Cultivation begins with earning spirit stones

Chapter 95 The Battle for the Championship

The disciples below the stage were mesmerized.

Fang Yunxiu was famous on Cuiping Peak for his water escape technique, and he truly lived up to his reputation.

Last year, he was able to break into third place in actual combat thanks to his superb water escape technique.

Zhang Lin suddenly changed his move. He clenched his right fist and inserted the five fingers of his Xuanhuang hand into the water dragon's body. Immediately afterward, dark blue flames surged out from between the fingers of the Xuanhuang hand.

When the Heavenly Flame encounters water, it instantly bursts into a hissing white mist. It is not extinguished by the water, but rather, like fire meeting oil, it burns fiercely.

The water dragon struggled violently under the scorching heat of the Heavenly Flame, its body shrinking at a visible speed, and billowing white mist enveloped half of the arena.

Fang Yunxiu's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly activated his true energy to replenish the water dragon, but for every bit of water he added, the Burning Heaven Flame burned away two bits.

Zhang Lin's Heavenly Flame uses true qi as fuel, and Fang Yunxiu's Water Dragon is also condensed from true qi. The larger the water dragon, the more fuel it contains, and the stronger the flames.

Without knowing the properties of the Burning Heaven Flame, the common knowledge that fire can overcome water instantly led Fang Yunxiu into a misunderstanding.

Ordinary flames are naturally countered by water, but his Heavenly Flame is precisely the nemesis of water. At this moment, Fang Yunxiu's correct course of action should be to cut off the supply of true energy and stop the damage in time.

The Heavenly Flame burned along the water dragon to its source, the water curtain, which vanished into nothingness in the white mist.

Fang Yunxiu's magic was broken, his chance of victory was lost, and he had nothing left to rely on.

Zhang Lin raised his hand, and three wind blades formed a triangular shape to block Fang Yunxiu's retreat. The wind blades hovered three feet around him, humming.

Fang Yunxiu glanced at the wind blades surrounding him, smiled wryly, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Junior Brother Zhang's magic is superb, I concede defeat."

Zhang Lin sheathed the wind blade and returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

Chen Boyuan clapped and cheered from below the stage, and the disciples around him also praised him.

In this battle, Zhang Lin broke through three levels of water escape techniques in succession, displaying an endless variety of methods. His offensive and defensive transitions were as smooth as flowing water, dazzling the onlookers.

In the third round of the draw, Zhang Lin drew a disciple at the late stage of Qi Refining. Upon seeing that it was him, the disciple immediately chose to forfeit, and Zhang Lin entered the final round.

After exchanging a few words, the three deacons gave the disciple a basic score. Sometimes, not competing can protect oneself, which is a wise move.

In the semi-finals on the other side, Zhou Mingyuan faced off against Luo Yuan. Hundreds of disciples gathered around the arena to watch the battle, making it completely packed.

This is the most anticipated match of the day, and the winner will face Zhang Lin in the final to compete for the championship.

Zhou Mingyuan and Luo Yuan stood facing each other, their Qi Refining Perfection facing each other.

Luo Yuan made the first move.

He raised his right hand, and three fireballs condensed in his palm, crimson red like blood, sizzling as they flew. They then transformed into three streaks of fire that shot toward Zhou Mingyuan in quick succession.

Before the fireball even arrived, he had already completed a hand seal with his left hand, and a wall of fire rose from the ground in front of Zhou Mingyuan, blocking his path forward—the Fire Wall Technique.

The wall of fire was over ten feet high, with raging flames and oppressive heat.

Luo Yuan changed his hand seals again, and a fiery dragon condensed from the wall of fire. The dragon's body was three zhang long, with clear scales and armor. Its mouth was wide open, and it devoured Zhou Mingyuan. This was the Fiery Dragon Technique.

Fireballs block the way, fire walls form an obstacle, and the Fiery Dragon launches the main attack.

The three techniques were used simultaneously and executed flawlessly in one go.

This is the foundation of the second-ranked disciple of the previous tenth class of Cuiping Peak.

Zhou Mingyuan's expression remained unchanged.

He lightly touched the ground with his feet, his body floating three feet backward, avoiding the first fireball.

The second and third ones followed one after another. He swept his hands in front of him, and a pale golden earthen wall rose from the ground, a third-tier earth-type mutated characteristic: Iron Wall.

Runes flowed across the earthen wall, shimmering with golden light; this was a defensive transformation of the earthen wall technique, incorporating the true energy of the metal element.

The fireball crashed into the iron wall and exploded with a deafening roar, scattering sparks everywhere, but the iron wall remained completely still.

The Fiery Dragon followed closely behind, its mouth biting into the iron wall, spewing forth flames that burned relentlessly.

The iron wall was charred black, yet it remained sturdy.

Zhou Mingyuan did not give Luo Yuan a chance to continue applying pressure.

With a wave of his right hand, eight golden blades transformed into a giant golden saber, which slashed out from the air and headed straight for Luo Yuan's face.

Before the golden blade even arrived, Luo Yuan's left hand had already unleashed six ice spikes in quick succession, forming a plum blossom shape to block his path of dodging to the left and right—a water-based variant of the Ice Spike Technique.

The golden knife launched a frontal assault, while the ice cone blocked the flanks.

Luo Yuan dodged the golden blade to the side. The blade grazed past him and struck the magical barrier of the Dao Discussion Platform behind him, creating ripples.

Luo Yuan conjured a wall of fire with his right hand to block the ice spikes. The ice and fire clashed, hissing and creating a cloud of white mist.

Within the white mist, Luo Yuan changed his hand gestures again, and dozens of golden blades flew out from the mist, shattering it into pieces, turning defense into offense.

But this was the moment Zhou Mingyuan had been waiting for.

Instead of retreating, he advanced.

With a stomp of his foot, a spike of earth silently shot out from beneath Luo Yuan's feet—Earth Spike Technique, Second Stage Transformation: Earth Thrust.

At the same time, he moved sideways to dodge the golden blade, and with his right hand forming a hand seal, ice spikes rained down on Luo Yuan.

A wall of fire rose around Luo Yuan, blocking all the ice spikes again. At the same time, he leaped up to avoid the earth spikes under his feet.

The moment he was airborne, he felt a chill on his ankle.

A vine had somehow gotten entangled around it.

The vines of the Wood Vine Technique are emerald green, covered with dark green poisonous thorns whose tips gleam with an eerie light, and have already deeply pierced Luo Yuan's ankle.

Toxins enter the body.

Luo Yuan felt a numbness in his ankle, and a chill spread up his calf, causing his internal energy circulation to suddenly slow down by half a beat.

That half-beat could be fatal.

Zhou Mingyuan had already closed in, his right palm wrapped in true energy, and struck Luo Yuan's chest from a distance.

The force was not strong, but it took advantage of Luo Yuan's momentum as he took to the air.

Luo Yuan was sent flying backward, tumbling twice in the air before crashing heavily outside the arena.

He struggled to his feet, his face turning pale and then flushed. Looking down, he saw a few drops of bright red blood seeping from his ankle, and the skin around the wound had turned slightly purple.

The venom of the poisonous stinger.

Although not fatal, it was enough to slow down his internal energy and reduce his reaction time.

On the fighting stage, the difference lies in the finest margin.

"Zhou Mingyuan wins," announced the steward, Du Zhong.

Zhou Mingyuan stood at the edge of the arena, hands behind his back, looking down at Luo Yuan below the stage, a smile playing on his lips.

"Thank you for your concession."

He turned around, his gaze passing over the crowd, over the stone pillars beside the arena, over the layers of bluestone steps, and landing directly on Zhang Lin.

After resting for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

finals.

Zhang Lin to Zhou Mingyuan.

Hundreds of disciples surrounded the arena, making it impossible to move.

Even the disciples responsible for maintaining order on the sidelines unconsciously put down their books and craned their necks to look at the arena.

On the high platform to the north, Lu Yuanshan leaned slightly forward, his gaze fixed on the arena.

Beside him, Luo Qinghe frowned slightly and tapped her fingertips lightly twice on the armrest.

Zhou Mingxuan's expression remained calm, except for a slight tightening of his fingers behind his back.

Zhang Lin slowly walked onto the stage and met Zhou Mingyuan's gaze.

The bells rang.

Zhang Lin made the first move, a ghostly blue flame appearing in his left palm, the Heaven-Burning Flame drifting towards Zhou Mingyuan.

The flame was tiny, only the size of a palm, flickering as if it would be extinguished by a gust of wind.

Zhou Mingyuan sneered, and an iron wall rose up in front of him.

Having witnessed the power of the Heavenly Flame, he dared not take it head-on.

At the same time, he made a hand seal with his right hand, and three ice cones flew towards Zhang Lin in a triangular shape, not to injure the enemy, but at least to delay him for a moment.

This brief moment was enough for him to end the battle with his giant golden sword.

The Heavenly Flame landed on the earthen wall, but instead of exploding or bursting, it seeped in like mercury.

The inside of the iron wall began to glow red, and fine cracks appeared on the surface, with a faint blue light shining through the cracks.

When the ice spike flew in front of Zhang Lin, the iron wall collapsed with a roar, turning into a pool of lava-like liquid.

The wind wall silently unfolded in front of Zhang Lin, and the ice spikes crashed into it, shattering into ice shards that fell down in a flurry.

Zhou Mingyuan's giant golden blade followed closely behind, its cold light gleaming under the sunlight as it slammed into the wind wall.

The wind wall trembled violently, emitting a teeth-grinding tearing sound, and was actually cleaved in a crack.

The disciples below the stage gasped in surprise; it was the first time they had ever seen a wind wall breached head-on.