Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 194 - 164: Koi Roulette

December 24, 2017

"Huff, huff, huff..."

A petite, delicate girl in a pink dress happily pranced her way into the contestant area among the audience, with beads of sweat glistening on her forehead.

As the girl approached, exclamations and laughter erupted around her. In the current Cyan Cloud City, there were very few people who could bring so much joy, and no one had such an astonishingly beautiful presence.

Shen Qingming entered the contestant area, looked around, and with a smile, quickly walked to the first row, sitting next to Wang Jiu.

"What are you doing, sitting in such a secluded spot, and why is there no one around? Seats are tight here, it's packed like sardines behind us."

Wang Jiu thought for a moment: "Just now, Li Wanqing was sitting next to me."

"Huh, Sister Wanqing?"

"Yes, she just said she was going to the bathroom to release some passion. When she was here, everyone around kept their distance."

"Really, what's the big deal, Sister Wanqing isn't some kind of monster."

Grumbling casually, Shen Qingming of course knew of Li Wanqing's formidable reputation. Under her imposing presence, even if they were packed like meat stew, the main event contestants absolutely wouldn't dare to get close to the front few rows… She might no longer be the biggest favorite to win, but she was definitely the one everyone least wanted to offend.

After sitting down, Shen Qingming smiled and patted Wang Jiu on the shoulder: "Ah Jiu, about that thing I asked you?"

Before she finished speaking, Shen Qingming noticed a talisman on the seat next to Wang Jiu and her eyes lit up: "Wow, I just asked you to find a good angle. Normally, a regular talisman would suffice for recording, but you actually bought such a precious one!?"

Without waiting for Wang Jiu to clarify that it wasn't his, Shen Qingming, like a spirit cat pouncing, reached out and grabbed the ultra-advanced talisman. Then she infused it with True Essence, wearing a sweet smile, prepared to watch the beautiful dance she had just put her all into displaying, and then…

—— 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

When Li Wanqing returned to the contestant area, feeling refreshed, she happened to see the recording divine artifact she had spent a fortune on… in ruins.

In an instant, Li Wanqing's blood froze, and the whole world turned dark.

After a long, long time, she finally relied on her strong True Essence Cultivation to gradually restart her blood circulation, and the dark world regained its light.

Thankfully… really thankfully, she was someone who always valued caution and thoroughness in her actions, especially in important matters, she would always have a backup plan.

It was indeed a big mistake not to take the talisman to the bathroom just now, but this mistake was partly because she actually had another small backup talisman hidden in her chest.

Though the recording quality was much lower than that luxurious flagship version, lacking many high-magnification and full-angle shooting functions, it retained the basic recording function, and its low presence made recording very discreet. From a practical perspective, it was even more advantageous than the luxurious flagship version.

While feeling fortunate in her heart, Li Wanqing suddenly heard Wang Jiu say to Shen Qingming: "That's why I said your violent actions are meaningless. Even if you destroy this talisman, can you erase her memory? Even if you could erase her memory, she had a small backup recording talisman on her chest just now, so…"

Before he finished speaking, Shen Qingming turned into a fierce tiger, using a divine-speed body technique even a Cloud Surge Realm expert would find hard to catch, she dashed immediately in front of Li Wanqing and smashed the backup talisman to pieces with one punch.

Li Wanqing couldn't help but cry out: "Wang Jiu, why did you betray me!? I clearly promised you that I would share the footage with you later!"

Wang Jiu proudly said: "I have a high IQ and a photographic memory, I remember every image I've seen, why need a video share?"

"You two… go to hell!" Shen Qingming angrily wielded the Spirit Cat Fist, forcing Li Wanqing and Wang Jiu to flee left and right.

"Finally, that pervert Yu Zishen has vanished off the face of the earth for a while, and you two just had to take his place! Can't you let me have a few days of peace!"

Li Wanqing sighed: "Little Sister Qingming, don't cry, we were just worried you'd feel lonely without a wealthy, brainless fan these days, so we were just joking with you."

"First, I'm not crying!" Shen Qingming said, subconsciously touching the corner of her own eye, confirming that she wasn't crying, then gritted her teeth and said, "Second, that perverted, brainless fan just disgusts me, him vanishing is for the best, I wouldn't feel lonely at all! Third, none of what you're saying excuses your perverted behavior!"

——

The interlude at the contestant area didn't last long. After the Spirit Cat's song and dance ended, the opening ceremony's performance reached its finale. As the main event, several esteemed veterans with good relations with the organizing committee took the stage, showcasing their masterful skills that promoted justice and celebrated Cyan Cloud, winning unanimous approval from the audience.

However, even so, the Aozora Martial Arts Arena remained packed, with tens of thousands of silent spectators brewing passion in their hearts.

The shows no longer mattered. In fact, after witnessing the amazing performance by Spirit Cat Qingming, many people felt somewhat uninterested, no matter how exciting the following shows were.

What everyone awaited was the unveiling match after the programs, the truly heavyweight segment of the day.

Of course, rather than people anticipating the opening battle itself, it is more accurate to say that people expect the mystical rumors surrounding it. Legend has it that the opening battle of the Qingyun Competition has always been unexpected and unconventional, as if cursed by some mysterious power, often more exciting than the main competition.

Initially, the opening battle was merely a warm-up event before the main competition. It usually featured two contestants randomly selected from the main competition pool by the organizing committee, based on single-elimination tournament rules.

Such matches were actually quite limited in excitement, as the first round of a single-elimination tournament followed the rule of higher rank against lower rank, middle rank against middle rank. This was to avoid having strong and popular contestants eliminated in the first round simply due to bad luck in the draw. However, the gap between higher and lower ranks was often as vast as clouds and mud, with True Essence Realm levels sometimes differing by an entire level. A match between a Peak Cloud Surge Realm and a Peak Wind-Rising Realm might last two seconds at most, with one second being the norm. Moreover, the higher-ranked contestant could likely win with just basic attacks, without even using any major moves.

As for middle rank against middle rank, while the matches might be relatively exciting, the lack of high-profile contestants significantly reduced the entertainment value, making it ill-suited as the grand opening act. Thus, for a long time, the opening battle of the Qingyun Competition was merely a routine matter until about a hundred years ago when the Qian Family's much-anticipated top seed, the 19-year-old prodigy Qian Jinlu, was selected for the opening battle. Upon stepping onto the stage, she turned pale, collapsed to the ground, struggled a while, and regretfully withdrew, losing without a fight!

After the match, rumors spread across the city, with the Qian Family stating that Qian Jinlu's True Essence had gone berserk, injuring her internal organs. However, insiders claimed that Qian Jinlu had actually experienced fetal movement... It turned out that the 19-year-old Qian Jinlu was a glorious adult who had stepped onto the battlefield while pregnant! Afterwards, Patriarch Qian was so furious that he nearly died from a cerebral hemorrhage, and Qian Jinlu was sequestered by her family, causing a huge uproar.

It was from that very Qingyun Competition onward that this decennial event seemed cursed by the koi, with the opening battle each year yielding bizarre incidents. Perhaps it was an unknown master masquerading as a lower rank to defeat the higher-ranked elite, or a supposedly top-seeded contestant that turned out to be all show and no substance... In short, there was hardly an instance where the opening battle followed logic or common sense.

——

Finally, in the silence of tens of thousands of spectators, the respected elder artist finished singing the last hymn, "Ode to the Revival of Qingyun," and trembled as he exited the stage. On the podium, Qingyun City's notable figures like Li Fengyun, Lu Xin, Qian Long, and Yu Wei smiled and applauded, though upon closer inspection, it was easy to see that each face was rigid.

Only those seated several rows behind on the podium, who normally had little presence and were now oddly elected to serve as mascots in the organizing committee, showed genuine joy and eagerness, applauding with such enthusiasm as if their hands would turn into pig's trotters.

In any case, the opening ceremony finally concluded, and under the expectant gazes of countless people, Li Fengyun rose gracefully from the podium and walked onto the stage, stepping on air.

This time, he maintained the direct style from previous speeches with no formalities, going straight to the point.

"Now I will draw the contestants for the opening battle."

Before the words had finished, an enormous jade wheel over ten feet in diameter and over a yard thick appeared above Li Fengyun's head, engraved densely on both sides with the names of over two hundred contestants entering the main competition. Li Fengyun raised his hand, and with a subtle surge of True Essence from within, he sent the heavy jade wheel spinning rapidly.

The black needle at the top of the wheel continuously swept past the contestants' names, until the wheel gradually slowed and finally stopped on a golden name.

Li Fengyun glanced at it and calmly pronounced, "Wang Jiu."

In the next instant, the entire arena erupted.

Today, Wang Jiu's popularity in Qingyun City had surpassed even the Spirit Cat Plan. Apart from the fan club led by Li Chaolu and Qian Yue, his outstanding performance in the preliminaries and the astonishing odds in the betting pools had made him the center of countless people's attention.

And such a figure was drawn for the opening battle?!

This was the Qingyun Competition's opening battle cursed with mystical rumors since a hundred years ago! Being chosen as a higher-ranking contestant generally meant bidding farewell to the championship!

"Oh no, my Prince Wang Jiu!?"

In the audience, countless girls let out wails of despair.

"Hahaha, Wang Jiu, even you have a day like this!"

In the contestants' area, Li Wanqing laughed so hard she nearly fell off her seat.

"Dammit, why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

At the front of the podium, Qian Long wiped his bald head, feeling cold sweat start to seep.

"Now, let's continue to draw Wang Jiu's opponent."

On the field, Li Fengyun simply nodded and spun the wheel again, sending it whirling swiftly.

This time, everyone focused intently on the wheel, waiting for the black needle to point to the lucky challenger who might defy the mystical odds to defeat the favorite, Wang Jiu.

As the black needle swept past names, most were unknowns—since Wang Jiu was a higher-ranked contender, his opponent would undoubtedly be a lower-ranked underdog. For a moment, people only saw names like Wang Tudi or Wang Fugui, lowering the competition's dignity.

As the wheel slowed further, hearts were raised higher and higher, as if time itself had stalled.

Finally, the wheel stopped, and the black needle pointed to a green name.

Should we say it was expected?

Shen Qingming.