Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 148 – Suspicious

The parties watching the final competition from all over felt their lips twitch. This Grandmaster Ning loved recording others to the point of obsession. As for Jing Guanjin, he was simply a completely useless piece of trash. Even though he knew that his opponent liked to play cards that defied all common sense, he still delivered himself up for ridicule.

This was a struggle that involved the qualifications to challenge one of the Purple Cards. Thus, all ten Purple Cards had arrived to observe this match. They were situated in a hall within the royal palace, watching through an array formation that was synced with the square.

Old Sea’s complexion was pale and wan; it was hard for him to cover up his weariness. He looked at the projection and saw Qin Yu walking up the altar. A light smile lit up his face. “For some people, what does it matter if they use all the tricks up their sleeve? In the end they’ll be humiliated.”

Although his voice wasn’t too loud, it was just loud enough that everyone in the hall could clearly hear him.

Wu Zetian’s complexion sank, his eyes dark and sharp. “What is the meaning of playing some small tricks to win an argument? If you really want to compete, what matters is your own strength!”

Old Sea had a faint expression. “This is only a small humiliation; what follows will be a great humiliation. So, that’s why I said that some people will be humiliated eventually. My apologies, I seem to have become a bit too talkative after being injured. I hope that no one is offended.”

The Purple Cards all had strange expressions. At such an important time, how could the atmosphere be like this?

Grandmaster Wu Zetian opened his mouth to respond but he was interrupted. “That’s enough. The match will soon begin.”

In the light projection, Jing Guanjin and Qin Yu stepped onto the altar.

The white-robed and barefoot priest said, “The two coral houses have been fully prepared. In order to ensure fairness, the altar will monitor both sides; I hope that you do not use anything you shouldn’t. Moreover, the time allotted for the match is two days. You may freely use this time as you wish.”

As he spoke, he flew away.

Jing Guanjin coldly snorted. He moved towards the left coral house.

Qin Yu stepped to the right.

Upon entering the coral house, he carefully probed around. After making sure there wasn’t a problem, he took out the Silence Stone. His complexion immediately turned glum. This was because he wasn’t sure whether or not the existence of the little blue lamp could be detected by the altar.

The ten great Purple Cards had no way of finding out what was occurring within the coral houses. But, the two sea spirits had already absorbed a specialized sensing nutrient fluid. By using the power of a treasure and special methods, one could remotely sense the changes occurring to the sea spirits.

At the start, there were no changes to the two sea spirits. This was normal procedure. After all, sea spirit teachers were not gods, and no matter how formidable they were, they still needed a period of time to inspect the sea spirit plants.

One hour later, fluctuations in the strength of one of the sea spirits began to appear. After a short pause, it started to rise at a slow pace. This indicated that the problems of the sea spirit were being solved.

It was Jing Guanjin.

The Purple Cards watched with dignified expressions. If these people were able to bloom from the countless sea spirit teachers, then there simply wasn’t any need to argue about their strength. Moreover, with their careful observational abilities and rich experience, they could approximately judge the strength of the healer. This was vital to the challenge ahead.

After all, theoretically speaking, any of the 10 Purple Cards could be challenged. And of course, just as this thought appeared in their minds, their eyes inadvertently swept over Old Sea. They glanced at him with sympathy and also a dark sense of relief.

Old Sea didn’t have any expression, but he cursed all of these Purple Cards in his heart. That was right, he was viciously cursing them in his heart. Purple Card sea spirit teachers had a brilliantly blinding halo, but that was only something that had been attached to them by the outside world. In reality, they were ordinary sea race citizens and they also had their own joy and hate, their wants and desires.

For instance, Grandmaster Wu Zetian. At this time he was stroking his beard and smiling, his aggressive demeanor fully satisfied. Occasionally he would glance to the side with a cold glint shining in his eyes.

Jing Guanjin was of a high and noble birth, and he possessed mind-boggling talent to be a sea spirit teacher. After teaching him with care and patience, he was absolutely a top figure amongst all high level sea spirit teachers. In addition to that, in order to ensure that he would emerge victorious no matter what, that mighty person had poured his strength into Jing Guanjin’s body. Even Wu Zetian eyed this strength with overwhelming envy, so how could Jing Guanjin lose here?

Time slowly passed. Jing Guanjin progressed quickly and smoothly, and soon he had figured out the problem with the sea spirit and was now beginning to enhance its strength. But it was at this time that something occurred, a sight that left the observing sea spirit teachers shaken.

The light around the sensing treasure turned increasingly bright. This was an indication that the strength of the sea spirit was rising. This was something they could also accomplish, but what shocked them was that this enhancement of the sea spirit didn’t stop. Moreover, it was continuing at a horrifying pace like it had no intention of slowing down.

For example, if a sea spirit was considered to have 100 points of strength, increasing it to 110 was simple. But increasing it to 120 would be more difficult. And as the sea spirit became stronger, it would become increasingly challenging.

Such a stable rate of enhancement meant that Jing Guanjin possessed formidable skills. He intended to control the rate of strengthening, and the Purple Card sea spirit teachers knew exactly what this meant – he wanted to promote the sea spirit to the next level!

This was the only reason he would need to maintain such a stable speed and establish a firm foundation for the transformation of the sea spirit. A number of Purple Cards were startled. They were all aware of the rank of sea spirit used in this competition, and even if they personally tried, it would be hard to promote a sea spirit of that caliber to the next level.

This Jing Guanjin could be called immensely confident!

A smoldering heat burned from deep within Grandmaster Wu Zetian’s eyes. The reason he agreed to teach Jing Guanjin was because he had taken a liking to his talent and also because that mighty figure had promised to grant him a strength he had only ever dreamed of. If he could obtain it, then he could become the most powerful sea spirit teacher in the sea region. The other Purple Cards wouldn’t even come close to comparing to him.

Of course, being able to push Sea Lingdao out of the ten Purple Cards was another driving force behind his decision. Hatred had formed between these two old men many years ago. Rumors said that it had involved a woman, but no one knew the exact details and no one dared to openly gossip either.

Old Sea saw Wu Zetian’s gaze and coldly sneered before closing his eyes. Secretly, he was feeling a little anxious inside. Little friend Ning, little friend Ning, you cannot disappoint this old man!

To be a Purple Card or not be a Purple Card wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Once he inherited the position, there were essential responsibilities he had been forced to bear. If he were to lose the Purple Card…well, no matter how much he tried to maintain his calm, he still couldn’t help but feel a bit of panic.

But at this time, Old Sea’s prayers didn’t come true. Jing Guanjin’s results surpassed all expectations. The sensing treasure that indicated the quality of the sea spirit was already emitting a dazzling light. Yet near it, the other sensing treasure seemed gray and lifeless. From the start until now, it hadn’t revealed the slightest change.

This left the Purple Cards increasingly perplexed.

Today’s competition had truly opened their eyes. One person had started with an incredibly potent opening, but the other person seemed to have given up and hadn’t even made a move yet.

Mm? Could he have really given up?

Grandmaster Wu Zetian received the congratulations of many other Purple Cards. Some of them looked at him enviously. Their relationships weren’t too poor to begin with, and with Old Sea being the sacrificial lamb today, they didn’t need to worry about being chosen. All of them knew just who Jing Guanjin would challenge.

Master and disciple would both become Purple Cards; just how magnificent was this scene? Upon reaching the level of a Purple Card, being able to find an outstanding descendent that they could pass their legacy onto was also something to be jealous of.

Grandmaster Wu Zetian was incomparably modest. But no matter how he tried to hide it, everyone could sense a smugness hidden behind his smile. He glanced at Old Sea, thinking that even though the two of them had fought for so many years, in the end he would be the one to emerge victorious!

Beneath Old Wu’s stare, Old Sea couldn’t hide his anxiousness any longer. He coldly stood up and left, taking out a spirit shell from his chest.

When Chief Manager Wu heard the news, he was scared silly. The first thought that popped into his mind was whether or not Mister Ning had fallen asleep. But, he knew this was impossible. Mister Ning knew how crucial this competition was, so how come he hadn’t made a move yet?

Suddenly, Chief Manager Wu stiffened. He recalled how the old gentleman had left, seemingly without blaming them at all…had Mister Ning already agreed to the conditions and was acting everything out afterwards?

Once this thought formed, he could no longer suppress it. He paled, sweat dripping down his forehead.

Clearwood frowned. She had disappeared several days ago and it was unknown just what she had been doing all this time. “Chief manager, what is it?”

Chief Manager Wu hurriedly reiterated what Old Sea had told him and vaguely mentioned his own speculations. Of course, he spoke in a low voice so that only the two of them heard him.

Clearwood’s complexion changed and she seemed to become even more nervous than Chief Manager Wu. The two of them urgently discussed the situation while sending someone to find Leon.

Chief Manager Wu coughed, “Leon, these past three days, has there been anything unusual about Grandmaster Ning? For instance, has he seemed to hesitate or something?”

Leon thought carefully and shook his head. “No. Teacher has been quite normal.”

Chief Manager Wu cursed himself. Even he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, so how could a hairless baby boy like Leon possibly know anything.

Clearwood took a deep breath. She waved for Leon to leave.

Leon took several steps and suddenly swiveled around. He cupped his hands together and said, “Chief manager, Manager Clearwood, although I don’t know what has happened, teacher is worthy of your trust. He will definitely win!”

He bowed after speaking and walked away.

Chief Manager Wu’s complexion was dark and gloomy. He quietly said, “With things having come this far, we can only choose to trust him.”

Clearwood turned and walked away.

“Manager Clearwood?”

“Even if we choose to trust him, we still need to complete plans for the worst possible outcome.” Clearwood didn’t turn back. “I certainly hope I won’t need to use what I have prepared, but if Mister Ning has betrayed us, he will definitely pay the price for his actions.”

At this time, the heavily suspected Grandmaster Ning certainly wasn’t sleeping. He was sitting in the coral house, his face full of worried distress. The sudden change in rules to the match had left him cursing his luck.

The little blue lamp was his great secret and he would have to give up on this competition rather than reveal it. But, the problem right now was if he admitted defeat without doing anything, just what would Sea Spirit Pavilion do? While he didn’t know that the icy Manager Clearwood had already made preparations, it didn’t take much to guess this.

He was afraid that Sea Spirit Pavilion would really flip over in anger. Thinking of this, Qin Yu couldn’t help but shake his head. It turned out that sometimes the most unexpected little thing could lead to a dire crisis.

He thought about it all day. It was only when the time-sensing coral in the corner of the room turned a faint blue that Qin Yu bitterly smiled.

Recently he had been refining soul strengthening treasures to enhance his soul. And as his soul was strengthened, shouldn’t he be more intelligent than before? But, why did he feel as if he had become stupider? That’s right, he couldn’t take the little blue lamp out as it might be detected by the altar, but if he didn’t take it out, that would be more than fine!

He picked up the jade box that was placed atop the spacious work table. It was filled with top quality nutrient fluid and emitted a light fragrance. A seven-leaf herb lay inside, its roots gently swaying, as if he had its own consciousness.

As he held the jade box, there was a flash of light and it vanished from sight.

Qin Yu focused his senses. If there was anything strange he would immediately take out the jade box.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths –

The altar remained peacefully silent.