ARLQLCC chapter 51

On the spectator stands, as the matches continued, the disciples’ discussions about Tao Ming gradually died down.

Although Yun Xicheng, the victim himself, did not have much of a reaction, it did not stop Yun Che and the others from being frightened by Tao Ming’s sudden outburst. They stayed jumpy for quite a while. In the end, Su Ji gave each of them another bag of pork cracklings, and only then did they quiet down and start eating snacks while watching the matches.

The two Nascent Soul realm disciples were evenly matched in strength, and neither of them held back. This fight lasted for quite a while. In the end, the disciple from Kunlun Divine Palace was the first to seize a flaw in his opponent and defeated the disciple from Chenxin Sect to claim victory.

Su Ji felt that disciple looked somewhat familiar. After thinking carefully for a moment, he remembered that he seemed to be one of the people who had accompanied Xie Qinghuai to buy sǎozi noodles on the day they set up the stall.

Because he had eaten the most, Su Ji remembered him most clearly.

He had not expected that even a random disciple from Kunlun Divine Palace would have such solid fundamentals. Truly worthy of being the number one great sect under heaven.

After that disciple won, he was extremely excited. He happily jumped off the arena and jogged all the way up to the spectator stands on the right side. Su Ji looked over there and, as expected, that disciple sat down beside Xie Qinghuai.

The Nascent Soul realm matches came to an end, and the arena once again became restless.

In every Sword Trial Tournament, aside from the prize announcement segment, the most eye-catching part was the Soul Transformation realm finals.

As the highest cultivation realm in the Sword Trial Tournament, it had attracted attention ever since the first tournament was held. Not to mention that the two people entering the finals this year both had extraordinary identities, making the excitement level rise straight upward.

Tu Yan, who was watching the match below the stage, had already finished his fifth bag of beef strips. Su Ji had spent several days making these snacks, yet they only took one morning to finish.

In the end, he gave Tu Yan one last bag and kept one bag for himself.

There was still quite a lot of dried small fish left. This snack basically counted as Chu Zhaoye’s exclusive snack. Tu Yan also did not really dare fight his boss for food, which was why the dried fish managed to survive.

“The Soul Transformation realm match begins. Disciple Xie Yao of Kunlun Divine Palace, disciple Yuan Chenxin of Chenxin Sect, please enter the arena.”

The words of the Discipline Hall disciple attracted everyone’s attention. As usual, he stood by the edge of the arena. Then, from within the preparation area, two figures stood up one after the other and took their places at opposite corners of the arena.

One of them wore the uniform of Kunlun Divine Palace. His face was cold and handsome, his long hair tied up. In his hand was a pitch-black profound iron heavy sword emitting chilling light, and he stood at the corner facing the spectator stands.

The moment he appeared, regardless of whether they were disciples of Kunlun Divine Palace or not, everyone’s eyes lit up brightly. One could even faintly hear suppressed squeals from female disciples.

Xie Yao was a person with exceptional talent and extremely formidable strength. Right after establishing his foundation, he entered under Xie Daoqi’s tutelage. The speed of his cultivation breakthroughs was unstoppable. At three hundred years old, he broke through Nascent Soul and entered Soul Transformation, making him unquestionably the number one among the younger generation of disciples.

Cultivation was the foundation of his fame, but what people talked about the most was his detached and indifferent personality, along with that handsome face that made countless female disciples’ hearts flutter.

When a person’s cultivation, family background, and appearance were all this outstanding, his cold and unapproachable personality instead became an enormous bonus point.

Countless disciples admired Xie Yao, both male and female. Every time Xie Yao had a match, the spectator stands before the Soul Transformation arena would be completely full.

Xie Yao seemed already accustomed to this kind of atmosphere. There was not the slightest expression on that cold face.

One second before the Discipline Hall disciple shouted “Begin,” Xie Yao suddenly raised his head, his eyes like cold stars looking straight toward the central spectator stands.

The entire venue instantly exploded into excitement, and a wave of gasps from female disciples sounded from the central spectator stands.

“Who is he looking at? I remember he never looked toward the spectator stands during matches before!”

“Could he be looking at some female disciple from another sect? Who’s so lucky?!”

“Have some confidence. Maybe he’s looking at me.”

“Stop flattering yourself. I think he just casually glanced over there, right? After all, it’s already the finals.”

“Who knows? Forget about who he’s looking at first, the match has started!”

On the stage, Xie Yao had already withdrawn his gaze. Raising the profound iron sword, he charged straight toward Yuan Chenxin, and the sound of weapons clashing continuously echoed across the arena.

Beside Su Ji’s ears, the excited chatter of the female disciples continued nonstop. He blankly looked toward the two already fighting on the arena, and even the speed at which he was petting the cat slowed considerably.

If he had not seen wrong just now, Xie Yao really had been looking at someone in the central spectator stands, and this person was not any female disciple, but Su Ji himself.

The moment their gazes met, he could feel the meaning Xie Yao wanted to convey through his eyes.

To be more accurate, he wanted to fight him.

Su Ji had a headache. He planned to leave the martial arena immediately and return to Linggu Mountain the moment the match ended, so as to avoid unnecessary coming his way.

Just as Su Ji was considering which route would be the fastest way to leave, a soundproof barrier unknowingly rose around him. Tu Yan chewed on beef strips while secretly glancing at Chu Zhaoye, whose face was gloomy and stifled. Knowing his boss had something private to say to Su Ji, he wisely kept quiet.

That barrier isolated even Tu Yan outside. Unless someone present had cultivation higher than Chu Zhaoye’s, nobody could hear their conversation.

Since the boss would not let him listen, then he might as well honestly watch the match.

Inside the barrier, Su Ji was still staring blankly at the arena. Chu Zhaoye unhappily pawed at his hand, but Su Ji still did not return to his senses.

Chu Zhaoye glanced at the person on arena effortlessly wielding the profound iron sword, then looked up at Su Ji’s tense jawline and said gloomily, “Are you looking at that Xie Yao?”

The sudden voice startled Su Ji. Returning to his senses, he realized the noisy sounds from the spectator stands had already been isolated outside, leaving only one resentful little cat looking at him.

Su Ji picked him up and asked in confusion, “Why did you suddenly put up the barrier?”

Chu Zhaoye did not answer him and continued looking at Su Ji with that resentful gaze, like a wife abandoned by her husband. “Are you looking at that Xie Yao?”

Su Ji: “……”

The only time Chu Zhaoye spoke to him in this kind of tone was when the other party was jealous.

Every time Chu Zhaoye got jealous, Su Ji never really understood what exactly he was jealous about, but he still honestly replied, “Yes.”

Chu Zhaoye: “……” What did that mean? Not even pretending a little?

Su Ji continued, “Later, I need to avoid him when leaving. Ma Tuan, which route do you think is the fastest to run back through?”

Chu Zhaoye felt utterly wronged. “Fine then, don’t mind me anymore. Go find him instead… huh?”

His head got smacked by Su Ji.

“What nonsense are you thinking about, silly cat.”

Chu Zhaoye covered his head and asked in confusion, “Don’t you know him? Why do you have to avoid him?”

Su Ji rubbed his cat’s head. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

On the stage, Yuan Chenxin was already somewhat struggling to hold on under Xie Yao’s offensive. For some reason, today’s Xie Yao attacked extremely impatiently, and his sword techniques were even fiercer than before.

Although Yuan Chenxin had become the first opponent in the Sword Trial Tournament to withstand ten moves from him, he still had no way of defeating him.

Everyone could tell that within five more exchanges, he would be defeated.

On the high platform, Fang Que’s expression did not look too good.

In the previous Nascent Soul realm match, Chenxin Sect had already lost once to Kunlun Divine Palace. If Yuan Chenxin could not defeat Xie Yao in the Soul Transformation realm, then Chenxin Sect would not have a single first place in this year’s Sword Trial Tournament.

And the one surpassing Chenxin Sect happened to be Kunlun Divine Palace. Fang Que had anger with nowhere to vent it. Looking at Yuan Chenxin, who was already losing on the arena, and thinking about how he would still have to congratulate Xie Daoqi later, he felt extremely resentful.

When Xie Yao won, the cheers were even louder than when Yun Xicheng had won earlier. The disciples were still waiting for the reward announcements later, and not a single person left.

Su Ji lifted his eyes and swept his gaze around, confirming that nobody was blocking the exit routes. He grabbed Chu Zhaoye and stuffed him into his chest, bent over slightly, and prepared to quietly sneak away.

Tu Yan asked in confusion, “Why are you leaving? It’s not over yet.”

This was exactly the time he needed to leave. Any later and there would be people everywhere. How was he supposed to run then?

Without even turning his head, Su Ji said, “Something came up. I’ll be leaving first.”

Since he really wanted to leave, Tu Yan had no reason to stop him and tactfully said nothing more.

Under the gazes of Tu Yan, Yun Xicheng, and the others, Su Ji tucked a cat cub against himself, half bent over, sneaking away from the row of seats like a thief.

On the stage, Yuan Chenxin had long known he could not defeat Xie Yao. Now that he had lost, he did not feel much resentment. Just as he was preparing to ask Xie Yao for a few pointers on the path of the sword, he suddenly saw the other party sheath the profound iron sword and turn to look toward the spectator stands with burning eyes.

The next second, Xie Yao disappeared from in front of Yuan Chenxin. When he appeared again, he was already at the center of the spectator stands.

Yuan Chenxin focused his eyes and instantly widened them.

Why did the person in front of Xie Yao seem so familiar? Wasn’t that Su Ji?!

Su Ji had already reached the empty passageway in the middle. At this point, he only needed to walk down the stairs to leave the spectator stands.

The surrounding disciples were all cheering, and nobody noticed him. Just as he sighed in relief and was about to continue walking, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him, completely blocking the sunlight from his face.

The cheering gradually died down. Thousands of curious gazes shot over and gathered on the two of them in the center. Even Tao Yue, who had still been depressed on the high platform, raised his head. Temporarily forgetting the fact that his disciple was a shameless scoundrel, he revealed an expression eager to watch the fun.

Su Ji went numb and resigned himself to raising his head.

Xie Yao still maintained that signature cold expression of his, but the corners of his brows and eyes were filled with a fiery battle intent that others could not understand.

Others could not understand it, but Su Ji understood it very clearly.

Su Ji: “……”

It was over. He had failed to run away. What a sin.

Author’s Note:

Little Xie’s character setting is that of a battle maniac. (rubbing hands like a fly)

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