Singing with a Sword

The following is the main text of the novel "{?$article_title?}" ({?$jieqi_title?}) provided by {?$jieqi_sitename?}. Please enjoy! "Oh? So this person is Wen Erya?" Under Yi Ranxiao's persistent questioning, Xue Zhi finally told her the answer. Yi Ranxiao thought to herself: I hope that guy dies of overeating! That way I won't have to go looking for revenge.

Before long, accompanied and supervised by Xue Zhi, Yi Ranxiao returned to the back mountain. Once there, the disciples guarding the mountain would watch over him, so Xue Zhi no longer needed to monitor him. Before parting, Xue Zhi pulled Yi Ranxiao aside and gave him a long lecture, saying that Ling Yuqing was like Xian Lanzi; if a man got involved with women like them, he would never have a good life, and so on…

Yi Ranxiao was at her wit's end and too lazy to explain. She nodded vigorously, pretending to be learning. Seeing this, Xue Zhi praised her a few times, saying she was teachable, before leaving the back mountain and returning to Baicaotang.

In the back mountains, the red-bottomed macaque was extremely depressed. Just now, while he was playing alone, he felt a blur before his eyes, and then it seemed... it seemed like someone passed by him, but when he looked around, there was no one there, so he didn't pay any attention and continued doing what he was doing.

After a while, his vision blurred again, and it seemed that someone else had passed by him from the opposite direction. He immediately looked over, but still saw nothing.

The red-bottomed macaque scratched its head. Even a Dawn Realm expert couldn't possibly evade its sight with speed! Could it be that a Divine Radiance Realm expert has broken into the back mountain?

How could this be? What would a powerful expert at the Divine Radiance Realm be doing in the back mountain?

"Sigh, it seems it's because I'm so restless!" the Red-Bottomed Macaque sighed inwardly. He wondered when Dingding would return. Even though she had only been gone for less than a day, the Red-Bottomed Macaque already missed her.

That's exactly what happened!

Actually, that's not quite right. It was Cao Cao's master who arrived, which meant Yi Ranxiao. Yi Ranxiao returned to his original training ground, the place where he sparred with the Red-Bottomed Macaque, and spotted the Red-Bottomed Macaque from afar. The Red-Bottomed Macaque also saw him, and was overjoyed, grinning as it won; it then looked Yi Ranxiao up and down.

What about Dingding?

Yi Ranxiao slapped his forehead. He had gone to the weapon-refining hall this morning, worried that he wouldn't have time to look after Dingding and that the monkey would have a chance to cause trouble on their territory, so he had put him in his storage bag. But he forgot to let him out after the hall battle, and now the restless little monkey was really bored.

Yi Ranxiao took Dingding out of the storage bag. It turned out that the miniature stone monkey had just woken up after taking a nap inside. It immediately saw the red-bottomed macaque and the two monkeys went to play together.

Yi Ranxiao wasted no time and immediately began cultivating. There were still two months until the individual ranking battle. The individual ranking battle was a crucial event that determined the rankings of the sect's younger generation of disciples; how could Yi Ranxiao possibly not take it seriously?

In this ranking battle, each branch can send two contestants, who are usually ranked first or second in their respective branches. However, this competition is not limited to arena combat. Sometimes, the individual ranking battle will also involve the contestants performing a task together, and their rankings will be determined based on their individual performance in the task.

Although eighteen people participated, only the top ten were ultimately selected. The previous individual ranking competition was a martial arts contest. The final top ten, in order of ranking, are:

Wen Erya of Hengshan Hall, Jia Yunfei, the senior brother of Qingyun Hall, ranked third, Nangong Qin ranked fourth, Lin Zheng, the senior brother of Yougu Hall who had always favored Yiran Xiao, Qin Baiyou, the senior brother of Baicao Hall ranked fifth, Murong Feng, who had already passed away, ranked sixth, Ling Yuqing, who had just been defeated by Yiran Xiao, Qin Zhen, the second senior brother of Yougu Hall ranked eighth, and Liao Huaxian, the second senior brother of Hengshan Hall, and Zhang Qiang, the senior brother of Xianfeng Hall, ranked ninth and tenth respectively.

This list doesn't include any members of the Divine Wind Hall. Back then, the senior disciple of the Divine Wind Hall was Zhong Bugui, who was completely outmatched by his opponents and ended up ranking last. But now, the senior disciple of the Divine Wind Hall is Yi Ranxiao, who is far superior to Zhong Bugui!

Moreover, Yiran Xiao has already defeated those top-ranked cultivators, so Yiran Xiao's goal this time is not just to break into the top ten. His goal is to defeat Wen Erya and win the title of the number one expert among the younger generation of the sect!

So Xiao worked even harder, and immediately began cultivating upon his return. He didn't care how well those two old guys, Shen Fanba and Murong Cang, were investigating, or when he would regain his freedom. As long as he could cultivate, that was enough!

Now, Yiran Xiao's Yuan Power level is almost at the late stage of the eighth level of the Transcendent Realm. As long as he puts in a little more effort, he is confident that he can step into the ninth level of the Transcendent Realm! When he can challenge those above him, he may have a chance to challenge Wen Erya and Jia Yunfei, who have already entered the Nightfall Realm!

Although it's difficult!

Because the Nightfall Realm and the Transcendent Realm are qualitatively different, with the former being far superior to the latter! For example, only cultivators who have entered the Nightfall Realm can master the Clone Technique and use clones in battle; and the mental power of Nightfall Realm cultivators almost completely surpasses that of Transcendent Realm cultivators!

Therefore, the difficulty of a Transcendent Realm cultivator challenging a Night Realm cultivator is several times greater than that of a cultivator challenging a cultivator within the Transcendent Realm itself!

Even so, Yi Xiao remained confident! The existence of the Immortal Artifact that could behead and the power of the lightning orb within his body were the foundation of his confidence! Besides, in two months, a miracle might happen, and perhaps he could advance directly from the late stage of the eighth level of the Transcendent Realm to the Nightfall Realm!

Of course, that's a bit of a pipe dream... But miracles do happen, but Yiran Xiao didn't rely on the system. Since Yiran Xiao was always in the back mountain, her location remained unchanged, making it difficult for the system to locate new experts. Therefore, Yiran Xiao placed her hopes on diligent cultivation. And so, upon returning to the back mountain, she immediately began meditating and circulating her energy...

Tragically, on the third day of Yi Ranxiao's cultivation, the Red-Bottomed Macaque woke him up at the opportune moment. If a cultivator is disturbed during cultivation, he may be injured or suffer a qi deviation. However, some people with higher cultivation levels can seize a safe moment to wake up the cultivator.

Yiran Xiao felt slightly displeased. She opened her eyes and saw the red-bottomed macaque staring at her with its big monkey face.

"Brother Monkey, why are you hindering my cultivation?" Yi Ranxiao said with dissatisfaction. The red-bottomed monkey smiled, then chattered on and on, and seeing that Yi Ranxiao didn't understand, it gestured with its hands and feet for a while.

Still Xiao shrugged and spread his hands, still not understanding.

Dingding chimed in with a long explanation, but Xiao still didn't understand. Damn it, this communication barrier is driving me crazy.

Seeing that Yi Ranxiao didn't understand, the Red-Bottomed Macaque grabbed Yi Ranxiao's hand, pulled him up, and headed towards the place where Yu the Great was in seclusion.

Yi Ranxiao asked doubtfully, "Brother Monkey, are you going to drag me to chat with Uncle-Master Yu again to relieve my boredom?" Red-bottomed Monkey shook his head. Yi Ranxiao said, "Then...then...could it be that Uncle-Master Yu is about to come out of seclusion?"

The red-bottomed macaque nodded happily!

Yi Ranxiao asked again, "So you dragged me to welcome him out of seclusion?" The red-bottomed macaque shook its head, then suddenly stopped, knelt down, and kowtowed three times, as if it were taking a master.

Yi Ranxiao's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed with delight, "Yu the Great wants to take me as his disciple?" It was common knowledge that neither Yu the Great nor Xiang Tiannan had any disciples, so Yi Ranxiao immediately realized this. In the cultivation world, there were no rigid rules stating that a disciple could only have one master. Therefore, even though Yi Ranxiao was Xu Jingyi's personal disciple, he could still become Yu the Great's last disciple.

Yu the Great's cultivation level is among the best in the entire continent! If I could become his disciple, haha, haha, Yiran Xiao was overjoyed.

Unexpectedly, the red-bottomed macaque shook its head, leaving Yi Ranxiao feeling as if she had been doused with cold water. But after shaking its head for a while, the red-bottomed macaque nodded. Yi Ranxiao was completely baffled; what did this mean?

Just then, a voice rang out, "Haha, who is that? It's Junior Brother Yi!" Yi Ranxiao immediately looked in the direction of the voice and saw Lin Zheng and Qin Zhen walking towards him from the back mountain.

Why did these two come to the back mountain? Yi Ranxiao wouldn't presume to think they were here to see her; so, they…

Yi Ranxiao wasn't stupid; he immediately guessed the gist of the matter. It seemed that Da Yu was going to take on disciples, so the elites of the younger generation of the sect had all come to the back mountain!

While thinking to herself, Yi Ranxiao greeted them with a smile, "Haha, it's Senior Brother Lin and Junior Brother Qin! What brings you here?"

Lin Zheng and Qin Zhen approached. Lin Zheng laughed and said, "Does Junior Brother not know that Master Uncle Dayu has come out of seclusion and is going to take on disciples again? That's why Second Junior Brother and I have shamelessly come here."

The two men were kind-hearted, and Yi Ranxiao quite enjoyed their company. She smiled and replied, "You two are too modest. Actually, I was thinking of giving him a try. Perhaps I'll be fortunate enough to become a disciple of Master Yu." After a pause, she added, "By the way, who else is coming this time?"

Lin Zheng was about to speak when his eyes suddenly caught sight of a red figure slowly walking along the straight road leading to the back mountain. He couldn't help but smile knowingly: "Junior Brother, why don't you see for yourself? Why ask me? Hehe, Junior Brother Lin and I are off!"

After saying that, the two disappeared before Yi Ranxiao could speak. Yi Ranxiao was completely confused. Why did these two have such strange expressions? Looking back the way they came, she saw the people from the Weapon Refining Hall, especially the woman in red who was leading them.