“Who just said they’d do a handstand and eat sh*t? Come out!”

“This… this is cheating! How could they find the formation nodes so quickly?”

“Why not? Didn’t the senior sister who just went on stage do it too?”

“That’s because she has a spiritual eye!”

“Maybe our Senior Brother Bai has a spiritual eye too, or even a high-level one.”

“No, no, no! In my opinion, it’s definitely because Senior Brother Bai’s spiritual eye is male, while the opponent’s is female, so it doesn’t work when they see him.”

“I don’t believe it! This must be a setup! They must be under pressure from the Bai family!”

“Tsk, how much do you look down on our Tianjian Sect? Even if the Bai family is powerful, they can’t possibly force our sect’s peak masters, elders, and a formation master to play along with Senior Brother Bai, right?”

“Maybe they’re spies from the demonic path, unable to stand the fact that our Tianjian Sect has produced a formation genius. I suggest a thorough investigation.”

Under the urging and teasing of the crowd, the few disciples who had sworn oaths turned red in the face, abandoning their ongoing matches and squeezing out of the crowd, fleeing as if their lives depended on it.

“Ugh—!”

“Cowards!”

“Don’t go, Brother Eat Sh*t! I’ve never seen anyone do a handstand and eat sh*t before!”

In an instant, the atmosphere among the disciples was filled with joy.

……

“Damn it!”

Ye Tang clenched his fists and slammed the table. After enduring multiple beatings, the table finally couldn’t take it anymore and collapsed, sending the teacups crashing to the ground, tea spilling everywhere.

The carefully crafted public opinion he had built was shattered so easily.

He had originally planned to use public opinion to force Bai Feng to withdraw from the sect competition, but he hadn’t expected the sect to value Bai Feng so highly, even inviting Master Liu Meng to come and guide him.

But even if he knew this, he wouldn’t give up.

“Senior Brother, it’s bad!”

At that moment, a disciple burst in, and Ye Tang frowned. If this person weren’t his trusted aide, he would have kicked this unruly fellow out long ago.

“What’s with the commotion? What happened?”

“Senior Brother, all our people have been captured by that Luo Chen guy!”

“What?!” Ye Tang suddenly stood up from his chair, grabbing his subordinate by the collar, his eyes reddening as he demanded, “What the hell happened? Didn’t I tell you to keep an eye on him?”

The disciple, though a bit scared, still relayed the news: “Because Bai Feng won too easily, our people who were spreading rumors and questioning him caught Luo Chen’s attention.”

“Useless! A bunch of useless fools!” Ye Tang nearly threw his subordinate out but ultimately restrained himself, straightening the subordinate’s collar instead. “Fine, I get it. You can go now.”

Before leaving, the disciple couldn’t help but ask, “Senior Brother, what about our people…”

“What? Do you want me to bail them out?” Ye Tang shot a glance at his subordinate. “I’m the Senior Brother of Tianjian Sect. Am I supposed to tell them I sent our people to target a fellow disciple?”

“...Yes.”

……

【Ding! Detected that the luck child bought by the host has disrupted another luck child’s plan and eliminated most of the subordinates. Reward: Luck Points +300, along with the Illusion Techniques from the Divine Forging Method created by Master Qian Huan.】

Bai Feng: “…”

Luck child, you’re dead meat!

No, this can’t go on. While hiding on Qingzhu Peak and focusing on cultivation does help him avoid most troubles, it also means he can’t keep up with what’s happening outside.

It seems he needs to establish his own intelligence network.

Where should he start?

“Brother, have you decided what formation to set up yet?”

Bai Yumo poked her head out from the kitchen, asking Bai Feng, who was sitting at the dining table waiting for dinner.

Bai Feng paused his thoughts and shook his head. “There are too many options; I haven’t decided which one to choose.”

The second match involved setting up formations for the opponent to break through, so there was plenty of time—five whole days.

It also happened to be the last day of the sect competition.

“Since there’s still time, take your time. It’s best to choose one that’ll make the opponent suffer a bit.”

Bai Yumo brought over the dishes, her anger flaring at the thought of the opponent’s arrogant demeanor, especially since they couldn’t handle losing. No matter how cute they looked, it was hard to like them.

“Hmm…”

Bai Feng pondered for a few seconds. He felt it was better not to hit too hard, after all, the opponent’s master still had to teach him. Plus, Su Lanqian’s emotions seemed a bit unstable; if he accidentally pushed the opponent too hard and caused them to shut down, he wouldn’t know how to explain it to his master and Master Liu.

In that case, he should eliminate some of the overly dangerous formations.

How about setting up an illusion formation? With the system’s rewards, he now understood illusion techniques better. He could lower the intensity a bit, enough to let the opponent spot the flaws but not so much that they could break it immediately.

Sigh, he was really going to great lengths to save face for his master and Master Liu.

Hopefully, that arrogant little brat Su Lanqian would come to her senses after this and stop bothering him.

Knock, knock, knock!

“Hmm? Who’s there?”

Bai Feng stood up from his chair, pondering as he opened the door.

Outside stood a figure in white, raising her small fist and waving at Bai Feng. “Brother, go for it!”

Chapter 43: Please Stop the Host from Having Unrealistic Fantasies

“Brother, go for it!”

Xiao Qi waved her small fist, though her face still bore little expression.

“It’s you, Xiao Qi!” Bai Feng smiled and reached out to pat her head. “You finally came! I was wondering why you hadn’t come to find me.”

“Because I heard you were working hard to prepare for battle, so I didn’t want to disturb you before.”

“Come in.” Bai Feng stepped aside, letting Xiao Qi into the room.

At that moment, Bai Yumo, who was busy cooking in the kitchen, naturally noticed the new “guest.” Although she had less misunderstanding about Xiao Qi after Bai Feng explained, she still felt a hint of hostility.

It was as if her only identity was being taken away by someone else.

“Hello, Miss.” Xiao Qi greeted Bai Yumo somewhat awkwardly.

Bai Yumo tightened her grip on the spatula—this was also something she disliked. Why did Xiao Qi call Bai Feng “Brother” but refer to her as “Miss”?

Though they hadn’t met much, that form of address made her feel excluded.

“Xiao Qi, don’t be so formal. Just call me Sister,” Bai Yumo corrected with a smile.

Xiao Qi shrank her head slightly, an inexplicable sense of danger surfacing in her heart. She quickly nodded, “Okay, Sister.”

Only then did Bai Yumo nod in satisfaction and turn back to her cooking.

“By the way, Brother, this is something the academy asked me to bring you.”

Xiao Qi relaxed a bit, suddenly remembering something. She hurriedly took out a tightly wrapped item, which felt like a few books.

“Oh, thank you for your trouble.” Bai Feng accepted the item and stuffed it directly into his storage bag.

This package was, of course, the books he had promised to Senior Sister Yu Yao, and he couldn’t let Xiao Qi see it.

Though Xiao Qi was curious, she didn’t ask. She sat beside Bai Feng, sipping tea in small sips. “Recently, those spreading rumors have all been caught! I helped too!”

She had heard many rumors about Bai Feng before, but at that time, nothing she did seemed to work. Later, when Bai Feng entered Tianjian Sect, the rumors didn’t stop; instead, they intensified, even leading to her being ostracized for speaking up for him.

Now she finally had the chance to strike back!

Bai Feng: “...Well, thanks a lot!”

He patted Xiao Qi’s head helplessly. After all, she was concerned about him, so he couldn’t say much.

Moreover, he was indeed annoyed by those deliberately spreading rumors. His master hadn’t said anything, so why were all these disciples making a fuss?

However, the rise of rumors was indeed related to his lack of presence and response, which had directly fostered the soil for conspiracy theories. After all, many people spread rumors without thinking, and as someone who used to surf the internet often, he knew this all too well.

But if he responded, he would fall into the trap set by the luck child, so it was better to let them say a few words. After all, it wouldn’t affect him; he would still be enjoying the meals his sister made, reading books in the library, and sleeping in the bed on Qingzhu Peak.

“By the way!”

Bai Feng suddenly remembered something. He pulled out a talisman from his storage bag, adorned with a few small, smooth jade stones, looking quite beautiful.

He handed the talisman to Xiao Qi. “This is the promised gift. It’s a protective talisman I made, capable of withstanding a full-force strike from a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.”

This talisman was also one of his research achievements during this time, a product of miniaturizing formations.