Chapter 45 (2): The Fourth Challenge

 

The fourth challenge for the past few years is to challenge a fourth-grade monster, which is equivalent to the early Nascent Soul.

"They won't change people? Yes, they don't have any other Foundation Building disciples."

"But they fought against wind demon birds just now. Guiyi Swordsmanship and Qin art were very exhausting. Yu Dong's abacus and mental method were always in use, and they couldn't take the pill to restore their spiritual power, hiss— But, if you look at these few people, they really look okay."

No one can think about the reason.

'Why?'

"Aren't they in the Foundation Building stage? I see that those Foundation Building disciples of Linran Peak are all overdrawn."

'Why?'

'Naturally, because they built their foundation with hundreds of layers!'1

Yu Dong, Hang Wan'er, and others all grinned and touched their Dantian.

Their Dantian's aura is thick like a sea of ​​waves!

Their aura is five times that of ordinary Foundation Building disciples. The speed of their cultivation is five times before. Even without eating elixirs, it is the same as eating elixirs. Their recovery speed is comparable to the initial stage of the Golden Core stage.

The five looked at Su Yu with flickering eyes.

"Let's go to the fourth challenge." After Elder Hong finished speaking, he stepped out and disappeared into the trial ground.

Yan Yan clenched his dragon scale sword, and Hang Wan'er held her golden hairpin.

'Fourth Challenge!'

'Third-rank peaks competition's final!'

Su Yu nodded and first set foot on her second-grade pale yellow flying handkerchief. "Come up, let's go together."

...

"Everyone, let's go to the fourth challenge in the center of the trial ground as soon as possible without delay."

In the resting place of Linran Peak, Chen Shuxin smiled and stared at the center of the trial ground.

In a place where strength is respected, like in the secret realm, no matter what kind of magic weapon, it is impossible to turn over the clouds and make rain.

In the fourth challenge, strength is everything.

He will win.1

"Go!"

Ji Tao, the chief of the first-place peak, also looked into the depths of the trial ground with a solemn expression. "Fourth-grade monsters...Let's go!"

At this moment, the peaks are arriving one after another.

The top three peaks came a little later, but no one dared to compete with them for the front row.

When Zhiqiong Peak arrived leisurely, the other peaks also faintly gave way to let them pass first.

Even the chiefs of fourth and fifth places last year looked at Su Yu and her team fearfully, not daring to get ahead of them.

Although they hadn't left the trial ground, they all heard what the disciples of eleven-place peak said at the west entrance.

The sixth-place peak was eliminated in one fell swoop.

One disciple in the peak of Golden Core and two in the middle of Golden Core are just gone. They failed the third challenge, so they directly lost the qualification for the fourth challenge. The sixth peak must be at the bottom of the ranking this year.

However, Zhiqiong Peak is still full of six people after this battle.

This is horrible.

The rest of them only have between three to five people left. Now they look at Zhiqiong Peak as if they are looking at a thorn.

If you don't target Zhiqiong Peak, you can still keep your own ranking.

Why hurt the peace?2

Just to form a good relationship with an alchemist and refiner and give her some face as a temporary peak master.

The corners of everyone's mouth twitched at this thought.

Her titles are really long. She has so many identities.

"Junior Sister Su, please." The chief of the fifth-place peak said with a smile.

Su Yu modestly waved her hand, "You're too polite. You go first. The elder said we will play in the order of last year."

The chief of the fifth peak was taken aback.

Unexpectedly, she is very kind.

Su Yu smiled and said, "We heard that the sixth peak was eliminated, so we will play in the ninth place anyway."

The chief of Fifth Peak: "..."

'What do you mean you heard? You eliminated them!'

The corners of their mouths twitched.

The disciples of the top three peaks glanced at them, then sneered and looked away.

The top three peaks are strong. They are not afraid of the peak that had eliminated the sixth peak.

"Can you get magic weapons and elixirs just by making friends with a second-grade alchemist? Some people are so confused."

"Their peaks are also ranked at the bottom. There are not enough resources, only very few spiritual stones, and only very few exercises. Could it be that if you say a few good words, a second-rank artifact refiner will give them magic weapons for nothing?"

The Linran Peak disciple snorted.

Chen Shuxin smiled and nodded. As long as he is strong, he can go to Tiansheng Academy for an exchange and get more opportunities and magic weapons.

No matter how talented Su Yu is, she is still only second-rank.2

A second-grade magic weapon is very limited and soon will be unable to be used.

As he was thinking, a fourth-rank defensive formation fell in the open space in front of the ancestral hall.

A red-robed elder floated in the air and landed leisurely.

The aura of a Nascent Soul burst out.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his red robe sleeves flying, and he looked at them with an awe-inspiring expression.

"The fourth challenge of this year is to challenge an elder of the Precepts Hall, that is, this seat!"1

The eleven remaining peaks were all shocked.

"What?"

The elders of the Precepts Hall have all been famous for a long time. The lowest position is also the peak of the Nascent Soul.

In the past, a rank four monster that they had to face was just at the level of the beginning of the Nascent Soul stage.

The disciples outside the projection array were shocked.

"How can they do this?"

"The Precepts Hall has gone crazy this year!"

Only the disciples of Zhiqiong Peak, led by Wei Zhao, looked at the projection array with strange expressions.

 

When they were preparing for this round, they were also fighting against Elder Zhang's sword aura.

'This... Second Senior Sister is really amazing.'

In the center of the trial ground, the sleeves of the red-robed elder were flying. His aura suddenly dropped to the early Nascent Soul stage.

He stretched out his hand, and a hundred golden light talismans floated to the hands of each disciple who participated in this fourth challenge.

"This is a fourth-grade defensive talisman. You will be automatically out of the game when it is broken."

Everyone's face changed.

A fourth-grade defensive talisman can resist a full-strength attack below the middle stage of Nascent Soul.

This means that this elder will get real at them!

Even if he reduced his aura to the early stage of Nascent Soul, his comprehension of cultivation techniques was still at the peak of Nascent Soul.

The faces of each peak were heavy.

"Let's begin," The red-robed elder waved his sleeves, and his eyelids were drooping, "First Peak..."

"Elder, the first-place of third-class peaks challenge you."

Ji Tao gritted his teeth and jumped up in an instant with his double hammer on his back. Five disciples behind him are three Golden Cores and two Foundation Building. They followed in an instant with their swords.

A gully formed where his double hammers hit the ground.

Several sword Qis flew towards the red-robed elder.

However, Elder Hong stood still, standing in the ravine as if it was flat ground.

The sword Qis only reached three feet in front of him before it was already broken.

The complexion of the disciples of other peaks suddenly changed.

'How can this challenge be done?'

Ji Tao bit the tip of his tongue. Immediately a mouthful of blood was sprayed on the double hammer, and three precious lights burst out from the hammer's surface.

The situation changes when he holds the hammer high, and thunder sounds from the sky.

"Ji Tao refined it into a natal magic weapon?"

Everyone was shocked.

"By using your own essence, the blow will be comparable to a Nascent Soul," the red-robed elder said with a solemn expression, "But over time, it will hurt your own body."

He pointed with his right hand, and immediately a pale gold talisman floated out.

The talisman turned into a spear and flew towards Ji Tao with a bang.

Ji Tao retreated quickly, but the spear caught up with him. He flew out unwillingly.

"Out." Elder Hong announced indifferently.

"Senior Brother!"

The other five disciples of his peak were shocked.

They turned their heads, gritted their teeth, and went towards the elder with all their strength. But after a few sword moves, they saw that Elder Hong's robe was not disordered, his face was peaceful, and even his hands were folded in his sleeves.

"This old man counts to three. If you can't make a blow that will satisfy this old man, this old man will shoot again."

Everyone was amazed.

 

"He is too strong. How can disciples compare to the strength of a Precepts Hall elder? This is simply hopeless."

"This is really the elders abusing their disciples. The first-place peak couldn't hurt his single hair, only barely tearing his defensive aura. How would the lower ranking peaks compare?"1

Amid the buzz, the six people from Zhiqiong Peak also gathered together and discussed it in a low voice.

"How about it, Fifth Senior Brother, can you figure out the elder's weakness?" Zhao Ran looked at Yu Dong expectantly.

Yu Dong's face twitched. 'What a joke.'

Maybe he can do it if he is already at the Golden Core stage.

Hang Wan'er stared at the elder with her beautiful eyes, and the Seven Emotions and Six Desires exercise were running quickly. "The elder's mood doesn't seem to fluctuate."

But soon, she raised her eyebrows. "But he seems to like to put his hands in his sleeves. He will only extend it every time he takes out a talisman."

Yan Yan nodded, "He is a Master of talismans."

Lu Yizhou held his guqin and thought about it. "Even if Golden Core Peak uses a mental attack, it will be useless to him. If they can't break the elder's defensive aura, how can we do it?"

"Yes." Hang Wan'er suddenly realized this problem.

But when she was about to have a flash of inspiration, she saw that the red-robed elder had already counted to three in a deep voice. A spear condensed in mid-air and suddenly stabbed the remaining five disciples of the first-place peak.

The defensive talisman on them was completely shattered in an instant.

Next, the disciples disappeared from their eyes.

"It's only fifteen breaths." Yu Dong pointed.

Hang Wan'er nodded. "If no one can cause any harm, let's see which peak lasts longer..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Su Yu nodded in satisfaction.

Yes, in the kitchen, observation is also one of the indispensable abilities.

In previous years, the fourth-grade monsters were often not killed. It's nothing more than measuring who caused the most damage or who saved the most disciples.

To sum up, this round is a comprehensive evaluation of strong attack, defense, and... escape speed.

Su Yu raised her eyebrows and couldn't help but look down at the contents of her storage bag.

"Disciple Chen Shuxin, bring the five disciples of Linran Peak to challenge Elder!"

In a blink of an eye, it was Chen Shuxin's turn to bring his junior brothers and sisters to the stage.

Su Yu and the others couldn't help but look at the battle arena.

The red-robed elder folded his hands in his sleeves again and nodded at them. "Let's go together. As soon as this old man is sleepy, this old man will take action."

Su Yu raised her eyebrows.

Hang Wan'er was also full of thoughts, and Yu Dong even started flicking his abacus.

When facing the elder, Chen Shuxin was not afraid to laugh. "This disciple must not let Elder down."

Just as he finished speaking, he stepped forward.

With a bang, ancient trees five feet away suddenly shook, and their leaves rumbled.

A huge vortex of spiritual power condensed on his head.

 

"He... is going to be promoted to Nascent Soul!?"

"Has he reached the threshold?"

The Linran Peak disciples all smiled.

The red-robed elder squinted his eyes. He stretched his hand out of his sleeve.

He suppressed his cultivation to the early stage of the Nascent Soul stage, and Chen Shuxin advanced to the beginning level of the Nascent Soul.

He has to get ready for the battle.

"Elder, please advise!" The sword on Chen Shuxin's waist suddenly floated into the air with a loud cry.

Suddenly, a golden light sword energy stabbed towards the elder like a wandering spirit snake.

The sword's energy was fierce, and everyone present felt it was unstoppable.

Yan Yan, who is also a sword cultivator, could not help but clench the dragon scale sword in his hand.

On the battlefield, a hundred swords pierced into the place where the red-robed elder stood in an instant, flying stones splashed, and dust mist floated, instantly forming a huge pothole.

Chen Shuxin smiled.

But then his smile froze. He saw the red-robed elder stretched out his ragged but undamaged right hand. "Is that it?"

Chen Shuxin's expression changed.

The red-robed elder pointed his index finger, and a talisman wrapped his flying sword in a circle. With a bang, a hundred sword qi burst from the sword and flew back towards Chen Shuxin and the other six!

Chen Shuxin took a dozen steps back. The defensive talisman on his body continued to light up until the last gleam of light flickered. He could barely stop the attack and covered his chest.

But the rest of the disciples around him were completely broken and disappeared from the trial ground.

Chen Shuxin fell to the ground and disappeared.

"Good. Next peak."

The red robe elder retracted his hands between his sleeves. But when he looked at the ragged robes on his body, the corners of his mouth twitched.

Instead of continuing, he threw a restraint array, obscuring the eyes of the disciples around him. When he stepped out of the restraint, he was already wearing a new red robe and looking at the next peak.1

"Who is next?"

The third-place peak suddenly looked heavy. How can they fight? They can't resist this elder's blow at all.

But Su Yu raised her eyebrows and finally found suitable cooking ingredients in her bag...

"Senior sister may have a solution."

Hang Wan'er, who soon looked at her with admiration, also shyly said, "I also found something."

Yu Dong also raised his hand. "Me too."

"Let's talk?"

"Hmm."

"This elder is obsessed with cleanliness."

"Attack his clothes."

The two looked at each other and laughed.

Then, everyone from Zhiqiong Peak looked at Su Yu.

Su Yu nodded and beckoned at them. All five of them immediately surrounded her.

"This battle is divided into two steps. First, make the elder dirty."

 

The five gasped.

'Second Senior Sister is bold.'

"Elder Hong always attacks after the disciples take action, so you all have to act separately."

"Second, after he gets angry, how can we resist?"

The five pricked up their ears.

...

"Next Peak, Zhiqiong—"

The red-robed elder shouted.

But no one was seen after he had shouted for a long time. Instead, he smelled a sweet smell.

He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and see the majestic and arrogant Zhiqiong Peak.

Yan Yan and the other five people are in front, and Su Yu is behind them.

"Elder, please advise." Su Yu's yellow dress fluttered in the wind when she spoke leisurely.

The eyebrows of the red-robed elder twitched. "This round, you still can't take any pill."

Su Yu nodded. Yan Yan and Lu Yizhou instantly released their swords and qin.

Hang Wan'er's golden hairpin also came, and Yu Dong's compass also flew out.

Elder Hong chuckled. "You've been observing for so long, but you haven't discovered that these kinds of attacks are useless to me? A little attack from a Foundation Building is just a scratch for me."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Yu Dong shouted, "Second from the left, the third from the right!"

'What?'

The red robe elder was slightly stunned and subconsciously looked at these two places.

But a jet of black brilliance suddenly went straight to his front.

He sneered. 'Just this kind of trick?'

He was about to blast the shiny jet-black thing with his aura.

But as soon as it was touched, the shiny thing blew up. A large pool of string-like objects with a sweet smell fell towards him.

'What!'

His old face changed dramatically. He took three steps back, and the aura that came out of his body was instantly dyed with a thick, earthy, sweet, and strange thing.

He immediately waved his sleeves in disgust to cut off the polluted part of his aura and discarded them.

'Dirty thing. You deserve it.'

Su Yu stood behind and nodded.

"Fourth from the right!" Yu Dong glanced at his compass and moved quickly.

The red-robed elder let out a snort and ignored him.

However, from the fourth position on the right, his right-hand sleeve was instantly stained by dense threads of silver spider-silk-like things.

'The sticky thing from last time?'

Elder: "..."

He waved his sleeves unhappily and cut off the polluted aura again.

"If you continue to do this nonsense, this old man will not be polite—"

But before he finished speaking, a huge golden-winged bird ball, like a snowball, formed from the fusion of countless qin techniques. It condensed in the air and rolled toward him.

The faster the roll, the bigger the ball.

All sorts of garuda, wind demon birds, the noisy and high-pitched chirping condenses to the extreme inside the ball.

 

'So this is it? The real attack?'

'Hit left and right to divert my attention. Is this giving the qin player enough time to condense the birds?'

The Hundreds of Birds Snowball arrived in one breath, but the elder snorted softly, "Is this inspired by the magic bowling balls? But this old man is not a second-rank fish."

Any tricks that a Foundation Building could do are not enough to hurt him.

So he didn't move.

However, the snowball rolled inside his aura in an instant. The high-pitched sound exploded in his sea of ​​consciousness.

It was so noisy that even the Nascent Soul inside him collapsed and covered its ears.1

The garuda is outside, and the wind demon bird is inside. In the innermost, there are also various spirit birds.

It exploded completely. Layer upon layer of high-pitched sounds, one after another, like waves rushing through his ears.

A Nascent Soul is powerful enough to withstand this.

But the veins on Elder Hong's forehead burst out. It is still unpleasant!

'It sounds awful!'

'Who taught them this?'

He was impatient. As soon as he looked at the ball in dissatisfaction, the layers of birds on the rolling ball were completely shattered. Only one of the smaller spheres flew out!

It was multiple flying swords condensed into a ball.

Yan Yan's thirty-seven swords came out in unison with a burst. All of which were contained in this ball.

The violent sword energy squeezed each other. Once it broke through its cage, it instantly erupted with earth-shattering destructive power.

All around, swords flying around them.

Ordinarily, even someone at the peak of the Golden Core will be injured by this blow.

But the red-robed elder only squinted. "Not bad, but it's far from hurting this seat—"

But as soon as he finished speaking, he found that when he resisted dozens of sword energy, the flying swords slashed out mud-like brown dots from the center of the ground.

The ground was shattered, and a large pool of mud that was thicker, more viscous, and even sweeter than before suddenly splashed out, staining Elder Hong!

Not only where he stood, but even the disciples of the eleventh-place, Yuanrong Peak, who watched their fight, were not spared. All of them became muddy.

Everyone was so dirty, and they were all stunned.

"My dear, Zhiqiong Peak doesn't have a Golden Core, but the momentum they created is bigger than Chen Shuxin's Nascent Soul."

"But what's the use of this banging for a while?"

Just after this spectating disciple finished speaking, they heard a disciple of the eleventh-place Yuanrong Peak exclaim, "This stupid mud makes my spiritual power seem to be stagnant!"

"What!?" The dirty disciples all felt stupid.

The forehead of the red-robed elder kept twitching. He sensed it and found that his spiritual aura was also a lot thinner.

"Zhiqiong Peak - you have successfully angered this old man!"

This time, he actually stretched out both hands from his red sleeves. He took out a golden seal talisman that was more magnificent and sharper than the one he used on Chen Shuxin just now.

 

The handle was covered with raging flames and sharply cut through the sky, screaming and rushing towards Zhiqiong Peak.

Yan Yan is the first in line among the Zhiqiong Peak disciples!

The spear turned towards him as if it had locked him.

"They are forcing the elder to forget that he had to suppress his cultivation to the early stage of Nascent Soul!"

"The elder is angry. They are too bold."

The other ten peaks looked at each other.

However, a clear and beautiful voice suddenly shouted.

"Go back!"

"Let me!"

In an instant, Yan Yan's flying swords moved back, revealing a slender yellow figure behind him.

The spears were only ten meters away from them. It was constantly breaking through the air and shortening the distance.

And this figure, with her slender hands in a yellow dress, rolled her sleeves and revealed her fair wrist. She constantly took out things from her storage bag and lit them with her spirit fire.

Some kind of dough sandwiched wind demon bird leg meat in honey sauce, then fried man-eating grouper meat, then a piece of spirit grass, then grilled wind demon bird leg meat, another man-eating grouper meat...

Layer after layer, stacked in long, thick rows.

The spear pierced the first piece of wind demon bird leg and suddenly made a sharp and stagnant sound. It broke through and pierced into the second layer...

But Su Yu kept cooking and kept taking things out of her storage bag.

A dozen magical instruments were formed and shattered by the spear one by one. Su Yu kept moving backward.

Hang Wan'er came up and took over her position. Several red silks injected with spiritual energy were holding the instruments and stacking them together.

'This is the magic burger defense that Second Sister said. Have to be layered on top of each other.'

The flying spear pierced layer by layer. Hang Wan'er was pale and stepped back, so Yan Yan gritted his teeth and supported her back. More than 30 flying swords suddenly condensed one by one like a mountain to become the magic hamburger stand.2

Lu Yizhou's high-pitched qin art re-condensed the birds, and they were lined up neatly, blocking the back of the Yan Yan's sword formation.

Yu Dong's abacus expanded, and the forty-five beads were also lined up one by one, following them like a dragon.

Zhao Ran gritted his teeth. He held his long sword and released all his spiritual power with one blow, holding the spear attack behind Yu Dong.

The spear broke through the layers of monsters one by one. The golden light aura faded in front of everyone, layer by layer, and... lost half of its luster in a blink of an eye.

The audience was dumbfounded.

Zhiqiong Peak... resisted 50% of a Nascent Soul attack?

And this is not the end. After Zhao Ran, Su Yu stood back tirelessly.

Dozens of uncooked wind demon birds in her bag were floating in the air, burned by her instantaneous fire, and stacked before the spear.

"Look at our Zhiqiong Peak's Big Mac Burger Magic Defense Weapon!"3

Hang Wan'er shouted loudly!1

'The six people from Zhiqiong Peak have started a new round of making up names!'

Elder Hong: ...

But when the golden light of his spear was about to penetrate the fifth or sixth layer, Su Yu quickly took three steps back and shouted, "Second plan!"

After she said that, she fell back and entered a snow-white ball that was expanded by the spiritual force to the size of a boat.

The five players from Zhiqiong Peak jumped into three holes on the ball quickly.

Yan Yan's dragon scale sword flew up and slapped behind the ball with one breath.

The snowball instantly rolled five feet away, ten feet away...

The more they roll, the faster they become. After they rolled fast enough, the second-grade magic handkerchief rolled over it and closely covered the hole.

Su Yu sat inside the hold and kept cooking the clam shells magic weapon.

The ball flashed bright all the way.

Before the spear could pierce the handkerchief, the golden light dissipated little by little. The talisman's power was exhausted, and it disappeared into thin air.

Equally disappearing from everyone's sight is the snowball containing Zhiqiong Peak disciples that have long rolled away.1

The audience opened their mouths.

Then with open mouths, they turned to look at Elder Hong in a red robe.

'Zhiqiong Peak angered the elder.'

'Zhiqiong Peak blocked a Nascent Soul's angry blow.'

'Zhiqiong Peak, under the eyes of an angry Nascent Soul... run away...?!'