Chapter Fifteen: Cheating

Bugs?

The flora on Flower Melody Island flourishes, and with the presence of poisonous miasma, venomous insects abound. The reason they do not bring cultivators below the Golden Core stage to this island is precisely because, without the unique elixirs of Flower Melody Island, other cultivators simply cannot withstand the miasma and poisonous creatures here.

Du Juezi found it astonishing that this young disciple at the Qi Refining stage possessed such skill, able to strike so swiftly.

“Is it a bug? Did you kill it?” Du Juezi asked.

Xuan Yuan Tunhan wiped his hands with distaste. “No.”

The time had not yet come. When it did, he would crush her without hesitation. A mere Qi Refining cultivator, a woman who had to cheat to claim the title of number one, dared to look down on him?

Heh, it seemed he had been far too merciful.

Inside the grand hall, Ning Xianyu shivered, feeling as if someone were watching her.

[System, stop talking nonsense. It’s all your fault, bringing up the great demon and making me feel like there’s a ghost staring at me.]

The system pouted. [Wasn’t it you who mentioned the harem?]

“Master Shangguan, what are you doing?”

While she and her system were bickering, several sect leaders on the other side had started quarreling.

Qi Chengfeng directly seized Shangguan Xuanyue by the arm.

“Master Shangguan, cheating like this is hardly fair, wouldn’t you say?”

Ning Xianyu hadn’t yet figured out what was happening, so she quickly looked over.

Shangguan Xuanyue appealed to her, sounding aggrieved. [Ancestor Xuan Yuan, Master Qi is interfering with the drawing of lots. As a senior, you cannot ignore this, can you?]

Ning Xianyu thought, What does this have to do with me? I’m just here to go through the motions.

Qi Chengfeng sneered. [Ancestor Xuan Yuan, Master Shangguan is cheating in the lot-drawing. I’m merely catching him in the act.]

Ning Xianyu only frowned at them, saying nothing.

She was quite entertained by the spectacle.

These sect leaders, so solemn on the surface, were capable of cheating in something as trivial as drawing lots?

Qi Chengfeng didn’t expect her to say anything and was already explaining to everyone.

“Look, Shangguan Xuanyue tampered with his own lot and that of the Unfixed Sect, ensuring the two would be drawn together for a match.”

“Shangguan Xuanyue, you really stop at nothing to win. Isn’t it simply because you think the Unfixed Sect is weak and you’re guaranteed victory against them?”

The Unfixed Sect’s leader was a short old man who seemed to shrink into himself, lacking any presence as he stood there.

The moment he was called out, his expression shifted.

That was a deeply insulting accusation.

Why mention Shangguan Xuanyue? Why drag the Unfixed Sect’s weakness into it, and say it so loudly—who are you mocking?

Their Unfixed Sect may be the weakest among the ten great immortal sects, but they still held considerable prestige in the Six Realms of Yunhuang.

Everyone examined the two lots and found something amiss.

There was a subtle spell cast upon them; if the lots touched, they would stick together and emerge from the bronze cauldron at the same time.

Thus, it would be a contest between the Shade Mountain Sect and the Unfixed Sect.

Qi Chengfeng sneered, “Shangguan Xuanyue, you’re truly a disgrace. If you can’t win, so be it—but to lose even your backbone?”

Shangguan Xuanyue was not one to be bullied. He retorted angrily, “Master Qi, don’t be so harsh. The spell on the lots wasn’t necessarily cast by me. Perhaps someone else is framing me.”

“Heh, you’re the one who stands to benefit, and you claim others are framing you?”

“Isn’t it possible? Why else would you be the only one to notice?”

Ning Xianyu’s head ached from their argument. They really could bicker endlessly.

The disciples of Flower Melody Island dared not interfere, merely watching the spectacle from the sidelines.

Ning Xianyu thought, [Men often mock women for being talkative, saying one woman equals five hundred ducks. Yet some men are no less verbose.]

System replied, [Isn’t that the truth? I’ve seen particularly chatty systems—so annoying.]

Ning Xianyu retorted, [Heh, I think that system is you.]

She’d never seen an AI so capable of endless chatter.

Bored, Ning Xianyu stood by a column, picking idly at it. The column, made of jade, was crystal clear and beautiful.

She wanted to pry off a piece the size of a fingernail to examine its composition, but with a moment’s distraction—

Crash!

The column cracked!

Holding a large chunk of jade, she turned silently to look at the crowd.

She felt embarrassed; she’d forgotten how powerful this body was—too strong for its own good, able to destroy even the hardest materials with the slightest carelessness.

But her expression, to the onlookers, was: I’m irritated. If you keep arguing, I’ll crush you all.

Shangguan Xuanyue shrank his neck, ceasing his argument.

Qi Chengfeng snorted and fell silent.

Mo Yu Jun sneered, “Rewrite the lots. Draw again.”

Everyone looked to Ning Xianyu, who turned and attempted to fit the piece of jade back into the column.

The crack only deepened.

She simply took the jade and put it in her storage pouch, planning to have someone polish it into a bracelet later.

Her action was interpreted by the crowd as her calming down, agreeing to redraw the lots.

Phew—everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Someone even glared at Shangguan Xuanyue and Qi Chengfeng.

It’s all your fault. Stirring up trouble in front of the King of Hell herself—are you tired of living?

If you don’t want to live, don’t drag us down with you!

The lots were drawn again, and this time, the process was much quicker.

Once the lots were written, they were tossed in, untouched.

Soon, the lots emerged in pairs.

When the Flower Melody Island disciples read out the names one by one, Ning Xianyu nearly laughed aloud.

How amusing! Jade Immortal Sect had twelve disciples in total; only two were matched against their own sect, while all the others faced disciples from different sects, one-on-one.

Unfixed Sect was the unluckiest, drawing Yu Yaozi.

Yu Yaozi was well known among the immortal sects; as a rising star with both beauty and rapid advancement, she’d been coveted by many sects before ultimately joining Jade Immortal Sect.

The Unfixed Sect’s leader felt it would have been better to face the Shade Mountain Sect like before.

At least Shade Mountain’s disciples weren’t so formidable; they might have salvaged some pride, maybe even won.

Other sect leaders felt the same, but the outcome was settled, and no one could protest. They each left the hall in turn.

Ning Xianyu lingered at the end, noticing the jade column’s material was remarkable—it changed with body temperature.

Excellent, she thought. If she could bring a large piece back and use it as a bed, sleeping atop it would be delightful.

She mused that, since she was using Xuan Yuan Tunhan’s body, any embarrassment from stealing would fall on him. She might as well take what she could.

But before she could approach, her ears twitched—there was a faint sound from behind.

Two women’s voices—one mature and weathered, the other young.

“Are you ready?”

“The Passion Flower Poison has already been set.”