Chapter 235 | You Said You Only Wanted to Die

The woman in the pink gauze dress bowed elegantly toward Li Nanzhu, her lips parting slightly. "Fellow Daoist Li, I surrender this match."

The audience erupted into an uproar.

Li Nanzhu was also stunned. "This..."

Liu Yuesheng smiled faintly and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "This is the intention of our young sect leader. She says... she looks forward to a pleasant cooperation."

After saying that, she turned gracefully and left the arena under the astonished gazes of the crowd.

"Arena Number Eight, Li Nanzhu of the Five Elements Dao Sect wins!"

And just like that, all three of them successfully advanced. After returning to their lodging, the group continued to discuss the strange events of the day.

"The Hehuan Sect is making their goodwill very obvious," Feng Qingping analyzed. "But the price they're paying seems a bit too high."

Jiang Yifan pondered for a moment before speaking. "If it's a direct surrender, it's no longer something that Rong Yuying could decide alone as a young sect leader."

"Fourth Senior Brother, you mean..."

The following days of the competition continued. Although Duan Xianxing and Feng Weilan encountered many strong opponents, they relied on their strength and tactics to resolve each challenge one by one.

Li Nanzhu continued to leverage her advantage with triple-attribute spiritual energy, adopting different strategies for different opponents.

Through their series of performances, everyone came to believe that this was the full extent of the Five Elements Dao Sect's Foundation Establishment stage disciples' strength.

After all, aside from Feng Weilan, both Duan Xianxing and Li Nanzhu appeared to have 'exhausted all their tricks' in every match.

People began to speculate that they were likely to stop at the top two hundred. The attention given to the Five Elements Dao Sect also diminished invisibly, and even the Sword Heart Sect relaxed its surveillance significantly.

Fifteen days later, the competition finally determined the top two hundred.

This meant that the upcoming opponents would be even more troublesome—none of those who could make it this far were anything less than elites of their respective sects.

Seed players like Cang Dongqing and Liu Qingyang were naturally among them.

The one who caught Li Nanzhu's attention the most was still Cang Dongqing. Although this original female protagonist also won easily, her performance was quite a bit less dazzling than described in the original story.

"The list of tomorrow's opponents is out." Mu Wenyan's voice interrupted Li Nanzhu's contemplation. "Seventh Junior Brother is against Lan Tusong of the Lingxiao Sect, Sixth Junior Brother is against Wu Changkong of the Sword Heart Sect, and Little Junior Sister..."

He paused. "Is against Mu Qingwan of the Hundred Herbs Sect."

Duan Xianxing let out a whistle. "Yo, isn't that the poison expert we analyzed before?"

Li Nanzhu recalled, "The one who touches her jade bracelet before performing the Poison Vine Technique?"

"Exactly." Zhu Yinxi nodded. "But to make it into the top two hundred, her strength is definitely greater than what's in the records."

Feng Qingping added, "The Hundred Herbs Sect is famous for its poison techniques, and Mu Qingwan is among the best of them. Her poison vines can not only paralyze limbs but also corrode spiritual energy."

Duan Xianxing immediately pulled up the combat footage of Mu Qingwan.

In the image, the vines flying from her sleeves glowed with an eerie purple light. With just a slight touch, her opponents' movements became sluggish, and they eventually collapsed with their entire bodies stiffened.

"Her poison vines are divided into three types," Feng Qingping explained in detail. "The purple ones paralyze the limbs, the red ones corrode spiritual energy, and the black ones directly attack the divine sense."

"She's only at the Foundation Establishment stage, and she can already use divine sense attacks?!" Duan Xianxing's eyes widened.

"That's why she's so troublesome," Feng Qingping mused. "Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been able to become one of the core disciples of the Hundred Herbs Sect despite only having a late Foundation Establishment cultivation."

"Then that habitual movement of touching her bracelet..."

"It might not be a flaw," Zhu Yinxi said while watching the footage. "It's very likely she intentionally kept that flaw to lure enemies into a trap."

Even Mu Wenyan nodded. "What's even more difficult is that her poison vines have been specially cultivated to be impervious to water and fire."

"It's a pity Little Junior Sister doesn't have a metal spiritual root." Duan Xianxing scratched his hair. "According to the characteristics of metal spiritual roots, they should be able to cut through them."

"But I can draw metal-attribute talismans!" Li Nanzhu pulled out a stack of shimmering golden talisman papers. "I have twenty golden spear talismans here, and I'll draw more if those aren't enough!"

Moreover—

She had her own trump cards.

Since everyone else was hiding their strength, she naturally wouldn't expose hers now.

...

The martial arts arena was bustling with noise.

When Li Nanzhu stepped onto the arena, Mu Qingwan was already standing there. This genius of the Hundred Herbs Sect wore a dark green long dress, and the jade bracelet on her wrist emitted an eerie luster.

"I have long heard the great name of the Five Elements Dao Sect." Mu Qingwan bowed elegantly, but her eyes flickered with a cold light. "I shall experience it for myself today."

"The match begins!"

Mu Qingwan was the first to act, three purple vines flying from her sleeves and lunging directly at Li Nanzhu.

Li Nanzhu was well-prepared. Her left hand formed a seal, and a water curtain unfolded out of thin air.

The vines crashed into the water curtain with a sizzling sound, actually corroding several large holes in it! The venom dripped onto the ground, instantly eating small pits into the bluestone floor.

The spectators at the edge of the arena gasped. This toxicity was even more violent than the rumors suggested!

Li Nanzhu felt a chill in her heart and hurried back. Mu Qingwan gave a cold laugh and formed another hand seal. More vines surged from her sleeves, sealing off all of Li Nanzhu's paths of retreat.

"It's useless." Mu Qingwan lightly stroked her jade bracelet. "My poison vines have been specially cultivated to specifically counter water-attribute spiritual energy."

Seeing the poison vines about to wrap around her, Li Nanzhu suddenly changed her moves. Her right hand's Fellow Daoist sword burst into raging flames, the blade sweeping across to sever all the incoming vines.

"Kalpa Fire Dance Sutra!"

The moment the flame-wrapped blade severed the poison vines, Li Nanzhu keenly noticed that the severed vines actually detached themselves from the main body, discarding the parts scorched by the fire.

The remaining vines rapidly retracted, while new poison vines already surged from Mu Qingwan's sleeves, their color even deeper than before.

"Smart," Feng Qingping whispered from the sidelines. "She's giving up the ignited parts to preserve the main body."

Duan Xianxing scratched his head. "Doesn't that just prove that Little Junior Sister's fire actually counters the opponent?"

Both people on the stage were clearly aware of this. Mu Qingwan's expression also became solemn. Her vines had been specially cultivated by her, so ordinary spiritual fires were very difficult to ignite. Either the opponent's spiritual energy was suppressing her, or the level of the opponent's cultivation technique was far above hers!

'Is this truly worthy of the Five Elements Dao Sect?' Mu Qingwan thought to herself, but her movements did not slow down in the slightest.

Although Li Nanzhu had guessed that the karmic fire could counter the opponent's poison vines, the other woman's reaction speed clearly exceeded her expectations.

Shifting her sword stance, Li Nanzhu no longer obsessed over burning the vines. Instead, she compressed the flames of the Kalpa Fire Dance Sutra within three inches of the blade, forming a high-temperature fire blade.

Screech!

As the fire blade sliced through, even the reinforced poison vines were easily severed. But Mu Qingwan was already prepared, and the severed vines once again detached themselves as more vines flooded in from all directions.