Three Strikes

First strike: She brought out her qin and played 《The Qin and the Wei》 in a flurry, manifesting a sound shield that enveloped Si Puyu.

Second strike: She swung her sword, beheading the mountain goat the very moment its horns pierced the sound shield.

Third strike: She leaped into the air, using the beast pack as leverage, and executed the first form of the Taiqing Astral Wind Art—Wind Blade.

A three-meter-wide azure blade of wind slashed down, beheading two rows of beasts surrounding the protective barrier in one clean sweep.

A disciple inside the defense array cried out in surprise, "That qin music... it's Senior Sister Gu! We're saved!"

"But there are only two of them!"

"Attack! Quick, provide cover so they can enter the array!"

"Was that wind blade a technique? It's incredible! To behead two rows of beasts like that... and those beasts were nearly rank two!"

"Is that really an attack a Qi Refining disciple can produce?"

"Senior Sister Gu's spirit energy must be drained. Senior Brother Si, open the defense array quickly!"

By then, Gu Ningyun had already reached the front of the array, and Si Puyu hurriedly opened a path to let her in.

As soon as she entered, a Qi Refining level three cultivator handed her a bottle of Spirit-Replenishing Pills.

"Senior Sister Gu, thanks to your attack and Senior Brother Mu Chenze's interference, we can hold out for a while longer. Please, recover your spirit energy first."

Gu Ningyun didn't take it. Upon entering, she had seen the dire state Si Puyu and the others were in; this was likely their very last bottle.

"I have my own pills. Hold the line for now. I'll begin treatment as soon as I've recovered my spirit energy."

Hearing her calm tone, the disciple was overjoyed—it seemed Senior Sister Gu really could purify the evil qi!

He acknowledged her words and stopped bothering her, instead distributing the pills among Si Puyu and the others.

This was indeed the last of their supplies.

Gu Ningyun glanced at Mu Chenze outside the array. While she had been killing beasts to save the disciples, he had already begun setting up an illusion array.

Only a large-scale illusion array deployed on-site could stall the remaining sixty or so beasts.

Seeing that his array was mostly complete and that he had plenty of top-grade Swift-Walk Talismans to stay safe, she turned her attention away.

The previous Taiqing Astral Wind Art had nearly drained her. Without delay, she consumed a Spirit-Replenishing Pill given to her by Wen Xuan.

Once her spirit energy had recovered slightly, she began to play Zongjiao.

Purifying evil qi was far more taxing on spirit energy and mental strength than simply healing wounds.

These disciples were heavily injured, and the evil qi had been festering for a long time. Even with a powerful melody like Zongjiao, she had to play it through twice before the malice was completely purged.

With the evil qi gone, healing the wounds was trivial for a professional healer who had spent over ten days at a stall in front of the Trial Tower.

Gu Ningyun increased her spirit energy output. Before she had even finished a third of Zongjiao, their flesh began to knit together at a visible rate. They recovered completely and soon woke up.

"Senior Sister Gu!"

"Mhm. Go help the others first."

At her reminder, the disciples immediately recalled the situation before they had lost consciousness and realized the current danger.

"Senior Sister Gu, I'll transfer the points to you once we're done fighting."

Gu Ningyun didn't respond. She continued playing Zongjiao, but this time, she was healing Si Puyu and the others who were still in the thick of combat.

At that moment, Fu Mingzhi, Wen Xuan, and the rest arrived, joining the effort to cull the beasts.

The tide of battle turned instantly.

With over fifty disciples now gathered, bolstered by talismans and arrays against sixty-odd beasts, they finally had the strength to fight back.

With Gu Ningyun backing them up with Zongjiao, the disciples felt a surge of confidence. They fought with bold, sweeping moves, no longer fearing the beasts' evil qi.

Amidst the lively notes of the qin, sword light, techniques, talismans, arrays, and pills were unleashed in unison. The sixty-plus beasts were soon slaughtered to the last.

As the final beast fell, the disciples still felt a lingering excitement.

For the first time, they had fought without being hindered by injuries or evil qi. It felt exhilarating!

Gu Ningyun put away her qin, only to find dozens of pairs of shining eyes fixed on her.

She paused for a moment. "Aren't you going to clean up the battlefield and recover your spirit energy?"

Everyone looked away in unison. "Right away! We're on it!"

The disciples who had been unconscious, along with those who hadn't paid in advance, all transferred twenty sect points to Gu Ningyun.

Their infections had been severe, so a fee of twenty points was reasonable.

As for the healing provided during the battle, Gu Ningyun hadn't originally intended to charge for it.

After all, she hadn't personally killed any beasts during that phase, acting instead as support. In a life-or-death struggle, everyone had given their all.

However, Fu Mingzhi and Si Puyu disagreed.

Killing the beasts earned them team competition points, but Gu Ningyun received none for her healing.

Furthermore, her healing melodies had been the deciding factor. Without her, they would have likely suffered heavy casualties or been too hesitant to fight properly.

They proposed that everyone give ten team competition points to Gu Ningyun.

Gu Ningyun considered it. A rank one peak beast was worth two hundred team points. Usually, it took two level four disciples and three level three disciples to take one down.

These frenzied beasts were even stronger, but her melodies made the work much easier. Taking ten points from each person meant she earned about fifty points per beast—a fair deal. She didn't refuse further.

The other disciples also felt this was only right and swiped their wooden tokens without hesitation.

In a collaborative hunt, it was only natural to distribute rewards based on contribution.

As for the rankings?

Hmph, none of the disciples even wanted to look at Ruiyu Pavilion's rock-solid first-place score.

Part of that score came from the tokens they had previously stolen...

Thinking of this, the disciples cleaning the battlefield glanced at Gu Ningyun, Fu Mingzhi, Si Puyu, and the others.

When they had first encountered these powerful teams, their only thought had been to cooperate for survival; the idea of stealing wooden tokens hadn't even crossed their minds.

Now that the crisis was over, they realized that since the beasts had gone mad, no one had tried to snatch tokens from anyone else.

Even they themselves hadn't thought about targeting weaker teams.

If someone were to ask Gu Ningyun or Si Puyu now, they would find that these experts had no intention of stealing tokens either.

...

Outside the secret realm, the recording stones on Fighting Peak projected their performance onto various light screens.

The largest screens in the center featured the areas where Gu Ningyun, Ling Hanbai, and Zhu Zijin had gathered the most people.

Beyond the screens were the spectators who had watched the individual matches, as well as disciples from the Disciple Training Department.

A Foundation Establishment disciple from the training department stood beside Perfected Person Ye, watching the screens with a smile. "Martial Aunt Ye, it seems this batch of disciples will pass the test."

Another Foundation Establishment disciple added, "In life-or-death situations, cooperation and trust are paramount. If they were still playing tricks on their fellow disciples or thinking about stealing tokens at a time like this, they wouldn't be able to achieve effective cooperation to repel the beasts."

"Exactly. The cultivation world is vast, with countless hidden dangers. No matter how strong an individual is, there are times when they cannot stand alone. Our Xiaoyao disciples must not only possess personal strength but also learn to cooperate with their peers and place a certain amount of trust in them."

"One must still maintain a degree of caution, of course."

"Don't worry, our training department's plans were reviewed by the elders of Governing Peak. Since they didn't object, it means we haven't led these kids astray."

Perfected Person Ye nodded but remained silent.

She agreed with her martial nephews' words, but...

Looking at the sheer number of frenzied beasts, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.