Chapter 826 - 769: Duel of Fortune (Vote for Yue)

Chapter 826: Chapter 769: Duel of Fortune (Vote for Yue)

The battle for the first place officially begins.

Xie Jingshan, despite being unwilling, stands opposite Jiang Yuebai. Just as Jiang Yuebai raises her hand, Xie Jingshan shudders unexpectedly and quickly jumps back a step.

Jiang Yuebai pauses her hand, looking at Xie Jingshan with an expression that says "are you an idiot?" and continues to tuck the hair by her temples behind her ear.

Seeing Jiang Yuebai’s actions, Xie Jingshan forces an awkward smile, pretending to cough and scratching his head.

The spectators outside are full of fiery anticipation; only the few from the Heavenly Interence Sect are a bit conflicted, just like in the previous match.

They don’t want to see Xie Jingshan get his head smashed, but they also don’t want to see their senior sister from the Heavenly Interence Sect lose.

If they have to pick one, Shen Huaxi and Lu Nanzhi still think, letting Xie Jingshan get his head smashed is... fine then!

With a gentle breeze swaying their hair, Jiang Yuebai stands in the middle of knee-high grass, her hands on her hips, looking at Xie Jingshan and asks, "So, do you want to do it the scholarly way or the martial way?"

"Huh?" Xie Jingshan looks bewildered, "What is the scholarly way and what is the martial way?"

"Literally, the scholarly way means I reveal all your embarrassing stories from your youth to force you to admit defeat, and the martial way..."

Jiang Yuebai raises one hand, slowly clenching her fist, making her knuckles crack.

Xie Jingshan quickly waves his hand, retreating, "Wait, wait, let’s talk this through, there’s no need to be so... so ruthless!"

Xie Jingshan feels that having his embarrassing stories told publicly is even worse than getting his head smashed.

"Can you let me say a few words first, okay?" Xie Jingshan pleads sincerely with his eyes full of earnestness.

Jiang Yuebai rolls her eyes slightly, thinking Xie Jingshan isn’t as smart as Shen Huaxi, so there’s no harm in letting him talk nonsense for a bit, she already saw through his moves in the previous match and can end the battle quickly.

Jiang Yuebai nods, and Xie Jingshan inexplicably breathes a sigh of relief, looks at Jiang Yuebai, lowers his head to think for a moment, and then gathers the courage to move a few steps closer.

Keeping his voice low to ensure that only they and the Mahayana Immortal Monarch watching them from the shadows can hear their conversation, Xie Jingshan says, "Actually, I’ve wanted to fight you openly and win openly for a long time, but now, I no longer want that."

"Then just admit defeat, I don’t mind," Jiang Yuebai retorts offhandedly.

Xie Jingshan chokes, the emotions he was brewing were abruptly interrupted, making him red-faced and hopping in anger, "Let me finish talking, don’t interrupt me!"

Jiang Yuebai rolls her eyes, "Oh."

Xie Jingshan exhales two heavy breaths through his nose, turns his head to take a deep breath, then continues, "Before the match, I thought about a lot of things. First, I don’t want the Heavenly Interence Sect to lose, and I also don’t want... you to lose."

"Then you admit..."

Jiang Yuebai can’t help but interrupt again, making Xie Jingshan immediately glare at her, and Jiang Yuebai reluctantly shuts up, making a gesture with her hand to indicate ’go on.’

Xie Jingshan can’t understand, how can there be a woman like Jiang Yuebai in this world without a bit of interest? He must have been blind to...

He knows that Jiang Yuebai harbors many secrets, and battling her fiercely in such a setting might expose some things that shouldn’t be exposed, which would be very disadvantageous to her, especially since there is a Mahayana Immortal Monarch watching over them.

"Ahem~" Xie Jingshan coughs into his fist and continues, "But as a disciple of the True Martial Immortal Sect, I can’t let the True Martial Immortal Sect lose for no reason, so directly admitting defeat, that’s impossible."

"Then what do you want to do?" Jiang Yuebai asks.

Xie Jingshan lowers his eyes, "For a Sword Cultivator, winning and the determination to move forward are very important. Previously, I was also obsessed with the idea that everything could be resolved with the sword in hand, but now, Lu Nanzhi taught me a lesson."

"The true victory is not about using the sword to stop the killing, after all, no one can win all the time. The true victory is about persisting through the changes of the world, the shifting people and things, while staying true to oneself, and a Sword Cultivator can lose, as long as they win over themselves, it’s not really a loss."

Jiang Yuebai frowns, "So are you planning to admit defeat or planning to get beaten by me?"

"Let me finish speaking!!"

"......"

"Sword Cultivator... Sword Cultivator..." Xie Jingshan completely stalls, forgetting what he wanted to say, his face turning red with frustration as he glares at Jiang Yuebai.

Jiang Yuebai shrugs and spreads her hands, as if saying, "How is this my fault?"

Xie Jingshan wipes his face, calming his emotions. Jiang Yuebai has a knack for making even the most composed person eventually fall apart and lose control of their emotions when facing her.

Indignant, Xie Jingshan turns the Green Jade Ring on his hand, taking out an item from it.

"I don’t want to fight you; today, let’s neither compete in words nor in martial arts. How about a bout of luck? Let the Heavenly Dao decide who wins and who loses."

Xie Jingshan spreads his hand, revealing an ordinary Copper Coin in his palm.

The spectators around, unable to hear their conversation, erupted into an uproar when they saw Xie Jingshan take out the Copper Coin.

"Are they that close? To actually have a ’fate duel’?"

"Didn’t you see yet? Xie Jingshan has an unusual relationship with the three from the Heavenly Interence Sect. I didn’t believe it before when I heard people from the True Martial Immortal Sect say that Xie Jingshan defected from the Heavenly Interence Sect to join the True Martial Immortal Sect, but now it seems true."

"A fate duel, now the outcome is really unpredictable."

"What a pity, I still wanted to see what wicked moves Jiang Yuebai would use to drive Xie Jingshan crazy, but now I won’t see it."

"Hey, kid, a kindred spirit, hehe~"

In the field, Xie Jingshan looked down at the Copper Coin in his hand.

"Luck is also a part of strength, Jiang Yuebai, do you dare to compete with me in luck?"

Jiang Yuebai instinctively clutches the Deer Horn inside her lapel. Xie Jingshan still doesn’t know about her having the Bai Ze Horn.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Xie Jingshan nods, "Back in the Black Tortoise Realm, Immortal Monarch Cangliu encountered Immortal Monarch Bodu of the Golden Wave Sect. At that time, both of them were at Peak Nascent Soul Cultivation, neither wanting to lose to the other."

"Because at that time, the defense method cultivated by Immortal Monarch Cangliu would deflate his spirits if broken. Immortal Monarch Bodu was the same; if he couldn’t breach Cangliu’s defense, his killer intent would falter."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuebai nods thoughtfully. No wonder Pei Shengyue used to challenge masters from all around, except for Shi Yuming, perhaps this was the reason too?

But after all these years, they should have overcome this flaw in their cultivation technique, right? Otherwise, if Shi Yuming and Pei Shengyue were both defeated by her, wouldn’t they be crippled?

Xie Jingshan continues, "So back then, a Great Power from the Ruyi Sect suggested that Immortal Monarch Cangliu and Immortal Monarch Bodu decide the winner based on personal fortune, tossing the Copper Coin."

"In subsequent Qingyun Conferences, whenever inseparable friends who didn’t wish to clash encountered each other, they would emulate their predecessors and decide the winner in this manner, which has also become a fine tradition of the Qingyun Conference."

Xie Jingshan pinches the Copper Coin, one side heads, the other tails.

"I choose heads. If it lands heads up after the toss, I win; if it lands tails up, you win, is that okay?"

Jiang Yuebai furrows her brows, feeling inexplicably irritated inside.

"Why do I have to choose tails?"

Xie Jingshan pauses, "Then you choose heads, I’ll take tails."

"Why should I choose heads?"

Xie Jingshan: ......

"Well... well this Copper Coin only has two sides, either heads or tails, so what do you want to choose? Or throw something else?"

Jiang Yuebai stands with her hands on her hips, wondering since when did everyone keep demanding her to choose, as if it were an indication from the Heavenly Dao.

But nothing in this world is absolutely black or white, so why should she have to pick between heads and tails?

"I choose the middle!" Jiang Yuebai declares resolutely.

Xie Jingshan stops, "The middle? How can there be a middle? The Copper Coin must land with one side up; if you choose neither, you’ll lose."

Jiang Yuebai glances at the azure sky, faintly sensing a premonition.

The Heavenly Dao will not let her lose.

"Enough talk, toss it!"