Qiao Xiaoxian raised her hand and tossed two sturdy cow legs to Jiang Ke’er.
“Keep these fresh. Remember to reattach them after the match.”
“…”
Jiang Ke’er was momentarily speechless.
Poor Lin Gang.
While cultivators could easily reattach or even regenerate severed limbs, Lin Gang would clearly be bedridden for at least a few days.
“What are you doing here?” Jiang Ke’er asked, looking at Qiao Xiaoxian with annoyance.
“You can’t handle this.”
“What a joke.”
“Their teams have restructured,” Qiao Xiaoxian said. “Originally, those two teams only had the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Seats of the Tribulation Immortal Hall. Even with just those three, they would have been difficult to deal with… but yesterday I received news that the Fourth, Fifth, and new Ninth Seats have joined them. Furthermore, they have all joined Team Deities.”
Jiang Ke’er was genuinely startled this time.
Team Deities already had two Dao Seats from the Tribulation Immortal Hall. If they added three more… wouldn’t the entire team consist of Dao Seat Disciples from the Tribulation Immortal Hall?
Two of them could already hold their own against Qiao Xiaoxian. What about five?
Moreover, the ranking of the Dao Seats in the Tribulation Immortal Hall was also a ranking of their strength.
She should have been just barely able to handle the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Seats, but the strength of the Fourth and Fifth Seats was far above them—they were truly unfathomable.
“Five Dao Seats from the Tribulation Immortal Hall?!”
Upon hearing the news, the legs of the Minor Demons went weak for a moment.
They had long heard of the power of the Tribulation Immortal Hall’s Dao Seats; those were existences they could never hope to reach.
In their eyes, a single Dao Seat from the Tribulation Immortal Hall was enough to defeat the entire Bagpipe Squad, let alone five of them fighting at once.
“Not only that, the newly appointed Ninth Seat, along with the Fourth and Fifth Seats, have never fought in public. Because of that, we know nothing about them, but they know plenty about you.”
The Minor Demons fell silent.
The situation was far more dire than they had imagined.
Jie Shui let out a sigh. “Actually, I originally came here to throw the match, but I didn’t expect you all to come too… Now that everyone is here, I naturally have to fight seriously, but I didn’t think the opponents would be this formidable. Maybe… you all should just head back.”
“You’re chickening out?” Gan Ruanruan raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I’m chickening out,” Jie Shui admitted candidly.
“Doesn’t the Jie family’s dictionary lack the word ‘chickening out’?”
“The Jie family’s dictionary doesn’t have it, but you guys are here… To be honest, my life isn’t worth much, but I don’t want to drag you all down to die with me.”
This was indeed the greatest challenge the Bagpipe Squad had faced to date—a battle where the disparity in strength seemed insurmountable.
Knock, knock, knock—
A sudden knocking at the door of the team assembly room startled the Minor Demons.
Jiang Ke’er ran forward to open the door, only to see two unfamiliar faces.
A man and a woman stood outside. They pulled back their hoods, revealing gray-white triangular ears atop their heads, making no effort to hide their identity as wolf Demons.
The man was about 5 feet 5 inches tall, a height considered a “Grade Two disability” in the Cultivator Realm. He was also as thin as a rolling pin. However, his features were straight and even a bit handsome; he wasn’t bad-looking at all.
He grinned, and for a fleeting second, Jiang Ke’er saw a seventy percent resemblance to Jie Shui’s carefree smile.
“Jie Shui! Your parents came to cheer you on!”
Jie Shui stood there, dumbfounded.
Then his face turned bright red, and he snapped in a fit of embarrassment, “What are you two doing here?! Who brings their parents to a competition?! Wow… this is so humiliating! And it’s dangerous here! What on earth are you thinking?!”
Heroes going to the battlefield didn’t bring their parents! In his mind, Jie Shui had already cast himself as a heroic tough guy sacrificing himself for a cause.
He had just been advising the others to go back while he went to his death… and then, his heroic momentum instantly deflated.
The woman at the door smiled helplessly and said, “Your Father insisted on coming. I couldn’t stop him… Why don’t you just listen to what he has to say?”
The woman had a gentle demeanor.
Although there was a thin scar on the side of her face, it didn’t detract from her tender and considerate aura; instead, it added a unique sense of beauty.
“Listen to what? Listen to him brag?” Jie Shui exploded instantly, refusing to even look at his Father.
“Listen to him blow hot air about old stories where he was supposedly better than the State Preceptor? Listen to him brag about defeating some ‘Ancient God’ nonsense? Mother, do you really believe that far-fetched crap he says? He’s delusional! We should have sent him to the Medical Hall to have his head checked long ago!”
‘Ancient Gods?!’
Jiang Ke’er suddenly remembered that when she and Jie Shui were trapped in the Otherworld, he had mentioned having a crazy Father.
That crazy Father would often tell him stories related to “Ancient Gods,” speaking with such conviction as if he had once been a great hero.
Precisely because of this, Jie Shui strongly disliked his Father.
Jiang Ke’er remembered Jie Shui saying he would tell her those Ancient God stories, but he hadn’t had the chance until now.
Seeing his son’s anger, Jie Shui’s Father seemed a bit powerless.
He sighed softly, rubbed his nose, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I understand why you’re angry. I know I can be quite annoying sometimes… You know, when I was young, I once accidentally annoyed a great man to death.”
“Here we go again!” Jie Shui gnashed his teeth in fury.
“What great man? Don’t tell me it was someone even more incredible than the State Preceptor?”
Jie Shui’s Father smiled bitterly, a trace of weariness appearing between his brows. “In my heart, he was 10,000 times more incredible than the State Preceptor.”
“Ha! Then may I ask, how exactly did you annoy such a powerful man to death?”
“I…” Jie Shui’s Father’s face twisted in pain. “I sang a song…”
“…”
Jie Shui threw his hands up and shrugged at Jiang Ke’er and the other Minor Demons, as if to say—’See? Now you know how ridiculous my Father is.’
“I know this match is important to you and the Demon Race, and I know it’s extremely dangerous,” Jie Shui’s Father said, reaching into the Qiankun Bag at his waist. After rummaging around for a while, he pulled out a small cloth bundle. “So, Father brought you some things…”
“Enough! It’s probably another Imperial Sword made out of Chaff Fish or something, right?” Jie Shui shouted angrily.
“Father! Stop messing with my head at a time like this! Just let me have a grand and meaningful end, okay? I’m serious!”
A vein throbbed on the Father’s forehead.
He lost his temper as well and threw the bundle heavily in front of Jie Shui.
“You brat! Don’t look down on the Jie family! Our Jie family is the most badass family in all of Shenzhou!!!”
“Give it a rest. We’re the number one family at bragging, more like,” Jie Shui sneered.
Without even glancing at the bundle, he tossed it directly into the trash can.
“Last time, you took a broken stone and called it a Godhead. When I took it to the Auction House for an Appraisal, they said it was just a pebble from a latrine… I’ve believed you so many times. When I was little, I even looked up to you as my idol. But I’m grown up now. Please stop trying to deceive me with these fairy tales meant for children!”
“I explained it already. That wasn’t a Godhead from this world, so it couldn’t be activated…” the Father’s voice sounded weak. “Fine. You’ll understand in the future.”
He walked over to the trash can, picked up the bundle Jie Shui had discarded, and dusted it off.
That hunched, almost pitiful silhouette made Jie Shui’s heart ache.
He knew he had gone too far with his words.
However, he truly didn’t want his father to remain immersed in fantasies, speaking nonsense all day and living in his own world.
After a moment of silence, Jie Shui stepped forward and took the bundle.
“What is it this time?” he asked in a low voice.