Martial Competition (5)

As the final victor of the competition, the junior disciple would ordinarily have no shortage of people coming forward to befriend and curry favor with him.

After all, in the cultivation world, strength was the right to speak. Building good ties with the strong could not only raise one's own prestige, but might also bring much aid on the road of cultivation in the future.

Yet the circumstances this time were indeed exceptional. The long-standing grudge between the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Azure Rock Sect had seemingly been temporarily settled after Tan Yin's victory over Wang Rong.

But anyone with even a bit of discernment understood: how could the Azure Rock Sect so easily swallow this insult and simply let the matter rest?

To go congratulate the junior disciple with great fanfare at such a moment would undoubtedly place oneself atop the crest of the waves. If that earned the Azure Rock Sect's resentment, would that not harm both others and oneself?

What was more, in the eyes of many cultivators, this competition was merely an entertainment segment for the Flower-Appreciation Gathering, something to liven things up and enjoy for the spectacle.

The true protagonist of the Flower-Appreciation Gathering had always been Medicine King Valley.

Offending the Heavenly Sword Sect or Azure Rock Sect was a minor matter. Stealing the host's thunder and provoking Medicine King Valley, though—that would be burying a ticking time bomb for oneself.

Cultivators walked the world fighting heaven and wrestling with fate. Injuries were as commonplace as daily meals. Thus, it was best not to offend medical cultivators, everyone's wet nurses, if one could avoid it.

When one's life hung by a thread and one was dragged back from the gates of hell, that was a life-saving debt—a favor as vast as the heavens! They themselves might not be much in a fight, but who would dare gamble that no profoundly cultivated expert owed them a favor?

Cultivation also required cultivating the ways of human dealings. It was not as simple as burying one's head in hard training and calling it done. For great powers, casually wiping out a small sect or killing a few ants far beneath their cultivation to repay a life-saving favor and settle a great karmic debt was an absolute bargain!

Anyone who could not even see that clearly was destined not to go far on this path.

After receiving treatment, the junior disciple occasionally could not help sneaking glances toward Gu Yueyao. His eyes concealed a faint, barely noticeable shyness and an irrepressible delight.

He had always been terribly clumsy with words. When excited, he often stammered even during ordinary conversations, let alone when facing Gu Yueyao, whom he had admired for so long.

At that moment, joy and nervousness tangled within him, leaving him utterly unable to express the tide-like emotions surging through his heart.

In truth, aside from wholeheartedly wishing to win honor for his sect, he had joined this competition with a small private hope: that he might perform well before Gu Yueyao.

Now, although he had ultimately won the competition as he had wished, he still felt that his victory was not particularly glorious.

After all, Senior Brother Tan Yin had been unable to take part in the finals due to his injuries, and he had won so directly. It carried something of the air of picking up a bargain. This thought made him look at Gu Yueyao with several degrees more caution, as though afraid she might look down on him because of it.

As for Gu Yueyao, she merely returned the junior disciple's gaze with a polite smile, her eyes holding no great ripple.

While methodically treating the other injured people, she secretly evaluated the junior disciple.

She truly had no particular feelings for him, but what she needed was not a soulmate lover. She needed a capable and virtuous partner.

The Heavenly Sword Sect had always had a clean reputation and excellent standing in the cultivation world, undoubtedly earning the junior disciple quite a few points.

The junior disciple himself was still young, and his actions could sometimes be impulsive. Yet from their previous interactions, he had been fairly obedient, without the overbearing arrogance of reckless youth.

This competition also showed that he possessed a certain degree of strength. He was thick-skinned and sturdy, making him convenient for conducting a few experiments, and he clearly liked her. That saved her from spending too much time deliberately cultivating feelings between them.

Still, a person's character could not be fully seen through in a short time and required further observation. For now, at least, he did not seem bad.

For the time being, Gu Yueyao made a note of the junior disciple in her heart.

As Gu Yueyao focused on treating the injured, that body cultivator from the final four was like a child forever brimming with curiosity, chattering nonstop and asking question after question.

One moment, he curiously asked about the principles behind Gu Yueyao's treatment techniques. The next, he offered his thoughts on the competition that had just ended. From time to time, he also inquired about strange tales from other sects. His enthusiasm left even the people around him struggling to cope.

He had entered this competition purely out of a thirst for the strong. He sincerely hoped to exchange blows with powerful cultivators and thereby improve his own strength.

In his imagination, a competition that gathered the foremost experts from every sect would certainly have many outstanding young talents participating.

Yet after taking part himself, he found reality somewhat different from his expectations, and he could not help feeling deeply puzzled.

After he had poured out all his confusion earlier, his senior brothers had merely shaken their heads and smiled at his questions without explaining the reasons, leaving him even more at a loss.

"Because the truly formidable ones have to go home and inherit their millions in family wealth. It is not their turn to marry into someone else's family."

Lin Huaixu had not forgotten the excuse he had used when proposing that Shen Yuxi come along. Seizing the chance, he brought Shen Yuxi over, intending to find someone to examine Shen Yuxi's physical condition. The Valley Master was busy treating Tan Yin and Wang Rong, the two severely injured patients, and had no time to spare, so they could only come find Gu Yueyao.

The moment they arrived, they happened to hear the body cultivator voicing his confusion with a baffled expression. Shen Yuxi instinctively and kindly supplied the answer in his heart.

The body cultivator's surname was Liu and his given name Yang, a disciple of the Nether Martial Sect. He had a frank personality and an immense passion for cultivation, especially an almost obsessive persistence toward crossing hands with masters.

Although he had found fewer formidable contestants in this competition than he had expected and inevitably felt a little disappointed, his fight with the Heavenly Sword Sect's junior disciple had left him shouting with delight.

The junior disciple's unique fighting style had stirred a different kind of wave through the combat patterns Liu Yang was accustomed to. He found it immensely satisfying, and from the bottom of his heart, he was happy to befriend the junior disciple.

It had to be said that fighting the junior disciple truly brought an unusually exhilarating sensation.

The junior disciple had been born with a sturdy, thick-skinned physique, his physical constitution far surpassing that of ordinary people. Yet he had not been content with that. Instead, he had opened a new path, cleverly forging a unique cultivation route that combined swordsmanship and body cultivation.

He integrated the varied throwing techniques of body arts into sword techniques in a wondrous fashion. Through ceaseless study and refinement, he eventually developed an utterly distinctive, one-of-a-kind fighting style.

Once he entered battle and launched an attack, he was as fierce as a violent storm. His astonishing consecutive strikes came one after another like the endless waters of a surging river. These attacks were not merely simple accumulations of force; they contained exquisite technique, constantly disrupting his opponent's balance in all four limbs and making it difficult for them to organize an effective counterattack amid their panic.

The might unleashed in that burst was truly not to be underestimated. Even seasoned experts had to muster twelve parts of their attention when facing such a fierce offensive.

How could such a distinctive skill not exist in the original work? That doesn't seem right. I remember there should have been a character like this, but he doesn't seem to be from the Eldest Senior Brother arc...

Shen Yuxi muttered to himself inwardly. He felt that the junior disciple's skills and character setup were familiar, yet he could not recall their exact source for the moment.

"Junior Brother Li Huai's technique is indeed superb. Did he create it himself?" Lin Huaixu's voice sounded at just the right time.

He understood his own Second Senior Brother far too well and knew that his unreliable precognitive ability was intermittently failing again.

During the competition just now, Second Senior Brother had likely been engrossed in something else and had barely paid attention. Lin Huaixu thus tried to draw out a few keywords that might trigger Second Senior Brother's inspiration, hoping to help him part the veil of fog.

Li Huai? It can't be the one I'm thinking of, can it? A character from the newest series is appearing this soon? Shen Yuxi was suddenly startled. He had been too busy shipping couples just now to pay much attention to the matches of the "background character" types.

Hearing that name added several degrees of astonishment to his already puzzled mood.

"It was self-created. In my early years, I walked the path of body tempering just like Senior Brother Chen. But I was truly too dull to grasp its essence, so I switched to sword cultivation.

"My sword is not a heavy sword, so its lethality cannot compare to my Eldest Senior Brother's. Yet compared to a light sword, it is also a step slower. When facing agile enemies, I simply cannot exert effective pressure. Thinking back to the methods of subduing enemies in body arts, I decided to give it a try. After trying it, I felt it was not bad, so I persisted."

The junior disciple, Li Huai, explained earnestly, his honest face and sincere eyes making him seem particularly guileless.

Damn, it really is you—the fourth of the Seven Sons of Soaring Wind, Prison Dragon Sword Li Huai. You appeared this early? And was your personality like this at the beginning? Shen Yuxi could not help exclaiming inwardly.

He had finally dug Li Huai's identity out from the depths of his memories, but he had never expected Li Huai to appear here and now—and with a personality completely different from what he remembered.

The original Song of the Nine Domains was a vast series of novels. Each installment had an entirely different protagonist, and the timeline was never explicitly marked. Readers could only rely on certain specific events linking the stories together to infer the rough chronology.

As the newest installment, Song of the Nine Domains: Boneborn Sorrow began at the latest point in the timeline of the entire series.

I remember the Seven Sons of Lingyun storyline beginning much later, though. But then again, even if the main plot hasn't arrived, characters still have to live their lives. Shen Yuxi tried to convince himself to accept this unexpected setup. I never thought Li Huai would be Tan Yin's junior brother. Is your Heavenly Sword Sect some kind of spawning ground for male supporting characters?

Lin Huaixu did not know exactly what Second Senior Brother had been thinking, but from his reaction, he vaguely understood that Second Senior Brother knew far more than he and the Sect Master had imagined. For an instant, his eyes darkened like ink, then returned to normal in the blink of an eye. In that fleeting moment, he had already made up his mind.

The corners of Gu Yueyao's lips lifted slightly in a perfectly measured smile. Her bright gaze rested on Li Huai as she said softly, "Junior Brother Li is blessed with extraordinary talent. While continuously improving yourself, you do not forget to review the old and learn the new, integrating body-tempering arts into swordsmanship. Such intelligence and diligence truly make you a model for our generation."

Caught off guard by such praise from Gu Yueyao, whom he admired, Li Huai felt as if an electric current had shot straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He instantly lost his composure. His cheeks quickly flushed red, like ripe apples, burning hot.

He hurriedly waved his hands in embarrassment and stammered modestly, "Young Valley Master, you flatter me. Cultivation should naturally be like this; it is only my duty. I have merely done what everyone else does. It truly is nothing special..."

He lowered his head, not daring to meet Gu Yueyao's eyes. He was both delighted and nervous, as though he had a lively little deer tucked inside his heart, thumping wildly.

Watching the entire scene, Shen Yuxi could not help mocking inwardly, Damn, I knew your personality should be crazier than this. So that's it—you're pretending to be good in front of her. Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a fine older-woman-younger-man romance. Interesting. I ship it!

As Shen Yuxi muttered to himself inwardly, he also thought with some frustration, So Eldest Senior Brother truly has no plans to struggle anymore? He's giving up that easily?

Although he knew perfectly well that Chu Shihan could not know Gu Yueyao had originally been meant to become one of his many wives, he still could not resist directing his resentment at Chu Shihan.

Chu Shihan, who had long since learned everything from Shen Yuxi's inner voice: No thanks. Not needed. It was deliberate.

What followed were entertainment programs of every sort, with games and performances large and small unfolding in dazzling abundance.

The most interesting of them was the "Treasure-Hunting Alchemy" event—

Within the sea of flowers, brilliantly colored spirit butterflies danced lightly through the air, their delicate forms and shimmering wings glowing with dreamlike radiance. These spirit butterflies were not merely beautiful scenery for people to admire; they also carried the crucial clues for treasure hunting.

The participants displayed their various abilities, pursuing and luring the spirit butterflies among the flowers. Once they successfully caught one, they could obtain a mysterious clue from it. Those clues pointed to obscure, hidden corners throughout Medicine King Valley, where incomparably precious alchemy materials were concealed.

Using the treasures they found as the main ingredients, participants could also pick suitable supplementary ingredients from the blooming flower sea on-site. They would then hand the materials to the alchemy disciples who had long been prepared, and those disciples would refine pills on the spot according to the materials provided.

So long as the medicinal properties of the ingredients did not obviously conflict to the point that no pill could be formed, the alchemy would primarily use the materials supplied by the participant, with only slight adjustments and corrections made on that basis.

But if the materials handed in by a participant had severe problems that made alchemy impossible, they would be eliminated. Even so, they would still receive a healing pill as a participation prize, as a token of goodwill.

The clues carried by the spirit butterflies were not written plainly either. They were all encoded in various cryptic phrases and required sufficient knowledge to decipher. If participants truly had no idea, they could additionally seek a help-request mission from a Medicine King Valley disciple. Completing the mission would also allow them to request assistance from people outside the event.

As for those with little interest in such activities, Medicine King Valley had considered everything and specially prepared custom spirit chess for them to relax.

Spirit chess was a game popular among cultivators. The pieces reflected the spiritual roots and spiritual energy attributes of the players controlling them, thereby producing mutually generating and mutually restraining effects. Playing against different people brought out entirely different characteristics, making it endlessly enjoyable.

Participants formed pairs and sat quietly on opposite sides of the boards, beginning one splendid spirit chess duel after another. As the pieces collided, spiritual energy rippled outward. Within the silent contests, wisdom and strategy were displayed to the fullest.

For a time, laughter and cheerful voices echoed through every corner of Medicine King Valley. Everyone was wholly immersed in the joyous atmosphere, entirely unaware that time was slipping away quietly like a murmuring stream.

Amid the crowd's laughter and conversation, dusk slowly spread from the horizon, and the setting sun gradually sank in the west.

Nine Domains Encyclopedia:

○ Nether Martial Sect

A mid-tier sect specializing in body cultivation.

Originally named the Longevity Academy, its ancestor had merely wished to temper his physique. By chance, he successfully underwent Qi Induction and embarked upon the path of cultivation. He had opened a small school simply to teach martial students in an ordinary fashion, yet somehow it became a cultivation sect.

Later, an intelligent disciple finally realized that they were not practicing martial arts but cultivating immortality, and with a grand wave of his hand, changed the name to something embarrassingly melodramatic. Yet even now, compared with cultivation sects, their way of thinking still leaned more toward that of mortals.