Ming Yi’s flowing skirt billowed, its cyan misty pattern momentarily overlapping and transforming with the former sunrise river flower pattern. The once strongest fighter had changed her attire and demeanor, yet remained as upright and dignified as ever.
In the spectator stands, Meng Yangqiu’s eyes reddened. He felt a bit embarrassed, a grown man on the verge of tears. But looking around, he saw many fighters who had participated in the Six-City Conference for six or seven years secretly wiping their eyes.
Ming Xian had been like a god to them. When she suddenly disappeared, many searched desperately, hoping she was at least alive even if she never competed again. A year passed without news, only rumors of her death, ruin, or disability.
They never expected to see her like this, competing again in the Six-City Conference, and as a woman no less.
In this world, no one respected women. Women were seen as inherently weak, and needing protection. But if Ming Xian was a woman…
Amidst their shock, everyone had the same thought – so a woman could achieve Ming Xian’s level.
After a moment of dead silence, the arena erupted in uncontainable excitement.
Ming Yi pulled Ji Bozai along quickly. He thought she must be experiencing complex emotions and was considering how to comfort her when she said: “Don’t dawdle. They’ll surely come to question me soon. Let’s grab food while they’re still in shock.”
The arena’s food featured specialties from all six cities. One had to fetch their preferred dishes, and latecomers might miss out on some options.
Ji Bozai: “…”
Her mind was certainly at ease.
Still, she remembered to hold his hand wherever she went. Looking down, he saw her fair fingers interlaced with his, appearing intimately close.
Smiling slightly, Ji Bozai let her lead him to various food stations, filling their table.
As she predicted, they had barely eaten two bites when a crowd surged in, surrounding their table.
Ji Bozai, not one for reason, immediately dropped a Mingyu to keep people away. He then calmly served Ming Yi: “Try this.”
Having expended much energy in the morning, Ming Yi indulged in a few extra bites of sweet pork knuckle.
Instantly, the pork knuckle at the nearby station was snatched up.
Luo Jiaoyang watched in amusement: “Our Ming Yi is quite popular.”
“Think about how formidable she was before,” Qin Shangwu snorted. “Even all of you together were no match for her.”
“That strong?” Luo Jiaoyang clicked his tongue.
Meng Yangqiu, standing beside him with a plate, sighed: “She’s not just strong. She’s upright and often looks after her teammates. I can’t imagine what methods Chaoyang City used to drive her to this point.”
He glared resentfully toward the Chaoyang City crowd.
The Chaoyang City people hadn’t expected Ming Yi’s single statement to turn everyone against them. They were now met with sidelong glances wherever they went.
Always among the top three cities, they were unaccustomed to such treatment. Deeply frustrated, they could offer no rebuttal.
However, with Ming Xian present, along with Ji Bozai on the same team, what chance did others have at victory?
Yueyue City gathered fighters from all cities except Mustar City.
“At this rate, Mustar City will surely take first place. I’m sure none present wish to see that,” Dan Er frowned. “Our previous cooperation was too loose. For instance, Feihua and Cangxue’s encirclement was never tight enough. Only by working together to eliminate Mustar first, will you have a chance to compete for first place.”
Zheng Tiao listened with a yawn, glancing at the Cangxue City people across from him, who were busy counting their hair strands.
The Yueyue and New Grass City people were enthusiastic: “That makes sense. What’s the plan?”
Dan Er analyzed the habits and tactics of those two, then assigned encirclement routes to each city’s fighters.
However, as soon as Zheng Tiao and the Cangxue City people left the room, they went home to sleep, completely disregarding the plan.
As the bottom three cities, they never had a chance at the top spot. Why help the top three cities? They might benefit as bystanders while Mustar competed fiercely with the others.
Ming Yi had anticipated this thinking. In subsequent battles, she always broke through where Feihua and Cangxue were positioned, winning four consecutive trials.
Qin Shangwu’s furrowed brow finally relaxed. When Ming Yi wanted to bring Fan Yao and Chu He to compete, he didn’t strongly oppose. He had calculated that even after losing this round, they still had a chance at the first place.
But Ming Yi had no intention of losing. Both she and Ji Bozai were highly talented, rapidly improving through each trial. Having figured out most opponents in this year’s Six-City Conference, only by handicapping themselves could they continue to grow stronger.
So while protecting those behind her, she used her Yuan Power to catch the opponents’ purple Yuan Power attacks, gathering them into the Mingyu behind her.
The spectators were stunned by her and Ji Bozai’s actions. Today, they seemed not to be competing, but gathering herbs, even competing to see who could gather more.
The original top three cities indeed tried to encircle them, but for some reason, they still couldn’t defeat or catch these two. It even felt like the pair had become considerably stronger than the day before.
Two people fighting four from other teams seemed unfair, but they had two spirit beasts that others couldn’t summon. These beasts were as lethal as top-tier fighters, especially Ming Yi’s white cat. Looking weak and harmless, its paw could send a person’s lungs flying out.
Its only flaw might be its bad temper, sometimes swiping at the dark dragon too.
After swiping to its heart’s content, it turned and saw its master had gathered less purple Yuan Power in her Mingyu than Ji Bozai. Frustrated, it let out a “meow.”
Startled, the dark dragon immediately shrank away to fight with Ji Qing, avoiding collateral damage.
“Trial ends. Mustar takes first place, with Feihua and Yueyue close behind.”
Zheng Tiao left the arena sweating, eyes bright.
If they won two more trials in the Divine Artifact Hall, Feihua City could enter the top three this year.
However, Chaoyang and Yueyue cities seemed very displeased with him. Besides targeting Ji Bozai, they started targeting him too. It was indeed somewhat hard to handle. If he hadn’t dodged quickly today, he would have been seriously injured too.
Xiu Yun rushed to his side, her eyes slightly red.