Strategizing
The leaderboard on the Infinite Tower's light screen kept changing throughout the night, but the names of the top ten remained constant.
It's clear that once the points gap widens, it's difficult to catch up. So many people changed their minds: since they couldn't find it themselves, they'd steal from others.
Just as dawn was breaking, a voice echoed from within the Boundless Tower: "There are three days left until the Boundless Tower closes."
Immediately, all the participating cultivators knew that if they could not accumulate enough points in the remaining three days, or find a way to protect their teammates, they would still lose the competition.
Because the elder's words were no less than an ultimatum, at this moment, all the cultivators with high scores on the leaderboard were besieged and intercepted.
"You are too despicable!" A disciple of the Beast Taming Sect, with the help of his beast pet, found a lot of points jade slips and ranked thirteenth on the leaderboard.
Unfortunately, he never found his teammates. He was always fighting alone, and soon he was surrounded and ambushed by several people.
The opponents weren't even from the same sect; they only banded together to hunt down other teams' points because they had too few.
"What's so despicable about this? Did you see the elders come out to stop it?" The leading cultivator laughed, quite pleased with himself.
The other man held a long sword that gleamed coldly as he looked at the Beast Taming Sect disciple and said, "Be smart and hand over the jade slip quickly, or we might accidentally hurt you."
Hearing the group's threats, the Beast Taming Sect disciple gritted his teeth and handed over his jade slip.
The moment the jade slip left his hand, a man opposite him thrust a sword into his waist, a sarcastic smile on his face.
Instantly, the Beast Taming Sect disciple activated his self-protection mechanism. He was carried away by a beam of white light, and soon his entire team heard the news.
"Who is it?!" the captain of the Beast Taming Sect team roared. Even though they had a considerable number of points, losing their teammates meant certain defeat.
After taking the opponent's jade slip, he ended the opponent's qualification for the competition with another sword strike. The person happily shook the jade slip containing the points in his hand.
Satisfied, he put the jade slip away and noticed the others behind him looking at him with somewhat complicated expressions. He couldn't help but wonder, "What, is this the first time you've heard I would do this?"
These words were spoken to his teammates. As for the others who had come to join him, they had all quietly taken a few steps back after that person made the move.
They were somewhat afraid of people who didn't keep their word, fearing that they might be stabbed in the back and disqualified from the competition.
"Hmph, if you're scared, then leave on your own. Of course, if you leave on your own, don't blame me for robbing your points jade slips later."
This was a blatant threat. After some thought, some members of the other teams left. However, some stayed, since they could indeed accumulate a significant number of points by teaming up.
They can find an opportunity to escape once they have accumulated enough points.
Ruan Qingyu withdrew the Phoenix Divine Fire and looked at the fleeing group, but had no intention of continuing the pursuit. Seeing this, Jin Chengcheng also withdrew her whip.
"Do these people really think we're pushovers?" His tone was filled with unspeakable anger. In just a few hours, they had encountered few sect disciples who hadn't tried to rob them.
But when the four of them get together, not to mention Ruan Qingyu, who is a formidable opponent, even the three of them aren't exactly virtuous people.
Aside from those who went too far, almost all of them were killed in retaliation, and the jade slips containing their points were taken away.
He waved his hand, signaling the people at his feet to take the three points jade slips and get lost. Ruan Qingyu turned around and saw Liu Feng's puzzled look, which puzzled her.
"What kind of look is that?" Having spent more time with him these past few days, Ruan Qingyu had gradually relaxed a bit. Therefore, she spoke more directly.
But Liu Feng's eyes grew even more mournful: "Is that person better looking than me? As dashing as me?"
Instantly, Jin Chengcheng's horrified gaze swept over, and she felt that Liu Feng was becoming increasingly strange.
Hearing him say that, Ruan Qingyu was even more puzzled, but she also carefully recalled the male cultivator who had just escaped from under her feet. She immediately shook her head; that person was of average appearance. In terms of good looks and dashing appearance, Yun Yin was probably much more handsome.
Watching Ruan Qingyu gradually drift off into a daze, even softening her gaze, Liu Feng grew even more frustrated. That male cultivator seemed to be from some minor sect; could he have cultivated some kind of charm technique?
Completely unaware that Liu Feng had mistaken her for someone infatuated with beauty, Ruan Qingyu withdrew her thoughts about Yun Yin and focused solely on looking ahead.
Jin Chengcheng, who was standing to the side, clearly saw the change in the two men's thoughts and quietly said to Yangming, "It seems that Liu Feng is truly in love, but this sincerity is not very valuable."
Yangming smiled憨厚ly: "Senior Sister Liu Yan told him a long time ago, but he didn't listen."
At this point, Yangming said with some concern, "I haven't seen Senior Sister Liu Yan for so long, I hope she's not injured."
"What nonsense are you talking about?!" Jin Chengcheng immediately interrupted him. She was very worried about Senior Sister Liu Yan, who hadn't been heard from for so long, but she didn't want to hear other people talking about her bad news.
On the other side, Ruan Qingyu, who was picking and storing the medicinal herbs, turned around and said, "If Senior Sister Liu Yan is really arrested, we will definitely receive the news."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jin Chengcheng exclaimed, "Definitely not, Senior Sister is so amazing!"
Her words made perfect sense, and the group put aside their extra worries and continued to hunt down any monsters they could catch along the way.
In the past few days, they've also discovered that not all demonic beasts display their jade slips outside. They can only see if the jade slip containing the points is present after killing the demonic beast.
On the afternoon of the penultimate day, Ruan Qingyu and her companions once again eliminated a monster river fish the size of a human from a stream.
The jade slip she received only contained three points, which made Jin Chengcheng immediately let go of it and toss it to Yang Ming: "Take it, you have the lowest points now."
Ruan Qingyu didn't even look at this, only looking towards the opposite bank of the stream.
On the opposite bank was a small grove of trees, when suddenly a group of people emerged. At first, she remained calm, but as more and more people came out, her expression suddenly turned cold.
They were the target of this group. Ruan Qingyu suddenly stepped back and whispered to Liu Feng and Jin Chengcheng, "This group has ill intentions."
Liu Feng glanced quickly at the opposite bank and then lowered his voice: "Now we're all on the list, and in other people's eyes we're as sought-after as hot commodities."
As they spoke, the people on the other side seemed to have grown impatient. Soon, two male cultivators dressed in black rushed out and slapped Ruan Qingyu and the others across the face.
Those two enormous palms were the result of the opponent's technique, filled with the aura of water elemental energy. However, they were not as pure as Lu Siyao's magic, and even carried a hint of strangeness.
“The water is poisonous.” Ruan Qingyu’s eyes grew colder, her gaze like a suppressed volcano, brimming with magma.
As soon as he finished speaking, he unleashed a fiery phoenix palm strike towards the opposite bank. This move used thirty percent of his spiritual power, and the fiery phoenix palm stood tall between heaven and earth, suppressing almost everyone on the opposite bank beneath it.
"What's going on? This person is at the same late stage of Golden Core as me, how could he be higher than me?" One person on the other side was confident that his cultivation was the highest among everyone, a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator.
During this time, he persuaded the others, while the rest were either robbed of their jade slips, driven away, or forced to retreat. This is how this group of people gathered, constantly robbing disciples from other sects.
After Ruan Qingyu's group arrived at the riverbank, they quickly discovered it. To take advantage of the situation, he simply instructed the others to pretend they hadn't seen anything.
He only appeared by the river after Ruan Qingyu had finished dealing with things.
But as soon as Ruan Qingyu made her move, everyone realized that they had underestimated this team, and also underestimated Ruan Qingyu herself.
“I know that woman, a newly famous female cultivator from the Xuantian Sect. She’s said to be the closed-door disciple of Daoist Qingchen. You’re not afraid, but I don’t want to waste my time at this moment.” Suddenly, one of the disciples who were specifically there to rob people spoke up.
He had been quiet and followed the group throughout, but now he took the initiative to ask to leave the group.
Immediately, the leading cultivator was enraged: "You've taken so many points jade slips, and now you want to leave? Don't regret it when we take down this Xuan Tian Sect team!"
In the group, a female cultivator suddenly spoke up: "Senior Brother Chen, let him go. He may be timid, but we are not afraid." As she spoke, Yu Xiuxiu looked at Jin Chengcheng on the opposite bank.
A hint of disdain appeared on his face: "I know the person on the other side. That female cultivator named Jin Chengcheng is nothing but a big-breasted, brainless girl."
He only got into the Xuantian Sect because of his family's influence. In the end, he was completely fooled by her.
Seeing that Yu Xiuxiu was letting him go, the male cultivator who had initially hesitated did not argue further and quickly turned and disappeared into the distant forest.
After hearing what she said, the disciple addressed as Senior Brother Chen glanced at his fellow disciple behind him, who quickly nodded and chased after the person who had left.
With two people missing on this side, no one in the chaotic crowd on the other side noticed.
Standing next to Chen Yang, Yu Xiuxiu smiled and said, "These Xuan Tian Sect disciples are all naive. We can take them down with a few tricks."
A hint of disdain flashed in Chen Yang's eyes, but he said on the surface, "Junior Sister Yu is indeed clever, but do you have any ideas?"
When asked about the key point, Yu Xiuxiu said with a hint of pride, "Our Jade Stone Sect has a special technique that allows one to surpass dozens of people when their shoulders are together."
As she spoke, Yu Xiuxiu looked at her fellow disciple who had remained silent behind her: "Senior Brother Liu, now that Senior Sister Zhang is not here, would you be willing to give it a try with me?"
Before they could hear a reply, Chen Yang smiled and said, "The situation is urgent now, so you two should just take action. In the end, most of these points will naturally go to you two."
Upon hearing this, Yu Xiuxiu smiled smugly. Enticed by the generous reward, the somewhat hesitant Senior Brother Liu quickly nodded, took his long sword, and walked towards Yu Xiuxiu.
Chen Yang slowly retreated, and his team members approached and transmitted their voices: "Senior Brother Chen sent these two to their deaths?"
After their exchange, he realized that the Xuan Tian Sect member opposite him was no fool. He clearly possessed real skill, and Chen Yang's decision to send these two from the Jade Stone Sect forward indicated that he had other plans.
In the blink of an eye, Yu Xiuxiu, along with her senior brother Liu, wielded a pair of longswords. They instantly leaped onto the battlefield, the two longswords appearing unremarkable on their own.
However, as the two stopped one after the other, they unleashed their sword energy in an almost embracing posture. The energy was gentle yet possessed an overwhelming force, almost drowning everyone who came near it.
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