"Huff huff...fuck."
Dei Lo is barely standing with his arms trembling.
Quan Shang laughs. "Out of motivation already? How boring."
...
Dei Lo glares at Quan Shang.
"Oh?" Quan Shang smiles again. "Good."
There is nothing Dei Lo can do except defend and barely avoid attacks. He only mastered the first form of Dragon breath, which is a simple thrust. What can that do against a hardened physique that even Li Xing might have trouble penetrating?
Quan Shang appears above Dei Lo and slams down once again.
...
It didn't feel like he hit Dei Lo.
?
"Hey! I can feel your presence. What are you doing?" Says Quan Shang.
He knows that Dei Lo is charging at him. However, there is no way Dei Lo can hurt him and Quan Shang is too lazy to find Dei Lo, he is getting exhausted. Thus, he decided to let Dei Lo hit him.
*thud*
Sound of footsteps beside Quan Shang. He smiles. "There you are!!"
Quan Shang attempts to grab Dei Lo who shifts his momentum to the right to dodge it. With all of his strength, Dei Lo's sword glows in orange and he thrust at Quan Shang's face, only striking his nose.
???
Quan Shang tries to hold back a burst of laughter. "What the fuck are you doing? Tickling my nose?"
Dei Lo jumps back as Quan Shang attempts to hug him.
Li Ye bites his fingernails in worry. "Patriarch, I think we should-"
"No. Let Dei Lo try a bit more." I say.
I notice what Dei Lo is trying to do: Attacking the weakness of a cultivator, the eyes. No matter how much one cultivates the eyes, it is impossible to increase their "endurance". Cultivating the eyes usually allows the cultivator to see "more", that's all.
That is a wide known fact. The reason why people rarely aim for the eyes? It is very hard to pinpoint a strike to a small area of the head and it is very easy to defend the eyes.
High tier cultivators can simply move a little, set up a barrier eye contact lens, direct the attack away, and many more.
But the chance of that happening for a Foundation Establishment barbarian idiot is zero.
"You! Stop striking my face!" Says Quan Shang as he attempts to retaliate and hit Dei Lo. Just one hit. One direct hit is all it takes to knock Dei Lo out.
But Dei Lo's speed is increasing, he is adapting to Quan Shang's moves.
Playing dirty and using everything to your advantage, is something ordinary people have to do for survival.
Dei Lo dash at Quan Shang. Quan Shang lowers his upper body and sweeps his arms wide open, getting ready to gran Dei Lo. "YOU CAN'T ESCAPE NOW!!"
The perfect chance came for Dei Lo when Quan Shang openly offered his head. For the first time, Dei Lo tried his best in a match. It wasn't talent that led to this, but skill and experience from his rough and rogue childhood.
One simple thrust and the energy pierce through Quan Shang's right eye.
!!!!
"ARGHH!!!!" He screams in pain as she grasps his bleeding eye, Dei Lo takes the chance to stab right into the second eye, splattering the blood on Dei Lo's robe and face.
"ACK!!! AUURHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"Enough! Stop that!!! You've won." Says a ragged beard man with many scars on his face and body, the Patriarch of Chaos sect.
Dei Lo pants heavily as he walks away from the arena.
"That's a bit deceptive..."
"How cruel, to ruin someone's life for a mere competition."
The audience's view of Dei Lo wasn't the best. Foul play and underhanded tricks, they said.
Dei Lo walks up to us while wiping the blood off his face.
...
He is ashamed to look at me.
"Don't worry too much. You did the right thing, use whatever you can to win as long as it is within the rules." I say.
Dei Lo nods but stays dejected.
That's two down in a row. I'm surprised by the amount of "talents" in such a run-down sect, looks like there is a reason why Dei Lo is a core disciple.
In the end, I didn't do anything.
The match afterwards was Yueling's turn. It wasn't much of a fight for Yueling since her cultivation base is the highest among the disciples.
Yueling infused the Profound Poison sect arts with Dragon Breath and easily overwhelms her enemy.
Soon enough, it's Xiang Hou's turn. Now then, how long will Xiang Hou keep the act up? He needs to prove himself reliable and useful to get my attention. It's his mission after all.
I said that I was curious about how far Xiang Hou is willing to go, I did not mean his perseverance. I meant how far will Xiang Hou hide his identity as a spy.
---------------------
Xiang Hou.
Cultivation base: 4th Stage of Golden Core.
His soul is blessed by a dragon.
A secret spy that was rooted in the Heavenly Divine Dragon sect many years ago to keep track of them. He sends a report to the Murim alliance once every month by placing the report paper below a noodle bowl in a specific inn at Nielong.
---------------------
At this point, every sect member has won. If Xiang Hou loses, he would stand out and lose recognition, something he cannot afford as a spy.
...
His opponent from the Mountain Fist sect recognises Xiang Hou and thinks that it will be an easy win. That was not the case on the exterior, Xiang Hou was releasing powerful Qi beyond his realm.
"Begin!"
One strike. Xiang Hou flawlessly enhances the third form of Dragon Breath with the first stage of Sword of Reign and instantly slashes a deep cut into the disciple's torso.
!!!!!!!
The rise of the Heavenly Divine Dragon sect is prominent. Nobody can deny that when not a single one of their disciples had lost.
I couldn't use Puppetry on Xiang Hou because of his blessed soul. Nonetheless, he is still dancing in my palms.
The Patriarchs have very confused faces.
Other than Xiang Hou, there is one more outsider in the Core disciples. Including the five members of the Profound Poison sect, there are ten Core disciples. Dei Lo, Li Xing, Xiang Hou. Two more were not introduced,
One of them is a boy named Yin Qiang. Unlike Xiang Hou's role of having a better relationship with me, he is simply there as a backup so Yin Qiang tries as much as possible to avoid me.
I throw a glance at the short brown-haired and eyes Yin Qiang who is staring at Xiang Hou. He doesn't have high mental protection and I was able to infect him previously.
Thanks to that, I got a glimpse of the Patriarchs' fabulous plan.
---------------
"W-What is going on?" Says the elder of the Eight Trigrams sect.
Currently, the tournament is taking a break and the Patriarch has gathered. They set up a sound, illusion, and anti-spy barrier.
"I...don't know..."
...
"It doesn't matter. We have to change a little but the plan still stays, Xiang Hou is an information spy and what he did was valid. But Yin Qiang will be the start of our plan, even if Yin Qiang betrayed us, I still have a backup plan." Says the envoy from the Murim Alliance.
The envoy man takes out a container from his robe, he did not need to open it for the Patriarchs to know. The wooden box emits eerie steam of black demonic Qi with a gush of purple at the edge.
"Blood Demonic Pill? He will die!" The Patriarch of Celestial Sword exclaims.
"Do we have a choice? Do you want to lose everything we've built up!"
...
The main objective is only one: Tarnish their reputation. If the Heavenly Divine Dragon's reputation continues to grow, it will be very hard for the Patriarchs to do anything to Wang Ji except secret assassination. It will be a small but extensive step.
Above in the sky, there are additional spectators.
Among them, are one old woman and a man standing on the same large sword.
"That girl...her name is Li Xing?" The woman says. She is wearing high-grade fabrics with a domineering array engraved. She seems to be from a rich and important family.
"Madam Chong, is there something wrong?" The man says.
The old lady squeezes her eye. "That cannot be, how does she have...the Divine Primordial bloodline."
!!
"How can this be? Isn't that Empress Chuan's bloodline." The man exclaims.
...
"I want to believe I am seeing things..."