This Dueling Assembly was divided into three rounds. The first round was a lottery battle; winners advanced, and losers were eliminated, until only forty people remained. The second round was a ranking battle among the forty.
They were first sorted by their cultivation base. Those with lower cultivation could challenge those with higher cultivation. If they won, they would take the rank of the loser, and all subsequent ranks would be pushed down by one.
This would continue until no more challenges were issued, and the top twenty were determined. To prevent situations where a disciple had bad luck, such as two Ninth-Layer Qi Refining disciples meeting in the first round and one being eliminated, a third round had been specially established. Disciples eliminated in the first round could challenge these twenty people.
They got only one chance. The winner would enter the ranks, and the loser would withdraw. Any rules were only relatively fair.
Whether one could advance still depended on one's own abilities. All the disciples were rubbing their palms, eager to give it a try! Zhao Chun was quite confident.
As long as she did not encounter those eight at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, she should be fine. Fortunately, although her luck was usually average, today she seemed to be favored. Her first opponent was a disciple with the surname Liu, who was only at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.
Her opponent sized her up and also breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Zhao Chun was also at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer like him, he praised his good luck in his heart. Among the Elder’s Disciples, there were also high and low ranks.
Dual Spirit Root cultivators were inherently talented, with cultivation speeds far exceeding others, so the participating disciples were all quite young, none older than twenty. Talent was innate, but techniques and spells were learned, all depending on one's personal comprehension and perseverance. Those who possessed both could be called geniuses.
However, there were also disciples who, priding themselves on their extraordinary aptitude, became ignorantly arrogant and neglected their cultivation. They had only an empty cultivation base, like gold and jade on the outside but rotten on the inside. Their actual abilities were even inferior to those of the Outer Sect.
The sect had its ways of dealing with such disciples. During the Foundation Establishment Examination, if their assessment did not reach Grade B Upper, they would be expelled from the Elder’s Discipleship, becoming ordinary Inner Sect Disciples, and their resources would be reduced accordingly. The Liu-named cultivator was a disciple under Ge Xingchao.
His master had many disciples, and he was usually not subject to strict discipline. He had to fight for all sorts of opportunities himself, so he was confident he was no worse than others.
Observing that this female cultivator was young and her face was still quite tender, he assumed she had focused solely on realm cultivation, which was why she had broken through so quickly. However, when the announcing disciple called them both to the platform and shouted the name "Zhao Chun," his expression changed drastically!
Zhao Chun?
She was the one from the recent rumors, the one who had reached nineteenth on the ranking of the Threefold Stone Forest! He clenched his fists slightly, took a deep breath, and looked up at Zhao Chun, thinking to himself, "Formidable or not, I'll have to test you for myself!" The first round involved three matches being fought simultaneously.
By the time it was Zhao Chun's group's turn, several bouts had already concluded. Zhao Chun and the Liu-named cultivator were on the leftmost high platform.
On the two adjacent platforms, one match was between two cultivators at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, and the other was between a cultivator at the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining and one at the Sixth Layer. Barring any surprises, the outcomes of those matches should be obvious. The Liu-named cultivator's expression was grave.
He cupped his hands in a salute to her, and Zhao Chun returned the gesture. Upon the sound of the drum, the match began instantly! Her opponent held no weapon, so Zhao Chun knew he was a Spell Cultivator.
Without waiting for him to raise his hands to act, her figure flashed as she leaped forward. Without even drawing her sword, she sent a fist striking into his chest! Spell Cultivators did not focus on body refining and were flawed in close combat.
Moreover, he had run into a cultivator like Zhao Chun who had forged a Copper Body. Taking a single punch, he was immediately sent flying backward, landing heavily below the platform.
The Liu-named cultivator had heard that this Zhao Chun had slain monkeys and leaped through the stone forest with ease, but he never knew she would be so swift against an enemy. He only felt a gust of wind rush at him, and before he could mount a defense, a great pain suddenly exploded in his chest.
When he came to his senses, he was already lying flat on his back on the ground. The taste of rust welled up in his throat, and his entire body was limp, unable to rise again! The judge who was to declare the outcome stood to the side, dumbfounded.
It was only after Zhao Chun gestured to him that he raised his hand and shouted, "The winner of this battle is Zhao Chun!" In the spectator stands, a sky-shaking cheer erupted instantly! Just hearing the name Zhao Chun had already drawn the gazes of many.
Numerous spectators had come to see if her abilities were truly as outstanding as rumored; hearing others speak of her couldn't compare to seeing it for themselves today. Of the three matches, both Zhao Chun and the Eighth-Layer Qi Refining disciple had ended their fights in an instant.
However, the latter had won through cultivation suppression, while Zhao Chun, against an opponent of the same rank, had knocked him out of the arena in a single exchange, leaving him completely unable to retaliate. She faintly showed the air of being invincible among her peers.
"Good!"
Lian Jing shouted. There were quite a few people as excited as she was, so no one paid any particular attention to her.
"A'Chun won this battle so easily, I doubt even someone at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining could do anything to her!"
The Senior Sisters nodded one after another. The surrounding cultivators who heard this showed doubt, but for a moment, they dared not refute it. Cao Wenguan nodded slightly and said, "This girl already has the air of a young genius.
Fighting across ranks is not a difficult matter for her." Outer Sect Deacons were already in the Late Stage of Qi Refining, and Cao Wenguan was an outstanding one among them. Although he had not been able to break through to Foundation Establishment, his cultivation base at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining was extremely solid.
Since he had spoken, the remaining few women immediately felt reassured. Cao Wenguan was naturally not just speaking words of comfort. When he saw Zhao Chun attack just now, he already knew the result.
Her strength and momentum had definitely reached the level of the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining. Furthermore, her moves were decisive and swift, and she even carried a hint of being like a sharp sword herself. Based on this alone, Cao Wenguan dared to say that she absolutely did not fear a cultivator at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining.
Thinking that he was the one who had guided her into the sect, and that in just a few years, she had already grown to such a degree, he felt somewhat wistful. Seeing the joyful look on Cui Lan'e's face, he also felt a sense of shared honor.
He could see it, and the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators on the high platform could naturally see it as well. Liu Xuan nodded with a light smile and said to Du Fanzhi, "Junior Martial Sister Zhao Chun is indeed not bad. I can see her foundation is solid and her attacks are sharp.
In the future, when she enters the Foundation Establishment Stage, she will surely be a prominent figure." In her words, there was not a trace of doubt about Zhao Chun reaching Foundation Establishment. This was indeed true.
With their talent, Dual Spirit Root cultivators only needed to cultivate a little to inevitably enter the Foundation Establishment Stage. Since Zhao Chun was a disciple under Li Su, Du Fanzhi considered her a part of his own faction and was naturally in high spirits. He said, "Master has a unique eye; she is naturally extraordinary."
The Lower Seat Disciples offered another round of congratulations, though what they truly thought was unknown. One person among them said very proudly, "Brother Xu, look! I told you Junior Sister Zhao must have great talent.
See, wasn't it proven today?" Xu Feng smiled faintly and jabbed, "I won't even mention your skill in stating the obvious after the fact." The two of them began to bicker again, but the subject of their conversation, Zhao Chun, had already strolled back to her original spot to prepare for her next match.
This time, her opponent was not a disciple of the same rank, but a cultivator at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, a Body Cultivator named Guo Leng! The man was tall and sturdy, with bulging, knotted muscles.
While other cultivators at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining might feel some apprehension due to Zhao Chun's outstanding performance, he showed none, sitting as imposingly as a small mountain in his seat. He had already fought one match, facing a fellow disciple of the same rank, a Blade Cultivator whose blade technique was fierce and powerful.
Yet, that disciple had been defeated within ten moves, which showed that Guo Leng possessed a certain suppressive power when it came to sheer force. When Zhao Chun had fought the Liu-named cultivator, she had won with a single punch. Guo Leng saw that she showed signs of having entered the path of Body Refining, and he was completely unafraid!
(End of Chapter)