Corrupt Creations

Seth sat on his seat to finally watch the show. This week has been strenuous for him, this was a rare time to relax and relieve some of his stress from all the hunting. 

Just after he sat, the Eleventh palace master of the Glazed Lake extended her hands and the barrier protecting the platform changed a bit, getting a darker shade of blue. 

"From now on, no one can enter the battle. From the hundred people inside the last three of you standing are going to pass the exam, joining the other six that have already been selected. I sincerely wish you luck." 

"Only three people?" A lot of noises echoed in the arena. 

The palace master grinned and said: "We had ten spots previously, and since our Sect Master recruited that girl herself, we now have only three spots remaining." She pointed at Caizhi. 

All the girls that participated in the competition looked at Caizhi and cursed inside their minds. 

'Damn! We had to participate in this hellish competition, while she entered the sect without even stepping inside the barrier. This is unfair!' 

'Life is unfair!' 

'No! Not content with that, she even stole one of our spots!' 

Seth could almost touch the dark mass of hate that those stares directed at them were producing. 

"Are you sure we need to stay here and watch the event until the end?" Seth's courage was fading with all those females cursing at them. A heavy feeling was pressing down on him. 

"Don't worry, this competition has been very fierce since the beginning, it won't take much time until it ends." Lilian said. 

She was right. Just seconds after the palace master announcement, a mage woman raised her staff and started to cast a large area fire spell. 

It was a great mistake of her part; her opponents wouldn't permit something like that. A woman holding a blue lance charged at her and swiftly took her out with a single fast strike. The other opponents approaching didn't stop though. A lot of different attacks flew in droves towards the lancer. 

Although it seemed to be an impossible situation for the lance holding girl, she was not panicking.

Her lance started to shine and some runes appeared on it. She immediately spun the lance multiple times, hitting the projectiles that were launched against her. They rebounded to every random direction. 

"Ahhhhh!" 

"Argh!" 

With that counterattack, eight people were caught off guard as they suddenly took each other attacks. Just like that, nine competitors were eliminated in less than a minute while the girl holding the lance built up more momentum. 

"Looks that there is an interesting competitor." Caizhi admired the lancer strength and got a bit more eager to see the final outcome. 

"It seems that there is no one older than thirty and the strength of those women on the platform varies from the Qi Gathering late-stage realm until the Profound Qi middle-stage realm, yet at that level she is able to fight nine opponents at once. Impressive!" Lilian commented. 

Caizhi nodded and said: "I don't think I would be able to defeat her in a fight, yet I'm already considered a disciple. Sigh..." 

"Come on, don't be that dejected, you've just recently entered the Profound Qi middle-stage realm, and it seems you are already perfectly controlling your new powers. That is something that requires a lot of time, but you easily achieved such feat. Those girls that are competing are all genius of their own sect, still, you are younger and as strong as them." Seth praised her talents. 

"You seem to know the perfect words to lift a someone's mood hehe." 

'Not someone's mood. A girl's mood!' Lilian was starting to understand how his modus operandi worked. 

Rumble! 

A lightning struck down on the platform, disrupting a lot of spells that were on their casting time. 

Seth looked at those girls that still needed a lot of time to cast a single spell and shook his head. In a life and death situation they would horribly fail and die. With those kinds of attacks, their opponents could kill them ten times over. Spontaneous movements would be way better than that stagnant casting style. 

The lightning was not meant to cause damage, but it left a lot of people speechless, since the spells they worked so hard to cast were all gone. With that, melee fighters advanced and started to prey on those that were useless now. 

The lancer advanced with ferocity, rapidly taking out more and more opponents, however she didn't notice that the person that initiated this opportunity was not between these enemies she was fighting against. 

At the other side of the arena, there was a petite girl that was holding an ancient book. It was a catalyst that she was using to instantly release some basic skills to disrupt and escape. The strange part was that the people didn't seem to notice her. Even the competitors inside the barrier were having a hard time to notice her, and whenever someone did, she would escape and take cover throwing another opponent in a trap against the former. 

Seth analyzed the girl and discovered that she was only at the Qi Gathering peak-stage realm, a single step from entering the Profound Qi realm. She was the last Qi Gathering practitioner on stage, since they would only serve as fodder in this mess, however, she prevailed. 

'She might be even better than that lancer. With given time she will be a strong cultivator for sure. She is going to be a good teammate for Caizhi.' 

Seth turned towards the girls and asked: "Who do you think is going to pass this exam?" 

"I think that the lancer with the blue spear will be one of the winners. She is on a rampage and no one can stop her at all. Not even mentioning that she is already a Profound Qi middle-stage cultivator, one of the strongest women on stage." Caizhi could feel the aura that emanated from the lancer, it was strong, even though it seemed a bit weaker than her own. They were at the same level, but Caizhi's Qi was denser. 

Lilian observed a bit more instead of directly replying. 

"Bingo! That girl is going to win for sure!" Lilian pointed her finger at the direction of a sword maiden. She handled the situation around her with ease. What caught Lilian's attention the most was her perfect control over the Qi consumption. 

The sword maiden would use the least amount of energy possible to do the necessary actions, perfectly handling the environment around her. 

"You are good at observations Lilian." Seth praised her keen sight. He had already noticed that girl before. Her fighting style was incredible and would be the optimal fighting style when confronting these many enemies. 

Although the lancer and the sword maiden were really decent competitors, Seth found it more incredible the work that the petite girl was doing. She was moving freely and crowd controlling people, putting them at her pace. 

Finally, the lancer and the sword maiden clashed in the middle of the platform. Both women were Profound Qi middle-stage realm experts. Their initial clash seemed pretty simple, but very quickly their battlefield started to encompass the entire arena. 

Their energy soared as the spear clashed with the sword. 

Cling! 

A shockwave swept the participants nearby, throwing them out of the platform. 

"Those girls are going all out." 

"Horizon Piercer!" The blue lance started to vibrate with Qi. A moment later, it blurred in multiple piercing thrusts. 

"Water flow!" The sword maiden aura changed. Water element circled her sword, assisting her on the next rounds of blows. 

Whenever a piercing thrust threatened to disqualify the opponent, the sword maiden would deflect the attack towards the most viable direction. The energy flow would then sweep the opponents on that direction, throwing them far away. 

Blow after blow, they continued to fight fiercely, adjusting their positions every single time in order to defeat the opponent. 

Seventeen rounds of exchanging blows were enough to destroy almost the entire arena. The platform was so broken that it was threatening to fall already. 

Both girls were prepared to exchange blows once again but a powerful aura descended and extinguished all their built-up Qi. 

"You can stop. There is no necessity to keep fighting since you have both passed!" The eleventh palace master interfered in the fight, announcing the results. 

"Wow, that wild fight at the end was really cool!" 

"It was worth it watching the entire event!" 

"Great fight!" 

The crowd exploded in loud cheers. 

"Only two people stood at the stage until the very end. What is going to happen?" Caizhi and Lilian raised their doubts about the outcome. 

"Try looking again at that direction." Seth pointed a finger at a corner a bit distant, but still inside the platform. 

Right there, stood a petite girl holding an ancient book. She passed unnoticed for almost everyone. 

"What?" This was the reaction of most people around the stadium. 

When the lancer and the sword maiden noticed the girl standing there, they got a bit alarmed. They were pretty much certain that they have not seen her before. 

"Oh? She is still at the Qi Gathering realm?" The crowd finally noticed the last person to pass the exam. 

"With this, it is settled. I congratulate the nine of you for passing the exam, from now on you are disciples of my Glazed Lake!"