Chapter 116

Chapter 116: Won’t Lose

A sharp hiss spread through the crowd. Everyone snapped their eyes toward the seats of the Supreme Sect.

The Supreme Sect disciples looked sour. Ji Chang Huai, Ye Qian, and Dou Ming all kept their heads down without a word.

On the Elders’ Terrace, the elders the Supreme Sect had sent, including Wu Xin, wore cold faces. One elder glared toward the Heavenly One Sect and demanded in anger: “Aren’t you going to rein your people in?”

Lu Qing Xuan blinked and said: “Rein them in for what? He didn’t say anything wrong.”

The crowd fell silent.

How hateful. They ended up slapping their own faces.

Xun Yin stroked his beard, his smile full of approval: “Not bad. Knowing how to protect your junior sister means you’re a good kid.”

Lu Qing Xuan answered with pride: “Of course. If he can’t even protect his junior sister, how could he be one of ours in the Heavenly One Sect?”

They might bicker inside and make a fuss among themselves. But when facing outsiders, they stood as one.

Seeing Wu Jing and the others still bristling, Lu Qing Xuan turned and said: “What now? When your Supreme Sect disciples were bullying our little cub, you think our people should have gone over to stomp on her too? Are you out of your minds?”

He finished and laughed loud: “Maybe you really are idiots.”

Wu Jing took a step forward, but a hoe crashed to the ground with a clang. Xun Yin gripped the shaft with one hand, pinned the hoe-head with his foot, and turned to ask calmly: “Want a fight?”

The elders from new sects on the Elders’ Terrace looked at each other, stunned. The elders from the old sects quietly stepped back.

An elder from the Dominion Pill Sect hurried to speak: “Half the time is already gone. Let the children compete first. If this keeps up, those three will be eliminated in the first round.”

Lu Qing Xuan spread his hands and said: “We didn’t do anything at all.”

“Wu Jing, return.”

A reminder from his side called Wu Jing back after only two steps.

Everyone on and below the Elders’ Terrace could see the undercurrents. Watching a Supreme Sect elder swallow his anger made the onlookers even more surprised.

“Is the Heavenly One Sect so deep-rooted that they don’t even fear the Supreme Sect?”

“You must be young. If you were born a few hundred years earlier, the name Heavenly One Sect would scare you on its own.”

“An entire sect of Divine Transformation elders. Is that impressive enough?”

“Just over a month ago, their hundredth-generation junior disciple, Elder Yan Ju, also passed through the Divine Transformation Realm and became a Divine Transformation Stage powerhouse. Add their strongest Grand Elder and, let me put it this way, if every elder of the Heavenly One Sect moved together, even the Xuan Tian Sect would need to muster the full strength of their entire sect to resist.”

“They don’t have many people, but their combat power is top tier.”

A long hiss rippled out.

The Xuan Tian Sect was the first of the three great sects.

“With a sect this fierce, why are they so low-key?”

“No idea. Maybe they don’t like to go out. We barely heard about them for years, until recently. Heh. We only learned the truth during that battle with the Dominion Dao Sect.”

“What did that have to do with the Dominion Dao Sect?”

“Oh, you’re out of the loop, brothers. The Heavenly One Sect uprooted the Dominion Dao Sect. They crippled everyone above disciple rank, including every elder and the sect master. The reason? An elder of the Dominion Dao Sect had his eyes on their junior disciple and wanted to take her as a cultivation vessel. When the teachers of the Heavenly One Sect heard, they sent three Grand Elders to ‘pay their respects’.”

“They crippled the rest while they were at it.”

“They even went to the Alliance. The Dominion Dao Sect has been delisted. Tell me that isn’t strong.”

Silence fell. Of course they were strong.

“Power alone isn’t scary. There are many strong people. Divine Transformation is rare, but the Cultivation World still has them. The old elders of the three great sects are all there. But in a big sect, minds pull in all directions. The Heavenly One Sect is different. From top to bottom, they’re famous for unity. Don’t believe it? Hit one of them and see if the others don’t all show up.”

The crowd swallowed their words. They didn’t dare. The example was right in front of them.

Chi Yan had thrown out two taunts, and Fang He An had cursed his whole sect in response.

Chi Yan’s face darkened as he snapped: “What did you just call me?”

Fang He An was about to answer when a shout rose from below the stage: “Calling you an idiot. Didn’t you hear? I’ll repeat it,” Li Wan Zhi had somehow circled to the front of the stands. Pointing at Chi Yan through the Barrier, he yelled: “You brat, if you scare our junior sister again, come down here and wait.”

Chi Yan’s face went from green to pale and back again.

Ye Wan Wan looked at Fang He An on stage and Li Wan Zhi below, then let out a quiet laugh. Her eyes curved, her voice soft and sweet as she said: “Senior brother, don’t waste words on him. We still need to compete.”

That one “senior brother” made Chi Yan turn his head in rage as he snapped: “Ye Wan Wan!”

Fang He An and Li Wan Zhi shouted together: “Shut up!”

Li Wan Zhi stamped his foot and fumed: “I said they were trying to steal our junior sister, but you all denied it earlier. Crafty old geezers.”

Fang He An ripped up the number tag labeled 45 from the ground and slapped it onto his own spot. Then he pulled the tag labeled 46 over to his side.

He said to Ye Wan Wan: “Junior sister, switch.”

Ye Wan Wan nodded and stood where Fang He An had been. Fang He An moved to Ye Wan Wan’s previous spot and gave Chi Yan a slanted look.

He tapped two fingers from his own eyes to Chi Yan, signaling: I’m watching you.

Chi Yan couldn’t swallow this anger. When Ye Wan Wan had her Golden Core dug out and then jumped off a cliff to leave the sect, he had been in seclusion and didn’t know the details. When he came out days ago and learned Ye Wan Wan had seriously injured Ji Chang Huai and Ye Qian and then joined another sect, he couldn’t accept it.

[Why?]

[How could she acknowledge another master and call someone else senior brother?]

[She is from Azure Cloud Peak. Even if she dies, she should only die on Azure Cloud Peak.]

Time was already half gone. Chi Yan took a deep breath and said: “Fine. I’ll compete with you. I’ll make you see that your new senior brother is nothing special. Your eyes are blind.”

Fang He An’s eyelid twitched. He ground his teeth and thought: [Alright, you brat. Just wait.]

The three stopped dwelling on the ruckus and focused fully on alchemy. Out of the one-hour round, they had already wasted a quarter.

Assuming no failures, they only had time to refine one furnace each. If the furnace blew, they would be eliminated.

Even Fang He An didn’t dare split his focus.

They threw themselves into alchemy at top speed. The Refining Flame burned within each furnace, and the scent of herbs began to spread across the platform.

In the second half of the hour, sounds rose from the stages.

Clang.

Boom.

All kinds of sounds meant results were coming in. Some people shook their heads in loss. Some stood there in regret. Some covered their faces and left the stage in tears.

With each elder’s announcement, more were eliminated. Fewer and fewer remained, until only about half were left.

Time passed. In the last quarter hour, Chi Yan’s furnace opened. Moments later, Fang He An’s furnace opened too.

Neither checked his own pills. Both looked toward Ye Wan Wan.

Her furnace was still running. Time was running out.

Watching the last stick of incense burn to the end, Fang He An and Chi Yan wore different looks, one nervous, one grim.

Fang He An muttered with faith: “Junior sister will succeed.”

Chi Yan sneered: “She’s never even refined a pill. Succeed at what?”

His laugh had just fallen when, at the final moment, Ye Wan Wan’s furnace opened.