Chapter 128: Arena Battles

Once the fighting started, it really opened Mu Yanxi’s eyes. The battles between cultivators in this world had far more variety than those in her previous life.

In her past life’s Qi Refining stage battles, it was basically just releasing magical artifacts from afar, then chanting incantations and forming hand seals to cast spells, seeing who could break through the opponent’s defense first.

But this world was different. Due to the existence of the Body Refining stage and martial paths, the proportion of close combat had greatly increased.

Many female disciples chose to charge directly with magical artifacts for melee combat, some even relying purely on fists and feet, just like Mu Yanxi and Shangguan Yun yesterday. The martial arts were especially dazzling.

Of course, the spells were also varied. Mu Yanxi saw many spells she couldn’t even name, and the chanting and hand seals were obviously faster, greatly simplified, yet their power and functionality were even stronger.

Even more were the uses of auxiliary weapons like puppets, automated magical artifacts, immortal remains, as well as talismans and pills. Some female disciples even had spirit beasts assisting in the battle.

It was only then that Mu Yanxi realized that the elite class selections ranked solely by scores and aptitude were completely different from rankings based on actual combat factors.

The sect exam tests obviously didn’t consider puppets, magical artifact grades, spirit beast strength, talisman quantities, and such—these variables were too great.

Even with a cultivation level a few layers lower, one could completely make up for it with external items.

In Mu Yanxi’s previous life, besides their own cultivation, a large part of a cultivator’s strength depended on external aids—this was normal.

But Mu Yanxi didn’t understand why a sect focused mainly on dual cultivation would determine rankings through actual combat.

Moreover, these new disciples all had decent combat abilities, clearly with rich experience in sparring, and they were even quite ruthless.

In one duel arena delineated by sword qi, the female disciple who had transformed into a half-human half-lion earlier forcibly charged through the sea of fire created by the command flag, rushing to her opponent’s side.

With a few swipes of her claws, she knocked away the shields automatically orbiting and protecting her opponent, then sent her flying with one claw.

The girl who was sent flying had several deep claw marks on her body, blood flowing freely.

The body cultivator girl’s surface was also burned black all over, but she was the first disciple to defeat her opponent, slowly recovering her original form amid gasps.

But the good times didn’t last long. She had just reverted to her original human form when another new female disciple challenged her.

Helpless, she could only swallow another pill, transforming once more into the half-human half-lion form amid roars.

“This is a bit too desperate, isn’t it?” Mu Yanxi couldn’t help sighing. Although she didn’t know the name of that pill that could demonize people, the side effects were obviously enormous.

After using it once earlier, the girl was gasping when she reverted to human form. Now, without even healing her burns, she took another one—the accumulated side effects would be extremely serious.

“If not desperate, how to enter the elite class? But I agree with you—she’s just brave without strategy.”

“After winning the first match, she should have deliberately lost the second, stepped down to rest, and waited to gather strength before decisively winning the third.”

“Otherwise, even if she forcibly wins the second with the demonization pill, the third would be at the end of her rope, bound to lose,” Shangguan Yun said.

Sure enough, although that body cultivator girl became incredibly valiant after swallowing the demonization pill and transforming into a half-corpse form, able to knock away her opponent’s silver wheel magical artifact with one claw, when the opponent controlled five wheels for successive strikes, she was already covered in wounds.

Finally, her opponent pulled out a short tube magical artifact and blasted her to the ground, blowing open a large hole in her chest.

What was that magical artifact? Mu Yanxi looked at the short tube in that female disciple’s hand.

Earlier, the tube’s port had spewed a tongue of fire, carrying intense spiritual energy that directly pierced through the half-lion girl’s chest. Not only was the power great, but the key was that it was impossible to guard against.

Mu Yanxi searched on the Dao Net: that magical artifact was called a gun, somewhat similar in nature to the beam mechanisms installed on puppets.

Additionally, Mu Yanxi’s glideboard also came with similar weapons—though the single-shot power wasn’t as good as this gun, it excelled in rapid fire.

“Isn’t this a bit too ruthless? They’re all fellow disciples, yet striking so heavily,” Mu Yanxi muttered to herself.

In her previous life’s sect sparring, it was mostly point till stop, with elders watching nearby. If there was a possibility of serious injury to a disciple, they would immediately intervene.

But looking at Zhao Shuanghua’s drunken expression and casual posture, she seemed completely unconcerned about these disciples getting seriously injured—whether it was the earlier three claw marks or the chest being blown open, she didn’t intervene.

Instead, there were some automated drones from Lingyue High Sect on the square.

When a disciple was defeated, they would grab them out of the arena for treatment, but that healing technique recovered very slowly.

Although lives weren’t in danger, such serious injuries couldn’t be healed by drones in a short time.

“Don’t worry, the teacher has it under control. If it’s a fatal injury, the wards on the square will automatically protect them.”

“As for striking heavily, it’s naturally to completely deprive them of combat ability, directly eliminating a competitor,” Shangguan Yun explained.

It really was cruel, Mu Yanxi sighed inwardly. It wasn’t that she thought the cultivation world wasn’t this cruel—although in her previous life’s Magnificent Truth Sect, disciples were relatively harmonious and friendly, with sparring point till stop—but in wars against the demonic way, both sides struck to kill.

The demonic disciples who died by Mu Yanxi’s hand and the fellow disciples who perished were not few, and even she herself had died in battle.

What surprised her was that Lingyue High Sect, as a sect focused on dual cultivation and supposedly cultivating service-type talents, had a bit too much martial virtue. Did concubines and furnaces need to be able to fight?

Mu Yanxi continued watching the situations in each arena. Sure enough, where there were heavy strikes, there were also those fishing in troubled waters.

One elite class disciple, facing ten puppets released by the challenger, destroyed three puppets before jumping out of the arena and choosing to surrender.

She consumed one of her challenged opportunities, while destroying three of her opponent’s puppets, depleting the opponent’s strength, but without leaving herself powerless against the next opponent.

This was a very shrewd calculation. She maximized the preservation of her mana, while not letting her opponent win too easily.

Next, no matter who finished fighting with heavy consumption, she could reap the fisherman’s profit. If the consumption wasn’t great, she could also seek another opponent.

Just then, Mu Yanxi heard a familiar voice say, “Teacher, I want to challenge classmate Lei Mulan.”

“Hm?” Mu Yanxi turned her head to look—it was actually Ruo Xuan. She wanted to challenge her own roommate? That wolf demon?

According to her previous life’s experience, demon cultivators of the same rank were stronger than human cultivators.

If it was a demon beast that hadn’t yet gained sentience, that was another matter, but Lei Mulan was only equivalent to Qi Refining stage, having just gained sentience not long ago—her strength was unknown.

Looking again at those fellow disciples each displaying their skills—for example, Bai Ting was also being challenged right now, with over a dozen golden crow drones orbiting her, moving while shooting beams of golden light at her opponent.

It seemed the outcome was hard to predict.