Chapter 1650: Selection

Yun Jianyue thought in alarm, Did the stone cold woman find out? She was about to say something, but she was also worried that defending herself would only make her look more suspicious.

Fortunately, after giving her a look, Yan Xuehen shook her head in the end and said, “Sorry, I must have mistaken you for the wrong person.” She left immediately afterward. Many people tried to strike up a conversation with her along the way, but she only nodded slightly in their direction.

Yun Jianyue gritted her teeth as she watched Yan Xuehen leave. Damn that woman and her looks; no wonder men are always trying to flatter her.

…

Next, they were about to draw the lots for the next round. Four winners had been decided so far, so together with Pei Mianman, there were five competitors in total. There would be another bye.

In the past, some people had raised doubts about the system being too random. What if one person continuously pulled byes? Wouldn’t they be at a huge advantage?

Eventually, however, the most powerful sect at the time had stated that luck was a part of strength. The higher-ups of the different sects hadn’t had many objections to that. After all, the higher one’s cultivation became, the more they understood that statement. Half of one’s accomplishments relied on one’s own talent and efforts, while the other half was up to fate. The greater a cultivator’s luck was, the more miraculous encounters they would experience, and they would have greater room for growth compared to others.

However, after so many years, no one had actually gotten the bye again and again. In fact, there were some who had gotten a bye, but because they hadn’t experienced the previous round, they hadn’t been able to keep up with their fight’s intensity…

For various reasons, the rule had thus been kept.

Soon after, the Righteous Sun Sect’s Wu Xiaofan, Jadefall Palace’s Wan Guiyi, Supreme Mystery Cave’s Shi Dingtian, Emptiness Isle’s Peng Wuyan, and Pei Mianman all arrived in front of a box. The box was specially made by the daoist sects, and it completely blocked off ki perception. Between that and the fact that so many sect masters were in the judges’ area watching over the process together, there was no possibility of cheating.

The competitors were starting to feel a bit nervous. After all, the luck of their draw here could very well affect their path to victory.

For Wu Xiaofan, if his opponent was too strong and he had to exhaust too much strength, someone else could potentially steal victory from him. For the others, if they encountered the strongest contestant Wu Xiaofan, their paths could just end at the semifinals.

Zu An waved toward Pei Mianman and called out, “Lady Pei!”

He didn’t want to walk over to her, because Elder Huo Ling was always right beside her. It wouldn’t be convenient at all for them to talk in front of her. However, if he called out to her, Elder Huo Ling couldn't stop her from coming to him.

When she saw Zu An wave, Elder Huo Ling sneered. Our Manman might treat everyone with a smiling face, but deep down, she’s more guarded than anyone else. She has always kept her distance from everyone, even after all this time staying at Jadefall Palace. I’ve never even heard of her getting close to anyone.

This brat only helped Manman once, and yet he thinks that he can call her over as he pleases… Huh?

Her eyes widened, because Pei Mianman actually went over to Zu An in high spirits, without a shred of reluctance.

The onlookers all exchanged looks with each other; some more daring individuals even had suggestive smiles on their faces. A graceful lady and a noble man made a perfect match. No matter how powerful Sir Zu was, he was still a young man deep down. After all, what man could resist such a great smile?

Only Qiu Honglei felt extremely depressed. Her lover was flirting with another woman, and yet she couldn't even reveal her real identity…

“Sir Zu, is there something you need?” Pei Mianman asked as she looked at Zu An. She was quite the actress herself, and knowing that there were still people watching, she didn’t greet him intimately.

Zu An took out a pill and said, “You were injured during the previous competition. I have a spiritual pill here that will be helpful to you.” After some hesitation, he broke the pill in half and handed it over.

Many people had strange expressions. Isn’t this guy too stingy? You’re giving out a pill, and yet you’re only giving her half? You’re trying to pursue a girl, and yet you’re not willing to spend on her. Looks like this kid is doomed to be alone.

Pei Mianman stared blankly for a moment, thinking, My wounds are already pretty much healed, and you were the one who personally took care of that at night. Still, seeing as Zu An had told her to eat it, she didn’t suspect anything and just took it. She swallowed it without any hesitation.

Elder Huo Ling couldn't stop her in time, and was completely stunned. What is going on? Why is this girl randomly eating something another man gave her? Let alone an incredible beauty like Manman? She asked Zu An with a scowl, “What did you feed her?”

“Treatment medicine. Didn’t I already say it earlier?” Zu An replied with a shrug.

“What is the name of this medicine?” Elder Huo Ling snapped. However, she realized that asking him so directly was a bit too harsh, as he had helped Manman before, so she added, “I have given her a large amount of medicines. I am worried that the medicines might have negative interactions.”

“It doesn’t have a name. I made it myself,” Zu An said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, it won’t cause any problems.”

What he had given Pei Mianman was the Fortune Pill. He wanted to help her draw a good matchup. The reason he had split it in half was because he could end up needing to use it again later. Either way, the drawing of lots wouldn’t take too long, so half a Fortune Pill would be enough, right?

“Manman, do you feel uncomfortable at all?” Elder Huo Ling asked as she nervously held Pei Mianman’s hand. Meanwhile, she internally decided to properly lecture her disciple once they went back. This foolish girl really doesn’t have any vigilance toward outsiders! How can you just eat something another man gives you without even asking about it? What if he gave you poison?

“Not at all. Sir Zu’s medicine seems to work really well,” Pei Mianman replied with a big smile.

Elder Huo Ling grabbed Pei Mianman’s arm and checked her condition. When she discovered that her disciple’s injuries were pretty much already healed, she was stunned. Were this medicine’s effects really that good?

The sect elders all stared at Zu An. They had been worried that he was going to tamper with the drawing of lots, but when they saw that he had only fed Pei Mianman a pill, they weren’t so concerned anymore.

However, Wan Guiyi continued to stare at Zu An. He was also from Jadefall Palace, and judging from Elder Huo Ling and Pei Mianman’s reactions, he could tell that the pill was indeed astonishing. He thought to himself, If this guy divided that pill in half, could it be that the other half is for me? Both Pei Mianman and I are from Jadefall Palace, after all. I’m wounded as well, and it’s a bit more serious than hers.

At any other time, he definitely wouldn’t make any unreasonable requests. However, this was related to the competition results, so he didn’t want to give up on any opportunities.

When he saw Wan Guiyi looking at him impatiently, even having an uncharacteristic ‘currying favor’ sort of smile, Zu An was stunned for a moment. He said, “Girls can just leave their usernames and get attention, but guys have to work for it.”

What kind of a joke is this? The other half is also for Manman; there’s no way I’d give it to you.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Wan Guiyi didn’t understand Zu An’s words, but he more or less understood the meaning, leaving him quite depressed.

…

Then, they began to draw lots. Zu An wanted Pei Mianman to go first so others wouldn’t end up grabbing the bye before her. However, after thinking about it, that would be letting down the Fortune Pill’s reputation. Furthermore, it could draw suspicion from the others.

One after another, the competitors took jade tokens from the chest.

Pei Mianman looked at the jade token in her hand, and was stunned. Elder Huo Ling gave it a look, and quickly became ecstatic.

“She drew another bye? Is there a mistake?”

Many of the disciples looked at the judges with doubt. They wondered whether, because Pei Mianman was pretty, these old perverts had gone against the rules and messed with the results.

Wang Wuxie and the others were also stunned. However, it wasn’t as if there had never been an instance of someone pulling two byes. As such, their expressions quickly returned to normal. Either way, there was no way she’d pull it three times in a row, right?

Some parties were happy, while others weren’t so happy. Wan Tongtian was one of the latter, because this meant Wan Guiyi had to fight the strongest competitor, Wu Xiaofan.

In contrast, Wan Guiyi didn’t feel dispirited at all. Instead, his eyes were filled with fighting spirit. In his eyes, the only one worthy of being his opponent was Wu Xiaofan. This was the perfect opportunity to settle things.

Meanwhile, Emptiness Isle’s Peng Wuyan had to face Supreme Mystery Cave’s Shi Dingtian.

Qiu Honglei looked at her opponent and said with a big smile. “Senior Shi, please go easy on me in the next round.”

Shi Dingtian scratched his head and said, “You’re really strong. I might not even be able to beat you.”

“Then, if you can’t beat me, you can just surrender too,” Qiu Honglei said with a smile.

Shi Dingtian was stunned. He didn’t know how to continue. In the end, he said, “The two cave masters want me to return with a good ranking, so I can’t just surrender…”

“I’m just joking,” Qiu Honglei replied casually. She glanced at Zu An out of the corner of her eye. Unfortunately, because of her current identity, she couldn't talk to him.

Ahhhh! I want this mission to end already!

…

Over the next two days, Zu An kept his attention on Yi Commandery’s situation. However, neither Xiao Jianren nor Zhang Zitong contacted him, so he figured that they hadn't finished their investigation yet.

Meanwhile, Xie Daoyun had been very busy. She had traveled all across Violet Mountain to investigate every potential source of trouble. However, Zu An noticed her expression becoming more and more relaxed. After all, she had examined the place the way her master had asked her to, but still hadn’t noticed the existence of any killing formations; that implied both the State Teacher, as well as the Righteous Sun Sect, were still trustworthy.

Zu An had Zhang Zijiang and Wang Bolin carry out the repairs of Violet Mountain’s various palaces, while assigning his own people to different places to make sure nothing was wrong. Sometimes, however, he wondered whether the preparations were too excessive. There were so many daoist sect experts present. Who would be so reckless as to go against the emperor?

Whenever he had some downtime, he sought out Pei Mianman, but Elder Huo Ling was always around her, as if she were worried that her own daughter would be misguided by the wrong crowd.

Zu An didn’t dare to impersonate Elder Huo Ling and Wan Tongtian’s handwriting to send each other letters again. That ‘date’ the two had had clearly wasn’t a joyous one. If he did it again, the two weren’t stupid and would definitely notice that something was strange.

If they found out that I was the one causing trouble, maybe they would really go crazy out of embarrassment.

Most importantly, after what Big Manman had gone through that night, she didn’t seem all that willing to play along anymore. She didn’t tell him what had happened between her and Chu Chuyan when he asked either.

Seeing as Zu An couldn't go to Manman, he could only brace himself and try to meet with Chu Chuyan. Unfortunately, Yan Xuehen stopped him. He tried to take the chance to get closer to Yan Xuehen, but she wasn’t affected in the slightest.

After a while, Yan Xuehen finally couldn't take it anymore. She looked at him with a cold expression and asked, “What are you trying to do? Don’t tell me you’re trying to court both the master and disciple?!”