"How is it you?" Shalman was struck dumb and speechless; that night, after Qiu Jiezi revealed her background, Yue Jinghua showed no reaction at all, her icy words, though heartless, had also awakened her own realization.
"Qiu Chuzi told me to call you back for a meal," Yue Jinghua shrugged her shoulders, the Outer Court has many broken rules, but Qiu Chuzi sets a rule that dinner is paramount, every student must appear in the dining hall on time, or else the meal cannot start.
The whole audience was thunderstruck, followed by a deathly silence, then curses and roars erupted instantly.
In the stands, Fa Xiaoyi's stern face also twitched oddly.
"Sister Jinghua, your words just now are blaming me for bullying the students from the Outer Court. Since sister dislikes it, Sisi will not confront Shalman," Liesisi said softly, crafting a false image of sisterly love.
"Those were your words. Not competing means you forfeit. The commander Yao over there, whose eyes are bigger than bulls - Liesisi said she forfeited, aren't you going to announce Shalman as the winner quickly?" Yue Jinghua's words left the commander red-faced and flushed, and the students below were also in an uproar, having seen shameless, but never this shameless.
"You!" Liesisi choked on her words.
"Cousin Sisi, better come down quickly to avoid future criticism that words are like farts, not to be taken seriously." Yue Jinghua laughed, causing her "Demon Mark" to tremble uncontrollably.
Liesisi quickly glanced towards Fa Xiaoyi, seeing his indifferent expression, she adopted a wronged look and reluctantly stepped down from the platform.
Yue Jinghua folded her arms and nodded at Shalman. Just as Shalman was about to ask, she lightly heard, "You used an Illusion Technique, and your Dark Power is greatly diminished, you can't beat Liu Xi. Leave the rest to me. Don't forget, today it's your turn to clean up the dining hall, don't expect me to cover for you afterwards."
Leave it to her? Shalman couldn't believe it, but when she saw Yue Jinghua's completely confident eyes, a warmth she had never felt before spontaneously arose in her heart. She smiled slightly and stepped down from the contest platform.
The Commander Yao with the Yao surname was fuming to death, it was a competition in the Inner Court, yet people from the Outer Court kept popping out one after another.
Especially the newly arrived Yue Jinghua, if one would say Shalman's Illusion Technique was not bad, then the present Yue Jinghua truly did not have a bit of Dark Skill, "Yue Jinghua, get down immediately, don't obstruct the progress of the competition."
"Dear bull-eyed commander, I am here to participate in the competition, and the competition has not yet begun, how can I leave. In a real match, only the losers go down," Yue Jinghua's eyes gleamed, her gaze turning on Liesisi's face, her slender finger then pointed towards the bottom right position of the stands, "Liu Xi, come on up."
Yue Jinghua's words were like a heavy bomb, not to mention Liu Xi himself, even Fa Xiaoyi in the stands was stupefied.
Liesisi's lips curved into a faint smirk, Yue Jinghua ah Yue Jinghua, you truly have a brain like a pig's.
Liu Xi is one of the dark horses in this competition, his strength is not much different from the former Liesisi, but after Liesisi advanced, her strength should be slightly stronger than Liu Xi. Liesisi initially intended to compete for the first place, but now with Yue Jinghua's meddling, Liesisi missed the honor of first place by a whisker, feeling even more resentful in her heart.
"Sister Jinghua, don't mess around any further," Liesisi feigned panic, stepping forward to mediate, "Commander Yao has already said it, only those who have participated in the top eight matches can proceed with the next contests, surely you also didn't beat someone from the top eight like Shalman did, did you?"
With Liesisi doing this, it was clearly playing dumb since apart from Shaluo and Ding Yuan who were defeated, and Liesisi who was forced to forfeit, the remaining five contestants are now standing below the platform, obviously Yue Jinghua couldn't have defeated any of them.
"Then defeating you will do," Yue Jinghua chuckled.
No sooner had the voice fallen than a steady male voice came, "Yue Jinghua, you are being utterly presumptuous."
In the stands, Fa Xiaoyi rebuked in anger, imposingly furious. Seeing his appearance, Yue Jinghua sneered, "It's really boring, don't even understand a joke to ease the mood, is it about the contestant tokens, right? I do actually have two," Yue Jinghua calmly took out two tokens.
Seeing those two contestant tokens, Commander Yao with the Yao surname exclaimed, "How could the Qing Clan brothers' contestant tokens be in your hands?"
"I was following orders to call Shalman home for a meal, and quite unluckily got lost, so I very politely asked two Inner Court students for directions, who would have thought they not only wouldn't answer but also handled me roughly with both hands and feet, and were rude with words, I had no choice but to take action against them. Only when both were kneeling and begging, calling for daddy and mommy, did I realize, those two were top five contestants in team competitions, I wonder if this qualifies me to challenge him now." Yue Jinghua's words were deliberately provocative.
The students of the Inner Court were all stunned; the Qing Brothers had been defeated. How could it be possible that two of the top five competitors, who fought one against two in a team competition, and the strongest among them, the Qing Brothers, could lose?
The successive news left all the students of the Inner Court speechless. Even Commander Yao, who was presiding, was momentarily at a loss.
"Someone, go find the Qing Brothers," ordered Fa Xiao Yi, and hidden guards who were concealed in the shadows immediately went to look for them.
It took only 15 minutes for the hidden guards to return and whisper a few words into Fa Xiao Yi's ear.
Immediately, Fa Xiao Yi's expression turned slightly ominous.
The hidden guards found the Qing Brothers with little effort, both stripped naked and hung high at the entrance of the Inner Court; one bore the word "Underling" and the other "Defeated", on their bodies. On the gate of the courtyard was also written in ink, "Yue Jinghua paid a visit here."
If Fa Xiao Yi was somewhat skeptical before, now he had no choice but to believe the rumors.
Yue Jinghua gave Fa Xiao Yi a sidelong glance.
"Miss Yue is quite capable," Fa Xiao Yi mused for a moment, "Liu Xi, be cautious in the coming fight; do not hurt Miss Yue, but also do not disgrace the Inner Court."
Shaluo had been defeated. Originally, Liu Xi had formed a team with Shaluo and had also entered the top five of the team competition. However, now with the unexpected appearance of Shalman and Yue Jinghua, like twin plagues, victory in the team competition was out of reach, and he had no choice but to brace himself and enter the arena.
"Miss Yue, I have no grievances with you. Why must you make things difficult for me?" Liu Xi would have loved to crush Yue Jinghua to dust, yet considering that Yue Jinghua belonged to Lie Family Mansion, and with the ambiguous attitude of Prince Xiao Yi just now, he was forced to tread carefully.
If Yue Jinghua hadn't witnessed Liu Xi's hypocrisy that night, she might indeed have been deceived by his seemingly gentlemanly manner.
"There's an old saying from my hometown, 'A scum man must be punished by everyone.'" Yue Jinghua's red lips parted, and the words that burst forth shocked everyone present.
Below the martial arts viewing platform, those who heard Yue Jinghua's words couldn't help but speculate about the relationship between the two.
Fa Xiao Yi frowned displeasedly, while Lie Sisi showed a hint of joy in her brows.
A dark haze crossed Liu Xi's forehead. He leaped up, "Perhaps Miss Yue has some misunderstandings about me. Further talk is useless. Though undeserving, I've achieved Small Success in Dark Jade, and when I cross hands with the young lady, I will let you understand a few things."
"Senior Brother Liu, please be merciful. Sister Jinghua isn't versed in Dark Energy. Please refrain from using Dark Skill in the upcoming match and only use Basic Martial Techniques," Liu Sisi pleaded beside him.
Upon hearing this, Liu Xi was secretly delighted. Although Lie Sisi seemed to be pleading on behalf of Yue Jinghua, her words were actually in Liu Xi's favor.
The so-called Basic Martial Techniques refer to not using Dark Power and include leg skills, fist skills, hand skills, and movement techniques, testing endurance and the toughness of muscles, bones, and tendons. In this respect, men are usually stronger than women.
Liu Xi was somewhat renowned in the Inner Court for his Basic Martial Techniques. How could Yue Jinghua be his match?
"Alright, let's compete using Basic Martial Techniques. Whoever uses Dark Energy first will be considered the loser," Yue Jinghua sneered inwardly. Lie Sisi's intentions were truly earnest; in front of everyone, pleading for Yue Jinghua, if she wins, others will think Lie Sisi gave Yue Jinghua an advantage; if she loses, they will also think Lie Sisi tried to save her face.
If it were the old "Yue Jinghua," she might really have fallen for this trick, and in private, she would have been endlessly grateful. Unfortunately for her, this little scheme was doomed to fail.
Yue Jinghua gave a cold laugh and walked towards Liu Xi.