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Chapter 433: Dream Butterfly

“I see! So that bastard only won because he cheated!” The Harmony King nodded and exclaimed in realization.

“Er… that’s not entirely true, Your Highness. I suppose you can interpret it as cheating, but it’s common sense to strike the enemy’s weak spot with one’s strength, so—”

Lei Xiaodan tried to explain himself, but the Harmony King cut him off before he could continue. “It’s fine. I completely understand what you mean. He’s a man, and he couldn’t even fight a girl without resorting to cheap tactics and cowardly strategy. There is not a shred of manliness in him whatsoever.”

Lei Xiaodan: “...” Is that what I mean? Then why do I think otherwise?

The Harmony King continued with dripping disdain, “As if that’s not enough, he’s a pretentious bastard who’s trying to worm his way into Qingge’s good graces. The nerve of him! I’ve never met a more shameless bastard in my life!”

The sight of Ye Qing and his daughter chatting happily away with each other annoyed the Harmony King. Chu Qingge was born with an apathetic personality, and she rarely interacted with any men. Even as her dad, he rarely saw her opening herself up to someone the way she was currently doing with Ye Qing, much less anyone else. That was why he couldn’t help but feel increasingly jealous and annoyed with Ye Qing.

“I’m warning you now, Jianglong, but you better keep that bastard away from my Qingge,” the Harmony King abruptly looked at Hong Jianglong and uttered.

“Ahem… sure, Your Highness,” Hong Jianglong replied awkwardly. I thought he was angry that his daughter lost, and he was, but it’s the possibility that his Qingge might fall for an undeserving guy that scares him even more…

Personally, Hong Jianglong didn’t think that Ye Qing was a poor match for Qingge though. They were both young geniuses with a bright future ahead of them. However, he could understand why a dad would find it difficult to accept this, much less someone like the Harmony King…

It was at this moment Ye Qing and Chu Qingge teleported out of the platform at the same time.

“Are you okay, Qingge?” The Harmony King immediately went up to his daughter and asked concernedly.

“I’m fine, father. You don’t need to worry about me,” Chu Qingge responded with a smile.

“Good, good.” The Harmony King consoled her. “Losing a duel once in a while is perfectly normal. It’s not like you went all out. Nothing is more important than your health, so don’t be angry, and definitely don’t be sad, alright?”

“Don’t worry, father. I’m not sad or angry. Also, I have no qualms with this defeat. Ye Qing is definitely the better warrior between the two of us,” Chu Qing replied while shooting Ye Qing a glance.

The Harmony King’s wariness shot up to a hundred when he saw this. “Daughter, it’s important to protect oneself when you’re away from the safety of your home. It is especially important to avoid shady people who look like something on the outside, but are really arrogant, boastful, and cheating bastards on the inside…”

Ye Qing: “...” I don’t care how you educate your daughter, but why the fuck are you looking in my direction as you speak?

“I understand, father.” Chu Qingge smirked a little. Of course she understood what the Harmony King was implying.

When the Harmony King noticed that Ye Qing was standing far too close for his comfort, he immediately shooed him away like a dog, “What are you looking at, boy? I’m talking to my daughter here! Stop eavesdropping and get out of my sight!”

Ye Qing: “...” Eavesdropping? You’re so loud I could’ve heard you from twenty meters away!

“As you command, Your Highness,” Ye Qing replied while rubbing his nose. He didn’t know why, but it was clear that the Harmony King was hostile toward him. Best not to provoke the man if he could help it.

“I’ll be taking my leave, Miss Qingge.”

“Yeah. See you in a bit.” Chu Qingge nodded.

“Didn’t you hear what I say? Get. Lost!” The Harmony King blocked in front of Chu Qingge and glared at Ye Qing angrily.

Ye Qing wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew better than to indulge the impulse. After looking around for a bit, he went over to Luo Zhan, Gao Ningan and Chu Nianjiu.

Although they had all been disqualified, they were still allowed to observe the matches.

“Congratulations, Joyless!”

“You’re amazing, Joyless. I can’t believe you managed to beat Qingge!”

Both Gao Ningan and Chu Nianjiu congratulated him.

Even Luo Zhan stopped meditating temporarily and opened his eyes. “Congratulations, brother.”

“Thank you,” Ye Qing responded politely before observing Luo Zhan’s pallid complexion and weak energy. “Did you win, Brother Luo?”

“No. I lost to Jian Wusheng,” Luo Zhan answered frankly and without shame. “His ‘No Life, No I’ is incredibly strong. Assuming you’re matched up with him in the future, be sure to keep an eye out for it.”

“Thank you for the advice, Brother Luo. I will.” Ye Qing sat down beside Gao Ningan and Chu Nianjiu before asking, “So, how are the rest of the matches going? Who won and who lost?”

Zhao Bu’er, Chu Renhe, Xu Rulin and Zhang Tiancheng had finished their matches already. The only matches that were Wen Xiaonuan and Flower Butterfly on the second platform, Qi Xuanyun and Wei Bulao on the third platform, Zhuo Henshui and Chen Shaoyu on the sixth platform, and Zhao Lan and Lin Yuhuai on the seventh platform.

“Zhao Bu’er defeated Chu Renhe, and Xu Rulin defeated Zhang Tiancheng,” Chu Nianjiu replied in a succint manner.

“Zhao Bu’er won?” Ye Qing lifted an eyebrow. He wasn’t surprised that Xu Rulin could beat Zhang Tiancheng. After all, his cultivation level, combat experience and strength were all superior to his opponent’s. However, the outcome of the match between Chu Renhe and Zhao Bu’er definitely surprised him.

As someone who fought Chu Renhe before, he knew very well that the inspector general was anything but a weakling. He also owned a Strange Artifact that possessed both offensive and defensive capabilities. That was why he wasn’t expecting him to lose to Zhao Bu’er, a peer in terms of cultivation level.

“Oh yes. Not only did he defeat Chu Renhe, he kicked his ass harder than anyone else in this tournament. Just look at Chu Renhe’s head!” Gao Ningan exclaimed with a good dose of schadenfreude in his voice.

Ye Qing looked. Right now, the inspector general’s head was as bald and shiny as a light bulb. The corners of his lips turned up uncontrollably as he exclaimed, “Holy shit! What the heck happened to him?”

“It’s like this…”

Gao Ningan proceeded to tell Ye Qing everything about the fight between Zhao Bu’er and Chu Renhe. When he was done, he glanced at Chu Renhe and snickered. “It’s a shame you didn’t end your match sooner. When he left the platform, his head looked like a dog had chewed on it, and his face was so black you would think that his father just died. Ooh, it was a riot!”

He still looks like he lost his dad, frankly, Ye Qing thought to himself before looking in Zhao Bu’er’s direction. He was curious about the warrior’s tactics and his unique weapon.

Zhao Bu’er was sitting quite far away from them, but he still turned around and shot Ye Qing a pure, honest smile. Ye Qing nodded in acknowledgement but secretly upped his evaluation of Zhao Bu’er by a level. The warrior must possess a lot of spiritual power to sense his gaze from so far away.

“What do you think Zhao Lan is doing, Joyless?” Chu Nianjiu furrowed his brows while looking at the seventh platform. There, Lin Yuhuai and Zhao Lan were still fighting aaginst each other.

Ye Qing narrowed his eyes a little and muttered, “That bastard is toying with Brother Lin.”

“What?” Chu Nianjiu blurted while sipping his wine. To be honest, it didn’t look like Zhao Lan was toying with Lin Yuhuai, but the fact that he, a late-stage Spirit Purifier and a proven candidate of the Hidden Dragon Meet, didn’t immediately crush Lin Yuhuai, an early-stage Spirit Purifier, proved that something was amiss.

If Chu Nianjiu wasn’t sure that Lin Yuhuai didn’t know Zhao Lan at all before the Hidden Dragon Meet, he would have suspected that the man was Lin Yuhuai’s hired actor!

Chu Nianjiu’s martial insight might be too low to discern what was happening, but not Ye Qing. Zhao Lan could’ve defeated Lin Yuhuai at any time, but he purposely restrained his strength and revealed some openings from time to time so that Lin Yuhuai believed that he still had a chance. Like a cat toying with a mouse, he kept feeding the talisman expert false hope for some unknown purpose.

“What on earth is this Zhao Lan plotting?” Chu Nianjiu frowned deeply.

Ye Qing shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

Gao Ningan waved off their concerns uncaringly. “It’ll be fine. Brother Lin is a member of the Pacification Bureau. Unless the guy is crazy, he wouldn’t hurt Brother Lin too badly.”

Ye Qing frowned but didn’t deny Gao Ningan’s statement.

“What is your opinion regarding the rest of the matches, Brother Ye? Who do you think would win?” Luo Zhan suddenly joined in on the conversation.

Ye Qing observed the other matches for a bit before answering, “I think that Wen Xiaonuan, Wei Bulao and Zhuo Henshui would win!”

Wen Xiaonuan and Flower Butterfly’s duel was a battle between joy and sorrow, literally. If Wen Xiaonuan was overflowing with negative energies such as listlessness, sorrow and despair, then Flower Butterfly was the opposite. As her moniker might suggest, Flower Butterfly was a beautiful woman surrounded by swarms of colorful butterflies. The woman herself was dancing gracefully in the middle of the horde as if she was participating in a performance and not a duel, her bells ringing melodiously with every twitch of the limb.

The butterflies flew toward Wen Xiaonuan as she danced, but they all died before they got close to her. As soon as the butterflies hit the ground, they abruptly burst into flames and gave off some sort of white smoke.

The butterflies Flower Butterfly commanded were no ordinary butterflies. They were Malice-class Strangers known as the Dream Butterflies. A type of social insect, it was said the Dream Butterflies were created from a person’s most beautiful hopes and dreams. Normally found in places with lots of plants and especially flowers, they possessed the power to draw a living person into a perfect dream where everything they ever dreamed of came true. They would awake when the Dream Butterflies left their side.

If the Dream Butterfly died, then it would transform into a puff of smoke that would turn that wonderful dream into their worst nightmare. They would be subjected to the worst imaginable horrors, fears, and more. The moment they woke up was also the moment they died.

That was why the books describing the Dream Butterfly included a quote like this:

“Life and death in a single dream,

Joy and anger, pleasure and sorrow in a single butterfly.”

To put it simply, a living Dream Butterfly would grant a person the most wonderful dreams without harming a hair on their person, but a dead Dream Butterfly would inflict them with the worst nightmares until they died.

The Dream Butterflies were a potent weapon in the right hands, but for some reason, Wen Xiaonuan was completely unaffected by their effects. They were unable to draw her into a dream at all, much less kill her through said dream.

On the other hand, Flower Butterfly was growing paler and paler over time. Even the melodious ringing of her bells were starting to lose their rhythm. It was clear who held the upper hand in this battle. If she didn’t have another trump card, then this battle would end in her defeat for sure.

“Flower Butterfly is probably the disciple of the Butterfly Keeper. It was said that the Butterfly Keeper was descended from the Butterfly Fairy of the Nanjiang Gu King Abode, and the Butterfly Fairy’s lineage specializes in raising gu butterflies. Their signature cultivation art, ‘Butterfly Fairy Sutra’, teaches two martial arts known as the ‘Butterfly Fairy Dance’ and the ‘Bewitching Bell’. The ‘Butterfly Fairy Dance’ is used to control the gu butterflies, and the ‘Bewitching Bell’ is used to muddle the mind.”

Luo Zhan gave them a lengthy explanation before concluding, “Neither the ‘Butterfly Fairy Dance’ nor the ‘Bewitching Bell’ is working on Wen Xiaonuan. I can see why she is going to lose.”

“I’m not sure about Qi Xuanyun and Wei Bulao though. On one hand, Brother Qi wields a repertoire of powerful lightning spells. On the other hand, Wei Bulao uses an unusual palm art. So far, they’re locked in a stalemate, so why are you so certain that Wei Bulao would win, Brother Ye?”