Chapter 421 Cheating
“Well, it’s not a secret. Tianyou Lotus belonged to me originally.”
Su Li explained while refining the Cang Lei’s Cave, “I got two Lotuses back then, but they were targeted by the Su Family. They threatened me with the safety of my Master. After escorting my Master back to the Sect, I fought back. Although the Su Family had a grand tactical matrix to protect their House, I still destroyed the one that had bloomed. This one was only a seedling back then, and it seemed that the Su Family had spent a lot of efforts and resources on it to bring it to bloom in just a thousand years.”
“Must be more than you can imagine.”
Hearing the chaos outside, Black Lotus sighed, “The spiritual power required to bring it to bloom was not less than what you need to break through to the eighteenth hurdle of Lianqi Realm. The Grand Elder in the Su Family must’ve got mad for being robbed this time.”
Su Li propped up her chin, “In that case, I didn’t lose?”
In her previous life, although she got two Lotuses, the one that blossomed had only four petals, so the effect was not so strong. With her ability back then, she was unable to cultivate the seedling left.
“Of course!”
Black Lotus rolled his eyes, “The Su Family has lost the bait along with the fish this time.”
This girl must have forgotten that, in addition to Tianyou Lotus, the two lineal disciples who were expected to break through to Huashen Realm were also slaughtered by her!
Practitioners of Jindan Realm had normally a life span of four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and they, at Yuanying Realm, were incredibly young at the age of just above two thousand years.
The next day before dawn, Su Yuanhai was summoned by the Head Branch and came back with a gloomy face until the internal selection contest was about to start.
Su Li and the other two were waiting at the courtyard door. As Su Yuanhai saw them with a flash in his eyes, he said in a deep voice, “Get ready to the contest with me. The cultivation resources will be reduced by half for those who lose the battle!”
Su Fengchun and Su Meng responded helplessly with a bitter expression.
Su Yuanhai snorted coldly and led the crowd towards the martial arts arena, secretly transmitting voice to Su Li.
“Ms. Li, you have expected everything. The Grand Elder suspected us but couldn’t vent his anger on us after failing to find anything related in our universal rings.”
Su Li nodded imperceptibly and said nothing.
Seeing this, Su Yuanhai did not delay and quickened his pace. A few moments later, he led the three into the martial arts arena.
Once they entered, Su Li found that six of the seven batches of seat by the arena had been taken, and they were the last to arrive.
“Finally arrived?”
“Were they the two brats who came to that bad idea?”
Someone snorted coldly, and dozens of gazes in the field were focused on them in unison, one in ten of which fell on Su Li, while the other on Su Fengchun and Su Meng.
Su Fengchun and Su Meng who had never experienced this kind of situation paled visibly. If Su Yuanhai didn’t stand before them, they must have kneeled.
Su Yuanhai’s face was overcast with unhappiness and he couldn’t help but curse in a low voice, “You brats! Follow me and take your seats!”
“Oh… yes! Yes.”
Su Fengchun and Su Meng gathered their wits together, flushed, and followed Su Yuanhai to sit down at the last seats.
There had been no expression on Su Li’s face as if she lived in her own world.
The Second Branch was led by a pretty female practitioner in her thirties in a blue gauzy dress. She could not help but laugh slightly the moment she saw the scene, “Those two brats could not even bear the gaze, so it was no wonder that they did such a stupid thing with their poor soul. But this Su Jiuzhou… was strong-willed. She’s really a talent worth training! No wonder Su Yuanhai would abandon his sectarian bias and take her to the tea party for immortals anyway.”
Hearing this, an administrator of the Head Branch beside her couldn’t help but remind her, “Head of the Second Branch, the Head of the Family is still angry. Don’t let him hear you.”
“What if he hears me?”
The woman smiled carelessly at the words but withdrew her gaze.
Su Li sat next to Su Yuanhai, sensing that the gaze disappeared. Su Li looked up and glanced at the female practitioner inadvertently. She seemed in her thirties, but her pneuma had reached the late stage of Yuanying Realm, or even the peak stage, far beyond Su Yuanhai’s!
Su Yuanhai noticed this and transmitted the voice voluntarily, “That’s Su Dieyin, a genius hidden by the Second Branch of the Su Family. She is only about fifteen hundred years old and her cultivation is unmeasurable. I’ve heard that she was already preparing for the breakthrough to Huashen Realm.”
“She didn’t go to the Reincarnation Mirror a thousand years ago?”
Su Li asked. Su Yuanhai replied plainly, “Not every genius could take apart back then and Su Dieyin was one of them. The specific reason was unknown to me.”
While they were communicating privately, an ordinary elder from the Head Branch walked to the giant ring hundreds of feet in diameter in the middle of the arena. His voice driven by the force of Yuanying resounded in the whole arena.
“The tea party for immortals is coming. Only the strongest will be rewarded with the greatest opportunity. If you do not want to lag behind, you must fight to the death! Now, representative disciple of each branch, come up and draw the lots to decide the order of the grand competition!”
Mainly because of the loss of Tianyou Lotus, the seat for the head of the Head Branch was empty, so the usual long-winded speech was also spared and only the instructions were briefly explained.
As he just finished his words, one disciple from each branch stood up and walked towards the field, so did Su Li. Though feeling uncomfortable, those from the other branches still thought Su Jiuzhou… was a better choice than the remaining two.
The elder stood in the center, holding the lot container, and warned the fourteen disciples who came to the arena center, “No cheating with your cultivation. You will be disqualified from the tea party immediately if I find out!”
Fourteen disciples responded and went forward in turn. When it was Su Li’s turn, Black Lotus Ring appeared quietly and gently fiddled with the lot container secretly, “Take it!”
Su Li drew it out decisively and had a look.
“Number three!”
She raised her head to look around and found that there was a youth at the middle stage of Jindan Realm holding the same number. Staring at the number in Su Li’s hand with a bitter expression, he heaved a deep sigh.
They were the third team of the third branch, temporarily teamed up to fill out the numbers. They were unable to compete with any other teams, even the Seventh Branch.
When the representatives of the last four branches found this, they couldn’t help but feel envious of her luck. How could Su Jiuzhou be so lucky to draw that number?
Su Yuanhai was overjoyed and clenched his fist, “Ms. Li is really brilliant. She can even cheat on such an occasion.”
The day before, Su Li had asked him which team was the weakest, and he told her. Then she really drew it today. Su Yuanhai would never believe if it were said to be a coincidence.
Holding the lot of number three, Su Li didn’t care what the others thought and stood to the side waiting for the end of the drawing.
“Dear Su Li, that’s not proper to ask me to do this embarrassing thing! If people found out, our reputations would be ruined!”
“Some soul stones to keep my mouth shut! Otherwise, I will spread this everywhere when you become a Mighty!”
The calmness on Su Li’s face remained unchanged, but the corners of her eyes were twitching. Black Lotus had become too arrogant after his awakening. She had to find a time to get him fixed.
Taking a deep breath, Su Li turned her intention into a booming sound and transmitted it into the Black Lotus Ring.
“If you talk one more word, there will be no more soul stones for you ever!”
Swish!
All the voices stopped at once, and her awareness sea returned to silence as if no voice had ever appeared.
Su Li exhaled slightly. It was quiet finally.
Although no one except her and Black Lotus knew who took Tianyou Lotus and no one would trace back to her, there might be some exceptions.
If anything now happened as she was still in the residence of the Head Branch, it would be quite difficult to escape, unless she exposed something to them.
As a result, it was better to keep a low profile and the third team of the Third Branch was the best choice.
In the space of the Black Lotus Ring, Black Lotus quietly sat next to the pond of Tianyou Lotus, staring at the slightly wilted bud idly.
He understood what Su Li was thinking.
Since her rebirth, Su Li had recovered her strength to the late stage of Yuanying Realm within just a few years. It seemed smooth, but in fact, she had to well-consider each step she would take.
The two didn’t talk about it, but they all understood very well that they could not be reckless, nor could they fight with others with their full strength delightfully.
Because they could not afford the consequences of a failure.
“No risks! It is bound to be dangerous at the tea party for immortals this time. If I could recover a bit more of my soul force, maybe…”
Black Lotus was worrying about Su Li, who was sitting on her seat, watching the collision of spiritual power in the arena with no facial expression, even though the battle was intense.
The matchup for number three was arranged to be the last fight, which meant Su Li’s team was the last to step on the ring. This day was destined to be boring for her. She just sat there, doing nothing but reviewing the tenth move of Cuixing occasionally.
Su Fengchun and Su Meng were also relaxed a bit. Since they had been embarrassed, there would be nothing to be afraid of. Moreover, Su Jiuzhou had drew the weakest team, and they could definitely get the pass to the tea party for immortals.
It was sunset soon.
“Ah!!”
After a scream, blood was spilled on the ring. A young man in the uniform of the Head Branch put away his flying sword and left without a look at the disciple from the Sixth Branch, whose arms were cut off.
The head of the Sixth Branch took on a ghastly expression.
Even though he could not gain any treasure, he was still able to open up the horizons of his disciples on previous tea parties for immortals. But this time… they encountered the seed team from the Head Branch!
It was impossible to be qualified!
“Su Yuanhai!!”
The head of the Sixth Branch turned his head abruptly and stared wrathfully at Su Yuanhai. He could not help but think if the Seventh Branch had reached a deal with the Head Branch.
Otherwise, how to explain that the Seventh Branch, the weakest among all branches, drew an even weaker team?
That was barely possible!
Su Yuanhai sensed the gaze, turned his head, and grinned, “What is Sixth Brother proposing?”
The head of the Sixth Branch snorted coldly and turned his head away.
At this time, the elder’s voice sounded, “The last match is for lot number three. Competitors enter the ring!”
Su Yuanhai ignored the head of the Sixth Branch and glanced in the direction of the Third Branch. He pondered for a moment and spoke, “Su Meng, you go first!”
Su Meng was clear that he was the weakest among the three and was not surprised. He took a deep breath and walked into the ring.
Seeing Su Meng being the first opponent, the Third Branch was also relieved. They randomly sent a disciple at the middle stage of Jindan Realm to the ring… Actually, all the three team members were at that stage, so it would be the same to send anyone of them first.
After greetings, the two pulled away from each other. The battle went boringly and the disciple from the Third Branch was less skilled in bodily movement. He was eventually seriously injured and defeated.
“Never expected Su Meng had practiced his body movement to this level.”
Some were surprised by Su Meng’s skill at body movement and became less contemptuous.
Su Meng was drenched in sweat. He panted for a while and then walked out of the ring. He had consumed most of his vital energy, and another battle would get him hurt, which would be not worth the candle.
“Fengchun.”
Su Yuanhai saw Su Meng walking off the ring and said in a deep voice.
Su Fengchun, who could hardly hold back his excitement, immediately stood up and walked up to the center of the ring, spreading out his almost-perfect pneuma of Jindan Realm.
“The peak stage of Jindan Realm!”
Many spectators now became serious. They came to realize that the Seventh Branch was not weak. It got two disciples at the peak stage of Jindan Realm! Su Meng, a bit weaker though, was good at speed to win him more chance of survival.
A few moments later, a disciple from the Third Branch came to the stage, saluting with hands folded, “I am still young, so I am no match for the Senior Fellow Apprentice. However, I don’t want to give up so easily, so please use your full strength!”
Su Fengchun grinned, knowing he was regarded as a partner to practice.