Chapter 118 - Ding Ling Wins Please Subscribe and Reward

The audience below the stage and the male and female Inner Sect Disciples preparing for the competition watched the matches to learn from the experience, and they might have interactions with their opponents.

The male cultivators fought fiercely, and the duels between the female cultivators were equally splendid.

The Inner Sect Disciple competition was indeed not for the weak.

The Golden Core Elders watching from above all nodded to themselves; this group of disciples had great potential.

They all hoped to take notice of a disciple in this Inner Sect Disciple competition and take him or her as a direct disciple.

One of the female Golden Core Elders was watching the match between Ding Ling and another disciple.

She didn’t see this female disciple using many Magical Treasures or Talismans, yet she managed to use the Spells and Cultivation Techniques she learned from the Scripture Pavilion to counter the opponent’s wealthy family resources.

She nodded silently, finding this female disciple much to her liking.

She too had come from an ordinary family, where not a single person had a Spiritual Root.

When her parents heard that the Immortal Sect was recruiting disciples who would be provided with enough to eat, they thought, with so many children at home, sending them to the Immortal Sect meant they’d have a full meal and wouldn’t starve during famines.

Her parents took her and her four siblings to the Immortal Sect recruitment plaza to test for Spiritual Roots.

Of the five siblings, only she had a Spiritual Root, albeit a very mixed and useless one.

Thankfully, the Immortal Sect took her in as a Servant Disciple, and during that arduous training period, it took her ten years to enter the Inner Sect, much longer than it took her fellow senior brothers and sisters.

Yet she didn’t get discouraged.

When she became an Inner Sect Disciple and went out on a mission, she visited her hometown once.

That time, she saw her parents, now gray-haired and aged, and her siblings who were married with children of their own.

She gave them all the money she had to ease their struggles.

That was all the Gold Coins she had saved up in those ten years.

With her financial aid, her family started a small business among ordinary folks.

After she became a Golden Core Elder and returned to her hometown, her parents had passed away and her siblings had grown old, yet no one else in the family had developed a Spiritual Root.

Now an Elder without any disciples, she thought of taking on a disciple with slightly better aptitude in this Inner Sect Disciple competition to compensate for her shortcomings.

She wanted to pass on her abilities to this disciple, and it didn’t necessarily have to be a wealthy female disciple; compatibility was what mattered.

Ding Ling was unaware that during this competition, whether she won or lost, a Golden Core Elder had already taken notice of her.

She had no time to think of anything else under the wealth of attacks from the opponent’s family resources.

Originally clean, her daoist robe now sported traces of gold, and a few strands of her hair had fallen loose.

Her face too was covered in golden dust, yet there was no time to care.

After listening to her senior brother’s words yesterday, she had furiously practiced the Cultivation Technique and Spell she was currently using all night, and with her incessant effort, she had managed to reach a proficient level.

Enough to fend off the opponent’s affluent barrage of Talismans and Magical Treasures time and again.

Lai Jianlin watched with interest from below the stage; the competitions among the four Martial Platforms of his brothers were all very exciting.

He also paid special attention to the match between Ding Ling and another female disciple.

Ding Ling’s use of Spells was still somewhat naive, but being able to resist the opponent’s continuous use of many Magical Treasures and Talismans was already a testament to her skill.

This junior sister’s determination and confidence were strong; it seemed one should not underestimate anyone.

Lai Jianlin knew that being at the Mid Foundation Establishment stage, he could perhaps easily defeat those with slightly lower Cultivation than himself, yet he also couldn’t be careless, as there were times he might suffer an unexpected defeat.

There wasn’t a shortage of those who had won out of their league; he had done the same when he first became an Inner Sect Disciple.

The highest Cultivation among them Inner Sect Disciples was at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and perhaps he would face someone even stronger.

Mo Wen kept watching nervously, for his turn was coming up second, right after this group finished competing.

He felt a bit lacking in confidence, as he always lost to Lai Jianlin during their sparring sessions in recent days.

Even though these sessions were chipping away at his confidence, Mo Wen was mentally prepared today, focusing on participation.

Win or lose, as long as he took part in the competition.

But when he arrived to watch the matches, his mental preparation seemed futile; he remained in a constant state of tension.

“Brother Lai, do you think Ding Ling will win?”

Lai Jianlin turned to look at Mo Wen and said, “Brother, you’re not the one competing.

Why do you seem more nervous than the people on the platform?

Don’t be nervous.

Although winning or losing is important, you mustn’t lose your composure.”

“I know, Junior Brother, but I just feel nervous.”

“Elder Brother, you can’t be nervous and careless once you’re up there.

You need to stay calm and find the opponent’s weaknesses to win in one fell swoop.”

“Junior Brother, I’ll take that to heart.”

“Mmm, Ding Ling won’t lose.

Her abilities may not be strong, but she has a very strong-willed character.

Such inner strength is also very important, capable of turning a disadvantage into an advantage.”

“Ah!

Is Junior Sister really that amazing?”

After hearing Lai Jianlin say this, Mo Wen felt that as a man, he couldn’t possibly have a weaker heart than a woman!

So, what was he nervous about?

What was there to fear?

After all, if he lost, he lost.

If he won, he won.

Having chatted with Lai Jianlin, Mo Wen’s mind calmed down somewhat, and he too observed the disciples’ matches on the martial platform.

Indeed, after a quarter of an hour, Bian Shasha ran out of talismans, leaving her no choice but to attack her opponent with magical treasures.

By dodging, Ding Ling exhausted Bian Shasha’s talismans, and without the sneak attacks of talismans, Bian Shasha had an easier time starting her defense and counterattacks.

She still used magical treasures and Ice Spells, her weapons changing from flying knives and swords to giant axes that slashed at her opponent as if they were real.

Bian Shasha’s gold tower, filled with ice and snow, now couldn’t melt all the additional frost that entered it.

The ice began to solidify, and the golden light of the gold tower was no longer able to function properly, emitting only a weak glow, lacking the menacing power of flames.

Bian Shasha became anxious, losing her previous composure; her gold hairpin struck at Ding Ling from high and low angles.

Unable to use the gold tower, she withdrew it back into her storage bag to use a different magical treasure—the Jade Fan.

Bian Shasha summoned spiritual energy upon the Jade Fan, unleashing a tremendous gale in an attempt to blow away the sky full of axes.

But Ding Ling’s ice axes were only slightly deflected by the wind, not affecting their assault as they continued to chop down.

Seeing the Jade Fan was ineffective, Bian Shasha had no choice but to keep dodging the ice axes, looking quite disheveled in the process.

Like a rain of arrows filling the sky, Bian Shasha couldn’t dodge in time and got hit on the head by a huge ice axe, leaving her dazed.

Stunned briefly, she was then struck by even more and larger ice axes, knocking her unconscious on the spot.

Bian Shasha collapsed dramatically on the martial platform.

Once a side lost, the platform’s array would automatically transport the loser out of the Martial Arts Plaza, a measure to prevent disciples from intentionally attacking in retaliation.