Chapter 315 315 – Efficiency Over Power
"It connected!" Alaric said when he saw the huge gashes of blood coming out of the longma's body.
The beast could barely hold itself up as it kept bleeding profusely, but it remained standing, nonetheless. Many things happened at the same time earlier, causing a complicated scene that led to the current situation.
First, Anil's attack was nullified almost instantly, showcasing the importance of efficiency over power. His attack was far weaker than the combined technique of the trainer and her beast, yet it was enough to stop the attack just for a second, the time his partner needed to break out of the siege set by the firestorm.
Rosa, who liked her life, did not let the opportunity her partner opened go to waste, and she charged out of the opening in the firestorm. The burly woman did not get out of it unscathed. Her robes were damaged, she suffered from burns of various degrees, and most devastating was the absence of her left arm.
Sofia concentrated on the combined technique and could not react in time to the swift attack from her opponent. Seeing that its owner was busy, the longma had to sacrifice itself to defend her.
"It was a great example of using your abilities right," Alaric nodded in appreciation, referring to the way Rosa and Anil used a weaker attack to defeat a stronger one.
Meanwhile, Sofia shot another arrow at Rosa who blocked it with the flat side of her greatsword. The swordswoman was thrown back in the air, but other than a tinge of pain in her remaining arm, she was fine.
"Titus!" Sofia shouted in worry, finally revealing the name of her partner. She could tell that the injury was fatal and needed urgent treatment; the beast would be unable to handle one more heavy strike. With a regretful glance at her opponents, she turned to the five judges and bowed.
"We surrender." Unwilling to let her partner die for the sake of the tournament, she could only forfeit the match.
Rosa and Anil reassembled toward the next match. First, Rose changed her tattered clothes with new robes she brought out from her ring. It happened instantly, directly from the storage ring. Next, she took out a healing pill and ate-
"You can't take pills unless you concocted them yourself. Did you concoct this pill, Elder Rosa?" The elder of the Infinite Wisdom Sect questioned.
"I did not," she admitted unwillingly and put it back in her storage ring. She looked at her partner and the two agreed silently to prolong the battle as much as possible to weaken, injure, and exhaust their opponents for the sake of the next fighters from their side.
After Sofia and Titus left the platform, the judges looked at the side of the Myriad Beasts Sect, signaling them to send their next fighters.
"I wonder where such powerful cultivators suddenly emerged from. They're obviously experienced and as powerful as a top sect, so how come we never heard of this unranked sect before?" Alaric pondered out loud.
"They didn't come out of nowhere. I believe they are well-acquainted with the top sects," Ken enlightened his companion.
"What do you mean? The elders know this sect?"
"Yes, under a different name. I recognized some of their participants in our age groups, I've seen them in the secret realm," Ken explained. While others might not remember random faces they had glanced at for a brief moment, the same couldn't be said about Ken. He only had to have one look at someone's face to remember them forever.
"That's impossible!" Alaric exclaimed, "Only the top five sects entered it. Even the great twenty sects didn't send anybody…"
"This monk can tell, the competitors of the unranked sects exude the rotting scent of murder and blood," Henry added another clue.
Alaric's eyes suddenly opened when realization struck him, "They are evil cultivators?! Is it possible that nobody here knows it but us?"
Even Tiara was surprised to hear the cultivators were none other than the evil sects, but she understood the way politics worked better than Alaric. "Of course, the elders know about it. They must have a reason to let it happen anyway."
"I can only assume that there is no proof or they are trying to learn more about those sects. I'm not sure what the twenty great sects are planning by letting the evil cultivators compete." Ken brought up his own speculations.
"Evil cultivators should just be killed without mercy," Alaric growled in annoyance when he remembered the way he was kept prisoner and had his Qi sucked out of his dantian before Ken rescued him.
After a short chat, Tiara eventually got up from the ground, straightening her spotless white robes. "If we could barely follow the seventh-stage cultivators' fight, we probably wouldn't be able to tell what's going on in the later stages. I'm going to cultivate."
Some of them chose to stay and watch more matches while the rest of the group went to cultivate. By the end of the round, the beast tamers showed better sync with their pets than their enemies by executing powerful combined techniques, but the evil cultivators exhibited far more fighting experience.
Evil cultivators fought for resources among themselves and against the righteous sects. They fought and fought, killed and got killed. Their experience in combat allowed them to make better decisions amidst the battle just like Anil and Rosa demonstrated in the first round.
"This is the end of the elimination round for the normal elders of the sect. It concludes with 24 points for the Mysterious Mountain Sect. The grand elders are requested to form teams and send the first fighters to the arena."
The end of the first round was announced, and the beginning of the next round had arrived. For the next round, twelve grand elders from the Myriad Beasts Sect appeared with beasts by their sides, meaning the remaining one was their supreme elder.
The Mysterious Mountain Sect could only offer sixteen grand elders, putting them at a disadvantage of being four teams short.
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