Mortal Bones

"You said his name is what?"

Zhou Gu seemed almost unable to believe his own ears, repeating the question to the examiner.

"His name is Xu Taiping, what's the matter?"

The examiner looked at Zhou Gu in confusion.

Zuo Ju and Zhou Gu exchanged shocked glances.

"Zuo, Zhou, do you two know this young man?"

The examiner asked curiously.

"No, not exactly. We've just seen him in the area we were patrolling earlier."

Zhou Gu laughed awkwardly, trying to cover up his surprise.

"Well, that counts as some connection. Zhou, you two should try to interact more with this young man. If he wins the next round, he might become the youngest disciple of the Western Wind Sect in the last hundred years to attend the Dragon Gate Conference. He will definitely be valued highly."

The examiner smiled at them.

"Exactly as Liu said."

Zhou Gu and Zuo Ju smiled thinly, nodding with a trace of coldness in their eyes.

...

A moment later, in the Western Wind Sect's Qingxin Courtyard, which had been temporarily turned into a resting area for the outer sect disciples participating in the competition.

"It's him, although he's grown a lot taller, it's definitely him!"

Zuo Ju pointed across the pond to a young man sitting in a pavilion, drinking tea, and said with certainty.

The young man drinking tea in the pavilion was none other than Xu Taiping.

"Big Brother, it was because of him that we lost our comfortable positions in the Liewind Hall and ended up in this miserable state. This grudge can't go unpunished!"

Zhou Gu said, clearly agitated.

"Don't be impulsive. Even though the Four Mountain Competition is hosted by the Western Wind Sect, there are Mountain Surveillance Mirrors watching from above. If we're seen, we won't even be able to stay in Yunjushan."

Zuo Ju glared at Zhou Gu.

"But Big Brother, if this kid wins the Four Mountain Competition, he's definitely going to join the Western Wind Sect. How are we going to handle him then?"

Zhou Gu complained.

"Winning the Four Mountain Competition? It's not so easy."

Zuo Ju shook his head.

"If we trip him up during the Seven Peaks Selection and get caught, we'd be thrown out of the sect. I can't do that."

"This kid beat Sun Hu. He might have received guidance from the Ninth Uncle. With the Ninth Uncle's guidance, winning would be easy for him."

Zhou Gu reminded Zuo Ju.

Upon hearing this, Zuo Ju hesitated for a moment.

"Big Brother, I have a plan."

Seeing Zuo Ju's hesitation, Zhou Gu immediately stepped forward, whispering in his ear,

"The next round will still be decided by drawing lots. I know the disciple in charge of distributing the lots. We can make a small move and arrange for Xu Taiping to face an opponent he can't possibly win against. This way, he'll be eliminated in the next round and have to stay at the foot of the mountain for another three years. Then, he'll be in our hands."

Hearing this, Zuo Ju raised his eyebrows, clearly tempted.

"Who do you think would be a suitable opponent for him?"

Zuo Ju asked.

"Qin Yuan!"

Zhou Gu smiled cunningly.

When Zuo Ju heard the name, his eyes lit up.

"Big Brother, don't worry. The people on the mountain barely pay attention to the Four Mountain Competition, let alone a small match in the Western Wind Sect. No one will care."

Seeing Zuo Ju still hesitating, Zhou Gu urged him again.

What he said was true. The people on the mountain, except for the final Seven Peaks Competition, rarely paid attention to the earlier rounds.

One reason was the sheer number of matches, making it hard to follow, and the other was that it was mostly just martial artists competing with no real intrigue.

"If you're worried about his relationship with the Ninth Uncle and Bai Hong, don't be. The Sect Master investigated this last time. This kid has no backing. The Ninth Uncle going to Qingzhu Residence was purely a coincidence."

"Moreover, the Ninth Uncle and Bai Hong are struggling to save themselves right now. Whether they can even return from the North is another story."

Zhou Gu added two more points.

Upon hearing these final words, Zuo Ju finally made up his mind, nodding subtly.

"Fine, we can't be so unlucky."

In his opinion, with thousands of matches in the Four Mountain Competition, the people on the mountain wouldn't notice such an insignificant match, so the chances of their plan being exposed were very low.

After making the decision, the two left Qingxin Courtyard and headed to find the disciple responsible for distributing the lots.

Little did they know, although they were separated from Xu Taiping by a small pond, their conversation had been overheard in full by Ling Yue, who then relayed it to Xu Taiping word for word.

"Do you want to come up with a way to expose their plot?"

Ling Yue asked, curious about Xu Taiping's thoughts.

"No need, Sister Ling Yue."

Xu Taiping shook his head.

He drank the tea in his cup, then stood up and said,

"My goal is the Seven Peaks Competition. If I can't even defeat Qin Yuan, then exposing these two will mean nothing."

Apart from that, Xu Taiping, having spent three years at the foot of the mountain, knew very well that as a cultivator with no background, even if he reported these two to the Western Wind Sect, no one would care. In fact, he might even be accused of framing them.

So, it was better to silence them with his fists on the arena.

...

A while later.

The short rest was over.

The disciples who had advanced gathered back in the martial arts arena.

Some who had already been eliminated remained to watch the rest of the matches, and soon the arena was packed again.

"Xu Taiping is facing Qin Yuan?"

"The kid's luck is really bad!"

"Based on his strength, if he hadn't drawn Qin Yuan, he could have made it to the Dragon Gate Conference."

After the lots were drawn, the arena suddenly erupted with chatter.

Because of Xu Taiping's remarkable performance in the previous round, many people had gathered early at his designated arena.

When they heard the examiner announce that Xu Taiping's opponent was Qin Yuan, some of them gossiped, some sighed in pity.

"I didn't expect those two actually pulled it off."

Xu Taiping remained calm. However, he was curious about how exactly these two managed to orchestrate this.