Chapter 171: Melee

The Prodigy from Qingzhou’s Blood Kill Tower mastered the Spatial Hiding Technique, and his Killing Intent could shake a Golden Core; such strength was extraordinary even among the Prodigies of the Ancient Kingdom.

Initially, many felt Lin Jing might fall into a bitter struggle, but who would have thought that this Saint Child of the Beast Control Sect, despite his beastly appearance, possessed a Buddha’s heart and had transformed into a Buddhist Prodigy with heavenly Buddhist techniques.

The Buddhist Sect primarily operated in the Great Desert to the far west of the Ancient Kingdom, with countless experts within the sect, making it no weaker than the entire Qingzhou; if he were a Buddhist Prodigy, suppressing a Blood Kill Tower Cultivator would indeed be a simple matter.

Coupled with that ridiculous Twelfth Level of Qi Refining, some even began to suspect if Lin Jing intended to switch to cultivating Buddhist techniques since the Beast Taming Sect was sealed.

“The Buddhist Sect has always wanted to proselytize in the Ancient Kingdom, and high monks often grant Opportunities to guide those destined for them. Could it be that Lin Jing was favored by a high monk of the Void Profound Realm? Otherwise, there’s no way to explain his Buddhist light. I’ve seen many monks who formed a Buddhist Core, but none had such Buddhist nature.”

“If a Buddhist expert intervened, the Twelfth Level of Qi Refining isn’t impossible, as the Buddhist Sect is best at excavating potential. That’s it! No wonder he established the Dragon Palace and taught his Dao of Beast Taming experience to others without worrying about starving himself; it’s because he’s no longer focusing on the Dao of Beast Taming, and Buddhist techniques are his killing move!”

While everyone was speculating, Lin Jing had already left the arena.

Great Master Tian Huihua of Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, who presided over the Heavenly Pride Battle, gave Lin Jing a deep look, feeling that this Heavenly Pride Battle might be very interesting.

“To some extent, these people are right,” Tian Huihua thought to herself. The monk who helped the Great Wilderness suppress demons thousands of years ago was indeed at the Void Profound Realm now. If Lin Jing had received his blessing in the Beast Taming Sect’s Demon Suppression Pagoda, he was indeed connected to a Kong Xuan monk.

However, although Lin Jing had been blessed by a Buddhist expert, giving him an outstanding talent for Buddhist techniques—making it one of the few Spell types he could progress in rapidly—the reason his Buddhist techniques were so powerful was thanks to the combination of the buddha-demon pearl and the Ice Soul Gu, allowing him to feed the demon with his body and Cultivate Buddhist techniques using the power of the Ice Soul Gu.

After Lin Jing returned, Gao Sheng said enviously, “It’s only been a few years, yet you’ve cultivated the Vajra Fist to this extent, instantly firing eighteen palms, each enough to suppress a demon at the Foundation Establishment Perfection. My Great Enchantment Technique is only at this level.”

“Then I’ll teach you the Vajra Fist, and you teach me the Great Enchantment Technique,” Lin Jing said.

Gao Sheng: “???”

“Do I still need you to teach me the Vajra Fist? Is it Spells that I’m lacking?!”

“But if you want to learn the Great Enchantment Technique, you can marry into the Gao Family.”

“No thanks,” Lin Jing said.

Over the past two years, he had been cultivating the buddha-demon pearl and the Vajra Fist to enhance his strength.

Through the cultivation of the Vajra Fist, Lin Jing’s Physique had improved significantly, and his physical strength was no worse than a Body Cultivator Prodigy at Foundation Establishment. Improving his Physique was very important to Lin Jing; after all, he didn’t want to get injured in battle. While other Physiques might not mind getting damaged, for the Longevity Physique, bleeding or losing an arm in battle was a life-threatening matter that would likely attract even more enemies besides the one in front of him. Therefore, Lin Jing’s principle was to boost his defense to the max; Body Tempering could not be ignored.

Once he reached Perfection in the Vajra Fist, he also wanted to find a Buddhist Golden Body technique to Cultivate; that thing’s defense was even stronger!

“Compared to Buddhist techniques, I’m more curious about the Twelfth Level of Qi Refining—” Wang Xiao looked over with a changing expression. He couldn’t understand it; after all, his Foundation Establishment at the Tenth Level of Qi Refining had only brought his Heavenly God Body to Minor Achievement.

In his view, Lin Jing definitely had a special Physique as well. To reach Foundation Establishment at the Twelfth Level of Qi Refining—he couldn’t believe it, even suspecting that Lin Jing could reach Major Achievement or even Perfection in his Physique before the Nascent Soul Stage.

“Just assume I was blessed by a Buddhist expert.”

Seeing the confusion of the Dragon Palace members, Lin Jing laughed. He could hear it now; most of the spectating Cultivators…

…seemed to think so too, believing he had switched to cultivating Buddhist techniques.

He also understood that the Vajra Fist he performed was indeed miraculous, so it was normal for the audience to misunderstand.

“Watch the competition!”

The subsequent Heavenly Pride Battle was also intense, but to the audience’s disappointment, they didn’t get to see the top ten Prodigies on the heavenly pride ranking go all out; their encounters with opponents basically ended in a crush.

Before long, the first round of the Heavenly Pride Battle concluded. Tian Huihua stood in the sky and announced, “The sixty-four people who lost in the first round are all eliminated. Heavenly Secrets Pavilion will subsequently determine your final positions on the new heavenly pride ranking based on your performance!”

“Seven days from now will be the second round of the Heavenly Pride Battle. The sixty-four advancing participants will be divided into eight groups of eight.”

“At that time, all eight people in each group will enter the arena for a melee. The rules remain the same: regardless of the method, the last person standing on the stage advances to the third round.”

“Tomorrow morning, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion will announce the group lists throughout Celestial Mystery City. During these seven days, you can investigate information on your group opponents. This is your preparation time; please make full use of it.” Tian Huihua smiled.

She was looking forward to seeing how these Prodigies would perform in a chaotic battle.

Unsurprisingly, some very famous Prodigies might even face sieges by multiple others, which wasn’t fair, but this was exactly what Heavenly Secrets Pavilion wanted to see. There was no absolute fairness in combat; such a melee actually gave Prodigies with extraordinary strength a chance to show their capabilities.

“The second round is a melee,” the audience began to discuss. An eight-person melee where the last one standing advances was a huge test of the Prodigies’ comprehensive qualities.

“That guy from the Blood Kill Tower was too unlucky to be eliminated so early; otherwise, with his Void Hiding Assassination Technique…”

“…it would have been a perfect match for this second round.”

“There’s no helping it; luck is also a part of strength. He’s shown most of his abilities anyway. Although he’s eliminated, his final ranking on the heavenly pride ranking shouldn’t be low, though his record looks a bit bad—it might say something like ‘held out for seven or eight palms under the Saint Child of the Beast Control Sect’s Vajra Palm’—haha.”

Compared to the first round, the audience was clearly more excited for the second round’s melee after Heavenly Secrets Pavilion grouped the contestants based on their first-round performance!

However, for the Prodigies, the pressure was on.

“Let’s go.” Lin Jing looked at the Dragon Palace group and said, “The strongest might not necessarily advance, and the weak won’t necessarily be eliminated. When the time comes, just let your Pet Beasts draw the fire.”

“With the results of this month’s special training, they aren’t afraid of pain anyway.”

The Dragon Palace group: “…”

In the second round, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion clearly wanted to see if any Prodigies could use wisdom and tactics to overcome the strong and survive until the end of the melee. This kind of Heart-Nature was sometimes rarer than cultivation.

“Sigh, is it time for me to get to work?” Xu Zhizhi sighed.

Lin Jing nodded.

“That’s right. Come with me in a moment; the organization has a task for you.”