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Chapter 265: The Great Berry Bandits (II)

That speed...

She could have killed me ten times over in the time it took for her to snatch the berries from me.

It only took a moment for the middle-aged cultivator to become drenched in cold sweat.

The Whale-Riding Immortal said, "We're not taking them for free. Here."

He tossed a sparkling stone to the middle-aged cultivator. The moment it landed in the middle-aged cultivator's hand, he felt a surge of spiritual qi. The small crystal contained a turbulent spiritual qi.

Could this be the precious sea-spirit stone?

A sea-spirit stone of this size is probably worth at least a hundred Vermillion-Bird coins, which is more than enough to buy ten boxes of those berries.

The middle-aged cultivator instinctively declined. "How could I accept this..."

"Just take it. There's no need to be polite," the Whale-Riding Immortal replied.

Then he waved his hand, and the scenery around the middle-aged cultivator warped.

When the middle-aged cultivator was able to see his surroundings clearly again, he realized he was now dozens of li ahead from where he'd been stopped.

What amazing divine abilities...

The middle-aged cultivator was stunned. He felt that the abilities of the people he'd encountered were beyond his comprehension, and thus, he did not dare linger there. He set off for home without delay.

Meanwhile, the Whale-Riding Immortal looked at the little girl and grinned. "We're pretty lucky. Someone delivered the berries right to us. Are you satisfied now?"

The little girl pointed at the distant sky. "Fruit."

...

In the upper level of the pavilion on Silver Sword Peak, Chu Liang sighed deeply. "Oh, what a pity, what a pity."

Who would have thought that an alcoholic who drank every day for decades, nearly drinking her family to destitution, would be unable to drink at the Wine-God Contest?

Chu Liang's eyes were filled with disappointment.

Liu Xiaoyu'er sat still on a small stool nearby, with an upright posture and a serious expression. However, she didn't really understand what Chu Liang and Di Nufeng were talking about. The little one was actually just spacing out.

The Golden-Furred Hou lay outside with its big head by the door. Its ears were perked up, and it seemed to be listening in on the meeting, afraid that its name might get mentioned.

Di Nufeng, on the other hand, was sitting in a corner with her head hung low, looking dejected.

Hearing Chu Liang criticize her, Di Nufeng raised her head.

To defend her loss, she muttered, "Well... I had no idea that drinking different types of alcohol would get me drunk so easily. And who could have expected that Aunt Tian, a Guardian Elder, would join the contest... It's not fair!"

Chu Liang shook his head. "Haaa."

Learning from Chu Liang, Liu Xiaoyu'er and the Golden-Furred Hou did the same. Liu Xiaoyu'er's small head and the Golden-Furred Hou's big head shook at the same time.

After getting reprimanded twice, Di Nufeng's bad temper finally emerged.

She glared at Chu Liang and barked, "Since when did you have the right to lecture me? Who's the teacher here?!"

"Esteemed Teacher, it's just that we had such high expectations for you," Chu Liang said. "We'd hoped you would set a good example for us and win. Instead... you were eliminated from the Mahjong Tournament... and even caused so much trouble that you got banned for life from entering the tournament. Now, you've suffered a defeat in the Wine-God Contest as well. On the other hand, look at us."

Chu Liang pointed at Big Head. "The Golden-Furred Hou hasn't lost in the Spirit-Pet Combat Tournament."

Then he pointed at Liu Xiaoyu'er, "Xiaoyu'er hasn't lost in the Mahjong Tournament."

Finally, he pointed at himself. "As for me, I haven't lost in any of the events I participated in."

"There's a reason for my losses. It's not that I'm weak; I was targeted," Di Nufeng argued with conviction.

Seeing Chu Liang's profound gaze focused on her, Di Nufeng ultimately waved off her excuse. "Failure is the mother of success. So, it's right that I failed, and you succeeded."

Sure, Chu Liang thought. You lost, but you're still taking advantage of me.

Chu Liang ignored Di Nufeng's shamelessness and said, "Esteemed Teacher, to motivate us to do even better, I think you should do something to make up for your losses."

"Do what?" Di Nufeng asked.

"Since you lost in the Wine-God Contest, how about we cut our peak's alcohol expenses by half from now on?" Chu Liang suggested.

Di Nufeng narrowed her eyes.

The peak's alcohol expenses... but among the members of Silver Sword Peak, Di Nufeng was the only one that drank alcohol. That meant Chu Liang was basically trying to persuade her to cut back on buying alcohol.

No wonder this kid suddenly called for a meeting this evening. He'd already had this all planned out.

With his plan in motion, I can see the dagger now.[1]

He's showing his true intentions.

This kid has been waiting for me to fall into his trap this whole time.

Di Nufeng pondered for a moment.

Then she suddenly turned around and cried out, "Ugh! My head hurts! My whole body hurts!"

...

Di Nufeng had too much experience in being shameless, so Chu Liang lost in the end.

The main reason was that his combat power was inferior to hers. Di Nufeng threw all three of them out with one hand. Words did not work with her.

It appears that the possibility of being able to reason things out with someone more powerful than you is just a beautiful dream.

Nevertheless, Chu Liang didn't dwell on the matter. It just so happened that it was about time to draw his lot for his match tomorrow in the main competition, so he had Liu Xiaoyu'er help him draw his lot.

Liu Xiaoyu'er drew Shen Qiongguang from Jade Sword Peak to be Chu Liang's opponent.

The main competition was now at the quarterfinals, and there was one disciple at the Realm of the Five Elements, six at the Golden Core Realm, and one at the Spiritual Awareness Realm[2]. That sole disciple at the Spiritual Awareness Realm was Ling Ao from Solitude Peak.

Chu Liang would rather face a normal disciple at the Golden Core Realm than encounter Ling Ao this early in the competition.

Ling Ao was simply too strange.

The remaining participants included Xu Ziyang and Jiang Yuebai, so the lot that Liu Xiaoyu'er drew was an excellent one. In fact, Shen Qiongguang seemed a little weaker than Mu Yueting, Chu Liang's opponent from the previous round. This meant Shen Qiongguang wouldn't be a difficult opponent for Chu Liang.

Chu Liang thought that this was a great result.

Unexpectedly, there was something even better to come after that.

The next morning, Chu Liang received news that Shen Qiongguang had withdrawn from the competition due to injury, giving him a bye[3]!

"Eh?"

Everyone was quite shocked when they heard the news. How could Shen Qiongguang get injured at such an important time?

***

It turned out that, besides participating in the Mount Shu Summit, Shen Qiongguang had spent the last few days getting to know the young lady from the South Melody Conservatory, and they had been getting along pretty well. Feeling he had a chance with her, Shen Qiongguang had been very attentive to all of the young lady's needs.

Then something popped up, and the young lady needed to return to her sect that very night before Shen Qiongguang's match with Chu Liang. Shen Qiongguang decided he would escort the young lady back to her sect anyway.

However, the moment the pair left Mount Shu, they ran into trouble. Two bandits jumped out and tried to rob them. Shen Qiongguang wanted to impress the beautiful young lady, so he felt this was a heaven-sent opportunity.

Without a second thought, he drew his sword to strike.

Then he was half-beaten to death with one punch.

It's said the one who struck him was a little girl who looked only a few years old. Fortunately for Shen Qiongguang, the adult accompanying the little girl had held her back.

Nevertheless... the part that was hardest for Shen Qiongguang to accept was that after sending him flying, all the bandits took from the young lady from the South Melody Conservatory were two boxes of Mount Shu's specialty berries. Then they left.

Shen Qiongguang thought, Oh, so that's all you wanted? Why didn't you say so earlier?!

***

Shen Qiongguang had only taken one punch, but that one punch had given him severe internal and external injuries. It had broken through his defenses effortlessly as if breaking through something dry and rotten. The adult bandit had even treated Shen Qiongguang's injuries on the spot, but the damage to Shen Qiongguang's qi and blood circulation routes couldn't be healed so easily. He needed at least ten to fifteen days of bed rest.

It would be pointless to force himself to compete in such a state, so he chose to withdraw from the competition. With only one person withdrawing, the elders couldn't select another participant to replace him.

Nor could they select a replacement from the eliminated participants. When the sixteen participants had been reduced to eight in the previous round, the eliminated participants hadn't been assigned rankings. That meant it would be unfair to the remaining seven eliminated participants no matter who was chosen as Shen Qiongguang's replacement. It was simpler to let Shen Qiongguang's opponent have a bye.

Consequently, Chu Liang was the lucky person who got the bye. Just like that, the Mount Shu Summit got its first semifinalist!

Chu Liang was extremely surprised too...

I was just eating hot pot and singing some songs. How did I suddenly become a semifinalist?

It truly feels like some kind of divine fate.

1. Literally “When the scroll is unrolled, the dagger is revealed.” It's a saying that refers to the assassination attempt Jing Ke, a retainer of Crown Prince Dan of the Yan state, made on King Zheng of the Qin state in 227 BC. ☜

2. These are the fifth, fourth, and third cultivation realms respectively. ☜

3. Sports term. Basically a free pass to the next round. ☜