Chapter 64: Efforts Get Rewards

As the referee’s announcement rang out, a graceful figure immediately flew out from the Queyue Palace preparation area, heading straight for the stage.

The newcomer was the elder accompanying the Queyue Palace team.

With a tense expression, she pulled Xiao Lengyue into her arms, hurriedly placed a pill into her mouth, and released spiritual power to probe her body.

“There are no obvious physical injuries.”

She looked at the blood seeping from Xiao Lengyue’s facial orifices and shifted to releasing her Divine Sense to investigate Xiao Lengyue’s Sea of Consciousness.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Within Xiao Lengyue’s Sea of Consciousness, fierce winds were raging. Her soul was curled into a ball, and cracks had appeared all over its surface.

This was a sign of soul backlash.

Combining this with the situation on the stage earlier, the answer was obvious.

The Queyue Palace elder studied Wu Yan with an inquisitive look.

She knew Xiao Lengyue very well. Within the Heart-Inquiry Formation, Xiao Lengyue’s soul strength was comparable to a cultivator at the Early Nascent Soul Stage.

Even so, she had still suffered a backlash. This meant that Wu Yan’s soul strength was at least above the Early Nascent Soul Stage.

Where did the Piaomiao Sect dig up such a monster? There were clearly rumors before claiming she was a wicked woman who bullied the weak.

At that moment, Wu Yan, who was being regarded as a monster, did not understand either.

From her perspective, after she had exposed the essence of the formation, Xiao Lengyue had mouthed off for a line or two and then managed to cause her own backlash.

“This is called getting what you deserve!” Wu Yan giggled as she pointed at Xiao Lengyue.

The inner Wu Yan could clearly sense Xiao Lengyue touching that seal within Wu Yan’s Sea of Consciousness, so she naturally understood why her soul had suffered a backlash.

“Young lady, you…” the Queyue Palace elder looked at Wu Yan and could not help but speak.

Just then, Xia Lingshuang, dressed in purple elder robes, happened to step in front of Wu Yan.

“May I ask what Elder Yu intends to do to my disciple?”

Xia Lingshuang’s voice was as cold as ever.

For Wu Yan, this was the first time Xia Lingshuang had stood in front of her since getting injured.

“Oh no, Elder Xia, you misunderstand.”

Seeing Xia Lingshuang’s reaction, Elder Yu proactively explained, “I don’t intend to do anything to your disciple. I only wanted to ask if she has cultivated a technique that can train the soul.”

Hearing her explanation, Xia Lingshuang turned her head to look at Wu Yan.

Wu Yan did not hide it either. “I have indeed cultivated a technique that can enhance soul strength.”

Elder Yu nodded upon hearing this and murmured, “Then it’s no wonder.”

After handing Xiao Lengyue over to the arriving Queyue Palace disciples, she bypassed Xia Lingshuang and asked Wu Yan, “May I ask if you have any intention of teaching this technique? Our Queyue Palace can pay a high price to acquire it.”

Techniques that could train the soul were rare, especially for cultivators like them who specialized in mental attacks and illusions; such techniques were essentially something that could be sought but not easily found. Even within Queyue Palace, they only possessed two such techniques.

Wu Yan shook her head. “I’m sorry, but due to some special reasons, it’s not convenient to share this technique with outsiders.”

“Alright, Elder Yu. You’ve asked what you wanted to ask and talked about what needed to be discussed. Now, I’m taking her back.”

Since taking control of her body, this was the first time Wu Yan had seen Xia Lingshuang care about her so much. She was a bit unaccustomed to it.

‘How did this old woman’s personality change?’ the inner Wu Yan stared at Xia Lingshuang suspiciously. ‘To suddenly be so nice to you, she must be up to something.’

On the way from the stage back to the preparation area, Xia Lingshuang did not say a single word to her.

Only when Wu Yan said she was heading back to the courtyard did Xia Lingshuang speak again. “Get some good rest. There’s another match tomorrow.”

Wu Yan was startled at first, then she nodded. “I understand, Master.”

After watching Wu Yan leave, Xia Lingshuang quickly patted her chest, trying to suppress the feeling of disgust rising from the bottom of her heart.

Although she had already said she should view the current Wu Yan and the previous life’s Wu Yan separately, seeing that face and trying to care for her made scenes of the woman absorbing her spiritual power, killing the Sect Master, and destroying the sect in her past life involuntarily appear in her mind. She could not help but feel repulsion in her heart.

But at least she could persevere for a while. It could be considered the first step toward change.

—

That night, Wu Yan was in her room wiping Wu Nian.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open with great force, immediately followed by the sound of clinking abacus beads.

‘Why does this little charlatan make such a racket every time? Doesn’t she know how to be quiet?’ The inner Wu Yan, who had been playing with the other Wu Yan’s hair, was startled by the sound of the door opening.

“Zhiqiu, did something happen?” Wu Yan asked without raising her head.

“Sister Wu, something terrible has happened!” It was still “Sister Wu,” and it was still “something terrible.”

Although she had told Bai Zhiqiu before to just call her by her name, the girl insisted on calling her Sister Wu, even though she was older than Wu Yan.

“You’re famous!” Bai Zhiqiu’s expression was incredibly serious, as if this were truly a major event.

“Now that you’re famous, more people will know how powerful you are, and more people will be studying you.”

Wu Yan had long known this.

To be precise, starting from the moment she won the first round, the number of people studying her would have increased. After defeating Li Qingzhou and Xiao Lengyue in succession, her fame was bound to skyrocket, leading to even more people analyzing her.

However, she did not care about these things. After all, she had not won against so many powerful enemies by playing the pig to eat the tiger.

“And! And!” As Bai Zhiqiu spoke, her hand almost reached toward Wu Yan’s waist.

“So many people now know that Sister Wu is both strong and beautiful. If they fall for you, won’t my number of competitors increase?”

Wu Yan actually hoped that the “competitors” she spoke of were the serious kind who decided outcomes on the stage, rather than… anything else.

While Bai Zhiqiu’s words did not please Wu Yan, they quite pleased the other one.

‘Not bad, not bad. Although this little charlatan likes to act like a seductress, she at least has basic aesthetic sense! Once I take back this body, I might leave her a whole corpse.’

Wu Yan pushed away Bai Zhiqiu, who was trying to wrap an arm around her waist. Just as she was about to say something, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor outside.

“I knew it was you, Bai Zhiqiu!” The newcomer was Yu Qingyao, who had rushed over to investigate after noticing something was wrong in Wu Yan’s room.

“Fellow Daoist Yu, why are you yelling so loudly? People who don’t know better would think you were my fan.”

“Why are you here again?”

“I came to play with Sister Wu. Is there a problem?”

“Didn’t you just see her this morning?”

“So what?”

“You — !”

Although she had lived through two lives, during her previous life, she had been exhausted by the pressure from the Demon Venerable Wu Yan and spent all her time cultivating, so she had not had many social interactions. In this life, she was focused on guarding against Wu Yan and naturally did not have much time for socializing either.

Her fellow disciples within the sect usually pampered and cared for her, and they would not talk back to her relentlessly like Bai Zhiqiu did. This resulted in her being at a disadvantage when facing the sharp-tongued Bai Zhiqiu.

Looking at the two of them who were at each other’s throats yet strangely harmonious, and recalling Xia Lingshuang standing in front of her after the match today…

Wu Yan realized deeply that her efforts were being rewarded.

As long as she continued to work hard, perhaps she could change her own ending — as well as the endings of everyone else.