"Time flies so fast!" Mu Qing was a little surprised. It felt like only a short time had passed, but it was already time to close.
She was somewhat unsatisfied; she wasn't particularly interested in martial arts, yet this battle had lasted nearly ten hours. Fortunately, her stamina was restored to some extent each time she revived, otherwise she really wouldn't have been able to endure it.
Stepping out of the arena, it was already late, and the inn was brightly lit. Mu Qing looked back at the arena, feeling content.
Although her strength hasn't yet broken through to a new level, both her movement techniques and her proficiency in martial arts have improved significantly compared to before. More importantly, she experienced exhilarating thrills in the arena.
Almost everyone who entered the arena shared the same feeling as her: the number of people at the arena entrance was increasing, and complaints about the arena's short opening hours could be heard from time to time.
"What a pity! I was so close to passing, how did the time run out?"
"I'm in an even worse situation. I didn't even have a chance to participate in the lottery before the news broke. Oh God, can't I go back and try again?"
"I want to spend all day in the arena, I don't want to rest!"
"Haha, I got a pair of speed shoes! I'm even faster now!" Someone laughed triumphantly, showing off to those around them.
"Brother, are you selling these shoes? I'll offer a high price."
“I’ll also offer a high price.”
"Go away, these are shoes with attributes, I'm not selling them, you can draw them yourselves if you want them."
The crowd groaned incessantly, wishing they could burst through the arena gates. The swordsman who almost missed the draw even collapsed to the ground, pounding his fist in regret.
Mu Qing twitched her lips. She thought she had lasted long enough in the arena, but she didn't expect that almost everyone who entered the arena never came out.
She looked at the shoes on the swordsman's feet with immense envy; it was the first time she had ever heard of shoes with attributes.
"Hey, look, there's a ranking here."
Mu Qing looked up at the sound and saw several lines of large characters on a stone tablet on one side of the arena.
"Western Region Mad Dragon, Trial Level 3, progress 70%, ranked first."
Jiang Fengyu of the Guiyi faction is in the third trial stage, with a progress of 58%, ranking second.
..."
The stone tablet displayed rankings from first to tenth, all of whom were renowned figures in the martial arts world.
"Haha, I entered the arena too late, I didn't expect to get first place by chance, thank you for the honor." Xicheng Kuanglong was a swordsman wielding a large sword, his muscles showing that he was quite strong.
"Hmph, my Guiyi Sect has many experts, but they just didn't come today," Jiang Fengyu replied somewhat unconvinced.
The appearance of the rankings immediately piqued the interest of those in the martial arts world who had previously paid no attention. No one wanted to miss leaving their name on the stone tablet; it was a symbol of strength.
Mu Qing sighed with some regret. The tenth-ranked person had already reached 80% of the second stage, while she hadn't even reached 40%. At this moment, she realized once again that there were many masters in the martial arts world, especially those rogue cultivators.
Moreover, this is only the first day the arena has been open, and more and more experts will come to challenge it in the future.
Mu Qing felt a sense of urgency; she could foresee that this ranking would become a key battleground for various forces in the martial arts world.
Jiang Fengyu returned to his room and quickly sent a message back to his sect via carrier pigeon regarding the arena incident. If he wasn't mistaken, he had just seen the Pavilion Master of Tianyin Pavilion at the arena entrance.
With the decline of Mingyue Manor and the waning influence of Tianyin Pavilion, the Guiyi Sect now holds absolute power in the martial world. However, Jiang Fengyu believes this is only temporary.
Although the Holy Spring is not enough to rapidly improve one's martial arts skills, if the overall strength of everyone in the sect is improved, the Tianyin Pavilion's influence in the martial arts world will become increasingly significant.
Compared to those independent cultivators, the Heavenly Sound Pavilion, a powerful force, was undoubtedly more daunting to the Guiyi Sect.
Unfortunately, because of the matter of Mingyue Manor and Shi Xinyi, the sect leader seemed to have some reservations about the inn. He had originally allowed people from the sect to come to the inn, but although he did not prohibit them later, he showed his displeasure in his attitude.
Seeing their sect leader's attitude, the others tactfully left the inn one after another. He, however, was quite obsessed with martial arts and, for the sake of the inn's sacred spring, insisted on not returning to the sect.
As a result, he was unwittingly ostracized by the entire sect.
Jiang Fengyu shook his head with a wry smile, recalling the attitude of everyone towards him when he returned to the sect last time. He had originally planned to experience the arena once and then return to the sect, but now he had changed his mind.
He had been in Guiyi Sect for several years and used to think that the sect leader was fair in rewarding and punishing and decisive in handling matters. But since Shi Xinyi appeared, he has truly come to understand the sect leader's character.
He felt that the new term he had recently learned, "love-struck," was quite suitable for the sect leader. He wondered what was so charming about Shi Xinyi's mother that made the sect leader do all sorts of irrational things, even though she had been dead for so long.
Moreover, the mentality of the people in the sect has also changed. They all show an arrogant attitude towards the outside world, no longer as humble and low-key as before, which makes Jiang Fengyu very unhappy.
"Forget it, I'll just relay the message back to the sect. As for how the sect decides to proceed, that's beyond my control," Jiang Fengyu sighed.
He was determined to die in the arena, and he would accept it even if the sect leader mistreated him or expelled him for it.
Like Jiang Fengyu, Mu Qing also wanted the entire sect to enter the arena to compete for rankings. On the night she came out of the arena, she summoned a group of elders to arrange matters related to entering the arena for trials.
"Sect Master, if we fail to make it into the top ten, won't that damage the reputation of Tianyin Pavilion?" someone asked worriedly.
Mu Qing gave a bitter smile: "Do you think that without the ranking, the reputation of our Tianyin Pavilion will still be the same as before? I thought you had all come to terms with the facts, but I didn't expect you to still be clinging to your past glory and unable to admit it."
The crowd lowered their heads in shame. Ever since Bright Moon Manor lost power, they had believed themselves to be one of the only three major forces in the martial world, almost letting this title cloud their judgment. The Pavilion Master's rebuke brought many of them back to their senses.
"The Sect Master is right; we misunderstood. Please share your specific experiences with us, so that we disciples can make some preparations after entering."
Mu Qing shook her head. "I only passed the first level, so I don't have much experience. Besides, if you want to improve your skills, you can't take shortcuts. By the way, there will be a lottery after each level. To encourage the disciples to improve, let them keep the prizes they win."
Seeing the pavilion master's nonchalant manner, everyone assumed the prizes were nothing of value, so no one objected.
Mu Qing could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. She was quite looking forward to watching the show. She wondered if they would still be so calm when they saw their disciples win the grand prize.
Soon, under the arrangement of the elders, the Tianyin Pavilion members entered the arena one after another. Then they discovered that the inn actually had such an interesting place to practice martial arts.
Especially after getting used to death, the people of Tianyin Pavilion began to fully enjoy the fun of the trial.
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