Chapter 295 295 – Stepping into the Battle
As soon as Steve finished his sentence, everyone was teleported to different places across the valley randomly. Ken only had to glance around him to find out he was with three women wearing green, Tiara included.
"Junior Brother, we can cooperate to have a numerical advantage," The two girls he did not know cupped their fists in front of him.
"Sure, just stay near us and survive," Ken nodded. He did not mind helping his sect members stay alive, and it'd reflect negatively on his reputation if he abandoned them. From the decorative pins on their robes, he could tell they were ranked low among the top 500.
"We will. Is there a plan we need to follow?" One of them asked.
"Actually, yes," Ken said. They spawned in the icy plain, around them was nothing but ice. However, there were a few large icebergs scattered across the platform. Finding a corner he could use, he gestured for the three girls to follow and built formations.
Weapons, scrolls, talismans, or any other tool of a rank above the participant's stage were banned according to the rules unless he made them on the spot. Theoretically, Ken could create sixth-rank formations if he wanted, but he did not plan to reveal his abilities.
The girls stood guard while Ken worked, creating a few layers of formations in that corner. First was a Concealing Formation, second was a Suppressing Formation, and third was an Illusionary Formation that would make anyone who entered feel like ice was covering them, making them freeze and turning their movement heavy.
"You two can enter the formations here," Ken showed them exactly where to stand so they wouldn't be affected by the illusions and suppression in his absence; he could not control the formation from afar.
"Other participants might be lured by the denser Qi in here due to the Qi Gathering Formation, you can easily kill them; their stage will be suppressed and they will be stuck in an illusion. If they are from our sect, just let them remain stuck in here until the competition is over," Ken instructed the three.
"What should we do about the cold?" One girl asked.
"Nothing, just step inside."
The girls hesitantly followed Ken's directions. Once they reached the safe spots of the formation, a wave of heat washed them, a result of a Heating Formation Ken inscribed to keep the girls warm.
"Shouldn't we have asked for their names?" Tiara asked as the two of them walked away.
"Do you care?"
"No."
'Bloodlust Sense,' Ken activated his technique and the information from his surroundings turned visible to his soul. At the Nascent Soul stage, his range had expanded multiple times, allowing him to cover a radius of nearly 10 kilometers around him. When he advances to the later sub-stages, it will only grow larger.
"There are four people at our four o'clock," Ken told his partner. All his teammates knew his way of saying directions already.
"There are much more than that."
"Right, but they're your targets, I will take care of the rest."
Their presence was not exactly a secret; six more pairs were teleported to the same area as them, and they all tried to hide right away and stalk nearby "prey", unable to discern Ken and Tiara's true stage.
They watched Ken building a formation swiftly and making the two girls vanish into thin air. It was easy for them to deduce the girls were hiding in a concealing formation. However, it meant that the two were still at the formation since they were invisible, and that among the remaining two, one was a formation master, meaning he should be relatively weaker in direct combat.
Overall, the two seemed like the best prey; and they did not work with other pairs. if one of them were killed or forced to teleport away, the other one would be disqualified,
"Ready… 3… 2… 1… go," Ken started a countdown.
'One Step.'
'Flash Unwind.'
When he said "go", Ken dashed in a zigzag between the different teams he wanted to take down, utilizing his ability to use two techniques at the same time as a Nascent Soul cultivator, leaving behind him 8 enemies. Everything was so swift their heads rolled off their shoulders only after Ken made it back to his former place.
Tiara simply waved at the group she was assigned to kill, and her veil fluttered slightly in the chilly wind. The four, men and women alike, squinted their eyes and tilted their heads slightly in an attempt to see the beauty hiding under the veil, captivated by the woman. They only snapped back to their senses when a spike made of ice impaled them, sending Ice Qi into their bodies and covering their bodies with frost.
"Your methods are too gory," Tiara commented when she saw the dead bodies on the floor letting out fountains of blood.
"My art has a brief moment of allure; they looked almost alive at first, then the red streaks added some drama, but eventually, they just... broke.," Ken described his achievements.
"Mine still look better than they originally did," Tiara shrugged and pointed at the group of four humans coated in ice. Meanwhile, spiky vines wrapped around the ice statues.
"Stop this technique, I created it to complement one of my own techniques, but we don't need it yet. Don't reveal our secret cards," Ken said without being impressed in the slightest. After all, he was the one who created Tiara's inheritance and he knew all her important techniques.
Tiara stopped channeling her Qi and watched the vines turn into icy dust along with the enemies formerly held captive.
"Are you sure we should've killed them all? I don't think all 19 sects are our enemies," Tiara said.
"Supreme Elder Layla did not restrict the deal to specific sects," Ken shrugged.
The two plundered the storage rings of their fallen enemies and continued their way to locate more victims.
"Let's split up, we could cover more space this way," Ken said and the two separated. He was not worried about his companion; if she could not slaughter her peers after two years of his nurturing, she did not deserve to be on his team anyway.
"Sure. I will remain in the icy plain."
Their line of sight was clear, and Ken could see the lake around 15 kilometers away. The whole valley had a radius of 50 kilometers, and they landed relatively near the border with the marine quarter of the platform.
Knowing that Tiara would have an easier time locating enemies and killing them swiftly in the current environment, Ken nodded and jogged to the next quarter. Besides, he himself had to take one of his Heating Pills to stop the cold from invading his body and weakening him.
On his way, he could locate many other teams who tried to conceal their presence by different means, and he made sure to take a short detour to kill them for the promised prize. They were all at the Core Formation Stage, making them too weak to resist his attacks.
Meanwhile, Tiara's detecting abilities were even higher than Ken's in the specific environment she was in. She seemed like a fairy walking on the ice, pulling all human beings who laid their eyes on her like moths to flame.
Losing their common sense, they approached her and got impaled one after the other, leaving frozen corpses behind.
'This place reminds me of my training with Naomi, those sure aren't sweet memories,' Tiara thought to herself as she saw the almost endless ice around her. With her body attuned to Ice Qi, the cold did not bother her.
Both teammates made sure to loot the bodies of their victims, collecting many rings. The difference between their powers and the other disciples was so big that most of their enemies found out they died only in their last breath.
Ken coated his legs with Qi and traveled on water, walking with balance using light taps of his feet to run without falling into the water. Since water was much thicker than air, most cultivators had a sufficient Qi manipulation ability to walk on water once they broke into the fourth stage.
'This place is much more interesting,' Ken thought to himself as a shark opened its maw right underneath him and leaped out of the water. The animals' powers were restricted according to the bracket fighting, and there were no sea monsters above the fourth rank.
The masked teen jumped and kicked the shark's teeth, sending it back to the sea. That was when he had a good idea in his mind, fueled by his fondness for letting others do the dirty work for him.
He brought out the corpses of many fourth-rank and fifth-rank beasts kept in his storage ring for feeding Emrys and drained their blood with a few swings of his sword. Red stains formed on the lake in his proximity, luring many sea beasts.
'Mind-Poisoning Domain – Paralyze.'
When there were a few dozen of them around him, he brought out his domain technique, making them freeze in fear. They could see illusions of themselves getting killed repeatedly by Ken, making them fear the small human.
"Bring me corpses of humans, but they cannot have this sign on their shoulders," Ken pointed at the lotus emblem on his robes. He thought to tell them not to attack those wearing jade-green robes, but he didn't want them to hunt down the core disciples of his sect.
The beasts growled unwillingly at the task, refusing to be sent to fight like war slaves. However, the young alchemist always knew that the best way to an animal's heart was through its stomach.
"For every corpse you fetch me, you can have one of these treats," Ken produced fourth-grade Blood Refinement pills, their aroma instantly awakening the animals' instincts.
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