The judges and contestants all furrowed their brows in unison, looking toward the source of the commotion with confusion.
It was the seating area of the Five Elements Dao Sect.
Li Nanzhu's heart tightened. Fearing some accident had happened with her senior brothers and sisters, she hurriedly looked over in concern.
However, in the next second, she wished she had never looked in that direction—
Eight massive light screens had suddenly lit up above the Five Elements Dao Sect's seats. Each screen displayed an ostentatious slogan written in shimmering golden spiritual light:
"The Alchemy Star Shining Over the Nine Provinces!"
"Tier 1 Extreme-Grade Shaking the Eight Directions!"
"Peerless Genius of Three Cultivation Paths!"
"The Five Elements Dao Sect's Fame Spreading Far and Wide!"
Not only were these characters enormous, but they were also accompanied by flashing light effects and rotating borders. They were so dazzling under the sunlight that it was hard to look at them directly.
The audience burst into an uproar as everyone was stunned by this sudden display.
Li Nanzhu froze completely. She could hardly believe her eyes.
What... what on earth was going on?!
To her despair, Duan Xianxing produced a lotus-shaped megaphone from somewhere. After clearing his throat, he began to shout:
"Fellow Daoists, look closely! Our Five Elements Dao Sect's junior sister, Li Nanzhu, can refine tier 1 extreme-grade pills at only fifteen years of age! Five extreme-grade pills in the first furnace, six in the second, and a total of seventeen extreme-grade pills from three consecutive furnaces! Such talent is one in ten thousand, an achievement unprecedented in history!"
Just as Li Nanzhu thought things had reached their limit, an even more despairing sight appeared—
Although Zhu Yinxi wore an expression that clearly said 'I don't know this person,' the jade flute in his hand was precisely controlling the stability of two light screens, keeping the slogans "The Alchemy Star Shining Over the Nine Provinces" and "Tier 1 Extreme-Grade Shaking the Eight Directions" floating conspicuously in mid-air.
Feng Qingping and Feng Weilan had already turned their backs, but several strands of spiritual energy subtly flicked from their fingertips were accurately maintaining the rotation of the "Peerless Genius of Three Cultivation Paths" screen.
Mu Wenyan appeared to be rubbing his forehead in exasperation, but he had actually secretly laid down a barrier to prevent anyone from interfering, firmly fixing the eight light screens in the sky.
The most unbelievable one to Li Nanzhu was Jiang Yifan—this usually expressionless fourth senior brother was currently standing far away, yet at some point, a magic tool had appeared in his hand. He was silently adjusting the brightness and rotation speed of the light screens!
Duan Xianxing was still gleefully holding the lotus megaphone: "Do you see? Do you see? This is the little junior sister of our Five Elements Dao Sect! Not only is she beautiful and kind-hearted, but her alchemy talent is one in ten thousand!"
Zhu Yinxi finally couldn't take it anymore. With a spin of his jade flute, he tried to silence Duan Xianxing, but the latter nimbly dodged away.
Feng Qingping sighed. With a slight flick of her finger, a strand of spiritual energy quietly coiled around Duan Xianxing's ankle.
In this chaotic moment, the thing that broke Li Nanzhu's composure completely happened—
Feng Yi actually reached out and took the megaphone from Duan Xianxing!
The entire venue fell silent.
Everyone stared with wide eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing from the usually cold and ethereal sovereign of the Five Elements Dao Sect.
Feng Yi weighed the lotus megaphone in his hand and suddenly spoke. His cold voice echoed throughout the venue:
"My disciple is, of course, the best."
Li Nanzhu's face instantly turned bright red, the color spreading from the tips of her ears down to her neck.
She looked at her master on the spectator stands holding the megaphone, then at her senior brothers and sisters who were still helping control the light screens with embarrassed expressions. Although she was happy, this was truly the ultimate social death!
At the judges' bench, Elder Tan spat out his spiritual tea.
Elder Yi Fengmian rubbed his forehead, and the faces of the other elders also twitched. It was obvious that even they had never seen such a scene before.
Li Nanzhu could no longer bear it.
She grabbed the jade bottles on the table and transformed into a streak of light, fleeing toward their residence without looking back.
"Little junior sister is shy!" Duan Xianxing continued to shout fearlessly. "Master, look, little junior sister ran away!"
Feng Yi watched his young disciple's fleeing back. The corners of his lips quirked up almost imperceptibly as he tossed the megaphone back to Duan Xianxing. "Clean this up."
With that, his figure flickered and he too disappeared from the spot.
This left the others from the Five Elements Dao Sect looking at each other.
Zhu Yinxi was the first to react. With a wave of his jade flute, he retracted the light screens. "Let's go, let's go. This is too embarrassing."
Feng Qingping and Mu Wenyan immediately followed. Feng Weilan silently put away the control array disk. Duan Xianxing wanted to shout a few more lines but was directly dragged away by the collar by Zhu Yinxi.
Meanwhile, Li Nanzhu, who had fled back to the residence, had already wrapped herself in a quilt, deciding she would never step out of the door again in this lifetime.
When the group from the Five Elements Dao Sect returned, this was the scene they encountered: Li Nanzhu had wrapped herself into a white silkworm cocoon, leaving only a pair of shamed and indignant eyes to glare at them through a gap in the quilt.
"Pfft—" Duan Xianxing was the first who couldn't hold back his laughter.
Zhu Yinxi pressed his jade flute against his lips, his shoulders shaking slightly.
Feng Qingping turned her face away, but the corners of her mouth were clearly upturned. Even the usually expressionless Feng Weilan looked elsewhere.
Li Nanzhu suddenly poked her head out of the quilt, her hair messy and her cheeks flushed. She pointed at Duan Xianxing and said, "Seventh Senior Brother! This must have been your idea!"
Duan Xianxing immediately hid behind Mu Wenyan, poking his head out and saying with a grin, "Little junior sister, don't wrongly accuse an innocent man! Master was involved too!"
"Master was corrupted by you all!" Li Nanzhu stomped her foot in anger. "And Second Senior Brother! You actually used your jade flute to control the screens! Fifth Senior Sister and Sixth Senior Brother were secretly using spiritual energy to maintain them! Don't think I didn't see Fourth Senior Brother adjusting the brightness! And Eldest Senior Brother, you were even setting up a barrier!"
As she spoke, she pointed at each person in turn. Everyone she named instinctively looked away.
Finally, Duan Xianxing asked cautiously, "Little junior sister... if you don't like it, I'll apologize!"
Looking at their anxious expressions, Li Nanzhu suddenly burst out laughing.
She rubbed her still-warm cheeks, and her voice softened. "Actually... I'm very happy."
She walked into the middle of the group. "Although I was so embarrassed at the time that I wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into, I know you were all happy for me." Her voice grew softer but exceptionally sincere. "From childhood until now, no one has ever... ever favored me so blatantly."
As she spoke, her eyes reddened slightly, yet she continued to smile. "So, thank you all very much."
The residence fell silent for a moment.
Mu Wenyan said gently, "We are family."
At that moment, Feng Yi's voice came from outside the door: "It's good that you know."
Everyone hurriedly bowed.
Feng Yi walked in slowly, his gaze falling on Li Nanzhu. "Since we are family, there is no need for thanks."
He raised his hand and gently patted the top of Li Nanzhu's head. "For tomorrow's match, just perform well."
Li Nanzhu nodded heavily. "I won't let your expectations down!"
Just as she finished speaking, her forehead received a gentle flick from Feng Yi.
"No matter what you do," Feng Yi said with a gentle smile in his eyes, "you do it for yourself first. Only then should you consider anything else."
Li Nanzhu was slightly dazed for a moment before breaking into an even more brilliant smile.
"I understand!"
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