Chapter 203

Chapter 203: “Koi Carp” Shen Sang Ruo

“Ling Xiao, keep your disciple under control and stop him from coveting someone he should never desire,” Shen Dao Chen said with a cold snort, his voice tight with anger.

[Her father isn’t dead yet. How dare he?] Even if Shen Sang Ruo was rebellious and defied him many times, she was still his daughter.

He would never allow someone like Lu Shi Qing to have improper thoughts about her.

Because he broke from his team, Lu Shi Qing was taken away by an Elder of the Disciplinary Hall as soon as he came out of the Secret Realm.

The punishment this time was harsher than ever.

But Lu Shi Qing seemed numb to pain. From beginning to end, his eyes were empty, as if his soul had been pulled out.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Sword Sect, the Red Desert Jiang Clan, and other teams had reached the Earth-tier Zone and started searching for rare materials. Their points began to surge, and the gap with the Ninghua Sect shrank quickly.

Bai Mu Mu received the news of Lu Shi Qing’s elimination and only muttered “useless” under her breath.

She led the Flying Cloud Sect team to rob a few small sects of their points. Satisfied with her performance and thinking she had drawn plenty of attention, she finally set out for the Earth-tier Zone.

She had no idea that her carefully planned “highlight moment” drew almost no interest.

Everyone’s attention was on the Ninghua Sect and Shen Sang Ruo.

After a short rest, Shen Sang Ruo’s group moved out again.

The Dodder Flower Sprite knew the terrain of the Secret Realm well, so their travel went smoothly this time with no surprises.

This also meant the Dodder Flower Sprite could guide them to find materials.

In a team trial, that was basically like turning on a cheat.

With Shen Sang Ruo’s “friendly and kind” questioning, they also figured out all of the sprite’s secrets.

Its greatest ability was to parasitize a target, turn the host into a puppet, and control the host.

How long it could control depended on the host’s strength and on how long the parasite had been attached.

That Yin-Yang Tree Demon had been fully absorbed and was under its total control.

It was a solid skill, likely to be useful in surprising ways later.

Shen Sang Ruo set herself to squeezing the very last drop of value out of the Dodder Flower Sprite.

Half a day later, the five of them stepped into the Earth-tier Zone.

To make the trial easier, the Secret Realm had only daytime and no night.

So far, of the five total days, one and a half had already passed.

With the sprite acting as their guide, the Ninghua Sect team hunted for materials like they were blessed.

Normally, rare treasures were guarded by demonic beasts. In the Earth-tier Zone, those beasts were all at Late Golden Core level.

But with the Dodder Flower Sprite around, they avoided those tough guardians. Some places didn’t even have a guardian beast.

They saved a lot of fighting time, and the materials in their storage bags piled up at a pace you could see.

Su Xi Yu swept a heap of materials into her bag, and the numbers on their tokens jumped like crazy.

“Bringing the Dodder Flower Sprite was absolutely the right choice, Junior Sister,” she said.

“Little Flower Sprite, having you is truly our good fortune,” Song Wei Yan added with a grin.

Hidden in Shen Sang Ruo’s hair, the Dodder Flower Sprite wanted to cry and clenched its tiny teeth. [Thanks. Having you is my misfortune.]

They had promised to take it out of the Secret Realm, yet they were using it like a slave.

It still couldn’t figure out how it had lost to five Golden Core cultivators in the first place.

“I know you’re mad. Don’t be mad yet. Take us to the next spot first,” Shen Sang Ruo said, sounding cheerful.

“That way,” the Dodder Flower Sprite answered in a muffled little voice.

Shen Sang Ruo started walking, and Ye Huai and the others followed behind her.

Exclamations rose across the Fengling Terrace.

“Whoa, why are the Ninghua Sect’s points shooting up so fast all of a sudden?”

“They got here much later than the other sects, but now their points are about to catch up.”

“At this rate, the only way for other teams to take first is to eliminate the Ninghua Sect.”

“How are they so lucky? They haven’t run into a single tough demonic beast. Their points are like picking them up off the ground.”

This kind of luck came from their own strength breaking the chain reaction of bad luck.

But on the Fengling Terrace, all the cultivators saw was Shen Sang Ruo walking at the front.

“It’s Shen Sang Ruo! She’s the lucky one! She’s been leading them the whole time,” someone said.

“Say no more, you’re exactly right,” another replied.

“Goddess Ruo is strong, a real Grand Adept, and stands out. Even her luck, that vague thing, has evolved to this level. It’s scary,” a third person said.

A hush of respect spread over the crowd.

Without Shen Sang Ruo knowing, she suddenly gained a bunch of new fans.

She even picked up a nickname: the Good Luck Koi Carp.

The Ninghua Sect became an object of envy by association.

Shen Dao Chen’s face was dark and hard to read. His fingers curled into a tight fist.

All this should have belonged to the Flying Cloud Sect. If Shen Sang Ruo were the one leading the Flying Cloud Sect’s team, how dazzling would their glory be?

His gaze shifted to the Flying Cloud Sect’s projection, where their team was still hurrying toward the Earth-tier Zone.

He looked at Bai Mu Mu at the head of that team, and disappointment showed plainly in his eyes.

The contrast between the two women was too strong.

He finally started to doubt whether his original choice had been wrong.

Was Shen Sang Ruo the one more suited to be the Young Sect Master of the Flying Cloud Sect?

Besides the headline-grabbing Ninghua Sect, a few people were watching other teams too.

“The Beast Taming Sect and the Beast Controlling Sect just ran into each other,” someone said.

“Then the Beast Taming Sect is probably in real trouble,” another answered.

“Doesn’t the Beast Taming Sect always stay in the Yellow-tier Zone every year? How did they even meet?” a third asked.

“Looks like their ox ran away. They chased it all the way into the Earth-tier Zone,” came the reply.

“What in the world? The cow ran off?” someone blurted.

Ji Zi Cang was racing with a group of Beast Taming Sect disciples after a Kui Ox that had broken into a gallop.

“Ancestor! Please stop running!” Ji Zi Cang shouted in despair, then asked at the top of his lungs: “Is the grass in the other areas tastier?”

Everyone else had joined this team trial to collect materials.

They, on the other hand, had spent most of their time chasing a cow.

This Kui Ox was no ordinary beast. It was said to have a trace of Ancient Divine Beast bloodline.

After Ji Zi Cang’s Master tamed it, they put it on the team to help them.

It even took one disciple’s slot.

It behaved for half a day, then bolted. It even smashed one disciple who tried to block it, sending him flying.

And they couldn’t just ignore it.

The Kui Ox flicked its tail impatiently. [What do they know? I can smell her. I have to find her.]

So they chased the Kui Ox all the way to the Earth-tier Zone and ran straight into the Beast Controlling Sect.

“Well now, who do we have here? Isn’t this our friends from the Beast Taming Sect?” Dong Fang Xu said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, then added: “Aren’t you the ones who love to turtle up in the Yellow-tier Zone? How did you get the courage to crawl out this time?”