Chapter 4 Challenge

  In the small hut of the other courtyard, Lu Ping thought back to when he had tried it out in the wilderness, and couldn't help but smile slightly at the power of "Mountain Collapse". However, he immediately followed up with a bitter laugh. This "Mountain Collapse" seal was indeed powerful, but once used, the spiritual energy stored in his blood would decrease by nearly half. What a truly one-trick pony this move was.

  The distance is only three months away, and the remaining time should be spent on cultivation. Of course, the cultivation of spells cannot fall behind, and the big comparison is not just a comparison of cultivation.

  Fortunately, I still have a lot of Ling Stone Dan medicine this month, barely enough for this month's cultivation, which is something that has never happened before.

  In the blink of an eye, two months passed, and Lu Ping's cultivation did not progress as slowly as he had imagined, but instead unexpectedly reached the middle stage of Refining Blood Seventh Layer.

  In Lu Ping's view, this is mainly because after breaking through his cultivation, the production of talismans also made a breakthrough, making him have enough resources for cultivation. Perhaps he had always emphasized the importance of foundation before, which was also one of the reasons. Accumulating thickly and firing thinly is always a good thing.

  Lu Ping still insisted on his previous habit, making a talisman every three days. In a month, he was able to maintain a success rate of eighty pieces, about half of which were medium-grade talismans, and the top-grade ones reached around fifteen. The top-tier talismans, accumulated over two months, totaled seven, all of which became blood talismans without exception.

  Lu Ping, as usual, went to the market at the end of the month to sell talismans and incantations, each time earning around 100 spirit stones. Now Lu Ping has a somewhat arrogant and extravagant attitude, every day in his cultivation he needs to use one Blood Purification Pill and one spirit stone. If not for the medicinal pill being limited to one per day, otherwise the medicine would not be fully absorbed, leaving behind residual toxins that would affect future cultivation, Lu Ping would have liked to use two Blood Purification Pills for his cultivation.

  For two months, all disciples of Zhenling Bieyuan have been arming themselves to the teeth and preparing for the final assessment and grand competition.

  The seventh party team also intensified its training in such a tense atmosphere.

  The oppressive atmosphere caused everyone in the Seventh Squad to bring out all their accumulation and potential over the past five years, one after another achieving a breakthrough in their cultivation.

  The minimum requirement for a third-level disciple's cultivation is to refine their blood to the sixth level. Originally, there were 27 disciples in the seventh squad who had refined their blood to the sixth level or above. In just two months, four people suddenly broke through to the sixth level. And of the original six-level cultivators, two also broke through to the seventh level. This made Liu Xianzhang quite excited, as all these achievements were his own. The more disciples who break through to the seventh level, the greater the sect's reward he will receive.

  The two who broke through the seventh layer were coincidentally the eleventh and twelfth disciples: Li Cheng and Zhang Zicheng.

  Li Cheng has been discontent since he was surpassed by Lu Ping two months ago, and this time he even spoke out to decide the outcome with Lu Ping. As for Lu Ping, he just laughed it off and didn't mention that his cultivation in the seventh layer of the middle period is about to enter the late period, let alone the practice of spells and magic weapons, Lu Ping also thinks that he is not inferior to anyone in the seven layers of refining blood.

  The Fa Bing is a universal sharp weapon used by the cultivators of the Refining Blood Period for fighting and self-defense. To the True Spirit Sect, this thing is nothing but trash. Outer sect disciples can be said to have one in hand, Lu Ping cultivated to break through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining, and got a high-quality Fa Bing, the Hundred Forged Sword.

  This day, Lu Ping and the Seventh Squad arrived at Chaoyang Peak to prepare for their morning exercise. Yesterday, Lu Ping had just sold dozens of talismans in the market and stocked up on a month's worth of cultivation supplies. He was imagining himself breaking through to the late seventh layer next month, feeling quite optimistic.

  Liu Xianchang arrived at the seventh platform of the Yangfeng Seventh Squad with two Blood Refining Ninth Layer deputies after a round of "Dissolving Blood and Bone Fist".

  "Reporting to Master Xian, disciple Li Cheng challenges tenth disciple Lu Ping, hoping for Master Xian's permission!"

  Liu Xian furrowed his brow and looked at the speaker, who was none other than Li Cheng, the eleventh disciple.

  "This sect encourages all disciples to strive for excellence, but the second-level disciple's promotion competition is imminent. If you get injured and can't participate in the competition, wouldn't that be a pity? Of course, if you insist on competing, the sect rules are as they are, and I won't force you."

  Li Cheng did not catch Liu Xianchang's implied meaning and said, "I am willing to compete with you, I am confident that the one who will get hurt is definitely not me."

  Liu Xianchang was quite displeased upon hearing this, for whoever got injured, the Seventh Squad's strength in the Grand Competition would be reduced, and by then, wouldn't his own cultivation resources also be reduced?

  But the rules of the Zhenling Sect are here, and Liu Xianchang cannot force this matter to be suppressed, so he can only say: "You two be careful."

  Liu Xianchang's two deputies will demarcate the trial grounds, Liu Xianchang will act as the judge. In the circle, Li Cheng glared at Lu Ping with a fierce gaze and said: "Don't think that entering the seventh layer ahead of time is impressive, today I'll let you know that being late by a month is just a temporary setback, not only did you take my place but also want me to give it back to you obediently!"

  Lu Ping smiled and didn't say a word, he simply placed his top-grade Hundred Refining Sword in a sword stance, using action to explain everything.

  Li Cheng was in no way inferior, and in his hand was also a top-grade martial weapon, the Hundred-Refined Spear. He executed a set of moves from the "Hundred Battles Spear Technique" he had copied from the Scripture Pavilion of another courtyard, attacking Lu Ping.

  Li Cheng had made a breakthrough a month ago, and this person was also quite clever, knowing that he had just broken through and needed to consolidate his cultivation, practice magic and martial arts, so he endured for a month before coming to challenge Lu Ping.

  Lu Ping defended with his swordsmanship transformed from "Dissolving Blood and Bone Fist".

  "The Bone Melting Fist" is actually a basic skill of the True Spirit Sect that can be practiced with both fists and swords. Lu Ping has not learned any other martial arts, but instead practices fist and sword techniques together. Although it may be less powerful than other skills, its value lies in its solidity, and this set of skills is beneficial for stimulating the true spirit power within the body's blood vessels, purifying the blood, although the benefits are minimal.

  Li Cheng's set of gun moves made his momentum like a rainbow and his offense like a tide. The surrounding disciples cheered continuously.

  On the contrary, Lu Ping's Hemolysis Bone Sword was used to dissolve Li Cheng's offensive in a regular and steady manner. Although he was on the defensive, he defended steadily and firmly.

  This bloody bone fist sword, the disciples have practiced for several years, and they are tired of it. Who would care about it? Only a few disciples in the first row looked at Lu Ping's swordsmanship with a thoughtful expression.

  Several disciples of Lian Xue's 8th and 9th layers and Liu Xianchang's two deputies were gathered together discussing the duel between the two.

  "Li Cheng has accumulated a bit more after all, this time although it's one step slower to enter the seventh layer, it's not something Lu Ping can compare to."

  "I think Lu Ping may not necessarily lose, you see he's calm and composed, his face doesn't show any signs of anxiety, it's clear he still has a trick up his sleeve."

  "Joke, what kind of follow-up move can a set of Hemolysis Bone Fist Sword have? What move is it that we don't know about?"

  "It's not necessarily so, his swordsmanship foundation is quite solid, even if it's our Soluble Blood and Bone Fist Sword, he may not be able to wield it with such flair."

  "This fist and sword are ultimately just basic skills, no matter how good they are, they're useless."

  ……

  Everyone was talking at once, Liu Xianchang watched the competition in the arena, but did not comment. However, he was quite surprised in his heart, as a master of the dissolving blood period, he could naturally see what ordinary people couldn't.

  "This child's move has a hint of 'technique' to it, it seems this battle is no longer in doubt."