Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 88: Eating Melon Seeds Together

The drawing of lots took quite some time. After the scroll displayed the names, both contestants had to go up and exchange each other’s admission tokens, because once the match ended, the winner had to crush the loser’s token to signify elimination.

You Fushi drew a rogue cultivator from the western region, ranked near the very bottom, while Yi Xuan drew an opponent ranked somewhere over five hundred in the eastern region.

The sect masters of the five great sects were seated on the high platform of Kunlun’s main hall, while other sect masters sat along the two sides. Several Water Mirror Screens were arranged in the middle, showing everything happening in the arena.

"There aren’t many cases this time where people with close rankings ended up facing each other," Wu Yue rested her head on her hand and said. "Not much good drama to watch."

She remembered one year when there were seven or eight matches between disciples ranked close together right from the start, fighting each other to the bitter end, now that had been lively!

"Those two sitting one behind the other on chairs, they’re disciples of Qianji Sect?" The sect master of Shangque Sect pointed at one of the Water Mirror Screens and asked. "They’re more arrogant than everyone else here."

"They look good, so a bit of arrogance doesn’t hurt," Wu Yue replied casually.

The sect master of Wuxing Sect took a sip of tea and said, "It seems only the Qianji Sect disciples came. For such an important tournament, even their master didn’t show up, I don’t know what they’re thinking."

"Maybe the Qianji Sect disciples are independent enough not to need their master worrying," the sect master of Sword Sect, Zhou Qi, slowly lifted his tea cup and said.

Just over this single matter, four sects immediately started subtly going at each other, while the other sect masters seated along the sides all kept their heads down and stayed quiet like quail.

Only the sect master of Zhanjin Sect, Zuo Shengyuan, lifted his eyes and took a few more looks at Zhou Qi and Wu Yue. He already knew Qianji Sect and Sword Sect were connected, but since when was Hehuan Sect speaking up for Qianji Sect too? Was it just because those few disciples happened to look good?

……

Ye Su sat in her chair and took out a bag of sunflower seeds from her qiankun bag. She had snatched it from Ming Liu Sha’s stash the night before. Feeling bored, she planned to shell them.

But there was nowhere to put the shells, so she took out a small table she had made back in a secret realm and set it up next to her, acting like no one was around. Anyway, she was sitting at the very back, and no one was really watching.

She also placed an empty plate on the table to hold the peeled seeds.

Ye Su shelled about half the bag of seeds, neatly filling the plate with kernels. Then she reached forward and tapped the cultivator in front of her.

"Fellow Daoist, please pass this forward to You Fushi, thanks."

Who didn’t know You Fushi? Especially the cultivators from the eastern sector.

And so, in this tense arena, the entire line of eastern cultivators began a conspicuous relay of the plate, drawing everyone’s attention.

"Pass it to You Fushi." Lu Jiu handed the plate to Yi Xuan in front of her.

Yi Xuan took the plate, frowning as he looked at the pile of sunflower seeds. Giving them all to You Fushi was one thing but peeling them for him too?

Fifth junior brother turned to look toward the back where Ye Su was sitting.

Ye Su was just regretting she didn’t have any spiritual tea, thinking she could brew a cup if she had it. Noticing that sharp stare, she looked up to see fifth junior brother holding the plate and staring at her.

She smiled brightly and waved in greeting.

Yi Xuan: "…"

Under Ye Su’s watchful gaze, Yi Xuan raised the plate, took half the sunflower seeds for himself, then turned around and handed the rest to Cheng Huai’an.

"Give these to You Fushi."

Lu Jiu, watching everything from the back, fell silent. She remembered when she first met Yi Xuan, he had been so concerned about appearances, bottling everything up inside.

Even Ye Su was surprised. She’d thought, given Yi Xuan’s personality, he wouldn’t eat sunflower seeds at all in this kind of formal setting. Turns out she’d misjudged.

When You Fushi finally got the plate, half of it was obviously gone. He thought Ye Su had taken half for herself, but then he heard the sound of seeds being cracked open behind him.

You Fushi turned to look. Sure enough, he saw Yi Xuan eating the kernels one by one.

The new and old junior brothers locked eyes, a tension sparking in the air… along with the scent of sunflower seeds.

"Smells so good it’s making me hungry," Ma Congqiu smacked his lips and said. "Why did Ye Su only give them to her junior brother?"

Lian Lian went ahead and opened her message talisman to ask Ye Su directly: "Got any more sunflower seeds? We want to try some too."

Normally they wouldn’t even touch this kind of thing, but right now it seemed extra tempting.

Very soon Ye Su sent back: "There’s still a bit left, coming your way."

Ye Su stood up from her chair, stretched a little, then grabbed the bag of seeds. She held it like a rugby player and tossed it forward with a graceful arc, aiming it toward the front row.

So everyone could see, clearly and openly, she sent the bag of seeds flying in a perfect curve.

Xu Chengyu caught the precious, hard-to-get bag with both hands, took a small handful for himself first, then began dividing it among the front and back rows.

And so, the entire eastern section started eating sunflower seeds together.

"Why do our pastries suddenly taste so bland?" Mei Chouren looked at the fancy snacks in his hands and mumbled to himself.

Yan Hao glanced toward You Fushi and Yi Xuan and said, "Just look at their faces more, and you’ll be able to eat again."

"Yangze Sect’s Ma Shangzou, exchange admission tokens with Qianji Sect’s Ye Su," the elder presiding over the draw called out.

The other party was a disciple from a sect in the eastern sector, ranked in the six-hundreds.

Ye Su walked up and saw that it was the same young talisman master who had bought one of her firework talismans earlier. They exchanged admission tokens and each returned to their places to wait for the rest of the drawing to finish.

The drawing went on all the way until late afternoon.

Ye Su put away her table and chair, and was about to leave when Ning Qianyao came over.

Today she was wearing a pale yellow robe, looking even more cute and delicate.

"Senior Sister, I saw your names on the list and was happy for so long," Ning Qianyao said with a bright smile, even trying to link arms with Ye Su.

Ye Su didn’t dodge, but You Fushi reached out, grabbed the back of her robe, and forcibly pulled her a few steps backward.

Little junior brother gave his review of the sunflower seeds from before: "Tasted bad."

Yi Xuan gave him a bump.

"I won’t eat them next time," Ye Su replied casually.

You Fushi frowned: "No."

The two were talking together, while Lu Jiu didn’t even know this “little junior sister,” and Yi Xuan was as quiet as ever.

Ning Qianyao stood there alone, with no one responding to her, and the smile on her face was starting to freeze.

"Oh, you’re over here." Jian Hu turned around after not seeing her, searched around, and finally spotted Ning Qianyao here.

"Senior Sister, this is a friend I just met, Jian Hu." Ning Qianyao turned and pulled Jian Hu forward to introduce, "This is Senior Sister, and this is Senior Brother."

Ye Su turned back and was still talking with You Fushi, but the moment she heard the name “Jian Hu,” the last bit of emotion in her eyes disappeared completely.

Jian Hu — “Picked Fox” — this was the name the little junior sister had given the Fox King in the original novel.

It was also the one who had snatched away Huang Erqian’s scroll.

"Senior Sister, are you mad at me?" Ning Qianyao looked a little downcast.

"It was wrong of me to participate in the sect tournament using Wuming Sect’s name, but I was just afraid the sect master wouldn’t allow me to join, so I…"

She even dragged their sect master into it.

"Why would you think the sect master wouldn’t allow it?" Ye Su turned around, suddenly reached out to grab Ning Qianyao’s chin, and leaned in slightly, "Little junior sister, you shouldn’t say things so carelessly. Isn’t the entire Qianji Sect built around your master? If there’s anything to fear, it should be your master instead."

Ning Qianyao froze on the spot, completely unprepared for Ye Su to do this in front of so many people.

"I—I didn’t…" Ning Qianyao took a step back, trying to pull away from Ye Su’s grip.

Jian Hu, seeing Ning Qianyao like this, gathered spiritual energy in her hands and fired it straight at Ye Su.

Yi Xuan drew his Chongming blade and slashed at the incoming energy sphere, splitting it cleanly in two.

The split spheres smashed into the arena floor with a deafening crash, making all the sect disciples who hadn’t fully left yet stop in their tracks.

A strange smile appeared on Ye Su’s face. She let go of Ning Qianyao and headed straight for Jian Hu.