Chapter 36: Top Four
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As a blood red mist rolled about on the path where the Demon Eyed Eagle had died, no one dared to get near as they helplessly watched from a distance.
In the meantime, Du Qianxin, Mei Hua, and the others had resumed back to their battle with the evil beasts. Huang Xue’s previous battle had ignited their desire to battle, and made them feel even more pressured to get stronger! Only the strong will be respected! Only the strong could decide their own fate!
*Swish!*
Du Qianxin narrowly dodged a strike from the Four-tailed lion, leading to a small cut near her waist. Gritting her teeth, she relentlessly charged forward with two swords in her hands, as she shouted out: “All of you! Aim for its fore right leg!”
Several sword stabs quickly charged at the Four-tailed lion’s leg, while Du Qianxin unleashed a powerful double slash backed by the full strength of her fourth stage Jie Hail realm!
*Boom!*
Upon taking a concentrated attack to its fore right leg, the Four-tailed lion let out a furious roar as its balance was shift to the right side. And taking Du Qianxin’s double sword attack right afterwards, the demon lion was forced even further to the right. As a result, a small gap was now created leading to the portal!
Without hesitation, Du Qianxin immediately darted through that gap, her body flashing by the evil beast like a phantom. With her people holding back the Four-tailed Lion, Du Qianxin was able to quickly enter the portal safely.
The number above the gate shone briefly before a ‘2’ could be now seen.
Almost right after Du Qianxin entered the portal, another shadow charged into the portal. A yellow colored ‘3’ appeared above the gate.
“Was that elder sister Mei Hua who just took third place?”
“Yeah! I saw her distract that Fire Backed Toad for a while before she seized the chance and slipped through! Her bodily movement technique was truly profound…”
The crowd in the surrounding saw Du Qianxin and Mei Hua enter the portal, while they could only stand afar and watch.
Unlike Huang Xue who was able to kill one of the powerful evil beasts, Du Qianxin and Mei Hua had relied on the split second of opportunity to gain their entrance into the portal. But even trying to slip past the evil beasts was a huge hurdle for these cultivators.
While they may be somewhat decent compared to normal cultivators, it was still difficult for them to go against a peak Jie Hai beast! Many of them were outer court disciples, so they’re still only at the peak of the Temporal Di realm…
After Du Qianxin and Mei Hua had successful passed through the portal, their respective groups naturally fell back. They had achieved their goals already, allowing their leader to get through. As for themselves, they were only lackeys. They did not dare dream of passing through the portal like the three geniuses before them did.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it! My cultivation base is insufficient for me to pass through at all...why the hell did those people have to come to the Six Ocean Sect? Couldn’t they have picked another great sect? And why is this trial so difficult?! Did the elders not take into consideration that almost all of us are merely at best in the early Jie Hai stages?!” Ji Xiong cursed in his mind as he stared longingly at the portal.
When he had first entered the Six Ocean Sect, he had believed he would stand out greatly with his talent and family background. However, in just a month, Ji Xiong found out that compared to some other students, his talent was only mediocre. And when put up against top geniuses like Mei Hua, Yang Chen, Du Qianxin, Huang Xue, and the likes --he couldn’t even hold his own candle against them! This had made him feel very depressed lately.
With his status as the fourth young master of the Ji Clan, he would’ve been treated as a VIP in any other Sect he went. But here, with others having equal or even higher statuses than himself, Ji Xiong was completely overshadowed.
*Raaawr!!!*
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The Four-tailed Lion swept its paw across the air, effectively batting away three cultivators in succession. Clear sounds of bone cracking could be heard.
“Shit! It’s too powerful! We can’t win at all!” Someone shouted fearfully.
Now that there only one person who could be permitted through the portal, several tens of cultivator gathered together in an attempt to ward off the remaining two evil beasts. But with each person secretly vying for a chance to sneak through an opening, they were unable to cooperate effectively. They could only get swept away under the attacks of the evil beasts in the end!
As for the open path leading to the portal? No one dared to enter the red mist that’s blocking it. In fact, because of the faint killing intent emanating from the mist whenever someone got near, the cultivators had become certain that whoever trespassed into the mist was sured to get killed.
And even if not, no one wanted to offend Huang Xue who was supposedly meditating inside. None dared question the reason why Huang Xue chose to specifically block that open entrance, as some more intelligent people already have a certain guess in mind.
Suddenly, while everyone’s attention was drawn towards the battle with the two evil beats, a black shadow broke away from the crowd. Someone was rapidly heading towards the red mist!
“Someone is rushing towards elder brother Shen’s spot!”
“What?! That person is simply looking to die!”
“Who is it?”
“That face...wait, I think I recognize him! Isn’t he that Luo Ke who defeated Cai Tou by relying on just his 8th stage Temporal Di cultivation several days ago?!”
“Cai Tou? You mean that bully of the outer court disciple? I heard he was famous for robbing the weak since his strength was at the ninth stage of Temporal Di..but are you sure he was defeated by this Luo Ke? He’s not from any prominent family, so how could he possess such battle potential…”
As everyone discussed the about the Luo Ke who had suddenly appeared rushing towards the red mist, the latter had long since entered it. No screams of misery or any sounds could be heard from within the mist.
And without at least reaching the Tian realm, none of the students possessed spiritual sense to detect another’s Qi presence. Therefore, they were unable to see into the mist at all.
“He must be dead by now…” A boy sighed as he shooked his head.
“Hmph, he was courting his own death. Who told him to dare go in and disturb elder brother Shen?” Another bulky boy snorted on the side. Obviously Luo Ke’s action had been one of suicide in his eyes.
But just as the remaining freshmen came to the conclusion that Luo Ke had ‘fell’ under Huang Xue’s hands, the yellow number above the gate...transformed into a 4!
The students stared at the number with their mouth agape in shock. This...what is happening?! Who just passed? Could it be that Luo Ke? But that’s….
While the crowd was thrown into confusion, the portal slowly disappeared into the air, along with the two remaining evil beasts and even the carcass of the third. At the same time, the red mist surrounding Huang Xue slowly dissipated as well, revealing his scholarly figure.
“Only one dared to risk their life for opportunities...interesting. Though, I would only have allowed one to pass through anyways, haha!” Huang Xue thought with a smile as he walked out.
Sweeping his eyes across the confused faces of several hundreds of freshmen, Huang Xue did not bother explaining anything as he headed back into the direction of the forest from whence he came from.
***
At an unknown location, inside an incredibly huge hall, a strange scene was taking place. In this grand hall, every single inch of it was filled with clear water that reached to the top of the ceiling.
It was as if the entire hall itself was underwater!
And floating around in this large room filled with water, were numerous crystal clear bubbles. Inside of each such sphere, items of various kind could be seen ranging from manuals to weapons to even pills!
Suddenly, the a small vortex appeared in the water before three figures emerged from within. These were naturally Mei Hua, Du Qianxin, and Luo Ke.
Upon coming into contact with the water, the initial reaction of these people was to hold their breathe. A look of shock and panic flitted across their face.
“Do not worry. While this underwater treasure hall is filled with water, it has a special formation laid beneath it that allows you to breathe normally. Go ahead and choose something of your choice. Once you finish selecting your desired item, you will be promptly transported back to the Sect. You only have the time it takes for a tea cup to boil to choose.” An elderly voice appeared in the minds of the three youths, before fading away just as quickly. No one recognized who this voice belonged to...
(Note: “time it takes for a tea cup to boil” = expression meaning a duration of 10 minutes)
The expressions on faces of the three relaxed before they gave a bow to the air. Then, without looking at each other, the three people separated and began to browse the collections on the first floor. They did not have much time after all.
With a determined glint in his eyes, Luo Ke looked around at the floating bubbles in the hall. “I do not know why that surnamed Shen did not stop me from entering, but that does not count as me being indebted to him! Even if he had tried something I would still have the bagua mirror and I’ll be able to escape at least…”
This was the only reason why Luo Ke had dared to venture into the red mist, despite the terrifying pressure that was being emitted from within. Even though he was now at the ninth stage of the Temporal Di realm, a late staged Jie Hai practitioner’s aura was still too much for him. With the bagua mirror, however, Luo Ke had been able to somehow reduce the pressure that was on him, allowing him to move more freely.
“No use thinking about that now. Since I already made it in here, I must quickly find a good martial technique! My strength will definitely greatly increase again then.” Luo Ke thought the determined light within his eyes glowed brighter.
While all Six Ocean Sect disciples were provided with a basic meditation manual, Luo Ke was still lacking in foundational skills. He did not possess any special techniques due to his humble origin, so Luo Ke had been blindly fighting just based on his own instincts.
Fortunately, with the help of the bagua mirror over the year, Luo Ke’s cultivation base was much more solid, and his Qi energy was much thicker than others as well. This had allowed him to potentially hold his own against those a stage higher than himself, however with his lack of any techniques, winning is still exceedingly difficult!
One floor above the three youths.
Here laid a similar setting of an underwater hall, but across collection of bubbles the items within them were now much more precious. This was the floor Yang Chen was currently on.
Being the freshman champion, he was given the time it takes two tea cups to boil to search for the item he wants.
Like this, the the four students continued their search for their reward in the underwater hall.
Before long, time was up. One by one, they were transported out of the underwater treasury; within their hands, held a single item.