Chapter 212: Baihong and Yundream

The championship finals held in Qiguo’s capital were merely internal matches. Due to time constraints, there was no mechanism for resurrection matches; once eliminated, participants were out. Some previously favored strong contenders were directly knocked out by running into tougher opponents.

Consequently, the magazine gave a brief evaluation of a few particularly regrettable stronglings, like the mysterious Taoist who was kicked in the face by a certain priestess and flew out of the competition arena doing a 360-degree spin in mid-air multiple times. He seemed to have been regarded in the last issue as a contender who could at least make it through three rounds.

Such upsets truly drew many eyes to the formidable Miss Vilyric, who defeated him with her strong grip. The magazine even unearthed the fact that during the preliminary round, she faced off against Hong Yan without even drawing her sword.

Though there was a lengthy analysis of the priestess’s actual capabilities, Miss Vilyric found it all to be nonsense — while it might catch the eyes of amateurs, anyone judging an opponent’s strength based on that would surely be in for trouble.

If there was anything that piqued her interest, it was perhaps the nickname the magazine had given her.

“[Baihong]? What kind of nonsense is that…”

“Hey, isn’t it quite nice? I think it sounds pretty good,” replied Miss Cat Daughter, inching closer with a strange expression.

“Indeed, it’s definitely better than being called [Silver Cat]. One might think they’re being insulted if they didn’t know.”

“No worries, I’m not a cat~”

“Eh…”

Alright, to be fair, Miss Xiao Kong did express that she wasn’t a cat demon. And while it might seem a bit odd at first glance, the [Baihong] title is somewhat acceptable — better than being called something like Senior Vilyric or the White Fox Saintess; at least it has some flair.

Those two characters likely refer to Miss Vilyric’s assault pattern when she defeated the Taoist, suggesting she was like a sharp white long rainbow aiming for the vital points, unstoppable.

Clearly, they thought of her as a martial persona. After all, those in this world had never seen a priest’s robe. Given her previous fighting style, even pulling out a staff might have them think it was just a special type of long stick.

With these odd thoughts, the priestess closed the magazine and absentmindedly stroked the genuine White Cat lady on the table, who had lost interest and was yawning in boredom, before turning to Miss Xiao Kong.

“So, you came all the way here just to show me this? By the way, you aren’t seriously thinking you’ll just charge straight to first place like this, right? Shouldn’t I let you win a little?”

“Peh peh peh! Who needs your help? Do you look down on me? But I really don’t mind; it’s just a mortal competition. We’ll see how it goes… Oh right, Vilyric, someone is looking for you.”

“Looking for me? Just saying, I’m not meeting any fans…”

Despite saying that, the priestess still obediently stood up from her desk.

“So where are they? Why not just bring them over here?”

Miss Xiao Kong shook her head.

“I certainly wouldn’t bring someone directly to you, that guy Hen is downstairs with them. If you want to meet her, I can take you down now… It seems she knows you.”

“Who is it, exactly…”

Now that she was already this far into the conversation, she might as well at least see the other person. The Ancient Spirit Realm was vast, but there weren’t many who knew her, Vilyric. If it was indeed someone familiar, that would narrow things down considerably.

Following Miss Xiao Kong out the door, Vilyric spotted a young lady sitting in a corner of the hall with her back turned to them. She was quietly talking with Princess Ling, and between them was a pot of fragrant tea already brewed, indicating that they seemed to be getting along quite well.

Though she couldn’t see the face of the other person from this angle, the slender figure with strikingly rare snow-white hair, along with the long object wrapped in cloth held behind them, was enough to lead the priestess to deduce who it was.

“Eh? Mengrui, is that you?”

“?!”

Hearing Vilyric’s surprised voice, the other party turned around quickly, immediately displaying a sincere smile that was mixed with a hint of barely concealed grievance. After a moment, she promptly put on a frown and feigned annoyance.

“Otherwise, who would it be? Our [Baihong] Miss is busy competing for glory in the tournament and doesn’t have time to deal with a fringe character like me. Mengrui had to come over on her own to connect with you, the big favorite for the championship ~”

“Isn’t the spread of this title a bit too fast…”

Shaking her head helplessly, the priestess approached the two ladies, politely giving Mengrui a gentle hug. Then, quickly separating as Mengrui’s ears turned slightly red from the embarrassment, she and Miss Xiao Kong took their seats on either side of the small table, pouring themselves some tea.

“Sorry, originally I had planned to head back via the Kaiyuan Grand Canal after settling my business, but then I ran into some issues at Cangyun Mountain and had to change my plans, so I diverted here to Dongyuanzhi Kingdom instead and couldn’t meet up with you on your ship.”

Taking a sip of tea, Vilyric displayed a smile at the unexpected reunion with her old friend.

“How have you been? What brought you to Dongyuanzhi Kingdom’s capital? It must be over three thousand miles away from the active area of your ship, right?”

The previously slightly awkward moment passed quickly for Mengrui, the seemingly young but deeply cultured shipmaster of the Loxian Boat returned to her usual calmness. She did not dwell on Vilyric having stood her up before, simply smiling slightly.

“[Loxian Group] was invited by the Holy Sect Alliance to perform at the closing ceremony of the [Four Saints Selection Tournament]. As you know, while we mainly operate near the Kaiyuan Grand Canal, we don’t strictly count as a local force of the Western Yuan Spiritual Kingdom. This isn’t the first time this sort of situation has happened.”

“The compensation offered by the Eastern Yuan Holy Sect is quite generous. Building a good relationship with such a national-level force will be beneficial for the future activities of Loxian Boat, so I naturally had no reason to refuse.”

“We arrived here about a month ago, just in time for the opening ceremony of the [Four Saints Selection Tournament]. I didn’t expect you, Vilyric, to be here as well, and participating in the competition; I thought you might be in the spiritual kingdom’s area competition.”

Brushing her silky white hair aside, the beautiful young lady, who seemed to be the mythical creature Cloud Dream, looked a little helpless.

“Honestly, I should have discovered your presence sooner, but I’ve been busy rehearsing for the performance after the finals, and I don’t pay much attention to those fighting for fame and fortune. So it wasn’t until today when the finals’ first round began and the Eastern Yuan Holy Monarch invited me to watch, that…”

“Haha, it’s all fine; it seems we’re truly destined to meet, even here in this foreign land!”

As the priestess cheerfully said this, Mengrui looked around the people present, her face suddenly sporting a quirky expression, half-smiling, half-teasing.

“Yeah, otherwise I wouldn’t have known Vilyric that your charm with women is quite strong. In just a few months, you’ve already surrounded yourself with two distinct newcomers; what happened to those two before ~?”

“…Eh?”

   

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