“Also, did you just call my sister dumb, said her brain doesn’t work right? Heh. Ever heard the old line that trouble sprouts from the tongue?”

Li Qian met Nana Toki’s smiling crescent eyes, and a chill climbed his spine like a shadow-beast fixing him from the brush; his body shivered before he could stop it.

Satisfied, Nana let the smile hang like a knife in silk. She traded a few nods with elders along the arena’s rim, then cut through the crowd with Blue Magpie and the System at her heels, three figures slipping in like wind through reeds.

The dueling arena inside the Heavenly Ascent Sect was a round coliseum, a stone bowl with a broad floor and tiered seats curling around it like waves. Following a steward down the long corridor felt like walking a gullet of echoing stone; by the time they stepped in, two figures were already tangled in a fierce grapple, their movements coiling and snapping like twin pythons, while the stands roared like surf on rock.

Nana leaned by the entrance with her shoulder to the wall, face calm as still water; she watched a long while and still couldn’t tell why the pair had started brawling. Only when the steward murmured did the threads braid together.

“That’s Shen Zhankuang, Peak Master of War God Peak, crossing fists with Du Fei Yu, Peak Master of Giant Spirit Peak, to warm up the arena’s mood. Senior Sister Lan, please wait a bit; they’ll decide a winner soon.”

Both were peak masters, yet both were tinder and flint, forever itching to spark—no one bowed to anyone. Word had spread that Boundless Peak’s Zhao Zhan would duel Majestic Peak’s Azure An, so the two rushed over eager to weigh the coming storm, only for the challengers to be late. Du Fei Yu got bored watching the kettle, so he dragged Shen Zhankuang into a quick spar to kill time, and a lazy ember swelled into this bonfire.

On stage, the two slammed together and parted like rams on a cliff, each impact cracking the air with a drumbeat of sonic booms. The crowd’s shouts rolled like thunder chasing thunder, blood running hot as a summer river; Nana squinted at the exchange, boredom pooling like cool shade in her chest.

She liked fighting more than watching it; their strengths were neck and neck, and a quick decision was as unlikely as lightning striking twice in a clear sky.

Blue Magpie, by contrast, was alight; she cheered with both arms carving the air like gulls, her cheeks flushed pink as dawn. Nana’s gaze slid to her instead, fond and lazy; why watch two pieces of cannon fodder collide when the little cutie by her side was right here, bright as a lantern?

Bang, bang—

Maybe the two peak masters got carried away, or maybe the fight just boiled over; in a breath, they both poured violent Spirit Energy into their clash, two tides smashing head-on. The collision detonated in a chain of deafening booms, and the stone stage pocked like a meteor field.

“You three over there, look out!”

Because Nana’s group had come inside the arena, they stood closer to the blast-line, and shrapnel came scything off the stage with Spirit Energy snarling around it like barbs. Shen Zhankuang and Du Fei Yu canceled each other’s techniques and noticed the bystanders at once, but pulling back after the spark had flown was like trying to yank a bolt from mid-air. Shards of stone, hard as teeth and fast as bullets, screamed toward Nana’s brow.

Whoosh—

The whine cut off, as if a hand pinched the air; the savage pressure ebbed like a tide abandoning the shore. Pupils shrank all around, fear bright as cold stars; not far from Nana, a tiny, doll-pretty girl opened her hand. Grit, ground to powder, sifted through her fingers like hourglass sand.

Silence fell like snow. A forest of startled, wary eyes fixed on the System standing before Nana, minds snagging on the sight of such force in someone so small. Shen Zhankuang and Du Fei Yu blinked through a heartbeat of shock, then vaulted down in twin arcs and hurried over, concern flickering across their warrior faces.

Nana answered with a few light words, then let her gaze settle on the System. She’d already moved to react, but the System had been faster, sharp as a knife flicking free of its sheath.

So this thing meant it about not throwing fights anymore?

A white streak crossed her vision, clean as a crane’s flight. Nana looked up; a woman in flowing white stood before her, elegance spilling like moonlight, an ancient, deep aura wrapping her like old pine and cliff. When Nana drew near, the pressure felt like a sky held on one palm.

“Are you unharmed?”

Her name was Bai Mei; Nana knew her. In the original plot, she became the convenient master Tianqi Yu acknowledged during the sect trials—no heroine in that script, so Bai Mei only moved in the chapters while the male lead nested in the sect; after he left, who knew which winds carried her.

“Thank you for your concern, Elder. I’m fine.”

Nana bowed, manner easy as a steady flame. Blue Magpie copied her to a tee, earnest as a chick following a hen. Bai Mei’s gaze skimmed the sisters like a brush, words rising then sinking, and finally rested on the System. “What’s your name?”

“Ningyi,” the System said.

“I intend to take you as my disciple. Would you be willing?”

She said it like mentioning tomorrow’s weather, eyes steady as a lake beneath clouds.

The System froze, the moment landing like a sparrow on its head; confusion tilted her chin, and an uncertain “Ah?” slipped out like a popped bubble.

The crowd around the arena rippled with low cries, envy and awe buzzing like bees in clover.

“Holy crap… Elder Bai Mei, who never takes disciples, is taking one? Who is that kid, a qilin calf in disguise?”

“Heard she’s a recent recruit to Majestic Peak, no one even knows her cultivation yet.”

“So lucky… I’d kneel yesterday to join Elder Bai Mei’s door… shame she won’t spare me a glance.”

Bai Mei said nothing else, her clear eyes brimming and fixed on Little One, and the System shifted under that gaze like a cat in sun suddenly struck by shadow. After a small silence, she chose the straight path. “Thank you for the offer, Elder Bai Mei, but this sys—uh, Ningyi doesn’t plan to take a master for now.”

She had a host to be loyal to; her compass already pointed true.

“Is that kid insane?”

The hiss ran around the stands like wind through bamboo.

“That’s Elder Bai Mei! She might rank last by seniority, but she’s the strongest!”

Even Bai Mei seemed taken aback; surprise flickered in her eyes like a lantern guttering in a draft.

Sensing the air turning strange, a few stewards hurried over to smooth the ripples. “Elder Bai Mei, Majestic Peak still has a wagered duel with Boundless Peak today. As for taking a disciple, perhaps after the matches.”

Maybe it stung, being refused on her first try; Bai Mei looked dazed, her expression a drifting cloud. Even after Nana’s group and Boundless Peak’s people had stepped onto the stage, she still hadn’t quite gathered herself.

“Inner-sect matches: no killing strikes in private. Violate this, and no matter the cause, you’ll be crippled and expelled from the Heavenly Ascent Sect.”

A steward handed out the prepared contracts to the six competitors like autumn leaves, and each pressed a mark in turn. When all were signed, the steward drew breath, Spirit Energy lifting his voice like a bell. “First bout: Majestic Peak’s Ningyi versus Boundless Peak’s Huang Lan!”

“Huang Lan, flatten that tiny one!”

“If that kid only blocked one burst of Golden Core Stage pressure and Elder Bai Mei noticed her, what if Huang Lan beats her—will the Elder take him instead?”

“I just hope the little one lasts a few moves; if she gets one-shot, Elder Bai Mei’s face will crack like ice,” Li Qian said, voice dark as a storm under the eaves.

He’d tossed aside the memory of a Golden Core Stage pressure wave turned to sand as if it were a fallen leaf.

“Anyone Elder Bai Mei favors must have something singular,” Zhao Zhan said from the stands, brows knit, tone a cool knife. “Li Qian, don’t sell her short.” He hated boosting an enemy and dimming his own torch, but the fact stood like a stone gate; they couldn’t take this lightly.