Chapter Seven: Talisman Battle
The day after the preliminary rounds, the excitement at the arena not only didn't diminish, but became even more intense as the rounds progressed and strong competitors emerged.
Fang Li waited below Platform Wu, where the surrounding noise was even greater than yesterday.
Defeating Shi Meng briefly made her, who was originally only associated with Shen Yunzhou, the subject of some disciples' conversation.
This also attracted more scrutinizing gazes, but she didn't care at all, only silently adjusting her breathing to maintain her peak condition.
Every bit of spiritual power is hard-won and must be used wisely.
"Station E, third act! Fang Li, yes, Sun Miao!"
The elder referee's voice cut through the noise.
Fang Liyue stepped onto the stage, and her opponent was already in position.
A tall, thin young man with a pale complexion, often seen in those who spent long periods indoors.
Several bright yellow talismans were held between his fingertips, and spiritual energy rippled around him.
He glanced at Fang Li, his lips curling into a sneer, seemingly quite dismissive of her as a female disciple who had "luckily" won a physical cultivation match.
"Begin!" A halo of light rose from the barrier.
Almost the instant he finished speaking, Sun Miao moved.
Instead of probing or closing the distance like ordinary cultivators, he retreated rapidly, raising his right hand and chanting a short incantation.
"Duh!"
The three talismans spontaneously combusted without fire, transforming into three fist-sized, scorching fireballs that hurtled toward Fang Li in a triangular formation!
The heat was intense, and the disciples who were close by could even smell the burning smell of their curly hair.
"They started with a barrage of fireballs!"
"Senior Brother Sun truly lives up to his reputation as a talisman tycoon!"
Exclamations arose.
In battle, talisman cultivators use spirit stones to pave their way and talismans to smash their opponents, displaying an extremely domineering style.
Fang Li's eyes narrowed, but she remained calm.
This scene is so familiar.
In his previous life, this Senior Brother Sun Miao made a name for himself in the outer sect competition by using this bombardment-style fighting method.
The talismans were scattered as if they were free, with dazzling effects and extremely strong suppressive power, which indeed frightened some inexperienced disciples.
But Fang Li knew that although his family was wealthier than that of ordinary disciples, it still couldn't withstand real squandering.
Most of the talismans used were low-level talismans with limited power.
She watched the spiritual energy dancing on Li Fu's fingertips. This Senior Brother Sun's talisman skills were indeed good, but he had a clear flaw.
His impatient nature and fixed intervals for activating talismans, coupled with a momentary pause in the connection of spiritual energy after each release of five talismans, are precisely his weaknesses.
In the blink of an eye, the fireball was upon them.
Fang Li exerted force with her feet, her body advancing instead of retreating.
She glided lightly to the right.
The three fireballs grazed her left shoulder and back, the closest one even scorching her sleeve, before crashing hard into the barrier behind her, creating a ripple before dissipating with a roar.
Extremely dangerous!
A collective gasp rippled through the audience.
Sun Miao's arrogance softened slightly, and he frowned slightly: "Interesting."
He flicked his wrist again, and this time four ice spike talismans flew out. The silvery ice spikes pierced through the air, moving faster and at a more tricky angle than the fireballs.
The disciples below the stage held their breath, and even Elder Yunzhi on the elders' seat sat up slightly.
A chilling aura suddenly descended, and several crystalline and sharp ice spikes materialized out of thin air, accompanied by a piercing sound, intending to block Fang Li's space to dodge left and right.
However, Fang Li seemed to have anticipated this, and at the very moment the ice cone was not fully formed and shot out.
She had already moved to the left, precisely finding a weak point in the distribution of icicles. She crouched slightly, letting two icicles graz her hair and the hem of her clothes. The chill they brought gave her goosebumps, but she was unharmed.
"Dodged it again?"
"What great luck!"
"How is this possible?" Sun Miao's face turned grim as his attacks all missed, and he became impatient.
He gave a low shout and waved his hands repeatedly, no longer pursuing the power of a single talisman, but beginning to use them in combination.
As soon as the fireball passed, lush green vines sprouted from the ground.
Before the icicles had even stopped, more pebbles condensed in mid-air.
For a time, the stage was bustling with activity.
Firelight, ice shards, green vines, and stone shadows intertwined and burst forth, spiritual energy surged everywhere, and explosions and collisions were heard incessantly.
The dazzling light effects and the overwhelming sound attracted even more attention to this place.
"My goodness, who can withstand this?"
"Fighting with talismanic cultivators really burns through spirit stones!"
"Senior Sister Fang is in trouble now. She can dodge it once or twice, but can she dodge it every time?"
There was much discussion in the audience, with most feeling that Fang Li's defeat was inevitable and it was only a matter of time.
Such a dense barrage of talismans would eventually wear her down.
However, Fang Li, who was at the center of the storm, became increasingly calm.
Her movements remained agile; every sidestep, slide, and leap was perfectly timed.
The movements were minimal, keeping energy expenditure to a minimum.
Sun Miao had just scattered a handful of flying stone talismans and was about to use the incantation to activate the next set of fire snake talismans.
While dodging, she spotted an opening and stopped retreating.
The spiritual power she had been holding back erupted instantly.
Like an arrow released from a bow, it pierced through the still-lingering stone shadows and lingering dust with pinpoint accuracy, heading straight for Sun Miao himself!
Sun Miao only felt a blur before his eyes before the pale blue figure had already closed to within three feet like a ghost!
He was terrified. The incantation he was making suddenly fell apart. In a panic, he tried to retreat while frantically reaching for defensive talismans.
But it was too late.
Fang Li didn't even use any offensive spells.
She reached out and gently pushed his chest, which was slightly tilted back due to his panic.
"Ugh!" Sun Miao suddenly felt his feet sink into the ground, and he cried out as he flew backward, crashing onto the stage with a thud, raising a small cloud of dust.
On the stage, the lingering spiritual light of the talisman had not completely faded, casting wisps of light that reflected Fang Li's calm figure as she finished her practice.
The audience fell into a deathly silence once again.
That dazzling and terrifying storm of talismans... just came to an abrupt end like that?
You won? Just with such a gentle push?
Everyone stared at Fang Li, who stood gracefully on the stage with barely any disturbance in her breathing, and then at Sun Miao, who was covered in dust, still in disbelief, and whose face was flushed. For a moment, they were all speechless.
This win... was too easy? It was almost childish! Yet, there's nothing wrong with it.
The rule is that whoever falls off the stage loses.
The elder referee was also taken aback for a moment before loudly announcing, "Station E, the winner is Fang Li!"
As soon as the words were spoken, the audience erupted in a clamor.
"This...that's it?"
"How did Senior Brother Sun fall down?"
"I didn't see it clearly! Who understood it?"
"It seems like... I lost my balance?"
"No! It's because Senior Sister Fang's push was timed too perfectly!?"
This victory was even more baffling than yesterday's.
Not far away, on a stand with an excellent view.
Xie Chen, dressed in a green robe, gently waved his jade-bone fan, looking with great interest in the direction of Platform Wu.
Surrounded by several equally distinguished inner disciples, he was discussing the somewhat strange competition that had just taken place.
"Sun Miao, that kid, is still so impatient. He's throwing out talismans like they're free, all show and no substance," a disciple commented.
“But Fang Li really dodged that danger; she was lucky,” another person chimed in.
Upon hearing this, Xie Chen's lips curved into a meaningful smile. He lightly tapped the direction of Platform Wu with his jade fan, his voice warm and smiling.
"Luck? Perhaps. But have you noticed, fellow disciples, that every step this junior sister took to dodge, seemingly perilous, was actually a precise prediction of the deviation between the talisman's strongest point and its final landing point? Especially that final cut, which was absolutely brilliant, precisely timing it at the moment when Junior Brother Sun's spiritual energy conversion was at its most sluggish? This footwork seems simple, yet it is quite methodical, not like something practiced haphazardly, but rather like something honed through countless trials. Interesting, truly interesting."
His gaze fell on the pale blue figure walking off the stage, a barely perceptible hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes.
This junior sister Fang Li seems much more interesting than the rumors suggest.
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