I'm Protecting You Here

"Are we doing a contest?"

A man with a crew cut and a suit jacket chuckled at the question from his seat, shooting Yue Wen and the others a sidelong glance.

"We all come from Immortal Gates. If we fight one-on-one, there won't be much difference in our strength. But whoever draws one of those two rogue cultivators will have an unfair advantage, don't you think?"

After he said that, several people around him laughed.

The Immortal Gate disciples present generally looked down on rogue cultivators, believing their strength didn't deserve to be mentioned alongside their own.

"Luck is part of strength, too," said another young man with red hair and a tight leather jacket. As he spoke, he didn't even look toward Yue Wen and the others.

You could tell they belonged to the same circle and already knew one another, while Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er were completely out of place.

He Caihua frowned at their behavior but didn't stop them.

To these Immortal Gate disciples with powerful connections, her media company didn't hold that much sway. At most, the two sides were equal partners. Even if she thought the disciples were in the wrong, it wasn't worth scolding them over two rogue cultivators.

He Caihua simply turned to Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er and asked, "If no one has any objections, shall we begin?"

"No objections." Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er both shook their heads.

If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to fight these Immortal Gate disciples, either.

It wasn't that he was afraid. They all had powerful connections, and it wouldn't be good to injure any of them. He could control himself well enough, but Zhao Xing'er was another matter...

That was worrying.

Unfortunately, they had no say here. Since the organizers wanted them to compete this way, they had no choice but to fight.

"To keep the number of men and women on each team balanced, we'll have four men and four women draw lots to decide their matchups." As she spoke, A Mei laid out several folded slips of paper. "The women will draw first. Whoever gets one or two will compete first, and whoever gets three or four will go later. Fair and square."

Only then did Yue Wen notice that the contestants were evenly divided by gender: ten people in all, five men and five women.

The two who had secured their spots, Liu Yuanjun and Li Feixia, were names Yue Wen had already heard in City Seven.

They were senior and junior disciples from Xuanfeng Temple.

Xuanfeng Temple was unquestionably the top Immortal Gate in Jiang City. It had few disciples, but a deep foundation, and its record at the Youth Cultivator Convention was the best.

It had so few disciples because its admission standards were strict. Most of Jiang City's promising young cultivators were sent to Xuanfeng Temple first. If they were rejected, they would join another sect.

Liu Yuanjun was the most outstanding disciple of his generation in the temple. Rumor had it that he had an Innate Immortal Body, and several major sects in Tianbei Prefecture had tried to recruit him when he was barely ten. In the end, though, he had chosen to stay in his hometown of River City and cultivate at Xuanfeng Temple.

At twenty, even if he hadn't reached the Gang Realm, he should have been at the peak of the Unity Realm, not far from breaking through.

Seated in the front row, he wore a Taoist robe and looked serious. His appearance suited the description "a face as fair as jade, with red lips and pearly teeth," and his features were remarkably refined. Perhaps he was used to being the center of attention; even sitting there expressionlessly, he seemed to command an aura that drew people's eyes.

His junior, Li Feixia, had a livelier air about her. The girl was eighteen or nineteen. Though she wore an old-fashioned Taoist robe and had her hair tied up with a plain hairpin, making her look rather mature, her round face was wreathed in smiles, giving her an unmistakably playful charm. With her big eyes, long lashes, and deep black pupils, she would surely be a great beauty once she lost some of her baby fat.

Her online name was Fairy Feixia, and she was one of the earlier cultivators signed by Wangyou Media. They helped manage her video platform account without interfering with her daily cultivation. The girl was gifted and likable, and she already had over a hundred thousand followers online.

It seemed her senior, Liu Yuanjun, might have been the one she'd brought along.

After all, no one had ever heard of Liu Yuanjun taking part in this kind of influencer event. He didn't even have a public video account.

This senior-junior pair were top-tier in their background, strength, and fame. Apart from He Caihua, they were the biggest names at the event, so no one objected to their securing two spots.

As for the other Immortal Gate disciples, Yue Wen had never heard of them. They were probably about as influential as Qi Dian.

He casually picked up a slip and opened it. The number "four" was written on it, which meant he'd be competing last.

Zhao Xing'er opened her slip and found a "two" on it. She looked up excitedly. "I get to go on soon!"

Yue Wen smiled faintly and emphasized, "Friendship first, competition second."

"Worried she'll get hurt?" Another female cultivator walked over, holding a slip marked with "one." She wore a smug smile. "As long as the little girl doesn't get too reckless, I'll try to go easy on her."

This dedicated training floor was about as large as several basketball courts. Its materials were specially made to withstand the full force of cultivators below the Fifth Realm without collapsing, and any damage was easy to repair.

The materials used to make a place like this were expensive. With a few modifications, the same materials could be turned into a defensive artifact capable of withstanding a full-force strike from a Gang Realm expert.

The process of carving inscriptions and drawing formations was definitely simpler than making an artifact, since it skipped the most expensive step. Still, building a place like this inside a high-rise cost a fortune. Only a company as wealthy as Wangyou Media could afford to do it.

Besides the two female cultivators about to fight, a middle-aged man stood with his hands at his sides in the training area. He looked utterly ordinary, dressed in a plain black tracksuit, and seemed to be the referee.

But according to A Mei, he was the guardian of the training room and had reached the Gang Realm. If anything went wrong, he would intervene immediately to prevent any irreversible injuries.

That reassured Yue Wen a little. At least someone could stop Zhao Xing'er.

Zhao Xing'er's opponent was Bu Zhongyao, from Que Dao Sect in City Five, another sect devoted to martial arts. She had neat short hair, a plain, fair face, and narrow eyes.

By Wangyou Media's standards, someone with such an ordinary appearance shouldn't have made it here. The young female cultivators who were both strong and beautiful and willing to take part must have been too few, so they'd kept her on.

It made sense. If Wangyou Media had been completely satisfied with its current Immortal Gate disciples, it wouldn't have allowed Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er to try out, either.

Bu Zhongyao wore a fitted green martial outfit, giving her an androgynous look. As the contest was about to begin, she flipped her hand and summoned a pair of reverse-grip blades made from blue-green gemstones. They shimmered with iridescent light and were clearly no ordinary weapons.

"Hey—"

Yue Wen, watching from the room outside the training area, suddenly pushed open the door and called inside.

"Since this is supposed to be a friendly spar, how about nobody uses weapons?" he said, looking worried. "One slip could easily cause an accident."

"Hmph." Bu Zhongyao raised her voice. "My entire Cultivation Method is built around these twin blades. Nice try, but I'm not falling for it!"

"Don't worry," He Caihua said calmly from behind them, her arms crossed. "The guardian in our training area is watching. Nothing can go wrong."

Feeling the strange looks from behind him, Yue Wen could only retreat, a little sheepishly.

"Don't worry, boss. I'll be careful!" Zhao Xing'er reassured him.

She turned around and produced a pair of Twin-bladed Swords, facing Bu Zhongyao's blades from a distance. She looked eager for the contest, her eyes glittering with excitement.

It scared Yue Wen.

Of course I know you'll be careful. I'm worried you won't be careful with your opponent!

And how many of these strange divine weapons do you have?

Woman, enough already!

"Pretty looks might have gotten you in here, but they won't win you the match." Bu Zhongyao sneered and took her stance. "Rogue cultivators like you are nothing but a bunch of trash pickers to me. You don't stand a chance against me!"

"Hey—"

As soon as she finished speaking, Yue Wen shoved the door open again and shouted into the room.

"This is supposed to be a friendly spar. Don't insult her!" Yue Wen pointed at Bu Zhongyao. "What if you make your opponent angry?"

"Are you going to keep this up forever?" Bu Zhongyao shouted back, pointing at him from the training area. "Is she fighting me, or are you?"

"If you're going to fight, just fight. Don't say things to provoke her," Yue Wen said.

"If an insult like that can shake her resolve, she might as well go home!" Bu Zhongyao snapped. "If you're so determined to protect her, why don't you come down here and fight in her place?"

He Caihua frowned, displeased. "Mr. Yue, please return to the viewing room and watch quietly. Don't disrupt the tryout."

"Fine." Yue Wen shut the door with a sigh and muttered, "I'm not protecting her. I'm protecting you!"