Chapter 173: Various Prodigies

“Struck it rich! Struck it rich!”

A few days later, the first batch of Rising Dragon Pills was auctioned off. Xu Zhizhi immediately went to find Lin Jing, only to discover that Lin Jing was in closed-door cultivation.

“He really is hardworking. Then again, encountering Yan Xiangbei in the second round is indeed troublesome!” Xu Zhizhi spoke with a sigh, unsure if Lin Jing could emerge victorious.

He felt that unless Lin Jing reached Foundation Establishment before the second round, he might not be a match for his opponent.

No wonder Lin Jing told him to hurry up and sell the pills!

Once the group from the Dragon Palace suffered a collective defeat, the price of these pills would surely drop.

Meanwhile, inside the inn room.

Lin Jing was indeed actively preparing for battle.

The first thing he and the Pine Leaf Squirrel had to do was inspect the Mosquito-Powered Mecha to prevent any mechanical failures during the fight.

The opponent possessed a High Grade Magic Treasure with terrifying power. Lin Jing didn’t want to fight head-on. Although he would certainly have the strength to fight if he underwent Fusion with the Ice Soul Gu, the burden on himself would inevitably be extremely high, and he didn’t want to risk injury.

As for the Pine Leaf Squirrel, even with its Demon King True Body, it probably wouldn’t be a match for a High Grade Magic Treasure until its Azure Emperor Longevity Art reached Major Achievement.

In summary, Lin Jing didn’t want himself, the Ice Soul Gu, or the Pine Leaf Squirrel to endure too much of a burden or suffer serious injuries that would affect subsequent battles.

Therefore—he could only let the Mosquito-Powered Mecha take the lead. Even if this mecha was smashed to pieces during the battle, Lin Jing wouldn’t feel distressed; he could always rebuild it.

Most of the Materials were synthetic products from the Pine Leaf Squirrel, much like those Medicinal Pills, so there was no need to worry about expensive repair costs.

Seven days passed in a flash.

The audience spent these seven days quite contentedly. Based on the rosters for the eight arenas, the Cultivators argued incessantly, debating their views and broadening their horizons. Besides that, they also purchased rare Medicinal Pills that had flowed out from certain contestants, making the trip worthwhile.

At the scene of the Heavenly Pride Battle, atop the massive arena, Tian Huihua read out the names for the first group of the arena melee.

“Chen Chong of the Spirit Dao Sect, Xiao Chen of the Zixiao Sword Sect, Zhangsun Sheng of the Tianluo Gate…”

As the eight names were read out by Tian Huihua, seven of them had incredibly ugly expressions. From the moment the list came out a few days ago, these seven had not slept well.

“You should thank me. It’s thanks to my Spirit Luck Body sharing its luck with you that you didn’t run into this Chen Chong,” Gao Sheng said with a chuckle among the contestants from the Hidden Dragon Academy and the Dragon Palace.

This Chen Chong was the current number one Prodigy. Encountering him was a stroke of terrible luck.

“I heard that a Spell Spirit can only be born once a Spell has been comprehended to its absolute limit. This Chen Chong is only at the Foundation Establishment Stage,”

“Yet he managed to do something that even many at the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation stages cannot accomplish—”

He was clearly even more Heaven-Defying.

“He possesses the Innate Dao Body, which is ranked nineteenth on the Divine Body Ranking and provides a massive bonus to Spell cultivation. It’s said the Spirit Dao Sect also has a Rare Beast, the Enlightenment Fish…” Zi Ling’er sighed.

Had this person lived during the Immortal Palace Era, there would be a very high probability of him achieving Ascension.

In the first melee group, Chen Chong was ranked first on the current heavenly pride ranking, and Xiao Chen was ranked eighth. There were two Prodigies from the top ten.

Although Xiao Chen did not have an Innate divine body, having an Innate Sword Body while also cultivating an Acquired Thunder Spirit Body,

Possessing dual Physiques in one person was also quite extraordinary.

As the melee began, the other seven collectively looked toward Chen Chong, who was clad in a black-and-white Yin-Yang Fish Daoist Robe. Without even needing to discuss it, everyone attacked at once with a single goal!

“Gravity Spell.”

Chen Chong only slightly closed his eyes.

A terrifying gravity centered on Chen Chong, repelling and suppressing all nearby enemies!

The Spell: Gravity Spell.

In an instant, space blurred as if the sky had collapsed. All Magic Treasures and all Spells were shattered. The seven who had attacked were now all pinned to the arena floor, pressed tightly against the ground, their bodies making the sound of cracking bones as blood flowed from the corners of their mouths.

“Chen Chong of the Spirit Dao Sect wins,” Tian Huihua announced after glancing at Chen Chong, who had opened his Dao Eyes.

Chen Chong calmly flew back to his seat.

This scene left the Prodigies of the other groups feeling suffocated.

One must know that Chen Chong’s Spell Spirit had not even been summoned yet!

Merely by using his own magic power to cast a simple Gravity Spell, Xiao Chen, who was also in the top ten with dual Physiques, was completely powerless to resist and couldn’t even stand up?

“This is the Innate Dao Body. As a member of the younger generation from the Sword Sect of the Sword Domain, I am completely no match for this Xiao Chen, yet he couldn’t even last a single move against Chen Chong…” Yuan Jing was speechless.

“Little Yuan, don’t feel pressured. Anyway, your Heaven Sword Gate has Cold Moon Sword Immortal ranked first on the Earth Ranking; you don’t need to fight for the Sect’s face. Besides, you’re still young, only in your early twenties, the youngest among us.”

Gao Sheng patted his shoulder, leaving Yuan Jing helpless. Indeed, the Heaven Sword Gate was the number one Sword Sect in the Ancient Kingdom, and the current strongest Prodigy in the Sect was not him but Cold Moon Sword Immortal Feng Ning. After the previous number one on the Earth Ranking exceeded sixty years of age, Cold Moon Sword Immortal automatically ascended to the top spot.

In the following second round of the melee, the most watched figure was Mo Qianyi of the Divine Machine Manor.

A female mechanic, her clothing was quite simple and her appearance was plain. Clad in yellow cloth clothes,

She looked like a Mortal commoner, forming a sharp contrast with those female Cultivators who wore gorgeous clothes and exquisite makeup.

In this group, besides her, there was also a figure ranked tenth among the Prodigies.

However, the top three were truly the top three. On the arena, Mo Qianyi used only a single Immortal-Shooting Chariot, without even using her famous mechanical grand array, to sweep away the crowd.

Through her Exquisite Body connecting to the internal Soul Core of the mechanical creation, the Immortal-Shooting Chariot fired forty-nine crossbow bolts. Every bolt rivaled the power of a Magic Treasure and contained various attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, Yin-Yang, and poison.

These bolts were controlled by Mo Qianyi at will. After the barrage of bolts crushed the defenses of all opponents, both damaged and intact bolts returned to the Immortal-Shooting Chariot.

She patted the Immortal-Shooting Chariot and her figure vanished in a flash, returning to her seat.

The descendant of Ice Fire Island was also taken down by the barrage of bolts along with the King-Blooded Flood Dragon during this time, becoming the first sacrificial lamb of the Dragon Palace.

“What a pity,” Lin Jing sighed upon seeing this. In the face of true Prodigies, these dragon-blooded Pet Beasts, even if they reached King-Blood status, were clearly not enough.

Fortunately, he had let the Dragon Palace group show off their Pet Beasts early. Now that the Rising Dragon Pills were sold out, if anyone wanted a refund, Lin Jing would certainly not agree.

“The Innate Exquisite Body is also quite Heaven-Defying. This is at least equivalent to controlling dozens of Magic Treasures simultaneously. That Weapon-Wielding Body is about quality, while this Exquisite Body is about quantity. And since she has mechanical creations to help, her consumption isn’t very large—” Xu Zhizhi looked at Lin Jing and said, “Are you ready? Next is Yan Xiangbei—”

“Yes.” Lin Jing nodded in the face of everyone’s gaze. Soon, Tian Huihua also began to read the roster for the third group—

“Yan Xiangbei of the Immortal Refining Valley, Lu Tong of the Divine Speed Sect, Lin Jing of the Beast Taming Sect…”

As soon as the list came out, the scene was instantly filled with discussion.

“Chen Chong and Mo Qianyi both ended their matches with crushing victories against the eighth and tenth Prodigies. The gap is enormous.”

“Yan Xiangbei is also in the top three Prodigies. I wonder if it will also be an overwhelming victory against Lu Tong, who is ranked ninth—”

“Wait, there’s also Lin Jing from the Dragon Palace!”

“Him? I thought he would break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage during these seven days, but he’s still at Qi Refining—could he be pursuing the Thirteenth Level of Qi Refining?” The audience was puzzled.

Pursuing the Extreme Realm of Qi Refining seemed like a grand ambition to the Cultivators, but the risk was too high. If it were them, forget about the twelfth level; once they reached the tenth level, they would definitely quit while they were ahead.

One must know that Cultivators have a golden age for cultivation. Just as a Mortal has a certain age range where learning efficiency is highest, so do Cultivators!

If one doesn’t take advantage of being young to raise their Realm as quickly as possible, gain Lifespan, and extend their golden age of cultivation, then once this stage passes, subsequent cultivation will be even harder. The reason some older Cultivators remain stuck in a certain Realm for hundreds or thousands of years, besides talent factors, is also related to passing their golden age.

With their bodily functions declining, it is very difficult to continue raising their Realm. If one can regain their youth, even if most Cultivators have slightly poorer talent, they would definitely not be stuck at a Bottleneck for hundreds of years—that would be an exaggeration.