387: Chapter 31: Confrontation with Zhang Lingyu

The next morning, the sky was bright and clear.

Wang Ye leaned against a large tree, panting heavily as he rested.

Seeing Meng Li standing on his Flying Sword, having chased and 'attacked' him all night without even getting flushed or out of breath, looking as leisurely as ever, Wang Ye inwardly cursed him a freak. Then, with a weak voice, he said, "I've used every trick I know all night. Are you satisfied now?"

"It's about time. Hurry up and go to your match."

His tone carried a hint of resentment towards the end.

Noticing this, Meng Li chuckled lightly. "Don't act like a wronged little wife."

"I asked you to demonstrate the Qimen Formation, but you immediately used Luanjin Dun on me. Wasn't that just you wanting to exchange a few moves and gauge my strength? Then you found your biggest trump card couldn't pin me down and wanted to stop. Since when does the world have such a good deal?"

Wang Ye glanced at him but didn't refute it.

Meng Li beckoned, recalling his two Flying Swords, and stretched lazily. "Still, all this messing around aside, I won't let you suffer for nothing."

As he spoke, he took out a small brocade pouch from his pocket and tossed it to Wang Ye.

"What's this, a 'brocade sack of clever schemes'?" Wang Ye caught it reflexively, a look of confusion on his face.

Meng Li shook his head with a smile. "No. After watching your Qimen Formation at the competition grounds last time, I had a sudden impulse and did a divination. I didn't manage to divine the specific Qimen Spell you used, but I did divine some things related to you."

"When you return from this trip, you'll encounter some trouble. The information inside is what I divined about it."

"Consider it your reward for a hard night's work."

"Whether you look at it, believe it, that's up to you."

"Off to my match."

With those words, he stepped onto his Flying Sword and flew towards the competition arena.

Wang Ye watched Meng Li's receding figure, scratched his head, then turned his gaze to the brocade pouch in his hand.

After pondering for a few seconds, he opened the pouch. Seeing a piece of paper inside, he directly took it out and unfolded it to read.

Upon clearly seeing the contents, Wang Ye frowned, feeling a massive headache coming on.

There were only two lines of text.

Trouble: Two of The Ten Elders, affecting your family.

Solution: Everywhere Connect, Zhang Chulan, Feng Baobao.

A moment later, Wang Ye crumpled both the paper and the pouch into dust, stood up, and left, leaving only a sigh behind: "My peaceful days are over."

...

Meanwhile, after Meng Li flew into the competition arena on his sword, he soon saw his opponent — Zhang Lingyu!

Regarding this, Meng Li felt a tinge of regret.

In his first life, he had read quite a few under one person fanfictions. Whenever the protagonist participated in the Luotian Grand Ritual, nine times out of ten they were arranged to thoroughly beat up that arrogant fixture of a villain, Wang Bing. For some, beating him in the match wasn't enough; they'd even take advantage of his injuries afterward to secretly finish him off.

The reason was simple: the match between Wang Bing and Feng Xingtong had garnered too much hatred.

Not only was his attitude extremely arrogant, forcibly snatching the 'borrowed' Liu Kunsheng from Feng Xingtong, but even when Feng Xingtong was ready to concede, Wang Bing, having gained the upper hand, refused to show mercy, severely injuring her. In the end, he even caused Wang Zizhong to suffer Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

Among these actions, the arrogant attitude and forcibly snatching Liu Kunsheng weren't that big a deal. But the subsequent refusal to show mercy despite having won was somewhat beyond the pale.

The Luotian Grand Ritual is an open and aboveboard competition, emphasizing stopping at the appropriate point. This is an unspoken rule.

Accidentally injuring someone during the process is one thing, but deliberately trying to finish off an opponent who intends to concede is tantamount to breaking the rules and challenging the bottom line.

It even carries the suspicion of trying to sabotage the host's event.

Therefore, in the original plot, when Rongshan, the ninth Disciple of Zhang Zhiwei, stopped Wang Bing from attacking the unconscious Feng Xingtong, he directly pinched Wang Bing's hand, leaving a black mark. He even bluntly stated that if Wang Bing wasn't satisfied, he could have a go with him.

This was both a warning and an expression of dissatisfaction.

Though arrogant and domineering, Wang Bing wasn't stupid. Seeing the black mark on his hand and knowing he was no match for Rongshan, he didn't accept the offer. He just shouted a few provocations before leaving.

However, the thorough beating he invited due to his arrogance and rule-breaking, though delayed, eventually arrived.

In the semifinal match, an equally furious Zhang Lingyu took the opportunity to give Wang Bing a severe beating, confining him to bed for a long time afterward.

Now that Wang Bing's opponent was changed to Zhang Chulan, his outcome probably wouldn't be any better, and might even be worse.

Because Zhang Chulan has a darker heart than Zhang Lingyu.

Moreover, Wang Ai, coveting the Qi Source Flow, had recently pressured Zhang Chulan together with Lü Ci.

Not to mention, for Zhang Chulan to uncover the truth, he must win the competition.

With all these factors combined, it would be strange if Zhang Chulan let Wang Bing off easily.

Just as Meng Li finished these thoughts, the referee on the high platform loudly announced, "The match begins!"

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Lingyu below activated the Golden Light Mantra, then further shaped his Qi into form.

In an instant, the protective golden light transformed into two stilts-like feet, lifting Zhang Lingyu into the air like a lift platform.

Seeing this move, everyone in the spectator stands was momentarily stunned.

The Golden Light Mantra could be used like this?

Meng Li, however, smiled.

Zhang Lingyu had clearly done his research, which was why he could execute such a move so smoothly right from the start, countering Meng Li's air-to-ground advantage.

In this short time, Zhang Lingyu had already closed the distance. The golden light around his body immediately extended into a long whip, lashing towards Meng Li.

With a thought, Meng Li controlled his Flying Sword, easily dodging it. Then, smiling, he offered Zhang Lingyu a suggestion: "Immortal Master Lingyu, I think you could shape the golden light into wings. Flying directly would be more convenient."

But Zhang Lingyu shook his head. "I've tried that method. I couldn't get airborne."

His level of materialization with the Golden Light Mantra was far from reaching the stage of completely transforming the virtual into the real.

Besides, he was human, not a bird, and wasn't familiar with flying using wings.

In comparison, transforming it into stilts-like feet as he was doing now had higher feasibility.

Having said that, Zhang Lingyu attacked again.

He controlled the golden light stilts to lift himself even higher.

When his position surpassed Meng Li's, dozens of golden light whips extended from his protective aura, forming a giant net in the air large enough to cover the entire arena. Then, with Meng Li at the center, it began rapidly contracting from top to bottom.

Under the dazzling golden light, Zhang Lingyu resembled a heavenly soldier, casting a celestial net to capture Meng Li.

During this, Meng Li tried to retrieve additional Flying Swords from his sword box but was interfered with by the tentacle-like golden light whips.

Clearly, Zhang Lingyu didn't want him to take out more swords.

After all, controlling several swords simultaneously was a completely different scenario from having just one.

At the same time, as the golden light net contracted, Meng Li's room for maneuver kept shrinking.

Seeing this, Meng Li sighed. "Looks like I'll have to get a bit serious."

With those words, he leaped down to the ground.

In the spectator stands, a keen-eyed observer noticed this and couldn't help but exclaim, "The White Sword Immortal actually landed! Is he planning to concede?"

...