Chapter 176: Breakfast with Extra Ingredients

Translator: Minotauruz

Dai Yue tossed and turned for the entire night as her intense jealousy and hatred stirred in her heart.

She sincerely hoped that she would be able to encounter Jun Xiaomo when she made her appearance the very next day. She would shuck her bones and pluck out her nerves and let everyone watch in horror as that vermin crawled around on stage, begging for mercy. At that time, Rong Ruihan would be able to see for himself who truly had the right to stand beside him.

Unfortunately, Dai Yue lacked a little bit of luck in this regard, and she was separated from Jun Xiaomo in the very first round of the competitions. She made her appearance on the sixth day of the Lower Category battles, while Jun Xiaomo was slated to appear on the seventh day.

The only passable silver lining to this was that Jun Xiaomo’s first opponent was also from the Eternal Summit Sect. It was her fifth martial brother, Liang Yulong.

One day before the competition, Dai Yue knocked on the door of Liang Yulong’s room and asked if he would be willing to intentionally lose to Jun Xiaomo.

“What?! Martial sister must be kidding. You’re asking me to lose to a female cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Mastery?!” Liang Yulong cried out in disbelief.

“I’m not joking. You’re still allowed to cause grievous injuries to her. In fact, the more serious the injuries, the better. But I hope that she will be able to hold out until she squares off against me.” Dai Yue demanded with a peremptory tone of voice.

The only reason why she had asked Liang Yulong to intentionally lose to Jun Xiaomo was naturally not so that Jun Xiaomo would be able to win the competition in the end. Her only goal was so that she could personally kill that woman on the arena.

She intended to use the cruelest methods she knew to torment Jun Xiaomo to death. And before Jun Xiaomo died, she even planned to carve scars and wounds all across her face and display her disfigured face to the entire audience.

When that time came, she did not believe that Rong Ruihan would continue to remain fond of Jun Xiaomo or stay by her side.

That piece of trash doesn’t deserve brother Rong! Dai Yue thought hatefully as her mind considered each and every possible manner of torment she might inflict on Jun Xiaomo.

The catharsis of such thoughts made her heartbroken heart feel slightly better.

“Martial sister, you’re crazy!” Liang Yulong could see the frenetic emotions roiling in the depths of Dai Yue’s eyes, “I reject this request of yours. This competition doesn’t only have to do with my personal future, it’s got to do with the Eternal Summit Sect’s glory as well. Martial sister, how can you ask me to lose to a Dawn Sect disciple in the fifth level of Qi Mastery just for your own personal reasons? Do you want the Eternal Summit Sect to become the laughingstock of the entire competition?!”

“Huh. You make yourself sound so noble, but the truth of the matter is that you’re afraid of trampling on your pride and reputation in public, aren’t you?” Dai Yue chuckled coldly as she added, “Brother Liang, don’t forget the difference in our statures. This isn’t a request. It’s an order. If you’re not willing to comply, I have my ways of making sure that you never return to the Eternal Summit Sect, understand?”

“You!” Liang Yulong had never expected Dai Yue to directly threaten him like that.

“I’m not joking here. Fifth martial brother, let me break the news to you – you’re not all that important to the Eternal Summit Sect at all. Eighth level of Qi Mastery at the age of twenty-one years-old – it’s still hard to say whether you would even be able to attain the twelfth level of Qi Mastery by the age of thirty-five, much less attract the attention of the Greater Sect’s sect elders. If you know what’s best for you, you’ll agree to my suggestion here. Otherwise, you might not have a place to return to even if you win this competition.”

Dai Yue was bound and determined when she spoke. This was evidently not the first time she had done such things.

The truth of the matter was that Dai Yue had often ridden on her father’s coattail and forced fellow disciples whom she could not see eye to eye with out of the Eternal Summit Sect. Thus, those who remained could only bottle up their indignation for Dai Yue’s strategies to intimidate and do their best to stay out of her way for fear that they would be the next one to be excommunicated from the Eternal Summit Sect.

Liang Yulong had often heard of these rumours, but he had never expected to one day be at the receiving end of such threats and intimidation.

He lowered his head and gnashed his teeth as he furiously suppressed the swelling rage in his heart.

Some time later, he lifted his head again and muttered sullenly, “Fine, I agree. However, how I’m going to lose to her is up to me to decide.”

“Hah, that’s fine. Of course, it would be best if you could ‘lose’ after tormenting her half to death. This would make me feel good, and perhaps my father might even give you some excellent spiritual pills and medicine as recompense for your efforts.”

After Dai Yue said this, she chuckled lightly and lackadaisically strolled out of the room, before closing the door behind her.

Pshh! Liang Yulong furiously smashed a cup against the door of his room. The depths of his eyes were filled with humiliation and rage.

---------------------------------------------------

Thus, time passed, and the second day soon arrived.

On the dawn of this fresh new morning, Jun Xiaomo received a breakfast set with “extra added ingredients”. This was personally delivered to her by her inn’s attendant.

On the surface, her breakfast looked completely normal. But having experienced one lifetime of being a demonic cultivator, how could Jun Xiaomo not immediately pick up that faint whiff of herbal scent emanating from her food?

“Hah, they’ve actually scattered ground and powdered Bedeviled Grass on my food? Such extravagance! I wonder whose grand idea this was to use Bedeviled Grass against a meagre cultivator like me who’s only in the fifth level of Qi Mastery.” Jun Xiaomo chuckled sardonically. Then, she stirred the soup, scooped up a spoonful of it, and swallowed it without any hesitation.

“The taste is pretty good, isn’t it?” Jun Xiaomo raised an eyebrow quizzically.

Just like that, mouthful after mouthful of soup, she finished the entire bowl of soup with “extra ingredients” added into it.

If these people scheming against her intended to use the Bedeviled Grass to stimulate the demonic energy in her body, then they are going to have to be sorely disappointed. After all, the energy within her body right now was true energy, not demonic energy.

The Bedeviled Grass was practically nothing more than a priceless, nourishing herb to her right now.

With the Bedeviled Grass as a catalyst in her body, it would be a simple thing for her to breakthrough her present bottleneck and soon attain the sixth level of Qi Mastery.

As soon as she finished up her “herbal soup”, Jun Xiaomo adjusted her clothing and unhurriedly stepped out of her room. As she turned the corner of the corridor, she crossed paths with He Zhang just as he was leading a few disciples downstairs as well.

“Much thanks, martial uncle.” Jun Xiaomo murmured softly as she walked past He Zhang.

He Zhang’s ears picked up her soft murmurs, and his heart skipped a beat in horror – Could Jun Xiaomo have realized I’d done something to her food?

That’s impossible! He Zhang knitted his brows. Even Jun Linxuan might not know the existence of the Bedeviled Grass, much less Jun Xiaomo! I must have heard wrongly...

Just as He Zhang grew distracted by his own thoughts, Jun Xiaomo brushed past his body and walked on ahead, leaving behind only a small yet quickly diminishing silhouette.

When He Zhang finally managed to collect himself, he involuntarily squinted his eyes as he gazed at Jun Xiaomo’s back. A vicious smile crept up the corner of his lips –

After today, chaos is going to descend upon the Heavenly Peak!

He had heeded the Du Clan Head’s suggestion and stirred into Jun Xiaomo’s food a third of the powdered Bedeviled Grass that was provided to him. The remaining two-thirds were for precautionary measures.

In He Zhang’s eyes, the ten-thousandth chance of failure could never become an eventuality. This was because the Du Clan Head had assured him that even one-third of the powdered Bedeviled Grass was more than enough to stimulate a demonic outburst from Jun Xiaomo’s body.

He Zhang eagerly anticipated the day when the Heavenly Peak would from grace and become nothing more than vermin living on the streets.