Chapter 159

Faced with Bai Muqing’s questioning, Wen Jian let out a soft sigh.

“Both Yinkong and Wen Xiaoxing are children sponsored by the church and future clergy members. After Yinkong went missing, we chose Wen Xiaoxing as the key child to cultivate. Is there a problem with that?”

“Or are you saying you know something about Yinkong’s disappearance?”

For a moment, Bai Muqing pressed her lips together and didn’t respond. Wen Jian read the answer from her expression. His thoughts shifted, and he said, “Muqing, over the years, we’ve all seen your devotion to the gods. If it hadn’t been for Ye Zheng back then, you’d be standing here today as the Saintess.”

“Pope, those words are meaningless.”

“That may not be true.” Wen Jian looked at her meaningfully. “If we were to select a new Saintess, would you be willing to take part?”

The man’s voice was very soft, yet it struck like a heavy hammer against the heart. Bai Muqing’s expression turned cold and heavy. She stayed silent for a long while before speaking, “Unless one dies or commits a grave mistake, the Saintess remains the Saintess for life…”

“Are you planning to deal with Ye Zheng?” Her tone suddenly turned sharp.

Wen Jian’s eyelid twitched, and the muscles at the corner of his mouth also tightened. Fortunately, he had already cleared everyone from the surroundings. Could such blunt words really be spoken in public? Wouldn’t it be enough for them to understand each other without saying it outright? He couldn’t possibly admit that he intended to act against Ye Zheng so directly.

When had Bai Muqing become such an outspoken and rude child? From her tone, she actually didn’t want to see him deal with Ye Zheng.

Clearly, if Ye Zheng fell, it would also benefit her greatly. Without Ye Zheng, Bai Muqing would become the most eye-catching girl in the empire. Weren’t young girls usually very concerned with such titles? Wen Jian still wanted to provoke her further, but seeing Bai Muqing standing there like a white birch tree, openly showing hostility toward him, he immediately lost interest.

“Where did you get the idea that I’m dealing with her? The Saintess and the church are one and the same. As long as the Saintess doesn’t make a mistake, she will always remain the Saintess of the church.”

Wen Jian’s tone suddenly turned much colder. It didn’t matter which side Bai Muqing stood on. At this moment, Ye Zheng had most likely already disappeared forever. How foolish and unaware she was to still choose Ye Zheng.

“Please leave, child. I still have matters to attend to.”

“If you want to investigate Wen Xiaoxing and Yinkong, you might as well wait for your good friend to return. She should know quite a lot.” Provided that Ye Zheng could return, of course.

Wen Jian’s words carried a faint trace of malice. The fine lines at the corners of his eyes tightened as his smile deepened, resembling wrinkled snakeskin.

He walked toward the door. Just as he was about to push it open and leave, a panicked priest rushed in from outside. The door frame nearly struck Wen Jian.

Wen Jian’s face showed displeasure, but after hearing the other party’s words, his expression sank even further, dark as still water.

“The Saintess… the Saintess is about to return…”

✧✧✧✧✧

Ye Zheng sat on the hill. The view from here was excellent. The only flaw was that the night was too dark, so she could only observe the lake surface through the faint moonlight.

It was very quiet all around. The slightly cool wind cleared her mind even more. Ye Zheng took out the phone she had hidden on her body. The latest chapter had been updated, but new manga spoilers still hadn’t come out yet. So she opened the forum and casually browsed through it.

Everyone was arguing very intensely. After the initial confusion and novelty faded, Ye Zheng mostly read the readers’ debates with a faint smile in her heart. Their lives must be very full. All kinds of interesting ideas burst out with lively energy. That was good. While she felt curious, she also felt a trace of longing.

【Saintess, please keep winning forever!】

The forum was packed with dense text. Ye Zheng’s gaze lingered for a long time on that sentence. She’d lingered there for a while. 

She would. 

She would keep winning until this world also had fertile soil for happiness.

The corners of Ye Zheng’s mouth lifted unconsciously. At that moment, massive waves suddenly surged in the distant waters. Splashing mist spread everywhere. She put down her phone and stood up.

She stared at the waters below. Tiny sparks of amusement rose in her black eyes. Wu Shu must’ve noticed that she hadn’t left and had deliberately driven the giant eel toward this area.

Ye Zheng swept her gaze around and spotted a small boat docked at the shore. Heavy cans were loaded on the boat, and a young boy was standing guard on it, looking around nervously. On the other side of the lake, two more boats were chasing behind the giant eel.

Ye Zheng observed for a while but didn’t see Wu Shu anywhere. Wen Xiaoxing remained on the boat without taking further action. As the giant eel swung its body and turned, about to leave this stretch of water at extremely high speed, the two boats behind it completely failed to keep up. Ye Zheng lightly tapped the splashing mist with her fingertips.

Her fingertips paused with a slight hesitation.

Where had Wu Shu gone? Had Wen Xiaoxing followed Wu Shu’s orders? Should she step in now to stop the monster?

Just as the giant eel turned and swam in another direction, Wen Xiaoxing opened the cans on the boat and pushed them all into the water. The sedative dispersing in the water slowed the giant eel’s movements just slightly. Pei Xi, who was right behind it, seized the opportunity and delivered a heavy blow.

However, most of the giant eel’s body had already swum out of this area. The sedative had only slowed it a little. After taking the heavy hit, it reared its head out of the water, its mouth opening wide in pain, before quickly diving back in and accelerating away.

“What the hell is Wen Xiaoxing doing!”

On the boat, Roy shouted in frustration. They had worked so hard to drive the giant eel toward this direction. If the sedative had been poured into the water earlier, they might’ve already succeeded!

Pei Xi’s expression looked somewhat ugly. He took deep breaths, as if trying to calm himself. “Let’s not dwell on that for now. We’ll think of another way.”

He spotted with sharp eyes that the Crown Prince’s boat was also approaching. The Cloud Soarers team had joined forces with the number one academy team from the Upper District and Wu Shu’s team. They had each left people behind to block the biggest threat in this competition. Even Wu Shu had voluntarily stayed behind to hold off the Royal Academy team and had sent another teammate with A-class offensive ability to chase the giant eel with them.

Unexpectedly, Sykes had led the Royal Academy team to break through the encirclement so quickly. The sense of urgency in Pei Xi’s heart grew heavier. The glory of first place wasn’t important. What mattered was the dragon bone reward. He had to obtain it.

Pei Xi glanced at the boat beneath his feet. There was only one way left. He could turn the entire boat into a giant spear, then, with Roy and the others' assistance, have the spear chase down the giant eel and pin it firmly into the lake without any further hesitation now.

He suddenly clutched his chest. Until now, he still didn't understand why his time regression ability had suddenly activated once while he was unconscious, draining a lot of his energy from his body.

But he couldn't hesitate any longer. Even if it exhausted all his strength he had to stop that big fish now completely!

Just as Pei Xi took a deep breath and began mobilizing his power his blue pupils suddenly widened. He stared in disbelief at the turbulent lake surface in the distance. The water was churning violently as if a fierce battle was happening underwater right before his eyes.

He seemed to sense something and urged his teammates to speed up and approach. Not long after a massive and slender giant eel slowly floated to the surface its belly turned upward. Blood gradually dyed the water red within the water now.

Sykes was still behind them. It couldn't be Sykes. None of them had the ability to catch up to the giant eel's speed at all.

Pei Xi's expression froze in shock. A name slipped from his lips softly.

“…Wu Shu?”

Under the starry sky and moonlight the giant eel's belly gleamed pale and translucent in the moonlight. A bloody gash suddenly split open its smooth abdomen. A pitch-black figure crawled out from the bloody crevice and stood on the massive fish's body in that moment.

She looked as if she had bathed in blood. Her black clothes were dyed an even deeper red by the blood almost blending into the night. Yet no one present could ignore her presence at that moment.

“So that's how it is.”

Ye Zheng, standing high on the hill, took in the entire scene. She had already noticed Wu Shu's figure earlier. When Pei Xi heavily injured the giant eel and it painfully opened its mouth and leaped out of the water, Wu Shu who had been lying in ambush for who knows how long seized the opportunity and flashed into the giant eel's body with perfect timing and precise execution now.

Wen Xiaoxing had missed the best time to release the sedative, and the delay he created was too short. Pei Xi and the others didn't have time to kill the giant eel at this moment. But that brief delay was more than enough for Wu Shu at this moment.

Ye Zheng watched the small black figure in the distance and sincerely applauded her. Wu Shu didn't need her to provide any extra help. As long as she was given the slightest chance she could climb to any position she wanted with ease.

The cool breeze blew gently. Wen Xiaoxing, leaning against the shore, also witnessed the scene. He couldn't help but shiver. As a participant in the plan he felt no joy at this moment. As expected of Ye Zheng’s friend this Wu Shu was equally terrifying in her scheming leaving him deeply unsettled by it all now.

He hoped Pei Xi would keep acting foolish and not grow too sharp. He, Wen Xiaoxing, had merely failed to time the release of the sedative correctly. He also didn’t know why Wu Shu had been lying in ambush there and had perfectly seized the moment to slip into the giant eel’s body.

Wen Xiaoxing still needed to borrow the identity of a Cloud Soarers team member to blend in a little longer.

But he would not forget that Ye Zheng and Wu Shu had completely treated him as a chess piece to be used at their whim. In his eighteen days of life, he had never felt so stifled and humiliated!

Just wait. In less than a month, he would make them pay the price… Suddenly, a faint sound came from above, cutting off Wen Xiaoxing’s grand ambitions. His legs were already numb from squatting by the shore. He staggered to his feet and looked up in confusion.

He glanced upward, and his body instantly felt as if it had been plunged into an ice cave. He froze rigid under that upward gaze.

Ye Zheng stood high above, smiling as she looked down at him. Her deep black eyes were fixed on him.

She only met his gaze for a moment before turning away, as if she had lost interest. Her black hair fluttered in the wind as she disappeared from Wen Xiaoxing’s sight.

Yet an extremely complex and dangerous premonition surged in Wen Xiaoxing’s heart. He touched his empty left eye socket. At this moment, he finally realized clearly that what he might have lost was not only the 【Fate Singularity】, but fate itself.

✧✧✧✧✧

Ye Zheng rolled a green fragment between her fingers. The fragment reflected a small portion of her face and looked no different from an ordinary mirror.

“Fate Singularity.” Ye Zheng murmured the words, ending with a faint, almost silent hum that carried a rare trace of pleasure.

Whether it was Wen Xiaoxing, the Pope, or the existence from a higher dimension that wanted to control her fate, they had completely lost this round to her.

Today’s winners were only her and Wu Shu.　　

　But was it really fair that they were always the only ones making the moves?

After the competition had ended and before the coming-of-age ceremony, she would have a comparatively relaxed period of time. She didn’t just plan to break their schemes, but also intended to return the courtesy in full.

“Saintess, may I ask if the competition inside has ended?”

The staff member standing outside the railing asked cautiously. Ye Zheng nodded gently. “It has ended.”

The staff member let out a relieved breath and asked again out of curiosity, “Did His Highness the Crown Prince secure the victory, or did Pei Xi’s team manage an unexpected win…”

“The champion is Wu Shu.”

Under the staff member’s stunned gaze, Ye Zheng let out a soft laugh and turned to leave Amber Lake.

She was now even more curious about the shocked and furious expression of another person. She would return Wen Xiaoxing’s big “gift” to him as soon as possible.