Chapter 124: The Night Needle Eye

Ye Jiuyao fixed his gaze on Bai Mei with the look of a butcher eyeing a lamb and began to speak.

"Not much, just a thousand or eight hundred Sage Pills or Monarch Pills will do. I don’t need too many. If that’s really not possible, then a hundred or so Yuan weapons will suffice. I’m a person who... isn't greedy."

Ye Jiuyao looked at Bai Mei with a straight face, his eyes filled with sincerity, but Bai Mei’s expression turned sour. The onlookers wore long faces, their expressions filled with disdain. This master was shameless, but his disciple was even more so. To open his mouth and demand such terrifying things—after all, Monarch Pills were not easy to come by. The last time one was sold, it fetched a sky-high price of over a million Yuan crystals, which was truly frightening. Now that Ye Jiuyao was opening his mouth like a lion, everyone was naturally astonished. It was more than just astonishment; they looked at him with contempt, as this clearly bordered on taking advantage of a crisis.

"Disciple, how can you be so shameless? However, Master likes it very much. After all, you have already inherited three-tenths of my true teachings..."

"Tch..."
"How can our Elder be like this?"
"It’s destroying my worldview..."

For a moment, the crowd booed at the shameless Bai Mei. They shouted their grievances, but Bai Mei remained indifferent, appearing excited instead. It seemed he felt he had found common ground with Ye Jiuyao. This made him very happy, as he thought it might further bridge the distance between them and logically lead to making Ye Jiuyao his disciple.

"Hahaha..."

Thinking of this, Bai Mei laughed out loud. The crowd looked at him in confusion, unable to understand what the Elder was laughing about.

"Old man, what do you say?"
"Jiuyao, for the first part, I will apply to the superior sect for ten pills for you. The rest won't be bad either. How about that?"
"Hmm..."

Ye Jiuyao fell into deep thought. This was a common trick of the shameless: using empty promises to bait a prize. How could Ye Jiuyao be easily fooled? He pondered for a while, and Bai Mei became impatient.

"Good disciple, dear disciple, Master is really not lying to you this time. If I lie, I’m a little puppy."

The crowd looked at Bai Mei with disdain, as if saying he was no different from a puppy right now, except that puppies are loyal. But he was a sycophant. Sycophants deserve to die, but puppies don't.

"Fine, I swear in the name of the superior sect. If I go back on anything I just promised, my cultivation shall never advance another half-step in this lifetime!"

"Hiss..."
"He’s pulling out the big guns!"
"Rare to see the Elder like this."

Suddenly, many began to admire Bai Mei for making such a great sacrifice for the benefit of the sect. Ye Jiuyao awoke from his contemplation.

"Oh my, Elder Bai Mei, we are so close, why must you swear? It makes me look narrow-minded. Actually, I would have believed you if you just said it, unlike the others."

"What???"

The crowd was full of question marks. How did they suddenly become the bad guys? Bai Mei, meanwhile, was so angry that his face turned purple. This disciple... was truly troublesome!

"Alright, everyone disperse and cultivate properly. We are different; you need to train every day to enter the outer sect, but I am different..."
"I accidentally had a breakthrough just now..."
"Oops, I let it slip. Look at me, how low-key I am."

The very "low-key" Ye Jiuyao looked at the crowd with an embarrassed expression, his face practically written with the word "humble."

"Damn it, a man can endure this, but my aunt can't! I want to hit him!"
"Well, let’s be blunt, me too..."
"Then go on, you guys!"

Those who wanted to beat Ye Jiuyao immediately went silent, staring at their own noses, no longer making a sound.

"Don't just run your mouths. If you're not convinced, get on the stage and fight it out!"

The person who saw the crowd wanting to "crusade" against Ye Jiuyao suddenly fall silent pursed his lips and spoke in a strange, mocking tone.

...

"Disciple, you broke through again?"
"Mm-hmm, what else? Breakthroughs are so easy. I just took a nap in my cave dwelling and suddenly broke through. So I wanted to find Senior Brother Ning Ling to spar, but then..."
"Master was wrong..."

Bai Mei immediately apologized to Ye Jiuyao, his face practically branded with the word "sycophant," but Ye Jiuyao ignored him.

"I just wanted to spar to stabilize my cultivation, but it was ruined. I’m afraid I have no chance in the four-district tournament now..."

The crowd was speechless. Bai Mei understood immediately and tossed a pile of things from his Universe Ring to Ye Jiuyao, saying, "I understand, Master understands..."
"Oh, my cultivation is definitely stable now. First place, leave it to me."

"Shameless." Seeing Ye Jiuyao being "bribed" by Bai Mei, Ning Ling muttered under his breath.

With his sharp ears, Ye Jiuyao heard him naturally. He immediately stiffened his face and smiled at Ning Ling—a smile that clearly didn't reach his eyes.

"Senior Brother Ning, my cultivation is still unstable. Let’s spar again."
"Junior Brother, no..."
"Master, what do you think?"
"Ning boy, my disciple needs to stabilize his cultivation. Just exchange a few moves, but don't hurt him."

Bai Mei gave the order and left quickly. The moment he turned away, his face showed signs of heartache, but the thought of the bond he was building with Ye Jiuyao made him smile again. The crowd looked on with strange expressions, their faces filled with disdain and contempt as they watched him leave. It was a classic case of the top beam being crooked, leading the lower beams astray!

"Senior Brother Ning is going to have a rough time."
"Isn't that right? Ye Jiuyao just said he broke through; Senior Brother Ning definitely won't be his match now..."
"Shh, keep it down. Don't you know how terrifying Ye 'Needle-Eye' is?!"

The crowd whispered among themselves. Ye Jiuyao heard them but paid no mind. He looked at Ning Ling with a look that said, "You know what time it is."

"Senior Brother, I just learned this Yuan skill, barely mastered it. Let’s try again. I’ll try not to kill you!"

Ye Jiuyao spoke arrogantly, without a hint of subtlety. Ning Ling’s face was bitter, and his heart was filled with despair.

"Damn it, why is my mouth so loose? And even if it was, why did he have to hear it..."

Ning Ling felt bitter, but no one dared to listen to his complaints.

"Starfall!"

Seeing Ning Ling dazed, Ye Jiuyao roared. Terrifying power instantly coalesced, and the stars crashed down like an asteroid impact.

"Shameless—"

Ning Ling wanted to call Ye Jiuyao "shameless," but remembering that his "good temper" came with invisible quotation marks, he swallowed the words and took to his heels. This star attack gave him a sense of profound terror; he felt that if he weren't careful, he might actually die under it. Even if Ye Jiuyao didn't kill him, he would likely be bedridden for a year or two, so he didn't hesitate at all.

"Junior Brother, you really are shameless!"

Thinking he had escaped the range of Ye Jiuyao's attack, Ning Ling roared back at him, but in the next moment, he regretted it...