MJWCATFPITWOC Chapter 43

Chapter 43 The First Time

Chapter 43 The First Time

Bai Guchen lightly pointed towards Shen Yucheng, drawing a crowd of onlookers, all turning their attention to the protagonist of the next match.

“I remember now, he’s the one who emitted faint silver light.”

Someone mocked, “With such weak strength, it’s the same as losing no matter who he chooses.”

At this moment, the spinning wheel in the air displayed: [Nascent Soul Group, Day 2, First Match: Bai Guchen vs. Shen Yucheng]——

The entire arena fell silent, followed by a burst of uproarious laughter. “It really is! He’s probably the only one in this group who could be chosen.”

“What a pick, two ‘faint silvers’ fighting, isn’t that just child’s play?”

“Hey! You guys better put some effort in, don’t make us all laugh!” Someone in the crowd shouted in a deliberately serious tone.

The female cultivators of the Qionghua Sect couldn’t help but cover their mouths and giggle upon hearing these words. “Senior Sister Ling, did you hear that—”

However, before they could finish, they saw Lingyi’s face as dark as ink, so cold it felt like anyone who approached would be instantly sliced in two. She clenched her teeth tightly. Shen Yucheng’s first match was going to someone else.

After a moment, Lingyi took a deep breath, suppressing her emotions, and stared intently at Shen Yucheng, who was steadily walking onto the arena stage. “Then let me see what trump cards you’re still hiding.”

Below the stage, Mo Yifeng’s palm involuntarily clenched tightly, his gaze fixed on Bai Guchen’s face, which held a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. He didn’t even notice when Shen Yucheng went up.

Standing on the arena, Shen Yucheng looked down at the crowd, a strange feeling he had never experienced before welling up in his heart. His heart beat faster, almost uncontrollably. He had been worried about how to increase his points and how to make it to the finals to win the Puppet Shadow Remnant Mirror if no one chose him.

Unexpectedly, someone chose him in the next moment. But this person was actually Bai Guchen.

They had only known each other for two days. What quality did he have that made Bai Guchen want to challenge him?

He couldn’t figure it out.

With this doubt, he composed himself amidst the surrounding jeers and faced Bai Guchen head-on. The other man was still smiling as usual, calm and composed, showing no signs of tension.

Shen Yucheng silently observed his every move.

“Shen Gongzi, from the moment I saw you, I’ve always wanted to have a formal match with you,” Bai Guchen said abruptly, his eyes lowered. “So, please don’t hold back later, fight with all your strength.”

In his life, apart from the Promotion Examination, this was the first time Shen Yucheng had stood in front of so many people. As a pickpocket, he had long been accustomed to hiding his presence, but now, no matter how much he suppressed himself, countless eyes from below would be staring at him, scrutinizing him from the inside out, as if trying to dissect his heart and see what was hidden inside.

“Alright.” Shen Yucheng didn’t say much, only responding simply.

Hearing this, the smile in Bai Guchen’s eyes deepened.

The horn sounded, and a gust of strong wind suddenly swept across the stage, causing Shen Yucheng’s outer robe to flutter violently. He thought it was just an ordinary gust of wind, but he didn’t expect the wind to gradually increase in intensity, eventually far exceeding natural wind force.

Shen Yucheng lacked combat experience, and by the time he realized he had unknowingly fallen into the opponent’s trap, it was too late. On the arena, the wind force transformed into a sealed barrier. The wind wall was thick, isolating him from the audience below.

The battle unfolded in an instant.

Mo Yifeng’s knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on the giant wind ball, without his usual excitement.

“What… what is this?”

The audience below had never seen such a sight before. In an instant, the storm engulfed Shen Yucheng.

“Heh, is he just bluffing with all this secrecy? Maybe the wind looks strong from the outside, but there’s no threat inside at all,” some cultivators whispered.

Inside the arena, the raging wind flowed, creating several bloody gashes on Shen Yucheng’s body. Blood dripped from the wounds, staining the ground red, making it quite gruesome.

He raised his hand to shield himself from the wind, struggling to open his eyes. The wind was as sharp as blades, making it almost impossible to open them. He could only barely squint.

What kind of spell is this…?

Although he wasn’t as obsessed with cultivation as Mo Yifeng, he would occasionally read the cultivation manuals that Mo Yifeng treasured in his spare time, and he believed he had some understanding of the spells in the cultivation world. However, he had never seen such a technique that could create such a huge wind out of thin air.

Moreover, how could such a powerful technique be unknown to anyone?

He looked up at the completely enclosed wind walls, feeling like an insect caught in a spider’s web, all he could do was soberly wait for death.

“Shen Gongzi, I told you not to be polite——” Bai Guchen’s voice echoed in the wind, but his figure could not be seen.

Shen Yucheng used his last strength to try to find the other person’s location, but could only see a blurry white mist. The wind was so strong that he felt like he was falling into the dead of winter.

This inevitably reminded him of his homeless days as a child. When winter came, without a place to stay, he often hid in garbage dumps, trying to use the discarded waste to resist the biting wind.

“—You can attack at any time.” Bai Guchen’s voice sounded again, the usual gentleness becoming low and husky, like the growl of a beast.

The wind grew stronger and stronger, and every part of Shen Yucheng’s body was gradually cut open by the wind, with blood constantly flowing out.

He endured the pain, activated his spiritual power, and golden threads instantly condensed at his fingertips, piercing through the airflow and directly into the wind barrier.

The golden threads had already penetrated the barrier. However, he frowned, feeling that the golden threads, which were usually as sharp as swords, were now stuck in the wind wall. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break through.

Crap, it’s so thick.

As time passed, the wind became more violent, and Shen Yucheng felt his whole body gradually become numb, and his movements became sluggish.

“Shen Gongzi, although you are only in the early Golden Core stage, do you plan to give up without moving a muscle?”

Shen Yucheng’s head was dizzy from the raging wind, and he didn’t react for a moment how the other party knew his cultivation level.

In the midst of this raging storm, Shen Yucheng’s consciousness gradually blurred, his hands and feet were cold and weak, and he felt light on his feet, as if he was stepping on clouds. In a trance, he seemed to hear Bai Guchen murmur in a low voice, “With such strength, how did he break through my barrier…”

“For thousands of years, Baili, look… the person you spoke of simply hasn’t appeared.”

Before Shen Yucheng completely lost consciousness, he vaguely saw a figure emerge from the wind wall, dressed in white, holding a paper fan, it was the person from Jitan Village…

.

“Hey, you’re not going to die so easily, are you?”

“You brat, wake up quickly, stop playing dead!”

“If you don’t get up, I’m really going to punch you!”

Shen Yucheng only felt heavy all over, and his eyelids were as heavy as if they were weighed down by lead blocks, making them difficult to lift. He struggled to open his eyes, only to see a huge head close at hand. Yan Quanye’s nose was almost touching his face. Shen Yucheng instantly woke up by seventy percent, and suddenly sat up, only to find that he was still in the rotating storm.

However, his body could no longer feel the invasion of the cold wind. Yan Quanye rolled his eyes, his face full of disdain, “You’re really weak enough, just a wind formation has turned you into this. What exactly happened? If you were usually this useless, I would have punched you to death long ago.”

Shen Yucheng had just woken up, his mind was a mess, and he was confused by what he heard, “Nothing happened.”

“That kind of talk is only good for fooling others,” Yan Quanye said, folding his arms, pointing to the contract mark on Shen Yucheng’s palm, a little impatient, “I live inside here, how could I not know what’s going on in your heart?”

Shen Yucheng looked down at the contract mark that was emitting a faint red light. Although he wasn’t sure if it was because of the strange illness last night, he had to admit that his body was indeed affected, and his reactions had become sluggish, which was why the match just now was so passive.

“Thank you.”

Yan Quanye trembled upon hearing this, not believing what he had heard. He wanted to make a few sarcastic remarks, but saw that Shen Yucheng was gently touching the contract mark. The malicious words instantly choked in his throat, and he awkwardly coughed, “Don’t think too much, I’m just worried that my place of residence will be taken away.”

At this time, Shen Yucheng realized that his body had activated [Penetration], allowing him to move unhindered in this harsh environment.

Yan Quanye floated to his side, mocking, “You’re stupid, you only know how to use golden threads?”

Shen Yucheng stood up, brushing the dust off his body: “What do you mean?” He really didn’t have any other magic weapons to use.

“You still have me… no, you still have spirit beasts! Can’t you use something else?”

Shen Yucheng raised his palm, the Azure Scaled Lion in the contract mark was sleeping soundly. It had been like this ever since they returned from the secret realm.

Yan Quanye stamped his feet anxiously: “Then why don’t you call me!”

Shen Yucheng remained silent.

The two were speechless for a moment, and silence spread in the air.

Suddenly, Yan Quanye “poof——” disappeared back into the contract heart, Shen Yucheng blinked at the contract mark that was red as soup, and couldn’t help but smile.

Then the contract heart went numb, and Yan Quanye’s muffled voice came from inside: “Don’t be unhappy next time.”

Shen Yucheng didn’t reply, just quietly looked at the contract mark in his palm.

So, this is unhappiness…

.

Just now, after Shen Yucheng fainted, Bai Guchen floated in the wind, looking down at everything below, his expression calm and composed, as if he was completely in control of everything. He slowly descended to Shen Yucheng’s side, staring at the other’s pale face, reaching out to approach, a small knife appearing at his fingertips, pointing directly at Shen Yucheng’s neck.

However, just as the blade was about to touch his skin, Shen Yucheng’s body disappeared into thin air.

Bai Guchen was stunned, and then quickly withdrew into the wind ball. He thought that an outsider had invaded, but after carefully sensing it, he found that it was impossible for anyone to sneak into his spirit energy range without making a sound. That meant someone had been hiding in this space from the beginning.

Even he had been deceived.

However, after a long time, there was no movement.

He tried to weaken the wind.

Still no abnormalities.

He strengthened the wind again.

The result was just that the sand on the ground was blown into a cloud.

From the outside, it looked like a giant wind ball sometimes spinning faster, sometimes slowing down, making people confused.

The cultivators below the stage looked puzzled: “What’s going on?”

After a while, a wisp of white smoke suddenly rolled into the gap in the wind screen. The white smoke gradually thickened, silently invading the inside of the wind screen. Before long, the entire gap in the wind screen was filled with white smoke, and Bai Guchen appeared in the wind screen, coughing violently, as if he was choked by the smoke.

In that instant, golden threads shot out like arrows, binding Bai Guchen. He widened his eyes, in disbelief. As the golden threads tightened, they left bloody marks on his limbs. Even so, Bai Guchen smiled: “Not bad, where were you hiding just now?”

“Want to know?” Shen Yucheng’s voice was unexpectedly close, so close that Bai Guchen was stunned for a moment. Logically, the voice should be right beside him, but he looked around and saw nothing.

Could he also be hiding in the wind screen?

However, as soon as this thought came up, it was immediately rejected. He knew how fast the flow of this wind ball was. Apart from himself, it was impossible for anyone else to survive in such an environment, let alone hide in it.

At this moment, Shen Yucheng was standing in front of him, but he was using the [Penetration] technique, so others could not see him directly. Just now, Shen Yucheng deliberately led Bai Guchen to believe that there was someone else in the wind ball, causing him to have an illusion, and then used the wind attribute to emit [Illusory] white smoke, forcing out Bai Guchen, successfully capturing him.

The contract mark suddenly moved, and Yan Quanye reappeared. He wanted to ask Shen Yucheng how to deal with Bai Guchen, but accidentally glanced at Bai Guchen’s face, and his whole body suddenly froze, his movements frozen.

Shen Yucheng noticed his strangeness and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

Yan Quanye’s fingers trembled slightly, pointing at Bai Guchen: “He… he is the one who was standing next to Physician Liu when he came that day!”

Shen Yucheng was stunned, and then realized that Yan Quanye was referring to the Jitan Village incident, the Physician Liu who treated Xianglu and the others that year.

He walked to Bai Guchen’s side, his eyes cold, and suddenly asked: “Ten years ago, what exactly did you do in Jitan Village?”