บท 36: Win

บรรณาธิการ: Caron_

With the Green-Wood Sword appearing in front of him, the middle-aged cultivator couldn't deal with other things and was forced to move the small flag to block the tip of the sword. Yet, as he did that, the quicksand and water below him rose even quicker.

Mo Tiange didn't stop and hurled another talisman towards him.

With a resounding noise, the cultivator fell down in the ring.

At this point, the refereeing Foundation Building cultivator walked forward. After examining the cultivator for a moment, he stood up and nodded. "Ye Xiaotian wins."

A relieved expression appeared on Mo Tiange's face. After she saw her Second Uncle's delighted smile in the audience, she promptly sat down to recover her spiritual aura.

In order to drain her opponent's spiritual aura, she herself also had to eat Restorative Panaceas. After exerting a lot of effort in the last fight, she was indeed exhausted.

Without her spiritual aura supporting it, the formation lost its effect. One by one, the thorny vines withered and the middle-aged cultivator could finally see the surroundings outside the formation. With a gloomy, dejected expression, he stood up and jumped out of the ring.

Truth be told, his small flag was indeed exceptional; it still didn't take any real damage even though it received the full strength of her attacks. However, losing at the hands of a seventh layer Aura Refining cultivator probably resulted in a huge strike to his confidence.

Besides, since he lost in this ring, he had no choice but to fight in another ring. The injuries he sustained and the medicine he consumed in this round would affect his next fight; it would certainly be far more difficult for him to win.

The situation wasn't good for Mo Tiange either. This was her eighth fight; she still had to win two more fights to pass on to the next round, yet she was already exhausted. It would be difficult for her to win if she had to face another opponent like that middle-aged cultivator again. Indeed, based on her cultivation level, it was very difficult for her to win ten fights against ninth or tenth layer cultivators who were equally eager to win.

At the moment, she was almost out of strength and had used most of her talismans, medicinal pills and spirit stones. She really couldn't afford to lose and start over in another ring. Now, she could only do her best. After all, Second Uncle was here. As long as she wasn't purposefully courting death, she wouldn't be in any life-threatening danger.

Alas, if only she came from a cultivation clan, she could organize her clansmen to pretend to be her opponents so she could easily win against ten people instead of having to struggle to win each fight like she did now.

But after recovering her spiritual aura, she found that there was still no one willing to enter the ring.

The refereeing cultivator shouted, "Those who want to fight, please quickly enter the ring. If in a quarter of an hour there's still no one else in the ring, the ringmaster will be declared the winner."

After a while, someone finally entered the ring—a seventh layer cultivator.

Mo Tiange was baffled. Normally in a competition, opponents would be successively stronger than previous ones. After watching a fight, those who didn't have the ability wouldn't dare to enter the ring. They would enter the ring only if they knew how to deal with their opponents. Did this person, who was also a seventh layer cultivator like her, perhaps have some special skill?

She gathered her courage and began the fight, yet she found that this cultivator was very ordinary. She used her Green-Wood Sword and in a short moment, he already admitted defeat.

Mo Tiange was extremely confused. Why did it seem like this cultivator was just trying to help her fulfill the requirements for the number of people she had to defeat?

She had no idea that her fight against that tenth layer Aura Refining cultivator made everyone scared to be her opponent. A seventh layer cultivator who won against a tenth layer cultivator left a deeper impression on others than a tenth layer cultivator could. It wasn't unusual for a tenth layer cultivator to defeat someone of the same realm; however, seventh layer cultivators who could defeat tenth layer cultivators were rarely seen and every one of them was a troublemaker.

Moreover, everyone had seen that she was proficient in using formations. Most of the people here had no way to fight this. Not to mention people who had no way of defeating her; even those who believed they had a certain chance at defeating her were also afraid they would be drained of their spiritual aura like that previous cultivator and would, therefore, affect their next fight. In any case, the assembly had just begun, so it didn't matter if they chose to fight later. Hence, practically everyone tacitly agreed to let her win this round so the next round could start a bit sooner.

As for the seventh layer cultivator who entered the ring, he had probably seen numerous fights and realized he had no chance of winning. He entered the ring just to test her strength so he could set it as his goal and would return next time.

This time, it took even longer before someone finally entered the ring. His cultivation level was even worse than the one before—he was only in the sixth layer. He was soon defeated by her and left the ring.

The refereeing Foundation Building cultivator called her to the side and gave her the identity tablet, which had already been marked, before telling her to come over when everything was finished. Then he announced that she passed on to the next round.

Mo Tiange was exhilarated. When she stepped down from the ring, her feet felt so weak that she almost fell. Fortunately, Ye Jiang already stepped forward and helped her up.

"Second Uncle, I… I did it!"

Ye Jiang beamed and helped her walk out of the crowd. He said, "Rest up for a moment first. What matters is that you've already won."

Mo Tiange nodded then sat to stabilize her breathing. Once she recovered her spiritual aura, she stopped and opened her eyes, staring happily at her uncle. "Second Uncle, I really did win, right?"

Ye Jiang smiled and nodded. "You really did. Since you concentrated on facing your opponents, winning was only natural." What he said was a fact. She didn't have any experience in life-or-death fights, yet she wasn't at all weak in this competition.

A worried expression soon appeared on her face again. "It was just that the first round was already this hard. What will the next round be like?"

Thinking about this, Ye Jiang also sighed. "It's fine if you don't succeed. We don't have to force it." Indeed, it would already be considered lucky that she won this round. In the next round, everyone would be harder to deal with. Even if she could defeat the first opponent, it would be hard for her to defeat the second one.

Uncle and niece were consoling each other, raising their spirits. Soon afterward, they went to watch other fights.

When Mo Tiange was resting, winners from each ring started to appear. Most of them were ninth or tenth layer cultivators. There were only one eighth layer and one other seventh layer cultivator among the victors. From the discussions in the surrounding area, she heard that the other seventh layer cultivator was a youth in his early twenties. Apparently, he was from the younger generation of a cultivation clan. He used a magic weapon which no one could withstand, so he smoothly defeated ten people.

In the afternoon, the fights in each ring became increasingly fierce. Most people had stepped down from the rings while the remaining people were practically fighting as if their lives depended on it. Injuries frequently happened, and each was heavier than the one before.

The longer Mo Tiange watched, the more she felt the fighting was unbearable to watch. This was the first time she participated in an Immortals Assembly; although she had prepared her heart long ago, she never anticipated that the fights would be this bitter and couldn't help but feel sad in her heart. An Immortal's Path was filled with uncertainty and it was even more difficult for individual cultivators. For even the smallest bit of hope, they were willing to bet their lives. This path indeed made her feel sad.

When the sun finally set, everyone had already finished their fights. All refereeing cultivators announced that the competitions were over for the day.

In this Immortals Assembly, two people died and countless were injured.

Mo Tiange heaved a sigh of relief and stepped forward with the other winners.

All the Foundation Building cultivators from the ten rings gathered together. One after another, they swept their gazes over the winners and began discussing something with frowns on their faces.

This made the winners feel apprehensive, wondering what the higher-ups were dissatisfied about.

Mo Tiange couldn't help but glance around, but she didn't see anything wrong.

There were over twenty winners in total and more than half of them were injured. Among the winners, there were four women excluding herself. Young people unexpectedly took up half the positions. Generally, most individuals who could achieve this kind of cultivation level in their early twenties were younger generations of cultivation clans, thus their odds of winning were naturally high.

No one knew what these Foundation Building cultivators were discussing, but before long, the leader sent a Summoning Talisman that flew into the hall. Soon after, the Summoning Talisman flew back. The leader took it and several people gathered together again to hear the message.

After a moment of discussion, they stood back and faced the winners again. Obviously, they were about to announce something about the next round. Mo Tiange couldn't help but feel nervous. She was afraid some kind of change might happen.

The leader was a gray-haired, bearded Foundation Building cultivator. He swept his gaze over them and said, "In this Immortals Assembly, we only have twenty-four winners of the first round. Thus, the Sect Head decreed that no further competition is needed; all twenty-four people will be accepted into the sect. You may first go back and handle your affairs. Tomorrow, come and report to the monastery at the hour of the dog¹."

The crowd went into an uproar, feeling both shocked and happy.

Mo Tiange was even more so. She had been worried she wouldn't pass the second round and never anticipated this kind of change, so she was instantly overwhelmed with joy. She could enter Yunwu Sect!