Chapter 8: The Gambling Fight

  Lu Ping cursed his own jinxed mouth as he took out a high-quality Blood Symbol "Vajra Symbol" from the pocket on his sleeve and slapped it onto himself. A golden glow with a hint of red thread emanated from Lu Ping's body, making him look like he was wearing a suit of golden armor.

  Three crystal clear ice blades collided with the protective golden light one after another, and a piercing sound echoed. The three ice blades turned into ice debris all over the ground, while the golden light on Lu Ping's body dimmed by more than half, but still emitted a thin layer around Lu Ping, tenaciously guarding his safety.

  Li Sheng had thought that his high-quality talisman would surely make Lu Ping defend himself to the extreme, even get injured, and thus gain an absolute upper hand. Who would have thought that Lu Ping would also take out a high-quality talisman, neutralizing Li Sheng's attack, rendering all his prepared moves useless? It was as if he had made a perfect fist but hit it into cotton, leaving Li Sheng frustrated and unable to counterattack.

  Li Shengben was about to change his tactics and continue to put pressure on Lu Ping, but suddenly discovered that the spell effect of the high-quality talisman on his opponent's body had not disappeared, a faint layer of golden light still seeping out, how is this possible?

  When Lu Ping took out the talisman and slapped it on his body, Li Sheng saw it very clearly. That was a high-quality talisman. The spell effects of two high-quality talismans should cancel each other out, right?

  Just as Li Sheng's offense was interrupted twice in a row, Lu Ping didn't hesitate. He wasn't just unhurried, but also somewhat angry. The Blood Talisman was one of his trump cards, yet it had been forced to be revealed in the first round. How many spirit stones would an upper-grade talisman cost? Three! And what about that single upper-grade Blood Talisman? Conservatively estimated, it would cost at least five spirit stones!

  This is using Ling Stone to play Water Float!

  In the ten years of Lu Ping's bitter cultivation career, wasting cultivation resources is unforgivable! If Li Sheng didn't want money earlier and still gave him the talisman was already making Lu Ping unhappy, then now it's infuriating!

  Taking advantage of the remaining effect of the talisman, the opponent's offensive was frustrated. Lu Ping used the realm of "magic" that he had just realized, and turned the "Dissolving Blood Refining Bone Sword" into a huge light ball, which went towards Li Shengyan.

  Lu Ping's cultivation was originally higher than Li Sheng, and his foundation was solid. Just now, he was at a disadvantage due to the inferiority of his magic soldiers, plus Li Sheng's talisman tactics, which put Lu Ping at a disadvantage. This time, taking the initiative, the counterattack's momentum surged wave after wave.

  Li Sheng now fully understands what it means to be stifled. Just a moment ago, he was in an absolutely superior position, feeling proud and satisfied. But in the blink of an eye, the situation reversed, and he became the one being suppressed.

  It's not like I didn't have any chances, after all, I still had several top-grade talismans and even a piece of equipment that hadn't been used yet. The problem was that I simply didn't have the time to activate it, as my opponent's moves had completely suppressed me.

  It was indeed a thorough suppression. Li Sheng couldn't understand it, "Dissolving Blood and Tempering Bone Sword" was just a basic sword technique, how could it suppress his own "Twenty-four Swords of Frenzied Wind"? Moreover, he himself was also very familiar with this "Dissolving Blood and Tempering Bone Sword". Why could his opponent wield this basic sword technique so quickly, and why was its power so great?

  Li Sheng was somewhat flustered; after all, he was still just a kid who wasn't even fifteen years old yet.

  If he could calm down and carefully observe Lu Ping's swordsmanship, he would find that Lu Ping's swordsmanship was extremely smooth and flowing, without any signs of hacking or chopping. Perhaps the transition between moves wasn't entirely standard, but each transition was perfectly in sync with the situation at hand, giving off a sense of freedom and spontaneity!

  It can be said that this set of swordsmanship is no longer the basic swordsmanship of other schools at this time, but Lu Ping's own swordsmanship.

  This is the realm of "technique", detached from the norms and rules of sword "law", merged with one's own understanding, making it a sword "technique"!

  At this time, the monks who were watching from under the stage also saw that Li Sheng was going to lose. He had no room for counterattack and it was only a matter of time before he would be defeated.

  Li Sheng is after all a young genius, and has some reputation in other schools, so there are still some people watching him play. In addition, there are also teammates from the seventh team where Lu Ping is located, who see Lu Ping's victory in sight and can't help cheering, including University elder Yao Yong, second elder Du Feng, and fourth elder sister Shi Lingling.

  Fourth Sister Shi Lingling smiled and said: "I didn't expect that Tenth Brother Lu Ping also understood the realm of 'technique', last time's trial with Li Cheng was not seen."

  Yao Yong said, "Last time they fought briefly, the two of them only exchanged twenty or thirty moves before the outcome was decided. Moreover, Lu Ping should have just grasped the realm of 'technique' at that time. Otherwise, Liu Xianchang wouldn't have given him a small stove after his duel with Li Cheng."

  Shi Lingling nodded and said: "University elder said that, I remember University elder and second elder both realized the 'technique' boundary in the eighth layer of Blood Refining back then?"

  Yao Yong said: "Indeed, but the fourth sister also realized this realm at the seventh level, and besides, the sister was only fifteen years old at that time."

  Shi Lingling did not confirm or deny, but said: "The talisman on Shi Xiong's body must be a blood talisman. I didn't expect that Shi Xiong would have such a talisman, and he was willing to give it up!"

  Yao Yong said, "The top-grade Blood Talisman should be two to three times more powerful than the ordinary top-grade talismans. However, this type of talisman requires blood as a catalyst, and we true spirit cultivators have our cultivation based on our bloodlines, so we rarely use this talisman."

  Shi Lingling let out a "heh heh" and stopped talking, while Yao Yong said: "Let's go, this round is about to end, we still have the second round to prepare for this afternoon." After that, the three of them walked towards the seventh team's rest area, while Du Feng didn't say a word from start to finish.

  The three had already finished the race.

  In the central arena, the twenty team leaders gathered together and were also discussing it.

  This time, Liu Xianchang can be said to be relatively satisfied. Whether it's the overall promotion of the seventh party team or the number of people who have refined their blood in the late stage, they are all among the top in the twenty party teams. They received praise from Xuan Yong Zhenren and obtained a generous reward. With this wealth, he can now enter the late stage of refining his blood, which means he is one step closer to the Dan stage.

  "Liu Shidi's Seventh Squad has achieved a commendable result this time!" said Fang Xianchang of the Twelfth Squad.

  "Fang Shixiong is being too kind, his Fang Clan's also not bad, with at least ten people having entered the late stage of Blood Refining." Liu Xianchang spoke slowly and steadily, but his eyes shone brightly.

  "Haha, no need to be so polite, in the previous big comparison, each team had to fight it out, and this time it seems that there's no exception. What do you all think?" It was Wang Xianchang of the first party.

  The rest of the immortals also took the opportunity to shout: "Right, right, gamble! Gamble!"

  "Still the same old rules! Each team contributes 20 middle-grade spirit stones, and the leader of the top five teams will receive a reward. How's that?"

  "Alright, the team with the best score gets three layers of spiritual stone, decreasing by half a layer for each subsequent ranking. The fifth place team will just get one layer of spiritual stone as reward, how's that?"

  "Very well, but we still need Master Yuan's testimony!"

  The crowd of immortals chattered loudly, and in the blink of an eye, they clearly explained the rules of the gamble, obviously this was not their first time playing this game.

  Xuan Yong Zhen Ren smiled slightly and said, "Lao Dao will just be a witness, but don't forget the task after the big comparison. Each faction should select a few late-stage Qi-refining disciples to participate in the sect's trial."

  The faces of all the immortals suddenly turned solemn, and they responded in unison.