“Awoo? Someone’s challenging me?” Lei Mulan stepped out and looked at Ruo Xuan, her expression still a bit goofy, looking less like a wolf demon and more like a dog demon. She pursed her lips, gesturing for Ruo Xuan to join her on the stage.
Compared to Lei Mulan’s casual demeanor, Ruo Xuan seemed somewhat nervous.
She hadn’t even started the fight yet, but she had already taken out her magical artifacts: in her right hand was a long sword as black as carbon, covered in rust spots and scratches; in her left was a high-tech, shiny silver handgun, with a storage canister on the gun body emitting blue spiritual light.
Mu Yanxi shook her head as she watched. In cultivator duels, the key was catching the opponent off guard and winning through surprise.
By taking out her artifacts before even entering the arena, although these two were indeed very strong—at least fifth-grade, possibly even fourth-grade—it instead put her opponent on early alert.
Her combat experience was even worse than those other female disciples.
Of course, it was also possible that Ruo Xuan’s real trump card wasn’t these two artifacts, but something else even more powerful.
She might have deliberately taken them out to draw her opponent’s attention to these two, then catch the enemy off guard with other means during the fight. This kind of feint tactic was quite common—it was too early to say.
Shangguan Yun, however, shook her head in evaluation.
“Your classmate is too reckless. Demon cultivators inherently have strong combat instincts and astonishing endurance, so no one challenged Lei Mulan earlier because it would be thankless effort.”
“Even if you win, the consumption would be too great. Directly challenging Lei Mulan at full strength is too reckless.”
The two entered the arena and stood ready. Lei Mulan cracked her knuckles left and right, her somewhat goofy eyes instantly sharpening.
She crouched slightly, her whole body exuding the aura of a hunt beginning—completely different from before. She smiled. “Young miss, please give me some pointers.”
“Uh, okay, please give me some pointers,” Ruo Xuan said nervously. But as soon as her words fell, Lei Mulan shot forward like a spring, charging at her with a massive silver-white wolf claw condensed on her hand.
“Chill Moon!” Ruo Xuan thrust her black sword in front of her. The pitch-black, mottled long sword instantly became crystal clear, as if made of ice crystals, blocking the attack while shattering the silver-white wolf claw.
“Awoo? Quite a powerful magical artifact.” Lei Mulan leaped back the instant Ruo Xuan counterattacked, her speed faster than magical artifact flight, and the spot where she had been standing was instantly frozen by sword qi, with sharp ice spikes growing out.
Lei Mulan bounced off the four surrounding water walls several times, rapidly changing her position.
Ruo Xuan raised her left-hand gun and fired several shots in succession, spiritual energy transforming into intense electric light surging from the muzzle, striking the water curtain and bouncing out bright, blinding currents.
“Plasma gun, seems like Huanyu Company’s most advanced experimental product. That sword is even stronger, but it shouldn’t be a mass-produced standard magical artifact,” Shangguan Yun quickly analyzed Ruo Xuan’s battle.
The first time Mu Yanxi saw Ruo Xuan in the changing room, she had also noticed a spinal patch covered in spiritual circuits on her back.
The Immortal Brain’s analysis had said it was Huanyu Company’s latest immortal remains. It seemed Ruo Xuan indeed had deep connections to that Huanyu Company.
The power of that so-called plasma gun was indeed terrifying—each shot gave Mu Yanxi the feeling of a mid-Core Formation cultivator using mutated thunder. Probably even Shangguan Yun couldn’t casually tank it.
The only issue was that this plasma gun couldn’t track, and Lei Mulan’s speed was too fast. Ruo Xuan’s shooting motions simply couldn’t keep up with her movements. After a few leaps, she jumped behind Ruo Xuan, swiping a claw at her back.
In that instant, the spinal patch on Ruo Xuan’s back lit up with green light.
Her whole body suddenly bent at the waist, ducking her head to dodge Lei Mulan’s claw, then spun around with a sword slash—her speed so fast it left afterimages, even making the surrounding environment feel slowed down.
Lei Mulan’s reaction was also extremely quick. After her claw missed, she knew she couldn’t pull away in time, so she turned and kicked at the incoming sword.
In that moment of lifting her foot, Mu Yanxi noticed that under Lei Mulan’s qipao, she wasn’t wearing anything, directly exposing a glimpse.
What had been an extremely perilous moment of victory or defeat instantly shifted all of Mu Yanxi’s attention to the hem of the skirt.
“Pa!” Lei Mulan’s foot also transformed into a silver-white wolf claw, clashing with the long sword dragging snow-white cold light.
The demon cultivator’s strength was immense, even directly kicking the sword away, but the wolf claw was shattered again, and along with it, Lei Mulan’s foot was frozen.
Ruo Xuan was overjoyed at the sight. She was currently unscathed, while Lei Mulan’s foot was injured—this would definitely be a huge impact for someone who excelled in speed.
Her Chill Moon had only been kicked away, but a magical artifact could fly back with just a thought. She immediately used her divine sense to try controlling Chill Moon to return.
However, Lei Mulan, with her leg frozen, didn’t pause at all. She pushed off with one foot and pounced at Ruo Xuan—in a situation where her other foot was frozen, this was practically a sacrificial strike.
“Ah?!” Ruo Xuan completely hadn’t expected that with her foot frozen, Lei Mulan wouldn’t retreat to find a way to thaw it, but instead directly pounce at her—and with such a sacrificial strike.
She raised her gun, hesitated for less than half a second, then aimed at Lei Mulan’s abdomen and fired.
Even if this shot didn’t hit a vital spot, theoretically, a mid-Core Formation mutated thunder strike, as long as it hit the body, even a demon cultivator would be reduced to ashes. Was Teacher Zhao Shuanghua not going to intervene?
Facing this shot, Lei Mulan didn’t even dodge, charging straight on and taking it head-on with her body. Her protective spiritual light shattered instantly, followed by her qipao being burned away by the plasma.
But her body was completely unharmed, even absorbing the plasma. Before the stunned Ruo Xuan could react, she was sent flying by Lei Mulan’s claw.
“How is that possible?!” The female disciples watching this battle let out astonished cries.
Even if Lei Mulan had taken out an ultra-strong magical artifact or worn treasure armor to block this plasma shot, they could accept it—but eating it raw with her flesh body completely exceeded their understanding.
Mu Yanxi, on the other hand, wasn’t so surprised, because she remembered that some thunder-attribute demonic beasts had the ability to absorb mutated thunder.
In her previous life, some cultivators specifically bought thunder-attribute monster cores at high prices to counter mutated thunder cultivators.
But Lei Mulan was only at Qi Refining stage, around twenty layers or so—she couldn’t possibly have a monster core.
“A special constitution thunder-attribute demonic beast?” Shangguan Yun also saw some clues and didn’t make a big fuss like the other girls.
“I won, awoo.” Lei Mulan held her hand in front of Ruo Xuan’s neck. Ruo Xuan’s protective spiritual light had been shattered by her palm earlier—theoretically, she could seriously injure Ruo Xuan right now.
But with her leg frozen and injured, Lei Mulan hadn’t struck ruthlessly at Ruo Xuan, not even injuring her opponent—she merely made the victory declaration.