Chapter 316: Initial Victory (5k, seeking subscriptions)

You use spells, I bring out Dharma treasures; from the very start, it is white-hot.

Du En watches silently.

It did not take long.

"Ah!"

Accompanied by a scream, the life-bound Dharma treasure shatters, the Nascent Soul begins to crack, and one person is wretchedly eliminated; the outcome is thus decided.

Yet the victor is no better off, with broken arms and legs, a withered Nascent Soul, and a fractured Dharma treasure; the person is also covered in heavy wounds, flying out with great difficulty to plunge into the white iron floating pillar that has already completed its unification.

"You!"

Lu Quan feels a surge of horror and subconsciously uses this move as well; when appearing again, looking at the opponent in the distance, seeing the torn corner of their protective Dharma robe in their hand, they cannot help but be even more terrified.

Clang~

It is just that Ying Dongqing is still somewhat out of place, because it is truly very difficult to chat together.

Gloomy, heavy clouds drift in the sky, and on the ground, only desolate winds blow.

The first battle is a success!

But after all, they are also a genius figure and cannot be underestimated; if they could be made to enter the arena earlier to expose more of their background, one could naturally gain more ample certainty!

Therefore, this battle, regardless of whether Du En has offended the Great Cultivator Yun Yi again, will allow them to be noticed, observed, and analyzed sooner, thereby causing the subsequent duels to have constantly increasing variables and a clear decline in win rate.

Because for the sect's talents, this position, which looks like a sinecure, is actually not something every genius can obtain.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump, thump, thump, thump...

Footsteps fall, the earth shakes repeatedly; the terrifying and majestic giant statue takes large strides, rushing toward Lu Quan, who is hundreds of feet away—it will only take a moment to arrive!

Looking at Du En's side again, they remain calm and composed, standing in the original spot in the air, with no other movements seen.

It is better to be half-hidden and half-revealed, showing a little of the bottom line while actually hiding things; perhaps that might make people careless and underestimate them.

It stands majestically, clad in profound armor, like a giant cast from black steel, a full twenty zhang tall; it is precisely the supreme spell, Profound Armor Giant Statue!

It moves its steps, swings its arms, meets the wind, and pulls violently.

Thinking this, Du En also retreats, retreating into the space behind them.

Even though it is the first probing exchange between the two sides, each using one move, Lu Quan secretly feels annoyed and quite resentful.

Someone is targeting them!

Then, who could it be?

While lost in thought, Du En crosses the retracting railing and flies into the small world.

Thump!

The giant statue stops immediately, like a giant hand of a prison, trapping the person inside.

A stretch of wilderness.

Du En is buffeted by the wind, their robes fluttering, and they cannot help but fly backward in the air.

The Dharma robe is completely shattered, and the person is sent tumbling away.

Everyone becomes increasingly solemn and tense.

This gust of gloomy wind rushes toward Du En from all directions, yet it is completely silent and very secretive; moreover, even if one uses spatial movement, one cannot escape, but will instead be directly entangled by it—the more one moves, the more one is actively pulling it, and once one appears, one will immediately be submerged.

Seeing this shocking situation, Xiong Fa and the other two immediately calm down, no longer having any thoughts of standing out.

Tsk!

Seeing that they did not rashly approach, Lu Quan is secretly unhappy and can only strike quickly, lest that spreading and growing Spirit-Piercing Vine truly extend its roots into their dantian.

However, relying on the characteristics of their magic power and the bonus of the life-bound Dharma treasure, they can still practice about six hundred times every day now.

At this moment, with the two superimposed, they only feel that Du En is arrogant and far too rampant!

The next moment, the wind sends back feedback.

Lu Quan finds it hard to accept, their expression gloomy and uncertain.

Then, their magic power moves.

Du En watches silently as the loser is quietly teleported away; they do not know if the injuries on the loser's body will be treated, and if not, they might just be dumped in some place or simply thrown back to their original spot to rot and die without attracting any attention.

Although they feel somewhat inferior, as someone judged to be a potential genius while at the mid-stage of Nascent Soul, they naturally have their own pride; furthermore, back then, they indulged in watching their junior brother and sister target Du En without stopping them, which in itself contained a bit of malice.

Lu Quan's gaze immediately turns cold.

Xiong Fa, Ying Dongqing, and the others gather toward Du En's side at this moment, coincidentally.

Since that is the case, then do not move!

Only, although they had some expectations, truly experiencing it still makes them collapse, because only now do they have a personal, tangible realization!

"Let's cultivate; the conditions are a bit poor, but they are still barely acceptable."

The Dharma treasure is not bad; it is mine now.

The remnants of yesterday's duel have long since vanished, and the new two sides begin their struggle and ringing clash.

"How is it?"

Du En says this calmly.

"It was clearly possible to avoid all this and turn it into a normal competition to select the best, yet they never thought of that at all; from the very beginning, they set up such rules and circumstances—they really do not treat the Nascent Soul stage as human beings."

Therefore, at this moment, suddenly laying the facts out in a bloody manner again, telling them that they are not some extraordinary people, and in the end, they are just worthless things like ants, only fit to obediently listen and fight for their lives, competing for that little bit of pitiful, petty profit!

At this very moment, Lu Quan looks at the opponent before them, and on that handsome face, a trace of complexity cannot help but appear.

Looking again, where is Du En still in the original spot?

It would be one thing if the magic power's autonomous protection could not block it, as it is basically useless in battles of the same level, but can even a fourth-grade high-tier defensive Dharma robe not block them?!

Just as the shock hits, they only feel a heavy blow to their back.

"Ho, w, h, y..."

At this moment, a wind blew abruptly, blowing straight through Du En's magical artifact body, gathering within his internal organs to trigger a terrifying implosion; from the dantian and divine palace, from the inside out, it was insidious and vicious, aiming to wreck his foundation!

With a direct snap, it broke, and the bone fragments were even exposed.

A small knife no longer than a foot; Lu Quan threaded his finger through the ring on the hilt, spun it with a single finger, and immediately unleashed streaks of wind marks, incomparably sharp, directly slicing off the hand of the Profound Armor Giant Statue.

Du En was only at the early stage of Nascent Soul, so naturally, he was a soft persimmon in their eyes.

He did not care in the slightest; having finished his cultivation for the day, he began to practice spells.

Clatter—

Regarding this, Du En could see it, so naturally he would provide an answer; if he could not see it, then of course there was no answer.

Lu Quan spat out a mouthful of blood and wanted to move to break away, but found it difficult to do so; he had been restricted.

And quite a lot of them!

Because under normal circumstances, genius Nascent Souls or strong first-rate Nascent Souls, as long as they weren't struck by bad luck or targeted and assigned to the battlefield, could all hold stable positions and cultivate in various local areas.

Watching the duels, sighing at the losers, and discussing the winners.

Because this stage right now is actually considered a preliminary selection.

This atmosphere would accumulate continuously as time passed, forming a strong burden on the competitors; there had been precedents of those who could not bear it, suffering from Qi deviation, or even having their Dao heart collapse.

Now that he had already revealed a corner of his strength, if this Lu Quan were sensible, he should decisively admit defeat.

He spoke one word, and space shifted once; Du En, who was pursuing him, struck him once each time. The more he struck, the more unbelievable it became: his Impermanence Wind was clearly a killer move that allowed him to kill enemies across ranks, so why was it completely ineffective this time?

As for those genius figures, they were unsurprised, each appearing thoughtful, secretly investigating and pondering.

Therefore, normally, it would not be his turn to enter the arena in the first round, but now that it was his turn so early, the situation was clearly not quite right.

When the next day arrived and the duels restarted, Du En would walk out of this internal space, go to the spectator seats behind the railings, and watch the duels in the small world.

Pfft!

Such heart-stabbing words caused him, who had already been beaten into a dye house, to spit out essence blood on the spot and faint directly.

In fact, the number of duel rounds was fewer than theoretically expected, and this situation would likely only intensify.

Whoosh!

An evil wind arose from thin air!

Formless and traceless, quietly and insidiously present, it was precisely that top-grade wind-element spell, Eight Directions Yin Wind!

This meant that this time, it was Du En's turn.

Although his cultivation was a small rank lower than the opponent's, the layered advantage in combat power and talent could completely smooth out this seemingly narrow gap.

The Impermanence Blade hummed.

"Damn it! You really are looking down on me!"

A normal Profound Armor Giant Statue, at this size stage, how could it have such exaggerated hardness and strength to be able to tear apart his Eight Directions Yin Wind like this?

After all, if he were to break it carelessly, one slip and he would be severely crippled!

However, Du En was not careless, silently brewing his next attack.

Many people could not bear this intense disparity, and would feel even more immense fear and resentment toward the upper echelons of the Immortal Sect; coupled with the increasingly heavy atmosphere brought by the duel rules, the constantly strengthening opponents, and the continuously accumulating injuries... body and mind were both exhausted and damaged, eventually leading to the collapse of the Dao heart and the crumbling of the foundation!

The moment he thought this, Du En's figure already appeared beside the just-escaped Lu Quan.

In any case, this Du En did not seem to want to kill him, so he would just keep fighting!

Thus, he opened his mouth and spat out his natal magical treasure.

Du En's thought arose, and the spell was already cast.

He switched from spinning to gripping and swung fiercely backward.

In this way, basically using three or four rounds, all the top talents, as well as those weak geniuses who were not what they seemed, could be screened out and eliminated.

He struck Lu Quan until his head was broken and bleeding, and he fell backward, unable to believe it.

—Even though he had just discovered something was wrong and had already controlled the Eight Directions Yin Wind to gather, in the end, it only blew away a layer of black sand and did not hinder the object itself at all!

Du En paused for a moment and asked this.

Is this really someone who just broke through to Nascent Soul a few years ago?

Cold sweat broke out instantly!

It was the stage of gradually screening out the strong first-rate top talents; first screen the mid-to-late stage Nascent Soul top talents, then depending on the situation, see whether to start mixing in early-stage Nascent Soul geniuses in the second round.

Regarding the current situation, there was of course some restraint to avoid it suddenly being his turn.

The current situation clearly showed that someone was instigating a rift between him and the Great Cultivator Yun Yi, Lu Quan's master.

They had actually left the true bottom layer long ago, or simply had never come into contact with that bottom layer, and had long since forgotten or did not know of such hardships.

"Please, enlighten me!"

Bang!

There was a faint explosive sound; from inside to out, all foreign objects were cleared and swept away.

Of course, if this could not gain the approval of the upper echelons, or in other words, if Meng Changqing could not secure it, then he could only beat him up severely, until his head was broken and bleeding; it looked terrifying, but in reality, it caused no harm.

Because the Azure Wave Green Silk protected the dantian, because the Inexhaustible Green Spirit guarded the flesh, and as for the divine palace, it was even simpler: his soul accumulation was sufficient; when he was at the early Golden Core stage, he could even withstand the Yuhen Phoenix Fire for half an incense stick's time, and now at the early Nascent Soul stage, this mere Impermanence Wind was just a light coolness brushing past his face!

"Since you can't see reality clearly, you'd better hurry up and leave the arena."

He could not help but let out a muffled groan and was about to make a move to break free when he suddenly discovered that his entire body's magic power was flowing away crazily like a burst dam; he was immediately horrified. His Nascent Soul left its position and his soul left the palace, only then discovering the Dharma-Devouring Spirit-Piercing Needle that had taken the opportunity to infiltrate his body's meridians, which was spreading as it fed, silently and soundlessly!

This spell was originally meant to be used this way; as long as it could break through various body defenses and enter the meridians and dantian directly, it would absolutely become a nightmare for any immortal cultivator.

Du En thought to himself.

In the air, there seemed to be the sound of cloth tearing, which was very chilling, making Lu Quan's skin twitch and causing him to be secretly terrified.

However, this calm judgment and assertive statement, as always, had the opposite effect at this moment.

Violent Storm Gale!

Shouldn't a normal person adapt for a while first?

Before Lu Quan could find an answer, he was already tumbling in a sorry state, throwing himself into the trap and falling into the hands of the Profound Armor Colossus.

Not only that, the grass swayed and vines grew stealthily, suddenly using the air as soil to sprout around Lu Quan, binding him tightly.

"I don't want to create new conflicts with your master, but that doesn't mean I will tolerate things without reason."

Du En answered as a matter of course.

Rumble—

From the earth below, a series of tremors suddenly erupted; a giant hand appeared first, then pushed off the ground to rise.

"I have already resigned from the position of Traveling Walker; I am now a Talent of our sect."

Then, eight days later, during the ninth match, Xiong Fa and the others originally intended to continue meeting up to watch the battle, but suddenly found they couldn't, which left them somewhat stunned.

Du En caught a glimpse of the opportunity for victory that this guy thought he had.

"So fast."

Open schemes and hidden plots fused together; no matter what, he was a step behind.

It was snatched over by Du En again to be examined in his hand.

Looking closely, the sand previously blown off by his dark wind was permeating a few feet from the surface of the colossus, as if it were wearing a shell of sand; it was clear that a second spell was secretly maintaining it, yet he had been completely unaware just a moment ago.

It was also because of this that he did not hide his performance, which gave people a sense of being unfathomable.

"Wua!"

This looked embarrassing.

"I'm actually starting to think now, did Great Cultivator Yun Yi ask for this resolution just to arrange for you to be beaten by me early on?"

Upon arriving here, he immediately understood one of the intentions of the malicious schemer.

Overall, the few people quickly became familiar with each other, losing their previous awkwardness.

The wind of the netherworld blew, ignoring obstacles and distance; this was the true Wind of Impermanence. What he wanted to hide by using that top-grade Wind Movement spell—which he had only just begun to master—was the fact that he could freely control this wind.

How many years had it been since he encountered this? Who else dared to humiliate him like this now?!

His heart was filled with great rage; he directly caught the blade with his left hand and swung it backhand toward Du En.

With a tap of his hand, he gripped the opponent's hand holding the blade.

Looking like a pitiful person who had suffered brutal torture and was then thrown into a cell like a dead dog, it made the group of contestants feel a sense of shared sorrow and empathy, their hearts filled with misery.

Clusters of green grass and trees rose from the soil, covering a radius of forty zhang, growing and spreading into the air; in the blink of an eye, they became giant trees blocking the wind, forming a dam in the air to stop the gale for Du En.

As soon as these words left Du En's mouth, they immediately attracted some extra attention.

After all, he already had the reputation of a genius and was watched by others; secondly, with such a position, hiding himself deeply would only make it look like "there is no silver buried here."

That Du En was only at the early Nascent Soul stage and could receive such treatment was truly astonishing.

Seeing him like this, Du En went along with his wishes.

This possibility was very high!

From time to time, he would ask about confusing points, hoping to get an answer.

Their previous conflict had finally been eased and resolved with great difficulty; naturally, he would not be fooled into wiping out the disciple of Great Cultivator Yun Yi.

The gale that erupted with a roar directly faced Du En's surprise attack head-on.

Because the whole thing ended very quickly and Du En maintained the upper hand throughout, the worries of Xiong Fa and the others had only just risen before being ruthlessly extinguished by reality.

Lu Quan was caught off guard, and having not been injured for a long time, he couldn't help but scream in pain.

Sowing discord!

So fast!

To reach the Nascent Soul stage so quickly, and to faintly appear unfathomable—he truly lived up to the name of a genius!

He couldn't help but sigh secretly, then cupped his hands and said, "Greetings, Traveling Walker Du."

Because this Thousand-Day Grand Competition was not a place for showing off at all, but a place of cruel and brutal slaughter and struggle!

?!!

There were actually only six winners, because one case was a mutual destruction, and another was so severely injured that their cultivation level dropped by a small tier, leading to them being judged out and ending in silence.

"Ah!"

His voice turned slightly cold; the moment he finished speaking, he was exceptionally serious. Separated by hundreds of zhang, he circulated his magic power, his Nascent Soul opened its eyes, and the spell formed in an instant.

Lu Quan was startled for a moment, then sighed with emotion: "I hope Talent Du will show mercy."

For a time, the Nascent Soul cultivators were silent, then retreated into the oppressive atmosphere one by one, disappearing from each other's sight to seize the time to prepare.

After examining its internal form, he stuffed it back into Lu Quan's body, then kicked him away casually, letting him fly out of this small world.

Only those truly valued by the upper echelons could obtain such a position, thereby being spared from many miscellaneous tasks, without needing to worry about being transferred to the battlefield by accident, and able to focus on cultivation.

Especially regarding the methods of the winners, since they might encounter them next, they were naturally very attentive.

Spatial movement!

Startlingly, the opponent appearing before Du En was Lu Quan, that Fourth Senior Brother of Ren Li, whom he had met once in Yun Yi City.

Moving through space, attempting to open up distance.

Grass and trees becoming a forest.

So skilled, and such a short interval!

"I will."

So that's how it is...

It is quite vicious.

"Hmph!"

Crack!

Impermanence Blade.

Eight consecutive days, eight bouts, passed by rapidly.

Du En only spoke this much, then struck out directly with a punch.

The Impermanence Blade fell to the ground.

But Lu Quan shut his mouth at this moment, feeling only extreme humiliation; he raised his left hand to cover his severed right wrist, his eyes holding only a trace of ferocity.

Otherwise, those in the Nascent Soul stage would not be so terrified of the Thousand-Day Grand Competition.

"Truly unable to see reality clearly."

However, Du En was very calm.

Not to mention that his current foundation and means could be considered numerous, and he could release them bit by bit, just one other point was enough to mention.

The format of this Thousand-Day Grand Competition, which intentionally highlights and creates a harsh and cruel atmosphere, is actually quite beneficial to him, allowing him to continuously strengthen his own power within it!

(End of chapter)