On and off the stage, there was complete silence. At this point, only the woman in the gray robe, staff in hand, smiled as she looked at everyone.
“What… what’s going on here?” After a moment, a disciple asked in puzzlement.
Moments ago, they had only seen Feng Hu raising his Tiger Claw Spear to attack Zanxing, but then he suddenly stopped, allowing Zanxing to circle behind him and knock him off the competition stage with a single strike.
Feng Hu, among the 120 newly admitted disciples, might not have been at the top, but he was not an unknown figure either. Seeing him being defeated so decisively by a seemingly unknown disciple like Zanxing was almost unbelievable.
While there had been playful comments about a private relationship between the two earlier, everyone knew it was just banter. Moreover, Feng Hu had been quite fierce in his attacks until the very end when, inexplicably, he seemed to be paralyzed in place.
��This young girl…” Daoist Yueguang furrowed his brows, wanting to make some remarks but finding himself at a loss for words, his voice stuck in his throat.
On the other hand, Xuan Lingzi, who had been watching, exclaimed in shock, “She has actually comprehended ‘Mirror Flowers and Water Moon’?”
“What is that?”
“The first level of the ‘Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff,’ ‘Mirror Flowers and Water Moon’. I’ve seen Fairy Qinghua use it once. For this young girl to learn the first level in just a little over ten days is impressive, but it’s only half of it.”
“Half of it?”
Xuan Lingzi smiled, his eyes narrowing into slits, and playfully bowed, saying, “It’s all thanks to the discerning eyes of my senior brothers.”
The disciple reading the results announced in an emotionless tone, “In the 36th round, Yang Zanxing wins—.”
Zanxing stepped down from the competition stage, and Tian Fangfang eagerly approached her, giving her a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Well done, Junior Sister! I was worried for you, but you turned out to be so strong. What did you do just now? How did that tiger head suddenly stop moving?”
“Secret,” Zanxing replied nonchalantly.
“It seems like you’ve been training well,” Duan Xiangrao walked over, her gaze hiding some ill intentions, but she spoke with a smile. “I hope in the second round, we can be opponents.”
Zanxing felt that Duan Xiangrao’s hostility towards her was quite inexplicable. In theory, Wang Shao was already a thing of the past, and Duan Xiangrao had a new boyfriend. Regardless, there shouldn’t have been any reason for conflict between them. Perhaps it was because Zanxing took the protagonist’s Xiao Yuan Pearl, which not only transferred the protagonist’s aura but also forced her into a mode of making enemies and showing off. As the protagonist in a light novel, various people would naturally come forward to become her rivals.
Just like Mu Cengxiao’s opponent was Hua Yue, this storyline had now forcibly created an enemy for her—Duan Xiangrao.
After Duan Xiangrao left, Tian Fangfang asked in a hushed voice, “Did you offend Senior Sister Duan in any way?”
Zanxing replied, “I didn’t.”
“It’s impossible,” Tian Fangfang firmly asserted, “Senior Sister Duan is good-looking, has a high cultivation level, and her personality is kind and gentle. Unless you did something wrong, why would she speak to you like that?”
Zanxing replied, “…You call that kind and gentle?”
“Yes!”
Sigh… Men.
The remaining twenty or so rounds of competition ended quickly. Duan Xiangrao and Hua Yue easily advanced to the second round. After the first round, those who didn’t pass the assessment lost their eligibility to become inner disciples.
The second round of assessments would be more intense and brutal, starting in the afternoon. The participants’ cultivation levels would be evenly matched.
The disciples who had completed the first round were allowed to have lunch and rest for an hour and a half before returning to this place for the next round of draws.
“Of course, it’s because you knocked Feng Hu down with just one move!” Tian Fangfang said as he picked up food with his chopsticks. “Originally, I wasn’t doing too badly today, but now all the attention has been taken by you and that boy named Mu Cengxiao. Zanxing, I’m starting to envy you.”
In her heart, Zanxing thought, “What a character.” Mu Cengxiao had his own protagonist aura, and she had the Xiao Yuan Pearl as her golden finger. There couldn’t be two main characters in one novel unless they were the male and female leads. However, she didn’t want to become Mu Cengxiao’s ninth wife. If things continued to develop in this direction, would she have to face off against Mu Cengxiao?
Something just didn’t feel right.
While she was thinking, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in the palm of her hand. Zanxing’s hand trembled, and her chopsticks fell on the table. She looked at her palm, where there was a faint and reddish mark that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She instinctively tried to rub it off with her finger, but it didn’t come off, almost as if it had grown from the palm of her hand.
“Zanxing, why are you looking at your hand like that?” Tian Fangfang asked.
Zanxing closed her hand to hide the red mark, saying, “It’s nothing.” For some reason, she suddenly felt a sense of unease.
After finishing their meal and resting in the dining hall for half an hour, Zanxing and Tian Fangfang returned to the competition area.
On the competition stage, compared to the morning session, there were half as many participants, but there were even more spectators. The senior disciples of the Taiyan Sect, who had classes in the morning, now had free time in the afternoon, and many of them came to watch the sect’s new disciples undergo the assessment.
As soon as Zanxing approached, she felt numerous pairs of eyes turning toward her.
“Is this the disciple who defeated Feng Hu? How can it still be a woman?”
“If it’s a woman, that’s one thing, but she’s an ugly woman. There’s no reason for Feng Hu to show mercy to such an ugly woman.”
Such derogatory comments filled the air, mostly coming from the disciples who hadn’t passed the assessment in the morning.
Zanxing paid no attention to the negativity. Before long, Zi Luo arrived. The incense burner, containing wooden lots, floated toward the disciples who would participate in the second round of assessments. Zanxing overheard Duan Xiangrao and Hua Yue complaining after drawing their lots, “I got the 30th group, the last one. It’s really hard to endure.”
Hua Yue softly reassured, “It’s okay, I’ll wait for you.” He seemed confident that the quota for inner disciples was theirs for the taking.
Tian Fangfang drew the eighth slot, and he was quite pleased with this order. With a joyful smile, he said, “This number is good, it’s lucky and auspicious. Just hearing it makes me feel like I’ll strike it rich!”
The wooden stick felt cold in her hand, and as she looked at it. At first glance, she saw the number three”, a bad feeling immediately rising in her heart . When she then saw the two characters representing thirty, she felt her vision darken, and her heart sank, taking a while to recover from the shock.
She was beginning to experience the malice from the original work now.