378: Chapter 22 Lu Linglong

Seeing Meng Li say to begin, Lu Jin retreated a short distance to observe the battle.

“Mr. Bai, be careful.”

Lu Linglong cupped her fists in salute as a reminder, then stomped her foot to exert force, leaping in front of Meng Li and throwing a punch toward his face.

Meng Li casually reached out, his hand arriving first despite starting later, accurately grabbing her wrist. He then turned his body to lead her momentum and let go; Lu Linglong lunged forward under the effect of inertia.

Just as her face was about to hit the ground, Lu Linglong reacted, bracing herself with both hands and using the force to flip over, easily resolving the crisis.

However, just as she stood firm, Meng Li suddenly closed in and tapped her repeatedly, sealing several of her major acupoints.

Lu Linglong's internal flow of Qi was obstructed, and she could barely move her body, leaving her momentarily stunned.

Lu Jin's gaze narrowed, his heart filled with surprise.

The technique of sealing Meridians via acupoints!

This method was extremely rare.

Few people understood it, and even fewer learned it.

Because most Outlanders' methods were long-ranged and wouldn't give someone the chance to get close.

Furthermore, Outlanders had countless methods; for some, even if their acupoints and Meridians were sealed, the impact wasn't great—for example, Xu San's psychokinesis.

“You lose.”

Seeing Lu Linglong unable to move, Meng Li directly announced the result.

Unexpectedly, Lu Linglong said, “That might not be the case.”

Hearing this, Lu Jin seemed to think of something and hastily spoke up, “Linglong, you lost!”

Lu Linglong looked sideways and, seeing Lu Jin's serious expression, could only lower her head and say, “I indeed lost.”

Meng Li narrowed his eyes, having some guesses about their reaction.

Regarding Lu Linglong, he had quietly used Daluo Cave Observation to observe her during their first encounter, obtaining several interesting pieces of information.

First, Lu Linglong was an Innate Outlander whose ability was to control her own blood.

Second, Lu Linglong practiced the Internal Alchemy Cultivation Technique of the Quanzhen lineage.

Third, Lu Linglong had self-destructive tendencies!

Under normal circumstances, once an Innate Outlander's ability Awakened, they would choose to continuously develop it to utilize their advantages. Even if they practiced Acquired techniques, they would primarily use them to supplement their own ability; Feng Sha Yan was a typical example.

Reasonably, Lu Linglong should have done the same, but her ability was to control her own blood.

Blood is something that easily amplifies the negative emotions in a person's heart.

Lu Linglong had self-destructive tendencies; if she further developed her blood control ability, this negative psychology would inevitably be amplified.

In such a situation, if something went wrong during the development of her ability, she might end up killing herself.

Therefore, combining blood control with self-destructive tendencies was not a help to Lu Linglong, but rather a hidden danger.

Forget developing the ability; she couldn't even use it normally.

Not only that, if Lu Linglong wanted to live a normal, healthy life, she had to suppress and weaken the self-destructive tendencies in her heart.

This was likely the reason she practiced the Internal Alchemy method.

Because this technique of the Quanzhen lineage was famous for cultivating the body and mind.

Lu Linglong had objected just now; Meng Li estimated she wanted to use her blood control ability to force open her acupoints.

Lu Jin had guessed this and was unwilling to let her do so.

Lu Linglong understood this and could only give up and admit defeat.

With many thoughts turning in his mind, Meng Li reached a conclusion but showed nothing on the surface. After Lu Linglong admitted defeat, he unsealed her acupoints for her.

Afterward, he chatted briefly with Lu Linglong and Lu Jin before parting ways, intending to go see other people's matches.

To this end, Meng Li took a special look at the matchup list as he passed by and discovered something unexpected.

Wang Bing was not among the thirty-two people who advanced!

Meng Li was suddenly a bit surprised.

Was the person he bumped out Wang Bing?

But he hadn't seen this blond-haired guy in the previous matches!

What was the situation?

Meng Li couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he simply didn't bother thinking about it further.

It was a good thing in a way that Wang Bing didn't stand out; at least Wang Zizhong wouldn't have his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and Feng Xingtong wouldn't have to suffer a beating.

However, what Meng Li didn't know was that Wang Bing's failure to advance to the top thirty-two had nothing to do with him.

In the original plot, Wang Bing also didn't make it into the top thirty-two.

He lost to Hu Jie of Dongxiang Village in the preliminary rounds.

Hu Jie's strength was originally average, but he had signed a contract with Shen Chong, the 'Bane Seed' and one of the Four Madmen of Quanxing. He could increase his strength by hunting Outlanders, which allowed his power to surge in a short time. At the same time, affected by side effects, his mind became somewhat abnormal, and he directly eliminated Wang Bing.

Later, in the match to advance from the top thirty-two to the top sixteen, Hu Jie faced Bai Shixue.

Bai Shixue possessed the ability to devour other people's Qi.

She sensed his abnormality by devouring Hu Jie's Qi. After the match, she informed Lu Jin and the others, and they set a trap to capture Hu Jie.

Bai Shixue did not participate in the subsequent matches because she had another mission.

Thus, the top sixteen was missing one person.

The Ten Elders discussed it, and under Wang Ai's suggestion, they let Wang Bing take the spot.

In a grand event like the Luotian Grand Ritual, to be eliminated in the preliminaries only to turn around and join the top sixteen—this special treatment was simply incredible!

It was no wonder Wang Bing was so arrogant and overbearing, believing the entire world should revolve around him.

...

Setting aside Wang Bing's issues, Meng Li ran over to Zhuge Qing's match venue to take a look.

He vaguely remembered that among the remaining matches today, only this one was worth watching.

The Wuhou descendant versus the Little Fire God of the Fire Virtue Sect!

In the original plot, this match caused quite a stir, even blowing up the arena.

As soon as he reached the spectator stands, Meng Li saw the muscular Little Fire God bombarding the area wildly, as if his flames didn't consume any Qi.

Zhuge Qing, with his suit jacket draped over his shoulders, was darting all over the field, dodging the Little Fire God's attacks. He looked pathetic but was actually at ease, secretly performing the Wuhou Qimen secret technique to fix the Center Palace and lay out a Qimen Formation on the field with his Qi.

Once the Qimen Formation was complete, Zhuge Qing faced the flowing fire bullets thrown by the Little Fire God. He flicked his draped jacket and said softly: “Gen Position · Earth Waterfall.”

Instantly, the dust on the ground in front of him rose without wind, turning into a barrier that blocked all the fire bullets.

Seeing the fire bullets blocked, the Little Fire God condensed fire power in both hands and slammed them into the ground, launching a sneak attack on Zhuge Qing from below.

When Zhuge Qing moved to dodge, he leaped from mid-air and struck at Zhuge Qing with two Flame Palms.

Seeing this, Zhuge Qing said softly: “Xun Position · Wind Rope.”

In an instant, wind Qi condensed into ropes, binding the Little Fire God's hands and feet, forcibly tying him up in mid-air.

The Little Fire God couldn't break free for a moment and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, “You really know a lot!”

Meng Li felt the same way.

Looking across the entire Luotian Grand Ritual, in terms of variety, it was these two Qimen sorcerers, Zhuge Qing and Wang Ye, who had the most tricks.

The next second, the Little Fire God changed his own temperature so that the wind binding him could not flow uniformly, successfully breaking free from the restraint and lunging toward Zhuge Qing.

Zhuge Qing was not afraid at all. Accompanied by the words “Dui Position · Black Glaze,” his hands instantly turned into a black glass-like texture.

Then, the two began a physical combat duel.

After fighting for a while and separating, Zhuge Qing used “Kan Position · Water Bullet” to easily block the Little Fire God's flames.

Seeing his high-temperature flames blocked by water bullets, the Little Fire God finally realized he was inside a formation and restricted by Qimen; his attacks were being significantly weakened invisibly.

For a moment, he was fuming with rage but could do nothing to Zhuge Qing, so he could only smash the arena to vent his anger.

Seeing this, Zhuge Qing gave a helpless smile: “In that case, I'll burn once too.”

...