Chapter 410: Quarterfinals, Golden Dragon Tower vs. Insect Nest |
At this moment, preparations for the quarterfinals were underway on Martial Arts Island.
The sky suddenly darkened, and flames rose in the distance, or tremors echoed. Although most signals were intercepted and ordinary people couldn't notice, some keen experts sensed something unusual.
"What happened?"
"What's going on over there?"
Everyone frowned and looked at the Water Kylin and the scholar.
These two remained calm, with the Water Kylin saying indifferently, "Just some petty thieves causing trouble, no need to worry. The annual tournament continues!"
Hearing this response, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Except for a few elders sent to investigate, the rest continued to watch the competition.
Xu Hei's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly felt a familiar sensation descending upon the Penglai Sea.
"The butcher?"
This feeling was unmistakable; it was his connection to the butcher! The butcher was his creation, bearing his indelible mark, so there could be no mistake!
The butcher had been captured by the Nightmare Demon Lord, so the commotion earlier must be the Sea God Sect's invasion?
"Could it be?"
Xu Hei suddenly had the urge to flee, but on second thought, with all the high-ranking members gathered here, where could be safer than this place?
Seeing the calm demeanor of the high-ranking members, Xu Hei also felt reassured.
If it truly was the Sea God Sect's invasion, the entrances and exits of the Penglai Sea should have been surrounded long ago. Leaving would be seeking death; staying here was safer.
With these thoughts, Xu Hei didn't show any sign of abnormality.
"Let's not delay any longer; let the quarterfinals begin," Yu Jianqiu said.
The Water Kylin glanced at the well-prepared crowd and nodded, "Very well, the first contestant, please step up."
Ranked first was Xiong Dabao, who had a bye, and his opponent was the last-ranked Xue Yang.
"Xue Yang is really lucky, being last and still facing someone with a bye."
"Haha, this panda is clearly not simple; Xue Yang might not be so lucky."
The crowd discussed.
They were not affected by the distant commotion and remained focused on the current competition.
At this moment, Xue Yang appeared flustered on the surface, but inwardly he was as calm as the old dog. His strength was actually very strong, but he deliberately delayed the match to appear evenly matched and underestimated.
If he could choose his opponent, he most wanted to face this panda with a bye.
He had already figured out the competition rules.
"If I face those Chosen, I might not win, but this panda, hehe."
Xue Yang chuckled inwardly and cupped his hands, "I am Xue Yang, please guide me!"
Xiong Dabao quickly bowed, mimicking human gestures, "I am Xiong Dabao, please guide me!"
As soon as the words fell, Xue Yang attacked, unleashing a thousand swords in a lethal strike.
From his waist appeared a sword gourd, from which countless flying swords shot out like locusts, densely packed and endless, like mountains and seas, making one's scalp tingle.
"He has so many flying swords?!"
An anonymous person in the crowd almost had their eyes pop out. He had narrowly lost to Xue Yang in the previous round, where Xue Yang used a hundred flying swords to slowly grind him down, barely winning by one move. Now, there were ten thousand flying swords!
He had hidden his strength a hundredfold!
"Clang, clang, clang..."
Xiong Dabao was struck by the flying swords, producing heavy collision sounds, but his fur remained undamaged.
Xue Yang was not in a hurry. If one flying sword didn't work, then a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand! As long as they struck the same spot simultaneously, even metal would fatigue, and a drop of water could pierce stone.
Water dripping through stone was his trump card, stacking weak attacks ten thousand times to create a miracle!
"What incredible control!" Xu Hei gasped.
Controlling ten thousand flying swords was something Xu Hei couldn't do. The opponent's cultivation technique might not be strong, but it was definitely magical!
"Ouch!"
Xiong Dabao cried out in pain, pulling out a wine gourd and taking a swig. Then, a small flame ignited at his fingertip.
He opened his mouth and sprayed the wine onto the flame.
An astonishing scene unfolded. The flame, upon meeting the wine, suddenly surged, expanding a thousand feet high, melting all the flying swords, and then transforming into a fire dragon, soaring into the sky, heading straight for Xue Yang.
"I forfeit!"
Xue Yang shouted, instantly charred to a crisp, but fortunately, the scholar intervened in time to bring him back to the stage.
"Is it over just like that?" Xu Hei hadn't expected Xiong Dabao's fighting style to be like this.
The subsequent battles held no surprises. Xu Bai, Bai Qiushui, Gong Tianhe, Bai Luo, and the Turtle Dragon all won easily, with only the Turtle Dragon taking a bit longer.
Now, it was time for the eighth and ninth place to face off.
Xu Hei stepped onto the stage, facing a giant toad about his size, with three eyes, entirely purple, its body covered in bulging blisters, and its back full of pustules, clearly a highly toxic creature.
In this battle, Xu Hei didn't plan to hold back. With unknown dangers present, he needed to end it quickly and maintain his peak state.
A snake against a toad, biologically, would be a restraining relationship, but at this level of cultivation, species restraint mattered little.
"Xu Hei, if you had finished earlier in the last round, you wouldn't be in such a sorry state now. What a pity, you're stopping here!" Wen Tailai's voice was grating.
Xu Hei ignored him and directly summoned a golden pagoda, rapidly expanding and smashing towards Wen Tailai.
This pagoda was the fourth-tier pagoda Mu Hou used for hiding, crafted entirely from profound gold, indestructible, representing the Five Elemental Metal. To cover his tracks, Xu Hei had also integrated the remnants of the Black Dragon Pagoda into it, adding a strand of Dragon Qi and refining it anew.
Now, this pagoda had transformed into a golden dragon shape, with the dragon's head as the pagoda's tip, soaring upwards, the dragon's roar echoing through the sky.
This pagoda, Xu Hei named it the Golden Dragon Pagoda!
"This is..."
Wen Tailai's three eyes shrank as he watched the Golden Dragon Pagoda spin wildly, like a millstone, crushing towards him, its sharpness unstoppable.
This wasn't ordinary crushing; it carried a sharp intent, a transformation that occurred when the Five Elemental Metal reached its limit!
During Xu Hei's recent seclusion, he spent a lot of time on magical treasures. Although he still couldn't perfectly wield a fourth-tier magical treasure, controlling it was easy.
As for revealing his trump card... Xu Hei had many trump cards, and this Golden Dragon Pagoda was just one of them.
"Boom!!"
With a thunderous roar, the Golden Dragon Pagoda collided with an insect nest, which was round like a giant wasp nest, riddled with countless cracks from the impact.
A massive swarm of black insects poured out, forming a tornado, blocking out the sky and sun, precisely the poisonous insects Wen Tailai nurtured.
As a poison cultivator, he was also an insect cultivator! Originally, Wen Tailai hadn't planned to reveal his trump card, but he hadn't expected Xu Hei to unleash such a lethal move right from the start.
"Insects?" Xu Hei raised an eyebrow.
"I underestimated you, didn't expect you to wield a fourth-tier magical treasure, but so what? Your fate is already sealed!"
Wen Tailai's face twisted with malice. He had intended to use this in the finals, but now he had to reveal it in the quarterfinals, which meant his future opponents would be on guard.