Chapter 155: Song Yu, Junior Brother Song!

Ling Qinghe instinctively tried to resist, but for a moment he had no idea how best to respond. Gritting his teeth, he turned his palm into a blade and struck down hard at Lu Dong’s primal force.

Yet Lu Dong’s primal force truly contained the True Intent of Resilience. After taking the blow, it merely swayed slightly, showing no sign of breaking.

In the instant that Ling Qinghe was distracted, he discovered that the primal force Lu Dong had released had already coiled around him like a serpent, binding him four or five times over.

“Why, Lu Dong has matured quite a bit!”

“He’s been through several real battles, after all. Dealing with a fledgling like this is child’s play for him. It may be a member of the Jiang family, but without enough combat experience, anyone can be beaten to death…”

“Not bad. That was a fine move. Wood-element primal force isn’t particularly strong in direct attacks, so Lu Dong chose a more versatile method. He really has improved considerably!”

The Windcloud Guards watching from the sidelines discussed and assessed the fight at their leisure, not the least bit tense.

Looking at the confidence on Lu Dong’s face, Ling Qinghe nodded slowly. The Windcloud Guards truly were an excellent place to temper oneself. When Lu Dong had first joined, he had only barely passed the requirements, and his strength had lagged far behind. Now, however, he had clearly made tremendous progress. Aside from his own efforts, the assistance of the Windcloud Guards had also been indispensable.

“You…”

Jiang Zihe faltered for a moment, then forcibly composed himself. His primal force surged as he tried to break free of the restraints.

“Ha!”

He expelled a powerful breath, his face flushing red as the muscles throughout his body bulged. In an instant, he unleashed every ounce of his strength.

Jiang Zihe’s foundation in body refinement was fairly solid, but there was nothing especially remarkable about his physical strength. Water-element primal force was not suited to such exertion in the first place, and the True Intent he had comprehended offered him no help whatsoever. His explosive burst of power merely enlarged Lu Dong’s bindings somewhat.

Could it be…

Luo Tian’s eyes lit up. If Jiang Zihe were defeated head-on or knocked from the martial arena, the match would naturally be over. But if Lu Dong restrained him until he could no longer resist, then threw him out, that would count as a victory as well.

That was indeed a good solution.

Lu Dong’s Transformation True Intent had reached the minor-achievement stage, allowing the primal force he released outside his body to possess some of the characteristics of wood-element life forms for a short time. Combined with his Control True Intent, which had also reached minor achievement, the vine of primal force was wielded with remarkable ease.

Add to that his True Intent of Resilience—which, though only at the entry level, was already approaching minor achievement—and Jiang Zihe had no hope of breaking free.

“Rise!”

A smile touched the corners of Lu Dong’s lips. He exerted force with his arm, and the vine formed from primal force effortlessly dragged Jiang Zihe off the ground.

“Damn it!”

Jiang Zihe panicked at once. He gritted his teeth and struggled desperately, but with both feet off the ground, he had nowhere to draw strength from. In such a situation, he could hardly employ any techniques either. The brief moment of distraction was already more than enough for Lu Dong to end the fight.

Looking at his opponent, whose entire body was blazing with yellow light, a trace of smugness flashed through Lu Dong’s eyes. As an official member of the Windcloud Guards, what he most enjoyed was defeating cultivators whose primal-force cultivation surpassed his own. The thrill was even better than strolling through the Ten Thousand Fragrance Pavilion.

“Jiang Zihe…”

Zhao Zhiping swallowed with difficulty. He simply could not understand how someone so formidable could reveal such obvious weakness after only a few exchanges with a Windcloud Guard, and now be on the verge of suffering a crushing defeat.

Although Ling Qinghe’s earlier rules had not explicitly stated that leaving the arena counted as a loss, everyone understood the matter perfectly well. If it did not count as defeat, why have a martial arena at all?

Besides, even without such a rule, Jiang Zihe was unquestionably no match for Lu Dong.

The gap between them was simply too great. Apart from having somewhat higher primal-force cultivation than Lu Dong, Jiang Zihe was inferior to him in nearly every other respect.

Otherwise, how could he have been reduced to helpless submission after only thirteen breaths?

“Junior Brother Jiang… please.”

Lu Dong was enjoying himself, but he did not relax his vigilance. He even spoke deliberately to disturb Jiang Zihe’s state of mind.

In the short span of a dozen or so breaths, Lu Dong had said those words twice: once at the beginning of the match, just before they exchanged blows, and once now, as he prepared to send Jiang Zihe out of the arena.

The same five words, in the same place, spoken in an entirely ordinary tone—and yet, because the circumstances were different, they produced completely different effects.

After hearing them, Jiang Zihe’s expression grew even uglier. In the blink of an eye, his face shifted from red to black, clearly holding back a bellyful of rage with nowhere to vent it.

Luo Tian watched with great satisfaction. Qin Tianyu’s memories did contain some experience of battles between cultivators in the Meridian Flow realm, but he had only truly begun gaining experience after reaching the Origin Core realm, so his knowledge was comparatively limited. Now that he could witness combat at the Meridian Flow level among the Windcloud Guards, the benefits to Luo Tian were undoubtedly far greater.

After speaking, Lu Dong threw Jiang Zihe out without the slightest hesitation. Naturally, he controlled his strength with precision, withdrawing his primal force only when Jiang Zihe was nearly at the ground.

“Good!”

“Beautifully done!”

Several Windcloud Guards behind them began cheering. They especially enjoyed watching these supposedly favored geniuses from outside suffer setbacks at their hands.

Even Windcloud Guards who came from the same clan or sect would never hold back during an assessment. They carried out this duty with complete seriousness.

The Windcloud Guards dealt in dangerous work to begin with. Those lacking sufficient strength would only be throwing their lives away by joining them. Only those who possessed enough ability and genuine potential were worth cultivating, and only they could reap greater rewards before being thrust into life-and-death battles.

When the dejected Jiang Zihe returned, the youths taking part in the assessment exchanged uneasy glances.

Even the disciples from the various sects and the few clans of Ten Thousand Winds City could not help feeling a touch of sympathy for him, and their former hostility diminished somewhat. No matter how one looked at it, Jiang Zihe was now on the same side as them.

He represented the highest level among all those taking part in this round of assessments.

If even he had lost so quickly, what hope did they have?

Their spirits inevitably sank.

“Is anyone else volunteering to fight?” Ling Qinghe asked with a faint smile. “Those who volunteer may choose their opponents. If I have to call on people at random later, then whoever gets picked will have to fight whoever they draw!”

In truth, there was little difference either way. Whether the Windcloud Guard who took the field was a second-transformation or third-transformation cultivator, they would carefully control their strength. Anyone who seemed worth cultivating would be allowed to last the full ten breaths, while those who clearly could not manage it would be sent down as soon as possible, lest they lose their lives.

“Commander Ling, I’ll fight!”

Luo Tian stepped forward, his voice ringing with force.

“You?”

Ling Qinghe’s face twitched. It seemed the boy intended to choose a second-transformation Meridian Flow cultivator. As expected, he might even choose Lu Dong. After all, Lu Dong had only a few tricks at his disposal, and Luo Tian had already seen through most of them. He had probably devised a plan to stall for time.

Damn it!

Ling Qinghe wanted to stop him, but he truly had no suitable excuse. He could only swallow his frustration and accept the decision. He had never imagined that Luo Tian could be so cunning.

“Very well. Whom do you choose as your opponent?”

“Song Yu—Junior Brother Song!”

Luo Tian fixed his bright, unwavering gaze on the figure in the distance, his voice resolute. (To be continued.)