Chapter 1654: Absolutely Haunted

"Ah!" Shi Dingtian never expected that move from his opponent. He clutched his eyes and let out a pained cry.

It wasn't just him; even the spectators outside the ring covered their eyes, groaning as if they had been blinded.

Qiu Honglei seized this opportunity to launch an attack. Shi Dingtian, in excruciating pain and unable to see, could only instinctively wave his fists and palms to protect himself. But how could such passive defense hold up?

He quickly took several blows from Qiu Honglei, and the final light orb struck him.

With a loud explosion, he could no longer stand and fell directly off the platform.

All of this happened in a flash. By the time everyone had somewhat recovered from the intense light, Shi Dingtian was already lying on the ground.

The entire Golden Summit fell silent. What was expected to be an evenly matched contest had unexpectedly been decided so quickly.

However, Peng Wuyan's method of victory was perhaps a little... too underhanded.

As expected, Master Mu could no longer hold back. He slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and glared at Qiu Honglei. "You scoundrel! How could you resort to such unscrupulous tactics!"

Qiu Honglei replied dismissively, "I was already lenient. Otherwise, his injuries would be much worse now."

She had just considered the boy's simple nature, so when she delivered the final blow, she deliberately put away her twin blades and used her fists and palms instead. Otherwise, Shi Dingtian would likely not have an inch of unblemished skin left, just like Liang Ling a few days prior.

Master Mu's breath caught. He naturally understood that his opponent had indeed shown mercy, but he was more concerned about what happened earlier. "You clearly promised Shi Dingtian you wouldn't use that blinding move. Why did you immediately use it to ambush him?"

Before Qiu Honglei could answer, Yun Jianyue jumped in to defend her. "Don't you know about stratagem in warfare? If you believe everything people say on the battlefield, you'll die without even knowing how."

"This isn't a battlefield! This is an arena!" Master Mu retorted angrily.

"Look at your disciple's foolishness. He'd probably be the same on a real battlefield. Better for him to learn a lesson here today than to lose his life in the future," Yun Jianyue said indifferently.

"You speak of despicable and shameless acts as if they're perfectly normal! Are you truly righteous, or are you devils!" Master Mu rebuked.

Yun Jianyue was also furious. "Losing is losing! If you can't handle losing, then don't participate in the competition! The junior lost, and now the senior is stepping in? You're worse than demon cultists!"

At this, the faces of Guan Chouhai, Elder Xu, and others immediately darkened. They were truly caught in the crossfire.

Master Mu slammed his hand down again. "Peng, I've had enough of you!"

Yun Jianyue also flared up in anger. "What? You want to fight? I'll oblige!"

Both of them looked ready to roll up their sleeves and brawl. The disciples in the audience, enjoying the spectacle, wouldn't mind if a real fight broke out.

However, as the host, Wang Wuxie naturally couldn't allow this. He quickly stepped forward to mediate. "Please calm down, both of you. Peace is paramount, peace is paramount."

Master Mu said, "Brother Wang, you be the judge. Aren't these people from Kongming Island going too far?"

"Uh..." Wang Wuxie also felt that Peng Wuyan's actions were somewhat underhanded, but such behavior wasn't explicitly forbidden, so he hesitated to answer.

He quickly looked at Master Jianhuang from Wuyou Temple, who was nearby. "Master, you are highly respected. What is your opinion on this matter?"

As long as he passed the buck fast enough, the blame would never catch up to him.

"Amitabha," Master Jianhuang clasped his hands together. "This is an internal dispute within the Daoist sect. This old monk belongs to the Buddhist order, so it might not be appropriate for me to comment."

*You can pass the buck, and so can I.*

Wang Wuxie cursed him internally as an old fox and could only turn to the other judges.

However, no one was foolish. They were too busy watching the show; no one wanted to be the one to step up and play the villain.

Wang Wuxie had a headache. If no one else spoke up, he would have to make a statement, and that would inevitably offend someone.

His gaze suddenly fell upon Zu An, and his eyes lit up. "Lord Zu, what is your opinion on this?"

*This young man is full of youthful vigor and isn't as composed as those old foxes. It would be perfect to have him as a shield.*

Zu An scanned the crowd, a cold sneer forming in his heart. He had more or less guessed everyone's thoughts.

However, he wasn't one to shy away from trouble. Hearing the question, he replied, "Indeed, Miss Peng's actions just now were somewhat underhanded."

Upon hearing his words, Master Mu immediately puffed out his chest, feeling for the first time that this young man was quite pleasing to the eye.

Yun Jianyue and Qiu Honglei's expressions subtly changed. Could this guy be siding with the others?

Before they could get angry, Zu An's tone shifted. "However, the previous rules truly did not explicitly forbid such behavior. So, while it may not entirely align with the Daoist gentleman's conduct, it's not a fundamental error, and I personally don't think it's appropriate to punish her. Comparatively, Master Mu should be more concerned about another issue: Shi Dingtian's simple nature is a good thing, but being overly simple makes him easily exploited by malicious individuals."

Yun Jianyue and Qiu Honglei then turned from worry to joy, thinking, "As expected, he's the one we favored. He'll always be on our side, no matter the circumstances."

Feeling the intense gaze from both women, Zu An couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. Was his charm too great? What if, after helping them, they fell hopelessly in love with him?

*Sigh, I just can't seem to learn to keep my distance from women.*

Hearing him support Kongming Island, Master Mu's anger had initially flared, but upon hearing the latter half of the statement, he became thoughtful. This was indeed a big problem; that child Dingtian was truly too naive.

Seeing this, Wang Wuxie began to pacify him, praising Shi Dingtian's strong points. The others, seeing the situation, also offered some polite compliments, and Master Mu's anger gradually subsided.

With today's matches concluded, Feng Wuchang came out, made some ceremonial remarks, and then announced that the next day's matches would commence, but not before the next round's drawing ceremony.

There could only be one champion, and now only three contenders remained.

Both Zheng Yang Sect and Kongming Island disciples hoped their representative would get a bye this round. Firstly, it would allow their contestant more time to rest. Secondly, it would make Pei Mianman expend more energy on the other opponent.

As for Pei Mianman, everyone assumed she would definitely participate this time.

After all, in the Daoist Grand Tournament that had been held for centuries, two consecutive byes were already extremely rare. If she got a bye in the final round, it would be unprecedented.

Even Pei Mianman herself thought so. Grandmaster Huoling was still helping her analyze whether it would be better to draw Wu Xiaofan or Peng Wuyan.

Logically, Wu Xiaofan was stronger, so drawing Peng Wuyan would be better.

But considering Peng Wuyan was light-elemental, which seemed to somewhat counter her dark domain, fighting her might not be so easy.

On the other hand, Wu Xiaofan and Wan Guiyi's match today had been a mutual destruction. It would be crucial to eliminate Wu Xiaofan while he hadn't fully recovered, because even if she beat Peng Wuyan, facing a mostly recovered Wu Xiaofan in the finals would make the outcome truly unpredictable.

Pei Mianman nodded, also thinking it would be better to fight the heavily injured Wu Xiaofan first.

She also had a strange feeling that Peng Wuyan seemed to harbor some inexplicable hostility towards her.

Yet, she was sure she had never met the woman before, and they hadn't interacted since arriving at Purple Mountain, so there was no way she could have offended her.

If it weren't for seeing her appearance, she might even suspect that the other woman had some connection to Zu An.

But while that fellow Ah Zu was a philanderer, his taste had always been quite high. He shouldn't have any connection with this person...

As she walked onto the platform, just as she was about to draw lots, she ran into Zu An.

"Miss Pei, you should take this half pill too." Zu An opened his hand and, smiling, offered the remaining half of the Lucky Pill.

The Lucky Pill had a time limit; its effects from the previous two rounds of competition had long since worn off, so she needed to take it again.

Pei Mianman was startled but, without suspicion, took it and swallowed it.

Grandmaster Huoling was half a step too slow to stop her. She couldn't help but glare at her disciple. *Why does this girl never learn? Eating whatever a man gives her so casually.*

Then, she looked at Zu An with an unfriendly expression. "What did you give her to eat?"

Others also looked over curiously. *Why was Zu An constantly feeding Pei Mianman things, and more importantly, why was Pei Mianman so cooperative?*

"Healing medicine, didn't I just explain?" Zu An chuckled.

Grandmaster Huoling frowned. "Didn't she already take it once just now?"

"My medicine is quite special; it requires two consecutive doses in a short period, which is why I split it in half earlier," Zu An said, without batting an eye.

Wan Guiyi, who was recuperating from his injuries, almost choked when he heard this. *What was I thinking at the time, to actually believe the other half was for me?*

*Hmph, this kid must be coveting Junior Sister Pei's beauty.*

*But can beauty fill your stomach? Strength is what matters. I actually find that Peng Wuyan much more attractive than Junior Sister Pei.*

Grandmaster Huoling was speechless at his reply. She couldn't find a reason to argue for the moment, so she simply huffed and stood beside her disciple to prevent her from being fed any more strange things.

The drawing ceremony quickly concluded, and when the results were announced, the entire venue erupted in an uproar.

Pei Mianman had gotten another bye!

"Something's definitely fishy!" Yun Jianyue slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and, without hesitation, glared directly at Zu An. "What exactly did you give that woman to eat?"