Chapter 12

Nan Xi opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but when she saw the headmaster and the other two elders had arrived, she closed her mouth again, then lowered her head slightly with a calm expression. But after understanding Qi Zhao's meaning, her heart was completely covered with a mask of pain.

[Help! Help! What does he mean? Did he see that I lost on purpose before? This shouldn't be the case. How could this happen? He didn't see it before, and now we haven't even competed yet, how could he see it?]

Disciples: “!!!”

Really? Senior sister, you actually lost on purpose!

Everyone's eyes widened in an instant. Although they subconsciously didn't believe it, this was Nan Xi's inner voice. Could Nan Xi really lie to herself?

Qi Zhao secretly grasped his sword.

He Jian, who had just arrived, as well as the First Elder and the Sixth Elder, paused almost unnoticeably, and then glanced at Nan Xi with a hidden look.

Now, everyone in the sect, except Nan Xi herself, knows about the leak of her inner thoughts. Because He Jian said that outsiders cannot hear Nan Xi's inner thoughts, everyone pretends that there is no such thing as the leak of her inner thoughts.

But when the voice of my heart suddenly rings in my ears and I hear it, I can no longer ignore it even if I pretend it never happened.

And the content of these words... The two elders glanced at He Jian, secretly asking him the reason.

When He Jianbei saw this, he was also puzzled. He did not respond to their questions, but looked at Nan Xi with a sharp gaze and called her name.

"Nanxi."

Nan Xi suddenly came back to his senses, looked at He Jian, then lowered his head, "Disciple is here."

"You must give your all in this assessment."

Nan Xi agreed obediently on the surface, but was also puzzled in her heart.

[What happened to one or two people today? They want me to be serious, but do I look unserious? ]

Nan Xi stood up straight involuntarily and straightened his expression even more, trying to look extremely serious. After standing up, he couldn't help but glance at the head of the sect one more time, and then at Qi Zhao.

Then his eyes met Lian Qianxing's and she smiled at him.

Although there were three direct disciples present, Lian Qianxing was too young, and when competing with his senior brothers and sisters, he mainly focused on learning from experience.

Even if Nan Xi showed mediocre strength, she could not lose to Lian Qianxing. If she lost to Lian Qianxing, then she would not be mediocre in strength.

Lian Qianxing's face turned red from laughing. She looked at Nan Xi with clear eyes and whispered, "Come on, Senior Sister."

The disciples did not hear what Lian Qianxing said, they only looked at Nan Xi's movements and felt like laughing. In the past, at times like this, their attention was on the headmaster and others, and they never noticed that the movements of the eldest senior sister looked so lively.

After the headmaster said a few words, the examination of the disciples began.

A formation was set up on the martial arts field, with the names of the disciples written on the curtain, and it was designated who would compete with whom. The formation could record the disciples' performance for the elders to evaluate later.

The competition among the disciples was more volatile, so the largest and most central venue was reserved, and a barrier formation was set up to prevent the noise from the competition from affecting others.

The direct disciples must take the lead and demonstrate to the other disciples, which is also helpful for the disciples to understand the sword style. Therefore, before the disciples are assessed, the direct disciples compete first, and the other disciples watch.

Nan Xi walked onto the field holding his sword, facing Qi Zhao, and both of them bowed to each other.

She has always been adept at such competitions because of her perfect mastery of sword styles and precise control of spiritual power. She can lose almost anytime she wants, and no one has ever discovered that she is acting.

But today, when he met Qi Zhao's burning gaze, he suddenly felt a little nervous.

Nan Xi tightened her grip on the sword.

Qi Zhao attacked first. He held a sword in his hand and used the basic sword moves of Tianyun swordsmanship. He stabbed straight forward at an extremely fast speed. With the sword intent that he had already practiced, he was unstoppable and quite threatening.

The disciples were startled by this move, and there was a cry of surprise from the crowd.

Nan Xi was also surprised, because in the past Qi Zhao always focused on defense, slowly luring the opponent into the trap, and his sword was like a person, not showing off his sharp edge. But today was very different.

She caught it in a hurry, her eyes were sharp for a moment, but she quickly hid it.

He smiled at Qi Zhao, seemingly without any intention of attacking him, "Junior brother, you have made a lot of progress after this training."

Qi Zhao responded without saying much.

"Broken bottle neck."

He raised his sword and then chopped it down, with more force than ever before. If Nan Xi continued to act like before, he would surely be defeated quickly.

She was almost subconsciously on the defensive, with a serious expression, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

The disciples were completely attracted by the exciting duel in front of them. They were completely immersed in the competition between the two. Their eyes were shining and they all grasped the hilts of their swords involuntarily.

Nan Xi was immersed in it for only a few breaths. She looked at Qi Zhao's sword style and suddenly reacted.

[Eh? Junior brother has made such great progress, isn't it natural for me to lose to him? ]

Nan Xi's eyes lit up, and the loud voice of the hungry group forced everyone to come back to their senses. They looked at Nan Xi in disbelief, and as they saw that the other party's movements really slowed down, they became more and more incredulous.

Ah? Senior sister, are you acting seriously?

Qi Zhao's expression also darkened. He saw the sword that was about to fall on Nan Xi suddenly turn to the side, brushing past her body and cutting off a few strands of her hair.

Nan Xi: “?”

[Mistake? But it doesn't look like it. 】

Nan Xi's inner voice was loud and clear, even He Jian and the others could hear it clearly. Although they were standing far away, their eyesight was very good, so they could also see the situation here clearly.

He Jian's eyes were solemn at this time, but the Sixth Elder looked at him and said with a smile: "It turns out that your disciple is hiding his ability."

With their skills, they could clearly tell from Nan Xi's unconscious defense how good she was. At the very least, she was not weaker than Qi Zhao who had broken through the bottleneck.

"Humph! You are so arrogant because of your talent. You are so stupid!"

It was also the first time that He Jian knew about Nan Xi's hidden strength, so he was naturally very angry and didn't say anything nice. The other two knew what kind of temper he had, so they didn't make any comments.

The Great Elder was also a tolerant elder. He just touched his chin and said, "Qi Zhao is a proud kid. He knows that Nan Xi is deliberately letting him win, so he must force Nan Xi to show her true level."

Nan Xi, who was on the field, also felt something was wrong.

Qi Zhao's sword power suddenly changed, becoming restrained, less aggressive, and no longer so delicately controlled. It couldn't be said that his level had plummeted, but it was far from what it was before.

At this level, even the heroine in the plot could easily deal with it, so Nan Xi naturally couldn't be defeated directly.

That's too obvious.

Nan Xi's eyes narrowed, and she finally turned from defense to offense. Her mind worked quickly. At this level, even if she won, she would not be considered powerful, so she attacked. Her movements were sharp and looked quite powerful, but in fact, she did not use any sword intent.

She thought about the difference between Qi Zhao just now and now, and always felt that something was wrong.

It might also be because she didn't use her full strength, Qi Zhao didn't look as strong as before, but he was still able to easily block her moves, so the situation was temporarily stalemate.

Nan Xi's moves were always blocked when the battle was about to end. After repeating this several times, she frowned slightly, unconsciously showing some seriousness.

[I can neither win nor lose, I am so annoyed. 】

She cursed inwardly. As soon as the disciples heard Nan Xi's inner voice, they found that their senior sister's sword moves quickly changed. Such changes were not obvious, but because of the inner voice as a hint, they could see it clearly.

The sword intent was faintly emerging. It was obviously very powerful just now, but compared with now, people could see how superficial the moves just now were. Qi Zhao was gradually losing the upper hand.

Nan Xi's frown had just relaxed when Qi Zhao's sword drawing speed increased again.

Nan Xi always felt that she was about to win. Qi Zhao no longer showed the same strength as at the beginning, so she felt that Qi Zhao's level had not improved.

This is the terrifying thing about Qi Zhao's sword style. He lures people into the game step by step. Even if other people have the same idea as Qi Zhao, they may not be able to lead people away as quietly as he does.

The Great Elder glanced at He Jian, a hint of smile in his eyes.

"I thought he had shown his brilliance since his breakthrough, and I was worried that he had lost his original ability. Now it seems that I don't have to worry anymore."

When the elders get together and chat, they always compare the younger generations. The eldest elder's ordinary words actually contain hints of bragging.

He Jian did not respond, but stared at Nan Xi's movements.

Qi Zhao wanted to draw out Nan Xi's true level, and He Jian also wanted to know how much his disciple had hidden from him. Now that Nan Xi had joined the game, his movements became more and more smooth, and he became more and more integrated with Jian.

It was difficult for them to tell whether Nan Xi's current level was up to her true ability, but she was more stylish and had her own way than before when she was just mediocre.

But I am not satisfied with the sword.

After a while, he slowly spoke, "After competing with Qi Zhao so many times, he still fell into the trap. His vigilance is too low and he lacks some sharpness."

The Sixth Elder was not in the competition, he just smiled and said: "But the real Nan Xi seems to be very different from what we know."

Nan Xi always felt that something was not right.

Because she always wanted to maintain her image, that is, to keep the strength she revealed to a level that seemed ordinary, so she did not immerse herself in the competition, and it was difficult for her to find any clues from this abnormality.

Until she swung the sword again, she completely forgot to hold back her strength. The moment the sword was swung, the sword made a crisp buzzing sound that almost shook people's ears.

Qi Zhao was forced to take a step back, his eyes shining, but Nan Xi suddenly came to his senses.

Qi Zhao curled his lips. Although he knew he was no match for the enemy, he still used his last move with all his strength. He opened his lips slightly, wanting to say something, but found that when the sword in his hand faced Nan Xi, the opponent's strength was much weaker. He was caught off guard and failed to control his strength, and the tip of the sword pierced Nan Xi's shoulder.

Even though he quickly withdrew his strength, it still pierced Nan Xi's clothes, and blood slowly stained the clothes.

Nan Xi narrowed her eyes at him.

"Junior brother is amazing."

Qi Zhao stood there in a daze, unable to recover for a moment.

What he wanted to say just now was, 'Senior Sister, I can't beat you at the moment.'

In the distance, He Jian nodded in relief, "Not bad, we finally found it."

After he finished speaking, he paused and realized something was wrong. Nan Xi deliberately lost the competition, so why was he still praising her?

Realizing this, He Jian's face darkened again.

"Oh, but still stupid."