Chapter 86: The Constantly Extinguishing Candle Flame

"Whoosh!"

Li Yuanling landed on the opponent's wooden boat, her bright, spirited eyes catching the glow of the candle on the boat and spotting a jade tablet held in the hand of one of the young men.

Without a word, she swiftly thrust out her snow-white, jade-like arm, her pale, beautiful face twisted into a grimace, instantly transforming into a fierce bandit and striking directly to snatch it.

The three young men, reacting at last, were instantly startled.

They had no idea why such a delicate and beautiful Miss would strike with such terrifying ferocity.

This wasn't just snatching a jade tablet; it was as if she intended to swallow them alive and tear them apart.

But their strength was truly no match for Li Yuanling; within a few moves, she had knocked them to the ground.

After snatching the jade tablet from the opponent's hand, Li Yuanling's previously grim expression instantly softened like a spring breeze, a look of secret joy appearing on her face.

"One taken with ease."

She turned back and waved the jade tablet in her hand toward Li Musheng, while Li Musheng sat with his eyes closed, cultivating his spirit, too lazy to pay her any mind.

Seeing this, Li Yuanling pouted, but she did not let her guard down; she turned back and carefully stowed the jade tablet.

Her gaze swept over the three young men huddled in the corner of the wooden boat, then she narrowed her eyes slightly, suddenly blew a sharp breath, and directly extinguished the candle flame on the opponent's table.

Then, she stomped her foot and leaped toward another nearby wooden boat.

On the pitch-black wooden boat, the three young men stared into the darkness in the direction Li Yuanling had departed, and only one thought simultaneously rose in their minds:

What a vicious woman; snatching the jade tablet wasn't enough, she had to blow out their candle flame, giving them no chance at all.

Their accumulated pattern counts were already not even ten to begin with; now, they wouldn't even have a chance to relight the candle, forced to stay in pitch-black darkness on the wooden boat, waiting to be eliminated half an hour later.

Meanwhile, Li Yuanling, having tasted success with a great start, gradually began to show signs of going "berserk."

Next, she continuously leaped from one wooden boat to another, and almost every leap yielded a jade tablet.

It must be said that as the Princess of Great Li, her martial arts strength was indeed not poor.

But more importantly, Li Yuanling had excellent judgment; she avoided those who looked formidable and specifically targeted those soft persimmons to squeeze, and she had never failed once.

Of course, after each snatching of a jade tablet, she did not forget to "cut off the roots," blowing out the opponent's candle flame along with it.

Therefore, in the eyes of those whose jade tablets she had snatched, Li Yuanling had a terrible reputation, and some hated her to the point of gnashing their teeth.

Some, upon encountering experts from other nearby wooden boats passing by, even couldn't help but deliberately point toward the direction Li Yuanling had left and loudly incite them:

"Chase quickly! That woman has snatched dozens of jade tablets; catching her will surely get you into the top ten."

In fact, the jade tablets Li Yuanling had obtained on her person at that moment were only seven.

Regarding this, most people did not quite believe it upon hearing the words and continued to follow their own plans to snatch jade tablets from nearby wooden boats.

But a very few, taking a gamble, headed in the direction where Li Yuanling was located.

Meanwhile, Li Musheng sat calmly on the wooden boat, illuminated by the candle flame on the table, letting the boat drift toward the center of the underground lake.

Just then, a middle-aged man in a green robe suddenly leaped out of the darkness and landed on the wooden boat where Li Musheng was.

He had a square face and broad forehead, a strong physique, a goatee on his chin, and his martial arts aura was not weak.

The middle-aged man glanced at Li Musheng on the wooden boat and said in a deep voice:

"Hand over the jade tablet."

Hearing this, Li Musheng raised his eyes, looked at the other man once, spread his hands, and said:

"It's not on me."

The middle-aged man in the green robe carefully examined Li Musheng for a moment, seeing that he indeed seemed to be just guarding the boat and had no jade tablet in hand.

So he shook his head and prepared to turn and leave.

He was only there to complete his Young Master's task; if he could avoid fighting, he did not wish to easily provoke a conflict with the other party.

However, just then, a young man's voice came from a nearby wooden boat:

"Zhang Fu, even without a jade tablet, you can't make this trip for nothing; extinguish the candle flame on his boat. Every competitor you remove is one less."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man in the green robe turned back, acknowledged the source of the voice, then directly raised his palm and sent a palm wind toward the candle flame on the table.

Then, the middle-aged man in the green robe withdrew his gaze and prepared to leave the wooden boat to continue snatching jade tablets from nearby boats.

But the next moment, he suddenly stopped, abruptly turned back to look at the table behind him, and frowned tightly.

Clearly, he had just sent out a palm wind, more than enough to extinguish the candle flame.

And the young man on the wooden boat before him had not a trace of true qi; when he acted, the other party showed no sign of striking back.

But extremely strangely, the candle flame on the table had not gone out; it was completely unaffected by his palm wind and was still burning now, emitting a dim yellow light.

The middle-aged man in the green robe subconsciously glanced at Li Musheng sitting motionless opposite, but saw that the other party's expression was normal and he had said nothing.

He seemed to take no notice at all of his own act of trying to extinguish the candle flame.

"Could it be that I missed just now?"

The middle-aged man in the green robe showed a look of suspicion, immediately circulated his true qi again, stared at the candle flame on the table before him, and struck out with a palm.

The fierce palm wind produced a sharp whistling sound and blew directly past the candle flame before him.

And to his disbelief, the candle flame before him did not move an inch; his palm wind had absolutely no effect on it.

"This..."

A look of shock appeared on the square face of the middle-aged man in the green robe, and just then, a voice of shock and anger rang out from a nearby wooden boat:

"Who is it? Who just extinguished our candle flame?"

Hearing his Young Master's voice, the middle-aged man in the green robe hurriedly turned back to look, but saw only that the candle flame on his Young Master's wooden boat had already gone out, leaving the place pitch black.

However, since they had passed the first round perfectly with an accumulation of forty patterns, they had four chances to relight the candle flame within three breaths.

So, the young Young Master on the wooden boat immediately relit the candle flame quickly.

However, the next moment, the candle flame had barely been lit when it suddenly went out silently, and the wooden boat immediately fell into pitch-black darkness again.

"Who is it? Who exactly is it?"

The young Young Master on the wooden boat roared in anger, but no one answered in the darkness.

One of his companions stood up, scanned the surroundings, and found nothing either.

With no other choice, they had to relight the candles again; this time, however, both of them released their true qi to shield the flames so tightly that not even a breath of wind could penetrate.

Yet in the next instant, the previous situation occurred once more.

The true qi surrounding the candle flames vanished silently, and the burning candles went out again.

"This is truly damned..."

In the darkness, the Young Master stood somewhat dazed, yet he dared not shout again.

(End of this chapter)