Su Yingmei's expression paled dramatically in the face of this sudden, silent sword qi. Panicking, she hastily conjured a water shield to defend herself.
But immediately after, a second, a third... up to a fifth wave of sword qi surged forward like crashing waves!
Crack!
The water shield shattered on the spot!
When the terrifying sixth wave—its power multiplied several times over—came howling toward her, Su Yingmei fell into complete despair.
Bang—!
Like a kite with its string cut, she was blasted backward by the violent force, crashing heavily onto the bluestone floor below.
Silence descended over the entire arena.
Su Yingmei lay on the ground with disheveled hair, staring up at the dazzling sunlight in the sky as two streams of clear tears trickled from the corners of her eyes.
She slammed her fists against the ground and wailed hysterically like a broken loser:
“No... Impossible! Why are you so strong?! What was the point of all my daily effort over the past decade?!”
Facing this melodramatic loser rant...
Inside Bai Zhirou's mind, Jiang Ye's eyes instantly lit up!
“I know the answer to this one!!”
“Little Bai, step aside! Let me handle this!!”
Before Bai Zhirou could even react, her body shuddered slightly.
Jiang Ye took control of the account!
Holding the long sword in one hand, he ambled over to the edge of the arena with an arrogant stride.
Lowering his head, he looked down at Su Yingmei—who was weeping uncontrollably below—with an intensely deep gaze, as if he had seen through all the vicissitudes of the world.
Jiang Ye spoke slowly, his voice lowered to a deep register that reverberated straight to the soul:
“You ask me why?”
“Then let me ask you.”
“Have you ever seen... the view atop the main peak at three in the morning?”
As soon as those words were uttered, the entire audience gasped!
Su Yingmei froze completely.
It was as if she had suddenly realized something. Her despairing eyes widened bit by bit, her face filled with absolute disbelief.
The view of the main peak at three in the morning?!
Could it be... that Junior Sister Bai woke up at three in the morning every single day to undergo brutal, excruciating cultivation that normal people couldn't possibly endure?!
Even someone as powerful as the peak master's daughter worked ten thousand times harder than an ordinary person!
An intense surge of shame instantly overwhelmed Su Yingmei.
So... it was because she wasn't working hard enough?! To think that “diligence,” the single trump card she took the most pride in, appeared so laughable before her opponent!
Su Yingmei's lips trembled violently. She hung her head in shame, her voice as quiet as a mosquito's buzz:
“N-No... I haven't...”
Just as all the disciples present were deeply moved to tears, utterly awed by Bai Zhirou's tryhard mindset of “being more talented than you yet still working harder than you”...
At the edge of the arena.
Jiang Ye spread his hands, shrugged with complete innocence, and replied faintly:
“Oh.”
“What a coincidence. Neither have I.”
Su Yingmei: “...”
Bai Zhirou in his mind: “...”
The hundreds of disciples below the stage preparing to applaud: “...”
Wait... if you haven't seen it, just say so! Why did you act like such a pretentious prick for?!
The disciples below vented wildly in their minds, nearly throwing up blood from holding back their frustration.
Jiang Ye was extremely satisfied with his performance. After watching the story play out for so long, popping out to troll a bit brought him immense joy.
Bai Zhirou's body shuddered slightly as she regained control.
The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself still standing at the edge of the arena in that dramatic pose.
Her cheeks flushed slightly. She quietly pulled her foot back, awkwardly adjusting her posture, and gave a stiff, embarrassed laugh to the stunned Su Yingmei below:
“Um... just a little joke to lighten the mood.”
“Thank you for the match, Senior Sister Su.”
With that, she grabbed her long sword, turned around, and fled the arena as fast as she could...
Jiang Ye's little stunt had drawn even more attention to Bai Zhirou's matches.
In the following elimination rounds, whenever Bai Zhirou stepped onto the arena, the perimeter would be packed tightly with spectators, three layers deep inside and out.
However, after watching several matches in a row, the expressions of the audience gradually turned peculiar.
At first, despite being at the peak of Qi Condensation, Bai Zhirou looked flustered and barely managed to survive against a mid-stage Qi Condensation disciple.
Many disciples sneered inwardly: As expected, she's completely a “pill pot” whose realm was forcefully crammed full by natural treasures.
But as the eliminations progressed, the opponents on stage grew stronger and stronger.
From late-stage Qi Condensation to Qi Condensation Great Perfection... Bai Zhirou still won with that exact same flustered, barely-surviving look!
She made every opponent feel as though if they just pushed a tiny bit harder, they could defeat her. Yet in the end, no matter how hard they tried, they always fell short by a hair—just a teeny-tiny bit.
Eventually, it reached a point where...
Bai Zhirou knocked an early-stage Tier Two demon beast off the arena with yet another “struggling” sword strike.
The spectating crowd completely broke down.
Lines of dark frustration covered everyone's foreheads.
Wait, big sister, are you messing with us?! Do you really just scale up to match whoever you fight?!
You adjust your acting skills to match whatever rank your opponent is, huh?!
However, they truly misunderstood Bai Zhirou. She really was giving her absolute all in every match; it was just that her progress was a teeny-tiny bit too fast.
At the same time, the disciples keenly noticed a detail.
This Junior Sister Bai was far from the arrogant and domineering person rumored.
Instead, she was very polite and ladylike. At the end of every match, no matter how exhausted she was, she would cup her fists toward her opponent and say, “Thank you for the match.”
Where was there even a trace of an arrogant second-generation immortal? Everyone realized in an instant: Someone must be spreading malicious rumors on purpose!
...
In the distance, aboard the Beast-Taming Peak's Dharma Boat.
Two pairs of venomous, snake-like eyes were staring intently at Bai Zhirou on the arena.
They belonged to Murong Peng and Gao Jinli.
This pair of brothers in misfortune had spent the last few days living in utter misery and humiliation.
Originally, they were favorite contenders in this year's outer sect tournament.
But now, both of their Tier Two combat pets had been fucking physically exorcised by Bai Zhirou.
The combat power of Beast-Taming Peak disciples was inherently lopsided to begin with, as massive amounts of resources were poured into their demon beasts, leaving very little spent on themselves.
Having lost their main battle beasts, their actual combat strength was less than ten percent of what it was—virtually no different from being crippled.
“That bitch! She's definitely hiding her strength on purpose to toy with her opponents!!” Murong Peng grated his teeth, burning with rage.
“Right! She's utterly ruthless!”
Now, whenever they recalled Bai Zhirou's playful voice, one felt a sting in his face, while the other felt pain all over his body.
Gao Jinli's expression turned sinister.
With a cold laugh, he slowly raised his right arm. His sleeve slid down, revealing an ancient beast-taming ring shimmering with golden light on its surface.
Murong Peng's pupils shrank violently as he gasped, “Th-This... This is a low-grade Treasure Tool?!”
The corners of Gao Jinli's mouth curled into an extremely cruel arc:
“A trump card my grandfather prepared for me.”
“Inside, I have a ‘big guy’ prepared especially for her!”
Rate on N.U.
