Gu Ningyun withdrew her spirit energy and sprang to her feet.
The spirit energy in her dantian was essentially fully restored, and the divine sense she had consumed had also been replenished during her meditation.
Along with the roar of the demon beast came a wave of pressure that could not be ignored, accompanied by a chilling aura of evil qi.
This was a rank two early stage demon beast, possessing combat power equivalent to the early Foundation Establishment stage!
Seeing her stand up, Fu Mingzhi condensed what he had to say into a few words, informing her that the disciples had gathered and were organized into groups, waiting for her to make a decision.
Sensing the pressure rapidly approaching them, Gu Ningyun did not delay for a moment.
"Chenze, you're in charge of the disciples skilled in arrays or those with array plates. After I call your name, have them find the right moment to throw their array plates or set up formations. Try to keep the demon beast contained within them."
After Mu Chenze agreed and began organizing the array cultivators, Gu Ningyun said, "Disciples with wood and earth spirit roots, and the five sword cultivators, stand in front with me.
As for the others, arrange yourselves with those at Qi Refining level four in the front and level three in the back. Those skilled in close combat should be in the front, and those skilled in long-range attacks should be in the back."
The threat coming from the north wasn't the worst-case scenario she had imagined—an evil cultivator—but rather an unintelligent Foundation Establishment demon beast. The tactics for facing it would have to change.
This pressure was moving along the ground and wasn't flying; it was likely a land beast.
Just as everyone finished forming their lines, Gu Ningyun's divine sense discovered the creature.
It was a lynx the size of a room, its eyes blood-red and completely devoid of reason. Its limbs were powerful, and its movements were agile.
Soon, the lynx appeared before everyone.
Through the wooden tokens, the recording stones at Fighting Peak also displayed the lynx's appearance.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator from the New Disciple Training Department narrowed his eyes. "With that size, it's only a hair's breadth away from being a rank two middle stage demon beast?
According to our arrangements, after this demon beast finished absorbing the evil object, it should have barely broken through to rank two at most, without even having time to stabilize its cultivation."
Perfected Person Ye narrowed her eyes. No wonder there were so many demon beasts affected by evil qi earlier; it was because this beast was too strong, causing the range of its influence to expand.
"Contact the disciples of Punishment Peak. Investigate the origin of this lynx and the source of the evil object. Once the competition is over, we will send the lynx's corpse and the remains of the evil object to Punishment Peak."
As soon as she finished speaking, a disciple from the training department received the order and left.
The referee for Arena Two watched the lynx's situation, feeling somewhat worried. "Senior Aunt Ye, should we terminate the test?"
"It's fine. We can take this opportunity to train them."
Perfected Person Ye looked at Gu Ningyun on the recording stone with a smile in her eyes, then scanned the group of serious-faced little ones who showed no sign of cowardice. "If there is danger, we will step in to protect them."
Knowing that the secret realm keys allowed them to teleport to specific locations, the referee for Arena Two said no more.
By now, the fight in the secret realm had already begun.
Gu Ningyun rapidly calculated the lynx's speed and the length of its stride in her mind.
As the lynx leaped into the air again, she commanded, "Sword cultivators, follow me and attack below the lynx's front!"
Following a flash of green light, a total of six long-prepared sword qi blasts—thunder, ice, fire, and two gold-attribute—were unleashed in succession, striking toward the spot Gu Ningyun indicated.
This single strike condensed almost all the spirit energy in their dantians; it was the strongest sword qi they could currently produce.
The green light was incredibly fast. Even a demon beast with a clear mind wouldn't have been able to react, let alone one whose sanity had been corroded by evil qi.
The lynx had just begun to descend from the peak of its jumping arc when its two front paws happened to collide with the green wind-attribute sword qi.
Gu Ningyun saw that the lynx's eyes remained as frenzied as ever, completely unaffected by the green light, but its body shuddered—a spontaneous reaction to being harmed.
The other five sword qi blasts also struck in sequence, all hitting the lynx's front paws.
Six gashes appeared on the lynx's front paws, from bottom to top.
The lowest gash was the thinnest and deepest, oozing a trail of blood; the highest gash flickered with purple thunder light, which slightly dispersed the black qi around the wound and the surrounding fur.
The four gashes in the middle were either charred by fire, had shredded flesh, or were radiating cold air—all of them looking absolutely gruesome.
After the six sword qi blasts hit, the lynx also completed the final arc of its jump and landed on the ground.
As its front paws hit the ground, Gu Ningyun saw it stumble slightly. It seemed these six sword qi wounds had indeed affected it.
Just as the lynx's four paws landed and before it could jump again to approach them, Gu Ningyun said, "Earth-attribute disciples, move all the dirt from beneath the lynx!"
With so many people, the speed of digging a pit was incredibly fast.
As soon as Gu Ningyun finished speaking, dozens of brown lights appeared, and a large pit instantly opened beneath the lynx.
The pit was just large enough to fit the lynx's body but small enough to prevent it from moving freely at the bottom.
At that moment, the lynx's paws had just touched the ground, and before it could push off to leap again, the ground beneath it vanished.
Although the lynx had lost its sanity, its instincts as a feline demon beast remained.
Its body twisted instinctively as it tried to maintain its balance during the fall.
"Wood-attribute disciples, flip this lynx starting from its left side until its belly is facing up!"
Dozens of vines flew out, wrapping around the lynx's limbs.
Because Gu Ningyun's description of the direction to flip the lynx was very clear, no vines pulled in the wrong direction. The massive lynx was instantly flipped belly-up.
At this point, the lynx's back was about to hit the bottom of the pit.
"Ranged attackers, now!"
The moment they heard Gu Ningyun's voice, countless beams of spirit light carrying a sharp aura flew into the pit, slamming into the lynx's belly, its weakest point of defense.
"Roar!"
The roar of the attacks was accompanied by the lynx's frenzied and pained howling.
The gap between the low levels of Qi Refining and the Foundation Establishment stage was immense. For anyone other than a sword cultivator, the former's attacks were like a fist hitting a wall—the wall wouldn't budge.
However, both Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment were still in the beginning stages of cultivation, and the gap in strength was far less than that between Foundation Establishment and Golden Core.
Against a rank two early stage demon beast, a single Qi Refining disciple would be killed by the shockwave of its spirit energy, and ten Qi Refining disciples would be crushed under its foot.
But what if there were a hundred, or even several hundred?
Gu Ningyun's divine sense scanned the bottom of the pit, seeing the large hole blasted into the lynx's abdomen and the fragments of bloody internal organs it coughed up.
From the moment the lynx appeared, Gu Ningyun hadn't given it a single chance to react. One after another, three continuous waves of attacks had taken the lynx completely by surprise.
The lynx was injured, and the victory in the first clash not only weakened its strength but also boosted the disciples' morale and strengthened their confidence.
A rank two early stage beast was not invincible to those in the Qi Refining stage.
But a rank two beast was still a rank two beast.
Even under the relentless and dense barrage of attacks, the lynx soon struggled to flip over, widened the mud walls around it, and leaped out of the pit.
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