"Haa, Looks like I should stop acting now!"
Everyone turned towards the source of the voice only to find Ashen standing while smiling with a predatory gleam in his eyes.
"Huh? He is alright?" The female disciple of the phoenix Feather Sect asked in disbelief with wide eyes.
The reason was simple. He didn't have a single bruise on him and that meant that he wasn't sent flying by Vi Ling's attack and instead jumped back on his own.
At this moment, Vi Ling commented: "So my guess was right. It was already weird that I didn't feel the impact when hitting you that I should've, to send you flying that far, but I didn't have the time to care about you! Now it all makes sense."
Then, he raised his eyebrows as he asked: "So, what is your plan? Are you going to fight from my side or from the enemy's side? If all this was your plan to conserve your energy to eliminate all of us in the end, then I commend you. Your acting was flawless. Most of us thought that you had betrayed us for real, but you were playing all of us like fools, like pawns in your game.
You must have had fun to see us exhaust and eliminate each other while you saved your energy by lying there, right?"
"What, all of this was his plan?" Everybody had their eyes widened in shock and anger.
"How dare you make a fool out of all of us?" The Crimson Sky Sect's leader shouted in anger.
"Brother Ashen, He is lying, right? You must have consumed a miracle medicine to recover so fast!" Wu Ni wasn't ready to believe that he made a fool out of him.
Ashen shook his head as he replied with a smile: "No brother Wu Ni, he is telling the truth. All this time I was taking advantage of you to reduce the obstacles in my path. Though I was confident in winning without your help but two peak nascent soul cultivators did not guarantee my sure-shot victory. So, I waited till at least one of them had been eliminated.
And you all helped me greatly by eliminating the Thunder Peak sect's disciples and leaving Vi Ling so exhausted. Now, My victory is guaranteed!"
He grinned: "Now you are alone and I plan to eliminate you first for fooling us like this!"
Ashen smiled in response, fixing his gaze on Vi Ling and the other three disciples: "Oh, then do you four also plan to eliminate me first? Remember, even if I win, it will only benefit the sect since I am a Phoenix Feather Sect Disciple, but these are the real enemies. I propose we team up and eliminate them, then we can decide the victor amongst ourselves, what do you say?"
The disciples pondered along with Vi Ling. What he was saying was correct. The sect should come first.
They were from the same sect and the disciples from the different sects were the real enemies in this tournament.
Seeing them contemplating like this, the crimson sky sect's leader disciple began to worry. If they agreed with Ashen it would only increase problems for him.
"Shut Up! How can we trust you again after what you did? If you had a plan like that, you should've asked for our consent. Do we look like fools to you that you can use whenever you want? What if you plan to backstab us again when we have our backs turned?" The female disciple shouted in anger, displaying her denial, contempt, and rejection.
Hearing her words, the other Phoenix Feather Sect's disciples also yelled:
"Yes, she is correct!"
"It was you who first betrayed us, we will not cooperate with you!"
Vi Ling also nodded: "You have heard our answer. We are going to eliminate you first and then going to win this with our own strength!"
Ashen clicked his tongue with a frown as he commented: "Fools!"
-----------------------------------
(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)