I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World-Chapter 130 - 112: Dark Horse

Mirror World, atop Flat Peak Mountain.

Jiang Yuebai saw Yun Shang, smiled and walked over to greet her.

"How are you, are you injured? If we endure through the last hour, we’ll win. It’s just that we haven’t seen that person in black along the way, we still need to be careful... um!"

Before Jiang Yuebai finished speaking, ’Yun Shang’ looked sharply, and a dagger swept across her face, cutting Jiang Yuebai’s neck.

Jiang Yuebai dissipated like mist, ’Yun Shang’s’ eyes brightened, and the corners of her lips curled up slightly.

"You’re truly impressive!"

Jiang Yuebai’s voice suddenly came from the side, ’Yun Shang’ trembled all over, jumped back three times, throwing three flying knives, before she looked over.

The flying knives pierced through Jiang Yuebai’s body, but no blood was seen. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"I’m right here~"

Another Jiang Yuebai emerged from the mist, ’Yun Shang’ did not make another move, hunched like a frightened small animal, ready to escape at any moment.

"Don’t waste your efforts, this place has already been sealed off by my array."

’Yun Shang’ turned around in fear, a third Jiang Yuebai appeared behind her.

"Restore your true appearance, don’t use my Yun Shang’s face!"

A fourth Jiang Yuebai appeared, Ge Yuchan realized suddenly.

"Shadow Splitting Illusion Talisman, you used it when fighting Zhuo Qingfeng."

Counting the first one that was killed, all five of these are illusions, Jiang Yuebai’s true body is elsewhere.

Having lost the advantage and being trapped, Ge Yuchan knew she was defeated, so she relaxed immediately.

Her bones crackled as she removed the outer white clothes of the Inner Sect Disciple, rubbing her face.

The appearance and stature of a twelve-year-old girl gradually returned, Ge Yuchan bit on a hair tie and tied her hair up high, full of spirited energy.

"How did you see through me?" Ge Yuchan asked.

Jiang Yuebai, standing opposite Ge Yuchan, said: "Your eyes, my Yun Shang doesn’t like to make eye contact, she always likes to peep at people discreetly, you were looking at me too directly."

"I see."

"Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?" Jiang Yuebai looked carefully.

Ge Yuchan smiled, fiddling with the fine bangs on her forehead.

"We’ve met, the year we entered the sect at the Miscellaneous Task Hall, back then I was still a newcomer to Immortal Cultivation, clearly an Outer Sect Disciple, yet ended up at the Miscellaneous Task Hall to exchange for a token."

In a flash, Jiang Yuebai remembered that day, when she held herself back for a month to register at the Miscellaneous Task Hall, she saw a Three Spiritual Roots’ Outer Sect girl.

She was puzzled then, Three Spiritual Roots’ talent, standing behind her on the Ascension Stairs, why did it take a whole month to break through to Qi Cultivation First Layer.

Then she thought, this girl was hiding her abilities, she never imagined she’d hide for so many years, and now her cultivation is... still hiding.

"So it was you."

Ge Yuchan raised an eyebrow and smiled, straightforward and cheerful, "Luckily, you haven’t forgotten me, all these years I have been quite attentive to you and even envied you, used you as my example."

Jiang Yuebai was somewhat surprised that she could also be someone else’s example.

Ge Yuchan sat down, pulled out a red Spirit Fruit from her storage pouch, wiped it on her clothes, took a crisp and sweet bite, juice splashing everywhere.

"An example, do you mind if I ramble a bit? Once I finish this bite, I’ll withdraw on my own, I’m not your match in a head-on fight."

The four Jiang Yuebai thought briefly, nodded, and sat cross-legged scattered in four directions, in fact, she was also quite curious about Ge Yuchan.

"Go ahead."

Misty rain hazily, the evening wind gently cool.

Ge Yuchan holding the bitten Spirit Fruit, her gaze deepened.

"I think we’re quite similar, that friend of yours, Lv Ying, is quite a blabbermouth who loves to show off. I learned some of your experiences from her. Like you, I’ve seen the darkness of hell and the evil in the human world too."

Ge Yuchan glanced at Jiang Yuebai, smile on her lips, eyes full of bitterness.

"When I was very young, I was sold to an acrobatics troupe to practice Bone Shrinking Skill, later noticed by someone and bought, sent to a place in the martial world that trains assassins, but luck was on my side, just half a year in, rival forces attacked, and I escaped, with Heavenly Dao’s protection, I entered the Immortal Gate."

Ge Yuchan took a bite of the fruit, as if savoring the moment, that smile at her lips never fading.

In a sudden moment, Jiang Yuebai felt a pang in her heart, as if seeing her younger self, because her mother always said, never hit a smiling face, so no matter how bitter and difficult, she greeted people with a smile.

Ge Yuchan chewed, looking at Jiang Yuebai, "We are inherently optimistic, always turning sadness into motivation deep inside, from which we grow stronger."

"After Qi Cultivation Third Layer, I went all out, followed senior sisters on missions outside the sect to return there, destroyed that assassin organization and the acrobatics troupe abusing children, back then I was not even eight years old, couldn’t believe I could manage it."

"It was that harvest that honed my skills today, in the following years, I almost never stayed in the sect, frequently taking missions outside, ventured into dangerous mountains and waters, extracting Spiritual Medicine for people, hunting demon beasts, honing my martial arts."

"Though Outer Sect is better than servitude, there’s still open and secret struggles, no social network, no backing, no one pays attention, each step is difficult, each path painful. I sought recognition but was often frustrated, and I kept thinking of you."

"Thinking though you clearly have the worst Five Spirit Roots, you could climb one more stair than I, could gain Elder Lii’s favor, could reach Qi Cultivation Third Layer within two months, could befriend a prodigy like Lu Nanzhi, could make an impression before the Sect Master after the Yinfeng Creek incident."

"If you can achieve all this, then why can’t I with my Three Spiritual Roots when I put my whole heart into it?"

Ge Yuchan’s gaze became sharp, staring fiercely at Jiang Yuebai.

Jiang Yuebai’s heart skipped a beat, but Ge Yuchan’s gaze gradually dimmed, her smile showing more bitterness and helplessness.

"I only recently understood that, it turns out I really can’t, I’m too ordinary after all."

"Why?" Jiang Yuebai couldn’t help but ask.

Ge Yuchan slowly took another bite of the fruit, "Do you know what is more frightening than ridicule and contempt?"

Jiang Yuebai pondered, Ge Yuchan looked up.

"It’s being unseen, the most excellent receives praise, the most inferior gets criticism, while those in the middle, not too great nor too bad, often fade among the crowd. True ordinariness is the inability to rise nor fall, do you understand?"

"You are more fortunate than most, your Five Spirit Roots are a distinct halo, even if you completely disappear it’d be nothing, but once you stand out, any achievement and progress become extraordinarily prominent due to your lacking talent. Just like on the Ascension Stairs, I climbed to the eighty level with three Spiritual Roots, is it not good? I tried my utmost!"

"No one noticed because you were there! A Five Spirit Roots at the eighty-one level, you made everyone around become ordinary, overshadowed. If you had the same talent as me, would you still be special, still be noticed?"

Jiang Yuebai was shaken internally, never had she thought ordinariness would be defined this way, it moved her, making her unable to argue.

Ge Yuchan took the final bite of the fruit, "So I envied you, since returning from the Yin Mountain Mine with the Spiritual Cultivation Master Token, I regarded you as a model, I really wanted to be like you, to astonish the world!"

"In this small contest, I’ve been lurking quietly, killing many Inner Sect prodigies, Sword Sect talents, so at this moment, the entire Heavenly Interence Sect knows about me, Ge Yuchan, probably hating me terribly."

"Whenever I think of this, I just laugh, hahahaha..."

Ge Yuchan laughed, holding her stomach, tears sparkling in her eyes.

Jiang Yuebai however couldn’t laugh at all, only feeling a deep sadness clogging her heart.

Being ordinary feels truly powerless!

You can only suppress ambition, lower expectations, persuade yourself to be content!

But in the dead of night, wouldn’t you still feel unwilling, wouldn’t you ask why can’t I?"

Jiang Yuebai also experienced such powerlessness, which is why in this small contest, she harbored the same thought.

To amaze the world, to be in the spotlight!

Let this world’s gloom, never again conceal her!

Let this world’s beings, never again look down on her!

Eye to eye, Ge Yuchan’s eyes carried tears, smile on her lips.

"You must understand my heart, we are the same kind of people, so... I still want to contest for the first place!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Ge Yuchan’s fruit core smashed into the ground.

Boom!

Black smoke burst forth, all light vanished instantly.

Only endless darkness remained, murderous intent surged.