“This wooden token seems to have been crafted with some sort of artifact-refining technique to link it to this recording stone.”
Jiang Yao scratched the back of his head. “It’s a pity my artifact-refining skills aren’t high enough to figure it out yet.”
“Perfected Person Ye mentioned earlier that our performance in the secret realm would be reflected on the recording stone at Fighting Peak through these tokens. It must be through this connection,” Gu Ningyun said after a moment of thought.
Jiang Yao added, “I know that part, but normally, recording stones are used for recording, saving, and replaying. They can’t do real-time projections. I’m curious about the technique the Artifact Peak used to link the token and the stone so that the token's visuals can be synchronized to the stone in real-time.”
While they were discussing this, the inner sect martial uncle finished distributing the wooden tokens and left the arena.
Perfected Person Ye flew into the air and threw a large yellow disc above the arena.
The disc spun and cast down a beam of warm yellow light, enveloping all the new disciples on the arena.
“This is the secret realm key that connects to the team competition realm. In ten breaths, you will be teleported into the secret realm. Remember Xiaoyao’s bottom line, and be careful in everything.”
Ten breaths later, a feeling of resistance and pushing, slightly stronger than that of a teleportation array, washed over them.
Upon landing, Gu Ningyun immediately pulled out her guqin and cast a sound shield around herself and her companions before taking in their surroundings.
She had landed on a grassy field. Only her four partners from Ruiyu Pavilion were with her; there were no disciples from other groups in sight.
Jiang Yao said, “This secret realm should be specifically for the New Disciple Competition. I noticed earlier that the secret realm key had a strange connection with the wooden tokens. It seems that during the teleportation, the key uses the group assignments on the tokens to send each team to the same location.”
Mu Chenze nodded. “It is a team competition, after all. The weakest demon beasts here are at the rank one late stage. Being alone would be very dangerous.”
“Which way should we go?” Wen Xuan asked, her eyes instinctively turning toward Gu Ningyun.
The other three also gathered around Gu Ningyun.
Since the start of the New Disciple Competition, Gu Ningyun had been the coordinator, while the other four were responsible for providing input and cooperation. After all their matches, they had come to trust her judgment completely.
Gu Ningyun looked around and pointed to the forest on the left. “In the demon beast chapter of the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》, it says most demon beasts like to hide in forests. Let’s head in and find a rank one late stage and a rank one peak demon beast to test their strength. Then we can decide how to proceed.”
“Sounds good.”
Not long after entering the forest, the five of them encountered a brute bull.
Jiang Yao’s eyes lit up. “A rank one late stage brute bull. It’s thick-skinned, sturdy, and has high defense. It excels at attacking with its horns and tail. Its weaknesses are the joints of its four hooves.”
“I know that! The demon beast chapter of the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 says brute bull meat is delicious and perfect for roasting!” Wen Xuan said, licking her lips.
The brute bull had originally been ignoring them, but upon hearing Wen Xuan’s words, it immediately fumed with rage. It pawed the ground with its hooves and prepared to charge at them.
Gu Ningyun glanced at the sound shields on everyone. The remaining spirit energy in the shields could last for another fifteen minutes. She put away her guqin and drew her peach wood sword.
“Spread out and surround it!” Gu Ningyun shifted her stance to avoid the brute bull’s charge and shouted, “Don’t attack its weaknesses yet. Let’s test its strength first!”
Mu Chenze waved his folding fan, firing three water arrows that struck the brute bull’s neck, but they only left three faint white marks.
“Its defense is indeed impressive!”
He jumped to dodge the brute bull’s tail and threw out a water ball, trapping the bull’s head inside. “Heh, let’s see if I can’t suffocate you.”
The brute bull shook its head, but seeing that it couldn’t shake off the water ball, its horns began to glow with a brown light.
Immediately after, the water ball turned into an earth ball, which the brute bull controlled to drop to the ground. After resolving the water ball, the brute bull even gave Mu Chenze a contemptuous look.
Mu Chenze twirled his folding fan, his spirit energy surging as he prepared to use a powerful move to teach it a lesson.
Wen Xuan, carrying her mace, leaped up and struck the brute bull’s left cheek. “You’re just roast beef! Who are you looking down on?”
The mace came too fast and too hard for the brute bull to avoid. Its head was knocked to the side, and it stood there dazed for a long while.
“Even that didn’t break its neck. No wonder they say its weakness is in its leg joints.”
Jiang Yao used his spear tip to stab the brute bull’s belly, producing a sound that made one’s teeth ache. When he pulled back his spear, there was only a white mark on the bull’s belly.
Gu Ningyun and Jun Luo exchanged a glance and both struck with their swords.
Gu Ningyun’s wind-attribute sword qi was faster, streaking straight for the brute bull’s neck. In an instant, it left a thin line around its neck. Jun Luo’s ice-attribute sword qi followed, severing the brute bull’s tail in the blink of an eye. A layer of transparent ice froze over the stump, preventing any blood from flowing out.
“Thud!”
The smell of blood filled the air.
The five of them looked past the bull’s tail toward the source of the sound. They saw that the once-living bull’s head had fallen to the ground. The cut on its neck was clean and beautiful, and blood was gushing from the wound.
Jun Luo quickly followed up with another strike, using ice to seal the wound on the neck.
Jiang Yao took out a storage bag meant specifically for the secret realm and stored the brute bull’s corpse inside.
Wen Xuan cast a fire on the ground, controlling it to burn away the bloodstains. Since they were still going to be active in the area, it was better to clean up the scene.
Smelling the lingering scent of blood in the air, Gu Ningyun said, “Let’s find a rank one peak demon beast and try again. Wen Xuan, Jiang Yao, Chenze—this time, use your big moves directly on its weaknesses.”
...
Half an hour later, a rank one peak brute bull lay on the ground with all four of its legs broken, having lost its ability to move. Its horns continuously formed brown earth balls to hurl at them.
At the bull’s joints, the left hind leg joint still had traces of scorching fire spirit energy, and the flesh bore several tooth marks as if it had been bitten by a dense set of mace spikes. The right hind leg joint was wet, as if the bone had been forced apart by a stream of water. The two front leg joints bore marks from a spear, looking as though the bones had been twisted and broken.
Jiang Yao used his spear tip to keep the bull’s attacking horns in check, while Wen Xuan used her mace to pin down the bull’s hard and flexible tail.
This time, Mu Chenze didn’t hold back. Two water arrows shot into the brute bull’s nostrils, and a continuous stream of water poured into its lungs. Before long, the brute bull died with blood flowing from its mouth and nose.
After storing the brute bull’s corpse, Jiang Yao punched Mu Chenze’s shoulder. “You rascal, that’s a pretty devious move!”
“Did you use the water to burst its internal organs?” Gu Ningyun asked curiously.
Mu Chenze unfolded his fan and gave a smug smile. “This brute bull has a high cultivation level, so it wouldn't die from just a short lack of oxygen. I figured that while its hide is tough, it probably doesn’t have armor on the inside. I tried it with the water, and it really did burst its lungs and heart.”
By now, Wen Xuan had finished cleaning up the scene. Gu Ningyun looked at her companions, who were filled with fighting spirit and confidence, and felt a surge of excitement herself.
“We now have a general understanding of the strength of rank one peak and rank one late stage demon beasts. Killing them one by one like this is too slow. I’ve come up with an idea.”
She looked around and chose a direction where some mountain rocks were visible. “Come on, let’s find a safe place to talk in detail.”
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