Jianguo had thought that this round was basically secured for him. He had met his companion Daoist Weisheng and just so happened to be acquainted with him from before. The two made an agreement and teamed up to obtain the two winning positions in this Spatial Plane.
Their time here was easy too, as they were able to defeat most of their opponents with ease. Two Fourth Tribulation Stage immortals cooperating with each other were a striking combo.
They were basically able to steamroll through the competition and had thought that it would be the same this time.
Their opponents were two girls who were Beast Tamers. While these could be troublesome at times, the two had confidence.
Though Jianguo had indeed been surprised once he saw that the beasts were stronger than they seemed. They had actually fought them almost on an equal level. If not for the fact that Weisheng had managed to injure one of them greatly, they might not have flipped the odds.
But even then, the Sky Soar Wolf was still a pain. Due to it having wings, it could maneuverer through the air with great speed. That was why the wolf had managed to hold the two back while the second girl ran off somewhere.
Neither of the two had thought that she had actually gone to ask for help. After all, it wouldn't make sense to ask a third person for help in a tournament like this.
'I won't let him spoil my progress!' Jianguo thought with range.
The man wasn't done and continued to swing the hammer, this time hitting the trees directly. It felt like a bell was being constantly rung with the hammer actually managing to stop the pine trees.
"Haha! See! Even you can be stopped!" Jianguo laughed.
A strong wave of Immortal Qi was let off from his body, before the hammer started to shake. Concentrated Qi gathered within the hammer, as runes shone on its surface.
"Time to show you what true strength is like!" Jianguo gave one last push, before he used a Qi skill. "Hammering Vortex!"
~WHOOSH~
With a long swing of the hammer, he turned into a spinning vortex!
Tens of hammer imprints were shot out form the vortex as well, blasting back the Pine trees.
Lin Mu who saw the Qi skill was actually a bit impressed.
"I guess you do deserve you position along with your cultivation base…" Lin Mu muttered.
In the next moment, Lin Mu took a stance and pulled back his fist.
"But if its strength you want to compete in…" Strong energy fluctuation could be felt from his arm as it started to swell. "You are still lacking!" Lin Mu leaped towards Jianguo, ignoring all the hammer imprints that were coming towards him.
~CLANG~ CLANG~
They collided with his body, but he didn't slow down at all. He endured all of them with his tough body and continued on. And when he was just a meter from Jianguo, his enlarged fist shot forth in a punch.
Boulder Collapsing Fist: First Form- Impact!
~BOOM~
A great explosion was heard, as the Qi skill was forcefully dispelled.
~WHOOSH~
The broken and battered body of Jianguo shot out from the impact, flying across the barren land.
But before it could even touch the ground, it disappeared into a flash of light. His token had been broken, and he had been removed from the Spatial Plane!
Lin Mu stood in the wake of the destruction, the rubble and fragments still settling down from the collision. His robes were torn in several places, but they were already starting to mend themselves.
'Getting these robes was the right choice.' Lin Mu thought.
He had gotten the self repairing robes a while back and was now wearing them for the Tournament.
Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan who were watching from behind were shocked. When Lin Mu had jumped directly towards the Qi skill, they had thought the worst, but he was somehow unharmed.
'I knew Brother Mu Lin is a body cultivator and has tough body, but this… This is on an entirely different level.' Ming Aolian was surprised.
With the improvement Lin Mu had in his body cultivation through the two techniques, the toughness had reached a new level. This was in addition to the passive defense granted by the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.
Lin Mu had used that right now as well.
The enlarging of his arm and fist was through the use of it.
Combining that with the Boulder Collapsing Fist's first form brought forth a perfect harmony.
'The power amplification is rather good.' Lin Mu thought to himself while looking at his fist.
A few fine 'tears' could be seen on his arm but they were already healing. The rich vitality within him was moving to repair all the harm that had been done in the brief battle.
~shua~
'You two did good.' Lin Mu said in his mind.
Wonder Seeker and Afternoon Pine floated over to Lin Mu, which he then quickly stored away.
"Brother Mu Lin! Are you okay?" Ming Dandan rushed over to ask after she had recovered a bit.
Turning to look at the anxious girl, Lin Mu gave a nod.
"Yes, I'm fine." Lin Mu replied.
Ming Dandan first thought that he might be saying that just to allay her worries. But when she saw it firsthand, there were indeed no injuries on Lin Mu's body. Even his robes that were torn in places were repairing automatically.
"I'm grateful that you are fine." Ming Dandan let out a breath of relief.
Ming Aolian also approached and spoke, "we should retreat."
"Yes…" Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked towards the distance.
Faint Qi fluctuations could be felt coming from there, which Lin Mu knew were other immortals approaching.
"Let's get back to the hideout. There are others coming to fight." Lin Mu replied.
"Yes!" Ming Dandan replied.
The three of them quickly returned to the hideout, while a few cultivators reached the site of the battle. Three teams of cultivators had appeared there. All of them seemed to be at the Fourth Tribulation stage of the Immortal realm and were sufficiently strong.
They looked at each other with wary eyes, ready for any conflict.
"Let's first assess the situation here." One of them suggested.
"Very well." Another person from a second team replied.
"I'm fine with that too." The third team's member spoke.
They looked at the battle site, only to see that three were large gullies left on the ground.
"Whoever fought here was strong… The energy that still lingers isn't light." The person from the first team spoke.
"Looks like they left already though." The person from the third team checked the area with their immortal sense.
"Or maybe they perished together?" the second team suggested.
"Whatever it might be, they are possibly stronger than us. I can sense two Fourth Tribulation Stage immortal's traces here, but the one that fought them cannot be sensed." The second member from the first team stated after checking the area.
"No use wasting time here then. We still have another monster to fight against. Childe Wildfire is already enough of a pain."
With that said, the three teams retreated, not intending to fight right away.
To them, it made more sense to take out the weaker contestants first. If they fought right now, while a winner among them would be decided, it would still end up depleting their energy.
And there was no saying if someone else might approach them in that time. There were many contestant that were watching battles like vultures. They would let others fight and when they were done they'd swoop in to defeat the weakened contestant.
It was one of the optimum ways of competing while also conserving their strength.
By now, most of the strong immortals in the Spatial plane had somewhat realized where they stood as well as who the strongest among them were. Thus they wished to get rid of the weaklings first.
While they hadn't made an alliance, it was still an unsaid agreement they had decided upon.
It was in their advantage to wait out, till the end.
Perhaps they might even be able to take out Childe Wildfire in that time.
He was in the top five and had the highest chance of winning this round. With him taking 1 spot in the winners, there would be fierce competition for the second spot.
But in order to have a better chance, they contestants decided to let Childe Wildfire deplete his Qi before they would strike him in the end. If he was defeated, there would be two spots available after all.
What they didn't know was that Lin Mu had a plan that would wreck all of them.
He was following a similar plan to them, but intended to finish all of them win one go when the time was right.
Lin Mu and the Ming sisters returned to the hideout for recovery, while waiting for more Spatial Planes to close.
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