Chapter 198 - Finally Not Useless Anymore
The second person to take the stage was Wang Xuanzhan.
His fighting spirit was at an all-time high and a roaring flame burnt and crackled in his heart.
Yes, he had been in despair once.
He had felt like his teammates were useless so it was pointless no matter how hard he tried.
But now, An Lin had used his actions to give him motivation, to let him know that there was still hope for victory, that they still hadn’t lost!
The intent realm crystal was activated by the Lion King, and Wang Xuanzhan entered the intent realm with zero hesitation.
Wang Xuanzhan’s true intent was spear intent. Lightning flashed around him as he gripped his spear tightly, standing between heaven and earth as if he was the God of War, taking on each and every mechanical puppet that dared to attack him.
The first few mechanical puppets were defeated in no time.
It was only until the sixth mechanical puppet appeared that he had a little difficulty.
This was the mechanical puppet with blue flames burning all around its body so it was imbued by extremely powerful true intent of fire.
The clash between their true intents whipped up a huge storm of ash and dust in a thrilling battle. In the end, Wang Xuanzhan managed to pierce through the head of the mechanical puppet, thereby securing victory.
The seventh mechanical puppet was the one wielding dual sabers and possessed terrifying saber intent.
It was on this exact mechanical puppet that An Lin was forced to use his Wind Sword technique.
In this battle, Wang Xuanzhan utilized his Dragon Spear true intent to the extreme, making him appear as if he were a dragon soaring through the heavens in a powerful and imposing display.
In the end, the dual saber-wielding mechanical puppet fell to his spear, but he himself was also riddled with wounds.
The eighth mechanical puppet was a yin-yang puppet.
The mechanical puppet wielded ice of extreme cold in one hand and flames of the Golden Crow in the other. Its movements were extremely agile and unpredictable, qualities which it did not have a chance to display last time as An Lin insta-killed it with his Wind Sword technique.
Wang Xuanzhan fought intently with this mechanical puppet for a long while, but he was, unfortunately, lacking slightly in stamina and was outlasted by the yin-yang mechanical puppet.
All the students in the spectator stands all sighed forlornly at the scene. They had seen Wang Xuanzhan piercing the mechanical puppet a few times with his spear and thought he would be able to come out on top, but the final result belied their expectations.
The representatives from the other three powers all breathed light sighs of relief. An Lin’s full marks performance had already placed a lot of pressure on them. If Wang Xuanzhan was able to defeat the eighth mechanical puppet, then they were going to be firmly on the back foot.
Next, they all turned their gazes on Liu Qianhuan.
Hmm… If Liu Qianhuan performed consistently according to how she performed in the two previous segments, then they still had a chance.
“It’s all up to you now, Liu Qianhuan.” Wang Xuanzhan consciousness returned, and he looked toward Liu Qianhuan with encouragement.
Liu Qianhuan made an OK hand signal in response. “You can count on me!”
She injected her consciousness into the black crystal and appeared in a vast expanse of desert.
Several tens-of-thousands of students all stared up at her beautiful figure, hoping their Goddess would be able to redeem herself.
Boom!
The first mechanical puppet descended from the sky.
This mechanical puppet clearly existed with the sole purpose of giving away free points and it began to leap toward Liu Qianhuan in jerky, awkward movements.
Liu Qianhuan flipped her hand, and her six-feathered staff appeared in front of her. Her slim fingers gripped onto the staff as she charged toward the mechanical puppet.
Boom Boom Boom!
Liu Qianhuan and the wooden mechanical puppet engaged in an intense battle.
Wang Xuanzhan: “…”
An Lin: “…”
All the spectators: “…”
In the end, Liu Qianhuan relied on her advantage in agility to knock the mechanical puppet into pieces with her staff.
“Phew… what a nuisance to not be able to use immortal spells…” She wiped the sweat off her forehead, and her face was already red from exertion.
The second mechanical puppet was a lot more agile, and Liu Qianhuan fell into an arduous battle.
Boom boom boom, boom boom boom…
After a fierce battle, Liu Qianhuan came out slightly on top.
“Sigh, it looks like we’re screwed for this segment as well.”
“Although I really don’t want to admit it, it seems like Sister Liu is simply not suitable for a competition like this…”
“What a pity, God An and Wang Xuanzhan tried so hard too.”
All the students stared up at the image of the woman on the crystal with worried expressions. All their burning passion seemed to have been quashed under a spray of cold water.
The third mechanical puppet descended with a rumbling boom. Each of its attacks was extremely powerful, and Liu Qianhuan was forced into retreat, clearly unable to hold on for much longer.
“It looks like Liu Qianhuan can only get two points here, we have a chance!” Hong Dou yelled excitedly.
True intent was a strong point for the Hall of Creation representatives, so this was the best chance they had to turn the tables around.
Just as everyone was giving up on Liu Qianhuan, she herself also sighed lightly.
“Sigh, it appears I won’t be able to redeem myself as a young sorceress… There’s no way around it then. After all, I did promise An Lin. I guess I’ll have to use it even though I don’t want to…”
Liu Qianhuan’s bright purple eyes suddenly began to cool as her six-feathered staff disappeared during her retreat. What appeared instead was a light blue longsword in her hand.
Slash!
The trajectory of her slash was almost faster than what the naked eyes could detect.
Within an instant, Liu Qianhuan had appeared behind the wooden mechanical puppet.
Crack!
The mechanical puppet was instantly slashed into thousands of pieces right in front of everyone’s eyes, and each of cross-sectional incisions was extremely smooth and clean.
“Gasp!”
All the spectators staring up at the screen gasped in unison as expressions of shock and bewilderment appeared on their faces.
Insta-kill!?
An Lin’s eyes also widened drastically. “Sister Liu can use swords? And… her sword techniques are so powerful too!”
Wasn’t she supposed to be a young sorceress, when did she become a swordmaster? She didn’t even unleash her sword during the free-for-all battle!
Wang Xuanzhan slowly came to his senses, and although shock still lingered on his face, he slowly began to accept this as reality. “Although this is the first time I’ve seen Liu Qianhuan wielding a sword, she is from the Heavenly Sword Sect, so it’s really no surprise…”
Heavenly Sword Sect?
An Lin nodded as everything suddenly became clearer to him. The Heavenly Sword Sect was one of the four main sects of the Kingdom of the Nine States. It was the place where all Sword Immortals yearned to go as there were countless renowned sword-masters and genius Sword Immortals there. It was the undisputed holy land of swords on the Tai Chu Continent.
If Sister Liu came from there, then it really wasn’t too much of a surprise that she had a second identity as a Sword Immortal.
As they were discussing amongst themselves, Liu Qianhuan had already destroyed the fourth and fifth mechanical puppets. Her movements were smooth and coordinated, giving off both grace and elegance.
The sixth blue flame mechanical puppet was very powerful, so she had a little more trouble there, but she was still able to come out on top in the end.
“We’ve got this one in the bag!” Wang Xuanzhan pumped his fist excitedly.
Liu Qianhuan was already at six points, which was a very high score already, so they had pretty much reserved top spot for this segment.
The dual saber-wielding mechanical puppet appeared. The saber intent of this mechanical puppet was extremely powerful, and it was also at this stage where Wang Xuanzhan began to have trouble.
“Frosty Heavens.” Liu Qianhuan’s cherry lips twitched slightly as a hint of blue light flashed across her eyes.
Blue smoke suddenly began to appear on her porcelain-like skin, forming blue strips which hung off her lithe and graceful body.
She stalked forward expressionlessly toward the mechanical puppet like the Goddess of Snow and Ice. Her light blue longsword scratched out a thin trail in the ground, from which a frosty air was emitted.
The scene behind her had already become a world of snow and ice.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
A series of powerful saber projections slashed through the air toward Liu Qianhuan.
But the seemingly extremely powerful saber projections all halted in their progress a hundred feet away from her before they froze solid.
Liu Qianhuan stepped forward, her body advancing over a hundred meters with each leap. Her longsword was as quick as lightning as she slashed down toward the dual saber mechanical puppet.
A frosty aura engulfed heaven and earth as everything around her began to slow down before finally solidifying. Yet her sword was even quicker than before…
Whoosh!
The blue sword projection slashed through in a white line, splitting the mechanical puppet cleanly in half.
The extremely powerful dual saber mechanical puppet had also been insta-killed!
After that, even the yin-yang mechanical puppet that had managed to defeat Wang Xuanzhan fell victim to Liu Qianhuan’s Frosty Heavens sword intent and was slashed into pieces.
This time, all the spectators were in shock.
They stared up at the figure on the crystalline screen while they were at a complete loss for words.
This wasn’t some young sorceress; this was a peerless swordswoman!
Her frosty dispositions, her proud and upright posture, her exquisitely beautiful features…
All of that combined to form a top-rate female Sword Immortal.
Even Su Qianyun was staring at her with envy and admiration in her big, watery eyes.
She also had the dream of becoming a Sword Immortal who was the perfect blend of power and grace and be just like Sister Liu.
Although Liu Qianhuan was very powerful, she still fell in the end to the boundless sword formation of the ninth mechanical puppet.
As her consciousness returned to her body, she heard her score being announced.
“Liu Qianhuan, eight points!”
All the tens-of-thousands of students began to cheer loudly again as the whole venue erupted.
Some male students, in particular, were red in the face as they screamed her name like madmen.
Yes, her score had exceeded everyone’s expectations. This was a score worthy of the admiration and raucous cheers she received, and it was also a score that brought despair to all the other three powers!
Setting aside An Lin’s performance, she had become the most eye-catching contestant on the stage.
Liu Qianhuan was not able to redeem herself as a young sorceress, but she was able to successfully redeemed herself as a student representative!
“Not bad, eh?” Liu Qianhuan made her way toward An Lin and Wang Xuanzhan.
Both of them stared at her blankly before offering thumbs-up in unison.
Liu Qianhuan burst into laughter at their expressions. Her laughter that was as beautiful as March cherry blossoms had enchanted all its onlookers.