The fight between the Lu family's two side branches wasn't as tense as expected. After all, they held this competition once every few years. After both sides had won and lost a few times, they actually calmed down.
The first combatant the other side sent out was a dagger-wielding warrior whose cultivation was only at Prodigious Realm's Infinitesimal Stage. Clearly, the other side didn't intend to win this round.
Although Xu Yuanjun's reputation didn't spread far and wide, the middle-aged woman knew his abilities pretty well after seeing him fight in the previous years' competitions, so she simply let the other side win this first round.
Sure enough, this martial artist couldn't even touch Xu Yuanjun's clothes and decisively conceded defeat after Xu Yuanjun's palm struck him on the shoulder.
For the second match, the middle-aged woman actually sent out Qin Xuanji.
She was dressed in an odd red dress that looked like a strangely-styled long coat.
The current Qin Xuanji had already advanced to Prodigious Realm. While her cultivation speed certainly wasn't as fast as Gu Nan's, it was already extremely fast compared to normal cultivators.
On this side, Lu Yiming sent out the younger of the Lan siblings, Lan Si.
Lan Si skipped over energetically, pursing her lips and smiling. "Be careful, Big Sis. I won't hold back!"
Qin Xuanji clearly wasn't the kind of person who liked to waste time talking and said bluntly, "Let's begin."
Lan Si pouted upon realizing that she just ran into another emotionless piece of wood like her older brother. She casually pointed a finger at Qin Xuanji, and an eerie blue light directly shot towards her opponent.
Qin Xuanji very cautiously tried to dodge, but this blue light seemed to have grown eyes, turning around and closing in on her again, finally hitting her arm.
Only when the blue light touched her did Qin Xuanji realize what it was.
It was actually water!
Lan Si's energy formed this bizarre attack. It carried great force and energy while turning into water upon impact.
Most of the spectators who saw this scene also frowned, puzzled by Lan Si's move.
'Water is water, and energy is energy. How can they transform into each other? Could it be that this person has a special innate ability?'
Gu Nan was the only one who anticipated this. Don't be fooled by how artistic the title "God of Luxuriant Blossoms" sounds—her essence was that of a water goddess. She spent her early years as a subordinate god under an ancient water god. Only later did she create a completely new path of her own.
Gu Nan, a veteran player, naturally knew all the abilities that apostles of the God of Luxuriant Blossoms possessed.
Players called this move "high-pressure water gun" or "shoot you in the face." It was the basic skill of all apostles of the God of Luxuriant Blossoms. In other words, it was a flat slash.
This move didn't have very high attack power, but one would suffer a big loss if they underestimated it.
As expected, Qin Xuanji concluded that this water gun wasn't much of a threat. She didn't even try to dodge the subsequent shots, instead taking them head-on in order to rush up to Lan Si—Qin Xuanji excelled at close combat, while Lan Si clearly wasn't this kind of fighter.
Faced with such a situation, several people on Lan Si's side frowned slightly. Lu Li, who came only to observe the matches and couldn't participate, flattened his mouth, bristling. "What the hell! It would've been better if I'd gone up instead…"
Gu Nan just happened to hear this. He turned his head to show Lu Li a strange smile.
But that smile became disdain in Lu Li's eyes. Just when Lu Li was about to speak, Lan Si revealed a brilliant smile and suddenly shouted, "Explode!"
Some kind of invisible ripple seemed to instantly sweep across the entire arena, and certain things on Qin Xuanji's body also seemed to be detonated.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…
The sound of successive explosions came from the water stains all over Qin Xuanji's body, which became the most fatal of weapons all of a sudden, detonating directly on her body.
Individually, the explosions weren't very powerful, but these explosions came from the water droplets. Just how many of these bombs were on Qin Xuanji's body?
Most likely, not even Lan Si herself knew the answer to that. She just knew that this blow alone would be enough to make the enemy lose the ability to continue fighting.
Countless flowers of blood exploded from Qin Xuanji's body. The scarlet blossoms and the girl's pale face reflected each other, looking both beautiful and bewitching, revealing an eerie kind of beauty.
Gu Nan's eyes narrowed slightly as he whispered in a voice filled with nostalgia, "Luxuriant Blossoms."
This was the signature attack of an apostle of the God of Luxuriant Blossoms. This was the true meaning of the name "Luxuriant Blossoms." Unfortunately, no matter how pretty the name God of Luxuriant Blossoms sounded, she was a god that belonged to the darkness faction, so the majority of her attacks were bloody.
Qin Xuanji was covered in blood in the blink of an eye and seemed close to defeat, but the tables turned again in the next second.
Just when a victorious smile appeared on Lan Si's face and her mind began to relax, her opponent suddenly transformed straight from a human into a giant snake!
The giant snake with bright red scales opened its massive jaws to bite down on Lan Si, its monstrous mouth almost covering the entire sky.
Gu Nan had personally experienced this scene before, except back then, the Innate Realm Qin Xuanji could only transform her head, while the current her could already pull off a full-body transformation.
"Bloodline user!" Lu Li instantly shouted in shock.
The same shout of surprise continued to appear among the audience, some even coming from behind the middle-aged woman. Apparently not everyone on that side knew about Qin Xuanji's identity.
Lan Si immediately paled. She wasn't good at fighting to begin with. At this time, she was unable to react.
At the critical moment, Lan Ta's figure appeared right in front of her. He raised his hand and conjured up a blue shield made of mist, which actually blocked Qin Xuanji's huge jaws.
"This round is our loss," Lu Yiming saw this and directly conceded without waiting for Lan Ta to speak.
Lan Ta helped his frozen younger sister off the stage and nodded at Lu Yiming. "Many thanks. I'll fight the next round."
On the other side, Qin Xuanji had also regained her human form, and she still had that oddly styled red dress on. Only now did the crowd understand that the clothes were probably made of her scales.
After Qin Xuanji stepped off the arena, Lu Qi—the middle-aged woman—arranged for her to have her wounds treated first.
But when she arrived at the resting area, an angry cry came from behind her. "Xuanji, who hurt you this badly?!"
A young man was briskly walking over, and when he saw Qin Xuanji's bloody appearance, he became furious and opened his mouth to ask.
Qin Xuanji's expression didn't even change as she shook her head. "I'm fine."
In fact, she really was fine. Although her injuries looked horrifying, they were all superficial wounds. With her bloodline user's physique, even if she left these injuries untouched, they would still automatically recover in two days without any treatment.
But the youth stomped his foot in rage. "Aunt Lu actually made you fight a match? How can she… Quick, tell me who did this. I'll have my dad kill him!"
Qin Xuanji had long grown accustomed to this person's behavior. She simply shut her mouth and minded her own business, applying ointment to her injuries. Her physique wasn't like that of ordinary people. As long as she had the proper treatment, any injuries she suffered would actually strengthen her scales in the future.
When the youth saw this, he could only hatefully stomp out of the resting area and head for the arena.
The person at the door hastily stopped him and said with a placating smile, "Young Master Feng, Lord Feng has instructed that you cannot go over there…"
"Bullshit!" Young Master Feng pushed the man away. "Someone already hurt Xuanji this badly. If I hadn't come here, wouldn't you guys have hid this from me till the end?"
The man didn't dare to meddle in the conflict between these big shots, so he could only keep smiling apologetically.
But Young Master Feng was determined to go over there, and the guard didn't dare to truly stop him, so he could only run over to the arena to report the news to Lord Feng—Feng Zhuotang.
Devotee's Game System Inspired Note
» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.
» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.
MC's Status Information
Name: Gu Nan
Current Location: Lu family's fighting arena, Heavenly Enterprise Star
Current Soul Location: N/A
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 3
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: Prodigious Realm
◈ Comprehension of Innate ability: Domain Stage
Chosen Core Skill: The Law of Shadow
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Evil Event: N/A - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: Pending
→ Side Quest Objective/s:
-— None. - N/A
◈ Status: N/A
Current Evil Points: 100
Overall Evil Points: 3875, Overall Evil Value: 130
Core Skill Acquired
— Shadow. ｢Also known precisely as 'The law of Shadow' - its one of the highest-ranked laws in the game. Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Normal Skills Acquired:
— Resistance. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Your body will resist damage, and any damage taken will be reduced by 50%｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣
— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 3 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows" at LVL 1 and unlocks the skill "Shadow Form" at LVL 2. If the 'Power of Shadows' reached LVL 3, the player will be able to use the 'Law of Shadow' to a much finer degree.｣
▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣
▸Shadow Form. ｢An incomparable handy skill that allows the player to manipulate shadows to create things, like weapons and armor. At the highest level of mastery, it could even create a humanoid clone.｣
Equipment being worn
→ Armor
-— Dawn Sage's Robe. ｢Basic level defense. If you are not attacked within 3 seconds, you will receive the "Praise of Dawn" effect.｣
→ Weapon
-— Blade of the Sanguine King. ｢High attack. Ignores external defense. Enhanced sharpness. Triggers the effect "Curse of Blood" on hit.｣
◈ Curse of Blood. ｢This is a cursed divine weapon. Whenever your attack hits your opponent, you will take equal damage.｣
→ Accessories - Facial Accessories, Necklace, Earrings
-— Observer Eyepiece. ｢An eyepiece that have a fixed Tier 2 magic 'Insight' inscribe in it.｣
-— Dragon Heart Pendant. ｢Allows players to activate the skill "Dragon Power". This skill cannot be upgraded｣
-— Shadow Earrings. ｢Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Equipment Skills Acquired:
-— Insight. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Ability to obtain high-precision data analysis when looking at people or objects.｣
-— Dragon Power. ｢Greatly enhances the player's strength and physique. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes｣
-— Praise of Dawn. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Increases self-healing ability by 300%｣
Item/s owned:
→ Four Element Crossbow. ｢Was used in Chapter 9-104.｣