Chapter 166 : Nan Yuchen
Chapter 166: Nan Yuchen? Nothing More Than a Stepping Stone
The moment Long Tao said this, the entire venue first fell into a stunned, deathly silence, and then erupted into a massive uproar!
Advanced… advanced to the next round? Just like that? Today’s eight matches had each been highly anticipated, yet the battle between the two much-watched prodigies, Nan Yuchen and Guo Si, had actually ended hastily with one side winning without even fighting?
Unlike the straightforward disappointment shown by most of the audience, the composure and expectation on Ye Jingchen’s face instantly froze.
He suddenly clenched his fists, and rare astonishment and disbelief surfaced in his eyes—his plan had been disrupted.
Not far away, Zhou Qingshu’s expression also changed drastically. He looked toward Ye Jingchen in panic, his gaze filled with helpless confusion.
The trigger had already been planted, yet the target had suddenly failed to take the stage? Then… what were they supposed to do now?!
The carefully arranged trap had suddenly lost its prey at the very moment it was about to step in!
However, Ye Jingchen was no ordinary person after all. He forcibly suppressed his surging emotions and did not reveal the slightest abnormality in front of Liu Ruyan, Su Ningxue, and Tang De beside him.
At most, it was delayed by one day. In tomorrow’s Eight-to-Four match, could Nan Yuchen possibly have such luck again? If he were to “win without fighting” again tomorrow, there would be no need for him to act—just the spittle of criticism from inside and outside the sect would be enough to ruin Nan Yuchen’s reputation!
Then, under the pretext of spotting a friend, he drifted near Zhou Qingshu. The two exchanged brief glances.
They did not speak directly, continuing to communicate through Transmitted Voice.
“Young Master, this… shall the plan be postponed until tomorrow?”
“Since it has come to this, we have no choice,” Ye Jingchen replied via Transmitted Voice, his tone extremely calm. “Matters in this world will never all go as one wishes. Go back first. Spirit Speech also requires focused concentration. Rest well and prepare for tomorrow.”
“Yes.” Zhou Qingshu felt slightly reassured and said no more.
Soon after, Zhou Qingshu found an excuse as well, bid farewell to the fellow disciples who had come with him, and left the bustling Martial Arena.
His mind was in turmoil, and he only wanted to return to his residence as soon as possible. However, just as he passed through a relatively secluded corridor, a figure he had never expected to see here abruptly blocked his path.
It was a middle-aged cultivator with a stern face and lightning-sharp eyes.
Zhou Qingshu stiffened all over, his scalp tingling. Almost instinctively, he bowed in greeting, his voice stammering slightly.
“Se… Second Uncle? No… Fa… Family Head? What a coincidence, you… you also came to watch the Grand Competition?”
The man before him was the current Family Head of the Zhou Clan, Zhou Qingshu’s second uncle, and also the only Golden Core cultivator in the family! Because he governed the clan with extreme strictness, even as his own nephew, Zhou Qingshu feared him like a tiger.
“I came specifically to find you.” The Zhou Family Head’s tone was icy to the bone, devoid of any emotion, as if he were not addressing a blood relative, but interrogating a prisoner.
Zhou Qingshu’s heart sank, and an intense sense of foreboding instantly wrapped around him. In the past, though this Family Head and Second Uncle had been strict, there had still been some consideration and expectation toward a junior. But now, the look in his eyes held nothing but pure indifference and scrutiny.
“Fi… find me?” Zhou Qingshu forced himself to remain calm and squeezed out a strained smile. “I… I have not slacked in cultivation lately, nor… nor have I done anything that violates clan rules…”
“Is that so?” The Zhou Family Head’s lips curved into a smile that held no mirth. “Let us set aside clan law for the moment. Colluding with outsiders to frame and harm fellow disciples—such a grave crime that violates the sect’s iron laws—you, Zhou Qingshu, truly dared to do it.”
These words struck like thunder from the Ninth Heaven, exploding in Zhou Qingshu’s mind and nearly blasting his soul out of his body!
His heart surged with monstrous waves, yet the last shred of reason told him—impossible! Absolutely impossible! His contact with Young Master Ye had been extremely secretive.
The frequency and timing had been carefully calculated. On the surface, the two of them had no special connection at all. How could it have been exposed?!
His first reaction was that those clan siblings who envied his talent and coveted his resources must have maliciously framed him from behind.
“Family Head, please discern clearly! This must be slander! How would your nephew dare—” He hurriedly tried to defend himself, attempting to steer the topic toward internal clan strife.
However, the Zhou Family Head’s next lightly spoken sentence was like the sharpest ice spike, instantly piercing through all his psychological defenses and casting him into an abyss of freezing despair!
“Before you fabricate lies to absolve yourself, why not first explain properly—where did you learn that insidious ‘Spirit Speech,’ and how did you dare to use it on your fellow disciples?!”
This sentence seemed to carry invisible pressure, directly crushing every pre-prepared excuse in Zhou Qingshu’s mind!
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could not even control his body at this moment. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to his knees on the spot! Boundless fear, like icy seawater, instantly swallowed him whole.
How could this be! How could this be?!
Spirit Speech!
This was his greatest secret, the reliance he had obtained from Young Master Ye to climb to greater heights! How could this possibly have been exposed?!
Zhou Qingshu’s mind fell blank, then frantically began retracing every detail of these past days, every meeting with Ye Jingchen… Yet he found no flaw at all!
Moreover… even if their relationship had been discovered, Ye Jingchen was only a newly admitted disciple on the surface. Even if they knew each other, that would not be strange. So where… where had something gone wrong?! He could not stop trembling.
At this moment, however, the appearance of another figure caused even his trembling to cease.
“Zhou Qingshu, you now have one final chance. Whether you spend several decades in the Nether Prison, or are tied to the execution platform of the Law Enforcement Hall and lashed by the Soul-Scattering Whip until your soul dissipates—it all depends on what you say next.”
“Luo… Luo True Lord…”
He was personally intervening in this matter?!
At this moment, Zhou Qingshu finally understood completely. He realized that all these years, he had never truly understood the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect. He had once secretly mocked the sect’s atmosphere as overly loose and lax.
But now, he knew that so-called “looseness” had merely been an illusion! His little self-clever tricks, in front of the sect’s unfathomable foundation and omnipresent control—were nothing but child’s play, utterly laughable!
He had been too arrogant, and that arrogance had now received its due retribution.
“Disciple… will conceal nothing.”
Before a True Lord, he had no room for luck. He knelt directly to confess.
…
On the other side, Ye Jingchen forced himself to watch two more matches, but ultimately found them dull and uninspiring. He made an excuse and left the Martial Arena early.
He had been planning to stroll around Qixia Town to change his mood when, in a distant pavilion, he saw True Person Mingzhu and Nan Yuchen!
What shocked him even more was that the master and disciple seemed to be arguing fiercely about something. Nan Yuchen was emotionally agitated, even shouting loudly at True Person Mingzhu.
In the end, he fiercely flung his sleeve, turned away in anger without regard for propriety or respect, and ran off alone!
Ye Jingchen stared in astonishment. Only now did he truly understand what lay behind True Person Mingzhu’s earlier remark about “overindulging him” and “his temperament turning somewhat crooked.” For a disciple to dare lose his temper and talk back to his master like this—even in the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect, known for its relatively loose atmosphere—was shocking and utterly rebellious!
In the pavilion, True Person Mingzhu looked toward the direction where Nan Yuchen had disappeared and let out a soft sigh. Her stunningly beautiful face was filled with helplessness and heartache.
Then, as if sensing something, her gaze turned toward Ye Jingchen’s hiding place. A cool Transmitted Voice rang directly within his Sea of Consciousness.
“Jingchen, since you have already seen it, there is no need to hide.”
Ye Jingchen knew his movements were impossible to conceal from a Golden Core True Person’s perception. He stopped hiding at once, quickly putting on an expression of appropriate concern and confusion, and walked over briskly.
“Peak Master,” he said carefully after approaching, his tone laced with concern, “what… what exactly happened just now? Why would Senior Brother Nan… why would he…” He stopped at the right moment, as though unable to finish the thought.
True Person Mingzhu shook her head gently, her brows clouded with lingering worry. “Sigh… you likely know he won without fighting today and advanced directly into the Top Eight. My intention was merely to remind him to guard against arrogance and impatience, not to let success go to his head. Who would have thought… he became convinced that Guo Si feared his strength and did not dare fight him, thus voluntarily withdrawing and conceding defeat. That child… in the past he had some youthful pride, but he was never so arrogant and ignorant. How did he become like this?”
Her voice carried deep fatigue and confusion.
Ye Jingchen sneered inwardly, but his face remained sincere. “Peak Master, please do not trouble yourself excessively. People’s hearts are easily swayed. Perhaps he is only temporarily blinded by empty fame. Once Senior Brother Nan calms down, he will surely awaken.”
“I hope so… but changes in human nature are hardly so simple.” True Person Mingzhu sighed, then looked at Ye Jingchen with a trace of appreciation and emotion. “As for you, Jingchen, though young, you have wandered the Jianghu for years and seen the treachery of human hearts, yet you have kept your original heart. That is truly rare. Perhaps back then… I should not have been so hasty in establishing Yuchen as a Personally Transmitted Disciple.”
Her tone shifted slightly, and she said something that made Ye Jingchen’s heart pound wildly.
“Come to the evening lesson today as well.”
These words were like celestial music pouring into his ears, instantly sweeping away the gloom caused by his failed plan. His mood shot straight to the Ninth Heaven!
On Shuyue Peak, although True Person Mingzhu often lectured the Registered Disciples, the evening lesson was different! Only Personally Transmitted Disciples were qualified to attend! At present on the peak, aside from the Golden Core Senior Eldest Sister Su Muzhi, who no longer needed to attend, and the other three Personally Transmitted Senior Sisters traveling outside, only Zhu Huaisu and Nan Yuchen possessed such qualification.
And he, Ye Jingchen—a Registered Disciple who had only recently entered the peak and whose foundation was not yet stable—had actually, because of Nan Yuchen’s utterly foolish arrogance, gained fortune from misfortune and been exceptionally granted the qualification to attend!
He forcibly suppressed the ecstasy that was nearly overflowing from his face, bowed deeply, and his voice carried a faint, barely perceptible tremor of excitement.
“Disciple… thanks Peak Master for her favor! I will certainly not disappoint Peak Master’s expectations!”
At this moment, in his heart, Nan Yuchen’s image had already changed—from a target whose Destiny Luck needed to be plundered into a foolish stepping stone.