Chapter 186

Chapter 186: Is This Still Her?

People in the crowd whispered: “I can’t even imagine it. Mei Mei thought she found Shen Sang Ruo’s weak spot, but it turned out to be a slab of steel. She must feel so hopeless.”

Someone asked: “If Shen Sang Ruo had this strength all along, why didn’t she show it earlier?”

Another scoffed: “What do you know? You think Young Sect Leader Mei is like you? She only went all out after testing for a long time. If Shen Sang Ruo had shown her cards at the start, Young Sect Leader Mei would have guarded against it.”

A senior snorted: “That’s why you’ll never be a top expert. Got it? Go reflect.”

Shen Sang Ruo had thought the same way. She let herself fall behind to lower Mei Mei’s guard, then struck without warning and won fast.

After all, delay brings change.

As for why she revealed all her trump cards before the final, it was simple: looking over the whole third group, only Mei Mei counted as a true opponent in her eyes.

She walked off the platform, cupped her hands to Mei Mei, and said: “Thank you for letting me win, Young Sect Leader Mei.”

Mei Mei smiled: “It’s not that I’m unskilled. No, it’s that you’re unmatched.”

She added, after a pause: “Losing to you, I accept it fully.”

Mei Mei lowered her voice: “You don’t need to mind those rumors. I believe you’re not that kind of person.”

What she saw with her own eyes was completely different from the “faithless and unfilial” person others described. She didn’t know all that had happened at Flying Cloud Sect, but she trusted what she saw.

Shen Sang Ruo answered with a smile: “Thank you.” The two left the stage.

People sighed: “What a pity for Young Sect Leader Mei. She drew the short lot and ran into Shen Sang Ruo.”

Another muttered: “If she had drawn the other opponent, she might have reached the final.”

A third joked: “Whoever drew that one got a lucky break.”

Hearing the chatter, Luo Chu walked down with a dark face. He didn’t look like someone with a lucky break; he looked like someone who had eaten something foul.

He grumbled to himself, because he had entered the final by defeating an Artifact Forging Sect disciple with his own strength. He even disliked that his drawn opponent was too weak to show his real power.

[Tomorrow, in the final, I’ll prove…] He puffed up for a second, then deflated. [Fine. Anyone can see that even three of me together wouldn’t be enough to beat Shen Sang Ruo.]

He muttered, “When did she get this strong…” She used to be a little tagalong who only chased after them. In a few years, she had changed too much.

Luo Chu, gloomy, returned to the Flying Cloud Sect’s prep area and found the mood just as heavy.

The reason was simple: Shen Sang Ruo’s performance was too dazzling.

During the Young Sect Master matches before, she only had the Sunset Glassfire Art. Now she also carried the identity of a Beast Tamer, had a spirit beast with powerful bloodline, and had even modified her artifact so it worked for both ranged and close combat.

Even though she was still at Late Golden Core, she had never stopped moving forward. At this rate, breaking through to Nascent Soul was only a matter of time.

Because they knew her past, they understood just how terrifying these leaps were.

Feng He Yun, Wen Xuan, and Lu Shi Qing were happy for her for a brief moment, but their eyes quickly dimmed. They didn’t want to accept the fact that she left Flying Cloud Sect and became even better, even brighter.

Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao looked at Shen Sang Ruo as if they were meeting her for the first time.

Was this really the narrow-minded girl who only knew how to fight Bai Mu Mu for favor? The one they had once ground into the dust was now having her excellence praised by many. No one could deny it.

Shen Sang Ruo’s performance set off a chain reaction in the status-first Cultivation World.

People talked: “Say what you want, but Shen Sang Ruo is truly amazing. Why else would she join Ninghua Sect and become its Young Sect Master?”

Someone laughed: “If I were the head of Ninghua Sect, I’d be smiling in my sleep. They picked up a treasure.”

After the third group’s matches, Shen Sang Ruo was without a doubt the leader among the younger generation. How high she would rise was hard to guess.

Another voice said: “Flying Cloud Sect must be kicking themselves. Her adoptive father raised her for years, and her Master taught her for years. With ties that deep, Shen Sang Ruo should have been a Flying Cloud Sect talent. Yet they cut her off.”

A skeptic argued: “Wasn’t it because she had a bad character? Who knows what awful things she did, so they drove her out.”

Someone else shook their head: “From start to finish, I saw nothing wrong in her behavior. But that Dong Fang Xu is annoying at a glance.”

Another agreed: “Right. Shen Sang Ruo has ignored the Flying Cloud Sect people the whole time, like she doesn’t care at all. If so, why would she be jealous and fight for favor?”

A girl snorted: “Anyone can see our Sang Ruo is far stronger than that Bai Mu Mu. Why fight over anything? No forced comparisons. Our Sang Ruo shines on her own.”

Hearing these words, Bai Mu Mu dug her nails deep into her palms.

She had trained bitterly to grow stronger, even killed more than ten Flying Cloud Sect disciples, yet she still couldn’t surpass Shen Sang Ruo. Why could Shen so easily overshadow her? As for the four men including Feng He Yun, even though she had decided to give up on them, she still felt unwilling whenever she thought about it.

Bai Mu Mu’s mood sank, but not one person, not even Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao, noticed her.

All eyes were on Shen Sang Ruo in the Ninghua Sect prep area.

Watching the Ninghua Sect members crowd around her, seeing the pride on their faces, they even felt a trace of jealousy.

Shen Sang Ruo was once from Flying Cloud Sect. The ones gathered around her should have been them.

Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao thought the same: no matter what, they had to bring her back.

They had only wanted to teach her a lesson. Now that she was so strong, with endless potential, they had even less reason to give her up.

Who was Ninghua Sect to them? Could it compare with the countless ties and feelings between them and Shen Sang Ruo?

The six finalists for the three groups were set.

To everyone’s surprise, all six were from Ninghua Sect and Flying Cloud Sect.

Even great sects like the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Beast Taming Sect didn’t get a single spot.

The two sects led by a wide gap. This had never happened in any past Sect Grand Tournament.

Even more shocking, Ninghua Sect was a sect that had just broken into the Sect Grand Tournament and was “short on people.”

Because of the grudges between the two sects over Shen Sang Ruo, people were even more eager for the final showdown on the third day.

At last, the third day arrived.

Excited voices rose: “The three matches today will be amazing.”

Another counted: “Ninghua Sect trails Flying Cloud Sect by five points right now. It’s hard to say how it will end.”

Someone shouted: “Stop talking, Ye Huai and Feng He Yun are on stage!”