Chapter 352: Chapter 345: Advancing to the Challenge Match
The clamor from the spectator stands didn’t cause the slightest change in Mu Bingling’s expression. Her icy face remained as cold as ever, as if nothing in the world could move her.
In the Red Sun Empire’s seating area, Qin Shou saw that the one taking the stage was not the Arson Queen, Ye Shuangshuang. He relaxed instantly and laughed out loud. "It’s actually this woman who’s never fought before. She’s so beautiful, you can tell she’s just a pretty face. What great luck."
The other contestants from the Red Sun Empire relaxed upon hearing Qin Shou’s words. In their eyes, winning or losing wasn’t important anymore. There was no shame in being ranked second among the low-class empires. What would be shameful, however, was losing and getting disfigured in the process—that wouldn’t be very pleasant at all. After all, their bodies were a gift from their parents; how could they let some little girl ruin them?
"She’s the last one to go up, so that guy Qing Lei must be giving her a chance to practice. This woman can’t be strong at all. If I could just get a feel of her during the fight, I’d be willing to give up two years of my life." With their worries gone, the brutes from the Red Sun Empire stared at Mu Bingling, their eyes glinting with lecherous amusement.
"Let’s go!"
This suggestion quickly earned Qin Shou’s support. With a soft cry, he led the other five contestants onto Arena One, landing in what they considered a very suave pose.
"Hey beautiful, we meet again. It must be fate."
The moment he was on the arena, Qin Shou stepped forward and let his brazen gaze sweep up and down Mu Bingling’s body. This prompted many contestants in the spectator stands to curse, "Beast!"
"Looks like I’m pretty famous. Everyone seems to know me."
Hearing so many people shouting from the stands, Qin Shou was completely oblivious that they were cursing him. A hint of pride even swelled in his chest.
Elder Bai shot Qin Shou a sidelong glance before asking out of habit, "Does the Xuanling Empire still wish to challenge the entire opposing empire with a single person in this battle?"
Mu Bingling gave a quiet "Mm," but that single sound was enough to put Elder Bai at ease. In his seventy years of life, he had met countless people of all types, though he hadn’t seen many as icily beautiful as Mu Bingling. Still, he could clearly distinguish between those who were faking it and those who were genuine. And Mu Bingling was without a doubt the most genuine of them all. This was truly an Ice Beauty, as cold as Profound Ice!
"Very well." After receiving Mu Bingling’s answer, Elder Bai slowly turned his head and asked in a solemn voice, "Red Sun Empire, do you accept the challenge?"
Qin Shou nodded hastily upon hearing this. "We accept, of course we accept!"
"Mm, then please state your names. This is a mandatory rule for every match, as well as basic etiquette for a Martial Artist."
"Of course," Qin Shou said in agreement. "I am Qin Shou, from the Lower Upper Empire, the Red Sun Empire."
Elder Bai snorted coldly and thought to himself, ’Truly a beast. No, probably worse than a beast.’ Of course, he would never say these words out loud, as it would damage his reputation for absolute fairness and impartiality. After his silent snort, Elder Bai turned to Mu Bingling. "Your turn."
"Mu Bingling."
Mu Bingling glanced at Elder Bai, her lips parting slightly as she icily uttered two words.
Elder Bai was already used to it. With both sides having announced their names, the real battle was next. He scanned the enthusiastic crowd, then bellowed, "Xuanling Empire versus Red Sun Empire! Match... begin!"
WHOOSH!
The moment Elder Bai’s voice fell, the six contestants from the Red Sun Empire shot backward several dozen meters in unison, putting some distance between themselves and Mu Bingling. They formed a defensive formation, a tactic they had devised after watching the Xuanling Empire’s previous matches. They had been terrified by the Xuanling Empire’s style of attacking directly and scoring instant kills right at the start.
But after retreating, they were surprised to find that Mu Bingling hadn’t moved to attack them. Instead, she just stood there watching. This at first stunned Qin Shou and his team, but they quickly became overjoyed.
"Get her! This woman is definitely not strong!"
Hearing Qin Shou’s shout, the four people in the Xuanling Empire’s spectator seats suddenly burst out laughing. ’Mu Bingling not strong? Heh heh, that has to be the funniest joke they’d ever heard.’ In terms of strength, Mu Bingling was undeniably the strongest of the five. Not to mention the explosive increase in her cultivation speed after taking the Ice Soul Essence Pill, her Ice Attribute Elemental Power alone—which had the strongest control among all attribute martial artists—was enough to give anyone a massive headache. Especially in a small-scale arena battle, when there’s a huge disparity in the Martial Artist Realm, the control of an Ice Attribute Martial Artist could absolutely leave an opponent wishing for death but unable to find it.
SWOOSH!
The others strongly agreed with Qin Shou. In the blink of an eye, their defensive formation shifted into an encirclement, and they charged directly at Mu Bingling.
But just then, Elder Bai, who was standing on Arena One, suddenly felt the surrounding space begin to thicken. An extremely cold aura started to spread from one side of the arena.
"What pure Ice Attribute Elemental Power!"
A sharp glint flashed in Elder Bai’s eyes. He hurriedly summoned his Earth Attribute Elemental Power to envelop his body. If even he had to release his Primordial Power to resist the cold, one could only imagine the fate of the Red Sun Empire’s contestants.
At this moment, the corners of Mu Bingling’s mouth twitched slightly. An ice-blue light swirled in her eyes as streams of ice-blue mist, like flames of ice, emanated from her body, spreading out to blanket Arena One.
Seeing this, Qin Shou roared, "Ice Attribute Elemental Power! Retreat, quickly!"
However, the arena was only a few thousand meters wide. In no time, Qin Shou and his men were pushed to the very edge. Soon, there was nowhere left to stand that wasn’t covered by the icy mist.
"Into the air!"
Qin Shou shouted. Primordial Power erupted from his body, and a blue Martial Ring appeared beneath his feet. Immediately after, a pair of white Elemental Wings burst from his back with a WHOOSH, carrying him into the sky on a gust of wind.
Although the Empire’s Grand Tournament matches were arena battles, aerial combat was not forbidden. The sky itself was effectively an extension of the arena. As long as you touched the arena’s surface again within thirty seconds of taking flight, you wouldn’t be judged as having lost the match!
Having flown into the air, the group of six looked down at Mu Bingling and chuckled sinisterly. "The control of an Ice Attribute Martial Artist is undeniable, but what if the combat zone expands to the entire sky? Can you still use your Ice Attribute to its greatest effect?"
The moment Qin Shou finished speaking, scornful laughter erupted simultaneously from the Xuanling Empire and the Cangyue Empire in the middle-level empire region.
"Ignorant fools!" Liu Feiyan of the Cangyue Empire looked at Qin Shou’s group as if they were complete idiots. She laughed and said, "What a bunch of morons. If an Ice Attribute Martial Artist’s power was that limited, they wouldn’t be worthy of being called the strongest control-type martial artists. Where there is air, there is water. Where there is water, ice can be formed. That’s common sense. Besides, this is an arena battle. By rising into the air, they’ve just given up the last piece of ground untouched by the frigid air. If that woman were to coat the arena’s surface in a layer of Profound Ice now, preventing them from touching the floor, they would automatically lose after thirty seconds."
...
In the Xuanling Empire’s spectator area, Qing Lei shrugged and shook his head. "They’re digging their own graves. These idiots are just asking to die."
On Arena One, Elder Bai shook his head. ’This match is already decided.’
Seeing this, Mu Bingling’s expression remained unchanged. She slowly raised a fair, jade-like finger, a faint blue aura gathering at its tip before she waved it gently. The sky above the entire arena suddenly seemed to freeze, as if space itself had been locked in place. Then, accompanied by countless cracking sounds, a massive, ice-blue pillar of light hundreds of meters in diameter erupted from the arena’s surface, completely engulfing the six men in the air!
A second later, the ice-blue brilliance faded, and the scene that unfolded before the crowd made everyone gasp. In the center of the arena, a colossal ice pillar hundreds of meters in diameter shot toward the sky! Its countless facets glinted with an azure light under the bright sun. And in the middle of the pillar, six figures were clearly frozen solid inside! If one hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, it would be impossible to comprehend such a magnificent spectacle!
"Referee, do we need to wait thirty seconds? I can’t guarantee they’ll still be alive after that." Mu Bingling turned and spoke coolly to Elder Bai, her expression completely placid, as if she had just done something trivial. ’Originally, I wasn’t planning on an instant kill like this. If I could have, I would have just frozen them to the ground and sealed Qin Shou’s mouth completely shut with ice so he could never speak again. But I didn’t expect them to choose the most irrational course of action right from the start by flying into the sky. That forced my hand, and I had no choice but to freeze them directly.’
Elder Bai stroked his beard. "There’s no need to wait. Your Elemental Realm is far too high above theirs. They have no hope of breaking free from such a massive pillar of ice. In this battle, the Xuanling Empire is victorious."
After receiving Elder Bai’s confirmation, Mu Bingling gently waved her arm. The entire colossal ice pillar collapsed with a RUMBLE. Countless huge blocks of ice fell from the sky, but even as they fell, they vaporized in the sunlight, turning into a fine mist that scattered on the wind.
Only six figures were left, plummeting from the sky and crashing onto the arena floor with a loud THUD. Without sparing Qin Shou and his men a single glance, Mu Bingling tapped her toes, leaped lightly, and in a flash, returned to the Xuanling Empire’s spectator seats.
The moment she returned, Qing Lei clapped his hands. "Sister-in-law Bingling, you’re as amazing as ever. But you let those bastards off way too easy."
"Exactly! If it were up to me, I’d have left them frozen in there for a good ten minutes or so. Let’s see if they’d still dare to run their mouths after that," Ye Shuangshuang said fiercely, baring her teeth.
Mo Qing shook her head with a smile. "You know Sister Bingling’s Ice Attribute Elemental Power. Forget ten minutes; even ten seconds would have been enough to freeze them to death."
As for Little Tiger, he just sat to the side, eating and listening to the others talk, with no intention of chiming in.
Mu Bingling shook her head helplessly. "You guys... They were just opponents not worth fearing. They shouldn’t command our attention. What we need to focus on are the challenge matches to come."
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