan Wan’s Golden Core.

Yet Ye Qian would always remember what Ye Wan Wan said the day her Golden Core was taken. Looking straight at Ye Qian, she spoke calmly: “You will never beat me.”

She repeated once more, steady and sure: “Never.”

Only one step away. Forever one step away.

The extra arrow now forming before Ye Qian’s eyes felt like Ye Wan Wan’s gaze that day: light, calm, without hatred. It was as if Ye Wan Wan had very little emotion about her Golden Core being dug out. Ye Qian thought the matter would pass, but two days later came shocking news: Ye Wan Wan crippled her own cultivation. Ye Qian could not understand it, just like she could not understand the girl before her eyes now. [Why is she humiliating me like this!]

Ye Qian’s eyes turned bloodshot. She stopped caring about anything else and condensed another arrow. This time she broke the record and reached eight arrows, the same as Ye Wan Wan. But everyone could see she was forcing it. Her body was shaking. Blood began to trickle from her nose.

Ji Chang Huai froze. Dou Ming, who had just crawled out of a pit, reddened his eyes and shouted to him: “Eldest senior brother, stop her! Junior sister, she…”

He knew the truth: her Golden Core was not stable. Her realm was not solid yet. The damage from her last closed-door cultivation had not fully healed. She could not bring out the true power of the Phantom Water Divine String. If this continued, something terrible would happen.

Jolted by the reminder, Ji Chang Huai rushed to stop Ye Qian. But the way he chose to stop her was by striking at Ye Wan Wan. Only by making that person stop would their junior sister snap out of it, because everyone could see that Ye Wan Wan was condensing a ninth arrow. She had no bottleneck. She did not even have a limit.

Such terrifying talent, they had never seen before. No, Ji Chang Huai had seen it once. He thought of his former junior sister. A vision of the white-robed girl sitting on Azure Cloud Peak flashed through his mind, turning back with a soft smile: “Eldest senior brother, I am comprehending.”

Ji Chang Huai’s eyes turned red, but his hands did not slow. From the moment he moved, it looked long, but it all happened in a blink. He was at Golden Core Stage Great Perfection. When Bai Jian raised her sword to block, Dou Ming, having expected this, intercepted her. In that brief instant, Ji Chang Huai’s palm had already slammed toward the space in front of Ye Wan Wan and shattered her spirit bow.

The girl’s brows and eyes stayed calm. She showed no shock, no panic. It felt like she had been waiting for this day. A tremor ran through Ji Chang Huai’s heart. Something was wrong. This girl was too calm. Was there a trap?

At that moment, a hand reached in from the side, yanked the girl away, and met Ji Chang Huai’s palm with a palm. The two forces crashed.

Boom. A huge surge of spiritual power blasted both of them backward. Ji Chang Huai staggered back seven or eight steps. The other man flew backward tens of meters. Being prepared and being forced to respond on the spot made a difference, not to mention the gap in realm.

Shen Nan Zhou held Ye Wan Wan as the two of them tumbled into the forest, smashing through three or four trees. When they hit the trunks, he pulled Ye Wan Wan into his arms and used his back to take the blow.

Ye Wan Wan blinked in surprise. The two Companion Spirits in her arms, Star Marsh and Dream Spirit, fell silent for a beat and then groused together: “…” They complained, “If you do that, we have no chance to show off!”

“Junior sister!” Li Wan Zhi and Fang He An shouted hoarsely as they rushed into the woods. Bai Jian hurried after them, panic in her eyes.

The three found Shen Nan Zhou and Ye Wan Wan. Shen Nan Zhou pushed himself half upright and spat a huge mouthful of blood. Fang He An looked ready to go crazy with anger. Li Wan Zhi’s eyes reddened as he cursed: “Those jerks, those jerks!” He slapped himself hard and vowed through tears: “When we get back, I will train hard. I will not slack off again.”

Rummaging everywhere, Fang He An finally dug out a usable bottle of medicine and urged fast: “Take it, take it. Junior sister, you too. This one is not poisonous.”

They stuffed pills into both Ye Wan Wan and Shen Nan Zhou before either could react. By then Bai Jian had already lifted her sword and was walking step by step toward Ji Chang Huai. Spiritual energy swirled around her, pure and fierce. She raised her eyes at Ji Chang Huai and slashed with all her strength as she roared: “Get lost!”

Sword intent tore across the sky as if it would rip the heavens. It hacked toward Ji Chang Huai with wild force. Under that strike, the Golden Core Stage Great Perfection cultivator’s feet punched deep into the ground.

Pfft. Ji Chang Huai spat blood. Yet the sword energy still did not fade.

Ye Wan Wan and Shen Nan Zhou saw the danger at once. The others stared, stunned. Someone gasped the name of the technique: “Sky Cleaving Strike!”

This was a technique beyond the Golden Core Stage. It belonged to the Nascent Soul Stage.

Crack. Something high above seemed to split. The secret realm could not withstand Bai Jian’s sword.