But precisely because of that, Pei Ye felt even more conflicted-because he could tell the man had originally intended to astonish everyone at the Feather Trial.
His unraveling of those sword techniques, his understanding of those Profound Arts-even at a disadvantage, he showed a brilliance rarely seen in this Feather Trial. Pei Ye could almost picture him standing before He Miao and Xu Yuanyong, smiling as he said, "I look forward to learning from you, venerable seniors."
So Pei Ye would actually rather he had not taken flight, had fallen off the Crane List, leaving them the hope of seeing him stage a comeback someday. But these three hard-won victories now all but proclaimed that the man had exhausted the explosive release of his first twenty years of accumulated effort, only to win this ranking.
Amid the bustle, Pei Ye found no chance to speak to him. Seeing him return to the Dongting seats, he withdrew his gaze.
Tomorrow would be Miss Ming's "great examination."
The woman in the veiled hat looked neither tense nor anxious as she stood beneath a willow, holding a slip of paper from the Immortal Platform.
"Miss Ming, are those tomorrow's matchups?" Pei Ye asked as they headed west along the street.
"Yes." Ming Qitian handed him the slip. Pei Ye took it and saw ten names written clearly on it, still the familiar ones.
"Miss Ming... you have to fight three matches tomorrow," Pei Ye murmured. "First He Hongzhu, then Li Shenyi, and finally Wang Jiuqiao... they're making you fight everyone else in the top four. That alone would wear you to death. Why arrange the matches this way?"
"Because each match must be fought before their relative strength can be confirmed," Ming Qitian said. "Those three need not fight a round among themselves,