Chapter 20

"Senior Brother!" Ye Qingyao cried worriedly.

"Ye Qinghui will lose within ten moves," Luo Bingyao remarked from the sidelines. For once, she said something Shen Xingyan liked hearing. He curled his lips. "He might not even last ten." Furious, Ye Qingyao, Ye Qingchuan, and Ye Zhenzhen all turned to glare at the two of them.

Just as the music's tempo was about to reach its peak and the notes were at their most powerful, a baby's cries rang out, utterly without rhythm.

"Wah... wah... wah..." The cries shook heaven and earth, while the one behind them hid her deeds and her fame.

Ye Zhenzhen: Hiding her deeds and her fame.

Chapter 20

Just as Gong Ningxian played the deadliest passage of the "Soul-Summoning Tune," intending to kill Ye Qinghui, a vigorous baby's cry suddenly rang through the sky and shook heaven and earth.

The cries seemed to carry a primal, chaotic power. They threw off Gong Ningxian's rhythm and disturbed his mind, making it difficult for him to gather his spiritual consciousness again.

"What is that awful racket?" Gong Ningxian's pupils contracted. His mind faltered, and his own notes rebounded against him. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

The music stopped.

Enduring the pain in his left leg, Ye Qinghui seized his chance and leaped through the air. He knocked Gong Ningxian aside and aimed the Flowing Light Sword at his fingers.

For a musical cultivator, his fingers were his most precious asset. Without his instrument, Gong Ningxian had no means of defending himself, so he had no choice but to concede. Yet the moment Ye Qinghui put away his sword, Gong Ningxian rushed off the platform and shouted, "Who was crying just now and disrupting my music?"

"That little baby." Someone pointed at Ye Zhenzhen.

Gong Ningxian strode toward Ye Zhenzhen. After studying her closely, he reached out to seize her throat. Ye Ruheng shoved him away. "What are you doing? How dare you try to kill my daughter?"

"She isn't an ordinary infant. She's a demon child! There's some kind of demonic power in her cries that can disrupt my powerful music."

"How is that possible? You were the one who tried to kill my senior brother first. Your music was so sharp and full of murderous intent that it frightened my little junior sister into crying," Ye Qingchuan accused. "Your own skills fell short and your mind wavered. What gives you the right to claim there's something wrong with my little junior sister? She's a baby. What can she do besides cry?"

Ye Qingchuan was only a half-grown boy, but his words rang with conviction and reason. People around them voiced their agreement. "Exactly. The baby just got scared and cried. Why call her a demon child?"

"How vicious. He broke the tournament rules by trying to kill his opponent, then tried to kill a baby too. Is this how the String-Killing Sect teaches its disciples?"

"She's such an adorable baby. He nearly strangled her. How could he bring himself to do it?"

Ye Zhenzhen played along with the crowd at just the right moment. Her cries grew increasingly pitiful, her features scrunching together, until she was sobbing in little, high-pitched hiccups like a kitten.

The performance was outrageous, and it drew sympathy and affection from everyone.

Seeing public opinion swing entirely against them, Ling Xiao, the String-Killing Sect's leader, worried that his disciple would provoke the crowd's wrath. He hurried over, caught hold of Gong Ningxian before he could argue further, and bowed to Ye Ruheng. "My disciple failed to keep his mind under control and nearly did something irreparable. Sect Leader Ye, I'm truly sorry."

"Wretched disciple, come apologize to Sect Leader Ye and his daughter."

Deeply reluctant and painfully stiff, Gong Ningxian managed an apology. "I'm sorry. I was out of line." But when he lowered his head and met the eyes of the baby in Ye Ruheng's arms, he thought he saw her curl her lips into a mocking, triumphant smile. It vanished in an instant, yet sent a chill down his spine.

This baby girl is no ordinary child.

They had been away for three days, and Ye Ruheng and Xie Jingshu needed to return to the Cloudsky Sect to guard the Mountain-Guarding Formation. Ye Zhenzhen insisted on staying to watch the matches, so they reluctantly entrusted her to Ye Qinghui and the others.

As usual, the group took advantage of the evening market to sell grilled fish for a while. In just three days, Ye Qingchuan's grilled fish had become famous across the island. They had sold more than thirty thousand Superior Spirit Stones' worth and made a tidy fortune.

That night, as they were preparing to rest, Shen Xingyan arrived.

Having finally shaken off Luo Bingyao, he came straight to find Ye Qingyao. At first, he had only wanted to use her as his Furnace. But after being pestered for so long by someone as relentlessly infatuated as Luo Bingyao, he found a woman as bright, beautiful, gentle, and kind as Ye Qingyao more captivating than ever.

"Qingyao, tonight I'm going to keep my promise and take you aboard the Flying Boat to see the sights around Jade Pool Island. Come with me." Shen Xingyan stood with his hands behind his back, his tall, handsome figure irresistibly alluring beneath the moonlight.

Senior Sister, I want to go too! Take me with you! Before Ye Qingyao could agree, Ye Zhenzhen was already bouncing with excitement inside.

She sensed the plot was about to unfold. In the original book, Shen Xingyan had also taken Ye Qingyao aboard the Flying Boat on the night before the second elimination round, and some fascinating things had happened.

"Senior Sister, I'm coming too." Ye Qingchuan was not about to let his senior sister go out alone with Shen Xingyan at night. He wanted to stay right beside her and keep watch.

So, with a baby girl in one arm and a little boy's hand in the other, Ye Qingyao asked, "Can we go like this?"

Shen Xingyan pressed a hand to his forehead and looked at the two glaringly bright third wheels with distaste. His romantic night of boating beneath the moon with a beautiful woman was about to be ruined by them.

But Ye Qingyao looked ready to refuse if they could not come, forcing him to bring the two hangers-on.

Shen Xingyan walked ahead at a leisurely pace and led them to the amphibious flying boat that had been set aside as a prize.

Ye Qingyao: ?

"Isn't this the grand prize for the Immortal Sects Grand Tournament?"

Shen Xingyan gave her a wicked smile. "I'm certain to take first place in this tournament. It'll be mine eventually, so why shouldn't I try it out early? Besides, the Spirit Stones this Flying Boat burns can go on the tournament's account. If I used my own Flying Boat, wouldn't that be a waste of Spirit Stones?"

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