Chapter 56: Fragmentation

According to the rules, each person could only go up to the arena once a day, whether they challenged someone voluntarily or were randomly selected. Although Bian Chunzhou had lost, he was completely convinced by his defeat. Since he hadn’t sustained any injuries, he remained crouched below the stage to watch his fellow disciples duel.

On the other hand, Chen Zui and Wen Xu had won five consecutive matches, making it impossible for them to escape completely unscathed. They had already returned to their quarters to regulate their internal Qi.

Seeing this, Lin Congcong couldn’t resist stepping forward to needle him. “Why are you all alone? Did you lose, so…”

“Didn’t you lose too? How do you have the nerve to mock me?”

Lin Congcong choked on his words, then gave a soft snort. “Tomorrow, do you dare to step onto the platform and duel me?”

“As if you wouldn’t cause trouble for me even if I refused. If not for Senior Brother Shi earlier, and if I had won, I bet you would’ve been the first to jump onto the stage.” Did she really take him for some sweet, naive fool? His eyes were sharp.

Lin Congcong hated this about Bian Chunzhou the most. “You guessed right.”

“There you go. Why bother coming over to issue a formal challenge?” Bian Chunzhou clicked his tongue and shook his head. “It’s really unnecessary, but… I accept. Do you really think I’m afraid of you?”

“Good. I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow.”

After sending off the annoying Lin Congcong, Bian Chunzhou continued to crouch there and watch the free duels. Occasionally, he could pick up some new ideas for combat. After all… some of his fellow disciples had truly wild imaginations. A disciple with fire and earth spiritual roots shaping a furnace on the spot was a tactic he had never anticipated. Crucially, the guy even layered a formation inside the furnace, basically trying to forge a pair of Fiery Golden Eyes^[1]. Even the Great Sage would have called him a professional.

Then there was another junior brother who was a real heavyweight. Despite having four spiritual roots, he had a unique combat strategy. Could anyone believe it? He actually used a water screen to project a visual pollution attack. Good grief, the brightness and intensity of those colors made Bian Chunzhou’s eyes ache even standing below the platform.

Oh, but if this junior brother ever ran into Wen Xuxu, this trick would be completely useless.

He watched until the sun began to sink in the west and his eyes grew dry and tired. Only then did he prepare to head back.

As luck would have it, on his way back, he ran into Senior Brother Chang Zhou, who was guarding the mountain gate.

Senior Brother Chang was a very warm person who greeted him every time they met. Bian Chunzhou naturally returned the greeting with a bright smile. “Senior Brother Chang, off duty?”

“Yes, all quiet today,” Senior Brother Chang said with a smile. “The arena matches for you Qi Refining disciples started today. How did it go? Did you go up?”

“Don’t even get me started. I was called up to face Senior Brother Shi Yijian. Senior Brother Shi was just… well, I lost completely without suspense.”

Shi Yijian. Chang Zhou knew of him. In fact, Chang Zhou had entered the sect several years after Shi Yijian, but he was already at the Foundation Establishment stage, while Shi Yijian remained in Qi Refining. This was highly unusual for an inner disciple. However, to say Shi Yijian lacked combat strength would be pure fantasy. “Then there’s no shame in losing to him. Did anyone advance to the finals today?”

Speaking of this, Bian Chunzhou instantly perked up. “Both of my friends made it! Five consecutive wins! Heheh!”

“The Little Grand-Uncle Master?”

Bian Chunzhou nodded. “Yes.”

…Which wasn’t surprising. Chang Zhou offered his congratulations, then remembered Junior Sister Jiang Ying whom he had met at the mountain gate earlier. “What about Junior Sister Jiang Ying? She broke through two realms in a row, so she must have won, right?”

Bian Chunzhou was slightly surprised. “How did you know, Senior Brother, that Senior Sister Jiang broke through mid-battle? It was actually quite a coincidence. In her fifth match, since no one stepped up to challenge her, the referee drew a name at random and picked… my friend.”

“The Little Grand-Uncle Master?”

Bian Chunzhou nodded again.

So she had lost. It seemed Junior Sister Jiang lacked a bit of luck. No wonder she had looked rather down earlier; that explained it. “When I was guarding the gate earlier, I happened to run into Junior Sister Jiang’s family coming to visit her. They seemed to have reconciled. I knew it; the scene they made last time must have just been a heat-of-the-moment thing.”

Bian Chunzhou found this a bit strange. “But Senior Brother, didn’t you say last time… something about them wanting to sacrifice Senior Sister Jiang’s future to fulfill a promise?”

“Perhaps they spoke without thinking. Now that Junior Sister Jiang has advanced two realms in a row, no promise, no matter how grand, is worth sacrificing her future for.” Keeping promises was a good trait, of course, but sacrificing a family member’s interests just to ease one’s own conscience was simply unjustifiable. Besides, what kind of promise required Junior Sister Jiang to leave Yonglu Mountain to be fulfilled?

At the time, swept up in anger, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from speaking up for Junior Sister Jiang, only to be bitten back by the Jiang parents. Although Chang Zhou had been angry, he wasn’t one to take it out on others.

“Besides, I saw Madame Jiang give Junior Sister Jiang a large pouch of spirit stones today. The matter should be behind them now.”

A large pouch of spirit stones? Bian Chunzhou instantly felt a wave of jealousy. He was so envious; he wanted a large pouch of spirit stones too. But were there really parents who would demand their daughter drop out one moment, and then lovingly hand over a massive bag of spirit stones the next? It felt a bit too mercurial.

Bian Chunzhou shook his head vigorously. What am I thinking? Life isn’t some soap opera. I must be overthinking it.

“That’s good then. Goodbye, Senior Brother! I wish you victory in your matches too!”

*

The next day, Bian Chunzhou kept his appointment.

Platform Ding truly lived up to its reputation as the most undisputed battleground for those below the Foundation Establishment stage. How should he put it? Bian Chunzhou thought he had arrived early enough, but he hadn’t expected…

“What time did you get here? You didn’t come at midnight, did you?”

Lin Congcong gave a soft snort. “Earlier than you, that’s all that matters. I didn’t expect you to actually show up. You’ve got some guts.”

“…Guts? Senior Brother Lin, to be honest, your cultivation isn’t high enough to make me hesitate.” It was just trash talk; he could do it too.

“Stop being sarcastic with me. It’s higher than yours anyway, hmph!”

“So what! I’ll catch up to you sooner or later!”

The two bickered like schoolchildren. Some outer disciples who were unaware of their rivalry couldn’t help but marvel at how close these two inner disciples seemed, chatting even while watching the matches. Having great talent really allowed one to do whatever they pleased.

Just then, a streak of five consecutive wins ended on the stage. The winner of the five matches was an inner disciple at the peak of Qi Refining. He chose not to continue defending the stage, leaving Platform Ding empty.

“Do you have the guts to get on stage?”

“Who’s afraid of you!”

The two bickered all the way to the edge of the arena, only to be beaten to the punch by another inner sect disciple at the peak of Qi Refining, Senior Brother Liu. “Junior brothers, are you planning to go up?”

Bian Chunzhou & Lin Congcong: …We’ll pass.

How should they put it? Acting on impulse was one thing, but they still had to make it to the finals. They had already been unlucky once; who would rush to be unlucky a second time? They only had three chances in total!

A person couldn’t, or at least shouldn’t…

“So, you two didn’t get to fight today, and now you’ve scheduled it for tomorrow?”

Bian Chunzhou nodded. “Tomorrow, I’m definitely setting an alarm. I’ll be the first one on stage!”

Chen Zui was an honest man. “But what if… your opponent…”

“Pah, pah, pah! Don’t jinx it! I definitely won’t be that unlucky!” Bian Chunzhou fiercely defended his reputation for luck. “Besides, most of the high-level senior brothers advanced today, which is why that Lin guy and I didn’t get a chance to go up.”

An expression of regret immediately appeared on Chen Zui’s face. “You actually managed to hold yourself back from going up?”

“…Thanks, but please don’t project yourself onto me.”

In truth, Chen Zui was at the peak of Qi Refining and practiced the way of the saber. Although he wasn’t as famous as Wen Xu, he was a seeded candidate to win this Sect Tournament. If odds were calculated, his would definitely be lower than Wen Xu’s. Of course, all gambling was strictly forbidden within Yonglu Mountain.

Chen Zui showed a look of disapproval. “You two are really useless. You can’t even compare to Junior Sister Jiang Ying from the outer sect.”

“What about Senior Sister Jiang?” Senior Sister Jiang Ying’s name had been popping up quite frequently lately.

“She won five matches in a row today and secured a spot in the finals.”

“She’s that fierce?”

“It’s because you’re too slack.”

After spending so much time together, Chen Zui had become a bit more talkative. Of course, this was only compared to his former self. Around strangers, he remained extremely taciturn, speaking as little as possible. His mother had once told him that the more he spoke, the more mistakes he would make. Since he was slow-witted, speaking less was always the safest bet.

As for in front of friends, Chen Zui felt that even if he said the wrong thing, it wouldn’t matter. Neither Wen Xu nor Bian Chunzhou were petty people; they wouldn’t stop being his friends just because of a word or two.

“Who’s too slack?” After returning to adjust his internal Qi yesterday, Wen Xu had rarely chosen to sleep and rest. He only resumed his cultivation after waking up today, which was why he arrived late. “Chunzhou, how did your match go today? Sorry, I didn’t make it in time.”

Bian Chunzhou sheepishly raised a hand. “For some reason, it’s been postponed to tomorrow.”

Wen Xu: …

“Oh, right. Wen Xuxu, do you remember Senior Sister Jiang Ying, whom you fought yesterday? She advanced today.” Bian Chunzhou quickly changed the subject, silently pleading not to be scolded. He would definitely go up on stage tomorrow. “Speaking of which, she’s really incredible…”

Like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube, he blurted out his entire conversation with Senior Brother Chang from yesterday.

“What’s wrong?” Bian Chunzhou stopped his speech praising the overachiever. “Did I say something wrong?”

Chen Zui also looked at Wen Xu. In truth, Wen Xu only felt that something was strange. With his usual way of doing things, he would never gossip about others, but he spoke up anyway. “Yesterday, when I was fighting Jiang Ying on the stage, she broke through mid-battle, but…”

“But what?”

“But it was very strange. Although breaking through a minor realm doesn’t require much consolidation or meditation, her spiritual energy flowed too naturally, as if…”

“As if what?”

“As if she already had the cultivation of the eighth level of Qi Refining all along.”

Bian Chunzhou slapped his thigh, thinking, I know this one. “Junior Sister Jiang hid her cultivation to play the pig to eat the tiger^[2]! But that doesn’t make sense either. If she hid her cultivation, there’s no way the Foundation Establishment senior brothers in the outer sect wouldn’t have noticed, right?”

Of course, there were magical treasures in the cultivation world that could conceal one’s cultivation, but… those were extremely expensive. Besides, there was really no need to play the pig to eat the tiger at Yonglu Mountain.

“That’s the problem. I’m at the peak of the eighth level of Qi Refining, so my cultivation should be higher than hers. Yet, before her breakthrough, I could only see her cultivation as being at the sixth level of Qi Refining.”

“Same here,” Chen Zui said, frowning. “Are you sure you didn’t misjudge? Perhaps this Junior Sister Jiang is exceptionally gifted and naturally adept at controlling spiritual energy?”

Wen Xu, however, became even more certain. “No. When she dealt with me, she used the Blazing Fire Array. Both her composure in setting up the array and her control of spiritual energy were incredibly skilled. Yet, I heard from the outer sect junior brothers that her main focus is clearly five-element spells.”

Still, this wasn’t enough for the three of them to go confront an outer sect junior sister. After all… hiding one’s cultivation and keeping trump cards was by no means a crime for a cultivator.

Bian Chunzhou hadn’t felt anything was amiss at first, but thinking about it now, he couldn’t help but feel that this Senior Sister Jiang was completely different from the rumors. There was even a jarring sense of dissonance.