The attack of Childe Wildfire was enough to instantly defeat the cultivator that had been hiding in the ground.
Daoist Erji man was perhaps one of the unluckiest in the entire round. He had decided to hide right from the start and was intending to use his Earth Escape technique for it. He had done exactly that too and had ended up in an area that had the least amount of Immortal Qi fluctuations.
To Daoist Erji, his tactic was to hide until everyone was gone. He had brought plenty of immortal stones with him to replenish his immortal Qi, as he would need to stay hidden the entire time. But that wasn't all as he also knew that the battle between the immortals could be very destructive to the area around them.
Destroying a few kills or making a new valley wasn't unheard of either. Thus the man, knew he would have to be as deep as possible in the Earth.
And with that in mind, he dived as deep as his skill would allow him. He would have gone deeper if not for the fact that he was literally near the end of the Spatial Plane. He couldn't go any further and if he did, he would simply end up at the border and be blocked.
Daoist Erji's tactic had worked too as he had the most peaceful time out of all the contestants. He didn't know what had happened, but the frequency of immortal Qi fluctuations had decreased a while back. He wondered if it was due to the number of contestants falling or if he was just lucky.
Before this, he could sense the faint immortal Qi fluctuations but a few days ago they had entirely stopped.
Of course, Daoist Erji had no idea that this was due to Lin Mu and his companions taking over the hill. The formations that Lin Mu had set up had protected and isolated the area, preventing any excess immortal Qi fluctuations, whether they be from others or Lin Mu and his companions.
Erji couldn't come back up, thus he just took it at face value and somewhat enjoyed it too.
Lin Mu would have been surprised to know if he learned that the cultivator he had been looking for had actually hidden below the hill since the very start of the round. His creation of formations around it had not just helped him but also Daoist Erji.
Erji's goal was to last till the end.
Of course, he also knew that there was a high chance there would be two people left on the surface that would be confused as to why the round was not ending. They might try to look for him, but he hoped that he could literally tire them out.
His goal was to fight a battle of attrition and playing hide and seek would be his tactic.
Erji hoped that he would frustrate the last remaining immortals enough that they would be forced to fight each other. That way he would still end up as one of the winners. But what the man didn't know was that the round would last for this long.
He also didn't know that there was someone else that was intending to fight a slightly different battle of attrition too and wanted more than just two winners.
Perhaps if it were any other Spatial plans, Daoist Erji's tactic might have worked. But with someone with strong senses like Lin Mu, it was simply bad fortune.
He had sensed the attacks of Childe Wildfire right from the start but hadn't moved.
Daoist Erji had simply thought that there were others fighting. The clash of different immortal Qi fluctuations also confirmed it for him.
Even when the ground cracked and crumbled, the man didn't panic. After all, the distance between the surface and him was of several kilometers.
But as he continued to wait, he realized that the battle didn't stop at all and continued to get close to him. And just when he had decided it was time to move, it was too late. Lin Mu had confirmed his position and Childe Wildfire had targeted him.
The only thing Daoist Erji felt at that moment was intense heat that burned his robes away in an instant along with the Identity Token. It was enough to make him realize that if the formation wasn't fast enough, he might have been reduced to ashes very quickly.
But before he could think much, he was teleported out. All he saw after that was a flash of light, some darkness, and then the presence of thousands of cultivators.
"What the…" A light breeze caressed Daoist Erji's body, making him remember that he was basically naked now.
"FUCK!!" Thankfully he wasn't a new immortal and was habituated to the destruction of robes.
He donned new robes in an instant but that still wasn't enough to escape the sharp eyes of all those that were watching the arrival gate.
"Haha! Another naked one." The audience chuckled.
"How many is that now?"
"We already exceeded a thousand last week."
"Check the betting places." Someone suggested. "They took bets for how many immortals would come out naked so they are keeping a tally."
"Gimme a minute… Ah! It's one thousand eight hundred and twenty six!" A man finally answered.
~WHOOSH~
But just as the people were watching and joking around, they heard something.
"Look! The formation array is reappearing." The people pointed to the sky.
The immortals all around the tournament grounds could see the array in the sky. This was something they had seen before too and was none other than the spatial array that had made the Spatial planes earlier.
They could see that the array seemed to be changing and strong immortal Qi fluctuations could be felt.
"What's happening?" a few people were clueless.
"The final spatial plane just closed!"
"What!?"
The people were surprised.
They had been wondering when the round of battles would end and had been waiting at the arrival gate. Some were still watching in the rings while sitting around with others thus they had seen it all.
They had witnessed, Lin Mu and his companions defeat the final contestant.
"Who are the winners?" the people questioned.
"Let me check… Oh lord, it's the lucky six!" they finally saw the six people appeared at the arrival gate
"What? It really is the final six!" the people were stunned.
On the arrival gate, there were none other than Lin Mu, Childe Wildfire, Lu Xu, Qian Wen, Ming Aolian, and Ming Dandan.
"Isn't that Childe Wildfire?" The people quickly recognized.
He was one of the top contenders, thus it wasn't unseal for people to identify him quickly.
"Who are the others with him?" those that were not watching the final spatial plane questioned.
"What? You don't know!?" The ones who did though responded in surprise. "That's Daoist Mu Lin!"
"Who?" it was clear that there were still people who had not been paying attention.
"He did the unbelievable! He actually made an alliance!" Those that had watched everything started to explain.
In just a few minutes, the feats of Lin Mu were spread among the cultivators. All those that heard about his acts were stunned.
Being able to make a large formation array, then making a Sky Cull Grounding Formation as well as defeating multiple immortals that were stronger than him were astounding feats. But the most surprising fact to them was Lin Mu's ability to cooperate and form an alliance.
After all, to most cultivators being selfish in the tournament was the most obvious choice. Even if some had made alliances in the round, it was just limited to two people.
But Lin Mu had taken it to the next level, and made a six person alliance which even included a top ranker!
The inclusion of Childe Wildfire was the most stunning part.
Of course, they hadn't heard the conversations of Lin Mu and his companions since they were mostly done through the communication jade slips, they could still figure out a few things by seeing how they behaved.
The immortals as well as the nobles understood the skill needed to cooperate and negotiate with multiple immortals that too in a critical situation like the Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts was not an easy task.
In fact, even the members of the temple were astounded by this.
To them, the final lucky six would probably only survive due to random luck.
But here there was Lin Mu, who had aimed for that from the start and made it work out in his favor.
Not only had he come out victorious, he had possibly obtained the favor of his companions including the top ranked Childe Wildfire as well as impressed tens of thousands of cultivators.
Rather than his strength, the immortals were more impressed by his wits!
The words of everyone reached Lin Mu and others' ears with ease and they knew they were the center of attention.
"Looks like you're going to be famous, Brother."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m