Chapter 206

Chapter 206: Eliminating Themselves

Shen Sang Ruo replied at an easy pace: “Since I’m facing you, there’s no need to run.”

Ye Huai and the other three grew tense when they saw the huge crowd. If they gave it everything, they might still break through. But once they saw Shen Sang Ruo so calm, their own hearts settled. With their Junior Sister wearing that look, she clearly already had a plan, so there was no need to panic.

She seemed to have the word reliable written on her.

If anyone else called her that, Dong Fang Xu would only scoff. But Shen Sang Ruo had crushed him in the individual trials, so she had the right to ignore him.

It felt like a knife stabbed straight into Dong Fang Xu’s heart. He remembered his earlier humiliation and lost control of his temper.

He shouted with rage: “You’re at death’s door and still talking tough! Today I’ll see if your strength is as hard as your mouth!”

With his command, nearly a hundred people from several sects charged together. Just the Late Golden Core cultivators numbered close to forty.

Dong Fang Xu curved his lips into a cold smile and stood with his hands behind his back. He didn’t even need to make a move himself.

As the coalition rushed in, the cultivators on Fengling Terrace held their breath, hearts in their throats. Someone cried out: “It’s over! How can the Ninghua Sect run now?”

Shen Sang Ruo only gave Dong Fang Xu a meaningful look, then tapped her own temple with a finger.

Before he could guess what she meant, his hands suddenly moved on their own and reached for the score token at his waist. Realizing what was about to happen, his face turned to shock as he yelled: “No! Stop!”

He flushed bright red, features twisting as he tried with all his strength to resist. But his arms moved like they were pulled by countless strings, the force so strong he couldn’t fight it.

Shen Sang Ruo’s lips curved slightly. The Dodder Flower Sprite had the solid power of a Mid Nascent Soul Stage being. Under its control, Dong Fang Xu could only act like a puppet.

Crack!

For a heartbeat he couldn’t tell if the sound came from the token shattering or his heart breaking. The Young Sect Master Token snapped in his palm. The charging Beast Taming Sect disciples felt the tokens at their waists break on their own and stared at Dong Fang Xu in shock.

Dong Fang Xu still held the fragments mid squeeze, frozen in the pose of “voluntarily” crushing his token. The sky seemed to fall.

Outside Fengling Terrace, Guan Hui’s smile went stiff at the corner of his mouth. His pupils shrank as he stared at the broken token.

Right after that, the other sects’ Young Heirs also “voluntarily” crushed their tokens, and a chorus of torn, desperate screams followed: “Nooo!”

In moments, token shards littered the ground. The grand alliance of nearly a hundred people collapsed completely in just a few breaths.

Curses exploded everywhere as people demanded to know what madness had seized their own Young Heirs.

Dong Fang Xu struggled to explain: “It wasn’t me! Listen to me, I suddenly couldn’t control—” But not one of the furious Beast Taming Sect members believed him. For the first time, he felt what it was like to be unable to defend himself.

Xu Han raged at him: “If it wasn’t you, then who? You got knocked out in the first draw of the individual trials with zero points, and now in the team trial you crushed your own token?”

He snarled, “Dong Fang Xu, you—” but before he could finish, every last one of them was expelled by the Secret Realm.

That didn’t mean it was over. Outside the Secret Realm there would surely be a storm of blame and fury.

As the teleportation flung him out, Dong Fang Xu met Shen Sang Ruo’s eyes and finally understood her earlier gesture. Shen Sang Ruo smiled with a hint of mockery: “A brain is a fine thing.” [Too bad you don’t have one.]

[It has to be her! But when did she do it?] His mind flashed back. [Right, that pebble! From start to finish, only that pebble touched me. That stone was the medium that controlled me!]

He guessed right. Using that stone, she had sent the Dodder Flower Sprite’s vines onto his body. As for the other Young Heirs, they had made contact with him while they plotted together, and the Dodder Flower Sprite spread to them during that time. That was why the scene just now had happened.

She and Dong Fang Xu had met twice, and both times she had won without a fight. By tapping her temple, she signaled the Dodder Flower Sprite to act while also telling him: [With a brain like yours, you aren’t even qualified to stand before me, much less cross hands.]

The crowd on Fengling Terrace fell silent. It all happened so fast that people rubbed their eyes, wondering if they were seeing things.

After a long moment, someone asked: “What happened? Why did they suddenly crush their tokens themselves?”

Another person muttered: “Did those Young Heirs lose their minds?”

Everyone wanted to know the truth. Elders from the Beast Taming Sect and the other sects turned so dark they seemed ready to storm off and drag their Young Heirs over for answers.

A whisper spread: “I feel like it has to do with the Ninghua Sect, with Shen Sang Ruo.”

Someone scoffed: “No way. Those Young Heirs crushed their tokens on their own. Can she control people? That’s too far.” They had never seen Shen Sang Ruo use control arts, and even if she had them, a Late Golden Core cultivator shouldn’t be able to drive such strong control, and definitely not over six people at nearly her own level at the same time.

A shout rose from the crowd: “Look at the points ranking!”

Heads turned to the board. At the top, the Ninghua Sect’s total was shooting upward like crazy. The board also showed every member’s personal points. Shen Sang Ruo’s points were soaring too. In the blink of an eye, they jumped by more than 17,000.

Someone gasped: “Her increase matches the total points of the teams that just got eliminated!”

Another cried: “Doesn’t that mean she took them all out?!”

“Is that for real?!”

The team trial’s defeat rules had been used for many years. They wouldn’t be wrong. The cultivators were even more stunned. “How did she do it?”

“How many surprises does she still have?”

“I think it has to do with that Dodder Flower Sprite.”

“Goddess Ruo! You’re my god!”

Fengling Terrace erupted, the crowd wild with excitement.

In an unnoticed corner, someone murmured: “The Beast Taming Sect’s team got zero again. Out of the five scoring events, they now have two with no points. Their ranking looks shaky.”

In the Beast Taming Sect prep area, Sect Master Guan Hui nearly fainted from rage. “A shame beyond shame!”

Voices answered with glee: “Serves them right. They tried to go after our Sang Ruo, gathered all those people, and ended up delivering points to her.”

“My heavens, the Ninghua Sect’s total is leading by a huge gap now.”