What is wrong with this world?
Is there no saving it anymore?
In the middle of a scorching day, Leng Qingqiu felt her hands and feet turn icy cold, her body trembling uncontrollably.
I really am having a nightmare, aren't I?
Or is this some kind of immortal cultivation prank show?
Where's the Recording Stone? It has to be filming me from some corner, right?
At this moment, Leng Qingqiu would rather believe everything before her was an elaborate setup than accept that it was real.
Even—
An illusion!
That despicable man must have cast an illusion on her from the very beginning!
Otherwise, there was no way to explain everything happening in front of her, things that completely defied common sense.
Yet her True Sight Eye, which could see through all falsehoods, the faint pain throbbing on her face, and the pitifully small amount of True Qi left in her Dantian all told her the same thing.
This was real.
For no clear reason, a long-suppressed sense of grievance surged up in her chest.
First, she had been sent to this godforsaken place, forced to live in a cave and chased around by a group of Demons.
From childhood to now, she had never once stayed somewhere so filthy and foul-smelling.
To prevent the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan from descending the mountain and wreaking havoc on the world, she had to push for the removal of Heavenly Gate Sect, only to be firmly rebuffed.
What she had thought would be an easy, guaranteed victory turned into her being completely suppressed because of a single moment of carelessness, her face beaten black and blue.
Within her family, she had suffered plenty of humiliation, but no one had ever dared lay a hand on her.
And yet this unknown Heavenly Gate disciple had beaten her mercilessly.
She had only managed to force him back by relying on her sword techniques.
Only to discover that he had been holding back all along, never taking the fight seriously from the very start.
Humiliation.
Utter humiliation.
Even her own family had never made her feel this disgraced.
But strength spoke for itself. Since she was inferior, she could only admit defeat.
But… but…
They lied to her!
A full-force strike meant to break through Tribulation Transcendence, defeated by someone at the Nascent Soul Stage?
Did they think she was an idiot?
Bai Yiyi had definitely been hiding her cultivation, and Ye Ling, that so-called disciple, was absolutely not just at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Otherwise, what, Foundation Establishment overnight?
Had they read too many cultivation novels written by mortals down the mountain?
The more Leng Qingqiu thought about it, the angrier she became, until finally—
She couldn't hold it in anymore. She dropped into a duck-sit on the ground and began to cry quietly.
At first, she tried to keep some restraint. But once she realized she had already lost all the face she could possibly lose, she broke down completely and burst into loud sobs.
"My dear disciple, don't you think you went a bit too far?"
On the other side of the arena, Bai Yiyi looked as though nothing had happened at all. She tugged on Ye Ling and whispered to him, giving no sign that she had just blocked a full-force strike from a Tribulation Transcendence Stage expert.
"Too far? Master, she was trying to kill me just now!"
Ye Ling frowned. He wasn't some saint. He had genuinely felt his life in danger.
If Bai Yiyi hadn't been stronger, by this time tomorrow, grass would already be growing several feet tall on his grave.
"But wasn't that just her artifact going out of control?" Bai Yiyi said, as innocent and kind as ever.
"That could have been an act too, couldn't it?"
Ye Ling couldn't help wondering whether the concept of "lying" simply didn't exist in Bai Yiyi's world. Otherwise, how could she be this easy to fool?
"Unlikely."
Bai Yiyi shook her head and said firmly, "That was clearly a trigger-type artifact. Once it takes an attack beyond what the owner can endure, it automatically launches a counterattack."
"Master, why does it sound like you're really familiar with this?"
"Your Third Martial Aunt often makes all kinds of strange artifacts for me to test. After enough tests, I naturally learned to recognize this kind of fluctuation."
"Uh… are they always attacked at this level?"
"No."
Bai Yiyi shook her head before adding, "This isn't the Immortal Entertainment Festival. Why would anyone store such a weak move in an artifact?"
Huh?
You're telling me that level of attack counts as weak?
Ye Ling nearly blew a blood vessel from sheer frustration. That jade finger just now had made him feel like nothing more than an ant.
But when Ye Ling recalled how Bai Yiyi had dispersed that attack so effortlessly with nothing but her presence, he found himself believing her explanation.
In Bai Yiyi's eyes, that heaven-destroying finger really was nothing more than a joke.
"Anyway."
Taking advantage of Ye Ling's momentary daze, Bai Yiyi somehow slipped behind him and pushed him by the waist, shoving him straight toward Leng Qingqiu.
She sent a voice transmission to his ear and said, "Making a girl cry is wrong. Be good and go apologize."
Huh? Wasn't Leng Qingqiu crying because of you?
Ye Ling was completely dumbfounded. He hadn't managed to make Leng Qingqiu cry even after hitting her so many times earlier. If anything, she looked more like she'd been scared into tears by Bai Yiyi.
Before Ye Ling could refute her, Bai Yiyi continued, "Good disciple, this girl is pretty and comes from a good background. Why aren't you making a move already?"
To her, as long as she could help Ye Ling find a Dao companion, the guilt she felt toward him would lessen a little.
But as far as Ye Ling was concerned—
Huh?
What are you even talking about?
Why can't I understand a single word?
And if we're really going there, clearly you—
No, no!
Ye Ling had never imagined that one day he would get dragged into a pit by Bai Yiyi herself.
Still, now that he was standing right in front of Leng Qingqiu, he couldn't just remain silent and stand there awkwardly.
"Um…"
Before Ye Ling could say anything, Leng Qingqiu crossed her arms, stared at him coldly, and snapped, "Liar!"
As if that still wasn't enough, she added loudly, "Big liar!"
Faced with Leng Qingqiu's seemingly unreasonable accusation, Ye Ling was completely at a loss.
If she said he had lied to Bai Yiyi, that would be fair enough. But throughout the entire fight, aside from hiding a bit of his strength, he hadn't deceived Leng Qingqiu at all.
Which only confirmed one thing.
In future fights, he really should just end things with a single punch.
"Good disciple, did you and Envoy Leng know each other before?"
Compared to Ye Ling's confusion, Bai Yiyi behind him looked delighted, as if she'd just stumbled upon some juicy gossip.
Her wine-red eyes widened, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly into a comical expression.
She continued transmitting to Ye Ling, "Be honest. Did you break off an engagement with Envoy Leng back in the mortal world, and now she's come knocking at the sect gate?"
Heh heh, good disciple.
Didn't expect that, did you? I've seen this kind of plot in my Second Junior Sister's romance sketchbooks!
I just didn't think I'd ever run into it myself. In that case, I absolutely have to match them up. Otherwise, if Envoy Leng ends up turning the tables thirty years later, that would be troublesome!
"What kind of nonsense is this?"
Ye Ling finally couldn't take the baseless accusations anymore. And breaking off an engagement? What kind of nonsense was that?
He turned around and said irritably, "Master, do you really think it makes sense for me and Envoy Leng to have had a marriage engagement?"