Chapter 57: Gathering Strength

A cultivator’s intuition is sometimes incredibly accurate.

There was once an unwritten consensus on the Hengze Continent that the more talented a cultivator was, the stronger their perception of danger would be. It was said to be the Heavenly Dao’s way of protecting the children of destiny from perishing prematurely.

While this consensus was not universally true, it was accurate at least sixty percent of the time.

After listening to Wen Xuxu’s analysis, Bian Chunzhou could not help but pay extra attention to this senior sister. Moreover, for some reason, the more he listened to her voice now, the more it sounded like… the cries of the person calling for help on the night he returned late.

However, he was not very sensitive to voices. After pondering for a long time, he finally decided to go to Kaiyuan Peak to borrow the Shadow Retention Stone and bring it back for Wen Xuxu to listen to.

After listening to it, Wen Xu could not make a definitive judgment either. When a person was in a highly tense and dangerous situation, their voice would naturally become tight and shrill, differing from how they spoke normally.

Furthermore, he had only heard Jiang Ying’s voice on the arena stage. At the time, he had been focused on the fight, so he did not have a deep impression of her voice.

“Doesn’t it sound a bit similar?”

Wen Xu fell silent for a long time. Only after listening to it three more times did he speak cautiously, “Chunzhou, if you think it sounds like her, are you going to ask her directly?”

Bian Chunzhou froze. He thought to himself that the mental state of Yonglu Mountain’s disciples surely had not deteriorated to the point of breaking down from cultivation and running to the foot of the mountain to cry for help. Besides, if it really had been Jiang Ying that day, her cultivation had been lower than his back then. How could she have run so fast? Unless Senior Sister Jiang Ying had a teleportation array on her created by a sect elder.

As for why it was not a teleportation talisman, well, such talismans could not have their destinations set. Simply put, they randomly flung a person to any location within their range. A low-grade teleportation talisman could transport someone within a ten-kilometer radius, a mid-grade one within a hundred kilometers, and a high-grade one could move someone across cities. But in truth, almost no talisman master would draw high-grade teleportation talismans.

To put it simply, they had no market and were expensive; for a tenth of the price, one could buy a perfectly good teleportation array. Furthermore, using a teleportation talisman would leave behind a talisman mark, whereas a sufficiently advanced array could conceal all traces of its existence.

However, Yonglu Mountain was surrounded by the Mountain-Protecting Grand Array. If it were an external teleportation array, it would definitely leave traces. But if it were internal, since the disciples of the Array Peak often tested various arrays at the foot of the mountain, it would actually go unnoticed, a classic case of the blind spot right under their noses.

“Probably not. The mission on Kaiyuan Peak is quite eye-catching; anyone who has been there should have seen it. If it really was Senior Sister Jiang Ying, she could have just said so. Why would she deliberately hide it?”

Wen Xu thought to himself that Chunzhou was far too trusting of human nature. But he was different. Although he had fought a match against Jiang Ying, he did not know her and had no connection to her, so he had no qualms about assuming the worst. “Is it possible that she simply doesn’t want to reveal that she was the one crying for help that night? Otherwise, she could have just waited for you on the spot. Why did she leave without a trace?”

“That’s true. But why? Why would she hide? Could it be…”

“Could it be what?”

“Could it be that besides Senior Sister Jiang Ying, someone else was there at the time?”

Bian Chunzhou scratched his head. This matter was getting stranger and stranger. From the drastic shift in the Jiang Family parents’ attitude to Senior Sister Jiang Ying’s own transformation, everything felt… forced and unnatural.

But if there really was something wrong with Senior Sister Jiang Ying, how could none of the many high-level cultivators in Yonglu Mountain have noticed?

“No, I have to go investigate. My damn curiosity is killing me.”

With that, Bian Chunzhou headed straight for Kaiyuan Peak. He first returned the audio-recording Shadow Retention Stone, then went to chat with some outer disciples he had recently befriended. Before long, he found out how Senior Sister Jiang Ying had entered Yonglu Mountain.

Just as he had heard beneath the arena stage that day, Senior Sister Jiang Ying had entered the sect using a recommended slot. However, this recommendation did not come from the Jiang Family. Instead, she had once saved an elderly man who, despite being a mortal, had a son with a Nascent Soul cultivation.

To repay Jiang Ying for saving his father’s life, the Nascent Soul Perfected Lord granted her a promise, which Jiang Ying exchanged for a recommendation slot to Yonglu Mountain.

As for the Jiang Family, they were just a moderately wealthy cultivation family. Father Jiang’s talent was mediocre; with a four-element spiritual root, he was still only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. Mother Jiang was not even a cultivator, but she came from a wealthy background. In fact, ninety-five percent of the Jiang Family’s current wealth came from Mother Jiang.

Hearing this, Bian Chunzhou could not help but click his tongue. No wonder she had handed over a whole pouch of spirit stones without a second thought. It must be nice to be rich.

“Senior Sister Jiang Ying isn’t an only child?” Who said cultivators struggled to have children? This family seemed to have done just fine.

“No, the Jiang Family has an eldest daughter named Jiang Baozhu. She also tried to test into Yonglu Mountain back then, but unfortunately, her strength fell short. Later, when Senior Sister Jiang Ying came to register with the entry slot, the Jiang Family apparently had an argument over who should get to use it.”

“Senior Brother, how do you remember this so clearly?”

“Probably because I was the one who handled the registration,” the senior brother said nonchalantly.

Bian Chunzhou: …My luck really isn’t that bad after all.

Still, families with two sisters or two brothers usually gave them similar names. Why was one named ‘Ying’ while the other was named Baozhu? It wasn’t that the character ‘Ying’ was bad, but compared to ‘Baozhu’, ‘Ying’ felt incredibly casual and careless.

If the eldest daughter was named Baozhu^[1], the second daughter should at least be named Zhenzhu or Baozhen, right?

Wait, that wasn’t right. Bian Chunzhou suddenly looked up. “Wasn’t the entry slot given to Senior Sister Jiang Ying? Why would there be an argument?”

“Oh, that. Yonglu Mountain’s entry slots aren’t registered to a specific name. What’s given out is just a token jade pendant. Whoever brings the pendant to register at the mountain becomes an outer disciple.”

It could actually work like that?

“But in that case, how do you guarantee their character?”

The senior brother smiled. “Outer sect disciples must undergo evaluations as well. If they possess poor character or a lazy disposition, the sect will not allow them to remain and cause trouble.”

Ah, he understood. Yonglu Mountain had a grand reputation, and they had plenty of ways to keep their disciples in line. Even if someone was recommended by a major merchant guild, the sect would still handle matters by the book without showing any leniency.

So, back then, after Senior Sister Jiang Ying secured her spot to enter the mountain, had her biological sister Jiang Baozhu almost stolen it from her? Bian Chunzhou blinked. He hadn’t misunderstood, had he?

Combining that with what Senior Brother Chang had told him that day about “sacrificing Senior Sister Jiang Ying’s future for the sake of a promise,” the Jiang Family parents sounded rather biased. Or rather… excessively biased.

But that didn’t make sense. If they didn’t welcome the birth of a second daughter, they could have just not had her. Why give birth to her only to treat her so harshly? Then again, it was also possible he was overthinking things.

Without absolute proof, he shouldn’t assume the worst of people.

Besides, this was their family matter, and he and Jiang Ying were merely fellow disciples. Before he had clear evidence proving Senior Sister Jiang Ying was indeed the person calling for help that night, there was nothing he could do.

Bian Chunzhou composed himself and decided to focus on passing the preliminary rounds first. Once that was done, he would ask the manager of Gongshang Bistro to help look into the Jiang Family’s situation. If he had indeed misunderstood, he would only make a fool of himself.

*

The competition reached its third day. Most of the seeded contestants had advanced smoothly, and a few outer sect disciples with a mix of luck and strength had also secured spots in the finals. In contrast, Bian Chunzhou and Lin Congcong had become the outliers.

Once the two of them stepped onto the stage, some disciples below who recognized them couldn’t help but whisper among themselves.

“Aren’t those two from the inner sect?” Why are they facing each other in the preliminaries?! Could there be some bad blood between them?

“They really are. What are they doing?” Wouldn’t normal logic dictate making it to the finals first? If they lose here, won’t it be incredibly embarrassing?

“I’ve got some inside gossip. Want to hear it?”

“What gossip?”

“Well, I heard that on the first day of the arena matches, these two lost one after the other to an inner sect senior named Shi. A friend of mine saw them arguing afterward. Maybe they’re fighting over Senior Brother Shi’s favor?”

“Whoa, really? There’s actually drama like that? What’s the deal with this Senior Brother Shi?”

Shi Yijian, who had quietly slipped in to watch the arena matches: …It’s a good thing I came today. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known the rumors outside had become so entertaining.

He looked up at the two somewhat familiar figures on the stage. Well, he had indeed defeated both of them.

So, were they really fighting because of him? Probably not. Shi Yijian stroked his chin, watching with great interest.

“It’s starting. A duel between inner sect seniors. I have to watch this closely.”

Before anyone knew it, the two on stage had already exchanged two rounds of blows. Bian Chunzhou’s attacks relied primarily on talismans, with the Water-Fire Talisman being his most practiced method of attack. However, he couldn’t draw talismans in midair like Senior Brother Shi could, so he had also trained in some physical martial arts to use between throwing talismans.

His physical martial arts had been guided by Chen Zui. While its offensive power was average, when combined with talismans, it was more than enough for self-defense.

As it happened, Lin Congcong possessed a single Earth spiritual root. Earth spiritual roots were inherently vast and naturally defensive. When it came to offense, the most famous techniques were Earth Dragon, Earth Escape, and Soaring Earth. As an inner sect disciple, Lin Congcong naturally took the path less traveled. The technique he was most proficient in was using earth to bind his opponents.

Simply put, it was a binding technique, but one that utilized the earth of heaven and land, the essence of all things. If he were truly fighting to kill, he could even trap a person or object within a sealed space, causing their spiritual energy to drain until they suffocated to death.

Bian Chunzhou quickly realized that this rascal was incredibly good at casting earth prisons. When his water clashed with his earth, the entire combat space became wet and sticky, slowing down his movements.

Of course, by the same token, Lin Congcong couldn’t move very fast either.

No one expected this to turn into a battle of attrition. Generally speaking, those with lower cultivation feared prolonged battles the most, as draining their spiritual energy this way would surely lead to their defeat first.

But, hehe, his Fire in Water grew stronger the longer it charged. Bian Chunzhou wasn’t afraid of a battle of attrition at all. Lin, you rascal, just you wait. I’m definitely winning this round!