Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Bai Fan was very strong. Unlike with Senior Brother Li, Xu Yuan had watched the entire battle between Bai Fan and Shen Weixiu from beginning to end.

Throughout the fight, Bai Fan’s body had been surrounded by a ring of black, sticky liquid. The substance shifted however he wished. It could become armor, or it could become a sharp blade, and it was terrifyingly corrosive.

In just a few exchanges, the deep blue blade in the hands of the Grand Purity Dao Palace chief disciple had been corroded by the black substance around Bai Fan until all its spiritual luster was gone.

At that moment, the many disciples present were all fired up. A swordsman without his sword would lose more than half his combat strength. But the battle that followed made everyone realize something.

Shen Weixiu’s true specialty was not blades or swords. It was elemental Dao arts, and in particular, he was highly proficient in lightning techniques.

Bai Fan did not actually have to die. The gap between him and Shen Weixiu was obvious at a glance, but because of that layer of black slime covering his body, Shen Weixiu could not instantly kill him either.

Bai Fan showed no intention of admitting defeat. Just like the loyal, brotherly man he had always been, he wanted to avenge their big brother. And then he died.

The blade formed from viscous blackness brushed past Shen Weixiu’s cheek, while Bai Fan’s chest was pierced through by a lightning technique.

It was only a hair’s breadth off, yet that hair’s breadth was like a chasm between heaven and earth.

“Direct disciples, Jing He and Xiao Jianqing stay. Everyone else... disperse.”

In front of Splendorbloom Hall, as that slightly trembling voice slowly fell, the white-haired elder said nothing more. Holding Bai Fan’s corpse in his arms, he walked step by step into Splendorbloom Hall. His back seemed to have aged a great deal in that single instant.

Xu Yuan stood at the edge of the arena, watching the core disciples leave with their heads lowered.

Within the Splendorbloom Sect, each of them was a genius chosen from a hundred, even from a thousand. But in the scene before them now, powerlessness had been planted deep into every cell of their bodies.

If the sect elders handled this properly, this humiliation would become the force that drove them to improve after learning shame. But if they handled it poorly, the backbone of Splendorbloom Sect’s entire younger generation would be completely snapped.

The surrounding crowd disappeared.

Tian Yan suddenly took Xu Yuan’s hand and sent a voice transmission through her soul. “What are you planning to do?”

Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then replied with a smile in his voice. “How many chances of winning do you think I’d have against that Shen Weixiu?”

She had also watched the battle just now. Tian Yan thought for a moment, then replied in a low voice. “At most, twenty percent.”

“Twenty percent?” Xu Yuan sounded a little surprised.

“That twenty percent is only because he might not expect you to open with a killing move. Bai Fan failed to force out Shen Weixiu’s Dao even before he died. That man should still have quite a bit left in reserve,” Tian Yan explained.

“No, I meant I didn’t expect you to think so highly of me.” Xu Yuan was already more than satisfied with Tian Yan’s evaluation.

“Heh.” Tian Yan rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. She had discovered that this man had not a shred of arrogance in him. Letting out a breath, she changed the subject and asked, “Do you need me to go with you?”

Xu Yuan pondered briefly. “In reality, the final result was that the Splendorbloom Sect kept the Beguiling Divine Sakura. It’s unlikely Jing He alone could beat both Shen Weixiu and Tianrui, so there should still be some other twist. I’ll go check the situation first. You don’t need to expose yourself just yet.”

After a short pause, Xu Yuan glanced at the group of Splendorbloom higher-ups. “And besides, we belong to the sect master’s faction. Senior Brother Li and Bai Fan are both dead. For the next life-and-death wager match, no matter how you look at it, the Second Elder’s side should be the ones sending someone out.”

Tian Yan thought for a moment, then nodded. “All right. I’ll wait for you in the room.”

“Jing He.”

Just as they were speaking, a slightly hoarse voice suddenly came from beside them.

Xu Yuan turned his eyes and saw Tang Jiuqing, Yun Xi, and the others.

In a single night, the sharp, arrogant air those young wastrels once carried had vanished from their faces.

Tang Jiuqing slowly walked up to the two of them, gripping his longsword tightly. His voice was thick with unwillingness.

“I’m sorry. The life-and-death wager matches were supposed to be our business as direct disciples, but we dragged you into it anyway.”

“Hmm?” Xu Yuan’s eyes flickered.

Tang Jiuqing glanced toward the Second Elder, then gritted his teeth. “Those old bastards in Yin Wuhuan’s group agreed to hand over the Beguiling Divine Sakura tree sapling.”

A vague guess began to form in Xu Yuan’s heart.

After entering Splendorbloom Hall together with Tang Jiuqing and the others, Xu Yuan found that his guess had been proven correct.

It was infighting. The two factions within Splendorbloom Sect were still fighting among themselves, even now.

“For the next match, let Jing He go.” A middle-aged elder with drooping eyelids made the suggestion in a muffled, booming voice. His words echoed through the empty hall.

As soon as those words fell, before the elders could even speak, Tang Jiuqing immediately shot back without the slightest courtesy.

“Jing He goes? Old Man Wang, you actually have the nerve to say that? With Jing He’s cultivation talent, he could have become a direct disciple six years ago. His spot was stolen by people from your side, and now that someone needs to risk their life, you suddenly remember he exists?”

The middle-aged elder frowned when he heard this, but he did not get angry. He merely replied, “Tang Huaiqing, that brat of yours truly has no sense of rules. If we’re counting it that way, then Yun Xi, Bai Fan, Qing Wu, and Zi Yue all took their spots from Jing He as well.”

“Bullshit!” Tang Jiuqing immediately cursed back. “Whether you go by contributions to the sect or by cultivation talent, Yun Xi and the others rank ahead of those useless trash from your families.”

“Jiuqing, enough.” The Sixth Elder suddenly called Tang Jiuqing to a stop, then glanced at the middle-aged man opposite him. “Zhou Guchang, know when to stop. Li Qiuyu and Bai Fan are already dead.”

From the Second Elder’s faction, another slightly plump old man seemed completely unable to hear the meaning behind the Sixth Elder’s words. He replied with a cheerful smile, “That Bai boy wanted to fight. He said so himself. What does that have to do with us?”

After a pause, the plump old man looked straight into the Sixth Elder’s eyes and said with narrowed eyes, “Li Qiuyu took advantage of the Heavenwatch Pavilion’s Saint and the Dao Palace’s chief disciple being off guard to steal the Beguiling Divine Sakura’s tree sapling. He was killed for it...”

Before he could finish, the Splendorbloom Sect Master seated in the main seat suddenly slammed his palm down with tremendous force.

BOOM! The entire Splendorbloom Hall instantly shook as if an earth dragon had rolled beneath it.

The Splendorbloom Sect Master stared at the plump old man and said, each word heavy and distinct, “Huang Chan, watch your tongue. Remember that you are an elder of Splendorbloom Sect.”

The plump old man’s expression shifted, but before he could speak, the Second Elder, who had been sitting off to the side with his eyes narrowed as though resting, suddenly spoke up in agreement. “Huang Chan, you did go a little too far.”

But right after that, the Second Elder suddenly changed tack. He looked at the sect master in the main seat, a cold smile on his lips. “Old Bai, you people hid the Beguiling Divine Sakura tree sapling so tightly after getting your hands on it. According to the rules, old fellows like us should at least have had the right to know about it, no? Now that the people from the Grand Purity Dao Palace and Heavenwatch Pavilion have come knocking, you finally remember us. Isn’t that a little inappropriate?”

The Sect Master stared deeply at him. Fatigue and anger brewed in his eyes. Then he swept his sleeve. “Enough. For the next match, Xiao Jianqing will go. For the one after that, Jing He.”

“How impressive, Sect Master.” The Second Elder gave a cold laugh and cupped his hands. “Then we shall do as the great Sect Master says.”