Don’t Cause Trouble Chapter 81: Second Bloom

The power of the Pressure Bomb Array far exceeded that of ordinary talisman formations. Not only did it leave Ye Su with external injuries, but even her spiritual core was affected.

Yi Xuan’s pill was of excellent quality. After taking it, her physical wounds healed very quickly. However, Ye Su could still clearly feel that her spiritual core hadn't recovered. On the surface, she acted like nothing was wrong. When she returned to rest, she even sat down with Xia Er and the others to tally up how many magical items they'd sold.

She sat at the table, pulled over a teacup, and chatted casually with Ming Liu Sha and the others. As she spoke, she shelled some sunflower seeds and dropped the kernels into the cup.

"Once we get the pass token, we’ll head straight to Kunlun for the sect competition. We won’t be coming back for a long time," Ye Su said to Ming Liu Sha. "Send half the spirit stones we’ve earned these past few days to Qianji Sect."

"Got it," Ming Liu Sha nodded and took note of it all.

"Senior Sister, are your injuries really okay now?" Xia Er asked nervously, unable to completely hide his concern.

Ye Su shelled the last sunflower seed, pushed the teacup over to You Fushi, and looked at Xia Er. "I’m fine. Watching how other cultivators fight is actually good for you all."

A weapon refiner needs to be familiar with all kinds of magical items. This preliminary competition was the perfect opportunity, there were so many sword cultivators, each with their own unique style, and plenty of cultivators using different artifacts. Watching them would benefit Ming Liu Sha and Xiyu a lot.

You Fushi lowered his gaze to the teacup in front of him, now filled with sunflower seed kernels. He stared at it for a while, unmoving.

"Senior Sister, we’ll get going first," Xiyu stood up and left together with Ming Liu Sha and Xia Er.

Once they had gone, Ye Su turned to see that the contents of the cup hadn't been touched. "Not tasty?"

"I don’t know," You Fushi pushed the cup back to her. "It’s yours."

At that moment, Senior Sister finally understood what Little Junior Brother had meant earlier. "You… brought this for me?"

You Fushi said nothing. He lay halfway down on the table, using his arm as a pillow, and after a while murmured in a bored tone, "Ye Su, when does the preliminary round end?"

"Another twenty days or so. It’ll be over soon." Ye Su looked at the sunflower seeds in the cup and let out a quiet laugh. She had thought Little Junior Brother was asking her to shell them for him.

She picked up one of the kernels and popped it into her mouth. Then she picked up another and held it to Little Junior Brother’s lips. "Try it."

You Fushi lifted his eyelids, his jet-black eyes staring directly at Ye Su for a moment. Then he let her place the seed in his mouth.

"Is it good?" Ye Su asked with a smile.

"There’s not much spiritual energy," You Fushi thought for a second, then added, "but it tastes good."

"These are the cheapest kind, very fragrant. Once we’ve got money, we can try sunflower seeds infused with spiritual energy." Ye Su stood up. "I’m going to rest. If you want to compete, go ahead, or take a day off."

Once she stepped into her room and shut the door behind her, she coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Ye Su wiped it away and staggered over to the bed, where she sat down and entered meditation.

Looking inward, she saw that her spiritual core was dim and lifeless. She had overdrawn her spiritual energy while setting up the array on the arena, this was what directly led to the damage.

She hadn’t even finished scanning her spiritual core when she suddenly noticed part of it had collapsed.

"…"

A corner of her spiritual core had caved in?

The golden glow that usually shrouded it made it look like a constantly expanding domed roof but now, a piece of that roof was missing, as though something had burst outward from within.

Ye Su was stunned for a long moment. In the end, she could only crush a few high-grade spirit stones and begin the difficult task of repairing it.

Looks like she’d need to rest for a while longer, this Pressure Bomb Array was just too damaging to the user.

……

The healing process took over twenty days. During that time, Ming Liu Sha and the others waited anxiously outside the door every day.

Only when Ye Su finally came out, looking unharmed, did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Senior Sister, if you didn’t come out soon, the preliminaries would’ve ended!" Xiyu said quickly. "There’s still time. If you go now, you can still catch a match!"

By the time Ye Su returned to the competition grounds, her score was still the same, but her rank had already dropped significantly. The top part of the rankings on the stone tablet had already stabilized, and there was now a large gap between the top and the lower half.

You Fushi, Lian Lian, Cheng Huaian, along with Xu Chengyu and Yi Xuan, were all within the top ten. Looking down the list, the names of cultivators from Sword Sect and the Wuxing Sect appeared the most frequently.

Ye Su glanced at her own score. It really was far behind.

"Over here!" Zhou Yun, sharp-eyed, spotted her and quickly waved. "There’s still one open mixed competition platform, hurry up and win one match. You have to move fast, there’s not much time left!"

These past few days, they had gone to check on Ye Su multiple times, but worried she was in the middle of a breakthrough, they hadn’t dared to disturb her. Now that the preliminaries were nearly over, they were afraid she wouldn’t earn the entry token.

"I know." Ye Su gave the ranking stone a quick glance and prepared to leap onto the platform.

Without warning, You Fushi appeared and silently shoved the Mistflower Fang into her hands.

Ye Su held it and raised an eyebrow. "Willing to give it back now?"

"Let you use it first," You Fushi said boldly, as if the Mistflower Fang already belonged to him.

"Fine," Ye Su replied, taking the artifact and heading up.

It was the final day. Most cultivators had stopped competing to avoid losing points. Everyone in this match was here for one last shot. Surprisingly, there were eleven Golden Core stage cultivators.

Ye Su, only early-stage Golden Core, was completely unremarkable among them.

A tall mid-stage Golden Core cultivator stood on the platform, full of confidence.

He’d had bad luck in the prelims, running into powerful opponents in every match, and had lost all his points. After working hard to earn some back, this match was his last chance, he was determined to win!

Elsewhere on the platform, two talisman cultivators exchanged a glance, ready to team up and eliminate everyone else so they could split the points.

As the match began, everyone had their own ideas. Ye Su didn’t bother with any tricks. She simply began sweeping across her corner, striking anyone she met and throwing talismans like they were free.

Sword cultivators didn’t have as many talismans as she did, and talisman cultivators didn’t have as many magic artifacts. One by one, they were knocked out.

A few Golden Core cultivators saw this and immediately decided to gang up on Ye Su.

"Senior Sister, time’s almost up!" Xia Er shouted from below. "Just finish them quickly!"

Ye Su tilted her head slightly to glance down at him, seemingly unaware that several opponents were charging her. But her finger touched the Mistflower Fang, and with a slight movement—

The black-gold bracelet instantly shot out threads of ice spider silk. The strands exploded midair into a misty veil like fine rain, covering the platform in a beautiful but eerie haze. Just as it reached her enemies, the mist stretched and transformed—countless fine serpents with gaping mouths lunged at them. With fog everywhere, there was nowhere to run!

Moments earlier, the cultivators had admired the beauty of the delicate fog. Now they were being bitten from all directions by ghostly serpents, panicked and scrambling to escape.

Ye Su flitted to their sides like a phantom, giving them each a final shove.

"…What kind of magic artifact is that?" Zhou Yun stared wide-eyed at the scene. "Is it for sale?"

Ye Su jumped down from the platform and smiled. "This one’s not for sale."

"Oh no!" Ming Liu Sha cried, alarmed. "Senior Sister, you’re still one point short. Someone just replaced the thousandth spot!"

Ye Su froze. The competition was almost over. No one else was getting onstage now.

Suddenly, You Fushi grabbed Ye Su and dragged her onto a nearby two-person platform. He turned to the officiating cultivator and said, "We’re competing."

"Right now?" The officiator had just begun to speak—

You Fushi stepped off the platform again. "I forfeit."

Before the officiator could react, he stepped back on. "Competing."

Then immediately stepped off again. "Forfeit."

Second Bloom.

The officiator: "…"