Hello! Goodbye!

Xu Xiaoshou was washing his hands.

If he had not blocked that deadly mouth with his hand at the crucial moment, his first kiss in this life might have been stolen.

"Cursed, Passive Value, +2."

"Cursed, Passive Value, +2."

Behind him, the two staff members clutched their stomachs and rolled around on the ground. Taking a kick from Xu Xiaoshou was no pleasant experience.

Of course, those two fools who had thought of using a ladder to save someone had rather limited cultivation themselves. Xu Xiaoshou knew how to hold back.

Boom! At that moment, an explosion came from the main arena. A spiritual tree shot into the sky, directly piercing the barrier and knocking a burly figure out of the arena.

"The battle is over. Mu Zixi wins!"

The spectator stands erupted in uproar. That spiritual tree, which had suddenly grown wildly across the arena, had truly stunned everyone.

"Oh! My darling, this is simply unbelievable. Innate... Innate?"

"Junior Sister Mu is actually Innate too? She has only been in the Spirit Palace for one year, and this is the strength she possesses in her first Wind and Cloud Tournament?"

"A genius... no, a monster!"

"Poor Ren Chong. Tenth realm cultivation and minor Body Tempering mastery, yet he stopped at the top eight."

"So high! He was thrown dozens of meters, right... Holy crap, look! Ren Chong is falling down, and there's someone beneath him. That's... Xu Xiaoshou?"

"Watch out!"

Xu Xiaoshou was carefully scrubbing the back of his hand clean, washing away the contamination, when something dark suddenly entered his vision. It seemed to have come from the sky?

What was that? It had even smashed through the small barrier around the waiting area! "Sneak attacked, Passive Value, +1."

Xu Xiaoshou gave a disdainful laugh. Times had changed; he was no longer the Xu Xiaoshou of the past.

He reached back and grabbed it, feeling as though he had caught a huge watermelon. It was even a little prickly. Looking closely...

Holy shit!

It was a human head!

Xu Xiaoshou jumped in fright and hurriedly let go. By reflex, he drove a knee upward.

Bang! With a dull impact, Ren Chong flew into the air again. This time, Xu Xiaoshou had forgotten to hold back. Still startled, he had even put a little more force into it.

The spectators watched helplessly as Ren Chong fell from heaven into hell, then flew from hell back into the human world, before smashing heavily into the floor. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and his whole body seemed to come apart.

"Haha, I can't take it anymore. Of all people, how did he happen to run into Xu Xiaoshou? What terrible sin did he commit? Xu Xiaoshou has an Innate physique. That knee probably broke all his ribs!"

"What a miserable man. One match, two devastating blows."

"Xu Xiaoshou's reaction was pretty good. Looks like after Boss Wen's sneak attack last time, he learned a fine counter-killing technique. First piercing through the heart, then grabbing heads—tut, tut!"

The audience chattered noisily. Once the barrier broke, Xu Xiaoshou received some Passive Value.

"Admired, Passive Value, +32."

"Praised, Passive Value, +17."

The medical staff hurriedly flew past Xu Xiaoshou. Before leaving, they did not forget to glare at him, as though Xu Xiaoshou were the true culprit behind Ren Chong's unconsciousness.

"Despised, Passive Value, +4."

Xu Xiaoshou felt utterly wronged. He had only been washing his hands, yet a pot had fallen from the sky onto his head. Who the hell knew it was a person!

It was already good enough that he had not twisted that huge watermelon off.

"Resented, Passive Value, +1."

"Resented, Passive Value, +1."

"Resented, Passive Value, +1."

"..."

Several messages suddenly refreshed in rapid succession. Xu Xiaoshou was momentarily bewildered. One Passive Value at a time, refreshing this quickly...

He abruptly looked in the direction where Ren Chong had fallen. Sure enough, that guy had already been revived by the medical staff and was glaring at him with a face full of resentment.

Oh-ho!

You were the one knocked off the arena, then you sneak-attacked me, and now you were blaming me instead?

Xu Xiaoshou's face darkened. Flicking the water from his hands, he strode over.

"Suspected, Passive Value, +1."

"Suspected, Passive Value, +1."

Ren Chong's eyes flickered. Xu Xiaoshou was walking over...

What was he going to do?

Seeing that things were going wrong, the two staff members behind them knew Xu Xiaoshou far too well. They rushed forward and grabbed hold of him.

"What are you doing? Don't act rashly!"

"He's injured! He's a patient!"

Xu Xiaoshou bared his teeth. "I feel like he resents me."

Ren Chong panicked. How the fuck could you sense that so clearly? He hastily grabbed a medic's hand. "Don't treat me yet. Xu Xiaoshou... he's coming over!"

The four medical staff all turned to look at him, another wave of killing glares. Xu Xiaoshou forced a smile. "Hehe, it's fine. I'm just checking on him, seeing whether this guy's crippled."

"No need for your concern. I'm fine!"

Ren Chong's body trembled as he clutched the medic's hand tightly, his face full of pleading. "I request to be treated somewhere else!"

"Hehe..." Xu Xiaoshou's laughter was exceptionally warm.

"Xu Xiaoshou!"

"Chao Qingteng!"

Xiao Qixiu's voice suddenly rang out, cutting off the little incident in the waiting area. Evidently, the drawing had ended.

The moment his words fell, the entire venue sank into dead silence, before erupting with tidal-wave cheers. Clearly, everyone was brimming with anticipation for this match.

Xu Xiaoshou froze for a moment. Chao Qingteng? Second on the Wind and Cloud Ranking? An Innate expert?

"So it's finally come?" he sighed faintly, though he knew that with the competition down to eight becoming four, the odds of encountering an Innate expert were extremely high.

"Mocked, Passive Value, +1."

"Mocked, Passive Value, +1."

The information panel began flooding with messages again. Xu Xiaoshou instinctively looked toward Ren Chong. Sure enough, that guy wore a gloating expression.

Who could put up with that?

Resentment, mockery—was there no end to it?!

So what if it was Chao Qingteng? It wasn't as if he was guaranteed to beat me. What the hell are you mocking me for?

Xu Xiaoshou shook off the staff members' hands and charged over.

"Holy crap, Xu Xiaoshou, what are you doing?!" Ren Chong panicked.

"Xu Xiaoshou, stop!" The medical staff hurriedly scattered, afraid of being struck by an Innate physique. "He's injured! What are you doing?"

Ren Chong stared in shock at the four angels in white. They ran away? "Take me with you!"

Xu Xiaoshou scooped up the immobile Ren Chong, his face full of self-reproach and regret.

"Hey, whoever-you-are, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you. But it's fine, I know how to set bones, and I have plenty of Red-Gold Pills. You'll definitely be fine!"

Xu Xiaoshou's voice carried a faint sob as he spoke, while his hand reached for Ren Chong's ribs.

"Holy crap, don't touch me!"

"Help! Where are the medics? Don't just run off by yourselves, take me with you!"

"Hiss—"

"Ah—"

The medical staff and the waiting-area workers huddled into a ball. Seeing Xu Xiaoshou setting Ren Chong's bones on one side while taking out pills on the other, they all trembled from head to toe.

Was he a demon or what!...

A young girl in pale green silk walked down from the main arena. Her features were exquisite, as though carved from jade and dusted with powder, utterly adorable.

Her long twin ponytails swayed as she looked around. Seemingly having found her target, she skipped over to Xu Xiaoshou and reached out to pat his head.

"Xu Xiaoshou, Elder Xiao is calling you."

"Wait, I'm setting bones!" Xu Xiaoshou did not even turn around.

The girl tilted her head, clearly very curious.

She watched Xu Xiaoshou press fiercely all over Ren Chong's injuries, occasionally holding a pill beneath his nose. Instantly shocked by this method, she pointed at Ren Chong. "He's about to die!"

"It's fine. The Red-Gold Pill is keeping him alive. He won't die."

"You're letting him smell the pill but not making him eat it. What's the use?"

Xu Xiaoshou's movements stalled at her words. Right, this guy seemed not to have a Breathing Method...

Ren Chong spat bloody foam and rolled his eyes back, already with one foot in the underworld. Xu Xiaoshou hurriedly fed him the pill.

The bones were naturally set back in place. Xu Xiaoshou's skill was reliable enough, but as for the pain, that depended on fate.

"Xu Xiaoshou! Get up here!" Xiao Qixiu's furious roar came from above.

Xu Xiaoshou shuddered. Turning around, he saw the delicate, charming girl dressed in green. She had probably been the one calling him earlier.

"You are..."

"Mu Zixi."

The girl in green tilted her head and smiled, very friendly. "Hello, Xu Xiaoshou."

"Oh, oh."

Xu Xiaoshou had no time to linger and hurried toward the arena. "Hello! Goodbye!"

Mu Zixi: "..."

"Cursed, Passive Value, +1."