Chapter 50 – A Real Ghost
Just as Jing Di was getting to the key part—he hadn’t even gotten the words “deep feelings” out—a bright flash of lightning crashed down from above, wrapped in the mighty force of a mirage beast.
Almost at the same moment, the beautiful person beside him suddenly changed expression. “Quick, dodge!”
His vision blurred, and the next thing he knew, his body was soaring high into the air.
Meng Xueli reacted with incredible speed. With a swing of her staff Hundred Generations of Time, he struck, sending him flying out of the path of the lightning.
Before Jing Di could land, he had just summoned his longsword when another flash of lightning tore across the night sky, followed by a deafening crack.
“Boom—!”
Meng Xueli had no intention of hurting him and only used thirty percent of his strength. With Jing Di’s cultivation, he should have been able to neutralize the force mid-air and regain his balance.
But in Jing Di’s eyes, this soft and delicate beauty had always seemed fragile. He hadn’t guarded himself at all against that swing. So he ended up taking the full hit from his staff, narrowly dodging the first bolt—only to crash directly into the second one.
Everything happened so fast. By the time the others rushed over, the trees were toppled, the ground was a mess, and streaks of electricity danced like swimming fish.
Jing Di lay on the ground, coughing up blood. “Cough, cough, cough!”
His teammates arrived quickly—Han Shan’s group was right behind him. The medical cultivator darted forward in a flash. “You really got struck?! Let me see!”
Jing Di quickly waved him off. “No need! Just a minor issue!”
Meng Xueli looked a bit guilty, holding his staff Hundred Generations of Time with his head lowered, like a child who had done something wrong. “Sorry about that… Are you okay?”
Jing Di scrambled to his feet. “It’s fine, it’s fine. My protective true essence is really solid!”
In front of a beauty, injuries didn’t matter—losing face did.
But how did this soft, gentle beauty have such terrifying strength?
Jing Di’s teammates gathered around him and began transmitting their thoughts telepathically.
Zheng Mu chanted a Buddhist verse: “Amitabha, what karma…”
Xu Sanshan gloated, “It was lightning this time. Next time, maybe the sky will rain knives or a swordstorm!”
Liu Jing: “A bad start—it’s fate. Just call it quits. This secret realm was opened by the Sword Sovereign himself. He’s probably watching you from the heavens right now.”
Earlier, thunder and lightning had raged with terrifying momentum. But in the blink of an eye, the skies cleared, and the stars shone brightly.
Jing Di looked at Meng Xueli, who now stood beneath the starlight, looking guilty, innocent, and pitiful—and instead, his competitive spirit flared: “I will defy the heavens! Ji Xiao is already dead. He had the best of everything while alive—must he still get his way after death? I refuse to accept it!”
Song Qianyi, knowing he wouldn’t turn back until he hit the wall, simply shrugged and said to the other three, “Fine, next time let’s just stand further away.” So they wouldn’t get zapped by mistake.
Meanwhile, Meng Xueli—the so-called “prize” in Jing Di’s eyes—was busy telepathically explaining to the three from Han Shan’s side.
“…That’s what happened. I wasn’t paying enough attention and ended up hurting him. But why is he refusing treatment?”
Zhang Suyuan said, “You hit him, so what. Judging from his teammates’ reactions, he clearly had bad intentions from the start. What did he say to you?”
Meng Xueli was confused. “He didn’t say anything at all!”
He Ming: “Elder Meng, maybe we should just drop it. Go our separate ways and have nothing more to do with them.”
Meng Xueli smiled. “You’re willing to part with Sister Song?”
The three of them silently looked up at the sky. What sword cultivator could bear to leave a medical cultivator? But then again, they were mere passing acquaintances—partings were inevitable.
Meng Xueli: “We could’ve let it go, but now I’m genuinely curious.” He had never encountered something so strange. Jing Di wasn’t after his money or magic tools—so what did he want?
After this chaotic mishap, the atmosphere between the two teams turned slightly awkward. Jing Di wanted to confess his feelings, but figured he’d have to pick a better time.
Since stargazing didn’t work out, he decided to regroup and invite Meng Xueli to watch the sunrise over the great river.
Jing Di consoled himself, “There’s no way it could go worse than this. Good things take time, after all.”
At dawn, the moon was fading and the morning breeze blew gently.
Thick morning fog, like a veil of gauze, blanketed the surging river. On the far bank, the sharp and beautiful peaks and strange rock formations peeked faintly through the white mist.
Meng Xueli followed Jing Di to the riverside. The cool mist from the water greeted them, but he had no mood to enjoy the view. “Just say it.”
Jing Di thought to himself, Since you accepted my invitation and came here to be alone with me, you must have some feelings for me too.
Encouraged by this, he felt a surge of joy in his heart. “Then I’ll just say it plainly—what do you think of me?”
Meng Xueli paused, a bit surprised by his directness. “I think… you’re pretty good.”
Jing Di stepped forward, excited, about to pull him into an embrace—when Meng Xueli continued, “You’re just a bit slow to react. Your swordsmanship’s not bad, and your combat instincts are solid. For your age, you’re doing well. You’ve got a long road ahead…”
Jing Di’s smile slowly froze on his lips.
Suddenly, Meng Xueli warned, “Watch out!”
Jing Di flinched. The ribs that had taken a hit from the staff last night still ached faintly. He instinctively sidestepped, but it wasn’t fast enough to dodge the hand that struck like lightning.
Meng Xueli moved like a flash, grabbed him by the collar, and leapt into the air!
Caught off guard, Jing Di drew his sword mid-air, both startled and angry. “What are you doing?!”
“Boom—!”
Before he could finish speaking, his vision was swallowed by a towering column of water. A deafening explosion rang out, making his ears buzz.
The massive rock they had just been standing on shattered into dust in an instant, and more than a dozen dark figures surged out from the river.
Meng Xueli reacted even faster. He pierced through the water mist mid-flight. One hand still held Jing Di, the other gripped a long spear. Seeing that Jing Di had already drawn his sword, he was relieved at the latter’s quick reaction this time. With a flick of his palm, he launched Jing Di forward. “Go!”
“Ah—!”
Still airborne, Jing Di hurled forward straight into the path of a dozen aggressive attackers. He had just enough time to sweep his sword in a wide arc.
Ice Mirror Jade Wheel carved out a semicircle—like a sliver of moonlight—buying him a brief moment against the incoming enemies.
“Come back!”
In that split second, Meng Xueli channeled violent true essence into his long spear. His right foot stepped off Jing Di’s shoulder, using it as leverage to launch himself even higher into the sky!
His silver cloak flared like wings in the wind, resembling a white crane taking flight.
But there was nothing graceful about the move. His spear came crashing down from above—striking with the force of thunder!
Their teammates arrived at the sound. The formation specialist shouted, “There really are ghosts!”
Meng Xueli sneered, “We’re not the ghosts. The real ghosts are hidden inside the secret realm.”
But aside from the three Han Shan members who immediately drew their swords, the rest of the team stood frozen, staring at him in shock.
Meng Xueli’s spear slammed into the water, causing a chain of explosions across the surface. At the same time, more than twenty black figures emerged from the forest by the riverbank and from behind the mist on the opposite shore.
They were surrounded.
…….
Ji Xiao asked the mirage beast where Meng Xueli was. The Hanhai Secret Realm was vast, and it wasn’t easy to locate someone. The mirage beast struck down a bolt of lightning to point him in the right direction.
Worried the signal might not be clear enough, it sent another one for good measure.
Ji Xiao said, “That’s enough.”
The many cultivators participating in the competition didn’t know the inside story. Seeing the lightning in the sky, they began speculating that someone had broken the rules and alerted the mirage beast.
Such celestial phenomena were a form of warning.
“Did someone try to hunt down a contestant who lost their jade talisman?”
“Did someone sabotage the teleportation array that lets people leave the realm?”
“Did someone conceal their bone age or fake their cultivation level?”
But after that warning, the mirage beast remained silent.
No one knew what the sky outside the secret realm truly looked like anymore. With the sword that once judged right and wrong now gone, how would such matters be resolved?
According to the cultivators from Han Shan, things should be handled like before—anyone who violated the rules would be scorned by all and punished after the competition.
But to the cultivators from Mingyue Lake, the rules of the secret realm had been set by Ji Xiao. Now that he was dead, and the mortal world had welcomed new saints, did those old rules still count?
Even though the two saints now reigned in the sky, the master of Tianhu Realm typically paid no attention to anything and contributed nothing to the cultivation world’s progress.
The Hanhai Secret Realm tournament had gathered all the major sects and was the grandest event in the cultivation world. This year’s competition should serve as a turning point—an end to the old, and a beginning of the new, with Mingyue Lake setting the new standard.
Outside these two factions, the remaining cultivators had their own agendas. They hoped the rules that benefited them would remain, and those that hindered them would be abolished. With each sect varying in size and interests, their views diverged greatly.
However, far above the heavens, the true plans behind this secret realm were something young cultivators couldn’t even begin to imagine.
Ji Xiao didn’t know either. But because he couldn’t stop worrying about Meng Xueli, he came.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
