Chapter 187: The Dust has Settled

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

After the opening speech, Xiahou Shan announced the start of the competition between the Spirit Realm elders.

A Seventh Truth Platform elite kicked off the competition. He drew a ballot and got an Amethyst Phoenix Pavilion elder as his opponent. This was how the Hero Ranking worked. They drew ballots to choose one's opponent. Once they lost, the participant would be eliminated, and this continued until they had the top three. Then, they would change to a fight with all the competitors left to decide the positions.

As soon as the competition started, the venue was filled with the gasping of the young disciples.

They were at least able to know what was going on during the matches between the Harmonization Realm disciples, but now, they were totally lost.

Lu Mingshu put a hundred per cent of her attention on the match. This was the first time that she got to see a match between Spirit Realms elders so close up.

There was a graph in the Heavenly Wheel to compare the abilities between different worlds. The Spirit Realm should be comparable to the Golden Elixir Realm in other worlds. The Golden Elixir Realm is more powerful than the Spirit Realm in terms of skills but in terms of stamina...

"...Miss Lu?

Lu Mingshu train of thought was cut off. When she looked up, the queen was smiling widely at her. As if she knew that Lu Mingshu didn't hear her earlier, the queen repeated her question. "Look at the Seventh Truth Platform's sword skills; how are they compared to Nine Jade Palace?"

Lu Mingshu thought before answering, "The Seventh Truth Platform focuses on smoothness. There's not much emphasis on the specifics of how one should do it. Thus, everyone has their own unique or uncommon skills. For Nine Jade Palace, they focus on accuracy, which is different from the Seventh Truth Platform."

"Then who do you think will win?"

Lu Mingshu smiled. "Depends. In a match between ordinary disciples, it would no doubt be the Seventh Truth Platform. But for elites, it depends on who's fighting, not the skill."

Before the queen could say anything, State Master Jiayan sneered, "Oh, interesting. So you're trying to say that Seventh Truth Platform Harmonization Realm disciples are no match for you?"

Lu Mingshu replied slowly, "Didn't I answer State Master's question already with my actions?" Arrogance could be seen in her eyes.

The arrogance annoyed Jiayan, so she replied, "Oh, of course! Senior Brother Wei defeated you very quickly!"

But outside of her expectation, the little prince suddenly added on, "Sister, isn't Senior Brother Wei at the peak of the Harmonization Realm? Sister Lu just entered the Harmonization Realm, so she should be compared with Senior Brother Yu instead."

This angered Jiayan; she never expected to get embarrassed by the little prince. Out of anger, she took a piece of pastry and shoved it in his mouth. "Eat more and talk less!"

"Uh..."

"So if you had a chance to learn the Seventh Truth Platform's sword skills, would you become even better?" the queen asked.

Lu Mingshu pondered for a while before shaking her head. "I am already very familiar with the skill I use, so if I change now, it'll only hurt me. Besides, my strength is accuracy, which fits better with the Nine Jade Palace skillset. The Seventh Truth Platform skillset values freedom, but it's unpredictable.

The king of Zhongzhou cut into the conversation. "Miss Lu, the Seventh Truth Platform's skillset is very free-flowing and unpredictable, but you're very good at that too."

Lu Mingshu smiled thinly. "That's just because I calculated all my attacks, which isn't what the Seventh Truth Platform skillset focuses on."

"Calculated?" The king of Zhongzhou asked in shock. "So you calculated all your attacks and your opponent's attacks during your matches?"

"Yes."

"How could you calculate all that?"

"Everyone has their own style of fighting. Their strength and angles of attack are taken into consideration, and then I find ways to counter them."

The king of Zhongzhou stared at her in confusion.

But the queen seemed to get it. "Ah, no wonder your attacks are always on point, not wasting any of your mystic energy." After a pause, she continued. "Did you use this to command during the fight with the barbarians?"

Lu Mingshu nodded.

The queen thought for a while before shaking her head. "This seems easy, but it's actually hard. Observing your opponents, memorizing their patterns, and then making your own attacks isn't easy. You have to be fast as well. This method is not for everyone."

Watching the match while making some comments, time passed quickly.

The Hero Ranking competition took up quite a lot of time. There were only five or six matches per day at most before the day ended.

Before the crowd left, the queen held Lu Mingshu and told her warmly. "Come earlier tomorrow, I'll get Qingqing to pick you up."

And the queen did what she said. The next day, Ding Qingqing came to Lu Mingshu's courtyard to fetch her to the main seat.

But everyone in Nine Jade Palace was chilled since everyone already knew the reason behind it.

"This Senior Sister Lu is reaching heaven in a single bound! She was still an ordinary disciple last year, and now she's ranked first in the New Generation Ranking and got the queen of Zhongzhou's attention!"

"Not only that! If she becomes the wife of the Alioth Star-Lord, even the sect leader would have to be polite when they meet!"

"Not just 'polite,' the Seventh Truth Platform rules over Zhongzhou, and they are an extremely big sect. How could Nine Jade Palace be compared to them? Their sect leader is way more powerful than our sect leader!"

"Do you think the sect leader's wife would regret...?"

"Hey! Haven't you heard about it? The sect leader's wife is the one who initiated the marriage! She is really nice to Senior Sister Lu even though she's not her own flesh and blood!"

"Are you sure? I once heard that, when Senior Sister Lu was in Green Jade Valley, she had a harder time than us...."

"Maybe it's just a rumour? If Senior Sister Lu's situation was that bad, how did she reach the Harmonization Realm so quickly? And she's so excellent too."

"Hmm, true...."

No matter what others said, Lu Mingshu went to the main seat every day to accompany the queen in spectating the competition. She was so cooperative that Tan Yubing thought she had accepted her fate.

Her father and stepmother are determined to sell her out, and the queen's powerful too. What could she do other than accept her fate?

Five days passed, and the Hero Ranking was revealed.

Nine Jade Palace's luck wasn't bad. Kang Tian and Yin Hong both went up for a match, but that made no difference. However, An Tongchen made it into the top ten and onto the Hero Ranking.

He met a strong opponent afterwards and didn't get into the top five.

But the Qilin Festival was full of elites. If you could make it onto the Hero Ranking, you were already one of the top elites.

During the closing ceremony, the Flying Imperial Palace set up a grand banquet.

During the banquet, the queen brought Lu Mingshu everywhere with her, as if she was trying to send a message to the crowd.

Lu Mingshu ignored the looks of envy and pity. She remained calm as if she wasn't aware of them at all.

After three cheers, the king and queen of Zhongzhou took their leave, leaving the disciples of the different sects to mingle with each other.

Only

Qi Sheng came forward and tugged on her shirt. "Miss Lu, why are you giving up on yourself? I said that I would help you. Why won't you give me a chance?"

After he said that, Kou Wei followed behind him and smacked his head, then apologized to Lu Mingshu. "Ignore this drunkard."

Outside their expectations, Lu Mingshu bowed to them. "I'll remember your goodwill deep in my heart."

Kou Wei opened his mouth to say something but stopped since he felt it was unnecessary. "If you meet any difficulties, feel free to find me at the Heavenly Sea Pavilion." He sighed.

"Thank you very much."

After that, nobody came to try to convince her. Even State Master Jiayan didn't find trouble with her.

It was like the dust had settled, and there was no turning back.