Chapter 54: A Second Time

“Sometimes, I really just want to risk it all against you geniuses!”

Objectively speaking, Junior Sister Jiang’s leap from the sixth level of Qi Refining to the eighth was a massive breakthrough, and everyone had wanted to see an underdog victory. But… her opponent was simply too strong.

A technique like the Blazing Fire Array from earlier was practically a death sentence for any Qi Refining cultivator. Yet, the Little Grand-Uncle Master had countered and defeated her so effortlessly. It was so clean and swift that the match had ended before anyone could even blink.

Perhaps Junior Sister Jiang was feeling a surreal sense of defeat right now. One moment victory seemed within her grasp, and the next, she had lost. As it turned out, all that back-and-forth earlier… had been an illusion.

Why did this Little Grand-Uncle Master seem a bit devious?

But that did not stop everyone from admiring the strong. In fact, with titles like “Disciple of the Divine Venerable” and “Mutated Spiritual Root” stacked on him, it would have invited ridicule if Wen Xu had performed with anything less than absolute dominance.

For a genius, this level of performance was only natural. So, after a few sighs of admiration, everyone calmly accepted it.

On the other hand, Jiang Ying had fought four opponents without defeat and even achieved a breakthrough mid-battle. Although she lost to Wen Xu, there was no shame in losing to a genius. Besides, with Junior Sister Jiang’s… no, Senior Sister Jiang’s current cultivation level, passing the preliminaries would not be an issue.

Jiang Ying was a loner. Because she dedicated all her time to cultivation, she did not have any close friends in the inner sect. Thus, after a brief exchange of pleasantries, she bowed slightly and left the arena.

“Why do I feel like Senior Sister Jiang has changed a bit?”

“…True, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe she’s just more focused because of the recent Sect Tournament.”

“Makes sense. Quick, look at the stage! Senior Sister Huo is going up!”

Senior Sister Huo? Senior Sister Huo Shengyin? What was going on with Arena B today? Was it some kind of ultimate battleground? One was a rising genius of the inner sect, and the other was the universally acknowledged number one of the outer sect. Was the final match happening today?

The crowd looked at the calm face of the Little Grand-Uncle Master on the stage. Well… being a genius was not easy either.

“Huo Shengyin of the outer sect, here to seek guidance from the Little Grand-Uncle Master.”

Huo Shengyin was almost as tall as a man, carrying a guqin on her back that was as long as she was tall. She unstrapped it with one hand and set it before her, clearly eager to begin.

Notably, she wore a Mountain Ghost copper coin earring on her left ear. She touched it now, as if performing a pre-match good luck ritual.

However, Wen Xu was “blind” and naturally could not notice such details. Thanks to his know-it-all friend, he knew the name of Huo Shengyin of the outer sect. The moment she stepped onto the stage, he knew this opponent was in a completely different league than the last one.

His previous opponent, Junior Sister Jiang, had a five-element spiritual root and did not understand his combat style, which was why he had been able to win in a single strike. But… a guqin cultivator was someone Wen Xu had never encountered before.

As soon as the match began, both sides were very cautious. Huo Shengyin knew her cultivation was higher than his, but she never underestimated any opponent, especially a genius who could not be judged by common sense.

Surprisingly, Huo Shengyin’s music was not fierce, nor could it even be called aggressive. Yet, while it seemed gentle, it overbearingly filled the entire arena with musical notes. The sensation of stepping into enemy territory with the slightest movement was something even Wen Xu, who loved stacking arrays, could not break free from immediately.

“Here it comes, Senior Sister Huo’s Three-Fold Guqin Melody!”

“The gentle, the lingering, and the soft. When the melody reaches its peak, it will be time for Senior Sister Huo to harvest her victory!”

“It’s over, it’s over. It looks like this time the Little Grand-Uncle Master… Huh? Did he just break free for a split second? Did I see that right?”

“…I saw it too!”

Wen Xu had indeed broken free for a split second. Thanks to pretending to be blind, his hearing and sense of smell far surpassed those of cultivators at the same level. In other words, Huo Shengyin’s melody had a hundred and twenty percent impact on him.

Yet because of this, the lingering melody did not make him succumb too quickly. The music was like boiling a frog in warm water, but for him, the water was a bit too hot, allowing him to break free for that brief moment.

Wen Xu could play the guqin too, but as one of the six arts of a gentleman^[1], his playing was only good enough to fool amateurs. To a true expert, a highly skilled player without emotional investment was merely a technician. Conversely, Senior Sister Huo before him was a true master.

Indeed, Wen Xu had secretly opened his eyes, but only for a split second, at the exact moment he broke free from the melody.

Though it was only a split second, he had already seen everything clearly.

“Ah! What is he doing? Why do I feel like he…”

Even Bian Chunzhou could not help but break into a cold sweat. “Chen Zui, if I’m not mistaken, did Wen Xuxu just block his own hearing?”

“You’re not mistaken.” Chen Zui was never sparing with his words when it came to combat. “It’s a viable way to face a music cultivator’s attacks, but only if you can predict your opponent’s moves through the wind on the stage, just like he does.”

Bian Chunzhou: …No thanks, I don’t have that kind of skill.

In fact, there was only one Wind Spiritual Root cultivator in all of Yonglu Mountain. This skill was his exclusive domain. Senior Sister Huo probably had not expected her melody to… Wait, music was omnipresent. Even if the Little Grand-Uncle Master seemed unaffected, that was only mentally. His body was still enveloped by the sound, wasn’t it?

Could it be that he had found a way to break through Senior Sister Huo’s layers of melodic barriers?

Surely not? Even geniuses had to follow the basic laws of reality, right? How long had they even been fighting? Besides, Senior Sister Huo was at the peak of Qi Refining. If he was going to defeat someone of a higher level, he should at least…

“Ah! Senior Sister Huo, watch out!”

During the fight with Jiang Ying, some cultivators in the front row had noticed that Wen Xu had not swapped his spiritual sword for a dharma fan. Instead, with a mere thought, the spiritual sword had transformed into a dharma fan. Now, that dharma fan instantly turned back into a spiritual sword. Everyone held their breath, watching him spin and execute sword arts.

Someone with broad experience immediately called out the name of the technique: “It’s the Nine Revolutions Sword Art! But it seems slightly different! Everyone, look at the wind on the stage…”

What was happening to the wind on the stage?

Everyone couldn’t help but sense it closely, only to discover that while the music on the stage was all-permeating yet formless, the wind was also formless, and once it clashed with anything else, whether tangible or intangible, it would unleash a colliding force.

Wind, by its very nature, could take any shape. When it grew strong enough, it could also alter the shape of anything else, including, of course, Huo Shengyin’s music.

As the sword hand-signs danced, the wind instantly disrupted the music. Huo Shengyin’s reaction could not be called slow, but the notes that had already been played could not be altered by her will in an instant. Although she changed her hand-signs as fast as possible, the advantage she held was instantly shattered.

Geniuses really were the most annoying. But it was impossible to defeat her with just this.

“Zheng!”

The music instantly turned sharp and harsh, as biting as the coldest blizzard in the world. It shifted between soft and hard in the blink of an eye, making it impossible to guess where the next attack would come from or how it would begin.

“Oh my god, Senior Sister Huo has gotten stronger again!”

“You can say that again! Even the June weather^[2] would have to kneel and call her master!”

Did she really have to be this versatile? With the gap in their cultivation bases on top of that, no matter how one looked at it, the Little Grand-Uncle Master had very little chance of winning this round, even though… he was also incredibly formidable.

But while the music was unpredictable, Wen Xu’s wind was no less impressive! If one were talking about biting cold, nothing was colder than the wind on Guochun Peak. Wen Xu suddenly had a realization: it really was wonderful to have broad horizons.

If he hadn’t fought someone at the peak of Foundation Establishment, he would never have studied how to push his spiritual energy to its absolute limit. If he hadn’t had the guidance of a Body Integration master, he wouldn’t have known so many advanced combat techniques.

Finally, if he hadn’t studied hard in the past, he wouldn’t have known that Senior Sister Huo’s music still had a flaw.

When cultivators fought, the ultimate taboo was exposing a flaw to the opponent.

Wen Xu guessed that Senior Sister Huo must not have been studying the zither for very long, probably no more than ten years. He had met musical geniuses before; most of them played exquisitely, but technique… required time to mature.

Senior Sister Huo’s musical attacks were indeed incredibly powerful, but they were ultimately controlled by a person. The art of playing the zither was extremely complex, and the moment she slipped up, it would be his chance!

On the stage, the wind and the music clashed. Those who were not in the midst of it could not know how fraught with danger it was, but everyone’s heart was gripped with the same tension!

After a long time, the battle ceased. The two had stopped fighting, but…

“Who won?”

“Referee, say something already!”

“You can’t do this to us-“

Just as the crowd was about to sharpen their blades and turn on the referee, he finally spoke up. “Wen Xu of Guochun Peak wins the second round!”

Hearing this, Bian Chunzhou swore outright, “Holy shit!”

Even Chen Zui’s eyes burned with eagerness, wishing he could be the next to leap onto the stage. “What a pity. I should have been assigned to Arena B.”

…It was obvious he wanted to clone himself and fight on all four arenas at once.

As the dust cleared, Huo Shengyin leaned against her guqin, which now had a broken string, and panted heavily. She had given it her all. “I lost.”

“Thank you for the match.”

Wen Xu was not in great shape either, but he was at least standing by sheer willpower.

“I want to know where I fell short.”

Wen Xu did not hide it. In truth, his victory in this round was somewhat opportunistic. “Senior Sister’s past opponents probably knew very little about the art of the zither.”

Huo Shengyin understood. It wasn’t terrifying when a genius was talented; it was terrifying when a genius was widely read. She had no regrets about this loss.

After sending off his second opponent, Wen Xu quickly faced his third, fourth, and fifth. Perhaps because the first two had been too strong, the next three unlucky souls were quite… easy to defeat.

Before long, he secured his spot to advance.

Meanwhile, the departing Jiang Ying did not return to her outer sect cave dwelling to rest. Instead, after receiving a Transmission Talisman, she hurriedly headed toward the mountain gates.

Just as she reached the foot of the mountain, a middle-aged woman grabbed her and asked in a soft, concerned voice, “Baozhu, you aren’t hurt, are you?”

Hearing this, Jiang Ying’s expression changed instantly. “Mother, what are you talking about? I’m A-Ying. There is no Baozhu here. You’ve got the wrong name.”