Chapter 332 Zhong Cai's Pyrrhic Victory

Qin Leying is now a Spirit Transformation cultivator, while the Liu family is at most a Palace Constructor. When Qin Leying personally came to visit, the Liu family naturally felt somewhat apprehensive.

Fortunately, the Liu family was about to be merged into the main branch, so although they respected Qin Leying, they were not too afraid of him. Even if they were uneasy, they could quickly adjust their mood and regain their composure.

Therefore, when the Liu family head and his entourage came to greet Qin Leying, they showed mostly respect.

Before Qin Leying visited, he made inquiries from various sources and found out some things about the Liu family.

The Liu family kept their search for the treasure vault very secret. When the clansmen went out, it was just like their usual training. Even when several powerful individuals who were looking for high-level secret vaults went out together, they would always find an excuse—such as news of rare and precious materials in a certain place, news of dangerous ruins, etc.—in short, something that required them to work together to accomplish.

Therefore, the Qin family did not discover it.

The communication between the Liu family's collateral and main branches was also very secretive. However, when they first made contact, they left some clues. So, although the Qin family was unaware that the collateral and main branches were going to merge, they knew that the Liu family in Xinyu City had a very powerful relative. Therefore, when dealing with them, they could not use the same methods as when dealing with ordinary level six forces.

Therefore, Qin Leying visited in person, and his attitude was quite friendly.

Upon seeing this, the head of the Liu family naturally treated them with great hospitality.

As they got along...

The Qin family father and daughter explained the reason for their visit and expressed their gratitude to the two young and powerful individuals who had resolved the major problem for the Jiao family.

The Liu family head and other high-ranking members had already learned about this matter from the Liu sisters and had some guesses about the couple's identities. However, when facing the Qin family father and daughter, even though they respected them very much, they did not reveal their guesses. After all, the fact that the couple did not reveal their identities meant that they did not want too much trouble. Why would they spread the word?

After a conversation with the head of the Liu family and others, the Qin family father and daughter had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

Although the father and daughter wanted to befriend the two men, they couldn't force them, and their main purpose in coming was to express their gratitude.

The Qin family and the Liu family get along very well.

In addition, the conflict with the Jiao family was caused by several girls, so Qin Huayue also met with the Liu sisters.

They were all victims of Jiao Ye, and their strengths were roughly equal. Now that they had met, they vaguely felt a sense of mutual respect. After talking to each other, they found that they had similar interests and decided to become friends.

Those two young powerhouses are currently in seclusion. They possess the means to eliminate Jiao Laogui directly, and of course, they can easily deal with the Qin family head as well. They are not to be trifled with.

The Qin family head wasn't so arrogant as to insist that the other party come out of seclusion to meet him, and he also had many family affairs to attend to, so he simply left all the gifts of gratitude and asked the Liu family head to pass them on.

Patriarch Liu naturally agreed.

At the same time, the Qin family head also kept Qin Huayue behind.

Because Qin Huayue got along well with the Liu sisters, they decided to let her stay here to further deepen her relationship with the two sisters and accompany them to the place where the couple was in seclusion.

Whether she can hold out until those two emerge from the pass depends on her luck.

Qin Huayue can go back to Linyang City whenever she wants.

The Liu sisters had no objection to this.

With someone else by their side, they can also learn from each other, which not only helps them pass the time but also allows them to improve together.

And Qin Huayue...

While talking with the Liu sisters, she learned from them that one of the two young powerhouses was an alchemist who had cured their friend's sworn brother of a very troublesome poison.

For a moment, Qin Huayue was also very impressed and wanted to befriend that alchemist.

The Liu sisters and Qin Huayue certainly had a lot to talk about.

·

Time passes quickly in the land of all living beings.

Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan stayed in the Star Arena for several more days.

Wu Shaogan had been very successful, moving through the arena at lightning speed.

Even when surrounded by many young powerhouses, they couldn't do anything to him. No one knew how Wu Shaogan did it. He didn't even use many secret techniques, yet he prevented those powerhouses from having a chance to use their secret techniques or find the flaws in their techniques—and then he killed them all by defeating multiple opponents at once.

Later, the opponents assigned to him in the arena could only be among the best of the best at the same level. In the later stages, they not only had to be very strong in combat, but also able to cooperate quickly and complement each other, and increase the power of each other's attacks after cooperating.

This was enough to keep Wu Shaogan in check for a while, but often Wu Shaogan would make progress again soon after.

After Wu Shaogan made further progress, perhaps his comprehension also improved, he quickly saw through the obstacles that had previously trapped him, and immediately noticed the flaws that he had missed before.

The result was quickly determined.

Wu Shaogan dealt with these opponents and advanced to the next level.

As the game progresses, the speed at which opponents appear in the levels gradually slows down compared to the beginning.

The reason is simple—

The levels must be stronger in the later stages than in the early stages. So even though the free mode is truly free and the requirements for combat power in the opponent allocation of each level are not so rigid, there is still one thing to consider. If you adjust your combat power to the maximum and still can't defeat Wu Shaogan, how do you allocate opponents for so many later levels?

Therefore, among so many live-action films, the levels need to be carefully selected, and people can't just be thrown in "whoosh whoosh whoosh".

Wu Shaogan continued to pass through the checkpoints with remarkable stability.

Regardless of the strength of the opponents assigned to him in the Star Arena, Wu Shaogan has no weaknesses, and no one can stop him.

·

Compared to Wu Shaogan's smooth journey, Zhong Cai's journey was fraught with many twists and turns.

Initially, Zhong Cai only thought that it would be great if he could achieve a ten-game winning streak, but now that he has already achieved it, he will of course continue.

Shall we fight?

Fight until you can't win anymore!

Zhong Cai faces only one opponent at a time. As the opponent's abilities increase, Zhong Cai's integration with her learned secret techniques deepens day by day, and she progresses very quickly.

When he sparred with Wu Shaogan earlier, Wu Shaogan gave him a lot of guidance on combat techniques. At that time, he understood most of it in his mind but there was a difference in actual operation. But now, under the pressure from his opponent, he can continuously absorb these combat techniques and make them his own, making himself stronger and stronger.

However, Zhong Cai started getting injured around the seventeenth or eighteenth match.

That's alright. Zhong Cai has plenty of pills on hand. As long as he survives the battle, he can quickly recover and regain his strength while he rests.

By the time Zhong Cai reached his twentieth match, he had expended a great deal of energy and his injuries had become more severe—but he still managed to achieve his second ten-game winning streak!

Then, Zhong Cai continued to play.

The further they went, the brighter Zhong Cai's eyes became.

Admittedly, Zhong Cai is now very clear that his pursuit of alchemy is the most sincere, but he is also a passionate man! He doesn't usually have many opportunities to fight, but now he can stretch his muscles and bones to his heart's content on the Starlight Arena!

·

Zhong Cai also has requirements for her own combat ability.

Wu Shaogan is also one of them.

Although he always cherished Zhong Cai, he never forgot to suppress his own strength and spar with Zhong Cai whenever she was practicing her secret techniques, so that she could adapt to the rhythm of battle and improve her ability to adapt to combat.

·

In this world, alchemists mostly do not pay attention to their own martial prowess, because they usually have enough defensive treasures on them, as well as many offensive treasures and bodyguards—but those are all external forces.

If a special situation arises where all external forces are unavailable, the alchemist will find it difficult to protect himself—although such a situation is rare, perhaps only one in tens of thousands of alchemists will encounter, there is still a chance of something going wrong.

Wu Shaogan desperately didn't want Zhong Cai to encounter such a situation, yet he cared deeply for her and wanted her to have sufficient resilience to withstand risks. Therefore, even though Zhong Cai's talent was limited and her combat strength would improve at a slower pace as her cultivation level increased, with a Daoist partner like Wu Shaogan constantly accompanying and honing her skills at the right time, Zhong Cai's overall combat strength could still barely reach the upper tier among martial arts cultivators.

·

Now, Zhong Cai has completely let go. He has thrown his previous peaceful mindset for alchemy to the back of his mind. He is quite excited, and he becomes even more excited after each victory.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Who says alchemists can't kill martial arts cultivators!

He's already taken down dozens!

Zhong Cai's combat skills are improving at a visible rate.

He vaguely felt that he could gradually "understand" some of the combat experience that Lao Wu had told him, which he only had a vague impression of.

At the same time, he was even more able to judge how capable his old man, Lao Wu, was.

He truly lives up to his reputation as the main villain in the original book; he's someone to be feared...

His master, Wu, is only at the Fusion Realm, yet the abilities he has displayed are already terrifying.

Originally, with Zhong Cai's combat talent, he wouldn't have been able to see through the thinking of such a top martial arts genius. The reason he was able to see through many of Wu Shaogan's combat patterns was actually based on his understanding of Wu Shaogan himself and his instinctive reaction.

In reality, Zhong Cai only tacitly sensed the final answer, but he did not truly understand how the answer came about, nor could he find the correct solution when encountering similar questions later. Therefore, although he could see Lao Wu's every move, he was still completely clueless when facing other cultivators who were similar to but different from Lao Wu.

Now, with the constant battles, Zhong Cai's martial arts talent is being continuously stimulated.

Zhong Cai gradually began to truly understand some of the changes in his old man Wu's thinking, and vaguely saw some profound and unfathomable ideas that should have already reached a higher level, ideas that he could sense were terrifying but could not continue to study...

·

With this steady, albeit unpretentious, improvement, Zhong Cai persevered in subsequent battles and gradually emerged victorious.

The later the battle goes, the longer he will spend in a single engagement.

Sometimes a match can take three or four hours to completely drain the profound energy from both him and his opponent!

On another occasion, he and his opponent were almost evenly defeated, but he was able to slowly get back up and was declared the winner.

Afterwards, he stayed in the rest room, constantly reflecting on his mistakes and shortcomings during the fight. Only after making sufficient progress was he able to persevere and finish the next match, and once again barely managed to win...

Zhong Cai could feel that his combat skills had undergone a complete transformation compared to when he first entered the country.

·

On the ninth level of the arena.

The battle has reached a fever pitch.

Zhong Cai stood on the left side of the arena, holding the middle of a chain in her hand, her ten fingers almost white.

His face turned from pale to deathly white, and even his once rosy lips lost their color, making him sway and appear even weaker.

Although he looked weak and frail, if you looked ahead along the chain he was pulling, you would find that what was originally just two chains connecting the two ends now involved hundreds of chains!

At the end of each chain was a huge, spiked meteor hammer.

These chains and meteor hammers appear both real and illusory, as if they were solid entities, yet also as mere phantoms—in reality, the only true entity inside is a single chain and two connected hammerheads.

The other chains and meteor hammers that filled the sky were all formed from Zhong Cai's secret techniques—who told him to cultivate so many Five Elements secret techniques, as well as other combat secret techniques related to meteor hammers?

When combined, they can create such an exaggerated scene.

Now, each meteor hammer, like a real meteor, dances wildly in the air along different trajectories, constantly piercing the sky, bombarding, being pulled up, and continuing to bombard the entire arena.

The scene was extremely impressive.

The arena was covered with a large swamp.

Countless poisonous mists rose from the swamp. When a meteor fell into the swamp, it would be constantly swallowed by the swamp and corroded by the poisonous mist. However, because it was a hammer connected by chains, it could be easily pulled up and quickly escape the range of the poisonous mist.

The swamp attempts to devour the meteor, which is wreathed in purple-blue flames.

Some swamps swallowed up meteors and expanded again; others were swept away by meteors, leaving only flames that scorched and dried up much of the surrounding swamp mud, reducing it to nothing.

The arena wasn't entirely dominated by the opponent on the ground, with flail hammers scattered throughout the air—

Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that Zhong Cai herself is standing on a tree stump.

The cross-section of the tree stump was pressed tightly against the ground, as if it were flat, but many surging, protruding roots could be seen around it, spreading outwards from the arena. Its root system was very deep, and it should have controlled a lot of the arena, only covered by swamp mud. In fact, many roots, after taking root in it, actually controlled a lot of the swamp mud, preventing them from moving around.

Besides the tree stump with its extensive roots, many other large, lush trees also grew around Zhong Cai, though they were only partially visible and could only release some wood-attribute energy to help Zhong Cai control the situation.

Further away, on a patch of swampy mud that jutted out like a python's head, stood a young man dressed entirely in black, his body covered in strange patterns. He held a short whip, constantly stirring the swampy mud, driving it to move, continuously devouring the images of those large trees, and resisting the impact and counterattack of the meteors!

The two sides are currently locked in a stalemate.

Zhong Cai used all his secret techniques, some of which were attached to the meteor hammer, and some manifested as strange phenomena.

This was his best performance to date, and also the strongest opponent he had ever faced—he wanted to win!

Zhong Cai knew perfectly well that he wouldn't keep winning in martial arts battles, but he had already performed so well this time, and he just wanted to win!

So even though she had already pushed herself to the limit, Zhong Cai still forced herself to keep going.

Anyway, no one will die on the Star Arena. If he doesn't push himself to the limit now, when will he ever push himself to the limit?

Zhong Cai understood even more that the reason his husband, Lao Wu, was willing to stay away from him for such a long time and train separately was also due to this consideration.

Wu Shaogan would never be willing to push Zhong Cai to his limit, or rather, even if he wanted to be ruthless, he couldn't. So, in order for Zhong Cai to learn more combat skills in the face of life and death, and improve his ability to turn the tide and escape death, the only option was to let Zhong Cai go to the Starlight Arena to challenge and hone his skills.

Zhong Cai continued to squeeze out Xuan power.

He kept a close eye on the swampy mud, his body constantly shifting and dodging on the tree stump.

Because of the versatility of swamp mud, in addition to its ability to devour the power of others, swamp mud can also transform into countless earth spikes!

If Zhong Cai relaxes his guard even slightly, these earth spikes will suddenly erupt, attacking Zhong Cai like a drizzling rain!

That's pretty scary.

Even if Zhong Cai were only injured by a single thorn, he would be poisoned, his strength would be rapidly depleted, and he would quickly be defeated.

Fortunately, Zhong Cai never gave up his vigilance. No matter which direction or which patch of swamp the soil spikes came from, Zhong Cai either dodged or blocked them.

He was a master of many things, able to manipulate the giant trees and numerous meteor hammers around him to protect him at any time and eliminate any danger!

·

This fierce battle lasted for seven or eight hours.

Both Zhong Cai and his opponent had exhausted their profound energy. Neither the meteor shower nor the vast swamp had dissipated at some point. Only two young cultivators remained, fighting for their lives.

The opponent used two very strangely shaped hooks. Every move was extremely sharp and unpredictable, leaving people clueless. It seemed that they would attack from all directions and angles. Moreover, each time they would only make a faint sound of wind when they were almost touching the target, so that people could detect a clue.

Zhong Cai was on high alert.

If Wu Shaogan hadn't been so close to him, constantly scaring him and making him search for Wu Shaogan's angles, Zhong Cai would probably have been caught off guard and defeated the moment he lost the protection of his Xuan power.

Fortunately, he had been trained.

Zhong Cai was very perceptive of danger. Even though he hadn't heard any rumors, the other side's surprise attack was still a bit less covert than his old man Wu's.

Therefore, although Zhong Cai could not be 100% sure of his old man Wu's movements, he was able to catch sight of this young man in black.

Because of this, Zhong Cai was able to persevere in the fierce battle.

The opponent was very patient, but because his stamina was also dwindling, he wouldn't be able to launch attacks all the time. He needed to find the right opportunity to strike decisively.

However, Zhong Cai blocked her every time.

Next time, the opponent will be more careful.

Both sides were on edge.

Nobody wants to admit defeat.

In addition to physical exertion, the mental energy expenditure is also enormous.

Zhong Cai needed to concentrate fully on sensing the opponent's surprise attack, while the opponent focused intently on finding Zhong Cai's weaknesses and launching a surprise attack.

The two were truly evenly matched.

Continue, continue, and continue again...

Both of them were covered in sweat.

Zhong Cai's face had gone from pale to showing a rosy glow, but this did not mean that Zhong Cai's condition was improving. On the contrary, it meant that she was about to reach a certain limit, indicating that Zhong Cai's condition was on the verge of collapse.

The opponent's face was ashen, barely holding on by sheer willpower.

The pace of their fighting also slowed down considerably.

It all came down to willpower.

If we were to determine who wins and who loses on the Star Arena now... then it would probably be based on who dies first.

After another incense stick burns...

Zhong Cai was having extreme difficulty breathing.

The opponent's pupils were somewhat unfocused.

In another instant...

The opponent's face suddenly went blank, and then he fell straight backward.

He died.

In this battle against death, Zhong Cai ultimately won!

At that very moment, the opponent transformed into a streak of blue light and vanished from the opposite side.

Zhong Cai was also completely exhausted and collapsed to the ground.

He breathed slowly, trying to regain some strength.

However, for the time being, Zhong Cai was completely unable to move.

Suddenly, an invisible force lifted him up and carried him into the lounge.

With a thought, a bottle of pills appeared beside Zhong Cai.

The Starlight Arena was quite considerate; it opened the pill bottle and released a Rainbow Pill, which was then placed directly into Zhong Cai's mouth and fed to her.

The surging medicinal power transformed into a warm current, rapidly flowing throughout Zhong Cai's body, soothing away all her fatigue inch by inch.

About half an hour later, Zhong Cai's complexion became rosy, a healthy kind of rosy.

He slowly propped himself up and said somewhat dejectedly, "I'm really terrible at this."

I almost didn't recover!

His combat effectiveness still needs to be improved!

but……

Zhong Cai is now pondering another question.

He has now reached his thirtieth match and finally completed his third ten-match streak. But there are still battles to come. Will he participate in them as well?

Zhong Cai sighed silently.

Although thirty games was already a lot for him, he could imagine that his husband, Lao Wu, must have already passed many more hurdles.

So, should he go out and wait for Lao Wu, or try again?

Zhong Cai hesitated for a moment.

He'll most likely lose the next match.

However, perhaps... he should try again.

It would be best to win, but it's okay if we don't.

Let's not retreat without a fight.