Chapter 389: Recognition

In the face of Slothless’s speed, Gan Xuehua didn’t even have time to process what happened. By the time she realized what happened, her hand was already outstretched, and she felt a slight stinging sensation on her palm. She glanced toward the right just in time to see Slothless flying off the stage.

When the referee announced the start of the match, Slothless had charged straight at her. Gan Xuehua’s body reacted based on instinct and slapped Slothless on his cheek, sending him flying.

But the biggest question was that Gan Xuehua didn’t do anything special. It was just an average slap. Even if she was a peak body transformation acolyte, it should have been far from enough to injure him, much less send him flying out of the arena.

Gan Xuehua turned her puzzled gaze toward Slothless, who picked himself off the ground and saluted. Aside from the dust, there was nary a scratch on him. “I thought I was a top contender, but I didn’t expect to encounter a crouching tiger, hidden dragon like you in the first round. I am convinced of my defeat.”

Still expressing the same drowsiness, Slothless returned to the Dustveil Sect. Gan Xuehua stayed in the arena with question marks above her head. What the hell happened?

“Disciple Gan, are you okay?”

Facing the true immortal’s question, Gan Xuehua shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

Afterward, she returned to the Gan Dynasty, still puzzled by her unexpected victory. Upon her return, she was bombarded by her siblings.

“Thirteenth Sister, I really couldn’t tell you were this strong. Not even one of the top geniuses could withstand one slap from you, you hid so deep,” the seventh princess of the Gan Dynasty said.

Gan Xuehua didn’t answer her, and the seventh princess didn’t mind. She was already used to Gan Xuehua’s proud attitude—or rather, the original Gan Xuehua.

“As expected of my daughter. The Gan Dynasty is going to become famous because of you,” the Gan Emperor said.

Gan Xuehua nodded. She glanced at Gan Linyou and saw him with the same proud face. He puffed his chest and opened his mouth. It seemed that he had forgotten the Gan Emperor sealed his ability to speak. She looked away and toward the Dustveil Sect.

There, she saw many of the disciples sporting dark expressions. Slothless’s master was currently sporting a furious glare and scolding his disciple. Strangely, the disciples around the master-disciple pair sported the same wry expression. They didn’t seem to blame Slothless, or rather, they looked resigned.

“Stupid disciple, why did you throw the match?!” the Dustveil Sect grand elder asked.

“Huh, what are you talking about?” Slothless asked in confusion. “My opponent was much stronger than I thought and defeated me.”

“Who are you trying to trick?! You aren’t even hiding it. Look at your cheek, there isn’t even a red mark!”

“This only shows my opponent’s skill. Despite throwing me off the arena, I was hardly damaged. She’s really powerful,” Slothless said without batting an eye. Seeing his master about to explode in anger, he quickly pushed in some earplugs into his ears and lay on the ground.

‘Did he purposely throw the match?’ Gan Xuehua thought. Aside from that, she couldn’t think of any reason for winning.

She didn’t have time to think as the next round started. She watched carefully as her next opponent would be one of the two contestants. There was no need to think who would win because one of the two contestants was Ji Fengyin, the Bright Ascension Saintess.

At this point, she basically confirmed two possibilities. One, someone was secretly helping her. Her father was too weak to do it under everyone’s eyes, so it had to be a person with power to cover the heavens. But why would such a person help her?

Thus, Gan Xuehua was inclined to believe the second possibility. Both Ji Fengyin and Slothless purposely lost to her for some bizarre reason she couldn’t understand.

“Master, I’m not cut out to be the saintess. I lost to Gan Xuehua so miserably. Please select someone else to take my place,” Ji Fengyin said.

The grand elder of the Bright Ascension Sect glared at Ji Fengyin. “You think you’d still be the saintess if I could find someone better to replace you? Listen to me and stop your foolish action. Your talent for the spiritual path is unmatched. Stop wasting time on the martial path.”

Ji Fengyin ignored the latter half of her master’s words. “What about Ji Muyang? I heard she was deprived of her status for a small mistake. I think she will be very willing to assume the position.”

“What do you know? There have been no cases of a former saint or saintess regaining their status. The Bright Ascension Saintess plays a crucial role in every generation. They must not have any blights on their record,” the Bright Ascension Sect grand elder said.

Actually, it wasn’t impossible for Ji Muyang to regain her status as the Bright Ascension Saintess, but the problem was why she had been deprived of her status in the first place. Hundreds of years ago, Ji Muyang attended the Heavenly Connection Gathering with other scions from the Buzhou Immortal Sect and various other scions, including Xi Tianyi.

Originally, it should have been a good chance to form a connection with Xi Tianyi. However, the loose cultivator, Longwei, that Ji Muyang brought attacked and attempted to kill Xi Tianyi. Of course, there was more to it than that, but the sect deprived Ji Muyang of saintess status to show their stance to the Buzhou Immortal Sect .

Ji Wutong succeeded Ji Muyang as the Bright Ascension Saint, a member of the same clan as her. Unfortunately, during the Demon Extermination Expedition, he died, causing the Bright Ascension Sect to have no saint or saintess for a period of time. Many people suggested restoring Muyang’s status, however the time period was a sensitive time.

The Bright Ascension Sect didn’t dare appoint Ji Muyang as saintess again for fear of sending the wrong signals to the Buzhou Immortal Sect. When the war ended, it was even more impossible. Xi Tianyi had become an immortal emperor, and it was not worth drawing his ire. He may not pursue the matter, but the Bright Ascension Sect didn’t want to take any chances.

Ji Fengyin pursed her lips and muttered. “Everyone is so useless. Why am I the only one with enough concentration of the phoenix bloodline in this generation?”

Gan Xuehua didn’t know of Ji Fengyin’s motive, but she had a headache. Thanks to the fewer number of contestants left, she had her second battle of the day. Her opponent was Gui Qianglin, but he had much worse luck than her. His second opponent of the tournament was also a hidden genius. Although he won, he didn’t have enough strength to compete against Gan Xuehua, resulting in her automatic victory.

“Ah, that Gan Xuehua sure has good luck.” Gan Xuehua heard someone say. His words oozed jealousy.

“You can only envy her good luck. Although I don’t think it would matter much. You know that Gui Qianglin is at the same level as her two opponents, Daoist Slothless and the Bright Ascension Saintess. If she could easily solve those two, she can probably easily solve Gui Qianglin as well. Gui Qianglin must have known this, otherwise, do you think he’ll voluntarily forfeit?”

“You’re right. I never expected a dark horse like her to appear. Tsk, tsk. Do you think it’s possible that the Gan Dynasty will rise now?”

“Who knows? The ascension of a force never depends on one person, but it’ll definitely help. That Gan Xuehua is from a third-rate force, but all the geniuses she defeated are from first-rate forces. Her rise is inevitable.”

“Hehe, that remains to be seen. There is no lack of people with bad intentions.”

At this, the speaker’s companion fell silent. On the surface, no one dared to assassinate the upcoming disciples of other forces, but who’s to say that it hasn’t happened? There was a reason why the Nihility Sect became one of the most hated forces before it disbanded. Suddenly, he pitied Gan Xuehua.

She was a rare genius who dazzled much brighter than her peers. Unfortunately, she was born in a third-rate force and was destined to face life-threatening hardships.