Chapter 19

Another update will come later.

Chapter 19

================

Tang Jiuzhou had effortlessly defeated more than a dozen opponents with his formations. Arrogance blazed in his eyes, and when he discovered that Ye Qinghui had no Inner Core, he looked down on him even more. He was almost careless as he laid out his formation.

With a sweep of his arm, he drew several intricate seals in the air. Seven dazzling points of light appeared around Ye Qinghui, arranged like the Big Dipper. Spiritual energy flowed between them, and Sword Qi suddenly crisscrossed the seven stars, forming an ever-changing killing formation around Ye Qinghui, with danger lurking on every side.

"It's the Seven-Star Killing Formation!"

The Seven-Star Killing Formation was the Kunshan Tang Family's most famous formation. As its name suggested, it followed the pattern of the Big Dipper, linking the stars and drawing on the hidden power of the heavens. Inside it, an almost sealed realm of death took shape. Sword Qi flew in from every direction; even a top master would be hard-pressed to escape its grip for quite some time.

Ye Qinghui was trapped fast inside the formation. He swung his sword to block the Sword Qi coming from every direction, but it poured in endlessly, like a surging river, like ten thousand galloping horses.

"Before a cup of tea has cooled, Ye Qinghui will exhaust himself and fall in the formation." A mocking smile curled Tang Jiuzhou's lips. He held no grudge against Ye Qinghui, but he had grown up hearing the name of the genius sword cultivator. The thought of crushing him beneath the formation without breaking a sweat made Tang Jiuzhou's grin impossible to suppress.

Then, before everyone's astonished eyes, Ye Qinghui took out a glass baby bottle.

He used the Flowing Light Sword in his right hand to fend off the incoming Sword Qi while raising the bottle high in his left, aiming it at the blazing sun overhead. The bottle reflected the sunlight like an eighth star, disrupting the Big Dipper's arrangement. The flow of spiritual energy between the seven stars faltered, and the Sword Qi gradually vanished.

Tang Jiuzhou was still basking in the joy of victory. Before he could set up the formation again, Ye Qinghui's Flowing Light Sword struck like wind and lightning, knocking him to the ground with its point aimed straight at his heart.

"Damn it!" Tang Jiuzhou spat. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the Seven-Star Killing Formation, the pride of both himself and his entire lineage, would be broken by a glass bottle that had appeared out of nowhere.

It was absurd!

The onlookers crowded around the bottle, assuming it was some extraordinary high-grade spiritual artifact. But as one person after another stepped forward for a closer look, they were dumbstruck: it was an ordinary, unremarkable baby bottle.

Stop looking! Give me back my bottle! Ye Zhenzhen grew anxious. That was how she got her milk! If they accidentally broke it, she would have nothing to drink!

Hearing her, Ye Qinghui hurriedly put the bottle back in her hands and stroked her soft little cheek with indulgent affection.

The little rice dumpling held the bottle in both hands, sucking down her milk with relish. This was no ordinary bottle anymore. It was the bottle that had broken the Cultivation World's famous Seven-Star Killing Formation—a bottle with a story. Even after she stopped drinking milk, she could take it to an auction, boast about its exploits, and sell it for a high price.

With so many contestants in the Immortal Sects Grand Tournament, each group had more than thirty members. The group stage continued into the next day.

The following evening, Ye Qinghui faced his final match: a battle against Gong Ningxian, the String-Killing Sect master's eldest personal disciple.

Like the Cloudsky Sect, the String-Killing Sect was one of the five great sects. It held the Sky-Gate Zither, a divine artifact with the power to manipulate hearts. Most of its disciples cultivated through music, and Gong Ningxian was no exception. He had reached the early Nascent Soul Realm, making him far stronger than the Golden Core Late Stage opponents Ye Qinghui had faced before.

In the original book, Gong Ningxian had made it all the way to the final four. His strength was not to be underestimated.

Like Ye Qinghui, Gong Ningxian had won all of his previous thirty-odd matches. Whoever won this fight would represent their group in the second round's elimination matches.

This time, though, no one panicked. Instead, they turned to Ye Zhenzhen in her swaddling clothes. The little rice dumpling was happily gnawing on her finger with the tip of a newly sprouted tooth.

Meeting everyone's gaze, she gave an apologetic smile. I haven't thought of a good way to deal with him yet. But once Eldest Senior Brother starts fighting him, I can definitely make sure Eldest Senior Brother doesn't lose.

Ye Qinghui: ?

Ye Qingyao: "Little Junior Sister sounds awfully confident."

Ye Qingchuan: "Don't brag too soon."

But Ye Qinghui had been a favored son of heaven for years. Even without a Golden Core, he remained fearless and composed. He stood on the arena platform, elegant as polished jade, like a being descended from the heavens.

Unlike Ye Qinghui's previous opponents, Gong Ningxian showed no sign of underestimating him. He knew that anyone who had defeated as many contestants as he had must have remarkable abilities, Golden Core or not. He had to be careful.

His fingertips flew over the strings. The "Spring River Guangling Tune" rang across Jade Pool Island, sounding like music from the heavens.

Shen Xingyan had finished his final match and came over to watch out of curiosity. He deliberately went to stand beside Ye Qingyao, his puppy-dog eyes shining as he told her he had won every match with ease and would represent his group in the upcoming elimination round.

Seeing Luo Bingyao beside him cast her a hostile look, Ye Qingyao merely said, "Congratulations." Then she ignored him and focused on the match.

As the music climbed toward its climax, every note became a razor-sharp arrow aimed at Ye Qinghui's vital points.

Ye Qinghui closed his eyes and focused on his hearing. He listened intently for the pattern beneath each note, found the rhythm and its gaps, and dodged the attacks again and again.

Music cultivators' melodies usually contained some repetition and pattern, and Gong Ningxian's was no exception. But a Nascent Soul Realm music cultivator was different from one at the Golden Core stage. After repeating the pattern only two or three times, Gong Ningxian abruptly changed the rhythm. Notes burst forth faster and faster, their attacks growing fiercer as they closed in around Ye Qinghui. They were even more violent, swift, and unpredictable than the Seven-Star Killing Formation.

Fast as Ye Qinghui's swordplay was, he had only two hands and one sword. He could not fend off so many ferocious notes. One struck his left knee, sending him down on one knee, but he did not dare relax his grip on his sword.

Ranking list

|

Transmigration into a book

Power fantasy

Cannon fodder

Everyone's darling