Over at the Sea of Clouds, the sect’s Grand Competition had ended a few days ago, and the results shocked everyone.
The Qingxia Chief defeated the Xizhao Peak Chief in the quarterfinals, and fought fiercely against the Zhuiyun Peak Chief in the semifinals. Each match was more difficult and more spectacular than the last.
The Zhuiyun Chief, at the peak of the Golden Core stage, fought evenly against a false Nascent Soul, forcing Qin Xiang to reveal her sword scar and finally ending the unbeaten myth of the First Peak over the past three years.
Everyone thought that this championship belonged to Qin Xiang without a doubt, that no one could be her opponent. But even more absurd things were yet to come.
In the finals, the Qingxia Chief was to face a newly admitted disciple. Could you believe it?
Her opponent in the top eight, the Tianxiang Chief, had gone missing, and her opponent in the semifinals, the Wuyin Peak Chief, forfeited. Both because their respective peak chiefs relapsed and were bedridden, requiring constant qi transmission using the same lineage’s Sword Canon to guard them.
Ji Shiyu thus advanced all the way to the finals through a series of accidents, facing Qin Xiang head-on. The mistress versus the first wife—she lost in presence alone, and in terms of cultivation, the gap was like heaven and earth. Wasn’t this a sure public execution?
The little yellow hair was panicking badly. To make matters worse, she had driven away the “pig basket strategist,” and her sworn father had also run off and abandoned her.
Every night, Ji Shiyu would frantically poke that mechanical bird, but after several days, there was still no letter. She became even more depressed.
‘The teacher is a big liar!’
However, Qin Xiang had expended a massive amount of primordial qi using the sword scar, depleting her Qi Sea and destabilizing her innate spiritual foundation. On the advice of Mr. Kuai, she had no choice but to give up the competition.
She had still disappointed her master and her husband. But when she thought about Yun Liu’s expression upon hearing this news, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Ji Shiyu didn’t sleep a wink all night, hesitating whether to play truant. But just as she reached the Dragon Subduing Hall, she was inexplicably declared the champion and ascended to the summit of the Sea of Clouds.
The Grand Elder racked his brains but still couldn’t figure out what had happened. He thought the First Peak would lose face, but in the end, it was this child who preserved their first-place streak for many years?
This was probably the most bizarre edition of the sect’s Grand Competition in history, and also the weakest Go Sword first place ever. Regardless, the golden-haired girl with incredible fortune had grown even more famous. Luck really was part of strength, and a significant part at that.
Ji Shiyu was puzzled for only a short while, then she gave up thinking and gladly accepted reality.
‘Who cares how I won? A win is a win!’
‘This is a good omen, doesn’t it mean that no matter how amazing Senior Sister Qin is, the teacher will end up with me in the end?’
Optimism had always been Huangmao’s greatest virtue. Anyway, Xiao Ran’s condition had just started to improve, but upon hearing this, she fainted from anger again.
The Sword Furnace Secret Realm was about to open. Apart from the absent Tianxiang Chief, all sixteen top disciples from the Grand Competition had arrived.
The Cherry Boat Ferry drifted on the sea. Yun Liu could feel that the island was moving at a considerable speed, following the current into the depths of the ocean.
Gradually, they entered the thick sea fog, making it hard to discern directions. The Servant God Envoys were entering the Divine Tree of Yingzhou using special methods and did not want outsiders to discover.
The other elixir cultivators also stayed in their rooms to train and refine pills, undisturbed, enjoying the peace.
Yun Liu spent most of his time using the Minghuang Holy Fire to refine the Profound Goddess Blood Essence. But the deeper he went, the more he felt like he no longer recognized Huangmao.
It was like a diary spread open before him. The blood technique projected Ji Shiyu’s mental image world into his Sea of Consciousness, mixing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
Her powerful mother had put immense pressure on her daughter since childhood, hoping she would become a phoenix. In a gentle yet cruel way, she sealed all the windows and doors of her world, preventing anyone from having access to the Stellar Destiny, especially men, to avoid affecting the growth of the clan’s hope.
Meanwhile, her dark-bellied ling pet constantly instilled the great mission of the “Heavenly Fate Girl,” repeatedly emphasizing the importance of collecting fortune, even though the young girl’s broken divine soul was not intact.
In such an environment, one couldn’t survive long without being optimistic. Her narcissism was also understandable.
Cold and lonely. Ji Shiyu’s years growing up in the Palace of the Heavenly Pivot Star had no warmth at all, until one day she found a chance to escape.
As for what happened later, Yun Liu already knew.
But the situation wasn’t much better. What should have been a happy small-yard life for the female lead had gone awry, with bizarre developments everywhere.
It could be said that since she met him, Ji Shiyu was either taking the blame or on the way to taking the blame. Then why was she always laughing? Having endured so much hardship, how could she still laugh so happily?
Being hung from a tree, having her shoes stolen by a beast; squatting in the herb garden to till the soil; sneaking into a restaurant to eat a meal without paying; practicing swords while bickering with Xiao Ran; lying on the windowsill eavesdropping on his conversations…
As he watched, Yun Liu also laughed. So the world in the girl’s eyes was this interesting, with everything more fun than saving the world.
Thinking of this, the old father who was peeking at his “daughter’s” diary blushed. Out of a bit of curiosity and with mischievous intent, he flipped through the parts he couldn’t see.
He wanted to find the culprit who made Feng Aotian suffer a broken heart, the guy who almost became his adopted son, a role model for all.
But whether openly or in secret, past or present, there had never been a man in Ji Shiyu’s perspective.
That was strange.
Yun Liu shook his head in disappointment. He had originally entertained many guesses, such as the handsome and dashing Zhuiyun Chief, or the suave Wuyin Chief.
No, if he had to say, there was actually one man. He appeared extremely frequently, almost throughout every page of the diary.
How was that possible?
After who knows how long, he finally heard the sound of a bell again. The young man laughed helplessly, then shook his head.
Yun Liu withdrew his consciousness from the Sea of Consciousness and woke up. After digesting the blood essence, he became even more confused.
In Little Yellow Hair’s eyes, there were only spirit stones, food, and—him!
No matter where those brilliant Starmoon Eyes looked, there was always that listless figure in her field of view—Sworn Father!
Little Yellow Chick was lying on the bed yawning from boredom, playing rock-paper-scissors with her left and right wings. She was so bored she could lay an egg.
“Ao Tian?”
“Huh? You’re awake? Looks like we’ve arrived.”
“Ahaha, tell me, the boy Shiyu likes…”
Yun Liu spoke softly, half-jokingly, half-testingly:
“Could it be me?”
If Ao Tian had sneered and said, “Can narcissism be contagious?” or cackled and nodded vigorously, replying, “How did you know?” then he would have breathed a sigh of relief.
But Ao Tian froze. Left hand made scissors, right hand made rock. She covered her bird head, hesitated for a long time without speaking, and avoided eye contact, not daring to look over.
Yun Liu’s heart skipped a beat. This was precisely the most fatal reaction.
“No way?”
“No way! Why?”
Yun Liu jumped up suddenly, startling Ao Tian. In the flurry, feathers flew everywhere.
“Shh! Keep your voice down! Don’t say I told you—no, I didn’t tell you! You figured it out yourself!”
“Wasn’t your hint obvious enough?!”
Yun Liu covered his face. This was an episode that made him, as the father, sweat profusely.
For a moment, all the anomalies were connected: from Xiao Ran’s constant sly grin when Huangmao was always hovering in the sister-zone territory, to his gloominess when he established a relationship with Sister Qin, to his absent-mindedness when he learned that Jing Tan’er was ordered to marry by imperial decree.