Chapter 55: Fifty-Five Cuts "Why are you being so obedient?"...
The moment Wei Qing made his move, Luo Mingshu knew that this person was not an easy opponent to deal with.
Although she didn't know how a junior disciple who had only been a disciple for a few decades could have such strength, Luo Mingshu had only one goal at this moment: to win—and to win in a way that would thwart his plans.
Her wrist, holding the spear, flicked backward, the red-tasseled spear touching the ground, sparks flying from the white jade floor. Wei Qing's strike, imbued with hidden power, flowed through her meridians, subtly corroding them under his control.
The long, red-tasseled spear bent, tracing a crescent moon arc on the ground. Luo Mingshu, with her graceful figure, leaned against the spear shaft, using the force to spring up and fly into the sky.
At this moment, blue water surged beneath her feet. Like the red-tasseled spear, this water was extremely resilient and split into several water tornadoes that rushed towards Wei Qing.
The amazing thing about this competition is that both sides' spells are both tough and flexible. Wei Qing's personality is like that, so it's not surprising that his spells have this attribute. But Luo Mingshu has a fiery temper, so she shouldn't have anything to do with the water attribute.
Once Luo Mingshu used the water tornado as cover to get close again, Wei Qing realized how terrifying she was. The red-tasseled spear she wielded, seemingly slender and fragile, was actually extremely flexible and resilient. Combined with her own water magic, it worked perfectly. The tip of the spear touched the defensive array around him, breaking through the surface and striking the weak point, almost shattering his defenses.
Wei Qing dared not be negligent. Dark green light appeared in his palm. He had entered the Dao with the Wood Spirit Root and had not used his familiar spells for a long time since his ascension. Unexpectedly, under Luo Mingshu's coercion, he was about to use his true strength.
Even though his cultivation level was suppressed to the Nascent Soul stage, his understanding of magic was much deeper than Luo Mingshu's. The dark green light spots surrounded Luo Mingshu, like ghosts and phantoms.
Luo Mingshu used her red-tasseled spear to disperse the light spots, but they clung to her as if they were fish attracted by a fishy smell. The dark green light spots absorbed her water flow and continued to grow until the annoying vines wrapped around her magic weapon.
Luo Mingshu's attacks were all heavy blows, without holding back at all. Caught off guard, her red-tasseled spear was pulled, and a "crackling" sound came from her wrist bones as she almost lost it.
As a result, her offensive slowed down, and Wei Qing seized the opportunity. He knew that he no longer had the right to control the outcome of this competition. Controlling a draw was more difficult than winning, so he could only settle for second best and completely control the victory in this battle so that he could have complete control in the subsequent trials.
Wei Qing flipped his palm down, and a green leaf appeared in his closed palm. At the same time, mist-like seeds rushed towards Luo Mingshu. They pierced through the waterspout and flew straight to Luo Mingshu's front.
Seeing this, Luo Mingshu mustered all her strength, shook off the vines from the red-tasseled spear, twirled the spear in front of her, and used the shockwave to protect her heart and head. Seeds like green mist landed on her limbs.
Wei Qing raised his head, a determined light flashing in his eyes, and said to Luo Mingshu, "I'm sorry, Senior Sister Luo."
He used this move out of desperation; it exceeded the scope that a Nascent Soul cultivator should possess. In order to win, he had no choice but to break through a barrier in his body and temporarily restore his strength as an ascended cultivator.
Upon hearing this move, Xie Changming, the only one in Xuantian Mansion who could see through his cultivation level, lowered his eyes and became solemn. He stared straight at Wei Qing, unable to hold back his attack.
Wei Qing was clearly an ascended cultivator from the Heavenly Realm, yet he used his formidable cultivation to suppress his opponent during the duel.
The next instant, blood splattered all over Luo Mingshu's body. The seeds were buried in her body, took root and sprouted, destroying her flesh and meridians. Wei Qing, a cultivator with a wood spirit root, actually had such a ruthless killing move.
Most contests between cultivators involve testing each other with spells, so this violent attack method stunned all the cultivators present.
Luo Mingshu felt excruciating pain throughout her body. With her cultivation level, she naturally couldn't see through Wei Qing's strength to what extent. However, she only knew that she couldn't lose.
Losing to someone like that would be incredibly humiliating.
Blood dripped from between her fingers. Luo Mingshu gripped the red-tasseled spear tightly, bending the shaft to its limit. Luo Mingshu flew forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Wei Qing had just broken through his own power barrier and was suffering from the backlash, so he was currently recuperating. He didn't want to use such a spell, but without it, he couldn't win; the pressure from Luo Mingshu was too intense.
Luo Mingshu suddenly leaped up, and to his surprise, his pupils contracted sharply as the red-tasseled spear trembled and headed straight for his neck.
Wei Qing put his hands behind his back, turned his head, and dodged to the side. The tip of the spear grazed his neck, leaving a bloody mark.
Green vines wrapped around Luo Mingshu's body again, and her hands were tightly bound, preventing her from moving.
Wei Qing was afraid of pain. He pursed his lips, his brows furrowed, and the green leaf in his palm had turned into a dagger.
The dagger, gleaming with green light, flipped downwards, grazing the back of Luo Mingshu's hand, intending to sever her red-tasseled spear.
But Luo Mingshu gripped the blade tightly in her hand. Golden light shimmered beneath her palm, and the dagger hadn't even scratched her flesh. Underneath the blood, dragon scale-like patterns appeared, concealing all her wounds.
Luo Mingshu actually used Wei Qing's dagger to cut the vines wrapped around her spear shaft. Wei Qing, who had been holding back, saw that this move had failed. If Luo Mingshu were to unleash her magic weapon, he might really lose. So he had no choice but to make another move.
The green dagger slashed across Luo Mingshu's palm, producing a sound similar to the friction of metal. Wei Qing exerted all his strength, and because he had just broken through the cultivation blockade not long ago, the spiritual energy in his heart meridian was flowing in reverse, and blood spilled from the corner of his lips.
But even at the risk of injury, he was determined to defeat Luo Mingshu. The green dagger flipped upwards, detached from Luo Mingshu's palm, and he struck straight at an inch below Luo Mingshu's neck.
Seeing that Wei Qing was attacking this spot, Luo Mingshu was shocked. A dark purple light flashed deep in her eyes. She did not retreat even when her life was about to be threatened. The red-tasseled spear shook off the grass and struck Wei Qing like a dragon emerging from the water.
Just before the dagger struck her, the spear tip flicked upwards, piercing Wei Qing's right arm and severing the meridians in his arm. Wei Qing lost his strength, the dagger slipped from his hand, and he fell like a green leaf.
Luo Mingshu suddenly exerted force in her arm, and beneath the light gauze wrapped around her wrist, dragon scales shimmered. With a final strike of her red-tasseled spear, she flung Wei Qing off the training ground. (Pianozl)
"This—" The two were fighting to the point of risking their lives. The old manor lord had been watching the match with his heart in his throat, but he did not expect the outcome to come so quickly.
Wei Qing's body was sent flying by Luo Mingshu, crashing heavily to the ground and shattering the white jade ground outside the trial field, which was not protected by any protective array.
He himself fell to the ground, clutching his right arm where the veins had been severed by the red-tasseled spear, trying his best to heal his injuries.
Just when everyone thought the outcome was decided, a person rushed up from outside the training ground. The person was dressed in white, with flowing robes, looking like a demon or an immortal.
Xie Changming had already endured the duration of a match, remembering his agreement not to disturb Luo Mingshu's match, and only made his move after Luo Mingshu defeated Wei Qing.
If Wei Qing had fought Luo Mingshu with the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator throughout, Xie Changming would not have been so furious; at most, he would have just assumed that his little fish was less skilled.
However, Wei Qing broke through the cultivation barrier and used the strength of an ascended cultivator to make a move, planting the seed in Luo Mingshu's limbs, causing her serious injury. In the end, he even had to use a dagger to seriously injure her.
It should be understood that even if a contest were to take place within the Misty Star Sea, it could only be a spar between cultivators of the same level. Someone like Wei Qing, who overpowered others with his strength, had already lost the moment he broke through his cultivation barrier. If an ordinary cultivator were standing in front of him, they would probably be dead by now.
Xie Changming had taken countless lives of minor gods and immortals. With a flick of his sleeve, dark light, like a stream of fire, fell to the ground and struck Wei Qing directly.
Wei Qing was already seriously injured and couldn't dodge in time. Just as the dark light was about to hit him, a thunderbolt fell from the sky and protected Wei Qing.
The Misty Star Sea will not tolerate any cultivator dying here. If it were to take action, it could only be to kill cultivators in the trial scenario because they were not strong enough. The Misty Star Sea will not allow cultivators to kill each other.
Even though Misty Star Sea protected Wei Qing with thunder, the dark light still struck him. Although ninety percent of the force had been deflected, Wei Qing still fainted after being hit and lost all breath.
This gave him a chance to live, because Xie Changming didn't have time to check whether he was alive or dead; he had already carried the seriously injured and unconscious Luo Mingshu towards Wuji Palace.
Only the shocked crowd remained inside the Xuan Tian Mansion. After a moment of astonishment, the old mansion master hurriedly ordered someone to take Wei Qing away to heal his injuries. Xie Changming's sudden attack after the competition was against the rules, but this time even Shui Qingnian, who loved to target Wuji Hall, remained silent.
With her extensive knowledge, she naturally realized that the move Wei Qing used to destroy Luo Mingshu's meridians was no longer a spell that a Nascent Soul cultivator should possess. It was impossible for a Nascent Soul cultivator to cause such great damage with a spell. There were at least tens of millions of seeds in that green mist, and he had to control each one, which was something that only an ascended cultivator could do.
But... but what's even more terrifying is that Luo Mingshu actually won, and the spells she used were all of a scale that only Nascent Soul cultivators could master.
Shui Qingnian glanced deeply at the people from Wuji Hall and whispered, "I'm sorry."
The two sides competed, with one win, one loss, and one draw, ultimately ending in a tie. However, both Wuji Palace and Dongzhi Wonderland had one more injured person.
Xu Qian and Meng Weifang knew that Xie Changming was actually the Supreme Immortal Lord in disguise. Seeing that the Supreme Immortal Lord had taken Luo Mingshu away, they did not approach Luo Mingshu. Instead, they instructed Han Yu to call the medical cultivators to stand by.
Xie Changming knew that Luo Mingshu was competitive, but he did not expect her to be this competitive. When she saw Wei Qing break through the cultivation barrier, she should have admitted defeat. She should not have gambled with her life.
Even if Wei Qing had no intention of killing her, a casual strike from him after breaking through the cultivation barrier would have been enough to take her life.
And in the end, Wei Qing even tried to strike her neck an inch below with a dagger. Perhaps he only wanted to stab Luo Mingshu in the heart, but what she actually wanted was...
Xie Changming placed the unconscious Luo Mingshu on the bed, gently lifting her clothes to reveal her fair skin. An inch below her neck, there was a scar-like mark.
Even dragons have their Achilles' heel, and Luo Mingshu is no exception. Xie Changming knew about her Achilles' heel because of one of his inappropriate advances.
Back then, Luo Mingshu always liked to roll around in the peach grove on the fairy island, getting herself covered in the juice from crushed peach petals. It smelled fragrant, but it was actually quite dirty.
Xie Changming was going to give her a bath, but she kept dodging, afraid of washing away the fragrant peach blossom scent on her body. Xie Changming naturally wouldn't let her dodge, so he dragged her back to bathe her. Luo Mingshu was caught off guard and he touched her sore spot, so she let out a howl and bit him.
From then on, Xie Changming realized that this place was off-limits.
His fingers brushed over the mark below Luo Mingshu's neck, but he didn't actually touch it.
But as if sensing his special aura, Luo Mingshu's tightly closed eyelashes trembled slightly, and she woke up.
Her eyes were half-open as she met Xie Changming's gaze.
Xie Changming stared at her, his expression serious: "You're that eager to win?"
"He's despicable." Luo Mingshu said softly, enduring the excruciating pain. "Whether it's the Cold Fairy or the Oh Fairy, they both really wanted to win, but he wanted to manipulate the final outcome of the competition."
“I really want to win, but I don’t want my victory to be handed over by him or to be manipulated by him.” Luo Mingshu gritted her teeth and hissed softly, “It hurts.”
Xie Changming fetched bandages and wound medicine for her, his calm tone masking an undercurrent of emotion: "You feel pain too?"
"It hurts so much," Luo Mingshu whispered.
When those seeds took root and sprouted beneath her meridians, she should have fainted from the pain, but she was too eager to win; Wei Qing was too despicable.
Xie Changming himself does not know healing magic, and Luo Mingshu's current situation is very special. Even ordinary medical practitioners would probably be helpless.
His fingers lingered on Luo Mingshu's half-open collar as he asked, "Is it alright?"
Luo Mingshu was in excruciating pain: "Take a look at my injury, it hurts so much! You asked me if I could help? Of course I can. If you can't help me, then find another healer."
Xie Changming was naturally capable. He removed the clothes from Luo Mingshu's shoulders. During the competition, hundreds of seeds were planted in her body. Although these seeds lost control after Wei Qing lost consciousness, the roots that had grown only stopped spreading and remained buried deep in her body and meridians.
Now he was going to help Luo Mingshu remove these seeds one by one. His fingertips touched Luo Mingshu's shoulder, where there were very obvious dragon scale-like patterns on the cracked wound. Yinglong's body was strong, and even if Luo Mingshu had almost forgotten all of her own clan's magic, Yinglong could still instinctively cast protective spells to protect herself.
Xie Changming moved very carefully, and Luo Mingshu didn't even feel any pain when he pulled out the seed.
Her lips were pale and trembling slightly. She rarely fought with anyone, and she never expected that her first move would end like this.
"Supreme Immortal Lord, am I not strong enough?" Luo Mingshu said softly.
Xie Changming poked her face with his finger. He was furious that Luo Mingshu was so stupid: "Do you know who you are fighting?"
"He's my fellow disciple." Luo Mingshu hadn't reacted yet.
"His cultivation level is at least that of an ascended cultivator. Just now, when he was fighting you, he couldn't defeat you because he had sealed his cultivation at the Nascent Soul stage. So he temporarily broke through the seal of his cultivation and used this move." Xie Changming said while helping Luo Mingshu clean her wounds.
The warm breath he exhaled from his lips landed on her shoulder, miraculously masking the pain emanating from deep within her meridians.
"Is...is that so? Then after we leave the Misty Star Sea, I'll have to ask him about his purpose." Luo Mingshu stammered.
Xie Changming treated the wound on her shoulder, and the dragon scale pattern that had been sealing the wound gradually disappeared, hidden beneath her fair skin.
"Turn around." Xie Changming put his arm around Luo Mingshu's shoulder and made her turn around.
Luo Mingshu assumed he was a medical cultivator, and one should always behave well in front of a doctor, so she obediently turned away.
Xie Changming was a little unaccustomed to her sudden cooperation. He said in a low voice, "Why are you being so obedient?"
“I’ll listen to any other doctor or physician you bring. Are you still going to treat me or not? If you don’t want to, find someone else,” Luo Mingshu said fiercely.
"Don't move." Xie Changming pressed down on her shoulder.
At this moment, Luo Mingshu turned to the side and rested her chin on his shoulder. She had little strength and could only lean on him like this.
She should have fainted long ago, but in the arena, she held her breath until she defeated Wei Qing.
Because her head was right next to Xie Changming's ear, her tone was unusually gentle: "Supreme Immortal Lord, please be gentle. Don't take on medical and cultivation work if you don't have the skills."
Xie Changming softened his movements. He hadn't actually hurt Luo Mingshu at all; Luo Mingshu was just using this as an excuse to talk to him in order to distract herself from the pain in her other injuries.
But Luo Mingshu was clearly not good at chatting. Just as Xie Changming was observing her wounds and feeling heartbroken, she spoke up: "Why do you still look like my security captain?"
"Do you think my former security captain is still here? Would he treat my injuries like this? I don't think he would," Luo Mingshu said softly.
Xie Changming: "..." Do you even know how to have a conversation?
He remained silent, but his hands became even gentler as he treated the wound.
Luo Mingshu was determined to get an answer: "Supreme Immortal Lord, speak up and answer my question!"
How should Xie Changming answer this question? If he says "yes," it would be strange; if he says "no," then he really does know how.
So he remained silent.
Luo Mingshu squirmed in his arms: "If you don't answer, I'll hand over the glorious task of healing my injuries to someone else."
"Didn't you notice the dragon scale pattern on your wound?" Xie Changming looked down at the wound on her shoulder, his breath warm and moist.
“If I have it, I have it.” Luo Mingshu said matter-of-factly, “Anyway, I need to heal.”
"You're not hiding your identity anymore?" he asked.
“Anyway, those who come here are characters from the Misty Star Sea. They will all disappear once they leave this trial scene,” Luo Mingshu said softly. “It doesn’t matter if they are discovered.”
Xie Changming was surprised that Luo Mingshu was so clever; she had actually discovered this.
"And you, Supreme Immortal Lord, will you also disappear?" Luo Mingshu asked.
Xie Changming thought that since Luo Mingshu was planning to kill him under this alias anyway, if he gave a definite answer, Luo Mingshu would naturally have no qualms about taking action.
So he nodded and said, "Yes."
After all, he would only choose to have the divine bone wood wrap him up again here. If he left the Misty Star Sea, he would never be able to use this identity and this face again.
For him, the Divine Bone Wood represents a humiliating past that is difficult to talk about, so how could he accept it willingly?
“Fine.” Luo Mingshu clung to his shoulders and whispered, “Then I’ll kill you.”
Xie Changming wanted to throw her out right now, but how could he bear to do that when this little fish was nestled so softly in his arms?
Before long, all of Luo Mingshu's wounds were treated. She raised her arm and examined her flawless white skin.
"Where are the cultivators?" Luo Mingshu finally remembered to care about her opponent.
"He might have been killed by me, or he might have survived. Your words remind me that I should go and finish him off," Xie Changming said coldly.
“With the Misty Star Sea protecting him, you can’t kill him,” Luo Mingshu said with a light laugh. “What exactly did you do before to make you so guilty and so nice to me?”
Xie Changming: "?" I didn't do anything.
But perhaps doing nothing could also be considered a mistake, he thought.
Luo Mingshu tilted her head and sat up halfway. She reached out to Xie Changming: "I want some water."
Taking advantage of her status as the injured party, she felt entitled to order him around.
Just as Xie Changming got up, preparing to obediently pour water for Luo Mingshu, the spatial pouch that Luo Mingshu had been keeping by her side suddenly made a strange sound.
Xie Changming quickly poured the water, turned around, and stuffed the porcelain cup into Luo Mingshu's hand. He then used his magic to envelop Luo Mingshu's spatial pouch to prevent anything strange from suddenly rushing out, since there was still an unidentified jade bracelet inside.
At this moment, as expected, the jade bracelet caused trouble again. It thrashed about in Luo Mingshu's spatial pouch, making clattering noises, as if it were fighting with something.
What can a jade bracelet fight with?
Xie Changming reached into Luo Mingshu's spatial pouch and rummaged around, and he actually managed to pull something out.
It was that same emerald green jade bracelet. He screamed, "No—don't touch me!"
At the same time, something that he had forcibly suppressed was brought out.
It landed lightly on the brocade quilt in front of Luo Mingshu, its petals unfurling gracefully. It was the bronze lotus flower that Luo Mingshu had bought at the Fengshadu auction.
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