After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 44.1

The arena instantly fell silent. Even the sound of breathing disappeared among the vines. Countless white flowers bloomed on the creeping plants, their fragrance overflowing, causing a momentary lapse of attention both on and off the stage.

He Lan’s expression hardened. “This child actually infused poison into the vines she controls!”

This was not a shameful tactic. There are tens of thousands of plants in the world, and corresponding to the Wood Spirit Root cultivators, there are also tens of thousands of ways for their power to manifest. However, to learn how to control poison and seamlessly integrate it into one’s Spirit Root without harming oneself—this level of skill proves her worthy of being a disciple of the number one sect in the Nine Provinces.

But He Lan Mianmian still involuntarily clenched her fists. After all, she didn’t know the poison’s exact effects, nor if Luo Sheng could handle it with ease.

The next moment, the vines in the center of the arena snapped cleanly in the middle. The Judge’s Brush, with a talismans sheet clasped in front, cut through the very air. Behind it, the girl shot out like a flying arrow, a fox tail faintly visible behind her, adding a burst of speed.

Zhang Xue’s eyes widened in horror. She hadn’t expected Luo Sheng to break out of the entanglement so quickly, and her spell advancement slowed considerably.

But she was a disciple of a major sect after all. When Luo Sheng’s spinning kick aimed straight for her head, she instinctively channeled the swirling light in her hand, manifesting a long whip of wooden vines that intercepted the momentum of the kick. With a slight pull, she actually flung the opponent, leg and all, straight out.

Luo Sheng barely stabilized herself in mid-air. Her fingers sketched a heavy strike, a ripple mark flashing on her brow, conjuring a monstrous wave that surged straight toward the person on the ground. The woman didn’t hesitate, sitting cross-legged as pale-green spiritual energy filled the entire space, swallowing the boundless ocean one gulp at a time, rapidly accelerating the growth of her thorny thicket.

Luo Sheng gave a small click of her tongue. She brought two fingers together and flicked them upwards. The thicket quickly withered, and droplets of water emerged from the gaps in the branches, rapidly coalescing into a long sword that stabbed straight toward Zhang Xue’s location.

Almost simultaneously, the vines climbed the water sword, and a voice suddenly rang in Luo Sheng’s ear—

“Little girl, some trees only release toxins after they die, you know.”

Before the words fully landed, her limbs went numb, leaving only her fingers capable of movement. She fiercely bit down on her teeth and drove the water sword forward, severing countless vines along the way. Just as a clump of thorny branches seized hold of her, the water sword reached Zhang Xue. With a loud crash, Luo Sheng fell outside the martial arts platform, and the other person was likewise struck and sent flying, also landing outside the platform.

Luo Sheng tried to struggle to her feet. Everything but her face and fingers was numb. She could only resignedly lie there, waiting for the people from Green Leaf Peak to come and carry her away.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a severe injury; the plant toxin merely paralyzed her limbs with no other harmful effects.

The other person was in the same state. Although she had been struck and thrown out, she wasn’t seriously injured, and she slowly exhaled a breath of relief while lying on the ground.

In this first match, both sides were thrown out, resulting in a draw.

Cen Ran relaxed slightly. The subsequent disciples had a cultivation gap that was generally between two minor realms and one major realm. After seeing Luo Sheng’s techniques, everyone—except for one disciple who excelled in strong offensive attacks (who managed to defeat one opponent and take out another)—fought with all their might to secure a draw. This way, both they and the Heaven’s Endowment Immortal Sect could smoothly pass the first round of the competition. If one side were to suffer a complete defeat, they would likely have to bid farewell to the arena here.

In the spectator stands not far away, many people were watching the match between the Cloud Ascent Sect and the Heaven’s Endowment Immortal Sect. An Elder from the Great Blade Sect sighed helplessly and said, “The disciples the Cloud Ascent Sect has fielded this year—their strength is not overwhelming, but their talent is simply terrifying!”

Another person responded, “Indeed. I heard the oldest among them is only a little over eighty years old. To reach the Void Refining stage at eighty years old, what kind of terrifying talent must that be!”

A third person added, “Given time, they might very well flourish. It just goes to show that the Sword Immortal’s vision back then was sharp. However, the Immortal Sect…”

“What about the Immortal Sect?” A sweet female voice inserted itself into the conversation. Following the sound, they saw a beautiful woman holding a lovely little girl, asking them curiously, “The Immortal Sect wouldn’t be so narrow-minded, would it?”

She was dressed in luxurious clothing, and her strength was unfathomable. It was clear she was a cultivator of extraordinary origin, and her presence here meant she was likely connected to the Immortal Sect in some way.

The Elder quickly waved his hands to interrupt her, repeatedly urging her to speak quietly. “Fellow Daoist, we old men were just chatting idly. Please, don’t take it to heart.”

Xiao Wancheng blinked and asked, “So what happened? Could you tell me about the matter you were discussing here?”

One person sighed softly and whispered, “Fellow Daoist, you aren’t a member of the Immortal Sect?”

“No, I’m just a rogue cultivator who paid a high price for a ticket. I wanted to bring my little one to watch,” Xiao Wancheng replied with a smile. Her naturally round eyes curved slightly, making her even more endearing. The man’s guard dropped a little, and he lowered his voice, saying, “To be honest, we were sighing about the Cloud Ascent Sect.”

“Oh? What’s wrong with the sect the Sword Immortal publicly declared she would join a thousand years ago?”

Another person said, “This sect is growing incredibly fast, and now the Heaven’s Endowment Immortal Sect has set its sights on them? Look, they’re trying to give them a harsh lesson right in this first match.”

“And that’s not all! I heard that they originally had business dealings with the Outer Regions, but a few years ago, it was suddenly cut off—so cleanly. It’s quite possible the Immortal Sect people were behind that too.”

The Elder of the Great Blade Sect rubbed his palms and shook his head. “Tsk, the Nine Provinces are vast. How can they not accommodate a prosperous sect? I was hoping to have a match with the Cloud Ascent Sect, but it looks like I won’t get the chance now.”

After all, who wouldn’t want to test themselves against the inheritors of the Sword Immortal, whose name was famous throughout the Nine Provinces?

“But the Sword Immortal’s successor you were thinking of doesn’t seem to be here.”

The Elder was startled and looked back at the training platform. “How can that be? She was listed in their roster of participants.”

The man answered, “Fairy Ran has silver hair; if she were here, she would be very noticeable. She is indeed absent. I heard her disciple broke through to the Soul Transformation stage a year ago. If she were here, the sect probably wouldn’t be in such a passive situation.”

On the training platform, the last disciple of the Cloud Ascent Sect had just been defeated. Her opponent was the familiar, fanatical swordsman who had visited the Cloud Ascent Sect years ago: Jiang Mang.

The Elder of the Great Blade Sect watched this unfold and shook his head helplessly.

Alas, they clearly had no luck for a proper battle.

A person beside him said, “Wasn’t there a female cultivator here a moment ago?”

Another replied, “Are you dreaming? Where was a female cultivator? Besides us three male cultivators, no one else came over.”

The Elder of the Great Blade Sect touched his arm, feeling a bit confused. “Do you guys feel… cold?”

Meanwhile, on the training platform, the Elder in charge of the enforcement also touched his arm, shivered slightly, looked toward the Cloud Ascent Sect, and urged, “If you don’t send someone up soon, we will rule you forfeit.”

Beside him, the white-robed cultivator standing with a sword in his arms looked up as if sensing something, his empty eyes staring at the sky far above, lost in thought.

Cen Ran sighed softly and asked the Second Elder, who was responsible for observing the whole scene, “If we forfeit this last round, will we be screened out in the first round?”

The Second Elder hesitated. “That’s hard to say. Currently, both sides have not won, lost one, and drawn two. If we forfeit this round, and we’re unlucky enough to rank in the bottom tier, then…”

“The minimum has to be a draw?”

“The minimum has to be a draw.”

Cen Ran let out a deep sigh.

No one could have predicted that Jiang Mang, who had been silent for several years, would reappear having already reached the Void Refining stage. Moreover, her swordsmanship was already transcendent and peerless; an ordinary Void Refining disciple would not necessarily be her match. Furthermore, Cen Ran’s goal for this trip was mostly to let the younger disciples gain some experience, so she hadn’t brought too many core disciples.

What should she do?

Perhaps it would be better to forfeit now and gamble, thus preserving their strength, as the matters ahead were far more important.

Cen Ran touched the forfeit token, thinking and struggling repeatedly.

He Lan watched this, her heart aching. She gently patted Cen Ran’s arm and said, “Wooden head, if it doesn’t work out, we can find another excuse to stay for a few more days. Why don’t you…”

A delicate, jade-like hand reached out and gracefully pressed down on the token. A soft voice said, “If you don’t try, how will you know it won’t work?”

[Didn’t Master say she had made arrangements? Ah, ah, ah!!]

[Who will this person’s first target be? Who should I start with…]

[That disobedient Elder Qin, ah, ah…]

[How did such a gluttonous fox become the Demon King, and yet be so reliable, so mature…]

[She’s so naive. What if she gets kidnapped one day while out buying things? So silly.]

[However, she really smells good.]

^o^

[Hmm, a tasteful fox.]

Not long after—

Cen Ran looked at the long letter in her hand, gently shook the paper, and then looked at He Lan Mianmian nearby, who was playing a game of snatch-the-bun with Ru Jin. She sighed in resignation, looking up at the sky. “Can I just pass on my position now?!”

This person who went out to travel is too much! It’s one thing to leave without a word, but why… why does she have to write so many letters? On the surface, she is recording and reporting on every place she visits, but in reality, the letters are packed full of real, concrete torment for her! Too much, simply too much!

“Once your personal disciple breaks through to the Unity stage, won’t you be able to pass on your position to her?” He Lan took a bite of a steamed bun and said, shaking her head.

Cen Ran counted on her fingers and sighed again. “That’s still a hundred years away!”

“A hundred years is a hundred years then. Ah Sheng, come take your Junior Sister away.”

Having dealt with the small problem, He Lan stretched, stood up, and looked at the unhappy blockhead. She casually walked over, sat sideways on Cen Ran’s lap, wrapped her arms around the other woman’s neck, and softly said, “Even if you have to wait a thousand years, won’t I be here with you, never going anywhere?”

At that moment, the gaze of both women deepened. He Lan simply turned her head, leaned close to the other woman’s ear, and whispered with a breathy voice, “Since the official business is done for today, why doesn’t the esteemed Sect Master allow for a little midday…” The last word was said extremely lightly, the tip of her tongue momentarily touching the woman’s earlobe.

She then added, “Right here, in the side hall of the Luoyun Palace, how about it?”

What was about to happen here will be left unsaid for now. At this very moment, amidst the hazy rain of Jiangnan—

Since bidding farewell to Bai Ze, Ning and Ran proceeded toward Jiangnan first.

Since this journey was a walkabout, they no longer cared whether going north was closer or south was closer. They found a small boat and a river that flowed directly to Jiangnan, and they sat in it, letting it drift freely, unconstrained, as long as the general direction was correct.

Ran Fanyin didn’t intentionally write letters to her sect to annoy Cen Ran; it was just that one of the goals of their trip was to investigate whether there was any residual Source Poison left in the Nine Provinces, apart from the Outer Sea Heavens, which were still difficult to access. Therefore, they had to report on every location.

Initially, Cen Ran would reply diligently. Later, it became one or two sentences, and after that, it became—

Amidst the extremely gentle sound of flowing water, Ning Songwu’s voice was muffled. “What did the Sect Master reply this time?”

Ran Fanyin was looking blankly at the roof of the awning above her head, her silver threads scattered across the boat. Her pair of absent, shimmering eyes were filled with mist, her expression dazed, and her red lips were covered in suppressed bite marks. Thus, when she heard the question, she was merely startled for a moment, as if she hadn’t heard anything.

The person whose lips and tongue were momentarily inadequate frowned, and simply used another method to recall her consciousness.

[Master, what did the Sect Master reply this time?]

The ethereal voice suddenly boomed in her mind. Ran Fanyin barely regained her senses, and the person who had been teasing and causing trouble also stopped at that moment, straightening up and watching her with a half-smile.

It was too much. Ever since she discovered that her thoughts could be heard, Ning Songwu’s already excessive thoughts became even more rampant at certain times, and she developed many more mischievous intentions. Extremely excessive words that had never appeared before became commonplace, appearing in her mind-speech from time to time, playing out ethereally in her head, impossible to avoid.

For example, at this moment, Ran Fanyin’s somewhat unfocused eyes could still see a circle of moisture around the girl’s lips. She looked at Ran Fanyin with a playful smile, her finger resting beside the stream’s edge stone, lightly touching it, tantalizing her in an utterly dissatisfying way.

But at this moment, this person was full of mischievous intentions, urging her repeatedly to pick up the crumpled letter paper, even though there was only a single word on it.

This was another manifestation of unspoken words, a deliberate act of mischief by Ning Songwu, wanting to see her eyes well up with tears just to read out these two insignificant words.

Ran Fanyin bit the side of her lip, trying to steady her breathing. “…Too much.”

The finger by the soft stone at the stream’s edge stirred the water. The owner raised an eyebrow slightly. “Master, what did you say?”

Ran Fanyin gripped the soft blanket beneath her suppressively and uttered a few more words. “I said you’re too much.”

“Oh, then I won’t be too much anymore.”

She wore a look of regret and even pulled back from the stream.

Who would believe that?

The woman closed her eyes and rested for a moment. When she opened them again, Ning Songwu was already holding a clean handkerchief, slowly and methodically wiping the moisture from her own lips. Her movements were extremely slow. The handkerchief was long, but somehow, just the part of her finger that had been submerged in the water was exposed, moving gently.

Too much.

Simply too much.