58: Chapter 58: Cherish the fragrance and cherish the jade?

"Wang Shouyi can afford to drag this out." Wang Yaowu stared fixedly at the stage.

"His Earth Qi specializes in defense and can borrow strength from the earth. His consumption is only half of Ning Liandie's. If they fight for another stick of incense's time, the one who fails to hold on first definitely won't be him."

Just as Wang Yaowu expected.

After fighting dozens of rounds more, Ning Liandie's breathing gradually became hurried, fine beads of sweat seeped from her temples, and the speed of her attacks slowed down by half a beat.

On the other hand, Wang Shouyi fought steadily and securely. His heavy sword moved with grand and sweeping motions, pressing forward step by step, forcing her to block with all her might with every single strike.

Finally, while dodging, Ning Liandie carelessly took half a step wrong. Wang Shouyi's sword hilt slammed heavily into her shoulder, sending her entire body flying backward. She retreated seven or eight steps before barely steadying herself, a flash of unwillingness crossing her Face.

"You have lost." Wang Shouyi withdrew his sword and stood still, his voice calm.

A Loose Cultivator off the stage could not help crying out: "Wang Shouyi is going to win! A Qi Refining Seventh Layer Cultivator has defeated a Qi Refining Seventh Layer Peak Cultivator!"

Ning Liandie covered her shoulder, and a trace of blood seeped between her fingers.

She raised her head, locking eyes with Hua Shaoyang beneath the stage.

There was no care or worry in that gaze, only a layer of icy anger.

She was too familiar with this look; in the Baihua Sect for two years, she had seen this look countless times.

"Hua Shaoyang feels he has lost Face and is prepared to abandon me. No!"

She took beatings and made a fool of herself for him, but what she got in return was not pity, but the coldness in these eyes.

If she lost today, she would no longer have any value to be utilized in front of Hua Shaoyang, and everything she had traded these past few years by compromising and betraying her lover would turn to nothing.

She took a deep breath, reached into her robe, and pulled out a dark red Medicinal Pill.

The Meridian-Bursting Pill. This Medicinal Pill contained violent Qi, capable of instantly replenishing the remaining Qi in her body and forcefully stimulating it to its Peak. However, the price was that her Meridians would suffer severe pain for days after the pill's effects wore off, and if she had bad luck and her Meridians were damaged, even her cultivation might regress.

Her hands trembled slightly, but when she met Hua Shaoyang's icy gaze once more, all her hesitation turned into ruthlessness.

"I'll fight to the death! As long as I win this round, Hua Shaoyang will owe me a favor. Even if Wang Qingyan enters Hua Shaoyang's bedchamber, I have plenty of methods to keep that woman from raising her head."

She tilted her head back and swallowed the Medicinal Pill.

A violent surge of Qi exploded roaringly within her body, and her surrounding aura surged drastically, recovering to her prime state in the blink of an eye.

An unnatural flush appeared on her Face, and the veins on her forehead bulged slightly—this was a sign that her Meridians could not withstand the impact of the medicinal power.

Yet she gritted her teeth and forcefully straightened her body.

"Surrender?" She raised her hand, and vines shot out from her sleeves once more. Her voice trembled slightly from severe pain, yet it still carried that hateful arrogance, "I haven't lost yet."

Someone on the Wang Family side immediately shouted in anger.

"Taking a pill on the spot? What kind of fair duel is this!" Several Loose Cultivators nearby also chimed in noisily.

Great Elder Ning Shengkui, however, sneered. He stood up unhurriedly, cupped his fists toward the surroundings, and said: "Before the duel started, nobody said that taking Medicinal Pills was forbidden. Medicinal Pills are a part of a Cultivator's strength. If your Wang Family has any, feel free to use them."

Wang Yaowu wore a cold Face and stopped his clansmen who still wanted to argue. Trying to reason with the Ning Family about rules was useless.

On the stage, Wang Shouyi remained as steady as a mountain.

He did not press the attack, merely holding his heavy sword horizontally before him. Earth-yellow Qi poured endlessly into his body from the soles of his feet, covering his body surface with a thicker layer of rock armor.

Ning Liandie's offensive was like a violent storm. Vines, wood spikes, and Qi longwhips took turns attacking, smashing the bluestone slabs of the stage into pieces inch by inch.

Wang Shouyi retreated again and again. His rock armor shattered and reformed, reformed and shattered, yet he always stood firmly on the stage like a wall that could never be pushed down.

A stick of incense's time passed.

Gaps began to appear in Ning Liandie's offensive—first, her vines were half an inch slower when retracting, and then her wood spikes deviated in accuracy by two points.

Wang Shouyi did not let these openings slip. His heavy sword began to counterattack, gradually shifting from a three-seven defensive stance to a fifty-fifty equilibrium, and then from a fifty-fifty equilibrium to a sixty-forty offensive stance.

Ning Liandie was forced back repeatedly by him. Her footsteps grew increasingly chaotic, her breathing became rougher and heavier, and the veins on her forehead had transformed from bulging to protruding. Every circulation of Qi felt like knives scraping through her Meridians.

Another stick of incense's time passed.

The Qi inside Ning Liandie's body was exhausted once again, and even the medicinal power of the Meridian-Bursting Pill had been squeezed dry.

Her legs were trembling, her fingers were trembling, and even her lips were trembling. Her magical power was gone, her stamina was gone, and the aftereffects of the Meridian-Bursting Pill were gnawing at her Meridians inch by inch.

She looked at the man opposite her who remained as firm as a rock, and an unprecedented panic surged in her heart—she was really going to lose.

Suddenly, Ning Liandie's eyes darted, and a smile appeared at the corners of her lips.

That laughter was very light and soft, making her feel like a completely different person from the sharp and ruthless Ning Liandie of just a moment ago.

She no longer forced herself to hold on, instead withdrawing all the Qi on her body. That layer of protective wood Qi also slowly dissipated, revealing her fragrant, sweat-drenched neck and collarbone beneath.

She tilted her head slightly, allowing a wisp of sweat-dampened hair to cling to her cheek. As her gaze shifted, she unexpectedly gained a few parts of pitiful charm.

"Young Master Wang," her voice suddenly turned soft and tender, her ending notes slightly lifting with a trace of an elusive gasp, "You hurt this humble one so much. Can't you... be a little gentler?"

The tip of her tongue spun between her teeth and gently licked her lips, as if acting coquettishly.

She bent over slightly, opening her collar a fraction to reveal a section of snowy-white skin inside. A few crystalline beads of sweat clung to her collarbone, undulating slightly with her light pants.

She raised her eyes, fine tear droplets clinging to her eyelashes, and looked at Wang Shouyi. There was not a shred of hostility in that gaze.

"Young Master Wang, this humble one is merely a weak woman. As a dignified man, why must you fuss over me? If you are willing to show mercy, this humble one... this humble one will remember you for a lifetime."

The area under the stage fell silent for a moment.

The Loose Cultivators looked at each other in dismay. Some watched until their earlobes turned red and quickly looked away, while others secretly spat and cursed under their breath, calling her shameless.

Still other young Loose Cultivators stared with straight eyes, their Adam's apples bobbing up and down, until they were slapped awake by their companions beside them.

An old Loose Cultivator twirled his beard and shook his head repeatedly: "If you can't win, you can't win. Why resort to a beauty trap? What kind of behavior is this."

Great Elder Ning Shengkui's expression remained unchanged, save for a slight twitch at the corners of his mouth as he averted his gaze to look elsewhere.

Beneath the stage, Wang Yaowu's Face had turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. Wang Qingyan's expression was even more like still water, her fingers gripping her sword hilt tightening unconsciously by three parts as she coldly spat out two words: "Disgusting."

On the stage, Wang Shouyi looked down at Ning Liandie, his heavy sword pausing mid-air.

Ning Liandie felt a surge of joy in her heart—there was a chance.

She hurriedly struck while the iron was hot, softening and alluring her voice even more while squeezing two drops of tears from the corners of her eyes. At the same time, she secretly bit the tip of her tongue, activating the pale pink spiritual rune hidden beneath her tongue.

The Jade Maiden's Alluring Fragrance, a secret technique of the Baihua Sect's female Cultivators. Using one's own vital blood as a guide, it transformed Qi into an invisible and colorless allure fragrance. Unless those who smelled it possessed an extremely firm will, at best it would cause their minds to wander, and at worst it would make them obey the caster's every word.

A faint sweet scent silently permeated from between her disheveled dark hair and sweat-drenched garments, drifting toward Wang Shouyi.

"You little trickster."

Ning Liandie looked at Wang Shouyi's heavy sword suspended in mid-air, a wave of excitement mixed with disdain and pleasure surging in her heart.

During these two years in the Baihua Sect, she hadn't learned many other skills, but these methods of serving men had been learned more or less completely.

When her husband asked her to learn, she learned. At first, she found it disgusting, but later she discovered that these things really worked.

Even a man as haughty and aloof as Hua Shaoyang fell for this trick, so why wouldn't you, Wang Shouyi, a rustic brute who sold fish in the countryside, fall for it too?