Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 82: Entry Token

As soon as You Fushi forfeited, Ye Su’s name jumped onto the last spot on the ranking stone tablet. At the same time, the bell signaling the end of the preliminaries rang out.

—It was over.

"She made it! She made it!" Xiyu excitedly patted Ming Liu Sha next to her.

Xia Er was actually wiping tears from her eyes. "That was way too hard."

Zhou Yun: "...Who exactly are you saying had it hard?"

Didn’t you see the referee’s face turn green? And you're still fanning the flames?

With so many participants in these preliminaries, it was common for some sects to rig fights between their own disciples to boost scores. Loose cultivators usually got the short end of the stick. Though after the mixed matches started, many of them also began forming alliances. But for the officiating cultivator, this was the first time seeing someone blatantly, shamelessly, and boldly rig a match!

No—correction—they didn’t even fake the match!

That guy hadn’t even walked to the center of the platform. He just stood on the edge of the stage, went up and down twice, and forfeited both times!

"You two are unbelievable!" the officiator pointed a finger hard at You Fushi and Ye Su. "You didn’t even bother to pretend!"

"Forfeiting is a valid action under competition rules," Xu Chengyu said, walking over from the other side.

The officiator recognized him right away—the lead disciple of the Sword Sect. "He forfeited twice!"

"There’s also no rule against forfeiting more than once," Xu Chengyu replied. Seeing that Ye Su had made it into the top thousand, he finally let out a sigh of relief. He and Yi Xuan had been regretting joining that mixed match earlier, they thought she wouldn’t wake up until after the prelims ended.

"In any case, this kind of behavior is outrageous!" the officiator snapped. He was definitely going to report this. This sort of misconduct had to be prevented from happening again next time!

They didn’t even bother faking a fight!

"That’s enough." A Sword Sect elder flew over on his sword. "It was within the rules, so it’s not a violation."

"...But these people are going to the main tournament," the officiator tried to protest. Sometimes you had to turn a blind eye, but this was going too far.

"The one who forfeited is ranked first on the stone tablet," the elder whispered, pulling the officiator aside. "And the one standing on the platform, she’s the one who blew up the arena the other day."

Hearing "blew up the arena," the officiator froze, then quickly turned serious. "It was them?"

"Yes. So now you can rest easy, right? Better than others at least, at least they won’t embarrass the Eastern sector," the elder said.

The Sect Tournament wasn’t just a contest between individual sects, it also represented the reputations of the four directions: East, South, West, and North. For example, in the West, there was the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect and the most powerful independent sect of all: Kunlun.

Because of this, cultivators from the West naturally had more status and fame than those from the other directions.

In other words, the thousand people who qualified and received entry tokens weren’t just representing their own sects, they also subtly represented the reputation of all cultivators from the Eastern region.

That’s why, as long as the competing disciples were strong enough, even if their scores were a little "padded," as long as it wasn’t too outrageous, officiators usually turned a blind eye.

The officiator coughed a few times, then said to You Fushi and Ye Su, "The match is over. Why are you two still standing here? Go get your entry tokens!"

"Ye Su, let’s go!" Xu Chengyu shouted from below.

Ye Su stepped down from the stage and casually pulled You Fushi, who was standing on the steps, along with her as they walked toward the stone tablet.

"It was so close. One more misstep and you wouldn’t have gotten the entry token," Xia Er said with lingering fear.

"We should thank little junior brother," Ye Su let go of his hand, turned to look at You Fushi, and smiled.

At the time, the mixed match platform she joined was the very last one. Even the two-person platforms had no more matches going on.

Ye Su’s first instinct had been to look at Zhou Yun, who wasn’t in a match. In that split second, countless ideas flashed through her mind, how she could quickly defeat her.

Same score, so the deciding factor would be number of wins. Except for the match where she blew up the platform, Ye Su hadn’t lost any others. Just one more win would be enough.

Still, no one expected You Fushi to act so fast.

"I’m first, you’re last," You Fushi looked at the names on the stone tablet, quite pleased. If he was here, then this mortal had to be too.

As they neared the stone tablet, Lü Jiu immediately waved at them. "Over here!"

Lian Lian stood beside him and said to Ye Su, "I thought you wouldn’t make it."

"Got lucky," Ye Su replied.

"Being surrounded front and back by your Qianji Sect… makes the Wuxing Sect’s name feel a little less dazzling," Lian Lian said thoughtfully.

On the stone tablet showing the top thousand, names from the Wuxing Sect and Sword Sect were interwoven throughout, especially in the upper-middle rankings. But no matter how you looked at it, top-down or bottom-up, the sect you noticed first was always the Qianji Sect.

Ye Su raised an eyebrow. "I don’t mind if you join the Qianji Sect."

"I’ll pass," Lian Lian said, looking up at the ranking board.

The top ten names, listed from top to bottom, were: You Fushi, Lian Lian, Xu Chengyu, Cheng Huaian, Yi Xuan, Lü Jiu, Zhou Yun, Ma Congqiu, Zhang Shan, and Li Si.

Aside from the sudden appearance of three Qianji Sect disciples, the rest were still entirely Sword Sect and Wuxing Sect members, as usual.

"With the preliminaries over, one thousand cultivators will receive entry tokens to go to Kunlun and take part in the Grand Tournament," Sword Sect’s sect master Zhou Qi hovered in the air. With a slight wave of his hand, his spiritual power blanketed the entire arena. "The jade token in your hand is your entry pass."

In an instant, countless jade tokens in the arena shattered. Only the tokens held by those who made it onto the stone tablet began to glow, and the text on them changed.

Ye Su looked down at the token in her hand:【Entry Token: Ye Su, Qianji Sect】

"On June 14th, the Grand Tournament will be held in Kunlun. You all have nearly half a month to report in," Zhou Qi’s gaze swept across the young cultivators below. He wondered how many prodigies would emerge this year.

Every year, Kunlun's overwhelming presence left other sects without much of a chance. And this year, Kunlun had someone even more terrifying—Lu Chenhan.

To be honest, a few years ago, there were rumors in private that he had met with misfortune. All the major sects had secretly breathed a sigh of relief. No one expected him to return unscathed and with even faster cultivation progress.

Although Lian Lian of the Wuxing Sect was also in the mid-Nascent Soul stage, compared to Lu Chenhan, who could already slay Sky Demons, there was still quite a significant gap between them.

As for You Fushi, currently ranked first on the stone tablet, Zhou Qi hadn’t really taken him seriously. Throughout the two-month-long preliminaries, it was that Chongming Sword doing all the work. If the sword didn’t have a spirit of its own, who knew what rank You Fushi would’ve ended up with?

He figured the boy was probably just average.

He couldn’t understand what strange fate led You Fushi to be able to draw that sword.

A good sword ending up with a mediocre cultivator, this wasn’t unheard of in the cultivation world. Besides, this was a demon sword, known for its ability to seduce and corrupt hearts.

Zhou Qi swept his gaze over the young disciples below. Their faces were more or less filled with hope. He sighed inwardly, judging by this round of preliminaries, there were almost no disciples who could hold a candle to Lu Chenhan.

It wasn’t that these disciples weren’t good. Whether it was Xu Chengyu or the newly arrived disciples from allied sects, their potential far outstripped previous years. Even the two personal disciples from the Wuxing Sect—Cheng Huaian and Lian Lian were in realms far above their predecessors.

—It was just that Lu Chenhan of Kunlun was too strong.

Zhou Qi collected his thoughts and said aloud, "The road ahead is long. I wish all of you success and victory in the grand tournament."

The cultivators who had received their entry tokens were overjoyed, congratulating one another. For a time, the competition grounds bustled with excitement.

Zhou Qi retracted his spiritual power, folded his hands behind his back, and lightly landed with a tap of his toe. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ye Su and paused slightly, he had almost forgotten this disciple from Qianji Sect. Her conduct had some weight to it, but her cultivation level was simply too low.

"There’s a 14-day check-in window. Senior Sister, are we going to take a teleportation array?" Xia Er squeezed in to ask. "It’s really far. Flying by sword might be too rushed."

"Is…the teleportation array…expensive?" Ming Liu Sha was most concerned about this.

Xu Chengyu smiled. "If you don’t mind, you’re welcome to ride the Sword Sect’s flying vessel with us."

"We do belong to our own sect. It doesn’t seem quite proper to ride another sect’s flying vessel," Xiyu said thoughtfully.

Ye Su seemed to consider something. "Brother Xu, can we disembark midway?"

"You can hop off when we’re near Kunlun," Xu Chengyu said, completely understanding.

In past years, the flying vessels used during the Sect Tournament had become a way for major sects to compete in style and grandeur.

"In that case, we’re grateful," Ye Su said, bowing slightly with cupped fists.

"It’s nothing." Xu Chengyu suddenly remembered something, leaned closer, and said quietly, "A few days ago, your junior brother went to find Elder Xin to ask a medical cultivator to check on you."

Surprise flashed across Ye Su’s face. She instantly guessed it must’ve been Yi Xuan.

"But Elder Xin just stood outside your door and took one look before saying your aura was calm and steady. No need for a medical cultivator," Xu Chengyu explained. "So we thought you were in seclusion, trying to make a breakthrough."

But when Ye Su finally came out, she was still in early Core Formation stage.

"It wasn’t a breakthrough," Ye Su waved it off casually. "My spiritual core collapsed."

Xu Chengyu tilted his head, unsure if he heard correctly. "What collapsed?"

"My spiritual core," Ye Su replied, reaching out to stop a cultivator who nearly bumped into her. "It’s no big deal. I’ve already fixed it."

Xu Chengyu: "???"

While he was still trying to process what "spiritual core collapse" meant, Yi Xuan walked over from somewhere nearby and opened his hand to show his jade token. "I got my entry token."

Seeing him reminded Ye Su of what Xu Chengyu had just said. "Junior Brother, thanks for arranging the medical cultivator."

Yi Xuan held the jade token and averted his gaze, looking a little uneasy. "Back at Qianji Sect, you helped me too."

He was referring to the time right after he’d built his foundation.

Ye Su recalled that and laughed lightly. "You’ve changed a lot."

Suddenly, You Fushi’s hand reached in between the two of them. He shoved his jade token into Ye Su’s hand and declared confidently, "You hold onto it."

Yi Xuan: "…"

For a moment, he was tempted to hand his token to Ye Su too but in the end, he held back. He was, after all, a sane man with principles unlike You Fushi.

At the same time the Eastern region’s preliminaries ended, the competitions in the other regions also concluded. The names of the 4,000 cultivators who earned entry tokens were released across every communication channel in the cultivation world.

This year’s preliminaries drew the most attention in two regions.

The first was the East. Surprisingly, the first-place winner wasn’t from the Wuxing Sect or the Sword Sect but from Qianji Sect.

At the sight of those three words, everyone in the cultivation world had the same first thought: that formerly glorious, now near-defunct sect known more for mooching and broken artifacts.

Their second thought: which idiot sect would use that cursed name again?

Then they looked it up and realized. Nope, it really was the original Qianji Sect, the infamous artifact-crafting moochers.

Apparently, one of their disciples even sold magical artifacts during the matches. At first, that sounded absurd. But once you heard "Qianji Sect," suddenly it made perfect sense.

The other big news came from the West not about rankings, but something major from the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect.

—A new Buddha Child had appeared—