128: Chapter 128 An Unexpected Location, An Unexpected Gain

Hu Jinsi walked along the coast with his Dire Wolf for about a kilometer. The sea breeze carried a salty, damp scent, whipping his coat about with a snapping sound.

The Dire Wolf's iron-gray fur was pressed against its body by the wind, and its amber eyes were fixed on a small crab on the beach, its claws twitching with anticipation.

He walked a few more steps, then suddenly stopped. A thought flashed through his mind: Should he draw a feat right now, right here?

The experience points contributed by that group of Blackrock Orcs in the previous "Lakeside Town" dungeon were quite substantial. Combined with the points from the "Dark Martial Arts Tournament" over the last few days, he had converted everything into general experience points, leaving nothing behind. The conversion rate from points to experience wasn't high, but the sheer volume made up for it.

In fact, by noon today, he had already accumulated 32,000 experience points. It was just that he had been so busy competing that he hadn't even thought about it.

The further the tournament progressed, the stronger his opponents became. Drawing early and getting a good feat could directly boost his combat power. But the question was, did the location for drawing a feat matter?

He had always drawn them at home before, and so far, that had worked out quite well. This suggested that the location might have some metaphysical bonus, or maybe it didn't; no one could say for sure.

Hu Jinsi turned his head to look at the sea before him. The night was deep, and the sea surface appeared an almost ink-like black. In the distance, the skyline and the sea horizon merged into one, making it impossible to tell where the sky ended and the water began.

The sound of the waves came in wave after wave, their rhythm slow and heavy.

He looked down at the Dire Wolf; the cub was using its paw to poke at the little crab, having the time of its life.

"Let's gamble on it," he thought. Anyway, he had never drawn one by the sea before; trying it wouldn't hurt. Hu Jinsi sat cross-legged on the beach and patted the empty spot beside him. The Dire Wolf glanced at him, didn't come over, and continued chasing the crab.

He silently thought about calling up the system panel. A pale blue light unfolded in his field of vision, and lines of text began to appear.

...

[ Spend 32,000 experience points to draw a Level 16 class feat? ]

"Yes." Hu Jinsi did not hesitate. He was already sitting by the sea; there was nothing to hesitate about. He stared at the rotating sphere of light in the center of his vision, waiting for the result.

The sphere of light burst open, and three beams of light descended in succession. The text became clear before his eyes.

[ Tortoise Breath: You are able to breathe even in hazardous or thin air. You can hold your breath for up to 25 minutes before suffocating. You gain a minor (+1) bonus to saves against inhaled threats such as inhaled toxins. ]

(Synergy: You can now switch to internal breathing while meditating, increasing the base benefits of meditation by 100%.)

Hu Jinsi stared at this line of text, his brow furrowing. Tortoise Breath? Holding one's breath? He looked up at the pitch-black sea in front of him, then down at the beach beneath him. Drawing a feat by the sea really was water-related.

Before he could recover his senses, the second beam of light unfolded.

[ Underwater Adept: You have learned the techniques of underwater combat. You will not be caught off guard by being in the water, and you do not need to suffer the usual penalties when using melee weapons underwater. ]

(Synergy: You can now use movement skills like [Chi Torpedo] and [Water Bird Steps] while underwater.)

Hu Jinsi's expression began to darken. Underwater Adept? He hadn't even seen a single underwater dungeon yet.

The third beam of light followed closely behind.

[ Trained Swimmer: Thanks to tireless practice, water has become a natural environment for you. You gain a base swimming speed of 2.5 meters/second. Swimming up or down is no longer considered difficult terrain for you. ]

(Synergy: You can now apply 50% of the bonus from [Unarmored Movement] to swimming.)

Hu Jinsi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The sea breeze filled his lungs with a fishy, salty taste. He finally understood: this beach today was specifically here to make things difficult for him. Three feats, each one more "watery" than the last, and each one more irrelevant to his current needs.

...

He opened his eyes to look a second time, his fingers swiping across his vision. With each feat he read, his disappointment grew. At least Tortoise Breath had some use; holding his breath for twenty-five minutes meant he could survive a little longer if he encountered toxic gas. But Underwater Adept and Trained Swimmer?

The closest thing he had to water right now was often harvesting Murlocs, but Murlocs didn't fight underwater either! What was the point of choosing so many underwater feats? To go to sea and become a treasure hunter? Or to send the Dire Wolf into the water to catch octopuses?

But just as he was about to pick one at random, his gaze swept over a row of small text at the bottom of each feat. The font was very small, and the color was faint; if he hadn't looked carefully, he would have almost ignored it.

(Synergy...)

Hu Jinsi's eyelids twitched. He read the synergy information for the three feats from beginning to end again. Tortoise Breath's synergy was internal breathing for meditation, doubling the base benefits. Underwater Adept allowed him to use movement skills in the water. Trained Swimmer moved half of the [Unarmored Movement] bonus to swimming.

He stroked his chin, the sea breeze making his fingers cold. Although the theme of these three feats was water, their value after synergy was clearly different.

Hu Jinsi stared at the prompt in his vision and sighed. If he had encountered the [Tortoise Breath] feat before level five, he would have chosen it immediately.

Holding his breath for twenty-five minutes, internal breathing, and doubled meditation benefits—back then, that would have been an absolute artifact.

But now? He closed the feat panel and did the math in his head. The synergy for [Tortoise Breath] doubled the base meditation benefits, which meant 18 points of class experience per hour. That sounded like a lot.

But he needed 64,000 experience points to go from level sixteen to level seventeen. 18 points per hour; even if he meditated for twelve hours every day, that was only 216 points. 64,000 divided by 216 was nearly three hundred days. Almost a year.

This efficiency was so low it was unwatchable. Hu Jinsi shook his head. Relying solely on meditation to level up would be a waste of time.

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about buying meditation support equipment. When he was a lower level, things like incense, meditation cushions, and rings that increased meditation efficiency were expensive but still purchasable.

But now? He didn't know which bastard was hoarding them maliciously. Meditation support equipment for level ten to twenty Monks was either out of stock in the auction house or marked with astronomical prices starting at five digits.

He reported it to the platform every month, but it was useless. Those bureaucrats didn't care at all about the life or death of a niche class like his.

Hu Jinsi remembered that [Incense Burner] he had eyed in the "Wonderful Adventure" dungeon. The meditation efficiency bonus was very high, and the effect was much stronger than the common goods on the market.

But he didn't have enough points at the time and could only watch helplessly as it lay in the exchange list, unable to afford it.

This summer vacation, no matter what, he had to grind enough points for that thing. Regardless of which dungeon it was, he would rush in and get that incense burner first.

Hu Jinsi didn't really want to choose [Tortoise Breath], but apart from [Tortoise Breath], the remaining two feats, [Underwater Adept] and [Trained Swimmer], were truly too terrible.

Although these two feats that increased underwater combat capability looked good on paper, it ultimately came back to the same point: he didn't have any dungeons where he needed to fight underwater, so what was the use of choosing a bunch of feats that increased underwater combat strength?

It was like if Hu Jinsi had never even seen what an artifact looked like, but suddenly had the opportunity to obtain a feat that reduced the requirements for magical equipment by 20%.

What was the use of choosing that? He might never have the chance to use it in his entire life. If he really reached the point where he could use it, would he still be lacking that 20%?

In the end, Hu Jinsi had no choice but to helplessly select the [Tortoise Breath] feat. He could only console himself that at the very least, he could hold his breath for 25 minutes, which would allow him to live for 25 extra minutes in many places.

"Select [Tortoise Breath]."

[Unlocked Level 16 Feat: Tortoise Breath]

...

The system prompt had just finished, and before he had time to lament, a new prompt rang in his ears.

"Detected feats of the same series: [Deep Meditation], [Dreamless Realm], [Tortoise Breath]. Requirements met for at least 3 feats for advancement. Do you wish to attempt to fuse the aforementioned feats and sublimate them into a higher-tier feat? (Note: There is a certain chance to directly sublimate into a Transcendental Feat.)"

Hu Jinsi's breath hitched. [Deep Meditation]? [Dreamless Realm]? These were two feats he had chosen early on. At the time, he had chosen them purely because of their high meditation efficiency, their ability to accumulate experience, and their ability to replace sleep.

He hadn't expected that today, these three completely unrelated feats would actually be judged by the world consciousness of Water Blue Star as being in the same series.

The ecstasy came too suddenly. He almost jumped up from the beach. The Dire Wolf was startled by his movement, and the little crab took the opportunity to burrow into a sand hole, escaping without a trace. The cub looked up at Hu Jinsi, its ears pricked straight up, not understanding why its master was suddenly so excited.

"Yes, yes." Hu Jinsi said it twice in a row, his voice a bit tight. What was there to hesitate about with something like this? Fusing three feats into one higher-tier one—only a fool would refuse.

"Do you wish to add experience points to increase the quality and success rate of the fusion?"

"Yes."

"Insufficient available experience. Do you wish to add items of the same type as fuel?"

Hu Jinsi was stunned. Insufficient experience? He had just spent 32,000 on drawing the feat, so there really wasn't much left. Fuel? He quickly ran through the items in his backpack in his mind. Items of the same type... Meditation-related, breathing-related, mental-related equipment?

"Add!"

"The [Crystal Tear Ring], [Flameheart Priest's Charred Wood Prayer Beads], [Meditation Cushion], and [Flowing Breath Scarf] have been selected as fuel. Do you confirm?"

None of these four items directly added combat attributes. But most of them were linked to meditation, mental resistance, and the like. At this moment, they were judged by the world consciousness of Water Blue Star as "items of the same type," which also pointed out a direction for Hu Jinsi's future selection of items.

He gritted his teeth. The market value of these pieces of equipment added up to over ten thousand, but compared to a higher-tier feat, they were still not worth mentioning.

If the fusion failed, the equipment would be gone, and the feats would be gone—that would be a total loss. But if he didn't gamble, he would never obtain this level of ability.

"Confirm!"

"Sublimating, please wait."

The moment the prompt disappeared, Hu Jinsi suddenly felt a strange pulling sensation. It didn't come from his body, but from the depths of his consciousness.

A force churned in his mind, twisting the energy of the three feats and four items together and reforging them.

He subconsciously touched the ring finger of his left hand; the spot where the Crystal Tear Ring had been was now empty. The charred wood prayer beads, meditation cushion, and scarf in his backpack had also disappeared.

He stood up and brushed the sand off his pants. The sea breeze was still blowing, and the sound of waves was still ringing, but at this moment, he felt everything around him was very far away.

How long would the sublimation take? The prompt information didn't say. He looked down at the Dire Wolf; the cub was using its paws to dig a sand hole, trying to dig out the crab that had escaped. It hadn't noticed Hu Jinsi's anomaly.

Hu Jinsi began to pace back and forth along the coast. He tried to make himself look calm, as if he were just taking a normal stroll. But his footsteps unconsciously gave him away.

Sometimes he walked too fast, sometimes he stopped suddenly, and sometimes he turned around in a bizarre way. His fingers were rubbing unconsciously, his knuckles making slight clicking sounds.

The Dire Wolf finally sensed that something was wrong. It stopped digging, raised its head, and its amber eyes stared at Hu Jinsi. It tilted its head, its nose twitching, as if sniffing some kind of uneasy scent in the air.

It slowly walked to Hu Jinsi's feet and rubbed its head against his calf. Its iron-gray tail was hanging down, not wagging.

Hu Jinsi looked down at it and forced a smile. He crouched down and scratched the Dire Wolf's chin. The cub let out a low purr in its throat, but its eyes were still full of confusion.

It could feel that its master's mood was different from usual. That scent, that slightly trembling body temperature—the Dire Wolf had remembered them with its nose.

The time required for the sublimation process was unknown. This period was the most difficult time Hu Jinsi had endured recently. He didn't dare to meditate for fear of interfering with the sublimation process.

He didn't dare to leave the beach for fear that the system would determine a change in location and cause a failure. He could only walk back and forth here, on this pitch-black coastline.

He recalled things he had heard before. Those classes that were A-rank or higher after awakening chose a feat every ten levels. If they were lucky enough to choose three closely related ones, it was possible to trigger sublimation. But that was something that happened after level forty or fifty.

Yet Hu Jinsi had encountered this probability at only level ten-something; it was practically like winning the lottery.

He hadn't been prepared at all. If he had known this was possible, he should have gone to the class store in advance to hunt for a few high-quality meditation-type pieces of equipment to use as fuel.

The four pieces he used now, although the attributes fit, were of average quality. If the quality of the fuel wasn't enough, leading to a discounted feat from the sublimation, he would regret it to death.

But then he thought again: this was his first time experiencing sublimation, so how could he have prepared in advance?

During the wait, he went through all the possibilities in his mind. The best result: the three feats fused perfectly, and the attributes were greatly improved. The worst result: the fusion failed, the feats fused into a strange feat of unknown direction, and the equipment was completely destroyed.

A mediocre result: the fusion succeeded, but the attributes were discounted and had flaws.

He looked up at the night sky. There was no moon, and the stars were sparse. The sea breeze made him feel a bit cold, but he didn't pay it any mind. The Dire Wolf lay at his feet, its iron-gray fur slightly rippling in the wind, and it quietly accompanied its master as he waited.

Finally, 10 minutes later, the prompt sounded again.

"Fusion complete. During the sublimation process, the [Lucky One] effect was triggered, directly sublimating into a Transcendental Feat. Due to insufficient fuel, the new feat is [Transcendental Meditation (Incomplete)]. Before you ascend to Transcendental, you still have the opportunity to continue adding relevant feats into [Transcendental Meditation (Incomplete)] to make it gain better effects."

Hu Jinsi held his breath. The text in his vision unfolded line by line, and he read it word for word.

[ Transcendental Meditation (Incomplete) ]

[ Prerequisites: Perception 20. ]

[ Class Requirement: Monk or related classes. ]

[Effect 1: You no longer need sleep; you only need 1 hour of "Trance" daily to satisfy all rest requirements. During Trance, your body enters a state of suspended animation (body temperature drops, breathing pauses), but your consciousness remains clear, allowing you to perceive movement within a 10-meter radius.]

[Effect 2: During meditation, you switch to internal respiration, granting immunity to inhaled toxins and gas damage. You can now hold your breath for up to 12 hours in vacuum, underwater, or toxic fog environments.]

[Effect 3: You are immune to dream manipulation and sleep-type spells from casters of the same rank, and you gain a significant (+4) advantage on saving throws against illusions.]

[Effect 4: Your base meditation efficiency and base meditation gains are increased by 200%.]

(Tip: Meditation experience gained from [Transcendental Meditation (Incomplete)] is at the transcendental stage and can be converted to your current level's class experience at a 1:10 ratio.)

...

Hu Jinsi finished reading and stood frozen in place. The sea breeze blew past his ears, and the waves crashed against the reefs on the shore, emitting a dull roar. He blinked and read it again.

The effects of the previous three perks had all been integrated. The efficiency boost from Deep Meditation, the immunity to sleep and illusions from Dreamless Realm, and the breath-holding and internal respiration from Turtle Breath.

Moreover, the current state is still incomplete; before reaching the transcendental stage, he could continue to add related perks to make it more complete.

He looked down at the Dire Wolf. The cub was using its claws to fiddle with a seashell washed ashore, making a crisp clicking sound. It had no idea what its master had just experienced.

Hu Jinsi crouched down, hugged the Dire Wolf's neck, and buried his face in its iron-gray fur.

The cub was somewhat bewildered by this sudden display of intimacy, emitting a confused whimper from its throat.

Through this perk, Hu Jinsi finally realized just how large the gap was between those transcendental classes and his current self. He used to know that high-level classes were strong, but he didn't know exactly where that strength lay.

Now he understood. One transcendental perk was worth more than three ordinary perks, and every single effect was at a qualitative change level.

He started doing the math in his head. The base gains and base efficiency of transcendental meditation were both increased by 200%.

Originally, he could gain 1 point of class experience from half an hour of meditation; now, it had become 9 points of transcendental meditation experience per half-hour, which meant 18 points of transcendental meditation experience per hour.

But these 18 points were transcendental-stage meditation experience, and converted at a 1:10 ratio, that was 180 points of class experience—180 points per hour!

Ten hours of meditation a day meant 1800 points. Going from level 16 to 17 required 64,000 points, which would take about 36 days. In just over a month, he could level up purely by meditating.

Previously, he would have needed to meditate for over a year. Now, it was just over a month. And this didn't even include the experience gained from other activities.

Hu Jinsi let go of the Dire Wolf, straightened up, and looked at the pitch-black sea. This level of improvement could no longer be described as a "qualitative change." These were two completely different levels.

But at the same time, he also sensed a limitation. Meditation auxiliary equipment below the transcendental stage was no longer effective for him. The incense, meditation cushions, and rings that increased meditation efficiency had all lost their effect.

Although the system prompt didn't explicitly state it, he could feel that the state of transcendental meditation was completely different from ordinary meditation, and the energy of low-tier items could not intervene.

Hu Jinsi didn't feel too much regret about this. At least in this regard, he would save a huge sum of money in the future. He had previously been worried about whether to spend a lot of money at the auction house to hunt for better meditation equipment. Now, it wasn't necessary, as these items were useless to him.

He wouldn't need to spend money in the future either; items at the transcendental stage would naturally have new acquisition channels.

...

Was his luck today good or bad? Hu Jinsi shook his head. If he said it was bad, he had drawn three water-type perks and had almost thought he was done for.

If he said it was good, it just so happened that one of them belonged to the same series as his previous Deep Meditation and Dreamless Realm, triggering a sublimation. The probability of this was lower than winning the lottery.

After all, the probability of such perks that boost meditation effects appearing was very low; counting today's, it had only appeared 4 times in total, with 2 of those times appearing in the same selection opportunity, and he had just happened to seize all the opportunities and chose 3 of them.

Perhaps if he had the chance in the future, he should try perk extraction in other interesting places. Different locations might correspond to different perk themes.

The seaside yielded water-type, the mountaintop might yield wind-type, and ancient tombs might yield nether-type. But this thought only flashed through his mind, and he didn't delve too deeply into it.

The most important thing now was to hurry into the dungeon and finish the semi-finals.

He patted the Dire Wolf's head, and the cub raised its head, its amber eyes shining in the night. Hu Jinsi stood up and brushed the sand off his pants. "Let's go back; the match is waiting."

The Dire Wolf shook its fur and followed Hu Jinsi toward the dungeon entrance.

The waves crashed against the beach, one after another, behind them.

...

After re-entering the dungeon, Hu Jinsi was teleported to the preparation room. The preparation room was the same as when he left; the sofa, chairs, bedroom, and shower were all in their original positions. He washed his hands and chose to teleport to the semi-final arena.

The opponent was the Urameshi Team. The name for this team on the forums was very ordinary; it was just a standard five-person squad name named after the captain.

But the moment Hu Jinsi saw the name, he had already anticipated it. The semi-final and final teams had to be either the Urameshi Team or the Elder Toguro Team; otherwise, it would seem like the dungeon was being too lenient.

He rubbed his temples. He remembered the composition of this team, their fighting styles, and each person's personality traits.

Compared to those dry data posts on the forums, the intelligence Hu Jinsi possessed was far richer. He didn't just know their skills; he also knew what choices they would make under what circumstances.

This intelligence advantage was almost overwhelming. People on the forums only treated the Urameshi Team as an ordinary team, feeling that they were a bit conspicuous in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament full of demons, but their strength was average.

No one thought in the direction of "protagonist," but these few indeed didn't look particularly powerful. The Elder Toguro Team certainly looked more like protagonists than this side.

Only Hu Jinsi, carrying the memories of his past life, knew what this team meant in the original work.

But Hu Jinsi also knew clearly that the Urameshi Team at this period was not in their prime state. They were still growing, and many late-game ultimate moves hadn't been learned yet. In terms of strength, agility, and constitution, Hu Jinsi could now fully suppress them.

The only things needing attention were the special abilities of those in the protagonist group, such as the Spirit Gun, the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, and the Rose Whip, among others.

These abilities had extremely strong growth potential in the original work, but in this stage of the dungeon, their power should still be within a controllable range.

More importantly, the battle venue and format of this semi-final were favorable to him. The system randomly selected the arena venue, which had no complex terrain—just a flat, circular ring. The battle mode was a best-of-five point match, not a gauntlet or a group melee.

This meant Hu Jinsi only needed to win three matches to advance. Not having to play five matches meant he wouldn't have to fight Genkai.

Hu Jinsi leaned against the preparation area, closed his eyes, and went over the memories of the Urameshi Team in his mind again. He gradually recalled information about Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, Urameshi himself, and that Genkai.

He knew everyone's fighting habits and weaknesses clearly. He was confident about this match.

...

In fact, such a team with human participation was indeed quite conspicuous in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament, which was attended entirely by demons. Out of sixty-four teams, sixty-two were demons; only Hu Jinsi's team and this one in front of him had human participation.

The audience projections in the arena also let out scattered boos, seemingly unimpressed by this human team.

Excluding the protagonist halo, the current hard power of this team was indeed not very good. Especially compared to the previous Five Saint Beasts team or the One-Eyed Bull Pirates, the Urameshi Team's physical fitness was a cut below theirs.

Hu Jinsi was even confident that he could gain the upper hand in a direct confrontation based solely on the suppression of strength and agility stats. Not to mention his absolute advantage in intelligence.

But for this team, defeating them was only one part of the process; Hu Jinsi had other considerations.

...

The first competitor from the opposing side to walk onto the ring was a guy whose hairstyle looked like a delinquent. He was wearing a Showa-era Japanese school uniform with a white biker gang cape draped over his back. On the back of the cape were four large black characters: "Health First."

The moment Hu Jinsi saw him, the corners of his mouth almost couldn't hold back. Kuwabara Kazuma, the number two figure of the Urameshi Team and the only pure-blooded human.

Those four large characters printed on the back of the cape were particularly striking under the lights. Hu Jinsi remembered that in the merchandise of his past life, this cape was an iconic item.

Many years later, similar styles appeared countless times in the cosplay circle and subsequent works, and printing all kinds of strange text on the back also became a fashion, from "Fourth Hokage" to Leon, whose body was covered in advertisements.

But this wasn't the time to be distracted. Kuwabara was already standing on the opposite side of the ring, hands in his pockets, with an impatient expression on his face. He was cursing, seemingly complaining about something.

Hu Jinsi had seen his introduction in the files, and there was only one key point: that longsword condensed from spirit energy.

According to the forums, that Spirit Sword had destructive power against ordinary weapons. White-tier equipment basically shattered upon contact, and magical equipment with attributes couldn't hold up for more than a few hits either.

Therefore, the advice from most professionals was: don't use melee weapons to trade blows with him; use ranged attacks or spells to wear him down.

Kuwabara also had a defensive shield that could be activated several times to block a certain amount of damage. But other than that, his combat skills, footwork, and movement speed were all third-rate.

Hu Jinsi quickly reviewed Kuwabara's information in his mind. He remembered that this guy was the comic relief in the original work, and his fighting style was extremely primitive, basically just swinging his sword wildly. No footwork, no variation, no tactics. He relied purely on the hard power of that Spirit Sword.

Hu Jinsi already had a plan for dealing with this kind of opponent.

The gong for the start of the match rang. Kuwabara drew the Spirit Sword from his waist, and spirit energy condensed on the blade, emitting a pale blue light. He let out a roar, gripped the sword with both hands, and charged straight at Hu Jinsi. The route was straight, with no signs of changing direction.

Hu Jinsi didn't even activate any skills; he just tilted his body slightly and dodged the first strike.

Kuwabara's sword struck empty air, and the spirit energy carved a shallow mark on the ring. He retracted the sword and slashed again; this time, the angle was slightly tilted, but it was still a straight slash. Hu Jinsi stepped back half a step, the blade passing before his nose, bringing a chill.

Kuwabara's sword was indeed sharp. Hu Jinsi noticed that as the blade cut through the air, it left a faint afterimage of spirit energy. If he were hit, white-tier equipment really couldn't withstand it. But the problem was, it wouldn't hit. Kuwabara's reaction speed was too slow, and there was a clear pause between his sword moves.

Every time he slashed, he needed nearly a second to retract the sword, adjust, and slash again. This one second was too long for Hu Jinsi.

He didn't give Kuwabara a chance to breathe. Hu Jinsi activated [Unarmored Movement], his body moving rapidly around the ring, constantly changing positions around Kuwabara. The long staff thrust out from various angles, every strike aimed at the opponent's lower body. Knees, ankles, inner thighs.

Kuwabara's footwork was indeed terrible; he tried to turn to keep up with Hu Jinsi's speed, but his center of gravity always lagged behind his steps. He turned too urgently, tripped over his own feet, and almost fell over.

Kuwabara cursed, waving the Spirit Sword wildly, the spirit energy carving blue arcs in the air. But every strike missed. Hu Jinsi's figure flashed and moved around the ring, the shadow of the long staff weaving into a screen, trapping Kuwabara firmly in the center.

Hu Jinsi seized an opening. Kuwabara slashed, his body leaning too far forward, exposing his right knee. Hu Jinsi didn't use any skills; he just lowered the long staff, and the end of the staff accurately struck the inside of the opponent's knee. Kuwabara let out a scream, his right leg went limp, and he knelt on the ground.

His knee ligament was torn directly by this strike, and it couldn't support his body weight for a short time.

Hu Jinsi didn't pause. He quickly moved behind Kuwabara and swept the long staff horizontally, striking the opponent's left ankle. Kuwabara's body completely lost balance and fell forward. His Spirit Sword flew out of his hand, sliding far across the ring, and disappeared as the spirit energy dissipated.

Hu Jinsi stepped forward, the long staff resting against the back of Kuwabara's neck; he didn't apply force, but the position was precise.

Kuwabara lay on the ground, his face pressed against the stone of the ring, still cursing. But his legs were ruined, and he couldn't stand up.

Hu Jinsi peacefully sent classmate Kuwabara away on the spot.

The dungeon prompt sounded.

Kuwabara died; Hu Jinsi won the first match.

Hu Jinsi retracted the long staff and didn't return to the waiting area. He sat cross-legged on the spot, placed the long staff horizontally on his knees, and closed his eyes. The fight was even easier than he had expected, with minimal stamina consumption.

There was no need to waste time returning to the preparation area. He would rest on the spot and wait for the opponent's next competitor to appear.