61 FROM CHALLENGER TO CHALLENGED IN ONE NIGHTS TIME (2/2)

”In the end, it all leads to getting brother Yin to buy this without suspecting anything…” The emerald-eyed girl's green orbs lit up intelligently, her purple lips arranging into a knowing, victorious smirk ”And I might just know how to do that…”

Like so, time passed, and it was only just as the sun was beginning to set that she accomplished her goal: after many trials and tribulations, and close calls way too numerous to count, Xiao Wu finally managed to get her hands onto another bone mask from the bazaar.

Up until they eventually bought the mask and handed it to her, Fuyin and Wang Lu tried their hardest not to let on that they had known since long ago that she was the much-famed Night Challenger. Despite countless close calls on their part as well, they still tried their best and eventually managed to make it through.

Like so, with a new mask and renewed vigor, the Night Challenger took off once again in the dark! Departing just shy of the second twelfth hour, her first clash of the night was accompanied by the ringing of blades and bells.

And she would do so night after night, after night, the stars and moon bearing witness to her victorious harvest time and time again!

Amusingly enough, by the end of her first week of donning the azure garbs and wearing the mantle of the masked genius, Xiao Wu had unknowingly already become the ideal husband material in most of the Vacant Sect female cultivators' hearts…

Of course, as she took down experts left and right and rose to fame, her increasingly brighter figure began tickling the pride of those geniuses that considered themselves peerless in the snake kingdom of the Vacant Sect: it was their belief that even a strong dragon can't suppress the local snake king, let alone a dragon cub, and as such how could they possibly let this random kid, this 'masked prince', steal away their limelight?

Did he not know of the meaning behind the phrase crouching tiger, hidden dragon, and that strength was not for boasting? Did he not fear retribution from rousing the hidden experts in the Vacant Sect with his impulsive and arrogant actions? Did he not know that I had been wooing that cute junior sister over there for years, and just as I had the chance to take her out to dinner and had the courage to confess, you came around and stole her heart without even knowing she existed?

”…”

…It looked like this feisty and brash youth was in need of a thorough lesson!

Like so, countless Vacant Disciples wishing to 'test their honed skills against those of the newcomer' came forward one after another. And amusingly enough, in the days to come, before even Xiao Wu would come to know anything of it, the whole Vacant Sect would eventually come to view Fa Ningsan as the middle-man between the 'Night Challenger' and those who wished to challenge him!

Hundreds of requests for battle would flood in in his mail post every time the sixth bell of the morning rang, and more often than not they would be accompanied by some sort of monetary gift to him, Fa Ningsan. Without any need for an explanation, it was clear that they were hoping to sway him to put them in the 'list' of those challenged that night. And those prices would rise and rise again each night, with people trying their hand at bribing him from left and right, hoping to bid more than the competition.

Money flowed in for those 'spots' he had no way of interfering with as if he were auctioning away fine treasures!

And like so, after the happenings of that sole, single night, the High Level Basic Stage cultivator grew from a slightly prominent nobody with a good cultivation in the Vacant Sect, to the top of the social ladder.

There was only one reason why Xiao Wu didn't leash out on the guy for being the catalyst that turned the 'Challenger' into the 'Challenged', ruining the persona that she had been steadily building up these past few days, the very moment she heard of this…

That being, it actually turned out that this saved her quite some time.

Initially, she would have had to spare some of her free time in the morning, afternoon, or even at night to look for suitable opponents to face. Now, with many renowned experts coming to look for her on their own, it saved her that time and let her invest it in more training during the day and more duels at night. Having a 'secretary' turned out mildly useful as well, in particular seeing how he would voluntarily hand her most, if not all of his earnings from the bribes, just so she didn't expose him and those people realized that the money they had spent had been all for naught.

Finding this system of patrons making donations just for a chance to fight her amusing enough, she eventually chose to endorse it, and with somebody organizing her battles for the night, her efficiency rose, allowing her to battle many times the number of opponents than she would have been able to put together alone. It even came to the point where they invested the newly earned capital in a small abandoned building, turning it into an actual arena that every night would attract many curious spectators. The Night Challenger was only lacking merchandise before it would turn into an actual brand, and even that might not be for too long.

And all this was merely because her appearance had been mistakenly revealed to that one person, Fa Ningshan, who later helped feed countess pieces of information to those rumors, spinning them into full-fledged tales of an aloof, talented and handsome masked youth! Just that one event had lead up to all this!

Somehow, even after all this while, neither her actual identity nor true gender were ever disclosed. Of course, there were quite a few close calls, both in the Spirit Beast forest and just outside the arena. However, the powerful Advanced Stage Wang Fuyin, unmatched in the Vacant Sect, would tidy up after her each time from the shadows. Overall, it could only be considered a massive success, and the best cow they could get their hands on right now to milk for resources.

If Cheng Hao could see all this, he would only be asking why she had yet to set up a betting system of some sorts and scammed anyone yet, forgetting for a brief moment that the promising purple-haired young girl before his eyes was not the other purple-haired rogue misfit he used to hang out with.

At times, a rebellious apple might not want to fall too near to the tree, but ultimately would end up rolling back just shy of the trunk nevertheless…