Chapter 106: Title Comparison

What terrible luck.

Just my luck!

The moment Deng Qian saw Fang Yun, he knew it was going to be a bad day.

Everyone said Fang Yun rarely came to Battle Peak, making him hard to run into, yet here he was.

That was exactly why he’d taken the initiative to ask around for Fang Yun’s residence and seek him out before.

"Senior Brother Deng, what are you looking at?"

The sudden voice startled Deng Qian.

For a split second, he thought Fang Yun had come to find him. He whipped his head around, but only saw the receding figures of Fang Yun and a female disciple, and he let out a silent sigh of relief.

’Good, Fang Yun hadn’t noticed him.’

"Ahem... I was just looking at the patterns on this pillar. Don’t you think they’re exquisite, Junior Brother Luo?"

The patterns were nothing special.

"...They are rather exquisite," the Qi Refining Seventh Layer disciple with the surname Luo replied, eager to please.

"There you go."

Having explained away his odd behavior, Deng Qian didn’t linger.

He had the Steward cancel his registration, then left, feigning nonchalance.

Only once he was on the path leading down from Battle Peak did he pick up his pace.

On his way down the mountain, Deng Qian was sure of it—today was just not his day.

Along the way, he even ran into Yuan Yunfan.

Yuan Yunfan didn’t spare him a single glance.

But that was just Yuan Yunfan’s way.

Deng Qian knew far more about Yuan Yunfan than he did about Fang Yun.

Running into Yuan Yunfan was a blessing in disguise. If it had been Fang Yun he’d just met, things might have gone very differently.

They brushed past each other. Deng Qian slowed for a moment, only to quicken his pace again.

...

「On Battle Peak.」

The Magical Combat spar on Dueling Platform Three was nearing its end.

"Junior Brother Fang, I’ve lost."

"You went easy on me, Senior Sister Zhang."

Fang Yun’s final Magical Combat spar for the day was over. For him, victory had been a foregone conclusion.

As for Zhang Cailing, she felt she had improved from this spar.

The crowd of Inner and Outer Sect Disciples below the Dueling Platform had thinned considerably since the match began.

Fang Yun knew they had all been drawn to the match on Dueling Platform One, where a ranking battle for the Inner Sect Ranking was taking place.

Only after his own match ended did Fang Yun turn his full attention to the situation on Dueling Platform One.

He’d only spared it a bit of his attention during his own fight.

After all, he was sparring with Senior Sister Zhang Cailing and couldn’t afford to be too distracted. It wasn’t because he feared she could injure him, but because giving a match one’s full focus was a sign of respect for the opponent.

So he’d only glanced over briefly; Zhang Cailing likely hadn’t noticed a thing.

’Familiar faces.’

From where he stood, Fang Yun could recognize the two figures on Dueling Platform One.

One was Senior Brother Yuan Yunfan, and the other was Senior Brother Wu Junxin.

He remembered their last ranking battle for the Inner Sect Ranking; by the time he’d arrived, it was already over. This time, however... Fang Yun did a quick mental calculation. He still had time to go watch.

But first, he and Zhang Cailing had to check in with the Steward to register the match’s conclusion and return Dueling Platform Three.

As Fang Yun and Zhang Cailing headed to register, Lu Zefeng immediately fell in with them.

"It’s over, Senior Sister Zhang, Junior Brother Fang. It looks like I’m about to get a title," Lu Zefeng said, sharing what he considered to be bad news.

The way things were looking, if nothing unexpected happened, the title would likely be his.

"Isn’t that a good thing?" Zhang Cailing asked, confused. "Junior Brother Lu, I remember you used to really want a title."

"I wanted a *good* title, preferably one that sounds impressive."

Her curiosity was instantly piqued. "So, Junior Brother Lu, what’s this potential new title?"

"’Poison Hand’..." Lu Zefeng’s face fell.

To him, that was clearly not a good title. It sounded like a name for followers of the Evil Demons and Crooked Paths.

"’Poison Hand’ Lu Zefeng," Fang Yun mused. "I think it’s alright."

Fang Yun wasn’t particularly bothered by words like "poison," "shadow," or "evil."

"Really, Junior Brother Fang?" Lu Zefeng’s expression brightened a little.

"Really," Fang Yun nodded earnestly.

Seeing this, Zhang Cailing quickly chimed in with a comforting tone, "I think it’s not bad either."

"Thank you so much, Junior Brother Fang," Lu Zefeng said from the heart. "I know you’re just trying to comfort me... And thank you too, Senior Sister Zhang, but your acting isn’t as convincing as Junior Brother Fang’s."

Zhang Cailing’s tone was clearly consoling, whereas Fang Yun sounded completely genuine.

"You should be content, Junior Brother Lu," Zhang Cailing retorted, clearly displeased at the critique of her acting. "Speaking of titles, Junior Brother Fang’s is the one that’s actually good: ’Turtle Immortal’ Fang Yun."

"’Turtle Immortal’ Fang Yun... How can our titles be so different?"

Lu Zefeng muttered to himself for a moment, then sighed.

If Fang Yun didn’t know what kind of education his fellow senior disciples received, he would have seriously suspected Lu Zefeng’s words were a veiled jab at him.

’He actually thought Lu Zefeng’s title was a bit better than his own.’

The three of them chatted as they walked.

After finishing their registration, both Fang Yun and Zhang Cailing wanted to head over to Dueling Platform One.

On Dueling Platform One, Wu Junxin and Yuan Yunfan were currently locked in a dead heat.

"Junior Brother Fang, who do you think will win this match?" Lu Zefeng asked.

He figured that with Fang Yun’s talent for combat, he’d have a much better read on the situation than they did.

Fang Yun shook his head. "It’s hard to say."

Fang Yun was in a completely different state of mind when he was fighting compared to when he was watching others spar.

Without the heightened senses from his combat state, and relying only on his own experience, he couldn’t tell who had the upper hand from the current situation on the platform.

Since he didn’t get a concrete answer from Fang Yun, Lu Zefeng didn’t press the matter.

Until the battle on Dueling Platform One reached its conclusion, no one could know who would be victorious.

From the looks of it, either of them had a chance of winning.

"Junior Brother Yuan, I have lost." Looking at the blade hovering just a short distance from him, Wu Junxin had no intention of continuing the fight.

"It was a narrow victory," Yuan Yunfan replied with a respectful gesture.

Yuan Yunfan acknowledged Wu Junxin’s strength. He truly had won by a narrow margin this time; if they were to fight again soon, he wasn’t certain he could defeat him.

But if more time were to pass, it would be a completely different story.

Because he was not far from reaching the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

"The Magical Combat is over! The challenger is successful!"

The Elder announced the final result, praised both combatants, and then pointed out some of their shortcomings.

Afterward, the Elder vanished.

Ranking battles had to be scheduled for a fixed time, and this was mostly for the convenience of the supervising Elder.

A ranking battle like this required an Elder to be present to prevent any accidents.

When the Magical Combat ended, Wu Junxin glanced down below and, sure enough, spotted Fang Yun.

Before the ranking battle had even begun, he had noticed Fang Yun’s match on Dueling Platform Three and learned that this was his third spar.

He had figured that once Fang Yun saw who was fighting over here, he would probably come over to watch.