At that moment, the hearts of many martial artists tightened.
They now realized that the previous words of those Immortal realms were really true. They could only use body techniques to evade here, or simply make a break for it.
Subconsciously, all the martial artists unsheathed their weapons.
Gongyi Tianheng also was no exception. However, he didn't have his weapon in his hands. So as he sent a thought to Gu Zuo, they promptly coordinated their actions. The instant Tianheng extended his hand, a silver white blade [1] appeared in his grasp.
In the blink of an eye, there was a flash of silver light. Tianheng stood tall and straight with his weapon in hand. That handsome visage was concealed, making people only pay attention to his qi field [2] and not his appearance.
His presences truly seemed extraordinary.
However, most of the martial artists on the grindstone were young and handsome, and their presences were also out of the ordinary. The appearance of them holding their weapons was just like the bearing of soldiers, exhibiting a kind of spirit that was difficult to express in words.
Just looking at it this way, who could've predicted that there was bound to be so many of them who'd suffer losses on that life and death grindstone?
Gu Zuo observed that grindstone, and his heartbeat spiked.
That grindstone started rotating!
At the same time, the instant it starting turning, the center suddenly erupted in ten rays of sword light!
These sword lights were incomparably sharp and generated air-breaking sounds. They hurtled towards the bodies of the nine surrounding martial artists!
Gu Zuo's pupils suddenly constricted.
So fast!
Those sword lights weren't any slower than the silver drills he could fire using his thoughts!
Gu Zuo knew about the strong points of his own psychic attacks.
There were two key points. One was its unexpected speed, and the other was that it made no sound.
These sword lights were undoubtedly well-versed in the word “fast.” In addition, there could be multiple rays of sword light targeting the same person at the same time. Compared to the Gu Zuo who had yet to make this kind of attempt, it seemed even more lofty and strange.
Gu Zuo's heart couldn't help worrying.
And why?
Because although he previously practiced with Gongyi Tianheng so that he could deal with his silver needles and drills, he'd never released so many at one time.
In other words, all the coping experience Tianheng had didn't include dealing with simultaneous attacks!
Even though Gu Zuo believed that his big brother's combat awareness was exceedingly strong, how couldn't he be concerned for him?
After all, a single moment of inattention was the difference between life and death!
Clearly, Tianheng couldn't be gotten rid of so easily. Even if it were the other martial artists, Gu Zuo didn't imagine there were such weak chickens — Which of the martial artists who could come here didn't have a few skills?
After only seeing a burst of flickering weapons, the first wave of sword light was completely shattered by the martial artists. It was basically impossible harm them.
Merely, since this was a life and death grindstone, it wouldn't give them too much time to rest.
Once the first wave appeared, there was only a pause of two or three seconds before the second wave promptly emerged. And the sword light of this second wave seemed to have a dozen more rays than the first wave.
Thus, on average, every martial artist had to face one or two more sword lights!
This made things endlessly difficult for each of them.
The weapons of numerous martial artists moved simultaneously, and each of those sword lights were swept away as before. Not one of them was injured.
Immediately after that were the third and then fourth waves of sword light.
Each time, there were ten to twenty more sword lights than the previous wave. It apparently seemed as if each wave's attack only required a martial artist to face one or two more sword lights, but no one felt it was very easy.
Gu Zuo's heartstrings were stretched taut and didn't dare relax even a little.
Each time had one or two more rays. Ten would have ten to twenty more. What if it were one hundred times? What about several hundred times?
One needed to know that the interval between each sword light wave was merely several seconds. The speed of each wave's sword light took only one second for the attack to already be in front of the numerous martial artists!
Besides, as more time pa.s.sed, more sword lights would burst forth and the faster they were. And apparently, there was a big relationship between the speed of the sword light and the speed of the grindstone's rotation. Later on, the grindstone's rotation gradually quickened!
The countless sword lights were like raindrops. After shooting forth, they blanketed the sky and covered the earth. It was impossible for a person to defend against!
Deflecting them was becoming more and more difficult…
In the end, several m.u.f.fled groans were let out. Among those eighteen martial artists on the grindstone, there were several figures who frantically slashed with their held weapons towards the sword lights, while others hurriedly retreated from the large grindstone and flew off.
They all rushingly said: “I forfeit!”
It was only after this sentence was spoken that the sword lights that were about to pierce their stomachs faded away.
However, even if it was like this, their whole bodies were still covered in a cold sweat.
Gu Zuo clearly saw that once these couple of martial artists dropped to the ground, they all coincidentally coughed up a mouthful of clotted blood.
There were many scratches on their arms and their stomachs were perforated by many b.l.o.o.d.y holes. It seemed extremely scary.
Their protectors and pharmacists on the side all quickly ran over, kneeled beside their charges, and checked the condition of their injuries.
Under their observations, it could naturally be distinguished that the wounds they received were serious.
Afterwards, there was a martial artist who vaguely said: “The thing you got…medicine bottle…”
That pharmacist had a hard time hearing him clearly, but immediately took out a bottle from his sleeve. At once, he twisted it open and removed a light yellow medicinal pill, and stuffed it into the martial artist's mouth.
What happened after would leave people astonished.
In just a couple of moments, the b.l.o.o.d.y holes and sword wounds on that martial artist's body had indications of healing. The originally unrestrained flow of blood stopped, and the injuries were already quickly scabbing over… Just how could such high-speed healing be seen by the naked eye?
Of course, that martial artist's complexion still wasn't too good, but who would be paying attention to this right now?
That medicinal pill was too miraculous. It obviously appeared to be the simplest Rejuvenation Pill, but it wasn't known how many times more superior its medicinal effects were over the average Rejuvenation Pill. All of a sudden, it turned a seriously injured patient into an ordinary one who only needed to nurse his qi and blood.
Afterwards, one only needed to give this martial artist some supplementary medicinal pills. One could well imagine that he'd be back on his feet in no time!
Such magical medicinal effects left the others, who had similarly grievous wounds, stupefied.
Just what was going on?
The injured, who were the geniuses of their countries, would need to take at least a period of time to recover. They reckoned that the third trial was already hopeless, but this similarly injured martial artist could unexpectedly turn things around because of a medicinal pill?
This was too unimaginable!
It was natural for the others on the side to hesitate for a bit before hungrily [3] coming over to make their requests.
That already-cured martial artist wore a joyous expression, but nevertheless, he waved his hand and rejected the others' requests for a medicinal pill, saying: “I'm really not being stingy. It's only that this kind of pill is a life saving medicine. I only have a total of three pills. There will still be several battles later on. If I shared a pill with you now, I might die later on.”
This refusal was reasonable and fair, and that person was someone who naturally couldn't be coerced. On the contrary, they only diligently asked where this medicinal pill came from, saying words about how they were willing to pay a high price to buy them and so on.
That martial artist said helplessly: “It's confidential…” He vaguely mentioned a few things, but didn't dare speak too clearly, “If I had known earlier about such marvelous results, I wouldn't have traded for just these.”
Right now, he was both joyous and regretful.
There was nothing to be done. It was good luck to have the medicinal pills, and bad luck to not have them. It could only be like this at the present time.
Soon after, that grindstone eliminated several people. Once those martial artists fell to the ground, while at first they were basically only seriously injured, as more time pa.s.sed, those that fell off were gradually turned into corpses.
— The problems later on would only grow bigger and bigger. If one were pierced by seven or eight to even a dozen sword lights, they would be seriously injured for the most part. After all, a martial artist's vitality was extremely strong. However, when a single wave might pierce with fifty, sixty, to even one hundred sword lights, wouldn't a single moment of inattention cause one's physical body be run through like a sieve? And since they'd be turned into a sieve, how could they still be alive?
Moreover, the longer it took for them to become wounded victims, the smaller their chances for rescue. It would be very difficult to forfeit later on since it'd be too late to provide critical care for excessive blood loss.
Gu Zuo speechlessly watched on, and felt his eyes widening incessantly.
This mortality rate…
These people who were still so lively before had been turned into corpses in the blink of an eye.
It truly left a person depressed.
As a matter of course, there were pharmacists who'd promptly take out medicine bottles one after another.
They'd all immediately take out a light yellow medicinal pill from the bottle and stuff it into the martial artist's mouth at once. The effects were instantaneous. They wouldn't be able to get back on their feet right away, but at the very least, so long as they took it, they certainly wouldn't continue losing blood. Their small lives were also certainly saved.
Because of this light yellow medicinal pill, within a short time, dozens of martial artists who should've died had their lives returned to them.
Indeed, the countries they originated from rejoiced endlessly.
To be honest, each of the martial artists were all outstanding people of their countries. Even if they couldn't bring glory to their countries, losing was still damaging.
After the trials here, maybe they'd return as budding Immortal realms. If they weren't Immortal realms, then they could train their countries' next generation after becoming a higher rank Xiantian powerhouse.
Just dying like this was truly too unworthy.
Afterwards, there were very many people who started inquiring about the origins of this medicinal pill, and everyone compared these sc.r.a.ps of information. Hey! They all came up from private trade activities!
Not one bit of this kind of trading activity was unexpected. Everyone was from different continents, and this huge event that occurred once every fifty years was very rare. Was it not common to take advantage of this golden opportunity to exchange what one doesn't need for what one does need? Some martial artists seized the chance to rake in money for themselves to obtain resources in the future. This was proper and to be expected.
But unfortunately, because it was like this, no one knew who brought those medicine bottles to trade. In the end, what was their ident.i.ty?!
It truly made a person's mood complicated… It was extremely regretful.
No one noticed that among these scenes a short and small figure furtively withdrew his neck.
Gu Zuo: “…”
The medicinal pills he casually refined were so popular. His little, young heart was naturally very pleased. However, it was also by watching those people in their pursuit… He felt that his big brother truly had too much foresight!
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[1] My computer can't read the characters for the weapon.
[2] 气场 - Qi chang, the influence a person exerts on his surroundings. This is the first time this term has come up, so I'm not entirely sure if I'll continue using this translation or use something more general like “aura.”
[3] 舔脸 - Tian (lick) lian (face), not sure if this is supposed to mean they're “salivating” over the medicinal pills.
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T/N: There may be a typo for the number of martial artists on the grindstone. At the start of this chapter, there were nine. Then in the middle (before they starting dropping out), there were eighteen. Let's not talk about the number of sword lights each wave, every couple of seconds, and that this thing lasts for sixteen hours…
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