133: Chapter 133 What a fool Su Bai is!

For a moment, there was dead silence.

Who was Li Qingyue? A top-tier Card Creator among the Rank 9s! In the entire Dragon Kingdom, the only people who could surpass her were those old monsters. At this moment, if you added everyone in the imperial court together, they probably would not be enough for Li Qingyue to fight.

However, the Empress was present after all.

At this moment, after a brief silence in the court, the crowd quickly began to stir.

"Li Qingyue, even… even if you are a Rank 9 Card Creator, you cannot silence us!"

"That is right, science allows for criticism. So what if you are a Supreme of Time and Space? You would not dare kill us here, would you?"

"Freedom of speech, freedom of speech!!"

Everyone chimed in, and as they spoke, they seemed to become agitated.

At this critical moment, the Empress raised her hand.

The movement was light, but all the arguments in the hall vanished in an instant. The Purple-Robed Chief closed his mocking mouth, the Slick-haired Creator forcibly swallowed his laughter, and the whispering in the back row stopped in the same second.

"Everyone."

The Empress's voice carried no anger, but everyone could hear the weight in those two words. She was the master of all people; she did not need to be angry, she only needed to lift her hand.

Then she turned her gaze toward Li Qingyue.

"Minister Qingyue, I apologize for the rudeness of others; please forgive them."

"Your Majesty, there is no need for that. This is merely a normal academic exchange."

"Even so, they spoke out of turn first… However, I also have some doubts regarding your disciple's system—the Stand system." The Empress considered her wording, seemingly looking for a sufficiently subtle term. "Can you guarantee its combat effectiveness?"

Li Qingyue took a step forward.

Her bare feet stepped on the golden brick floor without making a sound. But everyone felt that step land on their own hearts.

She stood still before the imperial throne. She lifted her eyes, her scarlet pupils meeting the Empress's dark golden gaze directly.

Two 9th-tier Supremes stared at each other across the beaded curtain; one was a peak Card Creator who had fused the three laws of time, space, and causality, and the other was the master of all people holding the supreme authority of the Dragon Kingdom, the Dragon Empress who controlled destiny.

There were no sparks of magic in the air, but everyone in the hall unconsciously held their breath.

Then Li Qingyue's voice exploded.

It was not the kind of blustering elevation, nor was it forced bravado. It was deeper, steadier, like reading out a physical law that had been calculated countless times by the universal balance.

"I, as a core elder of the Truth Sanctuary and a Rank 9 Card Creator, stake my reputation and this child's dignity on this guarantee—"

She paused.

"Su Bai's Stand system has immense combat effectiveness. It far exceeds the limits of what the lords in this hall can imagine right now."

The hall fell silent.

The mockery hanging on the corner of the Purple-Robed Chief's mouth finally vanished. The lingering smile on the Slick-haired Creator's face also completely disappeared. The imperial capital's prodigies in the back row, who were still whispering, shut their mouths one by one. Li Qingyue's tone was simply too certain—so certain that it made a corner of their hearts feel vaguely uneasy.

The Empress looked at Li Qingyue. She was silent for a few seconds.

"…Since Minister Qingyue guarantees it, I will not ask further."

She leaned back against the dragon throne and took a sip of the tea that had already gone cold. When she set the teacup down, a very faint curve appeared at the corner of her mouth. It was not the formulaic smile of a superior. It was more like a child discovering a new toy that they did not understand but seemed very fun.

"Minister Su."

"I am here."

"In half a month, at the VIP seats of the National Competition finals." The Empress held up a finger, "I will be waiting to see your 'JOJO Pose'."

Su Bai looked up to meet the Empress's gaze. There was no mockery or doubt in those dark golden pupils, only a pure curiosity—like looking at a new species placed in a display case with a label that read "Unknown Principle."

"I will not fail your expectations."

Li Qingyue breathed a slight sigh of relief beside him. The fingers clenched inside her sleeves finally loosened. Su Bai caught a glimpse of the red marks on her fingertips caused by her own nails, and thought that when he returned, he would have someone brew a hot cup of tea for his master—though she would likely drink the tea while expressionlessly scolding him countless times.

Then she added, her voice lowered so only Su Bai could hear: "I will settle the score with you later. I have not seen that posing move of yours."

"...Master, did you not say you knew the theoretical framework?"

"The theoretical framework and the actual movement are two different things. You never mentioned to me that you wanted to twist into that shape on the arena."

"I am mentioning it now."

"Shut up."

The Empress waved her hand. Three chimes rang from outside the hall, and the audience concluded.

When Su Bai followed Li Qingyue out of the side hall, the air in the corridor felt at least three atmospheric pressures lighter than inside the hall. The setting sun leaked in through the giant stone pillars outside the hall door, casting the long shadows of the master and disciple onto the golden brick floor.

Li Qingyue did not speak the whole way. It was not until they walked out of the imperial city's main gate that she stopped.

"Su Bai."

"I am here."

"Just now in the hall, dozens of the Dragon Kingdom's top Card Creators pointed at your nose and called you a fraud, said you were a talent whose brilliance had faded, and said you were pandering to the public. You did not refute them?"

"Is refuting them useful?"

Li Qingyue was silent for a beat.

"Not really."

"Then that is that." Su Bai pulled open his school uniform collar to get some air. "During the Monthly Exam, Zhao Dahai said I was a madman. During the training session, Lin Weiwei said I was a pseudoscience amateur. During the exhibition, thirteen guilds jointly boycotted the magical girl card. That time was even worse than this."

"And then?"

"Then Chu Yin vaporized three Rank 9 monsters with one shot, and Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan stepped on President Long Zaiyuan's head and declared that whoever touched her would die." Su Bai tilted his head, his tone as flat as if he were reading a weather forecast. "So I already know the historical script for this group of people—first they curse me as a mental patient, then their faces get swollen from the Stand and the actual combat data, and finally, they line up in the Truth Sanctuary mall, crying and begging me for an exclusive custom card."

Kyubey squatted on his shoulder, its tail sweeping slowly. [Su Bai's prediction accuracy has been one hundred percent so far. It is recommended that Master give full trust.]

Li Qingyue did not look at Kyubey. She turned around and looked at Su Bai earnestly with those scarlet eyes. The setting sun fell on her silver-white hair, gilding her twelve-or-thirteen-year-old silhouette in a layer of pale gold.

"…Do you know how many people in the hall today noted down your name?"

"Forty or fifty?"

"Sixty-seven." Li Qingyue said, "Every single one of them is a figure who can stir up wind and rain in the Card Creator academic world. After they walk out of this door today, you will become the most famous laughingstock in the entire imperial capital. Number one on the trending list, mocked by the entire internet."

"Isn't that just perfect?"

Li Qingyue frowned.

"If I win when the time comes." Su Bai's mouth curled into a subtle arc, "The sound of the face-slapping will be extra loud."

Li Qingyue stared at his face, which was written all over with "I had this planned all along." She was silent for a moment, then she sighed.

"Who exactly did you learn this mouth from?"

"Practiced it myself."

"...I was not complimenting you."

She turned around, the golden light of the universal balance flowing at her fingertips. A narrow spatial rift tore open silently in the air. Before stepping into the rift, she paused and looked back toward the square outside the imperial city. In the far distance in that direction, one could vaguely see a few young Card Creators surrounding the Purple-Robed Chief, their expressions still filled with the mockery of watching a monkey show from the hall earlier.

"I will wait for you at the finals."

Li Qingyue threw out these four words, and her entire figure vanished into the pale golden spatial ripples.

Su Bai took out his phone.

The moment the screen lit up, message notifications from the "Three-Person Card-Making Mutual Aid Group" poured down from the top like an avalanche.

[Zhao Dahai]: [@Su Bai Su Bai Su Bai Su Bai Su Bai!!! I just saw the news push!!! You were summoned by the Empress today, right!! First-class blessing!! Directly secured a spot in the finals!! F*ck f*ck f*ck!!!]

[Zhao Dahai]: [Wait, no. Why does the push title say—[Talent faded? Combat genius Su Bai claims Magical Girl is outdated, new system mocked by the whole hall]???]

[Zhao Dahai]: [What does mocked by the whole hall mean??]

[Lin Xiao]: [Saw the follow-up news. That group of Card Creators in the imperial capital has already cursed you onto the trending list. [JOJO Pose] [Za Warudo] [Wryyyy]. These three terms are now the most searched keywords across the entire platform. About half of the comment section is asking if this is some kind of new mental illness therapy.]

[Su Bai]: [What about the other half.]

[Lin Xiao]: [The other half is asking if there is a cure for this mental illness.]

[Su Bai]: [.]

[Zhao Dahai]: [Why are you still sending a period!! The trending list is being flooded!! The internal forum of the Truth Sanctuary has also exploded!! A Rank 9 elder with the ID [deconstructor of all things] posted a three-thousand-word long article on the forum—the title is "On the Boundary Between Genius and Madman, and a Discussion on the Infeasibility of the Stand System"!!!]

[Su Bai]: [Venerable Qi Yuan?]

[Zhao Dahai]: [How did you know!! He also said that the questions you asked on the forum before were very high-level!! He does not believe you could create such asylum-level designs!! He thinks you must have been threatened by someone to participate in the National Competition!! He says you should go to the Truth Sanctuary immediately to talk to him in person!! He can help you!!!]

Su Bai shoved his phone into his pocket. Qi Yuan still did not know that the "peerless genius" and the "idiot fraud" he spoke of were the same person. However, this time difference probably would not last too long—the moment Qin Ye activated [The World] on the arena of the finals, all misunderstandings would instantly be cleared.

He walked toward the outside of the imperial city. Kyubey's tail swept across his earlobe.

[Su Bai, where are you going.]

"To find Qin Ye, to prepare for the final work."

[Now?]

"Now."

He walked down the white jade stone steps in front of the imperial city. The setting sun dyed him golden from the front, and his shadow dragged extremely long behind him. In the distance on the square, the Purple-Robed Chief surrounding that group of imperial capital prodigies was still gesturing vividly, and the laughter of the Slick-haired Creator could be heard from half a street away.

Su Bai did not look at them. There was only one thing in his mind—half a month left, the National Competition finals were not far away. He needed to max out Qin Ye's Stand control precision, push the duration of [The World]'s Time Stop from a single digit to a double digit, and use actual combat on the arena to slap every mocking mouth in the hall today until they were swollen.

He quickened his pace. Night approached from the distance, swallowing the first wisp of light in the imperial capital.