The second level of All Spirits Tactics appeared right after Su Li provided the complete version. Lv You speculated, if one could finish practicing it, he could not only disguise his appearance and pneuma but also change his body conformation. It was the best secret method to survive.
He was once astonished that Su Li had easily achieved what he had been planning!
“It doesn’t take Master long to practice All Spirits Tactics, which she never touched before, to the second level, while I can’t find the right way to practice.”
Lv You lamented the chasm between ordinary practitioners and evildoers.
“Let’s enter the town at first.”
Su Li glimpsed at the constantly falling lights in the sky, which turned to be practitioners on the ground. She walked towards the town gate expressionlessly, and Lv You followed immediately.
Due to the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits, every inn in Wuyang Town had a full house during this period. Those casual practitioners without backgrounds were even stranded on the streets. When enemies came face to face, their eyes blazed with hatred, which triggered lots of riots. Thanks to Huajian Sect’s keeping the order, the situation didn’t escalate.
“Master, this is your suite.”
In the best inn in the town, said Lv You with a smile. He stood in front of a premium suite and opened the door.
Su Li glanced at him surprisingly and entered the room. Seeing the exquisite decoration and furniture, she could help but nodding slightly and saying, “You must’ve spent a lot.”
Lv You waved his hands, “What are you talking about, Master? It’s my honor. Although this may be nothing to you, it was not so difficult to get a premium suite for me, a dignified practitioner of Jindan Realm.”
“I forgot this point.”
Su Li smiled and walked to the back room, waving her hand, “You can rest in the outer room.”
Lv You was stunned for a while. When he came back to his senses, he couldn’t see Su Li anymore. A surprise flashed through his eyes.
He had expected that Su Li would ask him to guard outside… He never thought she would consider his feelings, which was untypical of his master.
“It’s difficult to know her mind…”
Lv You sighed, and a smile appeared on his face. Then, he sat cross-legged on an upholstered chair, waiting for the tryout to the Shattered Spirits.
The back room covered about a third of the suite, but the decoration was much more exquisite than that of the outer room. The curtains of thin silk and the soft bed mat were worth over thousands of taels of gold, and the magnificent furniture of ancient wood was priceless. It smelled like sandalwood in the room.
Su Li took a glimpse of the room and retracted her gaze before she sat cross-legged on the bed.
The token Lv You gave to her was a high-ranking token of second grade, so, she was a bye for the first round of the tryout and could directly participate in the second round of the tournament. In other words, she had nothing to do in the tryout tomorrow.
“As it happens…”
Su Li made a simple finger gesture with one hand, and after a red light flashed, a small flame appeared at her fingertips.
It was one of the basic Five Elements Control Spells — Fire Control Spell, a spell that could only be cast after Zhuji Realm.
But now, after she reached the eighth hurdle of Lianqi Realm, she broke the iron law of the cultivation circle and was able to cast Fire Control Spell with her cultivation of Lianqi Realm.
“Not to mention the difference between spiritual power and vital energy, the quality and quantity of the spiritual power in my pubic region now have no difference with that of the ordinary vital energy.”
As Su Li murmured to herself, the light in her eyes shifted, flashing a hint of faint expectation. She wanted to know to which level of the present cultivation circle the eighteenth hurdle of Lianqi Realm would be equivalent.
The journey to the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits would do no harm to her at all. As long as she could find a place where nimbus gathered, she could improve her cultivation rapidly. There would be no hindrance before reaching the twelfth hurdle of Lianqi Realm.
After the twelfth hurdle, would come the first test of Chuangxing Path!
“Little Su Li, although you have the mind of Jindan Realm of the cultivation circle nowadays, going to Chuangxing Path has never been easy. The more talented an evildoer is, the more dangerous Chuangxing Path will be. Never underestimate it.”
A warning came from Black Lotus.
“I know.”
Su Li took a deep breath to calm down her slightly fluctuating mind, “An arena contest is different from a life-and-death battle. If I use my physical body to fight, it will attract too much attention! So, I can only use spells.”
There was still more than one day left, enough time for her to comb through all the low-level spells she had once learned, and as for how to disguise her cultivation… If All Spirits Tactics couldn’t be useful in this way, why would Black Lotus ever hoard it?
The night passed quickly while she practiced.
The next morning, the square in the center of Wuyang Town dedicated to the tryout of the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits was immediately noisy. Team after team with tokens arrived, including those from qualified sects and casual practitioners, while the number of spectators was several times greater than those participating in the battle.
As the time drew near, the square was already overcrowded. The three leading sects had to strengthen the guards to maintain the order.
“The inherited disciples of Huajian Sect are coming!!”
Someone shouted amidst the noise, and everyone immediately went quiet and looked at the same direction. The inherited disciples in black and white uniforms came slowly, headed by the strongest mount head of Huajian Sect, Immortal Hongyu, Wang Yu.
All the viewers made a way of their own will for those from Huajian Sect. Among the three great sects, Huajian Sect was once the most powerful one. Although they had fallen to the second over the years, those casual practitioners didn’t dare to offend them.
“Hahaha, it’s been years, Immortal Hongyu. Your demeanor is still the same!”
Before Wang Yu led the disciples into the square, she heard a voice and turned around. She narrowed her eyes and smiled, “It’s Elder Qing from Meng Sect! It’s only a hundred years, just like snapping the fingers for practitioners like us. Of course, there are bare traces left.”
An elder in a white robe with a peaceful countenance bent his body and came up chuckling. He shook his head and sighed, “A mortal lives less than a hundred years, so, it’s not short.”
As he spoke, the five disciples behind him stood still but did not have the intention of saluting Wang Yu. The disciples standing behind Wang Yu, including Yue Lin, stared coldly. Their relationship with Meng Sect was just a little better than that with their deadly enemies, because every year, both sides lost more than five inherited disciples due to grabbing the cultivation resources.
Wang Yu covered her mouth and smiled as she heard this, “Oh, as you are a senior, a hundred years are long enough for you. It doesn’t sound so good if you pass away in a flash.”
“You’re extremely right.”
Elder Qing kept on smiling and nodding his head, and he was not angry in the slightest. The disciples behind him were furious and were about to stand out for a word, but another laugh interrupted them.
“Oh my… I’m late, and I’m sorry to keep you two standing here and waiting!”
As soon as this voice appeared, the faces of Wang Yu and Elder Qing changed in unison, turning their minds to look in the direction of the sound. They saw the last sect, Yuling Sect, had just arrived.
The leading one was dressed as a scholar, carrying a book bag on his back, and his face looked grayish-yellow like the face of a long-lasting sick scholar. He didn’t look like what a practitioner should be.
But Wang Yu and Elder Qing didn’t show any rudeness and walked to him, saluting, “Headmaster Bingshu, greetings.”
It was Bingshu, the headmaster of Yuling Sect, the number one in the three sects!
Yuling Sect was initially the weakest in the three sects, but Immortal Bingshu suddenly emerged three hundred years ago. He swept away twelve different sects in the surrounding area with his cultivation at perfect level of Jindan Realm and forcibly merged them into his sect. So, Yuling Sect was unprecedentedly powerful.
If Immortal Hua Yan and Immortal Duhe, the headmaster of Meng Sect, hadn’t recognized the danger and fought together against Immortal Bingshu, Yuling Sect would have been the only dominant sect left now.
It was also rumored that Immortal Bingshu was always moody and difficult to deal with, and it was common for him to kill at the drop of a hat. How could Wang Yu and Elder Qing dare to be rude in front of a ruthless man like him?
“All right, I’ve also been feeling a bit bored lately and come to take a look. Feel free to do what you have to.”
Since Immortal Bingshu saw them so well-behaved, a trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes. He smiled and waved his hand, taking the five arrogant-looking disciples behind him to the square.
Wang Yu and Elder Qing looked at each other and sighed inwardly. They temporarily put aside the hatred in their hearts and followed Immortal Bingshu into the square.
All were seen by Lv You, who looked at Bingshu’s back with a flicker of scruples in his eyes. But he didn’t pay much attention to this, most of his attention falling on Fan Zisang beside Wang Yu.
Everyone showed different facial expressions to see the confrontation before and after, while only Fan Zisang was expressionless as if what was happening around him had nothing to do with him.
“It seems that the Poisonous Spirit Devouring Insect parasitized in his body was sealed by Wang Yu, so, he won’t be affected before he uses his spiritual energy.”
Thought Lv You. He had known from Su Li about the use of the materials on that list, and Su Li sent him to find an opportunity to seal the Poisonous Spirit Devouring Insect. The seal should be held up until Fan Zisang entered the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits and met Su Li.
“Now it turns out that our concern was unnecessary. Even if the brat hits out today, he won’t die in half a month. He has enough time until Master gives him the antidote.”
Lv You was relieved and continued to watch.
After the three sects were seated, all the nonsense was canceled because of the presence of Immortal Bingshu. The elders from the three sects, who were responsible for keeping scores, just briefly explained the rules of the first round, and they announced the start directly afterward.
“Why could those sect disciples skip the first round and go straight to the second round?”
“Exactly! There are only twenty quotas for us to enter the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits. Besides the fifteen from the three sects, only five places are left for the casual practitioners. It’s too little!”
Some helplessly sighed and watched hundreds of casual practitioners, who met with the bone age standard, scuffling in the arena.
“It’s not so absolute, and there are casual practitioners who get the token for the second round, and… as long as they are powerful enough, it is still possible for a casual practitioner to challenge a sect disciple in the second round. Have you forgotten the rules set by the twenty-five great sects? Those sects definitely wouldn’t dare to mess around with the tryout to the Secret Realm!”
“Tut-tut, you take the rules seriously. There were enough casual practitioners who dared to challenge the sect disciples in the past. All of them had come to no good end. Even if they did win any of the inherited disciples from a sect luckily, they would still get killed after the Secret Realm ended…”
“…”
As the viewers were on the verge of bickering, the battle among the hundreds of casual practitioners in the square were heating up.