Reborn Divine Doctor: The Abandoned Girl's Legend

Chapter 557: Chapter 427: The Dark Horse of the Imperial Examination

Upon hearing the name Ye Lingyue, Hong Mingyue’s fingers couldn’t help but clench together tightly, not letting go until they were pinched red, and then she slowly opened them.

All along, Hong Mingyue never regarded Ye Lingyue as worth a glance.

What was Ye Lingyue, if not a discarded daughter who couldn’t even claim a place in the Hong Residence’s family tree?

At their first encounter, she was merely an Innate Martial Artist.

Compared to her, Hong Mingyue was like a bright pearl in the sky, while Ye Lingyue was just a piece of fish-eye bead fallen into the dust.

Hong Mingyue didn’t even deign to cross hands with Ye Lingyue. It used to be out of disdain, but now, it was out of inability.

But when did it start, that such an inconspicuous fish-eye bead started to snatch away everything that rightfully belonged to her?

First, it was the title of Princess, then the name of a prodigy, and even Heaven’s Chosen Sons like Feng Xun and Xiahou Qi loyally devoted themselves to Ye Lingyue.

And what about her, Hong Mingyue?

She was clearly a noble lady of the Marquis Mansion, but had no control over her life since birth.

When she heard the ”death news” of Ye Lingyue, Hong Mingyue wasn’t happy; on the contrary, only deeper hatred ensued.

Hatred because, with her death, the name Ye Lingyue would forever linger in everyone’s hearts.

A spirit-lost Prince Feng, a greatly changed Xiahou Qi, every one of them reminded Hong Mingyue that Ye Lingyue was better than her.

Therefore, Hong Mingyue had always refused to believe that Ye Lingyue was really dead.

She was anticipating that Ye Lingyue was still alive, because only if she were alive would they have a chance, a true and fair competition, where she would defeat Ye Lingyue in front of everyone, letting everyone know that she, Hong Mingyue, was the one and only genius of the Hong Residence.

After the registration for the Daxia Imperial Competition began, Hong Mingyue had been waiting, waiting for Ye Lingyue’s appearance.

But she didn’t show up.

Tomorrow is the last day of the competition registration, and there’s still no sign of Ye Lingyue appearing.

Could it be that she really died in the Xingxiu Cave?

For the first time in her life, Hong Mingyue had treated someone as her real rival, but now, that rival had died.

Hong Mingyue felt somewhat disheartened, yet at the same time, somewhat unwilling.

Seeing Hong Mingyue remain silent, Hong Fang took it as her being in a bad mood. Ever since her engagement to Luo Song, she had been downcast.

In addition to the sense of sentiment, there was also a bit of guilt.

Her daughter had such high talent, yet she had to marry a man like Luo Song.

”Ming Yue, it’s your father’s fault,” Hong Fang lamented.

”Father, sometimes, I really wish I was Ye Lingyue.” Hong Mingyue suddenly stood up and walked out.

Hong Fang was taken aback and didn’t understand his daughter’s words.

If possible, she truly didn’t wish to be born in the profoundly entrenched Marquis Mansion; she would rather be like Ye Lingyue, free as the broad expanse of the sea and sky, soaring at will. Regrettably, she did not have Ye Lingyue’s courage; she broke her own wings with her hands.

Watching his daughter’s slender figure disappearing into the courtyard, Hong Fang hesitated, leaving his words unsaid.

”Ming Yue, don’t worry, Father won’t let you be wronged. After tomorrow, the Hong Residence and the whole of Daxia will belong to our family,” Hong Fang withdrew a letter from his sleeve.

The letter was a reply from ”Chen Hongru,” stating that he would allocate a hundred Alchemists to Hong Fang.

These one hundred battle-savvy Alchemists would silently eliminate Heir Hong during the Imperial Daxia Competition, at the moment when Heir Hong leads the Sha Sect in a palace coup to seize the throne.

Without Heir Hong, he would become the future heir of the Hong Residence, the Crown Prince of the new Dynasty, the future Emperor.

Thinking of this, Hong Fang couldn’t help but feel his blood boiling. After so many years of meticulous planning, he was finally about to achieve everything he dreamed of—whether it was Ye Huangyu or overwhelming power, it would all be his.

The next day, the Daxia Imperial Competition officially began.

The competition was unprecedented in scale, with Emperor Xia and Crown Prince Xiahou Qi personally attending, along with Prince Feng, who had specifically rushed back from Beiqing to witness the competition.

The competition adopted a challenge-elimination format, where each contestant could be challenged up to three times within a day, and the last person standing on the stage would be the champion.

The Ye Family People had been staying at the Lan Residence during this time, and Ye Lingyue’s several cousins had become quite familiar with Lan Cai’er.

On the day of the competition, both the Lan Residence and Guanwu Marquis Mansion had already entered the Imperial Palace.

For this competition, the palace training ground had been specially refurbished, partially opened to the public, allowing the citizens of Xia Capital to enter the palace and watch the games for fifty taels of silver per person.

The court officials, according to their Grade, were seated in different areas within the training ground.

Being closest to the training ground was the Imperial Family, followed by nobles of Daxia and various First and Second Grade officials and their families.

After Ye Huangyu was promoted in Grade, the Ye Family’s VIP seats were right next to Empress Liu, directly opposite to the Hong Residence.

Since Old Marquis Hong was in seclusion recently, Heir Hong was leading the Hong Residence team for this competition.

The Hong Residence competitors at this Imperial Examination included the sibling pair of Hong Mingyue and Hong Yulang, and a scion from the fourth branch of the Hong Residence, but this time, Hong Yulang was representing Hongwu Hall.

Before the competition began, Lan Cai’er, as someone who had experienced it before, was earnestly instructing several of the martial artists with stronger capabilities, including Ye Liuyun and Ye Yinshuang.

”This competition might be the strongest Imperial Examination in the history of Daxia. But to be honest, in terms of real strength, there are only a few, one pair of whom are the devious siblings from the Hong Residence,” Lan Cai’er’s eyes flickered towards the distance.

Hong Mingyue had not yet arrived, but Hong Yulang and a group of spoiled young nobles from Xia Capital were casting malicious glances at Ye Yinshuang and Ye Liuyun behind Lan Cai’er.

”The Hong Residence, is that the same Hong Residence that abandoned Auntie and Sister Ling Yue?” Ye Liuyun and Ye Yinshuang also saw the resentment in Lan Cai’er’s eyes.

After Ye Huangyu was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, her affair with Hong Fang was no longer a secret to the Ye Family People.

Only then did Ye Yinshuang and the others learn of the tragic past that Ye Huangyu and her daughter had endured.

Especially Ye Liuyun, although she had never bullied Ye Lingyue herself, she had also never intervened when her brother and the rest of the Ye Family had tormented Ye Lingyue in earlier years, which now filled her with even more guilt.

Now that Ye Lingyue was dead, motivated by a desire to make amends, Ye Liuyun would not hold back against anyone from the Hong Residence during the competition.

No one expected that Ye Liuyun would become a dark horse at the Daxia Imperial Competition.

In the days following the start of the competition, she passed the trials with flying colors for three consecutive days.

Even on the third day, she made a spectacular victory by defeating Hong Yulang who represented Hongwu Hall.

This was a huge loss of face for Hong Yulang, who had originally intended to give the Ye Family a good beating.

When Hong Yulang was helped down, he glared fiercely at Ye Liuyun; below the stage, the faces of the Hong Residence members turned green with indignation, while Zhuge Rou, with heartache, supported her son and complained to Hong Mingyue standing nearby.

”Ming Yue, why haven’t you taken action yet? That Ye Liuyun is from the Ye Family. She has injured your brother, you must teach her a lesson!”