CH 86.2

When Luan Qing Xiao finished examining, she nodded. "Not bad, at this speed, you will reach the fifth level of Qi Training in a few days."



Then Luan Qing Xiao stood up, preparing to return to Luscious Spring Hall.



Before leaving, she told Nie Zhen'er. "Early to bed, early to rise."



Nie Zhen'er followed Luan Qing Xiao out the courtyard. Seeing Luan Qing Xiao raising her hand to call out her bonded sword, she ran over to hug Luan Qing Xiao from behind. "Mistress, don't go."



Luan Qing Xiao: "... .. " If there is an award for the clingiest girlfriend of the year, Nie Zhen'er would definitely be the winner.



"Zhen’er, the moonlight is very bright tonight."



Nie Zhen'er hugged tighter, "But the moonlight tonight isn’t like you."



"... …" Who can resist this?



After Nie Zhen'er’s night over at Luscious Spring Hall, Luan Qing Xiao stayed in Nie Zhen'er's residence.



A few days later, the Shang Qing Palace Grand Competition arrived as expected.



In addition to inner disciples, outer disciples can participate as long as they meet the conditions too.



Bei Ling was responsible for counting the number of people and arranging the matches.



There are ten battle platforms in the martial arts training ground of the Shang Qing Palace. Between the two contestants, both can’t injury the other. When a stick of incense burns out, the five elders and Palace Lord Jing Meng Jun will decide the winner.



In the initial Shang Qing Palace Competition, there was no such thing as "not injuring the opponent". So every time afterwards, there definitely will be disciples injured or dead.



The former palace lord thought it was common to see blood in a competition, but Jing Meng Jun changed this rule after he took over. He believed that even if the disciples of the Shang Qing Palace died, they shouldn’t die in the hands of their peers.



Among the five elders, only Luan Qing Xiao agreed while the four elders who were forced to agree by Luan Qing Xiao threatened them with her bonded sword. Thus, the new rules were successfully  implemented.



That's why Jing Meng Jun was so tolerant of Luan Qing Xiao's acceptance of Nie Zhen'er as a disciple.



As for why the original owner helped Jing Meng Jun, Luan Qing Xiao searched the depths of her memory and found that the original owner was an orphan adopted by Master since she was a child. The original owner’s master had no time to take care of children, so he passed the original owner to a gentle tempered inner disciple. Later, that inner disciple unfortunately perished in Grand Competition, since then the original owner's smile disappeared.



Ten years later, the original owner accidentally caught a glimpse of Bai Ze Zong’s Bai Li Yuan Yu and was deeply attracted by Bai Li Yuan Yu's gentle smile. Ever since then, she started the next few hundred years pursuing Bai Li Yuan Yu.



A total of 30 disciples participated in the competition, including 21 disciples from the inner sect and nine disciples from the outer sect. The first competition was drawn by lottery, and the order of the following competitions was determined by Bei Ling. Everyone would compete with everyone except themselves. The person with the most victories would win first place.



The Grand Competition not only requires the participants to be above Foundation Building but below Golden Core, it also limits the participants to be no more than 30 years old. These people were either talented,  diligent or had fortuitous encounters in order to successfully build the foundation at such a young age. The people who participated in the Grand Competition can be said to be the future of Shang Qing Palace.



After ten matches, Guan Xue, Ying Yuan Yu and Hui Meng Tong still maintained their undefeated streak, while Chao Gan Yun and several inner disciples had lost one bout.



At the end of the tournament’s first day, Chao Gan Yun's complexion was drained. She knew how hard she worked as well as important talent was to a cultivator. Today she lost one match and lost to Hui Meng Tong, which made her feel uncomfortable and extremely humiliating.



Both of them were disciples of Mistress. However, Hui Meng Tong is only twelve years old and easily beat herself after only a few months of practicing. Chao Gan Yun is really vexed.



She will always remember how happy she was when Mistress said she would rely on her in the Grand Competition. But before she could be happy for long, Hui Meng Tong successfully broke through to Foundation Building and shattered her dream.



Mistress’s three disciples; Nie Zhen’er isn’t as talented as her, but she has Mistress’s doting. Hui Meng Tong has just joined Mistress but has outstanding talents. She was the only one who was struck in the middle. Being suppressed by this made it hard for her to see the bright side of things.



Returning to her courtyard,  Chao Gan Yun sat down dazedly as she gazed up at the cold moon in the clear sky.



Luan Qing Xiao hadn't noticed there was something off about Chao Gan Yun until Nie Zhen'er told her that Chao Gan Yun didn’t seem like her usual self.



After Luan Qing Xiao came to this world, she tried her best to treat all her disciples equally. Hui Meng Tong was the first one she accepted and Nie Zhen'er was bold, only Chao Gan Yun was afraid of the original owner out of respect. Facing her, Luan Qing Xiao couldn’t be too OOC. Therefore, building on the original owner's indifference, she gradually relaxed her stern tone. However, her efforts in the past few months didn’t seem to have much effect. Chao Gan Yun was still trapped in her world full of jealousy.



Since today she lost to Hui Meng Tong, she must feel extremely dejected.



Luan Qing Xiao arrived outside of Chao Gan Yun's yard and knocked on the gate. After a while, there was a gloomy voice. "Who?"



"Gan Yun, it's me."



Chao Gan Yun sprang up in shock as she hurriedly came to open the door. Looking at the aloof figure outside the door, Chao Gan Yun was a little at a loss. "Mis-Mistress?"



"You’re not inviting me in?" Luan Qing Xiao furrowed her brows slightly.



"Mistress, please come in!" Chao Gan Yun quickly moved away and opened up a pathway for Luan Qing Xiao to come in.



When Luan Qing Xiao walked inside, Chao Gan Yun cautiously followed behind her and probed. "Mistress, why are you here?"



Luan Qing Xiao looked back at Chao Gan Yun and uttered lightly. "You performed well today, you didn't shame Mistress."



Chao Gan Yun froze. She blinked and felt a little hot in her eyes. "But, but I lost to Little Junior Sister."



"Gan Yun, tell me, why do you cultivate?" Luan Qing Xiao turned and asked solemnly.



Chao Gan Yun couldn't help lowering her head to avoid Luan Qing Xiao's gaze. "In order to pursue the Dao path and become an Immortal."



"Who is pursuing the Dao path?"



"Me."



"Who is the one becoming an Immortal?"



"Also me."



"Cultivation is your own business from beginning to end, so what does it matter if you lose to Meng Tong?"



"Mistress… … " Chao Gan Yun couldn't resist lifting her head.



Luan Qing Xiao added, "I said, you performed very well today."



After comforting Chao Gan Yun, Luan Qing Xiao returned to Luscious Spring Hall and saw Nie Zhen'er. She habitually questioned, "Why didn't you head back yet?"



Nie Zhen'er ran over and hugged her arm as she replied routinely. "Zhen'er wants to sleep with Mistress."



"Mistress, is Second Senior Sister okay?"



Luan Qing Xiao answered, "Mistress went personally, what can go wrong?"



Nie Zhen'er sourly mumbled,  "Zhen'er also wants to be comforted by Mistress~"



"Mistress can see you’re in a good mood, you don't need to be comforted." Luan Qing Xiao accurately tapped her index finger on the dimple on Nie Zhen'er's face.