Chapter 146: Threats and Blessings
’Jiang Yue..., Yu Nianzhen...’ Zhu Bing went silent and thought about it.
Thousands of faces flashed through his mind and finally settled on two teenagers. He recalled meeting them and spending time with them, but everything felt like a lifetime ago.
In the end, their encounter was only an inconsequential event in his life.
After figuring it out, Zhu Bing no longer thought about it.
"Keep an eye on everything and report every day." He said.
"Yes, young emperor." The informant bowed and left the platform.
When he was alone, Zhu Bing cleared his mind and focused on his cultivation.
In his opinion, the meridian awakening realm and the origin forging realm were foundational stages. As long as he built the best foundation during these two realms, his cultivation path was bound to be endless.
It was because of this that he didn’t rush to break through to the qi transformation realm, although it would help increase his prestige in the Cangxing world.
More than short-lived fame, he desired eternal fame. For that, he was willing to give up short-term benefits.
With these thoughts in mind, Zhu Bing began to polish the ice shards in his qi ocean.
Time passed in this way, and endless fights took place on the platforms.
In some platforms, the fights ended in surrender and the loser could live to challenge another time.
However, this was not always the case because a tacit understanding had somehow formed over time.
Under the tacit understanding, fights between orthodox cultivators and members of the Death Flower Ascension Front would end in the death of one person.
As a result, hundreds of cultivators had died over the weeks since the competition began. The Death Flower Ascension Front was most affected since it had fewer people, but the orthodox cultivators didn’t have it easier.
After more than eight months in the thousand herbs garden, less than half of the original one thousand cultivators still remained in the secret realm.
One day before the end of the competition, the air was filled with a dangerous aura.
It was the last chance for those who still hoped to grab a platform to do something, and the spectators all had red eyes.
In this atmosphere, Lin Huang jumped out of her platform.
Everyone was used to this but still, no one dared to occupy her place while she was away.
"She is going to the tent again." One of the spectators said.
The voice was filled with resentment but also a kind of excitement. His eyes wandered to the tent area, and it wasn’t difficult to tell what he was thinking.
"What is there to envy?" Another asked with a sneer.
"She doesn’t seem to be going to the tent..." Another observed, which caught the others’ attention.
They watched as Lin Huang walked away from her platform and walked toward the second platform.
"What is she doing?" Someone asked in excitement.
"Does she mean to challenger fellow Taoist Jiang?"
Since the early days, no one had challenged Lin Huang, and she hadn’t challenged anyone.
Her current actions were surprising, and the spectators couldn’t help but be excited.
"Jiang Yue is going to be unlucky." A spectator said. His voice was filled with schadenfreude, and the others turned to look at him.
They recognised him as a person who had challenged and lost to Jiang Yue several times over the past four weeks.
However, the other spectators couldn’t disregard his observation.
Although his tone was fuelled by jealousy, his words were absolutely correct.
After all, they had been watching the fights and had a measure of everyone’s strengths.
From observation, they knew Jiang Yue was strong, but his strength was normal. Compared to monsters like Lin Huang and the young emperor, he was at a lower level and couldn’t hope to compete.
"She is too intentional." Someone commented.
"You are right. Why is she picking a fight when the competition is about to end?"
No one had an answer for that and could only watch as Lin Huang got on the second platform.
On the platform, Jiang Yue was sitting in one of the corners with a pipa in his hand.
He was rhythmically stroking the strings, but Lin Huang didn’t seem to care even though she knew the other used the pipa to attack.
"Your name is Jiang Yue." She stated as soon as she got on the platform.
Jiang Yue focused his eyes and sighed.
As someone who was in the entertainment industry in his previous life, and had memories of this world’s Jiang Yue, he was used to having hot eyes on him.
In his previous life, men and women had used many means to get him to their beds, but he was self-respecting and also had a big background.
Those people didn’t dare to force him, but obsession was a powerful thing. Once in a while, he would encounter a fanatic who didn’t shy away from tricks to get him.
As for this world’s Jiang Yue, he also encountered such obsession while he masqueraded as Yeying in the Pleasure Palace.
However, Jiang Yue was now a cultivator and thought the days of being looked at with obsession were behind him.
Unfortunately, he encountered Lin Huang.
From the first day of the competition to now, she spent many hours a day looking at him.
He wouldn’t care if she was just watching his fights, but her eyes were never right.
They were filled with obsession, and he knew that she would come to trouble him sooner or later.
Unexpectedly, she chose the last day to make her move, but he wasn’t too worried.
"Yours is Lin Huang." He answered.
A wicked smile curled her lips, and she spoke, "if you follow me, I will surrender right now and leave your platform."
Her words were not said in a low voice, and all the spectators heard them.
Subconsciously, Jiang Yue turned to the third platform and was relieved when he saw Yu Nianzhen fighting Zhu Jianfeng.
However, he got angry in the next moment.
’What is he doing? Doesn’t he know his husband is about to be abducted by a female pervert?’ He glared across the distance and then sighed.
’Forget it. This guy must have accumulated blessings from ten lifetimes. How else can he meet a lover that is willing to eliminate rivals for him?’ He thought and felt a little smug.
"Follow you? To where?" He asked.
His voice exuded innocence and carried an imperceptible lilt.
When she heard his words, Lin Huang frowned.
For some reason, she felt a little uncomfortable but soon shook off the feeling.
Instead, a twinkle appeared in her eyes, and she walked closer to Jiang Yue, who was still sitting in his original position.
"Little brother can follow me to the Beast region. We can get married when we leave the secret realm."
Jiang Yue shivered when he heard that.
There were so many wrong things with the young woman’s words that he didn’t know where to start.
One, what was up with calling him a little brother?
He didn’t know if he was younger or older than Lin Huang, but the way she called him reminded him of a pervert uncle in his previous life. No matter what, he couldn’t think the address was cute.
Second, the thousand herbs garden like all other secret realms had rules. One of the rules was that one would exit in the same place they entered.
How was it possible to follow her to the Beast region?
Jiang Yue didn’t know if she hadn’t considered the logistics or if she was lying to him.
In his mind, he was more inclined to believe she was a player who wanted to take advantage of him and used marriage to weaken his resistance.
’I also have this day of being preyed on.’ He thought and once again turned to Yu Nianzhen.
Unfortunately, the other was still engrossed in his fight and didn’t notice his corner being dug.
’Let’s deal with this first and then clean him up later.’ He thought.
"What if I don’t agree?" He asked.
Lin Huang smiled, "the competition is about to end."
It wasn’t explicitly said, but this was a threat.
For as long as Jiang Yue refused, Lin Huang would challenge him.
With how powerful she was, she would either kill him or injure him so badly that he couldn’t recover in time to challenge and occupy a platform.
When he thought of this, Jiang Yue chuckled.
Three months ago, this threat would have been enough to worry him.
At that time, he would be forced to surrender the platform since he couldn’t compromise and follow Lin Huang.
However, that was then, and he was no longer the same person.
Although he didn’t have it all figured out, he had a way to deal with Lin Huang. His method was even more effective because she underestimated him.
She was right to believe that his raw power couldn’t match her own, but he was never a cultivator who relied on raw power.
With a smirk, Jiang Yue asked, "are you worthy of my following you?"
