Chapter 165 Eastern Region 28 Xie Jiaoyue was still controlling herself...

Xie Jiaoyue maintained control over her performance. After feeling that everything was almost done, she began to slow down the speed of her spiritual energy circulation, subtly pretending to be someone with insufficient spiritual energy, and started bumping into small balls one by one.

The clan leader noticed her immediately after she started doing this.

He approached the water curtain like a mischievous child, pointing at Xie Jiaoyue with obvious displeasure.

"How could she do this! It's already the third event, why is she still trying to control her score? This way her score in the first round won't be very good!"

He was furious; Xie Jiaoyue had betrayed his trust.

After venting his anger, Chief Wan sensed Chief Jue's strange attitude and, with a few leaps, arrived in front of Chief Jue, reaching out his right hand to cover Chief Jue's mouth.

Physical silence.

Chief Jue's eyes widened! He shoved Chief Wan aside and immediately began wiping his mouth.

"You old geezer, how dare you touch me with your filthy hands!"

Everyone knows that Chief Wan is usually slovenly and unkempt, and Chief Jue feels incredibly dirty right now.

"You've got your eye on her, haven't you? I'll make sure she doesn't even make the top ten today."

Chief Baili, who had been standing aside, stood up to try to stop it. As the chief, they shouldn't tolerate injustice. However, after realizing that everything had been settled, she sat back down.

Oh well, he's just someone hovering around the top ten, it's not important.

Based on her standards, only those in the top five or even the top three are considered valuable.

Xie Jiaoyue was originally in a relaxed and cheerful mood, planning to go out and rest after dodging the last two balls.

If there's still time, I can even have some mung bean sweet soup; just thinking about it makes me feel good.

No, something's not right.

Although Xie Jiaoyue's spirit slackened slightly, she did not withdraw her spiritual energy or consciousness. The moment the ball shot towards her, she sensed the change in speed and force.

What's going on? Did someone adjust the parameters?

What do you want to do?

She found out the next second and wanted to kill her.

Because it was moving too fast to dodge, the small ball, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, grazed the strands of hair near her ear, snapping them instantly without hesitation.

A distinct bloodstain appeared on the edge of the ear that had been dragged there.

She glanced at the scoreboard; because her ear had been rubbed, she still received a point.

She can leave this place as long as she gets hit once more.

But if she gets hit again, can she really leave this place alive?

When the next ball appeared, hurtling towards Xie Jiaoyue's heart with such speed that no one had time to think, Xie Jiaoyue subconsciously gave her answer.

She can't be hit.

After the clan leader, driven by anger, increased the difficulty of Xie Jiaoyue's challenge, the first thing he did after calming down was to cut off Xie Jiaoyue's screen to ensure that no one else besides them could see it.

After doing this, he used his divine sense to check each person one by one, ensuring that no one could miss Xie Jiaoyue's current state.

After he had confirmed it, he turned his attention back to the water curtain.

He thought he would see Xie Jiaoyue lying on the ground, barely alive, but what appeared before him was Xie Jiaoyue jumping around like a nimble monkey.

Perhaps sensing the threat to her life, Xie Jiaoyue finally began to reveal her hidden strength.

A sword cultivator at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, from a remote small town, appeared before the four people present.

Chief Wan's eyes widened involuntarily, and then his face broke into a wide smile.

He had a good impression of this girl from the beginning, but he only thought that she was hiding her Golden Core stage strength and that she was at most at the early Golden Core stage.

As a girl from a declining family in the Southwest Region, her cultivation level is already quite impressive, worthy of serious consideration.

Unexpectedly, Xie Jiaoyue gave him a pleasant surprise, as she had already reached the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

He began to rack his brains, recalling that the young man from the Wan family, who was a director in the Southwest Region, seemed to have reported to his master that an outstanding disciple was coming to participate in the regional competition this year.

He hadn't looked closely before; could it be referring to Xie Jiaoyue?

If that's the case, wouldn't this person have advanced from the Foundation Establishment stage to the mid-Golden Core stage in just one or two months?

He was immediately heartbroken; how could such a promising talent not have been born into their family?

Apart from Chief Wan, the other chiefs also kept their eyes glued to the water screen.

There's no other reason than Xie Jiaoyue's performance surprised everyone.

Especially the clan leader, who originally intended to severely injure Xie Jiaoyue but not kill her. He was fearless, as she was just a nobody. Even if she was seriously injured, he could just give her some rare and precious herbs and send her away. Perhaps she would even be grateful.

After the adjustment, Xie Jiaoyue was not hit at all.

This made him look even more embarrassed.

Taking advantage of the fact that neither Clan Chief Wan nor Clan Chief Baili were paying attention to him, he once again considered changing the difficulty of Xie Jiaoyue's trial.

"Once isn't enough?"

Accompanied by an unfamiliar voice, the Jue Clan Chief's outstretched hand was slapped away.

It turned out to be the man in black who rarely spoke; his single sentence immediately drew the attention of all four of them.

"Xiao Xie, right? Why did you hit me?"

"The most important thing in the All-Region Competition is fairness. You made an exception once, but do you want to do it a second time?" The man in black spoke calmly and without any change in his tone. He was covered in black cloth, with only his eyes showing. But the slanted mockery and disdain in those eyes made the Jue Clan Chief's blood boil.

"I...I was testing her! If it weren't for me, how could her potential have been unleashed! As for you, this is a place where only the chieftains of each clan are qualified to stay. What is your status? What right do you have to be here and point fingers at me?"

The man in black didn't speak, but simply stood in front of the Jue Clan Chief.

This simple action further fueled the bloodlust of the Jue Clan Chief. He refused to believe it and was determined to give Xie Jiaoyue another difficult challenge today.

The clan leader unleashed a barrage of spiritual energy from both hands, sending eight beams of energy shooting forward from between his ten fingers. If any one of these beams hit the mechanism behind the man in black, it would rewrite the difficulty level for Xie Jiaoyue once again.

Spiritual energy is not as precise as it can be adjusted and controlled by hand, and it is very likely that the difficulty will be set too high. However, the clan leader Jue does not have the energy to care about such small details at the moment. He just wants to prove himself.

He is the patriarch of a Heavenly-level aristocratic family. Not counting those reclusive old guys, he is one of the most powerful and highly skilled people in the world. Why should he be mocked by such a person? And why should he be challenged by a junior like Xie Jiaoyue?

The man in black moved.

He held a magical artifact in each hand, and in the blink of an eye, he blocked several streams of spiritual energy. The spiritual energy made a clanging sound when it came into contact with the artifacts.

It sounds great.

The clan leader silently counted in his mind: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, seven streams of spiritual energy, one more is needed.

He couldn't help but look up, but his gaze fell upon Xie Jiaoyue's water curtain.

He was also a little curious: if the difficulty level for Xie Jiaoyue were increased a bit more, would this little girl be able to unleash her full potential?

He waited for a while, but nothing happened.

He turned to look at the man in black, who, surprisingly, blocked the spiritual energy with his bare body.

You must know that the Jue Clan Chief is at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage! How many Nascent Soul stage cultivators are there in this world? And how many Great Perfection Nascent Soul stage cultivators are there? If you count on your fingers, there are only a dozen or so.

This man in black is only at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Even if Chief Jue didn't use his full strength, he still can't withstand it head-on.

Sure enough, a trace of blood appeared around the man in black's mouth and nose.

Chief Wan beat his chest and cried out, "You silly child, what's wrong with letting him adjust it? You can just adjust it back."

The man in black was stunned.

That's right.

It must be because the Xie clan has been without a clan leader for too long, which has made this great protector lose his mind.