Chapter 34: Controversy I despise you for being ignorant and meddling in other people's affairs...
In the secret realm, dark clouds covered the sun, the sky and the earth were dark, and the scenery around suddenly changed.
In a moment, the fifteen disciples who remained inside returned to the center of the trial platform, maintaining their previous posture.
They hadn't come to their senses yet and just stood there in a daze, staring at Mu Fuyu in the center, not knowing how to react.
It was the spectators on the sidelines who reacted first.
"It's over. It turned out that Mu Fuyun got the Hengyu Sword..."
“Who could have imagined this would be the result?”
"In the previous vote, I voted for Zhan Yao and thought I had made the right choice."
"Fortunately, the sect has issued a new rule this year, prohibiting gambling. Otherwise, everyone would have lost."
Elder Han of Ziyun Peak seemed to have just woken up from a dream. He stroked his beard and said, "I remember that the only person in our Tianyan Sect who learned to control a sword before reaching the middle stage of foundation building was Junior Brother Xie."
Junior Brother Xie naturally refers to the reclusive Xie Hanyi. He is the Peak Master of Ziyun Peak, not a direct disciple of the previous head, Qi Guiyuan. He is not a direct disciple of Qi Yuanbai and Xie Hanyi, so their friendship is not particularly close.
Qi Yuanbai's face froze and he didn't say anything.
Elder Han's reaction was rather slow, not noticing his expression. He continued, "This girl has some talent. While her first place finish was unexpected, it makes sense."
Elder Qin, a skilled observer of others' expressions, immediately noticed something fishy about this remark. He quickly frowned and winked at Elder Han, then smiled and smoothed things over: "So, this girl's acquisition of the Hengyu Sword seems to be a bit of a trick."
Elder Han subconsciously wanted to shake his head, but suddenly met his eyes and was stunned. Only then did he realize that he had said something wrong, so he had to keep silent.
Jiang Hanqiu wasn't afraid, and glanced at Elder Qin with a half-smile. "This is the first time I've heard that learning a technique that surpasses one's level and winning a competition can actually be considered cheating. When did the threshold for 'cheating' become so high?"
"You—" Elder Qin's face flushed, he glared at her and said in a low voice, "Jiang Hanqiu, why do you always pick on me?"
Jiang Hanqiu rolled his eyes at him and said, "I'm not that free. If you weren't always acting like a flatterer, who would have the time to care about you?"
Fortunately, there were only a few of them here and no other disciples were present. Otherwise, Elder Qin would not let it go after being humiliated like this.
At the moment, he just tried his best to pretend to be tolerant and generous. He took a few deep breaths, flicked his sleeves, and whispered, "I won't argue with you, a female cultivator!"
Jiang Hanqiu subconsciously wanted to say that when it comes to swordsmanship, he might not be able to compare with her as a female cultivator. However, before he could open his mouth, Qi Yuanbai, who had remained silent, raised his hand and stopped their verbal battle.
"You two have fought for so many years, why are you still so tactless?" Qi Yuanbai raised his eyelids and said expressionlessly, "Now that you are both the masters of a peak, you should always respect your status and teach your disciples well."
The two men looked at each other, their eyes still full of sparks, neither of them buying the other's account, but because the leader had spoken personally, they had to restrain themselves, so they lowered their heads and responded, then stepped aside.
"Okay, the competition is over. After these kids have a short rest, it's time to choose disciples. You should think about it first and choose the disciples you want to choose." Qi Yuanbai covered his mouth and coughed lightly, then said lightly.
The elders perked up at the mention of selecting disciples. This year's fifteen disciples, though still quite immature in character and cultivation, each possessed unique characteristics. With time and careful training, perhaps a few mighty sword masters would emerge.
Especially since this competition was unexpectedly an upset, the highly anticipated Zhan Yao failed to win the first place and lost the opportunity to directly become Xie Hanyi's disciple. This was great news for other peaks. Who wouldn't want such a seedling?
On this side, the elders were all preoccupied with their own thoughts and were looking at the disciples again and again. On the other side, the disciples had just come back to their senses from the fatigue of the competition and the shock of the result.
The disciples of Class B were sitting or standing, their eyes moving back and forth between Mu Fuyun and Zhan Yao, as if they were enjoying a good show.
The students in Class A have different thoughts.
Zhan Yao stood there, head lowered expressionlessly, motionless, not knowing what she was thinking.
Hongying, Xiao Yan, Qi Man and Cen Luo looked at Mu Fuyun and then at Zhan Yao, feeling a little at a loss.
In their hearts, Zhan Yao was the undisputed number one, and having her suddenly taken away from them was not only unexpected but also felt a bit of sympathy. However, facing Mu Fuyun, who was spitting blood and covered in wounds, they could not feel any contempt or resentment in their hearts.
In the past few months, they were naturally very disdainful of Mu Fuyun for joining the class halfway by taking advantage of Senior Brother Chu's face, but today, after seeing her sword-wielding skills, it seemed that any suspicion they had seemed petty.
Regardless, she does have the ability.
Xu Lian and Zhou Su were Zhan Yao's supporters. Once they came to their senses, they quickly stood beside her and glared at Mu Fuyun angrily, as if she had done something unforgivable.
Only Xu Huaiyan was truly happy for Mu Fuyun.
"Junior Sister Mu, congratulations!" He sheathed his sword and quickly stepped forward, helping her up from the ground. "I knew you were so smart, you must be as smart as anyone! You're already in the late stages of Qi Refining, and you can control a sword. Even many famous masters might not have had such a skill back then! When did you learn this?"
At this time, Instructor Wu sent Taoist children to come up and help the fifteen disciples to sit down on the seats beside the trial platform one by one. After they had a short rest, he gave each of them a bottle of qi-replenishing and healing medicine.
Mu Fuyun raised his hand with difficulty to take it. Because he was too tired, he couldn't even use the cleaning technique. He could only let the blood on his hands stain the clean bottle.
Beside her, Xu Huaiyan poured three pills from his bottle, and the others did the same. Only her bottle was heavy, as if it contained far more than three pills. She couldn't help but frown and didn't take them immediately.
At this time, a secret voice came to my ear: "Two more Guyuan Pills and two more Zhixue Buqi Pills. Don't dawdle, take them quickly."
The voice had a commanding tone and sounded a little irritable. It was obviously coming from Song Xinghe.
Mu Fuyun raised his eyelids and looked towards the high platform not far away, and happened to meet Song Xinghe's changeable eyes.
She suddenly smiled. Although blood was still oozing from the corners of her mouth, her smile was so bright that it could not be stopped. It was like the vigorous sun, and people could feel the vitality and spirit in it.
It was like a demonstration, a powerful blow to the humiliation and contempt he had suffered in the previous months.
Song Xinghe felt a stab in his heart and quickly looked away, feeling awkward and not daring to look her in the eyes again.
"Junior Sister Mu?" Xu Huaiyan couldn't help but feel puzzled when he saw her suddenly laugh.
Mu Fuyun did not pour the pills into his palm, but raised his trembling hand and put all the pills into his mouth. When he put them down, he also caught some blood from the corner of his mouth.
Her blood cannot be wasted.
The porcelain bottles used to store elixirs in the sect are all made of special clay, which can prevent her blood from coagulating.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Xu." After taking the elixir, she felt a little more strength return. She tried to sit up straight and cast a cleansing spell on herself. She smiled and replied to Xu Huaiyan's words, "I also just learned sword control in the past few days. I learned it in a hurry. After all, my foundation is not stable, my spiritual platform is not built, and my skills are not yet perfect. I dare not show off. I was in a hurry and used it just now."
"Hmph," Xu Lian, who had been paying attention to the movements here, couldn't help but speak when she heard her speak so easily. "What do you mean by quick success? Sword control? Even those in the middle stage of foundation building can't be achieved quickly. How can you, a late stage Qi training cultivator, achieve quick success? Who knows if you were deliberately playing weak and hiding your strength before?"
Xu Huaiyan's back was straighter than Mu Fuyun's at this moment: "Xu Lian, you are always so mean and think the worst of people. I think you are just jealous of Junior Sister Mu!"
"You! You're talking nonsense!" Xu Lian's expression froze. She denied it immediately and wanted to say that there was nothing to be jealous of, but when she saw the Hengyu Sword still held tightly by Mu Fuyun, she found herself unable to say it.
Hongying, who was sitting at the edge, remained silent. Xiao Yan, who was making a lot of noise, thought that she was too tired to talk. He glanced at her and turned to chat with Qi Man and others.
He had just been scared half to death in the secret realm, but now that he was out, he became lively again.
Hongying lowered her head, not knowing what she was thinking. After a while, she suddenly stood up, quietly walked around from behind to Mu Fuyun's side, and hesitantly poked her shoulder.
Mu Fuyun turned around and met her flickering eyes, wondering: "What's the matter?"
Hongying shook his head subconsciously, hesitated for a moment, and nodded: "I just... want to say thank you to you."
Mu Fuyun: “?”
Hong Ying: "Just now in the secret realm, you helped me. I was too embarrassed to thank you at the time. Now that I think about it, I feel a little ashamed. I should say thank you."
As she spoke, she tugged at her tangled Taoist robe and quickly lowered her head, not daring to look at her again.
Normally, she was a straightforward female cultivator who rarely hesitated in her words and deeds. But at this moment, she was stumped by the word "thank you".
In the secret realm, she missed the opportunity to speak in time because of her hesitation for a moment. Now that she was out, the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt, so she decided to speak up.
After I finished speaking, I felt like a huge stone had been lifted from my heart and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Mu Fuyun didn't expect Hongying to come here just to express his gratitude. He was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I accept."
She did not show any modesty and accepted it generously, which was beyond Hongying's expectations.
I thought that even if she didn't take the opportunity to vent her anger and criticize others, she would deliberately be humble so as to leave a good impression in the eyes of others. I didn't expect it to be like this.
Hongying pursed his lips, looked at her with complicated eyes, and turned away.
At this time, everyone had recovered from their fatigue.
Instructor Wu waved at them and led them back to the trial platform.
On the huge stone tablet, the scene belonging to the secret realm disappeared, and the fifteen names originally engraved on the top were moved to the center. The font size gradually increased, and the three words "Mu Fuyun" at the end moved forward little by little under countless gazes, and finally passed Zhan Yao and came to the first place.
Although it was far from what everyone expected, it was the result witnessed by everyone. So while most people were surprised, they did not think it was wrong. A small number of people even had a huge change in their opinion of Mu Fuyun because of her sword-riding performance just now.
However, there are always some people who seem to be unwilling to give in.
“That’s not fair!”
"Mu Fuyun participated the least during the entire competition. In all the actual fighting, she always came in last. How can she deserve the title of first place?"
"Yes, we've been in the outer sect for nearly four years, learning swordsmanship. Her swordsmanship is mediocre. In the previous competitions, she relied on luck and tricks. Even in the final competition, her performance was mediocre, and she only won by a narrow margin by controlling the sword. Doesn't this result deviate from the original purpose of the outer sect assessment?"
"The purpose of the martial arts test is to select the disciple with the best and most outstanding swordsmanship. Now, we select someone with poor swordsmanship. What does this mean?"
"Mu Fuyun took Yu Cen's position before, and now she has taken Zhan Yao's position too. What right does she have?!"
Most of those who complained were students from Class C, and there were also some fans of Zhan Yao.
There were not many of them, but because they were full of dissatisfaction, they raised their voices loudly and sounded very imposing, which soon attracted the attention of others. For a while, there was constant discussion inside and outside the trial field.
Some people agreed to show their support, while others remained silent. However, the constant buzz of voices and the scene of people whispering to each other subtly showed a kind of pressure, as if making people feel that most people were very dissatisfied with the result.
Mu Fuyun stood in the center of the trial platform with a pale face, looking expressionlessly at the indignant faces around him and the mouths that opened and closed, speaking inaudible words, without any reaction.
The dozen or so disciples around her frowned and looked in her direction.
They couldn't guess what she was feeling, but they could only judge from the hand hanging by her side that was still firmly holding the Hengyu Sword that she seemed to be unaffected.
Instructor Wu has been in charge of the outer sect examinations for many years, and this is the first time he has encountered such a situation. He wanted to remind these disciples that all the results are in line with the rules of the competition and there is nothing wrong with it.
But on second thought, he felt that there was no need for him to get involved in the dispute. With the leader there, it was not his turn to make the decision anyway.
He then cleared his throat, signaling the quarreling disciples to quiet down, and said, "Everyone, please be patient. No one violated the established rules in today's final outer sect competition. You all witnessed the results with your own eyes. As for the final outcome, the Sect Master and the elders will personally decide."
In this way, it is both a respect for the leader and the elders and also a way to pass the difficult problem to them.
The elders each held their own opinions. Elder Qin and others felt that what these disciples said made some sense, while Jiang Hanqiu and others believed that the victory and defeat were clear and there was no room for dispute at all.
She was quite powerful, and she usually looked down on those who, despite clearly losing, still tried to argue. She immediately said to the disciples, "You think you don't deserve first place? Well, how about you all come up on stage and demonstrate your sword control for everyone?"
The disciples were stumped and didn't know what to say.
"Since you can't do it, just shut up." Jiang Hanqiu sneered.
One person, blushing, shouted boldly, "Elder Jiang, we know we're not strong enough and we can't fly swords, but we're not speaking out for ourselves, but for Yu Cen and Zhan Yao. They may not be able to fly swords, but aren't they better than Mu Fuyun in swordsmanship?"
"We at Tianyan advocate absolute strength. No matter what method or shortcut we use, those who are unqualified are unqualified."
Some of the disciples had no dissatisfaction at first, but after hearing what they said, their emotions were ignited and they nodded in agreement.
Jiang Hanqiu wanted to teach these kids who didn't know right from wrong a lesson, but Qi Yuanbai stopped him with a look.
He frowned and cleared his throat briefly, calming the indignant disciples. "I've heard what you said, and there's some truth to it. In that case—"
Everyone below held their breath, not daring to make a sound, just waiting for the leader to make the final decision.
Only Zhan Yao kept her head down. Xu Lian beside her was worried for her: "Ayao, don't worry, there is still hope!"
Zhan Yao ignored her, but suddenly raised her head and said loudly: "Master, may I have a word from you?"
Qi Yuanbai's words were interrupted. He paused, showing no displeasure. Instead, he was gentle and tolerant, and nodded lightly to show his agreement.
Everyone's eyes turned to Zhan Yao again, wondering what she was going to say. They felt that she was most likely dissatisfied with the results of the comparison test.
Unexpectedly, the next moment, before she opened her mouth, everyone was stunned.
"I lost, I'm not as skilled as the other person. You don't need to stand up for me. I won't appreciate it. I'll just despise you for being uneducated and meddling in other people's business!"
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