Before the real storm descended, the entire outer court of the Azure Cloud Sect first plunged into an unprecedented, absurd, and bizarre public opinion carnival.
The third day of the tournament's break period.
Inside Courtyard A of the outer court, the original number one favorite to win the championship—the registered disciple of an inner sect elder, the sword cultivator Lin Tian—was sitting upright at the stone table in the center of the courtyard.
Today, he had specifically changed into his most eye-catching ice silk Dharma robe, combed his hair meticulously without a single stray strand, and even lit an expensive mind-calming incense in the censer. Premium spirit tea was placed on the table.
He held a teacup in one hand and gently stroked his sword hilt with the other, striking what he believed to be the most aloof, otherworldly, and peerless swordsman pose.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the reporters from Azure Cloud Daily and Outer Court Gossip Weekly to interview him.
As the number one seed who had crushed his way through the preliminaries and held the top spot in the betting odds, according to the convention of past tournaments, this seven-day break was the golden time for seeded players to accept interviews, deliver their "pre-victory speeches," and build hype for themselves.
However, Lin Tian had maintained this perfect pose for three whole days.
The tea grew cold, was replaced, and grew cold again.
Let alone reporters, he hadn't even seen a bird fly over to leave its droppings.
"What the hell is going on? Did all those annoying, fly-like paparazzi die out?"
Lin Tian finally lost his patience. Exasperated, he slammed his teacup heavily onto the table. Disregarding his flashy Dharma robe, he rushed straight out of his courtyard, threw a Spirit Stone fragment at the roadside newsstand, and grabbed the latest edition of Outer Court Gossip Weekly.
"I want to see which blind fool stole this young master's page space!"
Lin Tian angrily unfolded the newspaper.
In the next second, he froze on the spot, as if he had been struck by lightning.
On that massive front page, there wasn't even a shadow of him, the number one seed! The entire front page was completely dominated by two people's names and an extremely exaggerated color illustration.
As for him, Lin Tian, the most dazzling genius of this tournament, he only occupied a postage-stamp-sized line tucked in the middle crease of page two: "In other news, sword cultivator Lin Tian also successfully advanced to the Top 8."
This was worse than a cheap ad flyer!
Lin Tian glared with bloodshot eyes at the massive, bold black headlines on the front page that practically wanted to blind the reader:
"Undercurrents Beneath the Iceberg: The Forbidden Love Between a Bottom-Tier Servant and the Proud Daughter of Heaven!"
"Digging Deep into Lu Xiaoqi's Counterattack History: A Warrior Charging for Love, or a Grandstanding Clown?"
"SHOCKING! The Romance of That One Staff Strike: Just How Much Unknown Bitterness and Humiliation Does It Hide!"
"What... What the fuck is all this writing?!"
Lin Tian's hands trembled as he looked at the vivid and dramatic descriptions in the newspaper.
Over the past few days, the writing skills of these cultivation world paparazzi were practically on par with the top best-selling romance novelists of the mortal realm. Centered around Mo Fan's earth-shattering "I like you," they forcefully brainstormed several soul-stirring versions of events.
The most widely circulated Version A was called the [ Childhood Sweethearts Arc ].
The article tearfully described how Lu Xiaoqi and Shen Qiu were originally childhood sweethearts from the same village in the mortal realm. Later, Shen Qiu was taken away by force after an immortal master favored her outstanding aptitude.
To chase after his lover, Lu Xiaoqi willingly entered the sect as the lowest wood-chopping servant, even without a Spirit Root. Now, having endured inhuman torture, he mastered body cultivation just to snatch back the high-and-mighty her in the arena!
The highly popular Version B was the [ Vengeful Ex Arc ].
An "anonymous eyewitness" claimed to have seen the two secretly meeting in the back mountain. They later broke up due to their disparity in status, or because Shen Qiu had a change of heart.
Lu Xiaoqi's love turned to hate, and his hate bred terror. He trained a terrifying, monstrous strength, vowing to enact "domestic violence" revenge in front of the entire sect, personally tearing apart that heartless woman's pride!
These stories were written so vividly, with a sickeningly rich level of detail.
Public opinion exploded completely.
Throughout the outer court of the Azure Cloud Sect, and even secretly within the inner court, people were passing around these gossip tabloids. Every day over tea and meals, countless disciples argued over whether Lu Xiaoqi was a "deeply devoted lover" or a "crazy scumbag."
Even some older deacons believed it to be true, cursing Lu Xiaoqi for being crude while simultaneously wiping tears over this "beautiful love" that transcended class.
The once-every-three-years Outer Court Grand Tournament, which was supposed to be filled with the shadows of swords, flashes of blades, and unparalleled cruelty, was single-handedly derailed by Mo Fan, turning into a massive, sect-wide emotional dispute mediation scene.
And at this very moment.
The ice queen goddess, Shen Qiu, situated at the other center of the storm, was experiencing the darkest moment of her life.
Deep within Courtyard A, in Shen Qiu's private quarters.
Shen Qiu, who had always been aloof, arrogant, and treated men like dirt, hadn't dared to step out her door for days.
The moment she stepped out of the courtyard gate, she was met with pointing fingers and various "comfort letters" and "letters of advice" sent by fellow disciples under the guise of concern.
Some advised her that "a prodigal's return is worth more than gold," while others advised her that "short-term pain is better than long-term pain."
She was going crazy!
SMASH!
A delicate white jade teacup was hurled viciously onto the ground, shattering into pieces.
"Lu Xiaoqi!!!"
Shen Qiu gritted her teeth. Her flawlessly beautiful face was currently covered in frantic rage and humiliation.
Over the past few days, she had explained to countless people that she simply didn't know that crude servant! But no one believed her. Everyone looked at her with an "It's okay Senior Sister, you've suffered, we understand" look, acting as if her explanations were just cover-ups.
What caused her mental defenses to completely collapse happened last night.
Her parents, working on errands far away in the inner sect, had actually sent a voice transmission talisman.
In the transmission, her mother's voice carried a hint of hesitation and gossip: "Qiu'er... That Lu Xiaoqi, is he really that Brother Ah Niu you used to play with in the countryside when you were little? The newspapers wrote it so realistically, I even thought my own memory was failing me from old age..."
In that moment, Shen Qiu had the urge to die.
This was literally yellow mud dropping into your pants—even if it isn't shit, it's shit now!
The outside world thought Shen Qiu was a deeply scheming, cold, and ruthless ice queen. But in reality, her mind wasn't that complicated at all.
At her core, she was a pure battle maniac with a simple mind, caring about nothing but cultivation. She was aloof simply because she felt dealing with people was a waste of time, and she'd rather spend it swinging her whip a few more times.
Facing this kind of rumor mill that was impossible to disprove, she possessed no strategy to counterattack; she only had incompetent rage.
CRACK!
In the secret room, Shen Qiu delivered a vicious, heavy whip strike onto a specially made wooden training dummy. Wood chips flew everywhere, and the dummy's head was directly whipped into an explosion.
She was treating this dummy as Mo Fan.
"Lu Xiaoqi..."
Shen Qiu's eyes were red, her chest heaving violently. In those eyes that originally held no temperature, a substantial, roaring wildfire was burning at this moment.
"In the quarterfinals... If I don't whip you until you're looking for your teeth all over the floor, kneeling and calling me grandma, my surname isn't Shen!!!"
While the entire Azure Cloud Sect was turned upside down by this "forbidden love," everyone assumed that Mo Fan, at the very eye of the storm, must be undergoing frantic special training to face Shen Qiu's thunderous wrath.
However, the actual situation would make everyone's jaws drop.
The scene shifts to the vicinity of the abandoned mine shaft in the back mountain of the servant district.
"No. 004, push up! Taunt it!"
"Mo Yan, watch your positioning, circle around and hack its legs!"
"No. 003, wait for its animation lock, slit its throat directly!"
In a sunlit forest clearing, Mo Fan was sitting comfortably on a high, thick tree branch. He held a freshly bought bag of spiced sunflower seeds in his hands.
While cracking seeds, he leisurely commanded the battle below like a rich young master watching a play.
Frantic special training? Life-and-death pressure?
Nonexistent.
Since the ultimate goal of the quarterfinals was to "lose reasonably," why would he go train his physical body bitterly? If he trained any further, what if he accidentally failed to pull his punch in the arena and actually beat Shen Qiu to death?
Therefore, during this precious seven-day break, he gave himself a massive paid vacation, stopping all self-involution (try-harding).
He put all his energy into grinding the team's synergy.
Below, an unlucky low-level Rock Boar was being ganked by three skeletons.
The newly joined Summon No. 004 (Heavy Bulwark) acted like an insurmountable Wall of Sighs, blocking steadily at the very front. It absorbed all of the Rock Boar's charges, not even swaying in the slightest.
And in the perfect DPS window created by No. 004, Mo Yan's rusty sword struck like a viper flicking its tongue, every hit precisely shaving away the Rock Boar's HP.
When the Rock Boar finally collapsed from exhaustion, a white afterimage swept down from the tree. Summon No. 003 (Assassin) cleanly and efficiently harvested its remaining life.
Perfect.
The "Holy Trinity" (Tank-DPS-Assassin) iron triangle formation was operating increasingly smoothly under Mo Fan's micro-management.
Although this kind of low-level Spirit Beast was only enough XP to fill the gaps between his teeth, the fluid sensation of controlling everything made Mo Fan extremely satisfied.
Ptoo.
Mo Fan spat out a seed shell, looked at his seamlessly cooperating undead army below, and stretched a long, satisfied yawn.
As for the bloody rumors flying around the outside world, and a certain ice goddess currently sharpening her knife to chop him into eight pieces?
They were all highly irresponsibly tossed to the back of the mind by this leisurely mastermind.
"Curse away. The harsher the better."
Mo Fan shifted into a more comfortable position in the tree, squinting as he enjoyed the autumn breeze.
"Once the quarterfinals start, you'll all know what a true... method actor is."