CHAPTER 314: CHAPTER 312: SO YOU HAVE IT NOW

Ming Shuangli sighed in relief and said, "I hope everyone can calm down a bit. Fighting is definitely not the only solution..."

"But it’s certainly a very efficient solution."

Everyone followed the voice and discovered a girl full of Primordial Energy sitting on a tree. Le Yu immediately recognized her as the athletic girl who had been swimming in the pool all day.

She wore shorts and long socks, swinging her long legs as she said, "Sister Shuangli, the Sword Seeking competition might be our only chance to change our destiny. Regardless of what others think, I am not willing to give it up."

"What destiny do you need to change, Taolang?" Ming Shuangli sighed, "What destiny do you have that I can’t help you change?"

"Not having one now doesn’t mean I won’t have one in the future." Ming Taolang jumped down, "Besides, I’ve been looking forward to the Sword Seeking competition for a long time. I’ve been training all this time hoping to win first place in the competition. How can I let you speak a few words and make me surrender?"

"This isn’t a competition."

"This is a competition, a competition to find out who is the most outstanding among sisters."

"Even if the cost is death?"

"Didn’t you say if we won you would take good care of us?"

Ming Shuangli blinked and scratched her head, "Well... how to say it... If you surrender now, I’ll be very, very good to you; but if you are defeated by me, I’ll just be a little good to you."

"A little good is enough." Ming Taolang laughed, "I’m not very greedy."

"Although Sister Taolang speaks without thinking," from the bushes on the other side, a slender girl stood up, holding a tree branch with both hands, eyes heavy with dark circles, speaking lazily, "her core thought is correct."

"You can’t put your hope on others, especially not on the Emperor, unless you become the Emperor yourself."

"Yueyan, you too..." Ming Shuangli felt a bit helpless, "I thought you were someone who disliked adventure."

"I also want not to take risks, but now is no longer the time for me to lie peacefully at home sleeping." Ming Yueyan yawned and said, "Rather than trusting Sister Shuangli’s ruling power, I think I might as well do it myself. At least I won’t have to say regretful words like ’Oh why did I let this opportunity slip to Sister Shuangli’ in the future."

"So... where are your sword sheaths?"

"Aren’t they already on?"

Bam bam!

Faced with the sudden bullet attack, Niruo spun a blade in place, swift as a wall of wind, instantly cutting down all surrounding trees and causing all bullets to fall to the ground!

Sakura Dragon Sword Dance · Fluttering Away!

Both sword sheaths turned out to be Lingxu Battle Technique ranged attackers! For Niruo, who wore a mad face, ranged shooting was just the right method to deal with him!

Seeing Niruo chase into the forest to hunt the Lingxu sword sheaths, Ming Taolang clenched her fists and said, "Sister Shuangli, do you want to fight!?"

"You guys go one-on-one, I’m not responsible for fighting." Ming Yueyan shrugged and said.

"No need."

Ming Shuangli offered the Holy Sword’s brilliance and said, "Since you all have sword sheaths to support, there’s no point in continuing to block."

"Really?" Ming Dailan, who was helping a boy treat his injuries, quickly ran over, "Count me in."

"But is this really okay?" Ming Shuangli asked, "Clearly we can end this game early, do we really have to hate each other? Or, is it that I can’t get you to recognize me as the next Emperor?"

"If you want us to recognize you, you should beat us fair and square in the Sword Seeking competition, proving you are indeed the most suitable candidate."

The girl with star hairclips came out from behind a tree, seriously saying, "You may have a sincere attitude, but merely an attitude can’t change anything. You either defeat us with strength or have us willingly entrust our hopes to you."

"Words are very pale, combat is the best form of communication. Only through fighting can we gauge each other’s abilities and true intentions."

"Shuiyun..." Ming Shuangli helplessly said, "You always talk so bluntly..."

"Because I’ve long known," Ming Shuiyun said, "there are things you can do if you push hard, but many you can’t achieve even if you bet your life. Your promises are sincere, but your inability to fulfill them is also true."

"You’re right, I was too naive." She looked at her sisters gathered around the Holy Sword’s brilliance and sighed, "Actually I just hope to leave the academy early, after all, you know the dormitory environment..."

"Oh, right!"

"Ah this..."

"What do we do..."

The girls who got the badge of light from the Holy Sword looked at each other, showing a hint of regret, and Le Yu felt a little superior watching them—haha, the teacher’s dormitory is luxurious and comfortable.

But more troublesome than this is the response from Junzuo.

Le Yu still doesn’t know who his Sword Master is, and after he sent messages until his Ne’s Heart started to heat up, Junzuo finally replied:

"Whatever."

What does that mean?

Is there a person named Ming Whatever?

But Le Yu actually understood in his heart.

The Ritual Guard didn’t care much about the struggle for the Sword Seekers’ position, or rather, from the beginning, the Ritual Guard never believed that the Sword Seeker he supported could win.

The sword sheath was just a benefit, a reward for Le Yin. He could use this identity to invest in other more hopeful Sword Seekers, and once the new emperor ascended the throne, he would naturally gain influence.

Bai Yu believed that the struggle for the Sword Seekers’ position was very risky, based on the assumption that Le Yu was only loyal to one person. But if Le Yu were willing to be unfaithful and have secret affairs, then there wasn’t much risk in the Sword Seekers’ struggle; a socialite with no firm allegiance could easily survive to the end.

The Ritual Guard was quite considerate of him.

’Whatever’ means you can participate, but if you don’t, you’ve already won. Whoever the final victor is will surely be kind to the sword sheath that gave up from the start.

Moreover, the abandoned Sword Seekers were probably more than just one, so Le Yu could casually find someone as the Sword Master... It sounded like a frivolous scoundrel.

While Le Yu was pondering, suddenly heavy footsteps came from the jungle.

Niruo walked back step by step, and Ming Shuangli greeted, "Niruo, you don’t have to fight anymore, we’ve decided—"

Clang!

Niruo suddenly slashed at Ming Dailan with the Sakura Dragon Hover Boat, as the river of light was about to tear apart the already dumbfounded cute girl, a spear forest light explosion suddenly intervened from the side, cutting off the river of light!

After some simple treatment, the boy had regained his fighting strength, and the broken spear was reattached. He stood in front of Ming Dailan, his eyes tightly locked on Niruo: "You guys run!"

"Ah!"

Ming Shuangli suddenly remembered something: "I remember Niruo said that the mad mask has a side effect, which is that after wearing it for too long, you indiscriminately kill... But I shouldn’t be afraid because the Spirit of the Holy Sword’s brilliance should override the mad mask."

"Ah!? How can it have such an effect?" Ming Taolang was still surprised there, while Ming Yueyan had already turned and ran away. The others exchanged glances and then turned to flee in different directions.

Seeing them running away, Niruo’s eyes under the mask glowed with a ghostly green light. He raised his serrated cherry long knife to take a detour and chase after them, completely ignoring the spear-wielding boy blocking the front!

"He will prioritize killing those eligible to swear allegiance!" the boy loudly reminded, "Quick, use your allegiance eligibility!"

...

...

Ming Shuiyun did her best to use the little Lingxu Step she knew to escape in the dark and complex Wanxiang Forest.

Abandoned, she thought to herself.

She had expected this for a long time, her family background, her identity, all destined her not to be a candidate recognized by the Imperial Court. Although she was fortunate enough to be selected for the Sword Seekers’ struggle, the time before school started, she received almost no training — Ming Shuangli’s eloquence and speech ability was not a natural talent.

A discarded pawn, she was very clear about her position in this Sword Seekers’ struggle.

It’s always like this, for the bigger picture, for interests, for all sorts of things, there’s always someone who must be the discarded pawn. She used to be filled with hatred toward this, but now she couldn’t hate it anymore because if she wasn’t a discarded pawn, she wouldn’t even have this kind of opportunity.

Her hand was not good, she used to only hate why she had such a bad hand, now what she learned is how to play this hand well.

But...

Ming Shuiyun turned her head and saw the dark green shadow already catching up. It trampled thorns and broke through obstacles, and in Niruo’s eyes, this bit of Lingxu Step from Ming Shuiyun was almost like a walk.

Retreating from the stage at the start, even though Ming Shuiyun had thought of many dire situations, she never imagined it to be this dire.

Rustle!

In a panic, coupled with the extremely poor visibility in the dim moonlight, Ming Shuiyun accidentally tripped over a tree branch and fell forward. Around her was the dark forest, and behind was the mad-faced Niruo who had already raised his serrated cherry long knife. Ming Shuiyun sighed, stopped struggling, and patiently awaited the end.

Indeed... some things can be changed with effort, but more often, betting everything doesn’t help.

However, when surrounded by endless darkness, how can one resist the allure of a moth to the flame?

In a matter of seconds, Niruo was already in front of her, making no sound, and without any hesitation, he raised the serrated cherry long knife and then slashed down.

Ming Shuiyun stared wide-eyed as the blade light fell, trying to memorize the last scenery she could see—

Then, she saw a sudden burst of light and shadow above Niruo, the figure like a fierce, hungry wolf rushing down from above!

Clang!

Niruo used the blade to protect his head and rapidly retreated, yet even so, his shoulders and arms were scraped off a lot of flesh, drops of blood splattered and scattered in the air, even landing on Ming Shuiyun’s face.

It was a red-haired man, his long hair shimmered slightly in the dark.

Flamboyant, yet very attractive.

He bathed in the partiality of moonlight, turned to look at Ming Shuiyun, and asked, "Do you have a sword sheath?"

Ming Shuiyun shook her head, "No."

"Good, then you have one now."