In the late afternoon, the competition was coming to an end, and Long Tian had won all the way like he had in the novel. At first, people said that he was just lucky, then they said that it was because his opponents made mistakes, and finally, they said it was because he had a 5-color foundation, so it was normal for him to win against opponents with higher cultivation levels that had 3-color or 4-color foundations.
Listening to the discussions around him, Ye Yong shook his head helplessly. This was the treatment given to male leads- even if the male lead did well, there would always be people who belittled him, suppressed his popularity, and created a feeling that the male lead was not that great. If it was Ye Yong who did well, then people wouldn’t stop praising him. They seemed to be eager for him to be targeted and killed as soon as possible.
What a pain. Ye Yong sighed silently.
“What’s wrong?” Liang Xiao Rou occasionally paid attention to Ye Yong’s expression and noticed that he seemed a bit sad at the moment. “Are you worried about Ye Mao?”
“More or less.”
“Just afraid that he’ll cause trouble?”
“Definitely. He cannot ruin the reputation of the Ye Family.” Ye Yong said indignantly.
“I’ll teach him a lesson?” a sword cultivator senior sister said.
“Yeah, we can always teach him a lesson since we’re in the same hall.”
“No need to trouble you, senior sisters.” Ye Yong shook his head. Depending on others was never reliable. Only by taking matters into his own hands could he change the situation in time. “I already have a plan.”
“You can always rely on us. No need to be reserved.”
“Yeah, there’s no need to be too upset about a brainless member of the clan.” This was said by the sword cultivator senior sister that Ye Mao liked. Fortunately, Ye Mao couldn’t hear them since he was still participating in the martial arts competition. Otherwise, his heart would have been broken. However, he saw that senior sister approaching Ye Yong to talk, which made him burn with anger and feel like he had been betrayed.
While he was distracted, his opponent, who was at the 10th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm, knocked him off the platform, and he lost the qualification to challenge opponents with higher cultivation.
Damn it! Ye Yong, wait for me! Ye Mao’s resentment towards Ye Yong increased again.
…
In the evening, Long Tian became one of the relatively prominent disciples among the many, as he had defeated a cultivator at the 6th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm while only being at the 3rd layer. If this had happened to a young master from a big clan, no one would have found it strange. However, before joining the Heavenly Luo Sect, Long Tian was just a rogue cultivator without any background.
So why was he only relatively prominent despite such achievements? As mentioned earlier, there were always passersby who belittled the male lead, and the key was that their arguments were quite reasonable. Most people heard them and followed suit, so the male lead would become famous, but not entirely in the limelight.
If this were a novel, Ye Yong would definitely feel great with the male lead getting recognition and dislike those who belittle him, thinking that they were narrow-minded. He would want the male lead to gain even more recognition and shut them up. However, in reality, Ye Yong could only envy the male lead. Even when he wasn’t thinking about anything and was just daydreaming, people around him would think that he was coming up with the next big plan to wipe out the demonic sects, and then praise him with a bunch of insincere flattery.
Don’t you know that this kind of atmosphere makes it easy for people to become conceited and lose themselves, which can lead to trouble? Luckily, Ye Yong had read the novel and knew his place. Otherwise, he would really be misled by others and think that he was amazing, was the chosen one, and would go against the male lead, and die tragically.
“The ability testing competition for the new disciples is over.” With the announcement from the steward, the two-day competition came to an end. Just as everyone was preparing to leave, Ye Yong suddenly shouted, “Ye Mao, stop right there.”
If it were anyone else, it wouldn’t have attracted much attention, but since it was Ye Yong who called out, it was different. Everyone stopped and wondered what was happening. Ye Mao was shocked for a bit, and then he thought about what he had done. However, he couldn’t really think of anything. Am I being targeted because I had stared at him a few times this morning?
“What’s up?” Ye Mao turned around and saw Ye Yong walking straight towards him. He had a bad feeling.
“Is this your cultivation achievement since you joined the hall two weeks ago!?” Ye Yong came aggressively and seemed very unhappy.
“Is, is there a problem?” Ye Mao’s voice lowered quite a bit. After consuming the beyond grade Spirit Gathering Pill Ye Yong had given him, he had broken through from the sixth level to the seventh level, and he had just stabilized his foundation a few days ago. He was a bonafide 7th layer Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, and he was quite satisfied with himself. However, now that he was being questioned by Ye Yong, he suddenly lost most of his confidence.
“There’s a huge problem!” Ye Yong looked at him with an expression that said “how do you not understand”. “Think about what mistakes you made in battle!”
Ye Mao didn’t know, but if he had to say something, it was because he was distracted by his crush and Ye Yong getting too close, which led to his defeat. But Ye Mao couldn’t say this, and he stuttered. Although he was older and had a higher seniority than Ye Yong, he looked like a grandson at the moment.
“I’ll tell you what mistakes you made.” Ye Yong had previously drawn a painting for Qin Shi Meng that contained a Nascent Soul Realm’s Sword Intent. To draw sword intent at the level of Nascent Soul Realm, he had to be able to comprehend sword intent at the level of Nascent Soul Realm. Since he had the system store, it wasn’t difficult at all for him to do so. His understanding of the sword had long already reached the Nascent Soul stage, just like his understanding of music and art, and he easily pointed out all the flaws in Ye Mao’s sword moves during the fight.
When the two stewards of the Sword Pavilion Hall heard this, their eyes lit up. Because Ye Mao was Ye Yong’s cousin, they paid special attention to him. The details of the flaws in his sword moves during the fight that they had noticed were exactly the same as what Ye Yong was saying. They believed that Ye Yong’s understanding of the sword had reached at least the mid-stage of Crystallization to be able to discover the flaws. Even though you’re so excellent, why won’t you join our Sword Pavilion Hall?
Ye Mao didn’t dare to retort back. He thought back and realized that what Ye Yong had said was correct, but he felt embarrassed being scolded like this in front of everyone.
“I already taught you many times before joining the sect!”
What did you teach me? When did you teach me? Ye Mao wanted to ask, but when he saw the angry look in Ye Yong’s eyes, he didn’t dare to say a word.
“You call yourself a genius of the Ye Family! And this is your level! The elders of the Ye Family have wasted their efforts on you!”
Ye Mao clenched his fists. Don’t think I won’t dare to fight back if you scold me again!
“Your grandfather repeatedly told me to take good care of you. He hopes that you can become a dragon, but you don’t take it seriously or reflect on your mistakes. Are you not afraid of hurting his feelings?”
He even said that you can kill me! Are my feelings not hurt? Ye Mao’s fists clenched even tighter. If you keep scolding me, I’ll beat you up!
However, Ye Yong scolded him more, but Ye Mao didn’t do anything other than clench his fists tightly. He didn’t even dare to refute him.
Seeing that Ye Mao’s anger had accumulated enough, Ye Yong pretended to sigh helplessly and his tone slowed down. “I’ll give you a chance to challenge me. I won’t use any spiritual power; you can attack me however you want.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Mao suddenly raised his head, and his eyes almost popped out. Such a good thing?! He wanted to tear Ye Yong apart right now, and Ye Yong gave him a chance. Not using any cultivation was equivalent to tying his own hands and letting him beat him up as he pleased.
“Are you serious?” Ye Mao was overjoyed, trying hard to suppress his excitement in his words, afraid that Ye Yong would change his mind.
“A gentleman does not take back his words.” Ye Yong walked up to the fighting stage with his hands behind his back. “Come on.”