After Refusing Marriage to the Dao of Slaughter Patriarch (13)

Yong Lianyin was very embarrassed.

Especially when the great beauty in front of him showed no sign of anger, but simply lowered his eyes slightly and calmly asked him why he impersonated a Yushui Sect disciple, this embarrassment multiplied and surged exponentially.

He was not a person who knew how to lie, let alone having just been exposed. If he lied again and was found out by the great beauty, he would truly lose all his face.

Yong Lianyin hung his head guiltily, disclosing his origins and intentions entirely, especially emphasizing that he was not a pervert and had never before used the name of a Yushui Sect disciple to stir up trouble outside.

Ji Zhaixing saw that his gaze was clear, with an air of straightforward righteousness between his brows, so he did not make things difficult for him any further.

"Those from just now were also disciples of my Yushui Sect; we were merely sparring to practice our cultivation," Ji Zhaixing explained.

Although Yong Lianyin still felt those disciples had poor conduct for ganging up on someone, he also knew he had misunderstood. His face grew slightly hot as he apologized in an awkward and distressed manner.

Ji Zhaixing actually did not mind much. He then pointed to the courtyard to the south and said, "That area is allocated to you. You can live there until the Hanlin Sword Trial ends and we leave."

Yong Lianyin's mind went blank. He never expected the great beauty to be so kind; not only did he not reprimand or blame him, but he was also willing to share his courtyard with him. Tears and snot almost flowed out as he wished he could pledge his life to him right then and there. His whole body felt light as a feather, his whole face flushed red.

After handling his matter, Ji Zhaixing prepared to head back—he figured that group of little kids was still waiting for him in confusion.

Where the waves met the island, cascading white foam rolled up. Those tiny splashes dampened the corner of Ji Zhaixing's robe. Even the bright white moonlight seemed to favor him alone, spilling over his slender neck and fair, jade-like fingers.

It was as if a banished immortal longing for the mortal world had sneaked down to the human realm, and was now leaving again.

Looking at Ji Zhaixing's retreating back, a sudden throb of emotion stirred within Yong Lianyin.

He wanted very much to spend a little more time with the other party, but he was also clearly aware that it would be presumptuous. The words reached his lips, only to turn into an extremely soft murmur.

"Daoist—"

Ji Zhaixing actually heard it. He stopped and looked back at him with some confusion.

Those eyes were truly born incredibly beautiful.

Yong Lianyin felt as though he could hear the muffled, drum-like pounding of his own heart. Organizing his words slightly, he asked dryly, "Are you also a cultivator participating in this Hanlin Sword Trial? Perhaps... perhaps we could team up together..."

The moment Yong Lianyin spoke, he actually regretted it a bit.

He had some confidence in his own cultivation and strength. However, that confidence wasn't enough to support him opening his mouth so brazenly, using his background from a small, broken, and poor sect to invite an outstanding and extraordinary figure from a prestigious sect.

Sure enough, he was rejected.

Only, the reason for the rejection wasn't what Yong Lianyin had thought.

"I am not a cultivator here to participate in the Hanlin Sword Trial." After explaining, Ji Zhaixing nodded slightly and then left.

This left Yong Lianyin unable to recover his wits for a moment.

Since the great beauty wasn't a cultivator participating in the sword trial, why would he appear in the Yushui Sect's team? Could it be that he was a relative or friend of some cultivator... or perhaps a Dao companion?

It was clearly just a baseless guess, but it instantly made Yong Lianyin feel awful, a sour feeling spreading through his chest.

......

As the undisputed number one major sect in the cultivation world, the Yushui Sect naturally did not need to make a move during the preliminaries of the Hanlin Sword Trial.

It was just that according to past rules, although they didn't have to compete, they would still appear beside the Sword Testing Platform to watch, in order to properly gauge the strength of their fellow Daoists in this session.

But this time, the Yushui Sect members did not appear.

Originally, Qi Baishan had led people there to observe. But as Qi Baishan watched those matches, the Dao arts were truly incredibly unpolished, and the flaws in their moves were completely transparent to them. It was far inferior to their own sparring, not to mention the efficiency of receiving guidance from Senior Brother Ji. So, he found an excuse and slipped away.

Since Qi Baishan had slipped away, the other disciples couldn't sit still either, and quickly scattered cleanly.

This fell into the eyes of others, making it seem as if these Yushui disciples were arrogant and lacked discipline.

—This actually wasn't a major fault; at least considering the Yushui Sect's strength, they indeed had the qualifications to act this way.

But coincidentally, for some unknown reason, someone spread the news that the Yushui Sect's leading elder this time was Ji Zhaixing.

Ji Zhaixing.

This name was at least not unfamiliar to the cultivators who came to participate in the sword trial.

Achieving Foundation Establishment in his youth, the head disciple of the Yushui Sect Master, enjoying boundless doting.

At the age of eighteen, he received the favor of a mighty figure from the Upper Realm, rising rapidly and becoming famous overnight in the cultivation world.

The cultivator with the most hope of breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm, or even higher realms, in the past hundred years.

Countless people were jealous and envious of him.

But later, it became even more "legendary".

Ji Zhaixing did not have that kind of luck. He met with disaster in the Upper World and miserably returned to their Lower Three Thousand Worlds.

And it was such a foolish, unappreciative person, whose master, Sect Master Tan, not only refrained from kicking him out of the Yushui Sect but even protected him in every possible way. Even for a grand event like the Hanlin Sword Trial, in order to help build momentum for him, he was made the leading elder, sitting as an equal with those powerful figures.

This was not just a matter of their Yushui Sect; it was simply an insult to the elders of all the other sects!

It was bad enough that those Yushui Sect disciples didn't resist, but under Ji Zhaixing's indulgence, they were extremely lazy, appearing in front of everyone only a handful of times.

Someone remarked sourly: What kind of good disciples could such a frivolous elder produce? Lest the famously grand number one major sect fail to get even a few disciples into the top ten, making a complete laughingstock of themselves.

The Yushui Sect disciples hadn't gone out for days, cultivating quietly, so they didn't know how their Senior Brother Ji was being criticized under the gang-like machinations of the sects outside—if they heard even a single word of those filthy insults, they would probably raise a fuss that would tear the sky apart.

Amidst the surging undercurrents, the Hanlin Sword Trial also finalized the final one hundred candidates.

It was time for the Yushui Sect to join the battle.

......

The Yushui Sect, Jinghua Dao, and Bumeng Sect were the top three major sects of the cultivation world in this realm.

The leading elders of these three sects should rightfully occupy the chief seats, a rank higher than the judge elders of the sword trial. After all, most of them were Golden Core Zhenjuns; if it weren't for a grand event that made a name for the younger generation of their sects, they would absolutely not easily come out of seclusion to show their faces.

The leading elders of the Bumeng Sect and Jinghua Dao met face-to-face, and the atmosphere between the two was very friendly. By coincidence, they took seats on the two sides, leaving the middle seat empty.

It wasn't true humility, nor a desire to maintain respect for the number one sect.

Rather, it was to see whether Ji Zhaixing could sit securely in this reserved seat.

The Yushui Sect group came out right in front of everyone's criticism.

The Yushui Sect had always possessed a low profile that did not match its status as the number one sect. The disciples merely walked in quietly in two rows, each wearing neat, uniformly fashioned white robes, with handsome or beautiful features. With just one glance, anyone could tell these were disciples hailing from a great sect.

However, this wasn't the reason everyone maintained their silence. Instead, it was because their gazes couldn't help but involuntarily fall upon the black-haired cultivator leading the team, walking ahead of those white-robed cultivators.

Many people took quite a while to connect him to the name "Ji Zhaixing" through those familiar-looking Yushui Sect disciples behind him.

This was actually extremely impolite toward a sect elder—even if this elder was already mocked and widely acknowledged as an empty, pretty face, it was no excuse for them to stare directly in such disrespect.

But Ji Zhaixing was truly born too beautifully.

Even among the many beauties in the cultivation world, there was absolutely no one whose beauty could be mentioned in the same breath as his.

They even suspected whether, in his earlier years, Ji Zhaixing truly made his name because of his natural aptitude and his status as a Patriarch's head disciple, and not simply because that face was really—

Ji Zhaixing had long grown accustomed to such stares. It was Qi Baishan and the other disciples who had not yet endured such an intensely focused spectacle, their expressions turning slightly stiff.

The disciples of the Yushui Sect naturally had their own dedicated seating.

Qi Baishan bowed to Ji Zhaixing, then led the disciples to take their respective seats.

Meanwhile, Ji Zhaixing looked towards the area arranged by the Bumeng Sect without any panic, stepping up to take the seat right between the two Golden Core elders.

His back was straight, a sitting posture that looked very proper and upright.

Yet Ji Zhaixing's demeanor also seemed indifferent. His dark hair was like ink, his lips as vibrant as blood. It wasn't until his slender fingertips lightly tapped the armrest beside him that the cultivators below the Sword Testing Platform snapped back to their senses.

Facing outsiders, Ji Zhaixing habitually wore no expression, yet even with that cold, pure-white-snow-like expression, it would make people imagine how deeply alluring he would look if the corners of his eyes were slightly red and his crimson lips were parted.

For a moment, some people guiltily lowered their eyes.

Below the stage, there were even people using their sect's secret methods to transmit telepathic thoughts.

'I previously thought that the rumors those people spread about Ji Zhaixing were somewhat baseless, even saying he was taken away to act as a cauldron... Now, I actually feel my previous thoughts were too narrow-minded. Even a mighty figure cultivating the Dao of Ruthlessness would likely have moments of breaking their vows.'

'Stop joking,' another person said, 'if that were really the case, would anyone be willing to let him leave?'

Setting these hidden thoughts aside, when Yong Lianyin saw Ji Zhaixing, his mind truly went completely blank.

He, he had indeed said he wasn't a cultivator here for the sword trial—

But Yong Lianyin never expected that the other party would actually be a sect elder!

Recalling all the things that happened before, Yong Lianyin's face flushed beet red, wishing he could perform a spot of dying on the spot.

He also felt a bit wretched and downcast.

Ji Zhaixing probably hadn't noticed him.

Yong Lianyin thought.

And the first match of the top one hundred in the sword trial also began.

The judge elder uncovered the spiritual plaques and read out two names.

"Yushui Sect's Lord Biyu, Qi Baishan."

"Jinghua Dao's Lord Zhuolang, Ping Jushao."

Ji Zhaixing slightly lifted his eyes.

Listening carefully, there were still gasps of surprise from the crowd below, clearly incredibly astonished by the candidates for this very first round.

The Hanlin Sword Trial was said to be randomly matched, but it would still slightly group the cultivators by their strength into tiers. Figures like the Yushui Sect Master's personal disciple Qi Baishan, and Jinghua Dao's Golden Core Elder's personal disciple Ping Jushao, both belonged to the top tier. They shouldn't have been made to encounter each other in the very first match on stage.

One of the two would inevitably be eliminated, and the eliminated person would become a laughingstock... Who knew whether this was directed at the Yushui Sect or Jinghua Dao.

Qi Baishan had already flown onto the Sword Testing Platform, his tone peaceful as he said, "Please advise."