Chapter 415: Chapter 412: I Never Tell Lies

Although being chosen as Mo Qi’s opponent meant a Sub-Palace’s disciple would almost certainly suffer a humiliating public defeat, it also presented an opportunity to recruit a super-genius.

It wasn’t a bad trade. In fact, it was a steal!

"Ting Lake Sub-Palace! Li Xuemiao, you’re up!"

"Business Alliance Sub-Palace! Qian Duoduo, you’re up!"

"Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace! Li Yuanhao, you’re up!"

"Cold Ice Sub-Palace! Wu Bainian, you’re up!"

Mo Qi rattled off the names of four Sub-Palaces, assigning them to Li Xuemiao, Qian Duoduo, Li Yuanhao, and Wu Bainian respectively.

Hearing their names, the four of them each took a step forward.

"Fight!"

Their unstoppable aura stirred everyone present.

It was a confidence that sprang from the depths of their souls, a heroic passion that yearned for battle, a courage that declared, ’If not me, then who?’

The four Sub-Palaces he named were the very same ones that had intended to target Mo Qi from the start.

Right now, the expressions of everyone from those Sub-Palaces, from the powerful Immortals to their most outstanding disciples, had turned incredibly sour.

All their initial arrogance, their clamoring that they had Mo Qi in the bag, had completely vanished.

They had assumed that since Mo Qi was from the Mortal District, he couldn’t be that strong, even if he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

No one could have predicted that things would turn out like this.

The challenges had been issued, but a long silence followed with no response.

The four major Sub-Palaces were in despair!

Their chances of winning were practically zero, and if they lost, there was no guarantee the victors would even choose to join their Sub-Palace.

It was almost a foregone conclusion that they would end up with a net loss.

No one wanted to become the next Mad Beast Sub-Palace.

"Are you... refusing to accept the challenge?" Mo Qi was dumbfounded.

’Have two little fights really scared these people from the Hall of Envoys so badly?’

’Weren’t they all acting so high and mighty just a moment ago?’

’What happened to all that bravado?’

’Or did Liu Hui and Jin Sanpang go too far?’

’If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have let those two go first.’

"Ahem... well... actually, the two who fought earlier are the strongest of the group. These next four are just average, so don’t worry," Mo Qi said, clearing his throat with a serious expression.

However, absolutely no one believed him.

"It’s true. I, Mo Qi, never lie," he vowed, full of conviction.

The four major Sub-Palaces: "..."

’With that tone of voice, do you even believe yourself?’

’Do you take us for idiots?’

Seeing the four major Sub-Palaces still weren’t reacting, Mo Qi changed his tack.

"Didn’t you want to challenge me? Didn’t you want the treasures I have? Come on! The opportunity is right in front of you. Take that brave step, and the vast sky will be within your grasp!"

"Cowards! Don’t make me look down on you!"

As soon as he said this, the faces of everyone from the four major Sub-Palaces darkened.

They felt worse than if they’d eaten a ton of fly shit.

"Go on, what’re you afraid of?" The experts from the neutral Sub-Palaces began to jeer.

They were clearly enjoying the show and didn’t mind stirring up more trouble.

"Exactly! The four great Sub-Palaces, scared off by a junior. If word of this gets out, tsk, tsk... that’s a massive loss of face."

"Losing your own face is one thing. But if this gets out of the West District and the other districts hear about it, you’ll be embarrassing the higher-ups. If the Holy Ancestor decides to look into it then, you’ll really be in for it."

"Hahaha! I’ve never seen a Sub-Palace back down during an exchange before a single blow was struck. This is hilarious!"

As the other spectating Sub-Palaces were heckling, a disciple from the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace finally couldn’t take it anymore and stepped forward.

The practice of the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace was, in reality, a branch detached from the conventional path of the Martial Dao.

Their method of Cultivation was to inflict as much pain on themselves as possible, both physically and mentally.

Ascetics believed that human potential was limitless. The more suffering, pressure, and torment a person endured, the greater the potential they could unleash.

That was why, in the eyes of others, these people were a bunch of complete lunatics. They were ruthless to others, but even more ruthless to themselves.

This was also why someone dared to step forward, even knowing they would almost certainly lose.

"I will fight you to the death!"

He was a muscular man with a crew cut, standing over two meters tall.

His skin was dark, and the exposed parts were wrinkled and covered in a chaotic mess of scars, giving him a ferocious and terrifying appearance.

At a glance, he didn’t look like a member of the younger generation at all. He looked more like an old man in his twilight years.

This was one of the consequences of such a masochistic form of Cultivation: it made one look neither human nor ghost.

Despite his appearance, the aura that pulsed from him was terrifyingly powerful, like a viper waiting for the right moment to strike and devour its prey whole.

Just as Li Yuanhao was about to step forward to face him, a graceful figure stopped him.

"Let me take this one."

"Huh? Aunty, what are you doing?" Li Yuanhao scratched his head in confusion as he looked at the beautiful woman before him, then turned to Mo Qi with a questioning gaze.

"Uncle, what do you think?"

The person who had stopped him was none other than Niu Kexin.

"I’m not looking!" Mo Qi retorted, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

He objected to being called "Uncle," but Niu Kexin had accepted the "Aunty" title with great pleasure and ease. What could he do? He was helpless.

Li Yuanhao was completely baffled.

Mo Qi’s answer left him completely bewildered.

’What’s this about looking or not looking?’

’I was asking what we should do about Aunty wanting to fight!’

"Sister Kexin, don’t be hasty. I have other plans for you," Mo Qi said with a wry smile, ignoring Li Yuanhao’s resentful stare.

"No, I think the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace is a perfect fit for me," Niu Kexin said, shaking her head.

"???" Mo Qi scratched his head furiously, completely unable to follow Niu Kexin’s train of thought.

’You’re a delicate, beautiful girl. How could the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace possibly be a good fit for you?’

’Besides, the people from the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace focus on honing the physical body to its absolute limit, mostly starting with Body Refining. With your Half-Spirit Body, wouldn’t fighting them be just plain bullying?’

’If you scare them off too, how are Qian Duoduo and the others supposed to have their matches?’

Mo Qi wouldn’t have agreed to it, but he folded the moment he saw Niu Kexin’s pleading gaze.

"Alright, fine. You can go. But you have to be careful, careful, and more careful!"

Mo Qi’s "be careful" wasn’t a warning for Niu Kexin to watch out for her own safety. He meant for her to be careful not to go too hard, to not completely break her opponent.

However, everyone else misunderstood him. Combined with Mo Qi’s conflicted expression, they were led to believe that he was worried about Niu Kexin’s safety.

In other words, they thought Niu Kexin’s strength was limited.

Seeing this, the brawny man from the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he took pleasure in hardship and treated masochism as a form of Cultivation, that didn’t mean he was an idiot. He didn’t have a death wish, like a moth drawn to a flame.

So, when his opponent changed from the unknown Li Yuanhao to a young woman like Niu Kexin, he was secretly delighted.

"Master Mo, please reconsider!" Feng Liang chimed in again from the side.