Chapter 163 : The Oriole Behind
Chapter 163: The Oriole Behind
“According to the intelligence we obtained,” Long Tao’s voice spread across the entire venue through a magical artifact, laced with deliberate teasing, “Senior Sister Lu is three years older than Senior Brother Jiang. Sigh… a relationship like that between an older sister and a younger brother does tend to breed a certain ambiguity. But this is, after all, the stage of the Sect Competition. If the two of you wish to talk about love, you should at least consider the occasion.”
Perhaps after several consecutive days of commentary he had grown accustomed to this atmosphere, or perhaps because this was the final match of the day, Fang Wuqi was extremely relaxed at the moment.
Rarely, a playful mood arose within him, and he smiled as he followed up,
“And speaking of coincidences, it is said that the masters of Junior Brother Jiang and Junior Sister Lu also once had an unfinished fate between them back in the day! Of course, that was several hundred years ago. As for the details, I’m afraid only the senior elders of their generation would know.”
This bombshell was like pouring another ladle of hot oil onto an already blazing fire!
The gossiping souls of the audience were completely ignited. At this moment, few were still closely watching the stalemated duel on the stage.
Even quite a few Golden Core True Persons floating midair revealed amused smiles, whispering to one another with great interest.
Only in one corner of the stands did the masters of Jiang and Lu hold their foreheads, torn between laughter and tears.
It was already embarrassing enough that their disciples were competing half-heartedly over personal feelings—now even the old stories of their generation had been dug up. Their dignity was utterly swept away.
“Oh! The two on stage have finally started moving!” Long Tao timely drew everyone’s attention back to the arena. “But after that little episode just now, if the two of you still don’t show some real skill and properly compete, I’m afraid it’ll be hard to convince the crowd!”
“Though I can understand,” Fang Wuqi cooperated smoothly, “they grew up together, and their bond is anything but ordinary. Especially with the lady being three years older, this ‘sister-brother’ affection may make it difficult for Junior Sister Lu to strike ruthlessly at Junior Brother Jiang. And Junior Brother Jiang is probably considerate of her concerns, which makes it equally hard for him to go all out.”
“But that simply won’t do!” Long Tao immediately shifted into a tone of ‘disappointed at their lack of resolve.’ “Even we Qi Refining disciples were repeatedly warned by our elders when we first entered the sect: many demonic and heretical cultivators excel at transforming into the likeness of the person you care about most, striking when your mind wavers! How can you hesitate and hold back just because the one standing opposite you on the arena is someone you cherish? From this point alone, the two of you are far too lacking in temperament cultivation.”
Though still delivered in jest, Long Tao’s words made many cultivators—including numerous Golden Core cultivators—nod in agreement.
Indeed, whether outside or within the Sect Competition, it was common for friends and relatives to encounter one another. One could not grow passive simply because of that.
“Quite so,” Fang Wuqi nodded in approval. “Today’s match can be considered a textbook example of what not to do.”
However, Long Tao’s tone shifted again, returning to the juicy gossip everyone relished. “But then again… since the lady happens to be three years older, I actually think this relationship might truly work out!”
The moment those words fell, the audience—whose excitement had just slightly settled—was stirred up once more.
All eyes turned in unison toward the commentary platform, eager for more inside details.
“Oh? And how do you figure?” Fang Wuqi played along perfectly.
“Isn’t there an old saying? When the woman is three years older, she holds a brick of gold! A three-year age difference with the woman older—that’s just the right gap!”
“Oh! That does seem to be a saying in the mortal world.” Fang Wuqi laughed. “But in our cultivation world, a difference of three years is truly insignificant. No one would take it seriously.”
“There’s more!” Long Tao grew increasingly animated, improvising freely. “When she’s thirteen years older, she brings a mountain of gold!”
“This… I’ve honestly never heard before.” Fang Wuqi was genuinely startled this time. “You didn’t just make that up on the spot, did you?”
“How could I?” Long Tao cleared his throat in mock seriousness and proclaimed loudly, “When she’s thirty years older, she brings a kingdom; three hundred years older, she brings immortal pills; three thousand years older, she ascends to the Immortal Class; thirty thousand years older, even the Heavenly Dao feeds you!”
“Pfft! That’s enough, that’s enough! The more you talk, the more outrageous it gets!” Hearing the latter lines, Fang Wuqi finally burst out laughing and waved to interrupt him. But upon second thought, in a cultivation world where lifespans easily reached hundreds or thousands of years, couples separated by several hundred years were perfectly normal.
In fact… in many places, there were quite a few male cultivators who had grown by ‘living off’ their partners.
Long Tao’s seemingly nonsensical rhyme did contain a sliver of crooked logic.
By now, the entire venue was filled with laughter and discussion.
The focus of this Sect Competition had been completely led astray by the two commentators, immersed in a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere of gossip.
Meanwhile, Senior Brother Jiang and Senior Sister Lu on stage were still unaware of what was happening outside, merely assuming that the audience had grown dissatisfied with their passivity.
…
At the same time, in an inconspicuous corner of the spectator stands in the Martial Arena, the Destiny Luck Thief Ye Jingchen wore a faint smile, quite satisfied as he observed the slightly stalemated situation on stage.
Sitting behind him to the right, Zhou Qingshu bore the same smile of a scheme succeeding and quietly transmitted his voice,
“Young Master, what do you think? My Spirit Speech has already caused these two Foundation Establishment elite disciples to lose their will to fight in full view of the entire Martial Arena, dragging things out until now. As for Nan Yuchen, you may rest assured.”
“Not bad. You’ve indeed improved somewhat.” Ye Jingchen nodded lightly, a trace of approval in his tone. “The ‘trigger’ you left on Nan Yuchen—are you certain it is foolproof?”
“Rest assured. Absolutely secure.” Zhou Qingshu was brimming with confidence. “The trigger of the Spirit Speech is deeply hidden within the Divine Soul origin. Unless a Nascent Soul True Lord personally conducts a meticulous Divine Sense inspection, it’s nearly impossible to detect. Surely… just because I, an ordinary Inner Sect Disciple, invited Nan Yuchen to a meal, True Person Mingzhu wouldn’t make a fuss over such a ‘minor matter’ and specially trouble a Nascent Soul True Lord to give him a thorough examination? That’s simply impossible.”
Hearing this, Ye Jingchen could not help but let out a sneer. Indeed. Unless someone was out of their mind, who would be so suspicious and meddlesome?
At most, people might suspect something was wrong with the food. The cautious ones might examine the surface of the Divine Soul and the meridians—but there was absolutely no possibility of directly inviting a Nascent Soul to intervene.
This plan was secure!
“Very good!” A sharp glint flashed in Ye Jingchen’s eyes. “We’ll act tomorrow, during the Sixteen-to-Eight match! Make sure Nan Yuchen completely exposes his disgraceful side in front of everyone!”
“Yes! This subordinate understands!”
…
However, Ye Jingchen and Zhou Qingshu would never have imagined that while they conspired through sound transmission, high above in the stands of the Martial Arena, a wisp of invisible Divine Sense separated by True Person Mingzhu and True Lord Luohong had intercepted their entire conversation word for word.
“I was wondering why those two youngsters on stage suddenly behaved so abnormally. So they were influenced by Spirit Speech as well.” True Lord Luohong’s Divine Sense transmission resounded within True Person Mingzhu’s sea of consciousness. His tone remained calm, yet carried a hint of understanding.
“For elite disciples capable of entering the third round, if they truly hesitated on the arena over mere romantic entanglements, I would begin to suspect whether the sect’s usual instruction in temperament had gone terribly wrong.”
He paused, a trace of ease entering his voice.
“Still, that brat Long Tao handled the situation well on the spot. With just a few words, he shifted everyone’s attention toward gossip. Otherwise, with that awkward and stagnant situation on stage, we would have lost quite a bit of face today.”
True Person Mingzhu could only nod in agreement, then asked, “True Lord, what is our plan? Shall we wait until they act tomorrow before capturing them?”
“That would naturally be the best timing,” True Lord Luohong’s Divine Sense replied. “But if we could delay it another day, even better. The few Puppet Constructs I arranged by his side could lure him into revealing more trump cards. Sigh… I originally planned to take it slow, but now we can only keep pace.”
“But… how are we to delay it?” True Person Mingzhu frowned. “Yuchen’s match tomorrow cannot be canceled without reason, and that child’s temperament would never allow him to withdraw voluntarily.”
“Of course we won’t let him withdraw—that might alert the enemy. Yuchen’s next opponent is Guo Si, correct? I’ll personally persuade him to withdraw voluntarily. With some compensation, that child’s temperament is easygoing. He won’t be too stubborn.”