Perhaps it was Lin Junzhao's relentless mockery that took effect; Ye Ruozai, who had been struggling painfully on the ground for a long time, finally stood up shakily. Despite the intense pain surging from within, he managed to conjure a longsword and launch an attack on Lin Junzhao standing in front of him.
Facing Ye Ruozai's wavering and unsteady thrusts, Lin Junzhao barely needed to use a finger to gently flick it aside, causing the longsword to deviate from its original trajectory. Then, with a side step and a nudge of his foot, Lin Junzhao made Ye Ruozai lose his balance and fall to the ground again.
"I'm beginning to regret now. Regret abandoning the Pei Family Siblings to choose you as my host. Was it the right choice? Perhaps investing my resources in Pei Yan would have been more worthwhile. After all, even at his worst, he would not deliver such a flabby attack." Lin Junzhao coldly watched Ye Ruozai, who was struggling to stand up with the longsword, continuing to crush what was left of his shattered self-esteem.
Despite Lin Junzhao's ridicule, Ye Ruozai chose to remain silent. However, when he stood up again, a hint of determination had been added to his gaze, and his steps forward became more steady and firm.
"Very good, that's the look I want to see! I hope you can carry it through. I know you and Pei Yan both have an almost insane pursuit of power. In a way, you are even more persistent than Pei Yan!"
This time, Lin Junzhao did not immediately crush Ye Ruozai's attack. He easily dodged Ye Ruozai's aimless slashes and casually said, "Losing to Pei Yan really grudges you, doesn't it? Even more, it grudges you to lose to Flamel. It's your own brother, and now you must rely on others to save him!"
Under his provocation, the longsword in Ye Ruozai's hand seemed to become slightly faster than before, and the brilliance in Lin Junzhao's eyes grew even brighter: "But the gap between you and them is too large. Not considering Pei Yan, your friend, Flamel, who tormented you in competition, is now your biggest enemy. To defeat him, you have to undergo training a hundred times harsher than his. That's right! As I mentioned before your trial started, your special training this time will consume your life force to achieve its goal. Come on! Use your potential to prove to me whether you are worth the sword manual I brought from the Daoist Realm and my investment in you."
Ye Ruozai was not the only one undergoing rigorous training. In the Spirit Monster Plane, Saraf was soaking in a bath mixed with precious herbs scavenged from various planes, and infused with the essence of the top bloodlines of the Spirit Monster Plane. The potent medicinal force slowly seeped into Saraf's body through his freshly healed wounds, causing his blood to swell, leaving him with a twisted expression, caught between pain and pleasure.
On a deck chair beside the medicine pool, an elderly man in simple coarse clothes was lounging lazily. Next to him, Long Jin, who had just finished a little rest after her special training, was respectfully kneeling by his side, peeling an odd fruit resembling a pomegranate. Each time she peeled a seed, she would carefully hold it up to the old man's face, waiting for him to open his mouth before gently feeding it to him.
This leisurely old man was the real essence form known in the words of Lin Junzhao as the "old dog" from the Spirit Monster Realm. As he lay on the deck chair being attended by his disciple, his eyes lazily swept over the medicinal pool from time to time, yawning with boredom: "Ah, it seems the blow from this competition really hit you hard! In the past, you'd come to complain about the slightest suffering. But now, you can endure such a long time soaking in the medicinal bath. Don't you pride yourself on your bloodline, thinking that with it, you could be number one in the world?"
Heard the mocking words from the master towards Saraf, Long Jin, kneeling beside, couldn't help but let out a laugh. The master's words hit Saraf where it hurt the most. As one of the losers in the team competition, Saraf had lost face entirely. Leaving aside the severely weakened Demon Race due to the Bloody Trace invasion, even the Magic Realm, although failing to enter the top three, at least gave the Foundation Plane a tough fight, showcasing enough strength to the audience.
However, Saraf not only fought silently with Bloody Trace and lost but was also taken hostage by Pei Yan, becoming the first Child of Origin to be eliminated in this competition. Almost from the moment he set foot in the Daoist Realm and encountered Pei Yan, misfortune seemed to follow him, yet the latter was ironically his savior now. It was a bitter experience he couldn't voice.
"Honestly, if it weren't for your unwillingness to accept it, I might have just followed the Demon Race and forfeit the competition." The elder affectionately flicked Long Jin's forehead and then sat up, looking at Saraf in the pool and frankly saying.
"Master!" Saraf was clearly displeased with the elder's lack of faith in him. Enduring the pain, he squeezed out two words through his clenched teeth.
"What, you feel like I'm encouraging them and dampening your spirits? Alright then! Let's not talk about the rest of the contestants. Can you deal with Lin Daozi and Pei Yan? From what I know, they haven't been idle during this time! There's an existing gap between you, and while you're improving, so are they, and your pace might not even match theirs!"
"Master! Are we just going to give up like this? We are not without a chance of fighting. For the honor of our plane and…" Saraf grumbled under his breath as he listened to the ridicule from his master, the dragon's pride uncontrollably causing ripples in the medicinal pool.
Unperturbed by his disciple's attitude, the elder waved him off, dismissing his roar with indifferent reassurance: "Alright, this argument might only convince yourself. As the host of this edition, I am not so worked up, why are you? Letting you all compete was partly to broaden your horizons and temper your haughty demeanor, and partly to see if you could win a top-three position in the team event. Turns out I underestimated the skills of the other planes."
Saying this, the elder stood up and walked to the edge of the medicinal pool, observing his disciple, who had retreated back into the pool sulking. Sitting cross-legged and continuing to talk leisurely, he said, "Losing a competition isn't shameful. Only three out of the six teams can win, some are destined to lose! In terms of overall strength, our four main planes aren't dominant. Having been internally conflicted for years, the prodigal son of the Hell Plane faced the same issues, and so did we! The two Dragon Realms have enjoyed peace only for about a thousand years. Even during these peaceful times, the barriers between you aren't completely gone! How long have you been with Long Jin? Until the competition, you still wouldn't make a little concession on the selection of contestants. If your subordinates were willing to follow her leadership, we wouldn't have needed to unnecessarily provoke the Investigation Hall!"
