Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 181 - 151: Child Prodigy Wang Jiu

November 20, 2017

After finishing the little interlude with Miss Dongfang, the group finally managed to watch the competition properly. By this time, the earliest match had officially begun, and they quickly switched the screen over.

At Arena 133 of the Aozora Martial Arts Arena, two 15-year-old girls had completed all preliminary procedures. At the referee's signal, they stepped onto the stage, one in white and one in red, and soon they were entangled in a fierce fight. After about ten minutes of intense exchanges of blows, Girl A successfully used the advantage of jujitsu to lock Girl B into a chokehold, securing victory and earning a round of applause.

The entire fight left the people in the VIP box dumbstruck.

"Is this... is this the preliminary round of the QingYun Competition?!" Yu Zishen, incredulous, watched as Girls A and B thanked each other and left the stage and asked those around him with wide eyes, "Is this how you play in the QingYun Competition?!"

Wang Jiu said, "Don't ask me, I'm only four years old, this is my first time watching the QingYun Competition."

Shen Qingming almost sputtered on the spot, her facial muscles twisting for a long time before she said, "Although it's also my first time watching in person, that's how the QingYun Competition is; the preliminaries are a mixed bag, you can expect anything to happen..."

"This isn't just about being a mixed bag, right?!" Yu Zishen questioned, "Those two are merely mortal martial artists! They didn't use any True Essence from start to finish and haven't even mastered Inner Family True Qi! How can a dignified Cultivator resort to using a chokehold, it's just..."

Wang Jiu corrected, "A chokehold is quite a practical close combat technique. Even a Heaven Shattering Realm expert, if caught by the throat by an enemy of the same level, could have their Inner Breath disrupted and potentially face a lethal situation."

"...You speak as if you've seen a Heaven Shattering Realm expert!"

Li Wanqing explained, "That's the charm of the QingYun Competition preliminaries. You really won't know what kind of competitors there'll be until you're physically present. Actually, the auto-filtering feature of the VIP box, in my opinion, weakens the charm of the preliminaries."

"Is this your way of comforting yourselves over poor event arrangements?!"

Li Wanqing thought for a moment, "Yeah, anyway, now it's a sight everyone's come to enjoy."

"It's simply absurd!" Yu Zishen fumed, "No wonder you've made the QingYun Competition a once-in-a-decade event! Shen City and Lingshan City host theirs every five years at most, sometimes even annually. With this level of competition, how dare you brag 'ten years to sharpen a sword' in Heaven-Reaching City!"

Li Wanqing said curiously, "Why are you so upset? Even if it's 'a hundred years to sharpen a sword,' it doesn't really concern you, does it?"

"I paid for a VIP ticket; I didn't come to watch girls doing chokeholds!"

Li Wanqing laughed, "Many gentlemen are actually willing to pay big money to see young girls do that."

"Did you intentionally mispronounce a word?"

"Stop arguing, there's another match to watch. Ah, this time it seems like a Cloud Surge Realm expert is competing, will this level satisfy you?"

Li Wanqing said this and instructed the room, "Switch to field 17."

The next moment, the screen shifted to an entirely new independent field, where on one side was a tall, slender young man, and on the other, a shorter, plumper one. They both seemed to be around seventeen or eighteen. The tall young man had snow-white clothes and flowing long hair; though lean, he exuded a kind of androgynous beauty. The shorter, plumper one was sweating as he walked towards the stage, sweat continuously sliding down the folds of his face, bowing with clasped hands to the referee with a pleasing smile.

"Wow, the fat guy is disgusting." Li Wanqing instinctively frowned.

Similarly, those present at the field reacted in similar disgust. Meanwhile, the crowd's cheers for the white-clad man were thunderous. Many young girls, even though they didn't know him, were already yelling about wanting to have his babies of various kinds.

The plumper fellow was undeterred, smiling and sweating on the stage, waiting for the referee to announce the start of the match.

"The match begins!"

"Wow!"

As the referee's voice and a scream sounded almost simultaneously, people saw a blur before their eyes and then witnessed the cold and aloof white-clad man being knocked out of the stage with a trail of screams, plastered against the invisible edge of the arena, slowly sliding down...

The plumper fellow maintained his pleasing smile, sweating as he apologized to the referee, "Sorry, I couldn't control my strength, so..."

The referee had a livid expression, and amid the boos of countless young female spectators, announced the result of the match.

"In this match, Luo Jia wins!"

"This is rigged! It's a rigged match! How can this fat guy win?!"

"They definitely cheated!"

"With a face like that, why doesn't he just step down himself? Does he have no shame?!"

"I think he has too much shame; his skin is thicker than a pig's, it's so gross!"

Yu Zishen watched the righteously indignant audience incredulously, "What exactly are these people here to watch?!"

Li Wanqing shrugged, "The people of QingCyan Cloud City are more into looks."

"Then go watch an idol performance! Why watch the Qingyun Tournament!?"

"I'm also puzzled. You're here to watch the competition, so you could have watched alone. Yet you bought a bunch of VIP tickets to invite us Qingyun idols along… what are you really here to see??"

"You!?"

Before Yu Zishen could think of a line to retort, Li Wanqing directly changed the subject, happily saying, "Quick, look at group 101, the girl participating is so pretty! And her dress style is amazing!"

"Really?" Shen Qingming turned the channel with some excitement, also cheering, "Wow, she is indeed pretty, and it looks like a custom design, worth noting down."

Yu Zishen gritted his teeth for a long time, feeling like he's aged several years this morning, but ultimately had nothing to say.

——

The first day of the preliminaries didn't have many surprises, and the few of them spent most of the day in the box without seeing anyone startlingly impressive.

Most of the cultivators participating in the preliminaries have a "participation-focused" mindset, more for show than substance. According to the committee's statistics, in completed matches, over 90% of participants are Wind-rising Realm newbies, who in the main competition would typically be knocked out in the first round. Among the remaining 10%, few have comprehensive strength matching True Essence Realm, and many rely on drugs or specific cultivation techniques to barely maintain at Cloud Surge Realm—a rough quality—yet under 20 years old with a Cloud Surge Realm cultivation, even a rough one is considered a genius in general terms.

Like last year's champion Bald Li, who had hidden skills unknown to all, and fought all the way from the preliminaries to win the championship as a dark horse, none could be found.

As for someone like Li Wanqing, who seems to be at Cloud Surge Realm but actually has the combat power of Cloud Flipping Realm, not even a half exists.

"Ah, it's so boring, I thought there might be some masters among the commoners, seems I thought too much."

By afternoon, Li Wanqing began to complain of boredom, and Shen Qingming was also watching listlessly. Though it was expected that the preliminaries wouldn't show much true skill—for these noble family descendants, even the main events lack much to marvel at—they at least looked forward to the creativity and innovation these low-level games might bring.

At Li Family Mansion, whether Inner Sect or Outer Sect instructors would repeatedly caution disciples not to consider themselves elite and avoid feeling superior to those with lower cultivation. Many ordinary cultivators have to struggle in the mortal world starting from the Wind-Rising Realm; their hard strength may not be strong, but their dirty tricks like throwing sand and catching sparrows are top-notch.

Having watched for most of the day, none of these eye-catching tactics appeared, instead seeing rounds of idiocy competition. Everyone felt their intelligence was insulted, including Shen Qingming.

Compared to the constantly grumbling Spirit Cat Sisters, Yu Zishen and Wang Jiu showed considerable perseverance, watching every match attentively without a word.

Li Wanqing had much to say about this: "Wang Jiu, you wouldn't be asleep, right? You're enjoying watching this kind of competition?"

Wang Jiu said: "If you're referring to the low quality of the preliminaries… actually, when I watched you and Shen Qingming spar, I felt it was similar. Because of your clumsy performance, I now have high tolerance for low-level contests."

"Hey!?" Li Wanqing immediately dissatisfied, "Winning against me twice, so great, huh? Dare to fight again in three months? The loser will sleep in the same bed with little sister Qingming!"

Shen Qingming, shocked and angry: "What are you trying to do!?"

"You probably don't want to know about that subject."

The three were about to steer the topic into an indescribable area, when Yu Zishen coldly snorted, "Nonsense, the Li Family is getting more and more absurd; from Li Fengyun, the Seven Great Noble Families might have one delisted!"

Upon this remark, the box was quiet for several seconds.

Then Shen Qingming scolded directly: "Are you crazy?! Bringing this up for such trivialities? Did the Li Family offend you? If you dislike the Li Family, you can choose not to come to QingCyan Cloud City!"

Yu Zishen was deflated by Shen Qingming, shaking his head and softly saying, "I just think it's a pity, that's all. In its peak, QingCyan Cloud City once shone alongside Heaven-Reaching City, and the Li Family was once at the top of the Seven Great Noble Families. But now, frankly speaking, they hardly keep the last seat."

"What!?"

"The Qingyun Tournament is once every ten years, the least frequent among similar contests. Qingyun representatives haven't won in the Saint Sect Big Tournament in Heaven-Reaching City for over a hundred years. Even those previously promising like Li Fengyun, who were exceptionally invited, follow the same trend. As for this Qingyun Tournament, although today is just the preliminaries, not yet half completed, the exposed problems are already evident. Except you so-called Qingyun Three Great Noble Families, are there any other sects or organizations worth seeing in this city? Even those so-called large sects, their disciples are nothing but gluttons and lazy, miles behind the Three Great Noble Families! In immortal cultivation, it's about letting a hundred flowers bloom, even a dominant family like Shen City, each Shen City Big Tournament's preliminaries boast a multitude of experts; thus, even Shen City, though remote with less advantageous resources than Qingyun, has flourished above Qingyun these years!"

Yu Zishen's rambling left Li Wanqing and Shen Qingming exchanging glances, both showing expressions of not arguing with a madman.

Yu Zishen, becoming more agitated, said: "You think what I said has problems?! Not much to ask, from this preliminaries, if you can find one expert, even just one will do, I'll acknowledge your Li Family's successful management of Qingyun City, but can you find one?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

As the words landed, Wang Jiu asked: "Just one?"

"Just one! Just having one expert, I'll retract my words and apologize to you all!"

"I see…" Wang Jiu pondered for a moment, then used the communication talisman in the box to call in a volunteer worker.

"Mr. Wang, what would you like me to do?"

Wang Jiu said: "I want to register for the preliminaries."

"Huh?!"