Hearing Li Yunxian’s words, the audience below erupted into joyful laughter.
From the moment Yu Juanshu and Li Yunxian first met, Yu Juanshu had chosen a Sword Cultivator to take the stage, and that cultivator hadn’t hesitated to call Yu Juanshu “Yu Dog” right to his face.
That alone showed just how disliked he was.
When Du Rong did something wrong, no one cared; but the moment others went after Du Rong, Yu Juanshu would appear.
He was truly like a dog belonging to the Du family.
However, Du Rong was actually quite skilled at picking his battles.
Most of the people he offended weren’t as formidable as he was, and on the rare occasions he slipped up, Yu Juanshu was the one who cleaned up the mess. That’s why all anyone could do was grumble in frustration.
But now, things were different.
No matter if the audience members ranked within a hundred places of Yu Juanshu or not, everyone watching his expression was eager and ready to challenge him.
Even if they lost, like Li Yunxian, being able to land a punch on Yu Juanshu’s cold, indifferent face was exhilarating!
Yu Juanshu felt his phone vibrate relentlessly.
Countless spectators were sending him challenge requests.
Li Yunxian noticed it too.
She turned back and looked at Yu Juanshu with a smile: “You’re going to accept the challenge, right?”
Holding his whip, Yu Juanshu forced himself to stand despite the pain and responded with difficulty, “I will.”
“See you tomorrow morning, nine o’clock.” Yu Juanshu forced the words out of his throat, each syllable heavy with strain.
Li Yunxian raised her eyebrows slightly but said nothing, merely stepping aside to give him a clear path to leave.
***
When Du Sen received the news, he was so angry he wanted to smash what he was holding.
Facing the gloating looks of his colleagues, Du Sen gritted his teeth and, after finishing his current tasks of adding Lingbao to the Xuanwen Secret Realm, rushed straight to his villa without looking back.
At this moment, Yu Juanshu had already healed his wounds. Seeing Du Sen storm back in fury, he lowered his head and remained silent.
Du Sen didn’t know what to say to Yu Juanshu, so he turned and glanced at his own son.
Seeing Du Rong’s face, which looked both guilty and somewhat smug, Du Sen’s anger flared uncontrollably.
He reached out and roughly ruffled Du Rong’s hair, shouting, “Du Rong! Didn’t I tell you not to let Juanshu get involved in this?”
“I want Juanshu to focus properly on the Xuanwen Secret Realm. Did you even listen to me?!”
Du Rong had never expected that even though Yu Juanshu clearly lost miserably, the first thing his father did upon returning was to scold him harshly.
Finally unable to suppress his anger, Du Rong shouted at Du Sen, “Juanshu, Juanshu, you only ever care about Yu Juanshu! Who is your real son?!”
Without waiting for Du Sen’s reaction, Du Rong turned away with a dark expression and slammed the door to his room.
Du Sen was already in the Nascent Soul Stage, but watching Du Rong’s behavior made him feel as if his lungs were about to burst from anger.
He had spoiled this son too much, to the point where he couldn’t even control him anymore.
Thinking this, Du Sen glanced at Yu Juanshu, who lowered his head even further because of the father-son argument.
Du Sen’s own head began to throb.
He said to Yu Juanshu, “For the next few days, stay at home. Don’t go anywhere.”
He had heard Li Yunxian’s harsh words, and to Du Sen, the best solution was to ignore them.
If Yu Juanshu went up on stage and was challenged afterward, whether he won or lost, it would be humiliating.
Hearing Du Sen’s order, Yu Juanshu bowed silently to him.
There was no doubt this was a sign of defiance.
Du Sen clenched his teeth in anger: “You’re stubborn with me now? One by one, I can’t control any of you anymore?!”
“Those who have been training elsewhere recently have already spent more time and effort than you have. Except for the arena here, you have no other chance to obtain the Xuanwen Token.”
“Do you know what will happen if you really get knocked out of the top 100 by Li Yunxian?”
“Not counting today, there are still six days left. You’re ranked 92 now. Even if you lose every forced match, you can still stay within the top 98.”
In the end, Du Sen couldn’t help but give Yu Juanshu a heartfelt lecture.
Yu Juanshu still didn’t raise his head and said quietly, “I know, teacher, I know.”
“But I go to the Xuanwen Secret Realm to break through Qi Refining and reach Foundation Establishment.”
“If I don’t accept challenges, with fear and regret in my heart, even if I succeed in entering the Secret Realm, I won’t be able to achieve Foundation Establishment.” Yu Juanshu’s voice was calm.
Du Sen looked down at him for a long while after hearing this.
He knew Yu Juanshu’s words weren’t wrong.
This student of his was stubborn as a mule.
Feeling exhausted, Du Sen finally said weakly, “Fine.”
“Get out of here.”
Yu Juanshu understood this as a yes. He bowed again silently and quietly left.
After delivering her harsh words, Li Yunxian soon found herself overwhelmed by a flood of chatter.
“Really? Just some advice and you can beat Yu Juanshu?”
“Yunxian, by doing this, won’t that Nascent Soul come looking for trouble?”
“Why not ask Professor Chen for help early on?”
It sounded like tens of thousands of ducks were quacking incessantly in Li Yunxian’s ears.
And it was the same group of people cycling through.
First, it was her fellow students from the same cohort, then in the afternoon class, those students echoed the same sentiments.
After class, Duan Qiu also came by to join in. After asking some questions, she even asked if she should step onto the arena later to check the situation.
Duan Qiu’s words surprised Li Yunxian.
“Can you hold off a Nascent Soul stage professor?!” Li Yunxian asked in disbelief.
Duan Qiu rolled her eyes.
What was she thinking!
Within the Golden Core Stage, Duan Qiu was indeed a genius; she could stand against an early Nascent Soul.
But that was just early Nascent Soul.
The four major professors’ Nascent Soul stages—none of them were ordinary.
However…
“I’m a Sound Cultivator. The moment Professor Du arrives, I can warn you to run,” Duan Qiu said.
Sound Cultivators could locate positions by sound; her sensing range was vast!
Li Yunxian smiled and patted Duan Qiu’s shoulder. “Good, very loyal!”
***
That evening, Li Yunxian received a message from Professor Chen Bujian. She told her to keep a close eye on her phone and call if anything urgent happened.
Li Yunxian smiled and agreed.
Only then did she realize that in the academy, her social standing—both ups and downs—was actually quite good.
The next morning, at the arena.
Yu Juanshu arrived as scheduled.
Li Yunxian watched calmly from the audience.
Neither of them spoke.
Yu Juanshu lowered his head and accepted a challenger.
Before the challenger stepped onto the stage, he glanced at Li Yunxian. Li Yunxian nodded gently and said to him, “Senior, just fight normally. When there’s an opening, I’ll remind you.”
The challenger smiled, seemingly trying to provoke Yu Juanshu, and replied, “Alright, let’s show Yu Dog a good time.”
Yu Juanshu said nothing, gripping his whip as he stood firm.
Whether intentional or not, the challenger was again a Sword Cultivator.
Facing Sword Cultivators other than Li Yunxian, Yu Juanshu’s whip still held the advantage.
The challenger only exchanged three moves before subtly falling behind.
Seeing the whip clinging to his spirit sword like an impenetrable net, the challenger originally expected Li Yunxian to call out when an opening appeared.
But she didn’t.
Not once.
It was as if Li Yunxian had never promised any opening alerts before the match.
The challenger instinctively began searching for gaps in Yu Juanshu’s whip technique.
He soon found one.
Eyes sharpening, he raised his sword and gathered his energy, preparing to strike a decisive blow, when suddenly Li Yunxian’s sharp, resolute voice pierced his ear.
“Stop!”
A simple, direct command, but it carried an unusually convincing aura.
His own will clashed with the command, causing his sword momentum to falter. That powerful strike never landed.
But the challenger saw the consequence of his attack.
Almost instantly, the whip surged forward with full force, like a meat grinder sweeping across the “opening.”
More accurately, it was a trap.
The challenger froze in shock.
Li Yunxian’s calm, matter-of-fact voice sounded again: “Keep going, don’t rush.”
“Fight him the same way as before. Keep fighting.”
“You have similar physiques, but using the whip requires more physical movement than using a sword.”
“The one who should be anxious is him, not you.”
“Don’t mind his so-called flaws. If he can’t beat you, then he loses.”
Yu Juanshu wants to fight Sword Cultivators? Li Yunxian has a hundred ways for Sword Cultivators to defeat him.