You're Faking It?

Li Guanqi's sharp eyes caught sight of the little girl at the door right away. Rising to his feet, he walked over to her side. Looking at her reddened eyes, he rubbed her little head and asked softly, "What's the matter? What happened?" Everyone's eyes shifted toward Yu Sui'an. Qin Xian and Li Nanting also chimed in with concern, "What happened?" Looking at everyone's worried faces, and at Li Guanqi, who had mostly recovered from his wounds, Yu Sui'an lifted her head, smiled, and waved her hand dismissively. "Aiya, it's nothing big. I just tripped on my way back from buying buns and dropped those plump white buns in the dirt. Such a waste!" Li Guanqi did not think much of it upon hearing that. After all, it was only natural for a little girl to cry her eyes out over something like that. Rubbing her little head, he chuckled. "It's fine. I'll buy you more later. Do you want to eat them now? If you do, I can take you right now." Li Nanting also smiled. "If you're worried he hasn't recovered, Grandpa can take you to buy them." The little girl lifted her chin with an arrogant huff. "Go for what? I'm not going! Tomorrow I'll just eat two extra to make up for it. Little blind boy... are you feeling better?" Li Guanqi smiled, stepping back to show off his wounds. "Look, they're already scabbing over. I'm fine." With her hands behind her back, the little girl looked him up and down, as if confirming that he was truly all right. Only then did she nod like a little adult. "Mhm, good to know you're fine." Then, like a gust of wind, she dashed back into her room. The others could not help but smile. Afterward, Qin Xian dismissed the rest of the group under the pretext of helping Li Guanqi restore his origin power. Yet the moment everyone left, the old man put on a grim expression and led Li Guanqi into his private room. As soon as they entered and Li Nanting secured the door, Qin Xian waved his hand, casting an origin power barrier over the room. Flitting to the youth's side, the elder asked in a low voice, "Brat, tell this old man the truth!" The youth spread his hands with an innocent look. "Elder Qin, what truth are you asking me to tell?" Li Nanting smacked him over the head and snapped in annoyance, "Nonsense! How much of your strength did you actually use today?! If Elder Qin and I hadn't checked the meridians in your body ourselves, we would've been kept in the dark too!" Li Guanqi grinned at that. His meridians were nowhere near as wrecked as the two had made them out to be. Even his collapse at the very end had been an act. Right up until he defeated the final disciple of Xuanmen Palace, he still had at least twenty percent of his origin power remaining! Stroking the beard on his chin, Qin Xian's eyes flickered as he chuckled. "Good heavens. Are disciples nowadays all so calculating? Just who are you trying to mislead? Did you really have to let yourself get hurt so severely?" Standing in the center of the room, Li Guanqi replied in a quiet voice, "Zhao Beichen!" "He's the only one who makes me sense danger." "Even if we won the Purgatory Challenge today, tomorrow I will have to fight through at least one more round to ensure the sect advances to the next stage!" Li Nanting frowned. "That Zhao Beichen isn't particularly famous. Is it really worth laying such cautious plans against him?" At these words, even Qin Xian nodded in agreement. The youth grinned, letting out a soft chuckle. "My grandfather once told me that if you truly want to set a trap for someone, you must begin before they even notice you or start guarding against you. If they've already caught on to something, you won't be able to trap anyone." The two elders exchanged a glance, both catching the faint disbelief in each other's eyes. Anyone could understand the logic, yet they had never seen a teenager with such shrewdness and nerve! Qin Xian said in a deep voice, "So your injuries today looked horrific, but none of them was a crippling wound that hindered your movement—it was all deliberate on your part? If you had truly gone all out against Guan Qingyun, what were your chances?" Li Guanqi pursed his lips and said, "Back when Master and Elder Xu suppressed their cultivation to spar with me, I could suppress both of them alone. If I had gone all out against Guan Qingyun... With my left-hand sword, ten breaths would have been plenty!" The two gasped, inhaling a sharp breath of cold air. A look of understanding dawned in Li Nanting's eyes. No wonder he had felt something was off while watching the match. If he and Qin Xian had not examined his body, they would never have sensed anything unusual either. In other words, Li Guanqi's performance today had fooled everyone! Qin Xian gained a whole new appreciation for this monstrously talented youth. In his heart, he was even beginning to scheme whether the sect should accept another closed-door disciple... Li Guanqi shrugged and murmured, "Master, Elder, we have to keep up this act." "Don't let anything slip to the sect disciples later, or my bitter-flesh ploy will have been for nothing." A rare, broad grin spread across Qin Xian's face. "Don't worry, brat. We definitely won't give you away. The sect's ranking has already reached twelfth, and the resources we'll obtain are several times better than in the last hundred years. Winning any further rounds tomorrow is pure profit! So you don't need to put too much pressure on yourself. Just do your best! Your own well-being comes first. The sect would rather lose countless resources than have any of you come to harm." Li Guanqi nodded slightly. Meanwhile, just as Li Guanqi and the two elders were conferring behind closed doors... Back in her room, the little girl bolted the door shut. Suddenly, her face twisted in pain. Squatting on the ground, she lifted her floral padded jacket, revealing a massive purple bruise across her thigh! It was larger than a palm, covering nearly her entire thigh. Limping, she dragged her leg back to the bed, pulled out a storage bag, and retrieved some safflower oil to apply to the skin. As she rubbed it in firmly, the searing pain made her gasp, nearly crying out. Quickly burying her head into the quilt, she let out muffled whimpers. With red eyes, she pulled her clothes back on, mumbling under her breath, "Be good. You can't make the little blind boy worry about you. He's hurt so badly, and he still has to fight tomorrow... An'an won't cry. An'an is the strongest! What's the big deal about six fragrant meat buns... just six... Waaah! (´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)" Hiding beneath the covers, the little girl cried for a long time, completely unbeknownst to anyone. For Li Guanqi was devoting all his strength to restoring his origin power. Tomorrow's Purgatory Challenge would still go on. It would not pause simply because he was injured!