Chapter 195
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Chapter 195: The Sect Competition Begins
"Rantian, lend me the Spirit Void Beast. Today, I’m going to slay that towering ape," Ning Dao declared with fiery determination. The sword qi emanating from the giant sword’s silhouette behind him pricked the nerves of the three Core Formation stage beast race members.
Got a grudge or something? Why so fired up?
A spirit beast, resembling a whale, appeared beside Su Rantian.
"Good~ go and help out," Su Rantian said with a smile, knowing full well that none of the three Core Formation stage beast race members would escape today. It didn’t matter which one fell.
What puzzled her was why this usually reserved man was so eager for battle today. He even swallowed his pride to borrow something from her—something he’d always refused when she offered it before.
"Woo~~"
A melodious cry echoed as the whale-like spirit beast turned gracefully in the air, as if swimming, and glided toward Ning Dao.
A strange wave radiated from the spirit beast.
Sensing this wave, the three Core Formation stage beast race members’ expressions shifted. They realized the surrounding space had been sealed off.
"Brother Ning, leave the two below to me. Be careful, though—don’t go breaking your Spiritual Sword again," Su Rantian said.
She donned a fiery cloak, flames dancing in her hair, and above her, a thousand-meter-long dragon formed from flaming chains materialized.
Instantly, the two Core Formation stage beast race members locked onto by Su Rantian showed signs of fear.
"Alright, stay out of this fight," Ning Dao said, eyeing Su Rantian’s flashy setup. He was worried she might just take down the towering ape herself and steal his thunder.
"Got it."
The three Core Formation stage beast race members scattered in retreat. Ning Dao ignored the two beasts, his focus solely on the fleeing towering ape ahead.
Far away at the Hidden Spirit Sect, Xu Fan watched the live broadcast and commanded, "Grape, if you’re not going to avoid the nearby towns, unleash a full-scale attack."
"Understood."
By now, the towering ape had fled to a desolate mountain area, hoping to break through space and escape.
Just then, the towering ape sensed something unusual in the sky and looked up.
A hundred glowing points appeared in the sky, hurtling toward his location.
‘Boom~’
The earth cracked as the towering ape raised his giant club to defend himself, only to be slammed into the ground by the overwhelming force.
Ning Dao, hot on his heels, saw the towering ape buried in the ground and seized the moment to unleash his ultimate move.
"Celestial Sword Punishment!"
Ning Dao clasped his hands into a sword gesture, channeling all his strength to summon his Spiritual Sword from behind him.
With the towering ape crushed into a pit, a thousand-meter-long Spiritual Sword emerged and plunged deep into the earth.
‘Boom~~’
The ground erupted from the pit’s center, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
Then, Ning Dao transformed into a sword and dove into the earth.
Far away at the Hidden Spirit Sect, Xu Fan was stunned. "Is this really the same person?" he muttered.
He had seen Ning Dao fight the Leader of the Thick-Shell Honey Badger Clan before, and their fighting styles were completely different. This bold, head-on approach against a beast of equal strength was definitely not the Ning Dao he knew.
Suddenly, the ground split open, and a figure burst out, only to crash back down nearby.
"Damn, I was just about to say you’re amazing," Xu Fan gasped, struggling to catch his breath.
As Ning Dao hit the ground, the towering ape slowly emerged from the earth. The deep, bone-exposing wounds on its body showed it had taken serious damage.
"You’re insane! Absolutely insane!" the towering ape roared, unable to believe that a fragile human swordsman would dare to face him head-on. Caught off guard, the ape had been overwhelmed in the underground clash.
Ning Dao, who had fallen nearby, slowly stood up. The Spiritual Sword flew back to his side from the ground.
"Blood of Fire," Ning Dao said, his eyes fixed on the ape’s new weapon—a giant staff, not a sword.
A flame of spiritual energy, tinged with streaks of blood, ignited around Ning Dao.
"Today, you die," Ning Dao said, his voice tinged with excitement.
Like many swordsmen, Ning Dao had a passion for collecting Spiritual Swords, especially the finest ones. Among swordsmen, it was said that a truly great swordsman must have at least one top-tier Spiritual Sword in their collection.
"Big talk," the towering ape sneered, wasting no time as he swung his staff at Ning Dao.
"Bring it on!" Ning Dao’s fighting spirit surged, driven by his desire for the new Spiritual Sword.
Not far from the battlefield, a fiery figure appeared—Su Rantian, who had just finished dealing with two Core Formation stage great beasts.
"When did he become so battle-hungry?" Su Rantian murmured, watching the chaotic scene ahead.
As she debated whether to intervene, she received a transmitted message from Ning Dao.
"Rantian, don’t help. Just pull me back if I’m about to die."
"Is Ning Dao out of his mind?" she wondered.
On the battlefield, Ning Dao was locked in the toughest fight of his life—one he had to win.
"With Rantian watching my back, I can go all out," Ning Dao thought, a glint of determination in his eyes.
The Spiritual Sword he had been using split into two, becoming twin blades.
Seeing this, Su Rantian frowned.
"Splitting the Spiritual Sword’s power? Is he trying to get himself killed?"
As a Core Formation stage cultivator, he should know better than to make such a basic mistake—unless he was willing to risk everything.
As the Spiritual Sword divided, Ning Dao suddenly retreated and began rapidly forming seals with his hands.
“Burning Essence!”
“Burning Soul!”
“Burning Spirit!”
In an instant, Ning Dao’s body radiated brilliant light, and two Spiritual Swords transformed into enormous swords reaching a thousand meters.
Then, Ning Dao merged with his sword and slashed towards the towering ape.
‘Celestial Sword Punishment!’
Immediately, three massive swords struck the towering ape from three directions simultaneously.
“Do you think our towering ape clan is weak?” the towering ape roared.
“True Form of the Beast Ancestor!”
A towering ape hundreds of meters tall materialized.
Boom!
The massive sword collided with the true form of the towering beast.
In that moment, the surrounding mountains and forests were ravaged once again for tens of thousands of meters.
When the battle ended, Ning Dao crushed the beast spirit of the towering ape with a single sword strike, causing himself to fall unconscious.
Seeing the battle conclude, Su Rantian instantly teleported to Ning Dao’s side.
“What is it that you must obtain from the towering ape?” Su Rantian asked, looking at the unconscious Ning Dao.
Just as Su Rantian finished speaking, the previously unconscious Ning Dao suddenly opened his eyes and, using the last of his strength, pointed towards the demon corpse of the towering ape not far away and said,
“Staff~ Staff~”
After weakly uttering this, Ning Dao fell back into unconsciousness.
With a wave of her hand, Su Rantian summoned the giant staff from the unconscious towering ape’s grip using her spiritual energy.
Looking at the ten-meter-long giant staff with a half-meter diameter, Su Rantian curiously asked, “Is this the reason?”
“My big brother is truly fierce; he slays beasts of the same level without hesitation,” Xu Fan said excitedly.
He was thrilled because obtaining this Chen Iron staff would allow him to refine at least three artifact-level Spiritual Swords.
He could give one to his unconscious big brother and keep two for himself; as for the craftsmanship fee, he wouldn’t charge it—artisans don’t exploit others.
“Great! At least Wang Xiangchi’s Spiritual Sword won’t lack resources in the future,” Xu Fan remarked.
Half a month later, the entire Hidden Spirit Sect buzzed with excitement.
At the main hall of Hidden Spirit Island, over two thousand disciples of the Hidden Spirit Sect gathered, including Wang Yulun and Wang Xiangchi, who had emerged from seclusion to witness the event.
Xu Yuexian, as the sect leader, reflected on the past and looked towards the future before briefly explaining the rules of the competition.
“The Sect Competition will consist of the first elimination round.”
“The elimination round will be based on a battle royale game; this time, participants can bring their treasures, spiritual pets, and puppets.”
“Moreover, this round is mainly about elimination combat, and all previously existing spiritual traps and puppets will be removed.”
“The top one hundred will advance.”
“Now, let the first round begin.”
As soon as Xu Yuexian finished speaking, over two hundred first-generation disciples transformed into colorful streaks of light, heading toward the trial tower.
At that moment, a giant light curtain appeared before the main hall, displaying the map for the battle royale.
It was an extremely symmetrical circular island, slightly larger than the previous battle royale map.
Sitting on the podium, Xu Fan asked, “Grape, how much computing power is needed for this battle royale game?”
“An estimated 1.5% because we need to scan all the items on the first-generation disciples and in their space rings into the database for basic combat evolution, so the computing power consumption is a bit higher.”
“Once the database is complete, the required computing power will be below 1%.”
“Okay, I understand,” Xu Fan nodded, noting that the computing power consumption was lower than he expected.
At that moment, a girl in a qipao floated into the sky and began introducing herself to all the second-generation disciples, saying, “I am Su Yun, the host and commentator for this competition.”
“I will provide commentary for this event.”
With her beautiful appearance radiating youthful energy, she drew eager attention from all the second-generation disciples below.
Xu Fan looked at the girl commentating the event and said to Xu Yuexian beside him, “Did you set this up?”
He felt a bit puzzled as he hadn’t discussed anything similar with Xu Yuexian.
“Oh, I got this idea from Kai Ling. He even showed me a few episodes of something called anime, and I found it quite interesting,” Xu Yuexian replied.
Indeed, with the addition of this beautiful disciple, the atmosphere among the observing disciples was much better than she had anticipated.
“So it was that little rascal, not bad,” Xu Fan nodded.
Just then, Xu Fan noticed his friend sitting next to him looking at Li Xingci and Su Rantian, not far away, with a look of contentment.
“Focus your attention; if Qianer sees you, it might cause trouble again,” Xu Fan reminded.
“Qianer is in seclusion, trying to reach the Nascent Soul stage; it’s fine,” Wang Yulun responded.
“Well, that doesn’t mean you should keep staring at a great being in the Core Formation stage,” Xu Fan remarked.
“Great being???”
“That red-clad female cultivator with Xingci is a great being in the Core Formation stage,” Wang Yulun exclaimed.
“Exactly,” Xu Fan nodded.
“What major events happened while I was in seclusion?!”
