A Tough Lesson

While Jin Shan Dian raged, Cheng Kun watched me intently, his eyes narrowed. He glanced at Bai Ning Shuang, Sui Mei and a few other Azure Water Sect disciples who had gathered near the VIP seats. Normally disciples wouldn't be allowed so close to the VIP seats, not even the core or direct ones like Bai Ning Shuang.

But the Azure Water Sect was the hosts of this year's intersect tournament, so they were given a lot more leeway. That was why Bai Ning Shuang and her group were allowed so close to the leaders of the various major sects.

"Didn't you say that this Hei Ye is trash? How did he win all of his matches and advance to the finals then?"

"Why do you keep insisting that Xiao Ye is trash!?" Bai Yao Cai flared up at the insults. "Are you guys deluded or something?"

"No, it's just that my disciples claim that he's trash, along with the disciples of Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion." Cheng Kun nodded at the patriarch of Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion, an ancient swordsman by the name of Shan Ben Yuan Jian. Also known as the first and most powerful Sword Saints in his pavilion, he led the conglomeration of sword sects that formed the supposedly largest and strongest organization among the seven major sects.

Shan Ben Yuan Jian snorted. "If you take anything that that fool Jian Shen says, then you're as big a fool as he was."

"I would have thought that you would be upset at the death of your disciple," Cheng Kun remarked, surprised. "Wouldn't the Jian family be upset about this?"

"Why should I care about the Jian family thinks?" Shan Ben Yuan Jian replied coldly. "They're just ambitious upstarts who think they're bigger than they really are. They deserve a harsh reality check. It might lower their pride a much-needed notch or two."

"Isn't Jian Shen one of your core disciples? I would think your sect spent a lot of resources on nurturing him."

"He's Mu Chen's disciple, and he's a mere inner disciple. He wasn't even good enough to be Cang Qiong's disciple. If he was weak enough to die to a single slap, then he deserved his humiliating death."

"…right." Cheng Kun swallowed and turned back to Bai Ning Shuang. "Speaking of which, the one who slew Jian Shen was none other than that supposed trash Hei Ye. What's going on? You insisted that he's trash and doesn't deserve to marry Lan Bei Er, yet he advanced all the way to the finals. He has reached a high level in the Innate Realm! Higher than everyone else participating in this tournament! And he has won all of his matches! How the fuck is he trash!?"

"I…don't know." Bai Ning Shuang swallowed. "When we first met him, his Black Shadow Sect techniques weren't this advanced. He couldn't even kill a single feral wolf."

"Huh? But when he reported the mission about the feral wolves with Bei Er, he brought back the fangs of several feral wolves that he killed." Bai Yao Cai raised an eyebrow. "The staff handling the mission requests confirmed it."

"He must have been concealing his strength from the very start!" Sui Mei growled under her breath angrily. "Pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger! He had us deceived all this time!"

Good lord, they really loved their cultivation story cliché idioms.

"Why was he deliberately pretending to be a trash son-in-law?" Another of the Azure Water Sect disciples wondered. "So that he could slap everyone's faces when he reveals his true identity or strength or something?"

Uh, I never pretended to be a trash son-in-law. You guys were the ones who decided I was trash on your own. Don't go around shifting the blame to me now.

"We can't allow him to win the finals, in any case," Cheng Kun growled under his breath, getting nervous. "Ning Shuang, you had better do your best to defeat him in the finals. Otherwise it would be a huge slap in the face for the Azure Water Sect. We can't afford such a huge public embarrassment. It would utterly destroy our reputation."

He had lowered his voice to ensure he wasn't heard by the other sect leaders, but unfortunately for him, I could hear him just fine. Maybe it was because of my Heaven and Earth Formula, or he vastly underestimated my abilities.

In any event, Bai Ning Shuang nodded coldly and confidently.

"He has no chance of winning against me. If necessary, I'll just use Divine Spirit Ascension Boost to counter his superior cultivation realm."

At least she acknowledged that I had a higher cultivation realm than her. This was kind of strange, now that I thought about it. Normally in most cultivation stories, the protagonist would always be of a lower cultivation realm or level than his opponents, so that he could do all sorts of "surprise, motherfucker!" nonsense and defeat them through plot armor or some sort of cheat. It was a cultivation story author's lazy method of making his protagonist an underdog and creating artificial tension. "Oh no, how would the protagonist ever defeat someone who is stronger and of a higher cultivation level than him?!" Unfortunately, that whole cliché had been done to death by an astronomical amount of cultivation story authors, all of them doing the same bloody thing as each other or ripping each other off, so the tension was pretty much non-existent. And it was a joke to even consider the protagonist the underdog, given the sheer amount of cheats or plot armor he had.

It was actually kind of refreshing when the protagonist was actually at a higher cultivation realm, but was facing an opponent with cheats.

Even so, Bai Ning Shuang was confident that she could overcome the gap between our cultivation realms because of her Divine Spirit Ascension Boost. I still didn't know what the side effects were, but it appeared to be long term instead of short term. Well, I couldn't rely on the side effects kicking in during our match.

Fortunately, I had seen Chi Yan's match against her, so I could prepare accordingly. I just didn't know how to deal with her temporary boost in cultivation realms. I didn't know how I could fight against someone at Saint Realm, even if she had only temporarlly obtained it. Probably do my best to survive until it ran out.

"See that you do. I don't care what you do, but you must beat him…no mattr the cost."

"I will, Master."

"Ahem…" Jin Shan Dian cleared his throat. "I don't care what you guys are discussing, but can someone please treat my son?"

Jin Lei was still lying on the ground, sprawled and unconscious. The dude was slowly bleeding out, and he might actually die if left untended for much longer.

"We are weaklings," Bai Yao Cai replied with a shrug. "Why would strong people like your Golden Thunder Sect need our help?"

"You…!" Jin Shan Dian flared up. Lightning crackled around him as he rose to his feet and strode over to the White Herb Sect leader. "Heal him now, or I will…!"

"You will what?" Wu Xing asked mildly. "Attack Master Bai?"

"If I have to."

"Resorting to force and using violence to get what you want?" Xing Chen shook his head with a smirk. "How barbaric."

"If you think you can attack Master Bai without the rest of us intervening, you're deluded." Long Feng Meng hadn't stand up yet, but already fiery qi was being emanated from her body. It wasn't just her. Despite Wu Xing's silence, a quiet but potent aura was being emitted from his composed figure.

Jin Shan Dian went still, suddenly realizing that he was outmatched. Perhaps one against one, he would have no hesitation challenging any of the other sect leaders, but against several of them…and he knew that Bai Yao Cai was not a pushover.

"Cowards," he snarled. "Ganging up on one person. Do you have no honor?"

"As you said, we are weaklings," Xing Chen interjected with a smile. "Of course we find strength in unity. Surely a strong person like you wouldn't begrudge us weaklings for banding together when faced with an immense threat?"

"You…!" Jin Shan Dian spluttered. His lightning increased in intensity, but he wasn't reckless enough to make a move. Not yet. Even so, his rage could only grow when he saw his son gradually bleeding out.

"Perhaps an apology is in order?" Long Feng Meng offered. "Surely your son's life is more important than your pride?"

Jin Shan Dian clenched his fists, trembling. "Don't you dare go too far in bullying people?!"

"I wonder who's the one who was bullying other people first?" Bai Yao Cai responded good-naturedly. "So you can insult other people, but if we refuse to do anything as a result of that insult, we're the ones bullying you? You really enjoy twisting logic and playing victim as long as it's to your advantage, huh?"

"Master Shan Ben!" Jin Shan Dian turned to the Supreme Sword Saint for assistance. "Say something!"

"What would you like me to say?" Shan Ben Yuan Jian responded idly, not at all caring. "That you should be allowed to insult others because you're stronger? That they have no right to defend themselves because they are weaker? Even though your life will depend on tem when you're injured? So they should just accept their fate and allow you to insult them because you perceive yourself as beig physically stronger than them?"

"I…"

"There are different kinds of strength, Master Jin," Wu Xing said sagely, his head slightly lowered as he raised his hand to his chest. "One should not be judged purely by his or her combat strength."

"I would hurry if I were you," Long Feng Meng said, glancing at Jin Lei. "Or perhaps you choose your pride over your son."

"No!" Jin Shan Dian yelled. He continued to tremble furiously, unable to accept the tables being turned on him. He glared at Bai Yao Cai. "Even so, to ask me to kneel…"

"No one is asking you to kneel?" The White Herb Sect leader raised an eyebrow. "Where did you even get that idea from?"

"But Master Long…" Jin Shan Dian turned to glare at Long Feng Meng. The Dragon Phoenix Sect leader shook her head and sighed.

"I suggested that you apologize. Nobody said anything about kneeling. Or is the only type of apology you're capable of kneeling?"

Jin Shan Dian looked startled, as if that never occurred to him before. Even so, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Taking a deep breath, he lowered his head slightly.

"I'm very sorry for my insults…for calling you weaklings and belittling you. Could you please heal my son?"

"Better." Bai Yao Cai nodded at Lan Bei Er, who was already down below, checking on my wounds. There wasn't much, though I did suffer a few injuries from Jin Lei's ferocious lightning. A few burns and numbness that ran through my body as a result of the deadly electricity. Fortunately, it didn't take my wife more than a few minutes to fully heal me.

She acknowledged the sect leader's unspoken command and strode over to Jin Lei, applying emergency first aid and stopping his bleeding. Then she slowly mended his wounds and sped up his recovery.

Seeing that his son would survive the ordeal, Jin Shan Dian let out a sigh of relief. He was still pissed at his broken pride and that he was forced to apologize, but it was a small price to pay for his son's life. Shaking his head, he turned to leave.

None of the other sect leaders paid any attention to him. Cheng Kun, in particular, had descended to speak to Bai Ning Shuang and the others. He glanced anxiously in my direction a couple of times, but his direct disciple offered her own assurances that she would be fine in the final match tomorrow.

"I can definitely beat him. The five vein spirit pill will be mine."

"See that you do." Cheng Kun clenched his fists. "The five vein spirit pill cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of the other sects' disciples, no matter what. This intersect tournament must be won by us, no matter the cost."

"I understand. I promise you a positive result tomorrow, Master."

Cheng Kun exhaled and relaxed slightly, but the unease was still not totally gone from his face. I wondered if he was planning to cheat or rig the match somehow.

But under the eyes of so many sect leaders, there was no way he could pull such a stunt off. Not unless he was willing to bear the catastrophic consequeces and face the wrath of the leaders from the six other major sects.

Unfortunately, I had a premonition that he would still find a way to sabotage things somehow…the question, though, was how would he do so exactly?

Unable to shake off the ominous sensation that continued to haunt my spine, I had little option other than resolve myself to deal with whatever cards the Azure Water Sect played tomorrow…and do my best to survive.