Chapter Twenty-Two: The Ongoing Competition

At this moment, Gu Xiaopang, thick-skinned as he was, could have brushed aside the mutterings from the audience below. Yet every time he recalled the trials he had faced over the past two days, he couldn’t help but want to give Old Man Gu a thorough scolding in his heart.

So now, Gu Xiaopang felt wronged—deeply wronged, in fact.

“Sure, my clothes are in disarray, I’m covered in blood and filth from head to toe, but none of this is my fault! I’m a victim here too.”

“And another thing, how am I shameless? How am I base? I haven’t taken advantage of anyone...”

His heart was full of grievances and complaints, though, of course, he kept them to himself.

Clinging to his usual brashness, Gu Xiaopang puffed out his chest, raised his disheveled head, and leapt down from the dueling platform.

As he landed, he couldn’t help but glance—almost involuntarily—at the junior sister he had supposedly “bullied.”

The disciples who noticed this move from below naturally erupted into another round of scornful jeers.

“You little rascal, just you wait for me!”

Even Elder Mu, watching from the floating platform above, happened to catch the look in Gu Xiaopang’s eyes as he descended, and his anger flared anew.

Soon, the other matches on the dueling stages also drew to a close.

“Hey, Brother Lu, you finished your match so quickly!”

“So, how did I do up there? Pretty impressive, right?”

“Yeah, yeah... Especially that overhead scissor kick—it was wicked cool...”

“Overhead scissor kick? Me? How come I don’t remember pulling off a move like that?”

This disciple, having been thoroughly distracted by Gu Xiaopang’s antics, hadn’t really noticed how his “brother-in-arms” had won. All he could do was offer an awkward, forced chuckle.

Brother Lu could only swallow his irritation.

Similar scenes played out all over the disciples’ stands, adding a tinge of awkwardness to the atmosphere.

The following rounds of matches continued swiftly. After more than twenty rounds, several thousand disciples had experienced their first results, some pleased, some disappointed.

Gu Xiaopang, already seated below, watched a few rounds of the outer sect’s matches from the stands before turning his attention to the nearly hundred dueling stages on the adjacent square, where the inner sect disciples were fighting.

The outer sect duels were still in full swing, with many disciples yet to be called.

Meanwhile, the inner sect, having only about a third as many disciples as the outer sect, had already moved on to their second matches.

With previous wins or losses weighing on them, the inner sect disciples were giving their all in their second battles—those who had won once were eager to keep their streak, while those who had lost were desperate to regain lost ground.

Normally, Gu Xiaopang only caught glimpses of inner sect duels, but now he felt as though he didn’t have enough eyes to take it all in. Each stage was equally thrilling, the action dizzying and overwhelming.

“That one must be Zhao Xianyun of the Third Peak. No wonder he’s called the chief disciple—he’ll win in just a few more moves.”

“Our Fifth Peak’s chief, Du Zitao, is doing great too. Looks like that recent closed-door training paid off—he can even condense qi into form now.”

“Hey, which peak is that senior brother from? His style isn’t right—his defenses are wide open, that’ll never do.”

“That senior sister is incredible. If I’m not mistaken, she’s Elder Sun’s principal disciple from the Main Peak. Looks like Elder Sun has been giving her special training.”

As Gu Xiaopang watched closely, he kept up a silent commentary, critiquing and analyzing each match.

If the inner sect competitors knew, they’d probably glare daggers at him for his audacity.

Night had fallen, yet the matches continued, the entire arena brightly lit.

Between matches, the disciples had time to rest and recover. Having all taken fasting pills beforehand, none were willing to leave early—everyone was braced for a long night.

Well, everyone except Ouyang Shuai.

On the floating platform above, the elders maintained their usual air of lofty detachment, yet even they couldn’t help but mutter amongst themselves, constantly adjusting their mental scores for the disciples below.

“That girl—she’s using that technique all wrong! All my teaching wasted on her.”

“That brat’s lost twice in a row now—what a disgrace to me!”

“Elder Li, what is your little disciple doing, fiddling with hand seals for so long?”

“Probably preparing a big move.”

“Really? To me, it just looks like he’s botched a new technique and can’t pull it off on the spot...”

Elder Li could only respond with a resigned sigh.

And so the night wore on.