Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 183 - 153: A Real Man Dares to Face Life’s Bleakness

November 20, 2017

Aozora Martial Arts Arena, Court No. 3, holding thousands of people but completely packed.

Even though it's just a preliminary match before the main tournament, even though the contestants are a mixed bag, even though the competition has lasted most of the day, the audience is still enthusiastically cheering for the competitors.

Even if these cultivators clearly have nothing to do with them.

When Wang Jiu arrived on the scene, the opponent for this round of preliminaries had already completed registration and was slowly walking towards the ring. He wasn't very tall, but was quite chubby, basically a smaller version of Li Kongcheng. And his information was being projected by the Seal Spell above the arena for the audience to see.

Yu Xinli*, male, 15 years old, Cloud Surge Realm. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Wang Jiu glanced over and couldn't help but chuckle, saying to Yu Xinli, "Xinyu, long time no see."

The figure in front suddenly stopped, then coughed and continued walking without turning back.

Wang Jiu frowned slightly, then said, "Li Xinyu?"

The next moment, the chubby fellow dashed to Wang Jiu at a speed completely unmatched by his physique, face full of alarm: "I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm Yu Xinli!"

Wang Jiu pondered for a moment, then said, "You should know that the three characters of Yu Xinli, reversed, spell out Li Xinyu."

"You're really bored! Why mess with people's names like that? And what does it prove even if reversing it spells Li Xinyu? If you say Yu Xinli in the Nether Sea's native language, it sounds like Yue Xinyao, do I look like a spare tire?"

Wang Jiu said, "That's not how you say it in the Nether Sea's native language."

"I was just using an example!" Yu Xinli was nearly despairing, seeing that not too many people had noticed them, he hurriedly signaled to the referee for a moment, then pulled Wang Jiu aside, "Let's talk over here."

The two walked to the contestant rest area beside the ring, where Yu Xinli confirmed that there was an array isolating sound and obscuring the view, only then he dared to speak.

"Alright, I am indeed Li Xinyu." He said, touching his face and pulling off a delicate human-skin mask.

Wang Jiu asked, "I could tell, actually just from your True Essence fluctuations. But why are you here for the preliminaries? Isn't there a main competition slot for the Inner Sect Chief?"

Li Xinyu sighed at these words, saying, "The Inner Sect's rules aren't such that if you do well usually, you automatically get a main competition slot — unless you're monstrously strong like Sister Wanqing, or specially favored like Little Sister Qingming. Though the Li Family is the top family in Cyan Cloud, holding the most influence in the organizing committee, they can't just wholesale the slots for the main competition. Recently, the Inner Sect organized an assessment, distributing 16 slots based on ranking. I was unlucky and didn't get a slot, so I had to come to the preliminaries."

"That's odd. You're the Inner Sect Chief, with overall strength basically the highest in the Inner Sect. Even including those from Lingshan City, you should at least be stable in the top five, how could you not even make the top 16?"

As a former Instructor for the Inner Sect Special Training class, Wang Jiu was well aware of the level within the Li Family Mansion's Inner Sect, with Inner Sect disciples in a period of transition, their average strength wasn't very high. The Inner Sect had over 30 members, mostly barely at the early stage of the Cloud Surge Realm, even the True Essence Realm only reached the Peak of the Wind State—the family's disciples were, of course, generally stronger in practical combat than those Independent Cultivators from rogue paths. Li Xinyu, although only 15, after special training had reached the early-mid level of the Cloud Surge Realm, with combat prowess even fiercer, it shouldn't be that he'd stumble at the top 16 internally.

"Alas, I have a long story to tell." Li Xinyu was deeply distressed, "The Inner Sect arranged it as pairs group, double-elimination, taking the top 16. I was unlucky, lost two rounds in a row..."

"Two consecutive losses? Who did you encounter?"

Li Xinyu sighed, "The very first match, I drew Chaolu... What could I do? Knock her down into the losers' bracket? So naturally, I had to surrender, admitting defeat, and struggle through the losers' bracket myself."

Wang Jiu asked, "Then in the losers' bracket, there shouldn't be anyone who could threaten you anymore."

"In theory, that's true, since Qingshuang and Junyi were all in the winners' bracket... But unfortunately, the very first match in the losers' bracket, I encountered a really pretty girl."

"Hmm."

"Even though it was post-makeup and she was boosting her chest, pretty is pretty, and she even exceptionally took the initiative to talk to me, asking if I could let her win once. Sigh, I can scarcely remember the last time a girl proactively talked to me."

Wang Jiu thought: "November 14, 10:23 am, Inner Sect disciple Li Bingjin said to you during group training: 'Get lost.'"

"...Thank you for bringing that memory back. But anyway, I couldn't restrain my impulse at the time, so I agreed to the girl's request and voluntarily forfeited."

Wang Jiu asked, "After consecutive losses, Li Tingshu deemed you unqualified?"

Li Xinyu sighed, "The bald man is still decent, thinking my initial loss was somewhat reasonable, so he arranged a match for me, if I won, I would return to the losers' bracket for another chance. As it turns out... I don't know what he was thinking, he put a girl against me again."

Wang Jiu asked, "Did she ask you to let her win, and did you let her?"

Li Xinyu puffed his chest: "Of course not! No matter how reckless I am, I wouldn't casually throw the match when there's no fallback, especially with so many from the Inner Sect watching, if I gave her an edge, what would I say to the other girls?"

Wang Jiu asked curiously, "Do you still have to explain to the other girls?"

"... I always believe that among so many girls, there must be one who secretly admires my charming personality, but due to societal morals and public opinion, she's afraid to confess as my destined true love. So, even for that potential true love, I have to showcase my masculine charm."

"And then what happened?"

Li Xinyu was silent for a while, then sighed, "I just drew my sword, ready to give it my all in the battle, when that girl started crying. She said that although her talent isn't top-notch, she has been working really hard and truly wants to participate in the main competition of the Cyan Cloud Grand Tournament. But she had bad luck previously, losing two matches in a row, and now she's up against me, so it's destined she won't qualify for the main event. Her fate is too cruel..."

"Oh, so then you used your masculinity to tell her that in the harsh real world, tears won't solve any problems?"

"... No, I believe a real man should protect women and never let them shed tears, so I..."

Wang Jiu nodded, "Understood, you used your masculinity to choose to forfeit."

"So I said, if she let me touch her chest, I would concede."

"Oh, did she agree?"

"No, she cried even harder and said she would tell my mother... I had no choice but to quickly concede and beg her not to tell anyone." After saying this, Li Xinyu argued, "Even though I also forfeited, this was a voluntary forfeit, not compromising unprincipled and unconditionally because someone asked me to. Instead, after seriously weighing the pros and cons, I chose a more manly approach!"

"I see, you couldn't get into the main event, so you came to join the preliminary round. But why the name change to Yu Xinli? And why the human skin mask?"

"That's a long story..." Li Xinyu hesitated for a moment, seeing that the judge over there was still going through the final procedural checks, he whispered, "If I compete under my real name, um, it would affect the audience turnout."

"Is that so?"

"Besides, I've participated in similar public competitions before, and every time I appeared, the girls would all leave, only a group of rather plump fanboys would cheer for me, talking about something like chubby family mutual support or whatever, it was disgusting! I, I don't hope to win a placement in this Cyan Cloud Grand Tournament, but at least want to hear girls cheering for me, even if under a fake identity. This tournament allows participants to use aliases, though they'll mark it with an asterisk in the records." At this, Li Xinyu paused, frowning and asked, "Moreover, there's this saying that girls can't resist guys with a sense of mystery."

"Is that the case?"

Li Xinyu looked at Wang Jiu, nodding vigorously, "Should be right! Take you for example, you're so famous in Cyan Cloud City, so popular with girls, besides being handsome, powerful, having a deep relationship with the Li Family, and the trust of the elder, what other reason could there be? I think an important point is your aura of mystery! To this day, those young girls still eagerly discuss your background, your prowess, your kinks, and whether you or Li Fengyun is the top..."

"What?"

"Nothing, anyway I think, with an alias and mask, I can successfully evoke girls' curiosity about me, so as long as I perform well in the preliminary competition, I can attract enough female fans to end my 15-year singlehood."

"Hmm, seems reasonable." Wang Jiu nodded, thinking Li Xinyu's thought process was quite logical.

"So, um..." Li Xinyu said, scratching his head a bit awkwardly, "I didn't expect to meet Mr. Wang Jiu in the first round of the preliminaries, um, I'm not quite sure why you're participating, but thinking of your high standards, surely you don't care about the vanity of this little Cyan Cloud Grand Tournament, so I have an unreasonable request."

"Please go ahead."

"Could you let me off this once and let me win?"

Wang Jiu thought for a while, "No can do."

"Brother! Brother Wang!" Li Xinyu instantly dropped his dignity, begging on his knees, "Just consider it as saving me, please!? I don't want to die a virgin..."

Wang Jiu frowned, "You mean you want me to help you lose your virginity?"

"... No, I mean let me win once, so I can gain female fans and have a chance to, well, interact with them more closely..."

Wang Jiu was puzzled, "Since you're so desperate for this, why not go to a brothel?"

Li Xinyu was tongue-tied, "Th-that's different. Fans admire my personality charm and talents..."

Wang Jiu said, "Brothel workers also admire your wealth, and fortune is indeed part of talent."

"This..." Li Xinyu found himself momentarily unable to refute.

"Besides, once you go to a brothel, you could use your power and skill advantage to make the professionals develop admiration for you too, comparatively, wouldn't that feel more accomplished?"

Li Xinyu almost knelt, Mr. Wang Jiu, why are you so awesome!

"Because I'm good at observing and summarizing," Wang Jiu humbly replied.