Chapter 144: Opposite Xuans
After watching Yu Nianzhen fight and win against several opponents, Xuan Ke moved on to the next platform.
When he did, he expected to find Li Futian in some predicament while fighting Shen Ru and Meng Zihua.
However, nothing was as expected,
To his surprise, Meng Zihua and Shen Ru were no longer around the fourth battle platform, and Li Futian was already occupying the platform.
’What happened?’ He wondered.
There were no signs of a fight on the ground, and he didn’t believe Shen Ru and Meng Zihua could be easily defeated without leaving traces behind.
’It doesn’t matter.’ He decided.
In the end, the goal was to occupy a battle platform, and Li Futian had already done so.
The monk watched the fourth battle platform for a while and then moved on.
At the fifth platform, he discovered Meng Zihua and Shen Ru, who were fighting each other. Both sides were equally ferocious, and it didn’t look like a winner could be decided in a short time.
’Should I try to occupy the sixth platform?’ He wondered as he walked ahead.
However, he quickly gave up that thought.
He suspected the loser between Shen Ru and Meng Zihua would move on to the sixth battle platform after their battle.
With that expectation, the monk avoided the sixth platform and instead chose to occupy the seventh.
Fortunately, this platform was relatively easy to occupy, and he defeated the cultivator holding the stage with only a little effort.
After winning the platform, he looked around and slightly regretted it.
’I should have observed all the eighteen platforms before choosing one to settle.’ He thought.
However, he didn’t plan to give up his platform, although he was eager to watch other fights. Now that he had occupied the seventh battle platform, he didn’t plan to give it up for the next thirty days.
With this determination, he did not slack when facing challengers.
He tried to end each challenge as quickly as possible, and in this way, seven days passed.
In that time, he fought nonstop.
He killed all cultivators from the Death Flower Ascension Front but spared the rest if he could help it.
Those who survived would challenge other platforms or wait for time to pass before challenging him again.
Although the constant fighting was tiring, it was also beneficial.
It not only helped him hone his combat effectiveness, but the urgency of having to fight constantly helped to condition his body.
Over time, his body had somehow learned to circulate his cultivation technique even when he was fighting.
Although it wasn’t as effective as cultivating normally, this method allowed him to gradually replenish his qi without actively working on it.
’I wonder how everyone is doing.’ He wondered and looked toward the sixth platform.
After fighting for three days and nights, Meng Zihua and Shen Ru couldn’t decide a winner. In the end, they settled the fight using fortune sticks, and Shen Ru lost the fifth platform.
As expected, she immediately launched a ferocious attack on the sixth platform and quickly settled on it.
From what Xuan Ke knew, the occupants of the first seven platforms had not changed for a while.
On the first platform was Lin Huang.
After her fight with Zhu Ya and the person from the Death Flower Ascension Front, she barely had any challengers.
Xuan Ke had heard that she even dared to leave her platform at one point, but no one dared to get on.
As for why she left the platform...
One of the men in her harem had set up a tent outside the platform, and spectators had seen her walk into the tent.
From that, it could be seen that Lin Huang wasn’t worried that someone would grab her platform. Even if someone grabbed it while she was away, she was confident she could take it back without losing a layer of skin.
Although her actions were arrogant, she had capital for this arrogance.
Her phoenix fire had scared people, and no one dared to mess around without knowing how to deal with the inextinguishable sticky fire.
On the second platform, Jiang Yue was still holding on.
Initially, he shocked others with his violent attacks, but after the first fight, he didn’t continue to fight with his body.
Instead, he often used a combination of his pipa and whip to defeat his opponents.
This method was very effective, and Jiang Yue hadn’t experienced any danger in the past seven days.
Moving on to the third platform guarded by Yu Nianzhen. This was by far, the most active platform of the first seven.
Xuan Ke didn’t know if it was because Yu Nianzhen didn’t use all his strength or it was because swordsmen liked to fight, but the platform was never idle.
Aside from members of the Death Flower Ascension Front, Yu Nianzhen didn’t kill anyone, and his challengers were repeat customers.
After every fight, they would not leave to challenge other platforms. Instead, they camped in the surrounding area and cultivated while practising their swordsmanship.
When the time was up, they would challenge Yu Nianzhen and repeat the same process after losing.
’They are all a strange bunch.’ Xuan Ke thought.
As for the fourth platform, Li Futian occasionally had challengers, but he dealt with them without any trouble.
’Brother Li is too powerful.’ The monk sighed and pushed back his thoughts about Li Futian.
He was still reminiscing when he felt a small shift in the surrounding air.
This meant that someone had jumped onto the platform to challenge him and Xuan Ke slowly stood up.
He opened his eyes and saw a bald young man in front of him.
"Xuan Kong." He called and sighed.
Xuan Kong was a monk of the same generation from the Thunder God temple.
He was brought to the temple around the same time as Xuan Ke, but the two had never gotten along.
It wasn’t that they had done something against each other, it was that they didn’t agree with each other’s life philosophy.
Where Xuan Kong was diligent, Xuan Ke was lazy.
Where one adhered to the very letter of Buddhism practice, the other took liberties everywhere and couldn’t be bothered about following the tenets.
Unfortunately, the rebel monk was more talented than the disciplined one, and Xuan Kong couldn’t stand it.
He worked hard to catch up to Xuan Ke, but he was suppressed everywhere.
Still, he didn’t give up.
If there was a chance, he would never miss an opportunity to compete, and Xuan Ke had long expected the other to appear on his platform.
"I have grasped the third form of the eighteen forms staff art." Xuan Kong informed.
He also used a staff, but unlike Xuan Ke’s staff made of silver, his was made of wood.
"Brother Kong is very powerful." Xuan Ke said and gripped his silver staff.
The eighteen forms staff art was a mid-grade silver rank staff art and the difficulty of comprehending it couldn’t be compared to a low-grade silver rank staff art.
At the moment, Xuan Ke had only mastered the first form, and his comprehension of the second form was still a little lacking.
When he said Xuan Kong was powerful, Xuan Ke meant it as a compliment, but the other monk didn’t take it that way.
His face turned bad, and the hand holding his wooden staff tightened. He felt Xuan Ke was mocking him, and coldness filled his eyes.
"Let’s fight." Xuan Kong said.
He held out the staff and started to circle around the platform.
When Xuan Ke saw this, he also held out his staff and began to walk the other way around while looking for an opportunity.
After circling each other a few times, the two moved.
They thrust their staffs forward and the two weapons impacted with a loud sound.
Vibrations spread from the point of impact to their palms, and both jumped back to put some distance between them.
’As expected, the first form of the eighteen forms staff art is useless against him.’ Xuan Ke lamented.
If what the other said was true, Xuan Ke could not win the battle of martial arts. This meant his way to victory did not lie there, and he had to find other methods.
’If not martial arts, what else?’ He wondered.
Other than martial arts, two factors determined the power of an attack.
One of the factors was weapons. Although their weapons were made of different materials, they were of the same grade and rank.
This meant that neither had an advantage in this aspect.
If not a weapon, his advantage could only lie in qi.
Fortunately, Xuan Ke had a better cultivation technique, and his qi quality was a little higher than Xuan Kong’s.
’There is still a chance to win.’ He thought and coated his staff with qi.
He then thought better about it and began to control the qi to form a thicker layer on the bottom half.
By doing this, he hoped to further strengthen the lower half of the staff since it was the part that would come into contact with Xuan Kong’s weapon.
