Troublemaker’s Guide to Immortality

Even if she had been in the frozen wastes of the Arctic, Yun Jin would have still heard Zhao Wuji's scheming loud and clear. He no longer cared about winning. What he wanted now was to force a draw.

And a draw? That was a loophole. Since nothing specific had been agreed upon in the event of a tie, it gave him plenty of room to maneuver behind the scenes.

One hundred Blackwood Beetles, just like that?

Yun Jin clenched her jaw. "This arrangement… is utterly despicable."

Her words rang out sharp with anger and despair.

Zhao Wuji took a moment to admire the look on her face. At the corner of his lips, a faint smirk appeared.

Yes.

Despicable? Sure.

But so what?

He had already done it.

Who could stop him?

It was time Yun Jin learned the real rules of this world—only the strong survive. With enough power and the right backing, he could crush her as easily as one would crush a beetle beneath their foot.

Despairing now, was she?

Good. Angry, too?

Even better.

Ma Hongyu dared not speak to Yun Jin, nor even glance at his own disciple. He turned his eyes away from both and announced in a quiet voice, "The third round of the trial… begins now."

He raised the two storage pouches into the air.

The seals opened, and black shadows poured down from above as the swarm of Blackwood Beetles dove straight for the fragile seedlings.

But just as the bags opened, Yun Jin's lips curled into a faint smile. Even Lin Ya, leaning back against his seat, wore a serene expression and began to chuckle softly. Their sudden change in attitude startled many.

Zhao Wuji's face darkened.

Had he miscalculated?

No. Impossible.

One hundred Blackwood Beetles. Even Ma Hongyu couldn't clear that many in time.

There was no way Yun Jin could manage it.

But Lin Ya was truly enjoying himself now.

He had seen Yun Jin's Pest-Eliminating Finger technique with his own eyes.

Yue Zhao had even given it a name: the Six Meridian Sword.

And Lin Ya thought it fit her perfectly.

A hundred beetles might be a nightmare for Ye Cheng…

But for Yun Jin? Not necessarily.

After all, the beetles were weak. Their threat came only from their numbers.

Once her Six Meridian Sword technique was unleashed, there was nothing to fear.

Lin Ya knew this clearly.

All that fury and protest earlier? It had been nothing more than an act.

If he hadn't put on a performance, Zhao Wuji would have suspected something was off and might have changed tactics again. Yun Jin was clever, too. She had picked up on that and purposely pressed Ma Hongyu, pretending to be outraged.

The more indignant they seemed, the more convinced Zhao Wuji became that his plan was foolproof. Now that the third round had officially started, Zhao Wuji would have no chance to interfere again.

The moment the swarm hit the ground,

Ye Cheng's eyes were filled with despair.

He tried his best to activate his Pest-Eliminating Finger. He managed to kill a few beetles, two or three at most, but the rest had already begun devouring the seedlings.

He didn't stop. He continued fighting.

But his efforts were already meaningless.

He might still be able to clear out the beetles, but by the time he did, not a single seedling would remain.

Even so,

Ye Cheng pressed his lips together and focused on purging every last beetle.

When it was finally over,

the entire field was in ruins. Not a single blade of green remained.

Ye Cheng stared at the devastation. His eyes reddened with grief.

He had always loved cultivating through planting. To him, it was the one kind of work where effort always bore fruit.

People could betray you, but the land never would.

But this time,

it wasn't the land that had failed him.

He had failed the land.

His heart ached as he fell to his knees in the center of the field and stayed there, unmoving.

But no one else was paying attention to Ye Cheng.

Their gazes were fixed on Yun Jin's side, where a blanket of beetle corpses littered the ground—and every single seedling remained untouched.

Everyone stood frozen in stunned disbelief.

How had she done it?

Then they remembered.

When the Blackwood Beetles had rained down from the sky,

Yun Jin's ten fingers lit up all at once, firing beams of light in rapid bursts. Ten beetles fell before they even touched the ground.

Then again. And again.

With each round of attacks, more beetles dropped.

The swarm barely had time to take a single bite.

Three seconds.

In just three seconds, every last beetle had been eliminated.

Yun Jin stood calmly where she had begun, not even moving a single step.

And now,

she finally turned her gaze on Zhao Wuji, her sharp brilliance no longer concealed.

Her voice rang out clear and confident, "Sect Master, it seems I've won this match."

Zhao Wuji stared at the sea of dead beetles. His lips trembled.

She had won.

Yun Jin had actually won.

But how?

From the start, he had been certain. When things didn't go as planned, he shamelessly altered the rules, aiming at best for a draw.

Yet in the end, she had delivered a crushing victory.

"No…"

"Impossible…"

Ye Danxia collapsed to the ground, her voice a dazed murmur of despair.

If Yun Jin had won, then didn't that mean she, Ye Danxia, would die?

No.

She had a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

She still had a bright future ahead of her.

She couldn't die here.

Her master… he would save her, wouldn't he?

Ye Danxia looked at Zhao Wuji with desperate hope.

Zhao Wuji couldn't bear to meet her eyes. His face had gone pale, his mind racing. This wasn't just about Ye Danxia anymore. The spirit fields, too—he would now have to return control of them to the peaks, just as the contract demanded.

If he truly followed through…

His reputation within the sect would suffer, yes, but more importantly, his grip on real power would slip away. Those peak lords who had already been restless, like Fang Mingyue, would almost certainly start making moves.

And even those who had once obeyed him completely, like Huo Lie, might no longer be so loyal. A single disciple, Yun Jin, had cracked the foundations of his perfect control.

The wall had fallen.

Ye Cheng instinctively glanced toward Yun Jin's field.

He had expected to see the same ruin that lay behind him.

But instead,

what he saw left him stunned. Her field was filled with vibrant green, completely untouched.

If not for the pile of beetle corpses, he might have believed she had faced no trial at all.

In that moment,

Ye Cheng didn't stop to wonder how she had done it. He didn't feel humiliated.

He simply looked at the flourishing field and smiled.

"Thank you," he said softly, facing Yun Jin.

Thank you for protecting the seeds.

Yun Jin blinked, slightly confused by Ye Cheng's reaction.

Seeing the genuine joy on his face, she didn't quite know how to respond.

All she could say was,

This senior Ye really did love planting.

Someone like him… following a sect leader like Zhao Wuji… what a waste of talent.

Still, regret was one thing.

Victory was another.

She wasn't letting it go.

"Martial Uncle Ma," Yun Jin called, turning to Ma Hongyu, "can the final result be announced now?"

Ma Hongyu's lips trembled. He hesitated before finally speaking, "The winner is… the winner is…"

He couldn't seem to get the words out.

Ye Cheng stepped forward calmly. "There's no need. The result is clear. I lost."

He had admitted it himself.

A ripple of Heavenly Dao energy passed over Yun Jin and Zhao Wuji.

[+1 Victory Condition Fulfilled.]

Yun Jin smiled.

She had won.