Chapter 154
Zhu Qin’s defeat was quite a surprise to most of the onlookers. And the identity of the woman who had caused this complete reversal of situation was even more mysterious. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time to figure out all of these because the woman had quickly left.
As the Vice Sect Leader of the Wisdom Sect, Li Nana, and also Ye Chuchen and Daoist Ming Yun were now the three giant figures in the Wisdom Sect. Their power and influence were monstrous, but they were also very busy. After coming to the Spirit Sword Sect because of the summon from Wang Lu, she had to quickly return to the Wisdom Sect to continue managing the sect affairs… which caused a certain someone to be at a loss.
More than two years ago during the later part of the experiential learning down the mountain, Wen Bao as an influential figure within the Wisdom Sect cooperated very closely with Qian Hu of the Mansion of Light. During that intense cooperation time, some things have indeed changed. It was just that the story was of no use to the outsiders.
Fortunately, the duel between Zhu Qin and Wen Bao was just a small interlude in the big background of the two sects’ competition. Whether it was the Spirit Sword Sect or the Ten Thousand Arts Sect, both knew that from the five Spirit Sword Sect disciples that were sent to enter the competition, only two were the real representatives. The other three were just there to make up the numbers.
The real challenge here was Liu Li and Wang Lu. And for these two, the Ten Thousand Arts Sect used the remaining two days to fully analyze the pros and the cons of these two and find the appropriate countermeasures.
Although the Ten Thousand Arts Sect was well-known for their arrogant attitude, their arrogance was actually established on the basis of full rationality. For the weak and insignificant enemy, they could be properly ignored to save energy. However, once they recognized the strength of their opponent, they would go all out.
Only by winning they could maintain their arrogant attitude, which was the best evidence for their slogan of “knowledge is power”. If they lost, the arrogance of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect would be worthless.
“The material about Liu Li has basically been analyzed, and from the present point of view, her advantage and disadvantage very much make her an extreme opponent.”
On the Cloud Wave Boat, the Eldest Brother Zhan Ziye was earnestly explaining to his other four Junior Brothers and Sister.
Regarding the analysis work of the Successor Disciples of the Spirit Sword Sect, Yuan Chaonian and the other two Elders didn’t intervene at all. All of the work was handed over to the disciples themselves. And these five disciples did not disappoint them. From collecting the information to collating them, the work was very efficient, and the result was quite to their satisfaction.
“There are two main characteristics of the Brilliant Sword Heart. One is high permeability, which means her magical power transmission and conversion abilities are very good. This can be seen from the eating contest; as long as there is adequate supply, she can quickly convert it to her own magical power, which means her ability to do a prolonged fight is extremely good.
One of his fellow Brothers said, “In other words, she has to be dealt with as quickly as possible?”
Zhan Ziye replied, “Rushing the fight is simply suicide. Brilliant Sword Heart actually trains the physique to be high in permeability, which causes the user to have an exceptionally powerful explosive attack. Currently, even I do not have the means to directly block her Nineteen Layers of Flaming Sword which she excels at.”
Ye Feifei asked, “Even the Thick Ice Shield and Diamond Body can do nothing?”
“According to the result of the calculation, even stacking five layers of Thick Ice Shield plus activating the Diamond Body still can’t block the full power attack of her sword. In terms of explosive attack, Liu Li is unparalleled.”
Although they had long known that this opponent of them was very strong, especially in sword art, her explosive attack was far more powerful than a common cultivator. However, to hear this unparalleled evaluation from their Eldest Brother, Ye Feifei and the other still felt that it was somewhat unbelievable.
“Then why don’t we confuse her with illusion? As long as we can avoid a direct confrontation, her strong explosive attack would be useless.”
Zhan Ziye coldly snorted and said, “This is exactly the second main characteristic of the Brilliant Sword Heart: Untainted by even a speck of dust. This makes common illusion method to be completely ineffective. Even the negative effects such as slow, rigid and so on are greatly reduced. In other words, she’s a killing machine that can’t be stopped.”
Upon hearing this, the several people felt chills behind their back.
“Then… Senior Brother, what should we do if we run into her?”
Zhan Ziye was silent for a moment and then said, “No tricks can stop her, so we can only rely on our own strength to beat her head on. There is the best example of people who tried to play tricks on her, which are those twelve fishes of the Blood Cloud Gorge—in that battle, they actually had a chance to beat her in the beginning. However, because they didn’t want to sacrifice a bit of blood, they tried to slow the opponent. As a result, as the fight went on, Liu Li’s momentum and offensive continued to be more and more fierce, and finally, she slew those twelve demons and came out unscathed. Therefore, if I were to fight her, I will try to make sure to defeat her in the first round. Although Brilliant Sword Heart is indeed formidable, it still has its flaws, which is the lack of defensive ability. In the beginning, while she still hasn’t got her momentum going and there are still flaws in her moves, if you can grasp her flaws, there’s a chance for you to win.”
Hai Yunfan asked, “So, what does Senior Brother think about your chance of winning against her?”
“Currently, about seventy percent.”
“Only seventy percent…?” Hai Yunfan’s face sank. Because according to this calculation, if other people met with Liu Li, their odds were perhaps wouldn’t even reach thirty percent.
Ye Feifei tried to sound positive. “I think it’s normal for her to have this kind of ability, after all, she is our opponent’s trump card. If their trump card can’t even defeat our small fries, then this competition is of no use at all.”
“Hey, hey, Second Senior Sister, who are you calling small fries here?”
Zhan Ziye interrupted before they went off the track, “Don’t quarrel. Our next analysis is about Wang Lu.”
When it came to Wang Lu, everyone’s attention was focused. Obviously in their hearts, although in terms of strength, Liu Li was much stronger than Wang Lu, Wang Lu was the one they truly thought to be the one worth paying attention to.
After all, although Liu Li was formidable, their Eldest Brother had seventy percent chance of defeating her, but Wang Lu… even though his cultivation was quite low, no one dared to say they could confidently overcome him. Especially since his performance at the Gate of All Living Things had left a deep psychological trauma on them.
“These several days, I have carefully collected some of Wang Lu’s information… In short, he is an opponent that, in theory, pose no threat in the ring.”
“What?”
“Is it inconceivable? Then let’s look at the data… his magical power cultivation is only at the level two Qi Cultivating Stage, his Non-Phase cultivation method is the creation of his Master, and his defensive ability is exceptionally alarming. Theoretically, even if I try my best, it’s difficult to defeat him in a short time. But on the other hand, correspondingly, his offensive ability is negligible. He doesn’t have any marvelous spell, and his sword art also lacks in explosive power, so much that he can’t even send sword qi out of his body. According to the average level of the Spirit Sword Sect, his attack power can’t even be compared to the attack power of the middle-level Qi Cultivating Stage disciples. In fighting him, as long as we stand in the arena, we already occupy the invincible position. His threat to us can’t even be compared to that of Wen Bao. After all, if the later went all out, it would likely cause us some trouble.”
Ye Feifei was somewhat in disbelieve. “How could it be, he is after all one of the Successor Disciples of the Spirit Sword Sect…”
Zhan Ziye replied, “It’s probably because he spent too much of his time scheming and deceiving people, which in turn delayed his cultivation training. It is said that his spirit root quality is even much better than Liu Li, but after five years of cultivation training, he can’t even reach Foundation Establishment Stage. Even compared to the average cultivation pace of the Spirit Sword Sect, he is still somewhat slow. Humph, those barbarian orangutans, and upstarts like to ridicule us, Ten Thousand Arts Sect people, as people who only know how to excessively research and study to such extent that it delays our cultivation training. But this Wang Lu is even more excessive than us.”
“Senior Brother, this time I disagree with your point of view.” Hai Yunfan softly interrupted, “Even if he spent too much of his time scheming and deceiving people, the fact is we have lost three times to him. Rather than belittling our opponent, we should think about ways to counter his scheme… respecting the objective facts, doesn’t our Ten Thousand Arts Sect always endorse such academic thinking?”
Zhan Ziye was stunned for a moment, and then calmly nodded, “You’re right, Junior Brother, I have unconsciously belittled our opponent.”
Hai Yunfan continued, “In my opinion, Wang Lu’s style of extreme defense is precisely the condition that is perfect for him. If we can’t beat him in a short time, it means we can’t stop him from using these time to execute his scheme. I believe all of us have experienced it, as long as we let him grasp the rhythm, it’s very easy for him to create miracles.”
Zhan Ziye pondered for a moment. “I understand. To deal with Wang Lu, we mustn’t try to prolong the fight just because of his astonishing defensive power. Instead, we must try to defeat him in the shortest amount of time possible, do not give him the opportunity to play tricks.”
Hai Yunfan said, “At least I can only think of this one.”
Zhan Ziye said, “Then everyone needs to remember this, don’t be careless. Next, we will analyze the remaining three people. The first is Yue Yun. Although his cultivation level is not high, his overall quality is quite comprehensive, with solid basic skills. However, he is of soil base Spirit Root, which has its flaws. In my opinion…”
——
While the Ten Thousand Arts Sect people were carefully analyzing their opponents, the Spirit Sword Sect people weren’t idle either.
Yue Yun, Yue Xinyao, Wen Bao…and the rest of the inner and outer court disciples that didn’t participate in the competition gathered at the Tengyun Hall on the Misty Peak and received a public lecture from Elder Liu Xian.
“Zhan Ziye, middle-level Foundation Establishment, first rank spirit root, with Five Thunderbolt Sutra as his core method…”
“Ye Feifei, low-level Foundation Establishment, second rank spirit root, core method…”
After being inducted by the Heavenly Sword Hall Elders, Liu Xian carefully explained in details the sorted information about the respective characteristics and data of the five disciples of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect. Unlike the Ten Thousand Arts Sect, the disciples of the Spirit Sword Sect did not pursue a quick cultivation progress. Therefore, they generally ‘matured’ slowly. Right now, most of the present disciples haven’t even reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, which meant it wasn’t realistic to force them to assume personal responsibility.
“Hey, do you know where Senior Sister Liu Li and Senior Brother Wang Lu are?” Wen Yin, who was sitting inside the Tengyun Hall, asked in a low voice, “They’re supposed to be the main trump card here.”
“Them?” Being asked by Wen Yin, Yue Xinyao could only helplessly sigh. “Senior Sister Liu Li is under special training by our Fourth Uncle. It is said that the large part of this special training program was developed by Senior Brother Wang Lu, which is called…brain teasers.”
Wen Yin nodded as if she somewhat comprehended. “Em…then what about Senior Brother Wang Lu?”
“He…he said he had to solve his fight by himself.”
Wen Yin’s eyes sprang wide in surprise. “That is such a good line!”
“Heh.” Yue Xinyao shook her head while inwardly thinking, ‘you haven’t heard his more amazing line yet.’
Half a day ago, Yue Xinyao had gone to the Non-Phase Peak to deliver her Master’s request for Wang Lu to attend the lecture. However, Wang Lu’s response to such request was this:
“It’s a disgrace to hear the tactics of those mediocre people of the Heavenly Sword Hall.”