"Genius! I knew this little girl was a genius!" An old man in the spectator stand slapped his thigh, his eyes brimming with tears. He excitedly stood up and pointed at Zhaozhao, exclaiming.
Zhaozhao looked in the direction of the voice. She recognized the man. It was the elder she had met in the council hall yesterday, Elder Huang, if she remembered correctly.
Thanks to Elder Huang's outburst, the audience finally snapped out of their daze. Everyone started chattering noisily as they looked at the bewildered Zhaozhao standing on the stage.
Song Yao manually closed her dropped jaw. Well, she should have expected it. Zhaozhao never played by the rules.
But... wasn't the commotion this time a bit too much?
The elders had seen their fair share of big events. After the initial shock, they quickly regained their composure and restored order.
It seemed this round could be skipped altogether. The spiritual stone that no disciple had been able to shatter in the past century of the Xuan Sect was destroyed by Zhaozhao in one move. What was there left to compete for?
Zhaozhao nervously waited on the stage for a while. Seeing that no one seemed to be holding her accountable, she quietly let out a sigh of relief and jumped off the stage with the crowd.
However, even though she was following the crowd, everyone's eyes were on her, making her feel a bit uncomfortable.
She quickly ran to Song Yao's side and whispered to her, "Cousin... did I do something wrong?"
Song Yao thought of the scratch she had left on the spiritual stone last year and felt a twinge in her heart.
It was just absurd!
"No, you did great!" Song Yao comforted her.
Zhaozhao wasn't quite convinced. "Really?"
Song Yao put her arm around Zhaozhao's shoulder and nodded in a certain direction. "Really, you were amazing! Look at Lin Chu's frustrated face. Let me tell you, she's extremely jealous right now."
Zhaozhao beamed happily at the praise.
In the distance, Fu Huaizhi looked at the spiritual sword in his hand. Uncontrollably, he recalled Zhaozhao's sword strike just now and tightened his grip on the hilt.
Was he really going to lose to a newbie? And have to say those words in public...
No! He would never allow such a thing to happen!
On the other side, Su Yuan's face was unusually solemn.
Nan Jia also shed his usual carefree demeanor and said seriously, "Boss, the spiritual power Zhaozhao unleashed just now is far beyond what someone of her age should be capable of... It's at least one-fifth of my demonic power."
What Nan Jia could see, Su Yuan could naturally see too.
He had previously suspected that there was something off about Zhaozhao's identity, but later dismissed the thought. But now...
If Zhaozhao wasn't human, then she definitely wasn't from the Song family either. So what was her purpose for hiding her identity and infiltrating the Song family, a family with a high status in the Xuan Sect?
Su Yuan stared intently at Zhaozhao in the distance, his eyes deep and filled with emotions that were hard to decipher.
Zhaozhao, are you really... okay?
"Boss? Do you want me to—"
"No need." Su Yuan interrupted Nan Jia and said coldly, "You don't need to do anything. I'll handle it." Then he turned around and left.
Nan Jia watched Su Yuan's retreating back. Then his gaze shifted to Zhaozhao, who was dozing off leaning on Song Yao. He let out a helpless sigh.
Zhaozhao, Zhaozhao, please don't cause any trouble. Boss's happiness depends on you! I, Nan Jia, don't want to watch you two engage in some heart - wrenching love story...
The next round was the formation demonstration. This time, Zhaozhao didn't do anything earth - shattering and smoothly got through it. Apart from drawing the formations a bit faster than others, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Song Yao finally got a moment of respite for her constantly worried heart.
The Xuan Sect's demonstration didn't last long. After that, it was the turn of the Demon Administration Bureau.
The little demons from the Demon Administration Bureau weren't as serious as the Xuan Sect disciples. The whole session was filled with a lively atmosphere.
Especially during a certain part of the event, when many little demons revealed their true forms, it caused quite a stir.
Zhaozhao perked up, shaking off her previous drowsiness. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at a Fei Fei with gray - white fur that looked like a civet cat on the stage. "Wow! It's so cute!"
Song Yao didn't really like small animals and couldn't quite understand Zhaozhao's infatuation. She was too lazy to even feign interest.
Zhaozhao didn't mind. She stared at the Fei Fei with relish and kept muttering, "It's so cute and fluffy!"
Song Yao's ears were getting tired of Zhaozhao's mumbling. Just then, she saw that the lottery for the next round of the competition had started, so she nudged Zhaozhao. "Stop going on about how cute it is. Go draw lots!"
Reluctantly, Zhaozhao was dragged by her cousin to draw lots.
Sometimes, fate works in mysterious ways. Zhaozhao's opponent in the first round was Lin Chu.
Lin Chu obviously saw the lottery result too. Thinking of Zhaozhao's sword strike just now, her face turned a mixture of green and red.
She really didn't want to fight this freak.
Zhaozhao stared at Lin Chu. Suddenly, she got an idea. She ran up to Lin Chu and asked, "Do you not want to fight me?"
Lin Chu stiffened her neck. "So what if I don't?"
Zhaozhao said, "Then just forfeit. If you forfeit, I won't fight you. Then you can sincerely apologize to my cousin. Otherwise, I won't show any mercy."
Lin Chu pondered her chances of winning. After much thought, she realized she had none...
She was a practical person. She immediately turned around and bowed ninety degrees to Song Yao, sincerely apologizing.
Song Yao crossed her arms. She felt extremely vindicated. She had been at odds with Lin Chu since they were kids and knew full well that the latter was a fool. She waved it off.
So, Zhaozhao won without a fight and successfully advanced.
After that, perhaps because of the great power of that sword strike, most of Zhaozhao's opponents forfeited. None of them were willing to step onto the stage and fight.
This disappointed the elders who were watching the competition. They were looking forward to seeing this little girl's strength.
Zhaozhao leaned boredly on Song Yao's shoulder, yawning constantly.
She never got the chance to step onto the stage. Instead, she watched Fu Huaizhi power through the competition and gain quite a bit of attention.
It seemed that Fu Huaizhi was really something. Zhaozhao tried to evaluate him from the perspective of mortal cultivation that her master had once mentioned. He was probably a gifted one in the Xuan Sect.
Moreover, she noticed that her cousin really looked down on Fu Huaizhi. Every time Fu Huaizhi won, Song Yao would roll her eyes.
Zhaozhao was worried that Song Yao's eyes would twitch from all the eye - rolling. She carefully reminded her, "Cousin, take care of your eyes."
"... Just shut up!" Song Yao was speechless.
The competition progressed quickly. Maybe it was just Fu Huaizhi's good luck. With three arenas running simultaneously, he never drew a powerful demon from the Demon Administration Bureau!
In the next round, Zhaozhao drew a bye and advanced effortlessly once again. And Fu Huaizhi's opponent was Lu Chukong, the outer - sect disciple they had met that day.
"What's going on? Why is Lu Chukong here?" Song Yao looked at Lu Chukong on the stage, confused.
Zhaozhao looked at Lu Chukong. He showed no signs of spiritual power, and he looked... extremely weak. How did he manage to win until now?
This person seemed really strange.