Chapter 179

“Sword cultivators are truly treacherous and hypocritical.”

Liu Ying sneered disdainfully, “You are all exhausted and powerless. The poison on me causes dizziness and weakness, and you won’t be able to resist. Tonight, I will make you pay with blood for blood!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a sharp male voice rang in her ears.

Ye Zongheng, full of disbelief, waved his hands frantically, fighting the urge to faint, “Miss Liu Ying, please don’t do this! I have no enmity with you. Why involve me? How about letting me go today, and we will become friends?”

“Isn’t Xu Ye from the Wanjian Sect? You are his senior brother; the debt of a junior brother is repaid by the senior!”

The angry woman had her own unassailable logic. Liu Ying’s eyes burned with even more fury.

“There isn’t a single good sword cultivator. I’m ridding the world of harm!”

This woman is crazy!

Ye Zongheng was terrified, but fortunately, his rich experience in dealing with people gave him a flash of inspiration in this moment.

Since hard tactics wouldn’t work, he had to use soft ones. And it just so happened that touching someone’s heart was very easy for him.

“Miss Liu, don’t be impulsive! You don’t know, the world has suffered under the Xuanxu Sect for too long. I am also a poor soul ruthlessly harmed by them!”

Ye Zongheng spoke with genuine emotion and without any pretense and acted out the posture of a yellow cabbage in the field, almost bringing himself to tears.

(T/N: convincingly portraying himself as a pitiful victim like a yellow cabbage that is left out in the field..Very pitiful.. Very sad-looking…)

“I fell in love with Xiao Taohua from the brothel at first sight. We planned to elope, but that villain, He Zhizhou, reported us to the madam. Xiao Taohua was beaten for three days and nights and hung at the brothel entrance as a warning… Eventually, she was dried alive in the wind, sob sob sob!”

He Zhizhou was stunned and furious, “Bah! I’ve never even seen Xiao Taohua, how could I do such a thing! She disappeared after you left; who knows what shameful things you two were up to!”

“Xiao Taohua died because of him, and my heart died that night too.”

Ye Zongheng ignored him, continuing his tearful accusation: “My Taohua, you died so tragically! Miss Liu, we share the same goal; we should be friends!”

Liu Ying, after all, was just a young girl. She was deeply moved by such a tragic and beautiful love story, and the killing intent on her face genuinely lessened.

He Zhizhou was still angry about being slandered, while Ning Ning had calmed down and was analyzing the situation.

Miss Liu seemed not too bright; she was actually fooled by Ye Zongheng completely.

Although his story was fake, it showed that playing the pity card worked very well.

To soften Liu Ying’s heart, they had to appear more pitiful than Ye Zongheng, shifting her hatred to the other two!

While searching for the Fox clan today, they picked up many peculiar spiritual plants. Ning Ning had an idea and took out a blood-red snakeberry from her storage pouch. She bit into it while Liu Ying wasn’t paying attention, immediately causing an unknown red liquid to trickle from her mouth.

“Miss Liu! The reason I desperately wanted to win this trial is actually because of a compelling reason.”

She leaned weakly against a tree, blood trickling from her mouth as she spoke tremulously:

“I grew up poor; my parents worked hard to raise me, and their only wish was to see their daughter achieve success. But fate is cruel. Not long ago, I found out I have stage eight smallpox, stage nine leprosy, and stage ten tuberculosis. I fear I don’t have long to live!”

It turns out that this is the final duel between the elite disciples of each sect! It is really exciting—so artificial and impure!

Watching the duel devolve into a pity contest, the City Lord of Luan City almost choked in disbelief. He turned to the Great Elder of the Wanjian Sect beside him and said, “This…”

Unexpectedly, the other party’s face looked even worse than his, and his eyes were almost popping out.

“I went through all this trouble just to let my parents see me winning.”

Logically, when the trial ends, the elders would leave the mystic mirror and go to the entrance to wait for the disciples, so they shouldn’t know what’s happening inside the trial ground.

Ning Ning had no idea that this place was being watched by everyone. She became increasingly emotional, even squeezing out a few crocodile tears, and cried out hoarsely, “Father, Mother! Your unfilial daughter not only makes you mourn a living person but also fails to let you see my final glory. It’s all my fault!”

She spoke with such heartfelt sorrow, her lips moving rapidly. Perhaps because she was speaking so quickly, the snakeberry in her mouth popped out, creating a graceful arc before landing right in front of Liu Ying.

“This…”

Ning Ning was momentarily stunned.

But it was just a brief moment.

The girl in the dark purple dress coughed lightly, picked up the bright red unidentified object, and spoke each word with profound pain and anxiety: “Isn’t this my tuberculosis! Why… why did I cough it out!”

What the hell, coughing out tuberculosis—Buddha would cry upon hearing this.

Even He Zhizhou couldn’t help but widen his eyes in horror, wanting to shout:

Are you crazy? Ning Ning, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, how could you betray me! Is this what tuberculosis means!!!

Liu Ying had no idea whether tuberculosis could be coughed out or not, but seeing Ning Ning crying so sorrowfully, her heart softened, and she shifted her gaze to He Zhizhou.

Ning Ning and Ye Zongheng also turned to look at him, their dark eyes ominously expectant, waiting for the next performance.

He Zhizhou: …

A single tear slid down He Zhizhou’s cheek, “I’m sorry for being born as a human being.”

“Not long ago, at the market in Luan City, I secretly took some pork. I was so happy that I went home and washed my hands in the pot, cooking it into broth. Why, you ask? Because I am poor, very poor.”

He was indeed a professional, using rich gestures and facial expressions. His mouth twitched, then he suddenly pulled it to the side and said, “I’m an orphan. My parents died when I was two; I had smallpox at five, a stroke at ten, and at fifteen, I was tricked into the brothel and humiliated. My liver was removed, my spleen and kidneys were taken out, and I have two stents in my body. All this to earn a little money—for my sister’s medical treatment!”

Liu Ying’s expression froze again, showing hesitation.

“She is so young and gravely ill, with little time left. I still remember the day before I set off for Luan City. She held my hand and said she wanted to see her brother win the trial before she died.”

He Zhizhou’s tears kept flowing as he looked up at a 45-degree angle, trying not to let the tears fall. “I am just a useless person. How can I win the top place in the ten method assembly trial? I deceive, I’m sinister, and I’m ruthless, but only she knows that I am a good brother—I’m a useless brother. Forgive me, Muying!”

With that, his mouth twitched again, causing his neck, arms, and spine to tremble simultaneously, his whole body convulsing as if struck by lightning.

This scene was not only seen by Liu Ying but also by the elders and many disciples outside the mystic mirror, who were also sighing over it.