Luo Qingyu turned her head to look at the dazed Ye Qiao beside her, gently nudging her arm. “What are you spacing out for, Junior Sister?”
Ye Qiao shook her head and replied in a low voice, “Nothing, Fourth Senior Brother. I just feel a bit disgusted.”
On the other side, Mu Zhongxi had also cleanly dealt with the only remaining sword cultivator of the Yueqing Sect, leaving Song Hansheng as the sole survivor on the field.
Watching Zhou Xingyun and Song Hansheng pull back and forth, chasing each other in circles like King Qin dodging around a pillar, Ye Qinghan's lips couldn't help but twitch. He immediately raised his sword and joined the fray himself.
Just as Song Hansheng was about to raise his hand to activate the teleportation array runes, his retreat was instantly blocked from both front and back by Ye Qinghan and Zhou Xingyun.
The cold tip of Ye Qinghan's sword pressed against his neck as he said coldly, “Crush the jade token yourself, or should we help you?”
Song Hansheng glanced at the jade slip at his waist. After confirming that the Yueqing Sect's total score firmly secured a top-three spot, he steeled his heart, gritted his teeth, and forcefully crushed his jade token.
[Yueqing Sect, all members eliminated!]
“It's finally over.”
“The Yueqing Sect truly lives up to its reputation as the number one sect of talisman cultivators. To be besieged by two major sects and still hold out for so long is truly impressive.”
In the elders' seats, the Yueqing Sect elder looked at Song Hansheng, who had been teleported out of the secret realm, and let out a soft sigh.
“Hansheng did his best. Securing a spot in the top three is already a good result.”
...
Inside the secret realm, the atmosphere of confrontation between the two sects was tense to the extreme.
Standing beside Ye Qinghan, Chu Xingzhi urged in a low voice, “Senior Brother, don't waste your breath on them. Grab Ming Xuan's mustard seed bag, and first place will belong to our Wenjian Sect this time.”
Seeing this, Mu Zhongxi immediately leaped forward and shouted indignantly, “Hey, hey, hey! We agreed to join forces just now, and you turn around and betray us in the blink of an eye? You Wenjian Sect people are way too unreasonable!”
With a cold expression, Ye Qinghan said calmly, “In the secret realm tournament, competition comes first, friendship second.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Qinghan thrust his sword toward Ming Xuan!
Ming Xuan's expression changed dramatically. He hurriedly reached out to pull out a talisman, his fingertips rapidly forming array seals.
In mid-air, an invisible barrier rose around them.
Four Directions Array, Lock.
Seeing that Ye Qinghan was temporarily trapped, Ming Xuan quickly turned around and shouted toward the rear, “Senior Brother! Come help, quick!”
However, Zhou Xingyun simply stood in place with a calm expression. He had absolutely no intention of stepping forward, merely watching his junior brothers and sisters quietly.
Luo Qingyu helplessly pressed her forehead and turned to Ye Qiao, whispering, “Junior Sister, in a moment, you set up an array on the other side, and I'll set one up over here.”
Ye Qiao instantly understood her Fourth Senior Brother's intention, a flash of surprise crossing her eyes. “Fourth Senior Brother, when did you learn array formations?”
Luo Qingyu explained calmly, “As artifact cultivators, don't we have to engrave incantation seals? Actually, array formations require them too.”
“When I had nothing to do, I often went to the Library Pavilion to read, so I know a little bit about them.”
Ye Qiao nodded in response upon hearing this. The two immediately split up, moving into position with tacit understanding.
On the other side, Mu Zhongxi raised his sword and charged directly into battle with several sword cultivators of the Wenjian Sect. The clashing of their swords was incredibly fierce.
With her fingers flying, Ye Qiao rapidly formed array seals with both hands. The circulating spiritual light instantly spread out, trapping several people within the array formation.
“Holy crap.” Seeing the array formation above his head, Chu Xingzhi's first reaction was, “Ming Xuan actually launched a sneak attack?”
Looking at the array formation beneath her feet, Zhu You frowned. “But isn't Senior Brother dealing with Ming Xuan? How could he have the time to set up an array?”
Just as Ye Qinghan shattered the barrier Ming Xuan had set up, another array formation crashed down in front of him, enveloping him once again.
Wasn't Ming Xuan's spiritual energy depleted? Then who on earth set up this array formation?
At this moment, Ye Qinghan suddenly realized what he had overlooked.
He whipped his head around and saw Ye Qiao smilingly facing their direction. With a slight turn of her palm, her hand gesture was precisely the universal starting stance used by talisman cultivators to set up array formations.
She slowly drawled, “Competition first, friendship second!”
“Ye Qiao!!”
Hearing Ye Qinghan's shout, Chu Xingzhi and the others all turned to look, just in time to see Ye Qiao channeling spiritual energy through her fingertips, controlling the entire array formation with both hands.
Chu Xingzhi: “...”
Ahhhhh—who could tell him why Ye Qiao was actually a talisman cultivator?!
What kind of fucking talisman cultivator hides their identity this well?!
In an instant, Ye Qinghan understood everything. Why the Changming Sect members weren't anxious at all, why Ming Xuan was so formidable that he didn't trigger a single trap, and why she had the confidence to negotiate cooperation with him.
It was because she was a fucking talisman cultivator!!
Ye Qinghan fell silent instantly.
Looking at the emo Ye Qinghan inside the array, Ye Qiao paid him no further attention and turned to look at Luo Qingyu on the other side. “Fourth Senior Brother, your turn. I can't hold this array for very long.”
Receiving her junior sister's signal, Luo Qingyu immediately formed hand seals, her spiritual energy circulating rapidly.
She looked at Ye Qinghan inside the array with a smile, her tone laced with a hint of playfulness. “Hey, Ice-Face, you were the one who said 'competition first, friendship second.' So, how about I treat you to some tea in the elimination seats?”
The pupils of the Wenjian Sect members shrank, their faces filled with disbelief.
It was one thing for Ye Qiao to be a talisman cultivator, but how was Luo Qingyu one as well? Did the Changming Sect fucking disturb a nest of talisman cultivators this year?!
As her voice fell, Luo Qingyu's array formation was fully formed. The two massive arrays violently collided, and with a thunderous bang, the explosion echoed throughout the entire secret realm!
The entire Wenjian Sect group was caught in the destructive power of the arrays.
Ye Qinghan coughed twice, his expression complex. His entire body's spiritual energy was depleted, leaving him without even the strength to stand up.
Ye Qiao immediately raised her hand to make a gesture, shouting to the others beside her, “Quick! Senior Brothers! Crush all of their jade tokens!”
The four of them acted cleanly and decisively, immediately scattering forward to crush the identity jade tokens of everyone from the Wenjian Sect.
[Wenjian Sect, all members eliminated!]
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