329: Bai Ling's true strength

[Zhou Yan]

[Realm: Nascent Soul Middle Stage, Level Two]

[Vitality: 4.5m/4.5m]

[Mana: 3m/3m]

Zhou Yan examined his panel, summarizing the changes from this period.

Over the past year, he had not slackened in his cultivation.

Although he had lost the rapid advancement brought by "cheating," the sensation of steadily growing stronger bit by bit was still very apparent.

Under the dual effects of the Divine Path Cultivation Method and his own diligent practice, Zhou Yan's mana had made significant progress.

Although he usually didn't lack mana and rarely had the opportunity to go all out, these accumulations were particularly important for his upcoming plan.

It should be noted that Zhou Yan still held a Comprehension Increase Card. Once the progress of either the Law of Creation or the Law of Consumption reached eighty percent, he could use this card to immediately master another Law at his disposal.

By then, with dual-Law output, dual Nascent Souls ensuring stability, and vast mana as a backup...

Aside from his relatively fragile Physical Body defense, he was already almost indistinguishable from a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

Furthermore, once his Power of Law improved further, he might be able to use it to comprehend the Dao and Breakthrough to the Late Nascent Soul Stage in one go.

However, this was also where Zhou Yan felt somewhat helpless.

Others often reached a Bottleneck in their cultivation while their comprehension of Laws was only halfway through. In contrast, he had almost mastered several Laws, yet his cultivation progress was only halfway done.

This was, after all, a matter of foundation. Clearly, because the main city's construction was complete and thanks to the residents' tireless efforts, the Experience Points he gained were already quite abundant.

"Brother Zhou, Bai Ling is up."

Just as Zhou Yan was lost in thought, Xuanyuan Qingyao suddenly appeared beside him, plopped down onto a nearby chair, and pointed toward the stage below.

Zhou Yan was startled.

The martial arts arena for this assembly still employed the familiar methods of spatial overlapping and partitioning.

The attic floor where he was located was actually situated within an alternate space.

At this moment, the view in front of the attic had transformed from the usual scenery of the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven into a light screen resembling a panoramic display, showing the scenes on the arena in real-time.

This meant that the battle involving Bai Ling, which he had been paying attention to beforehand, had begun.

The arena now was no ordinary platform, but a Small World featuring a landscape of sandstone peaks and forests.

Zhou Yan looked at Xuanyuan Qingyao staring intently at the field and felt quite speechless.

He had thought no one was here, which was why he felt safe checking his panel while waiting; he hadn't expected someone to suddenly pop up beside him.

Fortunately, he hadn't done anything exaggerated, otherwise it would have been embarrassing.

The door was clearly closed; how did she get in?

As if sensing Zhou Yan's confusion, Xuanyuan Qingyao turned her head and looked at him with those clear eyes, saying:

"I got here before you. I've been sleeping on the beams for a bit."

"I remembered you muttering about coming to see Bai Ling's match when you walked in, so I specifically noted the time, planning to wake up and watch it with you."

"Who knew you'd be dazing out the whole time, so I just went ahead and called you."

Hearing her explanation, Zhou Yan came to a realization.

"Oh, so that's—wait, that's not the point at all!"

"The question is, why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the Liyan Holy Land's seating area?"

He really hadn't expected that she would not only sneak in ahead of time but also figure out his viewing spot and take a nap right above his head without him noticing at all.

But Xuanyuan Qingyao didn't answer. She just sat cross-legged on the wide chair, leaned forward slightly, and pointed.

"Look, Bai Ling is coming out."

Zhou Yan instinctively looked in the direction she was pointing.

Sure enough, Bai Ling appeared, though his expression seemed a bit off.

It seemed that the recent experience of being hung up as punishment had indeed left him with deep "memories."

However, judging by his current mood, his next opponent was likely in for some bad luck.

At this time, another female Cultivator entered the Small World, and the battle quickly began.

Bai Ling's attacks were fierce, showing no intention of being tender toward the fairer sex.

Due to their status as Saint and Saintess, they didn't need to participate in the first few rounds. Thus, Bai Ling's opponent in his first match was a contestant who had already passed several rounds of elimination, and her cultivation had also reached the Nascent Soul Stage.

But what puzzled Zhou Yan was that, according to the panel information, Bai Ling's stats were even slightly inferior to those of the female Cultivator.

Judging by her clothes, the female Cultivator seemed to be a Loose Cultivator. Bai Ling's performance really didn't seem like the level a Saint should have.

However, Zhou Yan soon changed his mind and gained a deep understanding of what a "Specialist" was.

Between the crimson stone forests, two figures flashed rapidly.

Although Bai Ling struck first, he retreated quickly after one hit, while the female Cultivator pressed on relentlessly, making the situation suddenly appear critical.

The female Cultivator tapped her toe, the sandstone exploded, and she approached Bai Ling in an instant, her longsword thrusting forward with fierce wind.

Bai Ling dodged sideways, the blade only grazing his sleeve.

He didn't linger in the fight, turning to retreat again, his figure leaping quickly among the jagged rocks.

The female Cultivator pursued relentlessly.

Her movement was like lightning, her spiritual power thick and heavy, each sword strike forcing Bai Ling into a precarious situation. Green wood Spiritual Qi sprayed with her sword, and vines grew wildly on the ground, attempting to entangle Bai Ling's legs.

Without looking back, Bai Ling flicked three crimson Talismans behind him.

The Talismans exploded, fireballs colliding with the vines and filling the air with steam. He took the opportunity to pull away, his fingertip drawing in the air as a speck of spiritual light quietly fell into a gully at the site of the engagement.

This repeated several times.

The female Cultivator's sword strikes became more urgent, and impatience gradually grew between her brows.

This Saint of the Butian Pavilion only knew how to flee, and the Talismans he occasionally used for counterattacks were mediocre in power, wasting spiritual power in vain.

She activated her Nascent Soul, the sword light surging thirty feet, and with one strike, she severed the stone peak in front of her.

Amidst a thunderous roar, Bai Ling dodged by rolling on the ground somewhat disheveled, his robes stained with dust. He raised his hand and fired several more Talismans—wind blades, ice spikes, earth thorns—a variety of types, yet all were shattered by a single sword strike from the female Cultivator.

However, the residual glimmers of spiritual power from these attacks scattered onto the ground like stars, faintly echoing with the previous gullies and connecting into one.

The female Cultivator finally grew annoyed.

She stopped and sheathed her sword, her hands forming seals. Wood Spiritual Qi surged between heaven and earth, condensing into the phantom of a giant tree behind her. This was the finishing blow.

Just then.

Bai Ling also stopped.

Standing on a stone platform thirty feet away, he no longer fled and suddenly clapped his hands together.

On the ground, all the gullies, sword marks, and residual light from the Talismans left by the previous fighting suddenly lit up!

Crimson, gold-white, cyan-blue... countless streams of light surged and connected along hidden paths, instantly forming a complex formation diagram covering a hundred feet.

The formation was complete!

The female Cultivator's face changed drastically.

She felt the circulation of spiritual power within her body suddenly become sluggish, as if she were trapped in a mire.

Meanwhile, the Spiritual Qi around Bai Ling surged like boiling water, and his previously exhausted mana was recovering at an astonishing speed.

Bai Ling looked up.

This was the first time since the start of the battle that he looked directly at his opponent, his eyes devoid of any warmth.

He no longer held back.

With a wave of his left hand, thirty-six pitch-black Puppets crawled out from the shadows, forming a killing array to surround her.

His right hand tapped a jade brush repeatedly, firing seven layers of black curse light toward the female Cultivator's Sea of Consciousness and Dantian.

The Talismans in his sleeves were no longer fired sporadically but exploded in succession—a lightning net covered her from above, poisonous mist spread across the ground, and ice chains shackled her feet.

The female Cultivator gritted her teeth and swung her sword, but the sword light was thirty percent slower than before.

She shattered three Puppets and dodged two curses, but the lightning net grazed her shoulder, leaving it charred. The poisonous mist invaded her body, making the circulation of spiritual power even more difficult.

Bai Ling's offensive was like a torrential downpour.

He himself hadn't even taken a step, merely standing at the eye of the formation and controlling the entire situation. The flames of Talismans and Spells completely submerged the female Cultivator's figure.

Three breaths later, a green light broke through the waves of flames. The female Cultivator rushed out with disheveled hair, blood at the corner of her mouth, thrusting straight at Bai Ling at the eye of the formation—this was her final gamble.

Bai Ling finally moved.

He sidestepped, his two fingers precisely catching the incoming sword tip. With the reinforcement of the formation's power, this pinch was as heavy as a mountain.

Simultaneously, his other hand pressed against the female Cultivator's abdomen, a complex rune flashing briefly in his palm.

Spirit Sealing Seal.

The female Cultivator's spiritual power instantly dissipated, her longsword fell from her hand, and she stumbled back, finally kneeling on one knee, unable to rise again.

Bai Ling let go, allowing the cyan longsword to clang onto the ground. He didn't even look at the loser; as he turned around, the light of the formation diagram extinguished, and all traces of the battle quickly faded, as if nothing had happened.

Only the heavy breathing of the female Cultivator echoed through the stone forest.

"The winner: Bai Ling of the Butian Pavilion."

By the time the referee's voice fell, Bai Ling's figure had already disappeared behind the stone peaks.

In front of the light screen, Zhou Yan's eyes widened.

Although he knew the other party was a "Specialist," he had always held a bit of contempt before witnessing it with his own eyes.

After watching the battle now, his impression was completely transformed.

As the saying goes, the layman watches the excitement while the expert looks at the technique. The various immortal arts and the mastery of Spells shown by Bai Ling had undoubtedly been cultivated to an extremely high Realm.

If he had to describe it, every one of the other's methods reminded him of how his Cooking Skill felt when it first reached the LV5 cap—pure and seasoned.

Beside him, Xuanyuan Qingyao shook her head.

"He's grown stronger again. Too bad the opponent was too weak to even force out his Nascent Soul Domain. What a pity."