Chapter 4199 — The Tournament Begins

"Angry? Angry about what? Why on earth would I be angry?" Shangguan Lan'er gave him a puzzled look, then went on, bright and bubbling with excitement, "This is wonderful! I'm going to see for myself right now!"

With that, Shangguan Lan'er grabbed little Curly Bear by the paw and set off at a light, springy pace toward the Welcome Pavilion, leaving Xu Lingchong and Meng Zhou standing slack-jawed, their mouths hanging open for a long while.

"Chongchong, has that Shangguan Lan'er gone muddled with rage? Or is she just a silly girl through and through?" Meng Zhou could not help but twitch at the corner of his mouth.

From the cheerful spring in her step, she hardly looked to be putting on an act—and besides, a pampered young lady like her could not possibly harbor such depths of scheming or such skill at playacting.

"Maybe so..." Xu Lingchong was equally speechless. He stood frozen for a good while before giving his head a vigorous shake. "Forget it, never mind that silly girl! Brother Meng, the inner sect tournament is nearly upon us. The two of us had best hurry back and cultivate in tandem. The inner sect disciples are a gathering of the finest, and at our present strength, if we don't hone our rapport to perfection, shining brilliantly is going to be a tall order."

"Mm, mm, right you are, Chongchong. Let's head back and cultivate together this instant. At this inner sect tournament, we swear to stun them all with a single showing!" Meng Zhou's fighting spirit surged on the spot.

The inner sect tournament was not only the perfect stage for Xu Lingchong to declare his triumphant return—it was also the chance for Meng Zhou, or more precisely, for the Meng Zhou whose very nature had been transformed, to make his first appearance before the whole of the Tri-Layer Pavilion. There was no room for failure!

With that, the two of them departed hand in hand, leaving behind the passersby, who stared at their far-too-intimate backs and pointed, whispering among themselves.

Light of foot the whole way, Shangguan Lan'er arrived at Wei Zhao's cave dwelling, little Curly Bear in tow, and triggered the formation at its entrance.

Inside, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, still hard at practice with the Savage Fire Eight-Trigram Joint Strike Palm, exchanged a glance, thinking Xu Lingchong and Meng Zhou had come back, thieving hearts still unrepentant. To their surprise, the door opened on Shangguan Lan'er.

"Sister Xiaotao, so you really are here at our little junior brother's place!" Shangguan Lan'er flung her arms around Huang Xiaotao in delight.

"Really? Little senior sister, how did you know Xiaotao was here with me?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.

"Mmm. I ran into that insufferable pest Xu Lingchong on the way here, and he told me," Shangguan Lan'er said, wrinkling her nose adorably.

"Heh. The fellow really is a sly one—and a gossipy old woman to boot." Wei Zhao smiled faintly. Xu Lingchong's intent was plain at a glance. But judging by Shangguan Lan'er's reaction, he had picked the wrong person entirely for his sowing of discord.

"That's exactly why I call him an insufferable pest!" Shangguan Lan'er stuck out her tongue, then swept a glance around and saw traces of true qi running wild everywhere. Curious, she asked, "Sister Xiaotao, what have you and our little junior brother been doing here? Fighting?"

"No, nothing like that. He and I have been drilling together, getting ready for the inner sect tournament coming up," Huang Xiaotao explained, her face flushing.

In her eyes, Shangguan Lan'er had always been Wei Zhao's rightful girlfriend. True, it was Shangguan Lan'er herself who had been playing matchmaker between her and Wei Zhao, but even so, the present situation still gave her an odd feeling. Thank goodness she was dressed—otherwise it would have been even more awkward, and she would have had no face left to show anyone.

"The inner sect tournament? Sister Xiaotao, are you entering the inner sect tournament too?" Shangguan Lan'er asked, astonished. She never paid attention to such matters, but even she knew that only Golden Core stage disciples were eligible for the inner sect tournament—that was the most basic threshold.

"That's right. The inner sect tournament includes a team battle, and Wei Zhao was short a partner, so he asked me to join. And he even helped raise my strength to the Golden Core stage!" Huang Xiaotao said frankly.

"Truly? That's wonderful!" Shangguan Lan'er had never known what scheming was; she was genuinely happy for Huang Xiaotao. But a moment later, envy and excitement both: "Our little junior brother actually has such amazing powers, that he can raise someone's strength too? Then hurry and make me a Golden Core expert as well, so Grandfather won't nag me to cultivate every single day!"

Wei Zhao was caught between laughter and tears at this. If he rashly boosted Shangguan Lan'er's strength, it would inevitably alert Shangguan Tianxia, and then the secret would not keep. Besides, even if he wanted to, he would at least need the right conditions for it.

"Little senior sister, to become a Golden Core expert, you first have to have a Golden Core ready—I don't have one on hand. We'll have to wait until I find one," Wei Zhao could only say with a smile. Something as rare as the Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruit came by chance and could not be sought; even someone of Shangguan Lan'er's standing would not ordinarily have one.

"Is that so? Well, all right then, we'll talk about it later. I'm in no hurry anyway." Shangguan Lan'er nodded. Her sudden talk of this had been purely a whim; if Shangguan Tianxia had not been constantly pressing her to cultivate, she would never have thought of raising her strength, much less of becoming some Golden Core expert.

"Oh, right—Sister Xiaotao just said you two were drilling. Drilling what, exactly? I want to see!" Shangguan Lan'er said, brightening again.

Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao exchanged a glance and promptly resumed their practice of the Savage Fire Eight-Trigram Joint Strike Palm, while Shangguan Lan'er cheerfully ad-libbed as on-the-spot judge—though this judge was hardly a professional one, only ever able to clap and cheer like little Curly Bear.

……………………

After five days of preparation, the inner sect tournament finally raised its curtain in earnest.

The North Island arena was packed with a sea of heads. Wei Zhao was startled to find that the crowd today was plainly far larger than five days ago—the inner sect core disciples, plus those outer sect disciples whose strength had already reached the Golden Core stage. By rough count, the total came to nearly two hundred, nearly double what he had seen before!

But on second thought, Wei Zhao understood. Five days ago had merely been a customary announcement; many deeply seasoned inner sect disciples had long grown inured to such formalities, and so long as they knew the rules, there was no harm in not showing up.

Today, however, was the real fighting. If they failed to appear now, they would simply be deemed to have forfeited—and that was a problem far too grave to permit; come they must, whether they wished to or not.

Looking at so many Golden Core experts gathered in one place, Wei Zhao could not help but feel a secret shock. It seemed he had still underestimated the depths of the North Island Tri-Layer Pavilion. Compared with some of the top sects of the Middle Island, such depths were not merely on par—they surpassed them!

It was only that these Golden Core experts were either out on high-level missions or simply in secluded cultivation, and very rarely came out to move about, so they were hard to spot in ordinary times—which was why he had never felt it so keenly before.