Making good on the wager

"Mm."

"This Sword Immortal will teach you two more sword forms from High Antiquity. Once you integrate these two moves with Slay the Star River and master all three, you will be able to sweep across the world."

The elders: !!!

The ancestor was actually going to teach this young disciple swordsmanship himself! And sword forms from High Antiquity that had all but vanished, no less!

Envy.

Such envy.

Who could have imagined that elders like them would one day envy a Qi Refining Stage disciple?

If not for the water mirror between them, they would have swallowed their pride and begged the ancestor to teach them too!

Everyone looked at Qiaoqiao differently now. A disciple who could win the ancestor's appreciation clearly possessed tremendous providence. She was a rare genius!

They cast discreet glances toward the people from Ethereal Peak. Immortal Venerable Wanghan truly hid his depths. He had taken in such an extraordinary disciple without a word. Who would dare say the Immortal Venerable had a poor eye for disciples now?

He had kept silent, only to astound everyone the moment he made himself heard!

While teaching her swordsmanship, the Sword Immortal blocked the water mirror's image. With nothing to watch for the moment, everyone actually felt rather bored. Never one to mind a bigger spectacle, Mu Liuyun looked at Peak Master Yue, who had collapsed to one side. "I heard your daughter made a wager with Qiaoqiao?"

"Qiaoqiao won that wager, didn't she?"

Peak Master Yue knew nothing about Yue Liuqin's wager with Qiaoqiao. He had been busy dealing with Fairy Peilan's affairs earlier. Crowds had come to Moonlight Peak demanding an explanation, leaving him frazzled.

He did not have as much free time as the Flowing Cloud Sect's Sect Master, spending every day browsing disciple gossip on the Jade Slip forum.

"What wager?" he asked, his lips trembling.

Mu Liuyun kindly told him the terms of the wager. "Yue Liuqin was disqualified for cheating, while Qiaoqiao slew the Startled Owl Bird and earned five hundred points. She has already passed this trial, so Yue Liuqin lost."

Chapter 17: Making good on the wager

Yue Su sucked in a sharp breath when he heard this. "That fool! That fool!"

His shouts rang through the entire hall. Sick with anger and frustration, he finally could not take it anymore. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

The image in the water mirror returned. Having finished learning the two sword forms from High Antiquity, Qiaoqiao left the cave with her lips curved up.

Her senior brothers and sisters from Ethereal Peak were sincerely happy for her. Of everyone in the sect, their junior sister alone had received swordsmanship instruction from the Sword Immortal. What an extraordinary fortuitous opportunity!

No one would be able to bully their junior sister again.

Over the next few days of the trial, Qiaoqiao searched for spirit herbs and killed Demon Beasts with Yue Tingxi, their points soaring all the while. Without Yue Liuqin's cheating compass to guide them, the people from Moonlight Peak could no longer locate the pair.

When the trial ended, Qiaoqiao topped the rankings with 1,000 points, taking first place, while Yue Tingxi took second with 800 points.

After receiving the Spirit Wind Immortal Dew and ten thousand Spirit Stones as her reward from the Sect Master, Qiaoqiao could not resist giving an acceptance speech.

Her eyes curved with a bright smile. "I want to thank my master, my senior brothers, and my senior sisters. Of course, the person I'm most grateful to is Yue Liuqin. If she hadn't handed me 500 points for free, I might not have taken first place."

"Thank you, Yue Liuqin."

Lying in bed recovering from her injuries, Yue Liuqin heard these words and once again spat blood and fainted in fury.

She only slowly regained consciousness when Qiaoqiao brought Yue Tingxi to visit her.

She opened her eyes to Qiaoqiao's smiling face and nearly failed to catch her breath.

"What are you doing here?"

She already knew that her injuries had destroyed her Heaven Spirit Root. From now on, she would be a cripple unable to cultivate.

Over the past few days, the servants in the residence had treated her far worse than before, doing everything halfheartedly. She had thrown tantrums, but no one paid her any mind. Only one servant had said, "Eldest Miss, you'd better just lie there and rest. Who can you still order around now?"

The sarcasm in that voice stabbed at the eldest miss's chest, but what hurt even more was the utter disappointment in her father's eyes. Apart from the day she returned, he had not visited her once.

She was like a puddle of mud, forgotten and utterly ignored.

Yue Liuqin was on the verge of breaking down.

Seeing Qiaoqiao now made her feel even more humiliated, and her grip on the thin quilt involuntarily tightened.

Even she had come to laugh at her.

"If you've had your fill of looking, get out," she said sullenly.

"I didn't want to come see you either." Qiaoqiao blinked. "But you still haven't made good on our wager."

Yue Liuqin: ?!

She could not believe it. She was already in this state, yet Qiaoqiao still wanted to throw stones at her after she had fallen down a well and make her honor the wager?

Was she even human?!

"I've already been reduced to this-"

"Aren't the days you're living now exactly what Yue Tingxi used to live through every single day?"

Yue Liuqin choked on her words.

She glanced at Yue Tingxi standing behind Qiaoqiao. This younger brother whom she had once beaten and scolded at will had obtained an inheritance and was no longer who he used to be, making her current wretched state stand out all the more.

Everything she had once done to Yue Tingxi had now fallen upon her, and regret gnawed at her like a venomous snake.

She hoped Qiaoqiao would let her off, but the other girl showed no intention of doing so.

Biting her lip, Yue Liuqin shakily climbed out of bed and uttered those few words in utter humiliation. She was nearly breaking down inside, her nails digging into her flesh.

What would Qiaoqiao say next?

Would she mock her and laugh at her?

She raised her head and saw Qiaoqiao watching her intently, without the slightest mockery in those clear eyes.

Little did she know that Qiaoqiao was merely counting carefully.

Just as she shakily got up, Qiaoqiao reminded her again, "You still haven't made your post on the Jade Slip forum."

Yue Liuqin: You're ruthless!

She gritted her teeth and made the post, then suddenly remembered that back in the secret realm, Qiaoqiao had told her to "watch out for the cliff." Had she known all along that she would be in danger?

Up on the cliff, she had also told Yue Tingxi not to save her. Otherwise, how could she have been injured by the Startled Owl Bird?

"Was it you? You deliberately plotted against me-"

She lunged at Qiaoqiao, but before she could get close, a tall figure appeared before her. His face dark, Yue Su raised his hand and slapped her. "Haven't you disgraced yourself enough? You useless thing!"