Chapter 13: Cut Off Her Path Forward
Yun Ruoyan felt all the more weary after leaving the great hall.
Although the old madam hadn’t listened to Yun Ruoyu and Yi Qianying’s words in the end, she hadn’t punished them either. Clearly, her grandmother didn’t trust her fully, or she wouldn’t have summoned her in the middle of the night.
Under the moonlit sky, Yun Ruoyan walked back to her residence. She looked up at the silver moon and sighed.
Even her own siblings doubted her so.
After all, a weak, useless sister was far easier to accept than a strong opponent who had sprouted out of nowhere.
There would be two more matches to come, and she had to make sure she was fully prepared, both mentally and physically.
It was at this point that a pleasant male voice spoke out from above Yun Ruoyan’s head, “Isn’t this Yun Ruoyan, who beat the talented Yun Ruoyao? Why’re you sighing like that?”
Yun Ruoyan looked toward the voice. A man clad in black was hanging upside-down from the rafters, smiling as he looked down at her.
“Who’re you? How did you get in here?”
He seemed young, no more than fifteen or sixteen. He leaped down from the ceiling and spread open a gold-tipped folding fan. “It doesn’t matter who I am; I’m just here to see someone who made quite the name for herself during the opening matches today.”
Yun Ruoyan couldn’t be bothered to respond to him. Instead, she turned and continued walking. “I don’t have the leisure to be gawked at. Mister, if you don’t leave, I’m going to call out to my servants.”
The young man quickly chased after her. “It won’t be any use even if you call out to them, because they can’t catch me.”
“Oh?” Yun Ruoyan’s eyes glinted. “Mister, it seems you’re quite confident in your martial abilities?”
“Don’t be so serious!” The man smiled as he folded his fan shut once more. “Why don’t you tell me how your cultivation improved so much all of a sudden? Did you find some sort of rare manual?”
Yun Ruoyan was truly very tired, and all she wanted to do was return to her abode and rest. “It’s late at night, and if you won’t leave me alone, mister, I’m going to come at you myself.”
As soon as she said that, the other party stepped back in a hurry. “Don’t, don’t! I’m just here trying to make friends!”
“Make friends in that thieving manner of yours?”
It seemed as if the other party wasn’t shameless enough to keep trying to engage her in conversation, and he could only look on as Yun Ruoyan walked off. Only then did he scratch his head with the tip of his folding man. “Ah, it seems like I’ve made a mess of things again.”
“Third Prince, shall we go back now?” In the darkness, a shadow suddenly appeared by the man’s side.
“Let’s go, let’s go.” Li Qianhan scratched his head. “I wonder why my uncle’s so interested in her...”
After a night’s rest, Yun Ruoyan felt much more revitalized. In the morning, as she happily ate the white fungus soup that Peony had made for her, she studied her upcoming matchups.
But as she glanced at the next name on the list, she almost spat out her mouthful of soup.
Li Wanxi!
This was a name that had plagued Yun Ruoyan since her childhood!
When she was ten, this person had stayed in the Yun household for about a month. They were about the same age, but for the entire duration of her stay, she didn’t go a day without laughing at Yun Ruoyan!
And ever since that stay, Li Wanxi had always been close friends with Yun Ruoyao. Undoubtedly, she’d have heard of how Yun Ruoyan had beaten Yun Ruoyao yesterday.
Who knew how this girl would try to deride her on stage today?
Yun Ruoyan rubbed at the birthmark on her cheek. No matter what, she was definitely going to get into Kongming Academy! If she couldn’t beat Li Wanxi with her mouth, then she’d do it with her fists!
The second round of the competition began very quickly. This time, Yun Ruoyan was draped in a simple yet elegant moon-white gown. She walked slowly onto center stage, her bearing regal.
Opposite her, Li Wanxi stood in a daze.
In the first round, when she saw Yun Ruoyan dressed in flaming red, she had already been shocked—the Yun Ruoyan that she remembered was in no way similar to the one she had seen yesterday.
And she’d thought that that was the limit of Yun Ruoyan’s transformation until she saw her appearance today. She really couldn’t believe that the ugly maiden she remembered would one day become so... bearable to look at.
Even the red birthmark staining her face seemed to give her an unusual appeal!
Li Wanxi rubbed her temples, forcing herself to remain calm and logical. This was Yun Ruoyan: timid, ugly, and utterly useless. No amount of clothes or packaging could hide her true nature!
Li Wanxi was the first to unsheathe her sword. Her blows were fierce and lethal, but Yun Ruoyan seemed to dodge them all with ease.
“Che, even an ugly magpie like you dares dream to be a phoenix?” Li Wanxi taunted as soon as she dodged one of her blows.
Yun Ruoyan’s eyes glinted dangerously.
Li Wanxi was about to open her mouth once more when she suddenly felt a pain in her wrist, and the blade she was holding clattered to the ground. Right afterwards, she took a heavy kick to her kneecap, lost her balance, and ended up kneeling on stage!
“A phoenix will always be a phoenix; there’s no need to dream.” The edge of Yun Ruoyan’s sword lay against Li Wanxi’s neck. “It’s impossible to change one’s status: concubines’ daughters will always remain lowly.”
She was referring not just to Yun Ruoyao, but also to Li Wanxi.
The reason Li Wanxi had stayed at the Yun household, after all, was because she had been ostracized by the Li matriarch, and it was all her grandfather could do to let her stay temporarily at the Yuns’ place.
After Envoy Ding announced the results of the match, Yun Ruoyan gracefully strode off, leaving Li Wanxi alone on stage, gritting her teeth.
Yun Ruoyan’s third-round opponent was Yi Qianying.
Yun Ruoyan looked at her list of match-ups, her expression calm and cool. Peony thought that she didn’t care about whom she was facing—after all, Yun Ruoyao, Yun Moyuan, Li Wanxi, and Yun Ruoyu had all been defeated at her hands, so what was a measly Yi Qianying in addition to that?
But, in truth, Yun Ruoyan was the only one who knew how excited she was at having Yi Qianying as an opponent.
This series of match-ups had really been like a boon from the heavens. She had been worrying about how to get her revenge, and this was her best opportunity to date. Entering Kongming Academy would be a springboard to quickly involve herself with the greatest powers on the continent. Most of those who managed to get into Kongming Academy would become legends in their own right, whereas those who failed were relegated to a meaningless life, just like the Yun Ruoyan of the past.
And since the heavens had seen fit to grant her such an opportunity, she would cut off Yi Qianying’s future herself.
The day of the competition, everything went as smoothly as Yun Ruoyan had expected.
Yi Qianying glanced at the sharp blade, not a few centimeters from her neck, her eyes filled with panic. She stilled her nerves before forcing a slight smile. “Sister, you’ve won.”
Yun Ruoyan’s face was expressionless, her gaze revealing a half-hidden anger. She was the only one who knew how much restraint she had to put in to stop herself from killing Yi Qianying on the spot!
“Sister? What’s wrong?” Yi Qianying’s slender face appeared to be filled with worry.
If not for the fact that she knew what type of person Yi Qianying was, Yun Ruoyan would long have been tricked by this face of hers.
“Nothing.” Yun Ruoyan sheathed her sword.
She shut her eyes. When she next opened them, the anger had dissipated entirely, and all that was left was a calm veneer.