“Prosper Together”——
Wen Xuan: “I acted pretty well, didn't I? After my opponent was knocked off, he even grumbled about having bad luck and said he almost won.”
Mu Chenze: “He’s already been fooled by you. Future opponents won't be on their guard either.”
Wen Xuan: “There are so many matches ahead. If they get wary, they might look for specific ways to counter us. It's better to fake it as much as possible in the early stages.”
Lu Heyun: “What kind of scheme is this? It's a bit dirty.”
Jiang Yao: “Martial Uncle Lu, haven't you read 《New Disciple Xiaosheng's Remarks》? Ningyun said we should beat them at their own game.”
Gu Ningyun: “In practice, it's ‘appearing incapable when one is capable.’”
Yang Churan: “Pretending you can't win when you clearly can—you're so clever, Ningyun!”
Gu Ningyun: “Actually, this was proposed by a strategist named Sun Wu. It's one of the twelve arts of deception. I just learned it and applied it.”
Mu Chenze: “That senior is amazing. Ningyun, do you have his book? Can I borrow it?”
Gu Ningyun: “I read it when I was a kid. I don't know where it went.”
Mu Chenze: “Fair enough.”
Just then, several gasps suddenly erupted from outside.
The group withdrew their divine sense and looked toward the arena.
On Arena 6, a young girl unleashed a bolt of thunder-attribute sword qi, instantly shattering the water shield of the boy opposite her.
The boy dodged the flickering lightning and threw out an earth wall talisman, forming a solid circle of earth in front of him that protected him thoroughly.
But before he could counterattack, the girl's second sword strike arrived, making the wall shudder.
Then came the third strike, the fourth...
By the sixth strike, the earth wall was shattered by her final blow, and the boy was swept off the stage by the aftershock of the sword qi.
Looking at the exploding earth and stone and the boy's pale face, Gu Ningyun’s expression turned solemn.
“Earth counters thunder, yet she shattered that earth wall with sword qi. She didn't rely on thunder-attribute energy, but on the pure intensity of her sword qi.”
Jiang Yao added, “I remember her. She’s Ling Hanbai, ranked third in 《New Disciple Xiaosheng's Remarks》, a sword dao talent. Qin Xiaosheng noted that she hasn't studied the four arts of cultivation at all. She spends all her time honing her sword. Among the new disciples, she is undoubtedly the number one in sword dao.”
“She’s very strong,” Wen Xuan said. “I’m probably no match for her.”
“You won't know until you fight,” Jun Luo replied.
Gu Ningyun could hear the fighting spirit in Jun Luo's voice. She looked at the lingering sword qi Ling Hanbai had left on the stage, wondering if the girl was easy to get along with. If she had the chance, she’d like to meet her and invite her for a spar after the competition.
Over the following hours, they continued to watch the duels. They observed the combat styles and techniques to refine their own skills while also learning about their potential opponents, following the principle of knowing oneself and one's enemy.
Eventually, Mu Chenze’s identity jade token lit up, signaling the start of the ninth match on Arena 8.
His opponent was a boy at the early stage of Qi Refining level four, with a cultivation level equal to his own. The boy held a peach wood sword.
Contrary to the array-based combat recorded in 《New Disciple Xiaosheng's Remarks》, Mu Chenze didn't use arrays at all. Instead, he controlled a folding fan to duel with the boy.
The boy seemed to have practiced some kind of earth-attribute sword style. With every swing, a cloud of dust and sand rose toward Mu Chenze.
Mu Chenze waved his folding fan to sweep the dust aside as he rapidly closed the distance.
The ribs of the fan scraped against the peach wood sword, sending out piercing sparks.
The boy tilted his blade, and earth spirit energy swirled with fine sand, sweeping toward Mu Chenze’s face.
Mu Chenze used a movement technique to shift behind the boy. Simultaneously, with a flick of his wrist, the folding fan flew out, circling halfway around the boy's neck before returning to Mu Chenze’s hand.
The boy narrowly avoided the strike to his neck and quickly took several steps to the left. Having pulled away, he gripped his sword and stared warily at Mu Chenze.
The massive arena was now covered in swirling dust. Through the haze, Gu Ningyun could barely make out the details of the fight.
For some reason, looking at the sand and soil spread across the arena, she felt something was off.
The two engaged in close combat again. After trading several blows, the boy swung his sword, and the sand all over the arena began to swirl around Mu Chenze. It quickly formed a small sand tornado that trapped him inside.
Gu Ningyun realized that the dust had been part of the boy’s sword technique all along.
Perhaps because the boy could only control earth spirit energy, the sand tornado didn't rotate very quickly. Gu Ningyun couldn't help but wonder what kind of power a tornado would have if her wind spirit energy were combined with this move.
While she was thinking, a water ball suddenly popped out of the yellow tornado. Mu Chenze, supported by a water shield, charged out of the dust. His movement technique shifted rapidly, putting distance between him and the tornado in the blink of an eye.
By now, his water shield was covered in wet sand, making it look like an earthen ball that had trapped him inside.
Earth counters water.
At this moment, Gu Ningyun realized for the first time just how powerful elemental counters could be. If this dust tornado had faced a wood spirit root, it probably wouldn't have been so effective.
If she could think of the five elements' cycle of suppression, Mu Chenze certainly could too.
After breaking out of the earth ball, he pushed his movement technique to its limit. No matter how the boy tried to control it, he didn't let the sand tornado touch him again. Meanwhile, he used his folding fan to tie up the boy’s peach wood sword.
After a dozen more moves, the boy showed a weakness while trying to control both his sword and the tornado. Mu Chenze seized the opening, lunged forward, caught his spinning fan, and knocked the boy off the stage.
Without the boy’s control, the sand tornado collapsed, scattering across the entire arena.
Gu Ningyun heard gasps from the seats near Arena 8.
“Earth counters water. I thought he was a goner for sure.”
“What a brilliant duel!”
“That was too close.”
“His movement technique is so fast. I wouldn't even know how to fight him.”
“What’s his name? Qin Xiaosheng didn't mention any new disciple using a folding fan.”
“I saw him come down from the Ruiyu Pavilion area during the wait. Excluding the two girls, the ice sword cultivator, and the gold spear cultivator...”
Before he could finish, another disciple shouted, “So he’s Mu Chenze! I thought he was an array cultivator!”
“I told you Qin Xiaosheng’s jade slips can't be fully trusted.”
...
Mu Chenze’s refusal to use arrays and his reliance on the folding fan was also part of their plan. As they had just heard the other disciples discuss, others besides them could find the flaws in Qin Xiaosheng’s jade slips.
If all their fighting styles matched what was written in the slips, it would actually look too suspicious. With Mu Chenze’s subversion of expectations, it allowed their opponents to 'confirm' their suspicions and become even more certain of their incorrect judgments about Ruiyu Pavilion.
When the false is taken for true, the true becomes false. When the true is taken for false, the false becomes true.
Only by mixing the false with the true could this strategy continue to work.
Mu Chenze’s match had lasted quite a while. On Arena 2, the tenth match had already ended, and the eleventh was about to begin.
At the same time, Gu Ningyun’s identity jade token began to glow with a green light.
Rate on N.U.
