Chapter 51: A Calculated Wager

A moment ago, Lian Yueying had dodged her way to the center of the arena, using her final True Talisman to block Li Ming’s assault.

With her right hand, she activated her command talisman, instantly mobilizing every spiritual talisman on the field, sending a dense storm of spells hurtling toward him.

Li Ming was utterly blindsided; he’d never imagined the seemingly innocuous talismans scattered across the ground could still be activated.

Moreover, Lian Yueying had arranged them with intent—the spells they unleashed varied in speed.

The fastest, like the Golden Arrows, closed in on him in the blink of an eye, leaving him no room to dodge and forcing him to defend with his own spells.

The pressure on her eased, and Lian Yueying quickly fell back behind her Tuoshan Shield, casting a few more talismans to keep Li Ming pinned.

Only when she saw the slower Grand Blade spells striking his defensive barrier did she allow herself to steady her breath.

Tihai!

A terrifying surge of spiritual energy once again rippled across the arena as another ten-foot-long Grand Blade materialized in mid-air.

Li Ming, already exhausted from fending off attacks from all directions, felt his heart sink as he watched the massive blade hover above him.

Everyone knew that taking a direct hit from that attack was out of the question.

Gritting his teeth, Li Ming forced his way left, absorbing several spells against his protective golden light.

However, Lian Yueying could control the Grand Blade formed by Tihai.

Since the optimal overwhelming downward strike was unlikely to connect, she switched tactics, lowering the blade’s altitude and sending it sweeping horizontally toward him.

The Tuoshan Shield that Li Ming summoned with all his strength collided with the terrifying Grand Blade, producing a deafening crash that drew every eye in the audience.

Seizing the opportunity, Lian Yueying intended to move behind Li Ming, but the wave of weakness from using Tihai forced her to halt.

She could only grit her teeth and remain in place, rearranging her formation.

The horizontal slash was weaker by a good measure, allowing Li Ming to just barely block it, though the protective golden light around him turned somewhat transparent.

Lian Yueying was breathing heavily now, sweat glistening on her brow.

Having recovered slightly, she commanded a new barrage of talismans toward the flagging Li Ming.

With no time to dodge or cast another spell, Li Ming finally raised his right hand in resignation.

Instantly, his spiritual energy shield dissipated, and Du Cheng waved a hand, intercepting all incoming spells.

“The semi-finals are over. The winner of Arena A is Lian Yueying. The winner of Arena B is Zhou Yan.”

Hearing the announcement, Lian Yueying finally let out a sigh of relief.

A powerful wave of dizziness kept her rooted to the spot; she stood there for a while before she could open her eyes.

‘I won. I actually won…’

Yet Lian Yueying wasn’t particularly happy.

Li Ming had lost to her partly because he was unfamiliar with her methods, but in the process, she had revealed all her trump cards for a surprise encounter.

Zhou Yan, watching from the side, had seen everything and would surely be prepared.

Zhou Yan was the one person Lian Yueying wanted to eliminate most, so much so that she had even considered killing him.

Regardless, the match was over.

Lian Yueying exhaled and cupped her fist toward Li Ming. “Senior Brother Li, thank you for the match.”

But Li Ming merely shook his head.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he leaped off the stage and walked away, utterly dejected.

A few of his friends followed, but most of the disciples’ gazes were fixed on Lian Yueying.

An eighth-level Qi Refinement cultivator defeating one at the Perfected stage was more than just rare.

Ouyang Xiu’s victory as an eighth-level over a ninth-level was already a celebrated tale, but what Lian Yueying had done was unheard of, at least to the disciples present.

From this day forward, their understanding of the Dao of Talismans would be forever changed, and Lian Yueying’s name would become famous throughout the Tuoshan Sect.

“Hah…”

Lian Yueying had been on edge throughout the entire match, a tremendous drain on both her physical and mental stamina.

She took out a towel, imbued it with water-attribute spiritual energy, and wiped her face vigorously.

That helped her recover a bit, but facing the bustling crowd of disciples below, she felt a fresh wave of exhaustion.

‘I should turn them all down. They can surely see how exhausted I am.’

And so, maintaining a slight frown, Lian Yueying forced a strained smile onto her face, exchanged a few brief words with the disciples, and departed.

Before evening fell, the semi-final losers would compete for third place.

Yu Cheng was particularly unlucky, as he had to face Li Ming, who was seething with frustration.

Consequently, their match was decided in less than fifteen minutes.

The roster for the finals was soon posted.

That evening, Lian Yueying found time to check the notice board and was surprised to see that Ouyang Xiu had been defeated.

‘Fang Huanyi… She must be the “Senior Sister Fang” that Senior Brother Ouyang mentioned. He had bad luck, drawing her in the semi-finals. And Wang Jian is also at the Perfected Qi Refinement stage. The disciples of Peak Hall truly are more talented and work harder.’

Back in her quarters, an unshakeable melancholy settled upon Lian Yueying’s features.

While watching others fight was a learning experience, she was far more concerned about her upcoming match with Zhou Yan.

By all rights, she had already secured a top-three spot in Lake Hall and the eight thousand contribution points that came with it.

But her opponent was Zhou Yan, and she could not bear the thought of losing to that utterly repulsive man.

The mere thought of Zhou Yan’s vile deeds caused the ferocity long hidden in her heart to churn once more, even extending her killing intent to Zhao Qianqian, who had harassed her on several occasions.

Anyone could see the violent aura radiating from Lian Yueying, though she herself was oblivious.

Yet, the more she wanted to kill Zhou Yan, the less she would underestimate him.

Zhou Yan was indeed flippant, but it was a fact that he possessed the Tuoshan Art.

The advantages granted by his cultivation method and its associated spells could even compensate for a gap in cultivation level.

Before the internal competition, the disciples had all been speculating whether Zhou Yan or Li Ming would take first and second place.

Now, with the emergence of the dark horse Lian Yueying, the discussions were as heated as ever.

‘Forget it. I can’t make any significant changes in such a short time. I should just meditate.’

And so, the next day passed, and the day after, until three days had gone by in a flash.

The finals for Peak Hall and Bamboo Hall were spectacular, but perhaps because Lian Yueying had something on her mind, she often found her attention wandering during the matches and learned little from them.

As expected, in the Peak Hall final, the newly advanced Wang Jian, despite also being at the Perfected Qi Refinement stage, could not overcome the veteran Fang Huanyi.

The same was true for the Bamboo Hall final, where the ninth-level Cai Xiangcheng was narrowly defeated by Liao Zhibamboo due to the difference in their cultivation.

After several days of discussion and watching the other two halls’ finals, some disciples began to think that Li Ming had simply been subpar.

Most, however, were still waiting with bated breath for the final match between Lian Yueying and Zhou Yan.

As always, Lian Yueying went about her morning cultivation.

The number of disciples practicing alongside her had grown, all circulating some cultivation art or another, and many more watched from a distance.

None of this affected her.

She had long grown accustomed to doubt and ridicule; even now that it had turned to praise, it could not disturb her peace of mind.

In the early afternoon, Lian Yueying stood on the tournament stage.

Across from her stood Zhou Yan, a man whose wickedness was second only to that old bastard’s disciple, Qing Yan.

Interestingly, though their surnames differed, their given names shared the same pronunciation.

It seemed Lian Yueying was fated to clash with the sound ‘Yan’.

“The final match of the Lake Hall internal competition: Lian Yueying versus Zhou Yan.”

With the announcement, the match officially began.

Having no need for concealment, Lian Yueying immediately started laying out spiritual talismans behind her.

Zhou Yan, however, made no move to stop her, simply watching with a smile.

“Junior Sister Lian, I had the pleasure of witnessing your capabilities the other day.”

Outsiders would assume he was referring to the day of the semi-finals, but Lian Yueying saw the look on his face and knew he meant the treasure hunt in the valley.

As one of the people Lian Yueying hated most, Zhou Yan understood her quite well—she was decisive and ruthless, capable of deciding to destroy a heavenly treasure after only a moment’s thought.

For her part, Lian Yueying had no desire to speak with Zhou Yan.

She continued setting up her talismans, only stopping to look at him when she reached the binding limit of her command talisman.

Seeing this, Zhou Yan chuckled. “Now that Junior Sister is done setting up, why don’t we make a wager? Let’s see if I can break through your formation and reach you within fifteen minutes. How about we decide the match based on that?”

Both the minor and major competitions emphasized stopping before causing serious harm, so the sect permitted such wagers.

The surrounding disciples, however, were not entirely pleased; they had hoped for a match as spectacular as the semi-finals.

‘This bet is in my favor, but why would Zhou Yan propose it?’

“Why?”

Despite her loathing for Zhou Yan, Lian Yueying still asked.

She felt a pang of regret as soon as the word left her lips, but she needed to know what he was planning.

Zhou Yan simply spread his hands and laughed casually. “I’m guessing that even on that day, Junior Sister didn’t show her full hand.”

His words sparked another round of murmurs among the disciples.

But Lian Yueying knew in her heart that she had already exhausted her tricks.

“This is just an internal hall competition. There’s no need for either of us to reveal all our trump cards. Wouldn’t it be better to save them for the sect-wide grand competition?”

‘What is this scoundrel up to now? If this truly benefits me, what does he gain by pushing me into first place in Lake Hall? On the other hand, if he’s confident he can break through my formation, he’s likely trying to hide something he can’t reveal publicly.’

After a moment of silence, Lian Yueying was about to speak but fell back into thought.

‘Any bet he makes must be to his advantage. From the start of this competition until now, he hasn’t faced any truly formidable opponents, winning almost entirely with the Tuoshan Art and its related spells. Now he’s facing me. Even if I lose because my strategy has been exposed, fighting me properly would still cause him considerable trouble and force him to reveal some of his trump cards.’

Lian Yueying didn’t know if Zhou Yan truly wanted to save his strength for the grand competition or if he had some ulterior motive.

In any case, the wager was currently favorable to her, so she nodded in agreement.

At her assent, Zhou Yan took a step forward and activated the Tuoshan Art, his body glowing with an earthy yellow light.

With another step, a solid, five-foot-long Heavy Blade materialized, poised to strike.

Then, Zhou Yan lowered his torso and shot toward Lian Yueying, his speed exploding thanks to an escape technique.

‘Is that all? This seems a bit slow, even for an initial probe.’

Despite her thoughts, Lian Yueying didn’t lower her guard.

She began by defending with the talismans in her hand, and under her precise control, a dozen spells blasted directly toward Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan tried to block them with his Tuoshan Shield, but Lian Yueying’s talismans were not what they used to be.

Two years ago, he could have blocked them easily, but now she shattered his defense in an instant.

What’s more, her next wave of spells was already on its way.

To be frank, Lian Yueying suffered from a severe case of “inadequate firepower” anxiety; her talisman count dropping below five digits in her storage pouch made her uneasy.

She savored the feeling of overwhelming an opponent with suppressive fire like this.

Seemingly out of options, Zhou Yan had no time to summon another Tuoshan Shield.

He could only bring down his Heavy Blade, blocking the spells and redirecting the attack toward Lian Yueying.

She neutralized the blade with a single True Talisman and used her subsequent talismans to force Zhou Yan back.

The first exchange felt like child’s play.

Lian Yueying grew even more certain that Zhou Yan was up to something and said, “Senior Brother Zhou, even if you wish to hide your strength, aren’t you taking it a bit too far?”