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Join the ServerBai Yue was stunned.
If Xiao Yueluo had done that, she would have just found it amusing—a way to satisfy her mischievous streak.
But who was standing before her?
It was Su Qingyan!
That cool, clear-as-water, ever-dignified and elegant Su Qingyan!
System, come out and explain this!
This level of OOC is simply outrageous!
Before Bai Yue could recover from her shock, Su Qingyan actually took another half-step forward.
The distance between them instantly shrank to a dangerously close margin.
Bai Yue could even clearly smell that faint, cool sandalwood fragrance on Su Qingyan, mixed with a subtle, almost imperceptible sweetness.
“Examiner Bai Yue…” Su Qingyan’s eyelids lowered slightly, her long lashes fluttering, her voice growing softer and carrying an indescribable, mesmerizing quality.
“If… I meowed a couple more times, could I get a few more hints about the next trial?”
“Meow~”
Bai Yue felt like her brain had become an old TV set that had lost its signal—nothing but static filling the screen.
The intense contrast hit her rational defenses like a sledgehammer.
Help!
Had this woman taken the wrong medicine?!
Did she have any idea how dangerously adorable she looked right now?!
“Stop!
Hold it right there!”
Bai Yue took a giant step backward, crossing her arms in front of her chest to form a big “X.”
She forced a stern expression, pretending to be cold and ruthless, and coughed loudly twice.
“Ahem, ahem!
This is the Du Xian Sect examination grounds—be serious!
None of that sugar-coated cannonball nonsense!
This examiner is immune to both soft and hard tactics!”
However, her slightly flustered gaze and the faint blush creeping up her ears had completely betrayed her.
Watching Bai Yue’s forced composure, the smile at the corner of Su Qingyan’s mouth grew even deeper.
Not only did she not back away, but she smiled like a sly fox that had just stolen a fish.
A hint of undisguised mischief gleamed in those eyes that seemed to see straight through people.
“So, Examiner Bai is immune to both soft and hard tactics, is she?”
She murmured softly, her voice dripping with the pleasure of a successful prank.
The corner of Bai Yue’s mouth twitched as she brusquely tossed out: “The shortcut is in the mist, ten paces to the left of the bridge!
Find it yourself!”
With that, she turned around and quickened her pace like she was fleeing, not looking back.
Her retreating figure utterly reeked of a hasty escape.
Leaving only a faint breeze behind her.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Xiao Yueluo had completely petrified.
She stood there, mouth half-open, staring blankly at Su Qingyan, then at Bai Yue’s rapidly disappearing back.
“Q-Qingyan…”
She swallowed hard, feeling as if her entire worldview had just suffered an unprecedented, devastating blow.
“What… what were you doing just now?”
Su Qingyan turned her head, and the coquettish expression on her face vanished instantly, reverting to her usual dignified and gentle demeanor.
As if the woman who had just been mewling and acting coy had never existed.
She smoothed her sleeves and replied calmly: “Nothing much.
I just thought that instead of rigidly following the rules, it’s better to exploit the rule-maker’s weakness.
See?
We got the shortcut, didn’t we?”
Xiao Yueluo: “…”
That made so much sense that she had no comeback.
But!
Who the hell was that perverted woman who’d just been meowing like a cat?!
Give me back my pure, cool, innocent childhood friend!!!
Xiao Yueluo stood frozen in the wind, utterly bewildered, watching Su Qingyan walk nonchalantly toward the mist on the left side of the bridge.
She suddenly had a feeling that this Ascension Assembly was going to be even more… absurd than she had imagined.
On the surface, Su Qingyan still maintained her completely unruffled demeanor.
But deep within her sea of consciousness, a lively “post-battle summary and commendation meeting” was in full swing.
“Well done!”
Inside the ring, a semi-transparent spectral figure was lounging lazily on a conjured chaise lounge.
She waved a round fan in her hand, her face radiating the smug satisfaction of one who had planned everything perfectly.
“See?
What did I tell you?”
The figure tapped her palm with the fan.
“That girl may look noble and aloof, but underneath, she’s just an innocent little thing who’s never seen the world.
You hit someone like that with a bit of stimulation, and her psychological defenses crumble instantly!”
Su Qingyan walked through the mist with steady steps, but her voice in the sea of consciousness carried a hint of hesitation and embarrassment:
“Senior, this method… is ultimately rather unseemly… If word ever got out…”
“So what if it gets out?”
The red-clad figure scoffed.
“This is called ‘all’s fair in love and war’!
That single ‘meow’ of yours was a stroke of genius!
I’d bet my life that that Bai woman is still seeing your pitifully charming expression in her mind right now.
That’s what I call having her in the palm of your hand!”
The figure stood up, crossed her arms, and struck a pose like a love guru who had seen through the mortal world.
“Trust me, I know what I’m doing.
I’ve got seventeen or eight more sets of techniques for dealing with this kind of innocent type.
Things like ‘accidentally falling into their arms,’ ‘biting your lower lip with tear-filled eyes,’ ‘hesitantly tugging at their sleeve.’
One full combo and she’ll be completely wrapped around your finger!”
Su Qingyan: “…”
She felt something was off, but she couldn’t argue—after all, they had indeed gotten the shortcut.
At this moment.
Not far ahead of them.
Bai Yue was gasping for breath.
“Phew—”
Bai Yue patted her still-warm cheeks, the static in her mind finally clearing as reason reclaimed the high ground.
Wait.
Something was wrong.
Bai Yue’s head shot up, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
Something was very, very wrong!
A straight-laced, honest person like Su Qingyan could never come up with something like that on her own!
It was as shocking as seeing Guan Yu, instead of wielding his green dragon crescent blade, put on a skirt and dance a high-energy idol number!
There was no way Su Qingyan had thought of that stunt herself.
Someone must have put her up to it.
And there was only one suspect—that piece of shit!
Case closed.
It had to be that old hag hiding in the ring, pulling the strings from behind!
“Excellent.”
Bai Yue let out a cold laugh, a terrifyingly “benevolent” smile curling at the corner of her mouth.
“So it was you, you worthless dog, stirring up trouble.
Think I’m easy to manipulate, do you?”
She—Bai Yue—was a special examiner with partial control over the formations.
Bai Yue cracked her knuckles, producing a series of crisp pops.
Inside the shortcut on the golden bridge.
Xiao Yueluo was still agonizing over what had just happened.
“Qingyan, be honest with me—were you possessed by some weird spirit or something?”
Xiao Yueluo followed behind Su Qingyan, gripping her sword hilt tightly.
“No.”
Su Qingyan’s tone was flat.
“Then what was that just now?”
“An expedient measure.”
“An expedient measure requires meowing like a cat?!”
Xiao Yueluo was pulling her hair out in frustration.
Su Qingyan was about to explain when, suddenly, the ground beneath them shook violently.
The surrounding mist swirled wildly, as if stirred by an invisible giant hand, instantly enveloping the two of them in a small, enclosed formation space.
Then, a cold, emotionless mechanical synthesized voice boomed through the mist:
“Warning!
Warning!”
“Detected that current examinee is carrying serious prohibited items!”
“The Du Xian Sect examination is fair, just, and open.
We firmly oppose any form of proxy testing, off-site guidance, or micro-manipulation!”
Xiao Yueluo was stunned: “Huh?
What?”
The spectral figure, who had just been lounging smugly and imparting “mastery techniques,” shot upright, her face dramatically shifting.
“What the hell is this?!
It can actually detect my presence?!”
The figure exclaimed in disbelief.
“That’s impossible!
I’m using an ancient aura-concealment technique—there’s no way a mere entry-level examination formation could see through it!”
The broadcast continued outside, booming deafeningly:
“Now initiating the Du Xian Sect anti-cheating purification program.”
“Phase One: Physical decontamination.”
“Decontamination?!”
A sudden, ominous feeling surged through the figure.
“Zzzzap—BANG!”
“AAAAAAHHHHHH—!!!”
A bloodcurdling scream exploded within Su Qingyan’s sea of consciousness.
“Zzzzt!
Zzzzt!”
“Stop!
Stop!
I’m splitting apart!
I’m really splitting apart!”
The figure rolled around on the floor of the ring space, her semi-transparent body flickering wildly, her hair standing on end like a giant red sea urchin.
“Damn it!
It itches!
It’s so numbing!
Help!”
In the distance, Bai Yue watched the light screen where the waveform representing the figure’s vital signs was jumping up and down like a roller coaster.
“Oh, you can’t take it anymore?
Where did that arrogant ‘I’ve got her in my palm’ energy go?”
Bai Yue sneered.
“Turn it up.
Crank it all the way up.”
And so, the figure’s agonized screams echoed through Su Qingyan’s mind for a long, long time.
Truly a sight that moved the hearer to sorrow and the beholder to tears.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read I’m Just a Cat, So How Did I End Up as Someone’s Wife?! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : I’m Just a Cat, So How Did I End Up as Someone’s Wife?
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