Wang Xueqing

Facing Ning Yue, Liao Dong did not underestimate him in the slightest. He was no fool, nor was he one of those brainless supporting characters in certain novels.

Those supporting characters were stupid only to highlight the protagonist's wisdom.

But this was different from a novel. Anyone who had made it into the top hundred and survived the arena battle until now was worth treating with caution and fighting with all his strength.

Liao Dong took out his weapon, a trident, a hint of regret in his eyes.

"It's a pity we can't use our own weapons here. Otherwise, I could have brought my Sea God Trident."

With that, he gripped the trident and used Martial Calming the Storm.

Ning Yue watched Liao Dong assume his stance, mighty and overbearing, as though he stood in the sea, overturning clouds and rain.

He smiled calmly, then let out a stern shout.

"Slash!"

He leaned forward, planted a foot and leaped, his speed surging. Like an arrow released from the string, he shot in front of Liao Dong and brought his saber down hard, aiming straight for his face.

The saber's edge, empowered ninefold, split the surrounding air.

Liao Dong could barely react in time. He retreated rapidly, dodging Ning Yue's basic attack.

"Not good."

Having lost the initiative, Liao Dong furiously smashed his trident down like a club. His left hand formed a claw and struck at Ning Yue's throat, ready to seize back the initiative he had just lost.

Ning Yue swung his saber horizontally, meeting the trident head-on and paying no heed to Liao Dong's claw.

"Hah!"

Ning Yue roared, gathered the strength of his entire body and knocked the trident aside with his slash.

Not only that, the rebounding force broke the arm Liao Dong held the trident with, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Ning Yue did not pause. He had noticed that some contestants were already paying attention to this spot and hurrying over.

He stepped forward and came before Liao Dong.

The blade flashed past. A head flew.

Liao Dong was eliminated.

No sooner had Ning Yue eliminated Liao Dong than he saw two students appear before him. Seeing that they were not fighting each other, he figured they should both still have some measure of reason.

"Brother, want to form an alliance?"

"Sure."

Ning Yue nodded and walked toward them.

The two exchanged a smile, tightened their grips on their weapons and walked toward Ning Yue with smiles of their own.

Once the three were close, they attacked one another almost simultaneously.

"Despicable scoundrel!"

"Brother, that's not right."

Ning Yue smiled mockingly. "Enough. We're all thousand-year-old foxes here. Aren't you embarrassed saying things like that? Die."

Wielding his saber, he launched a furious assault on one of the two, intending to kill him first before dealing with the other.

"Damn it, that's not fair! Why do you keep attacking only me?"

The student under attack could not withstand Ning Yue's ninefold combat power. Under Ning Yue's saber, he struggled to fend off blows from every direction, tumbling helplessly as though battered by furious waves. If not for his companion's support, he would have been killed on the spot long ago.

As time passed, Ning Yue grew increasingly familiar with the way they attacked.

The scales of battle tipped steadily in Ning Yue's favor.

In fewer than fifty exchanges, both were killed on the spot by Ning Yue.

When he stopped, he found that fewer than ten people remained in the arena.

Looking at the few people standing apart from one another, he realized that apart from the ranked Wang Xueqing, he did not know a single one of them.

Seeing that they were all wary of one another, Ning Yue did not advance either.

Just then, Wang Xueqing walked over.

"I didn't expect you to make it this far."

Her voice was full of shock.

"However you look at it, I'm your big brother. Shouldn't I be a little stronger than you?"

Ning Yue was joking, his words casual yet familiar.

Only after sorting through his memories over the past two days had he discovered that the school belle goddess was also one of his sworn younger sisters, second in the order of seniority.

He was a little curious.

He did not know how Li Feng and the others had gotten acquainted with Wang Xueqing, or how she had ended up becoming sworn siblings with academic underachievers like them.

Ning Yue had been forcibly added to their group afterward, and he did not even understand the exact reason.

In order of sworn seniority, Ning Yue was first, Wang Xueqing second, Zhang Huairen third, Li Feng fourth, while the fifth and sixth had already left school. Wang Qi was seventh, and Gan Xiaomei eighth.

At the time, none of them had even known one another, and they had come from different schools and different classes.

Back then, Ning Yue had only been familiar with the third and seventh. They had been close friends since middle school.

Those two had also been the ones to propose making Ning Yue the eldest.

Their reason: Ning Yue's family was rich and could support their martial arts cultivation.

And just like that, Ning Yue had been parachuted in as the eldest.

Later, Wang Xueqing's outstanding martial arts talent had made her the best in school, and she had not had much contact with them.

Because of that, Gan Xiaomei and the others had been somewhat unhappy.

But there had been nothing they could do.

The boys had taken it well enough. If she ignored them, so be it.

Gan Xiaomei, as a girl, had a stubborn streak. Unhappy as she was, she had wanted nothing more than to catch up to Wang Xueqing in martial arts, surpass her and suppress her.

As a result, she had neglected her academic classes and been driven from the elite class into Class Seven, the class for underachievers.

The others had each ended up in Class Seven for their own reasons, too numerous to list.

Ning Yue was the exception. He had become increasingly sleepy and fallen behind in both academics and martial arts. He had been in Class Seven from the moment the classes were assigned, and three years had passed in the blink of an eye.

"Big brother?" Wang Xueqing chuckled, then continued, "Let's forget about that. We didn't know any better back then and treated becoming sworn siblings as a joke."

Ning Yue studied her carefully and found that she was telling the truth.

Dragons did not dwell with snakes, and crows did not sing alongside phoenixes.

Deep down, Wang Xueqing had regarded their oath of siblinghood as a passing joke. Besides, the gap between their talents was far too great, leaving them with nothing in common to talk about. That was also why she had stopped associating with Li Feng and the others.

"But we took it seriously, second sister."

Ning Yue looked at Wang Xueqing with a serious expression, sincerity showing in his eyes.

Was he sincere?

Ning Yue himself did not know. He simply thought having a heavenly genius for a younger sister would be a good thing.

A person could not live without friends. A life without friends was like a tree without the sun.

Fellow Daoists, fellow Daoists-those who could travel far on the path of cultivation never lacked friends with whom to discuss the Dao.

Li Feng and the others, however, clearly did not meet the threshold to become Ning Yue's fellow Daoists.

Their innate talent was too poor.

Wang Xueqing was different. She cultivated on her own, and he had never heard of her having a powerful family background, yet she had managed to cultivate her way to first place in the entire school by herself.

That showed just how astonishing her talent was, and it was because of that astonishing talent that the school protected her.

Otherwise, given her looks and talent, she would either have been secretly murdered or recruited by some major power.

Even with the school's protection now, Wang Xueqing did not lack for trouble.

Those students who had broken through to the First-Rank Realm were almost all scions of major families, and their purpose in coming to Xinyuan Martial Arts High School was clear.

One reason was to take the school's direct admission spots for themselves; the other was to woo Wang Xueqing.

They were taking a roundabout approach.

Since Wang Xueqing had so much trouble, why did Ning Yue still want to invite trouble upon himself?

The path of martial arts was not always smooth sailing; trouble was never in short supply.

As Ning Yue grew stronger, his troubles would only increase.

And in his view, Wang Xueqing's troubles only seemed troublesome for the time being. They were not real trouble.

"If you want me to call you big brother, fine. Beat me."

Seeing Ning Yue's serious expression, Wang Xueqing spoke seriously as well.

At the same time, she felt a little strange, as well as a hint of warmth.

How long had it been? How long had it been since anyone had spoken to her like that?

As her talent had revealed itself, many people spoke to her only to praise or compliment her, while some acted close to her openly but were lecherous in secret.

She had grown somewhat tired of it all.

But the look Ning Yue gave her was sincere, without the filthy thoughts those boys harbored.

That was why Wang Xueqing made that demand.