Chapter 31 : Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Arena Sparring
The scene suddenly became awkward.
The sect deacon, Yun Cheng, steadied his breathing and stood up again. At the same time, he instinctively glanced around from the corner of his eye.
When he saw the disciples around him and the sect master and elders on the high platform staring at him with bewildered expressions, he immediately realized that he had completely embarrassed himself.
“You little girl… you are quite strong, are you not? Relying solely on physical strength, you have nearly reached the peak level of the Spirit Stream Realm. You pass. I miscalculated and failed to put up a defensive technique,” Yun Cheng said. Although he felt somewhat embarrassed, he still declared that Ye Liuyun had passed.
Hearing this, Ye Liuyun immediately bowed deeply to Yun Cheng with a very apologetic expression.
“I am sorry, Deacon. I did not expect that you would not circulate your power to defend yourself,” Ye Liuyun said as cold sweat streamed down her face.
“Sigh… That was my own mistake. You have taught me a lesson today. One must never underestimate anyone,” Yun Cheng sighed. “Go on. You have passed.”
With that, he added Ye Liuyun’s name to the list of those who had passed the assessment.
Only after hearing Yun Cheng speak did everyone finally understand what had happened. It turned out that Yun Cheng had not circulated his power to defend himself, and Ye Liuyun’s attack had relied primarily on physical strength. Moreover, the power of that physical strike had reached the peak of the Spirit Stream Realm.
Even so, could a peak Spirit Stream Realm physical attack really injure a Dao Palace cultivator? Many of them still found it rather strange.
However, Yun Yun and the others had already noticed the underlying issue.
“This little girl’s palm strike seemed to contain a hidden force. That hidden force penetrated Yun Cheng’s body and injured him. Interesting. It seems that this Ye Liuyun has been cultivating her physical body for the past three years,” Yun Yun said, having basically understood the situation.
“Physical strength? Sect Master, are you saying this girl has not been cultivating spiritual power?” Yun Ling asked curiously.
Yun Yun swept Ye Liuyun with her divine sense. In her perception, the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from Ye Liuyun’s body were very weak—at most at the early stage of the Spirit Stream Realm.
“This girl’s Spiritual Root aptitude is not good. In fact, it is rather poor. If she focuses on cultivating spiritual power, she will not achieve much. Perhaps walking the path of body refinement will give her a better chance,” Yun Yun replied as she withdrew her divine sense.
However, when Yun Ling and the others heard Yun Yun say this, they immediately lost interest in Ye Liuyun.
In the common understanding of cultivators, improving spiritual power was the orthodox path of cultivation.
The improvement of physical strength was limited. It was not as if no one in the cultivation world had tried focusing primarily on body refinement before, but unfortunately, none of them had gone very far. As the body aged, physical strength would gradually decline.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun cheerfully returned to Lin Aoxue’s side.
“Well? I told you I would definitely pass,” Ye Liuyun said with a confident smile.
“How did you do that? You knocked down a Dao Palace Realm deacon with a single slap. You are even more famous than I am now. Look at those senior disciples—they are all staring at you,” Lin Aoxue said while gesturing around them.
How could Ye Liuyun not know that everyone around was watching her? At that moment, she felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles. Still, she could only pretend that she did not notice.
“It is a secret. But mainly because the deacon did not raise his defenses. If he had actively defended himself, the result would not have been like this. He was simply careless. Over the past few years, I have been focusing primarily on cultivating my physical strength. My body is stronger than my spiritual power,” Ye Liuyun said with a mysterious smile.
Lin Aoxue did not press the matter further. The two of them began discussing the upcoming arena sparring matches.
However, Ye Liuyun secretly slipped many items into Lin Aoxue’s arms.
“Aoxue, here—take some good things. These are all pills I refined myself. I wrote the effects and uses of each pill. Take them back and use them later. But remember—do not say that I gave them to you,” Ye Liuyun whispered as she secretly handed Lin Aoxue a Storage Pouch.
Lin Aoxue was stunned for a moment before asking curiously,
“You really became an alchemist? You were not just playing around in the Alchemy Pavilion?”
“Of course not. Do I look like someone that bored?” Ye Liuyun replied. “Anyway, I would never harm you. When the time comes, I will tell you everything you want to know.”
After hearing this, Lin Aoxue happily put the items away and waited for the second round of arena sparring to begin.
By now, the pain in Yun Cheng’s abdomen had already disappeared. After all, it had only been a physical strike at the Spirit Stream Realm. It was enough to make him hurt for a moment, but leaving an actual injury was impossible.
Yun Cheng took the list and flew to the high platform beside Yun Yun, allowing her and the elders to arrange the matchups.
“Sect Master, here is the list of disciples who passed the assessment. How should the duels be arranged next? I will leave the decision to you,” Yun Cheng said respectfully.
Yun Yun nodded and casually asked,
“Yun Cheng, are you alright? That palm strike from the girl earlier seemed to contain hidden force.”
Hearing this, Yun Cheng’s old face turned red. After all, being knocked down by a little girl in the Spirit Stream Realm would definitely become a lifelong stain on his reputation.
“Ahem… Sect Master, I am fine. I was simply careless. However, that girl’s strength is indeed quite great,” Yun Cheng said as he coughed awkwardly.
Seeing how embarrassed Yun Cheng was, Yun Yun did not continue the topic. She began arranging the list.
Each name on the list had their cultivation realm written behind it, so organizing the duels was not difficult.
“There is no need for complicated arrangements. Just roughly match them according to their realms and randomly select opponents,” Yun Yun said. “Oh, and Aoxue does not need to participate. Her realm is far too high compared to the other disciples. It would not be a fair comparison.”
The other elders had little objection to this. After all, the difference between the peak of the Spirit River Realm and the Spirit Stream Realm was far too great.
However, the First Elder suddenly spoke.
“I believe we could select a senior disciple with a similar realm to spar with Aoxue.”
The moment the First Elder said this, Yun Yun immediately became displeased. She did not want Lin Aoxue to reveal too many of her methods. That would not be a good thing.
This time, however, the other three elders did not object. They also wanted to see whether Lin Aoxue’s cultivation over the past three years was merely an empty realm without real combat ability.
“Sect Master, I think the First Elder’s suggestion is quite good. Even if Aoxue loses, it would not be embarrassing. After all, those senior disciples have been cultivating for decades,” the Second Elder, Yun Xiao, said.
The remaining two elders nodded as well.
Since everyone supported the idea, Yun Yun no longer had a reason to refuse. She agreed to Yun Ling’s proposal.
“In that case, let Aoxue take the stage for the first match. Then select someone with a similar realm to spar with her,” Yun Yun said.
Yun Cheng nodded and returned to the arena with the list.
“Alright, the first sparring match will now begin. For the first match, personal disciple Lin Aoxue, please step onto the stage,” Yun Cheng called out.
When Lin Aoxue heard that she was the first one, she immediately became unhappy.
“Why am I first again? Was this done on purpose?” Lin Aoxue complained, but she still flew onto the arena.
After she stepped onto the stage, Yun Cheng continued speaking.
“As for Lin Aoxue’s opponent, since none of the newly admitted disciples are at the same realm as her, the Sect Master and the elders have decided to select a senior disciple to fight her.”
As soon as he said this, the senior disciples became interested.
“This is interesting. I also want to see whether this Senior Sister Lin truly possesses the combat strength of the peak Spirit River Realm. Those of you with similar realms should go up and try,” one of the senior disciples shouted.
However, there was no need for volunteers.
Yun Cheng’s gaze swept across the crowd and quickly locked onto a somewhat lazy-looking young man among the outer sect’s intermediate disciples.
“You there. Yes, you. Come up and fight Lin Aoxue,” Yun Cheng called out.