Chapter 223: Intense Arena Battles
Liu Suifeng smiled at Liu Ruyue and then nodded at Xiao Chen. After that, he quietly looked at the black rock in front of him.
After Liu Suifeng consumed the Flowing Light Flower Xiao Chen gave him, his Martial Techniques and Cultivation Techniques had improved rapidly for the past three days. His cultivation realm was now firmly stabilized at peak Superior Grade Martial Grand Master.
As long as he did not make any mistakes with the execution, there should not be any problems.
“Break!” Liu Suifeng shouted. He drew the small saber hanging at his waist. There was a bright glow on the saber as he hacked at the resilient black rock violently.
“Zi Zi!”
The blade cut into the rock and slid down continuously. Liu Suifeng had already succeeded halfway. However, the expression on his face did not relax.
There were many inner disciples before him who had their sabers stuck in the middle after they saber cut into the rock, resulting in their failure.
The image of Wang Rong’s mocking expression appeared in Liu Suifeng’s mind. He increased the amount of force being placed on the saber significantly. With a ‘shua’ sound, the rock was broken into halves quickly and violently.
“Qingyun Peak, Liu Suifeng… pass!”
Liu Suifeng wiped the sweat off his forehead and walked over to Xiao Chen. They bumped fists firmly as he said joyfully, “I succeeded!”
“Congratulations!” Xiao Chen said sincerely.
Liu Suifeng withdrew his smile, “It is not time for congratulations yet. There are two more stages, we have to continue to work hard!”
“Don’t be too happy yet. Even though you cleared the foundational stage, I will chase you two off during the arena battles,” Zhang Lie said as he suddenly walked over and confronted Xiao Chen.
“Especially you. As long as I am in the Heavenly Saber Pavilion, you can forget about becoming a core disciple.”
Zhang Lie could be said to be flushed with success in the Heavenly Saber Pavilion; his future was unlimited. The only thing he could not put down was the fact he had entered Tianyue Peak by means of pulling strings.
He had to completely defeat Xiao Chen in order to prove his own worth. Only then could he put down the thorn in his heart.
Xiao Chen initially did not have any impression of Zhang Lie. Only when he heard the people beside him mentioning his status did he recall the matter of the Zhang Clan’s attempted assassination in Evil Wind Valley.
Repay kindness with kindness, repay evil with evil; this had always been Xiao Chen’s principle when dealing with people. However the Zhang Clan treated him, he would repay it sooner or later. However, he had been busy training in Qingyun Peak and had not had the time to deal with this.
Since Zhang Lie delivered himself to Xiao Chen, there was no reason for him to let him off. He said indifferently, “I should be the one saying that to you.”
“We will see!” Zhang Lie snorted coldly and left.
After a while, the first stage of the core disciple exam finally ended. The chief examiner did a headcount; out of the initial three hundred inner disciples, only a hundred were left.
The first stage of the exam had eliminated two-thirds of the participant. Everyone felt it was horrifying.
After the chief examiner counted them, he led everyone to another side of the drill grounds. They stopped before a patch of land about 800 meters wide.
There was a thick black cloth covering the surface of it. They could not see what was underneath the black cloth.
“Hua!”
The two deputy examiner went forward and pulled aside the dark cloth. A square formation filled with spears sticking out of the ground was revealed to everyone.
The sharp spear tips were flickering in the sunlight. When everyone looked at them, they felt their scalps go numb.
A portion of the two-meter spears were buried in the ground. The twenty-centimeter long rhombus-shaped spear heads were giving off a cold gleam under the intense sun, showing that they were incredibly sharp.
The distance between the spears was wide, a distance of about 1.5 meters. Several tens of thousands of spears formed a rectangular formation, with a length of a thousand meters and breadth of four hundred meters.
The chief examiner looked at the people who passed the first stage and said, “The second stage will test your Movement Techniques. Just stay on top of this spear formation for an hour and you will pass.”
Immediately after he spoke, the expressions of more than a hundred people changed. There were some who rejoiced and some who were anxious. The ones who focused on their Movement Techniques or had high ranked Movement Techniques had relatively joyful expressions.
Those inner disciples who placed their efforts in other areas had unsightly expressions. For them to be able to enter the inner sect of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion, their Movement Techniques naturally could not be weak.
However, they had not spent large amounts of time on their Movement Techniques. It would be difficult if they wanted to stay on top of the formation for an hour; these people were already starting to feel nervous.
Stay up there for an hour? I’m afraid it will not be that simple, Xiao Chen thought to himself as he looked at the huge formation. If it was simply staying on it for an hour, the size of this spear formation would not be so large.
Furthermore, although it would be difficult to stay on it for an hour, without any external interference most of the people present should be able to clear this stage.
“Pu! Pu! Pu!”
Footsteps could be heard. There were several Jade Maiden Peak female elders dressed in white walking over quickly. They split into groups of three, each group going to the four corners of the spear formation.
After the chief examiner saw this group of people, he said, “After you land on the ground, you have failed. Aside from this, there are no rules. Your time starts now!”
“Sou! Sou! Sou!”
There were many human figures flashing by; everyone jumped on top quickly. Xiao Chen leaped up gently and found a good landing spot before executing the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art. He became like a flood dragon as he moved around in a circle and landed firmly.
“Pu!”
There was a miserable cry. An inner disciple did not control his strength properly and the sharp spear tips pierced through his shoe. This caused him to lose his balance and fall off immediately.
The Jade Maiden Peak elders who were standing guard at the side immediately moved over to where this person landed and brought him out of the spear formation. Then, they removed his shoe and treated his wound.
This situation gave everyone an objective understanding of the sharpness of the spear tips. They all could not help but be more cautious.
Liu Suifeng leaped up gently and landed beside Xiao Chen. He said in a soft voice, “Ye Chen, why do I feel that something is wrong? This formation is too big. I recognize these Jade Maiden Peak elders, they have very high positions in Jade Maiden Peak. Furthermore, they specialize in Healing Techniques.”
Xiao Chen’s expression did not change as his body stayed in a state of high alert. He said in a low voice, “We will adapt to the changes. The second stage is definitely not this simple.”
Xiao Chen had thought deeper than Liu Suifeng did. The final words of the chief examiner also attracted his attention. Did the so-called ‘there are no rules’ mean they could attack other people as they wished?
Although he did not take such an aggressive stance, it was better to be prepared and keep an eye out.
Aside from testing the strength of the cultivator’s Movement Techniques, standing on the sharp spear tips also required a strong focus, or else it would be very easy to mess up.
It was already somewhat difficult for some of them to stand still on the sharp spear tips. If they could not maintain their balance and jumped around, the sharp spear tips might piece their foot and cause them to fall.
Thus, they had to maintain a clear mind. At any sign of instability, they must not leap to another spear! They had to calm themselves down and regain their balance.
The bright sun hung high in the sky, the intense sunlight shone mercilessly on everybody’s body. There was no wind in the huge drill ground at all, making them feel very frustrated.
A few inner disciples lost their balance due to their distracted minds. They had no choice but to start leaping around the spear formation. Not long after, the spear tips pierced through their shoes and injured them.
After they injured their feet, they immediately fell down. After that, the elders of Jade Maiden Peak carried them out of the formation. They had lost their right to continue on with the exam.
Sweat poured out non-stop from Liu Suifeng’s forehead. It flowed into his eyes; it was extremely uncomfortable, but he did not dare to wipe it off with his hands.
It was difficult to maintain his balance. If he moved at this moment, he might end up losing his balance and the resulting chain of actions would cause him to fall off.
However, if he left the sweat on his forehead, it would be quite unbearable as well. The sweat kept stinging his eyes and his body started to sway.
“Hu! Hu!”
Just as Liu Suifeng was no longer able to stand it, there was a cool breeze. Under the intense sun, it was extremely refreshing. The sweat in his eyes was blown away.
Liu Suifeng opened his eyes as the uncomfortable feeling instantly vanished. He looked at Xiao Chen beside him, showing him an expression of gratitude.
This cool breeze was naturally the palm wind sent out by Xiao Chen. With his Small Perfection Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art, he could walk on water without disturbing a drop. To him, this formation was nothing.
However, on this spear formation, the number of people who were as at ease as Xiao Chen was only a small number. As time went by, some of these people started to realize something.
“Now!” Finally, someone could no longer resist. He shouted and leaped over towards Xiao Chen quickly.
Xiao Chen’s expression did not change at all. However, when he saw the clothes this person was wearing, he was mildly surprised.
He originally thought Zhang Lie would be the first to give up and make a move. He did not expect that the inner disciples of Biyun Peak would be the first to make a move.
“Huang Dang!” The four biyun Peak disciples drew their sabers and leaped at Xiao Chen.
They were able to pass the first stage and were able to jump around freely on the spear tips. The strengths of these four people were not simple; they were not your regular Superior Grade Martial Grand Masters. They were all peak Superior Grade Martial Grand Masters, just a step shy of becoming Martial Saints.
“Ye Chen, what should we do?” Liu Suifeng panicked slightly. Movement Techniques were not one of his strengths. It was already quite difficult for him to stand on the spear tip without falling. There was no hope for him if he wanted to do battle at the same time.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly, “There is no need to panic, they are just a bunch of jumping clowns.”
If they were fighting on flat ground, Xiao Chen might have to spend some effort to deal with them. However, on this field of spear tips, as long as he wished, he could knock off these four people within ten moves.
However, because he had to take care of Liu Suifeng, he could not leave the spear he was currently standing on.
“Hu Chi!”
Four streaks of saber lights hacked at Xiao Chen from four different directions. They resplendent saber lights were extremely dazzling under the sunlight.
Xiao Chen gently pushed his foot on the spear tip and started spinning. He drew the Lunar Shadow Saber with a ‘huang dang’ sound and an even more intense saber light appeared in the air. It was as quick as lightning, hacking out at the four sabers.
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The sabers carried strong forces as they clashed in midair. Saber lights flew around wantonly. There were four ‘keng qiang’ sounds; Xiao Chen went one against four, but he was not at a disadvantage.
He held the Lunar Shadow Saber in his hand and landed firmly back on the spear tip. However, the Biyun Peak Disciples were knocked flying back by the force of his saber.
These four people were quite skilled; they somersaulted in midair and dissipated the force before landing back on a spear tip. The sabers in their hands were all pointed at Xiao Chen.