Chapter 161: Not for You to Slander

Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Not for You to Slander

On the second day of the Tengxing Grand Assembly, three rounds of elimination matches would be held to decide the twenty-five participants for the final day’s competition.

Early in the morning, after breakfast, Chu Fan and the others followed Shi Qingren and his wife to the Martial Arts Arena, taking the same seats as the day before.

Once again, Shi Qingren went forward to draw lots.

After returning from the draw, Shi Qingren casually distributed the four lots to Chu Fan and the other three who had advanced.

At this, Chu Fan chuckled to himself and said to Yun Xi and the other two disciples, "Junior Sister, when you go up later, don’t hold anything back. Use the Yifeng Sword Technique right away and seize a swift, unexpected victory. As for you two, just forfeit as soon as you get on stage."

Yun Xi and the other two disciples all started talking at once.

Shi Qingren and Ni Wanping were also taken aback. Ni Wanping asked, "Why?"

"I overestimated the integrity of the Six Sects and Eight Gates. They’re targeting our Celestial Heart Hall and swapped the lots. If I’m not mistaken, all four of us will be facing Nascent Soul Realm opponents. My Junior Sister is a Nascent Soul herself, and her Sword Dao has reached the Sword Gang Like Wind Realm. A surprise attack will make for an easy victory. But those two are only in the Heartbeat Realm. Losing isn’t a big deal, but there’s a gap of two Great Realms. If their opponents play dirty, the loss would far outweigh any potential gain."

Chu Fan explained. After the lot drawing had finished, he had been watching the movements of the Six Sects and Eight Gates. Several Sects had actually memorized Celestial Heart Hall’s lot numbers and then exchanged several of them.

Chu Fan hadn’t seen exactly how they were exchanged, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were up to.

Yun Xi said, "If I use the Yifeng Sword Technique, won’t people recognize it easily? Quite a few people here went to Nanling Mountain over three years ago. They’ve all seen the Yifeng Sword Technique before."

Chu Fan smiled. "It’s fine. Not only will you only need one or two moves to win—they won’t be fast enough to react—but even if they do recognize it, so what? Is there a rule against using the Yifeng Sword Technique?"

Chu Fan’s lot for the second round was Yi-6, making him the fourth of the four to compete. Yun Xi’s was Ding-4, making her the third.

The first to go up was a disciple named Jiang Yao, at Heartbeat Realm Tier Five. To have reached this Cultivation at his age was actually a sign of excellent talent.

However, he had started in the Sect relatively late, and this was a gathering of the Eastern Domain’s young prodigies, which made him seem much more mediocre.

As he stood up, Chu Fan said to him, "Don’t worry about it. At your age, you can still participate in two more Tengxing Grand Assemblies. You could say I’m the one who got you all into this mess. When you come back for the next one, that will be your time to make a name for yourself."

"Brother Chu, don’t worry. A single failure doesn’t define a hero. I get it!" Jiang Yao didn’t look the least bit upset.

When Jiang Yao arrived at the Gui Character Arena, his opponent was already on the stage.

The man was a Nascent Soul Realm disciple from the Chenqing Sect named Xiang Shijiang. At the last Tengxing Grand Assembly, Chu Fan had defeated him in just two moves.

At that moment, Xiang Shijiang stood on the arena stage, cradling his sword in his arms. He looked down on Jiang Yao, his eyes filled with disdain.

"I thought my opponent would be that arrogant bastard from yesterday. I didn’t expect a pissant like you. Bark like a dog for me three times, and this young master guarantees you a dignified defeat."

Jiang Yao was a young man, after all. How could he not be furious hearing such words? But he remembered what Chu Fan had said, and considering the unfathomable Cultivation of the man before him, he held his anger in check.

"You can only act tough in front of me. If you ran into my Brother Chu, you wouldn’t even last a single exchange," Jiang Yao retorted mockingly.

"Brat, you’re courting death!"

"No. I came up here to forfeit. You won’t get the chance to fight." After speaking, Jiang Yao calmly turned and walked off the stage.

"Holy shit, are the people from Celestial Heart Hall such cowards?"

"Yeah, Celestial Heart Hall was so arrogant yesterday, but today they forfeit without even fighting. What a bunch of wimps. How can people like that even practice Cultivation?"

"This is what you call bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Against opponents with lower Cultivation, they’re arrogant as hell. But when they meet someone with higher Cultivation, they tuck their tails between their legs and run."

"..."

Countless jeers followed Jiang Yao, but he didn’t argue back, simply returning to his seat.

Chu Fan clapped him on the shoulder and said, "As a Cultivator, you need to be able to endure humiliation. You did very well. In the Cultivation Realm, strength is the only thing that matters. Why bother with a war of words?"

Not long after Jiang Yao returned, it was another disciple’s turn to take the stage.

This disciple’s opponent was also in the Nascent Soul Realm, proving Chu Fan’s judgment correct.

That opponent was even more arrogant than Xiang Shijiang, but the Celestial Heart Hall disciple didn’t even walk onto the stage, telling the referee directly that he forfeited.

Naturally, the jeers grew even louder and more grating.

The Celestial Heart Hall disciples were all filled with righteous indignation. Even Shi Qingren and Ni Wanping were getting angry from listening.

"In this world, there are always people with no real skills of their own, but they excel at jumping on the bandwagon to mock and belittle others. Then there are those who love to stand on their moral high ground and judge everyone else. If they were in the same situation, they’d probably be even more pathetic. People like that love having double standards. If you actually confronted them head-on, they’d chicken out faster than anyone," Chu Fan said with a smile.

"Yun Xi, it’s your turn." Chu Fan patted Yun Xi’s hand.

On the Ding Character Arena was the Nascent Soul Realm Saint Heir of the Fiery Fire Sect. As a Saint Heir of the Six Sects and Eight Gates, his status was naturally extraordinary.

His gaze followed Yun Xi all the way from her seat to the arena stage.

"Both of your Celestial Heart Hall’s male disciples have already chickened out. Are you going to do the same? There’s no need. This Saint Heir sees that you’re quite a beauty. If you’re willing to spend a night with me, I might just let you win this match, you know!"

Many people were waiting for Yun Xi to walk onto the stage and forfeit so they could mock Celestial Heart Hall even more mercilessly.

But after Yun Xi walked onto the stage, she stood facing the Fiery Fire Sect’s Saint Heir and raised an eyebrow. She asked the referee behind her, "Can we begin?"

"You both know the rules. We hope you won’t make things difficult for us. You may begin!" one of the referees said.

"Well, well. I didn’t think the women of Celestial Heart Hall had more backbone than the men. I suppose that’s a specialty of the Shuoyue Kingdom? Is this what they call the women wearing the pants?"

"Isn’t that the truth? In order to marry into the Shuoyue Sovereign’s family, didn’t the Celestial Heart Hall Master move the entire Sect to the Shuoyue Kingdom?"

"That’s right! I’d forgotten all about that until you mentioned it! Celestial Heart Hall, hahaha! How does Celestial Heart Hall have the nerve to send disciples to the Tengxing Grand Assembly?"

The Fiery Fire Sect’s Saint Heir now spoke with clear provocation, "Hear that? No one’s betting on you! Seriously, why don’t you just come to me, and I’ll let you win this match? I’ve got something good to give you tonight, too!"

Yun Xi snorted coldly, drew her sword, and struck.

Obediently, she used the First Technique of the Yifeng Sword Technique, with no Sword Qi or Sword Gang.

All anyone saw was her moving slowly, the sword in her hand tracing patterns like a flower.

The scene looked less like a battle and more like a dance.

The laughter from the crowd grew louder. Some even said she was dancing to entertain the Fiery Fire Sect’s Saint Heir, trying to seduce him.

Seeing Yun Xi wield her sword in such a manner, the Fiery Fire Sect’s Saint Heir simply stood there, unmoving. He scoffed, "Are you joking with this Saint Heir? Did you learn this sword technique from the dancing girls in a brothel? Is it meant to please men?"

However, just as the words left his mouth, a chill shot up from the base of his spine, freezing his entire back before rushing straight to his head.

The next moment, he stared, dumbfounded, at the tip of Yun Xi’s sword, now just inches from his throat.

The four referees roared in unison, "Stop!"

One of them even shot into the air, about to intervene, but when he saw that Yun Xi’s sword had stopped, he halted as well, landing beside her.