Chapter 56
Whether by coincidence or not, Yu Tai happened to kick the man directly toward Shu Li.
The unfortunate wandering cultivator, an innocent victim of her anger, was sent flying from the platform by Yu Tai’s kick and landed at the feet of a female cultivator.
The wandering cultivator looked up at the sweet-faced woman above him. The woman looked down at the swollen-faced man below her.
“Pervert!”
Watching the female cultivator storm away, Shu Li thoughtfully glanced toward Yu Tai on the platform and met her gaze.
Yu Tai leaped down, crossed the distance to Shu Li in a few steps, and lifted her chin slightly. “We’re leaving.”
Then she turned to Li Shijie and said politely, “Senior Sister Li, we’ll be going first.”
Li Shijie stared blankly and nodded. Only after Yu Tai turned away did she remember to ask, “Junior Sister, aren’t you going to watch Senior Brother Jiang’s match?”
With her back turned, Yu Tai waved a hand.
The System: [Poor Jiang Yibai. Ever since the Martial Tournament began, he hasn’t had another scene.]
“Yu Tai!” the young men and women called from behind her.
Yu Tai’s first reaction was to frown. She quickly relaxed her brow, turned, and asked, “What is it?”
They seemed oblivious to her cold expression and did not care in the slightest.
Laughing and joking, the group pushed a red-faced young man forward.
At first, he did not dare look at Yu Tai. But as the silence stretched and Yu Tai prepared to say, *If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving*, he finally spoke.
“That day… I was wrong.”
“You aren’t inferior… But you defeated me, so you’re the only one I acknowledge. Everyone else is still inferior in my eyes!” The young man’s eyes reflected Yu Tai, without a trace of the arrogance he had shown aboard the black tortoise.
Shu Li looked at the young man, whose admiration was completely undisguised, then lowered his gaze to Yu Tai beside him.
Unexpectedly, Yu Tai asked, “What is your name?”
The young man’s eyes visibly brightened. This time, he answered without pausing or stammering. “My name is Li You!”
“Li You, an inner disciple of the Zuiyin Sect.”
Yu Tai nodded. “I’ll remember it.”
Then she turned and left.
Shu Li glanced back.
The young man stood surrounded by the group, lips pressed together as though trying to hide his emotions. But the delight at the corners of his eyes and brows completely betrayed his true feelings.
Sensing an intense gaze from the spectator stand, Yu Tai looked up and happened to meet the Zuiyin Sect elder’s eyes.
The old man nodded at her like an approving elder. Yu Tai smiled politely and returned a respectful salute.
But only they knew what they were thinking.
Xia Mo suddenly began chirping loudly. Yu Tai turned toward Shu Li’s shoulder. “What is it?”
Xia Mo pointed in a particular direction while chirping.
Yu Tai looked over.
A cultivator solemnly handed several small boxes to Jiang Wenyi.
One glance was enough for Yu Tai to guess what they contained.
They were probably the prizes for the Martial Tournament.
And the one that could provoke such a reaction from Xia Mo was almost certainly-
The supreme-grade Transformation Pill.
“Don’t rush. It’ll be yours sooner or later,” Yu Tai comforted.
Yu Tai did not attend Jiang Li’s match the following day either. She and Shu Li were currently locked in an inexplicable cold war.
During that time, Jiang Yibai came to visit again, only for Yu Tai to refuse to see him.
It had all begun after they returned that day.
Once back at the cave dwelling, Yu Tai asked Shu Li what he had been discussing with that woman that made him so happy.
Normally, Shu Li would have explained to Yu Tai in his gentle voice.
But unexpectedly, he merely glanced at her, then silently picked up Xia Mo and took it away to wash its paws, ignoring her behind him.
Could Yu Tai tolerate that?
The answer was no.
Over the next few days, Yu Tai’s matches grew shorter and shorter. Several days of refusing to eat someone’s cooking out of spite, combined with several days without kisses-or righteous qi-left her increasingly irritable. In the end, she could not even be bothered to play around with her opponents.
The spectators gradually became accustomed to it.
“How many minutes do you think she’ll need today?”
“Isn’t that going too far? He Duan is an extraordinary cultivator. He made every previous opponent suffer terribly. This won’t end that quickly.”
The others snorted disdainfully. “Fellow Cultivator, you must be new here.”
“It doesn’t matter how powerful this He Duan of yours is. Once he faces our Sister Tai, it’ll be over in minutes.”
Yu Tai had given everyone far too many surprises. Aside from Jiang Li, who had appeared midway through the Martial Tournament, she was now its most popular cultivator.
For a cultivator capable of resisting the Upper Realm to emerge from the Middle Realm at such a time ignited everyone’s rebellious spirit.
The cultivators of the Middle Realm had been suppressed for too long. They desperately needed fresh blood.
But ironically-
Everyone had subconsciously forgotten the young man who once refused invitations from Upper Realm sects, retained his original convictions despite his reputation as a genius, and stayed in the Middle Realm, only to meet an ending that made everyone sigh.
The male cultivator named He Duan was quite handsome. Many female cultivators below the platform cheered for him.
Facing Yu Tai, whose fame had recently soared, He Duan did not lower his guard in the slightest.
Although the girl before him had only reached peak Foundation Establishment, she was renowned for her strange, vicious swordsmanship and unpredictable movements.
Some people had specifically studied Yu Tai’s sword technique. Unlike ordinary Qingshan Sword Sect disciples, who were known for speed, her blade did not move particularly quickly. But every strike was fiercer than the last, and even the way she held her sword was different.
Rather than swinging a sword, it looked more like she was… chopping?
He Duan barely twisted aside to avoid her sudden attack. Just as he prepared to counter after her strike missed, Yu Tai’s gaze shifted from the space ahead and abruptly locked onto him.
Perhaps it was He Duan’s imagination, but at that instant, the darkness in Yu Tai’s eyes was terrifying.
In the brief moment he froze, agony suddenly tore through his side, and he was sent flying.
He Duan’s mind was not blank at that moment.
He was thinking-
*Why did she kick me in the kidney?!*
Having swiftly disposed of her opponent, Yu Tai was not in a good mood.
She had noticed it the moment she stepped onto the platform.
There was something about He Duan’s brows and eyes that resembled Shu Li.
Tsk.
Yu Tai left the platform amid thunderous cheers, still in a poor mood. The familiar Zuiyin Sect disciples surrounded her, and Li You stepped forward to ask whether she was unhappy today.
Over the past few days, she had gradually become familiar with the group. Hearing Li You’s question, Yu Tai nodded casually. “His breathing was too loud.”
Li You: “?”
As everyone nearby unconsciously softened their breathing, the air suddenly stilled. The once-noisy crowd fell completely silent.
Yu Tai and the Zuiyin Sect disciples turned.
The crowd suddenly parted in perfect unison like the Red Sea. Down the middle strode a tall young man whose gaze remained fixed directly on Yu Tai.