Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 98: Back at the Top

Ye Su lay in the crater, completely charred and pitch black.

The power of that lightning was immense. Normally, when a cultivator has just formed their Nascent Soul, getting struck by a Xuantian Thunder without any preparation would result in the soul dispersing, either death or serious injury.

But as luck would have it, when the Xuantian Thunder struck, it didn’t hit Ye Su’s Nascent Soul. Instead, it burned away the clump of spiritual energy she had absorbed, dispersing it throughout her spiritual core, completely converting it into her own power.

Ye Su stared up at the bright blue sky, feeling her cultivation level rising rapidly.

She broke straight through to early-stage Nascent Soul…

Then kept advancing through mid-stage…

And finally stopped at the peak of the late-stage Nascent Soul.

"…"

With the last shred of her rationality, Ye Su suppressed her spiritual core and divine sense, forcing herself to stop absorbing energy.

If she advanced again, she’d trigger another heavenly tribulation.

"Senior Sister!"

Ming Liu Sha, Xiyu, and Xia Er were the first to rush into the arena, leaning over the edge of the pit and shouting down.

A shadow darted past, You Fushi leaped straight into the pit, with Yi Xuan close behind.

In no time, the rim of the pit was crowded with people.

"You… are you okay?"

Yi Xuan looked at Ye Su, who was nearly indistinguishable from the scorched crater dirt and hesitantly asked.

"Still alive," Ye Su replied, lying completely motionless. "Junior brothers, could you kindly lift your feet?"

Yi Xuan paused, then quickly pulled his foot back.

Looking down, he realized he had stepped on Ye Su’s hand.

You Fushi also shifted slightly and, as usual, cast a few cleaning spells on her, though this time, his movements were gentler.

He reached out his hand to help Ye Su up.

Ye Su accepted and let him pull her to her feet.

Her hair was completely scorched, and she could still hear faint rumbling in her ears.

The pit was at least ten meters deep.

With the help of the Chongming Sword, You Fushi carried both himself and Ye Su up out of the crater, with Yi Xuan flying right behind.

As soon as Ye Su emerged, she became the center of everyone’s attention.

The eyes of all five sect masters turned toward her.

The sect masters’ cultivation far surpassed Ye Su’s, so they could easily sense her current level—peak late-stage Nascent Soul.

Had she just advanced three whole stages?

"You just advanced three levels in a row. Go rest first," After a long pause, Sword Sect’s master, Zhou Qi, spoke to Ye Su. "Three levels?"

The brown-haired elder looked at Zhou Qi.

"If I remember correctly, she was only early-stage Golden Core?"

He remembered this disciple, she had been the last to arrive at the arena.

Her arrogant aura had made him think she was some kind of genius… but when he probed, she was only at early-stage Golden Core.

Zhou Qi nodded: "She failed her Nascent Soul breakthrough in Sword Sect and regressed to early-stage Golden Core. Seems like this trip to the Chaos Mirror really paid off."

The disciples of Sword Sect kept their heads down and eyes lowered, pretending not to hear their sect master spinning tales out of thin air.

The brown-haired elder stared at Ye Su for a while longer, recalling how she had looked when she first entered the arena… and decided to believe it.

"Wait."

The Sect Master of Shangque Sect spoke up, stopping them.

He looked toward Yan Hao: "You two disappeared from the Chaos Mirror for almost twenty days. Where did you go?"

Yan Hao didn’t expect to be dragged into this.

She clutched her pink feather fan and replied, "This and that happened, and we ended up near the boundary."

"‘This and that’, what exactly does that mean?"

The Shangque Sect master frowned and pressed.

"Just like that." Yan Hao finally regained her composure. Even the Shangque Sect Master was asking now. Clearly, they didn’t know about the Forbidden Zone. She decided not to bring it up herself. After all, her qiankun bag still held a pile of sixth-rank beast cores.

"Didn’t the Sect Master of Wanfo Sect already say that the two disciples accidentally entered a remnant formation?"

The Sect Master of Hehuan Sect, Wu Yue, spoke up.

"Now it seems likely it was some kind of teleportation array. Since my disciple is unharmed, we won’t pursue the matter further."

The Sect Master of Wuxing Sect redirected the topic back to Ye Su.

"I don’t remember when Nascent Soul cultivators started attracting heavenly tribulations especially Xuantian Thunder."

"Didn’t Kunlun’s Lu Chenhan trigger nine bolts of heavenly lightning when he advanced to mid-stage Nascent Soul?"

Xin Shenzi spoke up while holding his still-warm Lengquan Sword.

"Besides, I myself was struck by heavenly lightning when I reached peak late-stage Nascent Soul. Just because your sect master lacks experience doesn’t mean he should speak nonsense."

"You! Sword Sect is getting pretty close with a nearly-defunct sect’s disciple," the Wuxing Sect Master sneered. "Twenty-seven bolts, including a Xuantian Thunder, don’t you think that’s a bit over the top?"

"My Senior Sister is a genius! What’s wrong with her lightning tribulation being stronger?"

Xia Er shouted back, completely unafraid of these major sect leaders.

"Geniuses are supposed to be different!"

"I agree." Yan Hao raised her hand in support.

Everyone else: "……"

"Enough."

Master Fengchen gently raised his hand. A wave of spiritual energy spread out, silencing the discussion.

"Although this trial ended with a few complications, there isn’t much time left. Present your beast cores, those with at least one hundred may proceed to the next round."

Some rogue cultivators protested: "That’s unfair! We’re only one or two cores short. With two more hours, we might have passed!"

Master Fengchen glanced at them indifferently, and they all fell silent without another word.

The brown-haired elder let out a cold snort:

"You’ve had nearly a month and still couldn’t gather one hundred fourth-rank beast cores. In the next round, you’d only serve as stepping stones for others. Better to withdraw now and save your lives."

No one dared disrespect the sect masters especially not the leader of Kunlun, the most powerful sect in cultivation.

With Master Fengchen’s command, all sect disciples began reporting their beast core counts.

"How many do you have?" Ye Su asked Yi Xuan and Lu Jiu.

"I have 126 fourth-rank beast cores," Lu Jiu quickly replied.

Yi Xuan peeked into his qiankun bag: "Two hundred fourth-rank beast cores, and five fifth-rank beast cores."

Ye Su nodded, then handed out the fourth-rank beast cores she had collected in the Chaos Mirror to the disciples who were just one or two short.

Then she addressed those still far behind: "The heavenly tribulation was out of my control and caused everyone to be brought out early. As an apology, anyone seeking forging services from Qianji Sect in the future will get a 20% discount."

Several rogue cultivators from the eastern regions immediately cupped their fists in gratitude. Their impressions of Ye Su greatly improved.

They wouldn’t have passed anyway and now they’d get a discount? A win!

But not everyone agreed. One rogue cultivator sneered: "Who even goes to Qianji Sect for forging? Are you even on the Baiqing Rankings?"

"I remember Qianji Sect had two disciples on the Baiqing Rankings… but they were near the bottom," another added.

"What a coincidence," said Poyuan Sect’s leader, Quan Shen, from the edge of the arena.

He opened a scroll and waved it, letting it hover in mid-air.

"The new Baiqing Rankings just came out."

Anyone who followed the Baiqing Rankings knew that the top ten had remained unchanged for nearly fifty years.

But at a glance, it was clear, the first place had changed.

Yaqi Forge — Ye Su (Qianji Sect), Quan Jiaying (Poyuan Sect)

Everyone: "……"

Unbelievable.

First place on the Baiqing Rankings?!

Even though the work was jointly submitted, everyone knew Quan Jiaying didn’t have that level of skill.

Anyone with half a brain could tell—Ye Su was the lead.

And that wasn’t all. Sharp-eyed onlookers noticed that three more Qianji Sect disciples had entered the top 100 rankings, all clustered between 60th and 70th place.

This was the Baiqing Rankings, which mostly listed Nascent Soul–stage forging cultivators.

Forget Ye Su, she had now advanced to late-stage Nascent Soul.

But those three others… were still only at the Golden Core stage.

Just days ago, they had been trying to sell magical tools like street vendors and most disciples in the competition had rejected them outright.

A Golden Core cultivator made it into the top 70, this kind of talent even surpasses the disciples of Zhanjin Sect!

Some people swallowed hard, deeply regretting their choices. The magic tools listed in the rankings had previously been offered to them by those Qianji Sect disciples and at absurdly low prices.

But they hadn’t bought them.

"So about that 20% discount… should we write our names down?"

Someone quickly changed their tone.

Ye Su turned her head toward Ming Liu Sha, who took out a jade slip and began recording their names and sects one by one.

"We got forced out early too!"

Mei Chouren had just finished reporting the Hehuan Sect's beast core count. He turned around and loudly called out to Ye Su.

"You should give us a discount as well."

"For everyone who passed this round," Ye Su said, "if you want, you can register for a 10% discount on forging services at Qianji Sect."

Xiyu and Xia Er also pulled out jade slips and started handling the sign-ups.

Ye Su looked up quietly at the floating Baiqing Rankings overhead, and finally, a smile appeared in her eyes.

—After five hundred years, Qianji Sect had finally reclaimed the top spot on the Baiqing Rankings.

Her gaze shifted to the names of Ming Liu Sha and the other two. What she wanted next was to see more of her fellow Qianji disciples on that list.

She wanted to witness Qianji Sect dominate the rankings once again.

She wanted to see Zhanjin Sect completely buried beneath Qianji Sect.

"The top ranked item refiner on the Baiqing Rankings,"

Lian Lian walked up beside Ye Su, also gazing upward.

"And you're also a talisman master who advanced three realms in one go. Even Lu Chenhan’s spotlight can’t compare to yours."

Ye Su chuckled and held out her hand.

"Your item."

Lian Lian picked up the half-charred Thunder-Blocking Comb.

"I thought it got fried to ashes."

"Thanks," Ye Su looked at her and said.

"Bring it to me in a few days, I’ll help you repair it. But it might not work as well as before."

"You can repair it?"

Lian Lian’s eyes lit up with a hint of joy.

"I can restore how it looks. I still remember the original form."

Ye Su replied.

"Alright then."

Lian Lian nudged Ye Su with her elbow and whispered, "You’ve drawn too much attention. The road ahead won’t be easy."

Ye Su looked at the names on the scroll.

"It’s worth it."

At that moment, the elder from Kunlun had already tallied the total number of disciples who passed the first round—1,159 people, which meant more than half had been eliminated.

"Although the first round was a bit chaotic," Master Fengchen said kindly, "I hope those continuing in the competition can learn from the experience and perform better in the next stages. That will be all for today."

The disciples from Zhanjin Sect standing among the crowd looked utterly miserable.

They had been so focused on the competition that they hadn’t paid any attention to the Baiqing Rankings this past month or rather, they had never imagined a refiner would suddenly shoot to first place.

Especially a refiner from Qianji Sect, working with someone from Poyuan Sect.

There was another person whose face looked just as bad.

Ning Qianyao lowered her head, trying to hide the gloom in her eyes.

She couldn’t understand why so many powerful sect elders and disciples were speaking up for Ye Su nor why so many of them seemed to have such close relationships with her.

Even worse, she couldn’t accept the fact that Ye Su had advanced three entire stages.

She was convinced Ye Su must have encountered some kind of miraculous opportunity.

Otherwise, Ye Su couldn’t possibly have progressed that much.

"You're hurt," Lu Chenhan turned to her and said, "Come with me."

Ning Qianyao looked up in confusion, pointing to the unconscious Jian Hu beside her.

"My friend is also injured."

"Then bring him too," Lu Chenhan said, glancing at Jian Hu.

"Thank you, Brother Lu."

Ning Qianyao supported Jian Hu and followed him.

……

The crowd dispersed from the arena and returned to their respective lodgings.

As soon as the Hehuan Sect Master Wu Yue got back, she raised a barrier and turned to ask Yan Hao:

"What happened? You actually used your life-preserving technique?"

The soul lamp was fine, but the moment Yan Hao came out, Wu Yue had already sensed something was wrong.