Chapter 176 Divine Machine Manor

No one expected that at the very moment Yan Xiangbei activated his Advanced Magic Treasure, Lin Jing would decisively choose to have his mecha self-destruct rather than continue to clash head-on with Yan Xiangbei.

On the arena, white flames filled the air, scattered in a mess. Yan Xiangbei was covered in blood, standing miserably on the arena, his aura weak, his Qi completely exhausted.

Activating a High Grade Magic Treasure required him to go all out. Who would have thought that after activating it, it wasn’t used for offense, but for defense.

He looked at the giant mecha that had completely vanished, blown to pieces without even a speck of dust remaining, and couldn’t help but smile. However, this smile was at himself—laughing at himself for losing to a Beast Master, and this Beast Master… had defeated him using a Mechanical Creation.

No… that’s not right. It was the spatial movement of the opponent’s Pet Beast that was the key to defeating him!

However, so what? He still lost.

“You win.” Standing on the arena, Yan Xiangbei retracted the Extinction Treasure Lamp and looked at the slowly descending Lin Jing. Before losing consciousness, he looked toward the spectator stands once more.

The personnel from the Lianxian Valley who had come with him were all wearing expressions of disbelief, unable to accept the outcome.

As the strongest Prodigy of an Ancient Kingdom’s grand Artifact Refining Sect, he had actually lost to a Disciple from a third-rate, sealed Sect!

Before this, they wouldn’t have even dared to imagine it.

“I concede the win.” Lin Jing looked at his opponent. Before he could even mourn his Mosquito-Powered Mecha, the Tian Huihua announced, “The winner of the third group is Lin Jing!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the audience, who hadn’t yet reacted, erupted in an uproar. Their ears and eyes were still filled with the sound of the violent explosion and the blinding light that had just occurred!

“He really won?” “It’s over? The third-ranked Prodigy lost?” “Does this count as an upset?!”

“Terrifying. This Lin Jing calculated it perfectly. As soon as Yan Xiangbei activated his Advanced Magic Treasure, he would definitely lack the spare energy to use a Magic Treasure that restricts spatial Spells. At that moment, all he had to do was sacrifice this Mechanical Creation and use its final moments to drain Yan Xiangbei’s Qi; victory was then in his grasp!”

“This Lin Jing is so decisive. Such a powerful Mechanical Creation—if it were me, I would definitely want to try clashing with the High Grade Magic Treasure, but he… he gave it up just like that.”

“But he won, so it was all worth it. After this match, barring any accidents, he will definitely be able to rank in the top five, or even the top three, of the heavenly pride ranking!”

Cultivators were silent, as if they were witnessing the rise of a new supreme Prodigy. The most terrifying part was that Lin Jing, on the arena, had almost no injuries at all!

Right now, many of the Prodigies were actually quite happy with this result.

The third-ranked Prodigy, who possessed a High Grade Magic Treasure, had been eliminated by Lin Jing and could not advance to the third round. Meanwhile, Lin Jing’s powerful mecha had been destroyed in order to counter Yan Xiangbei, greatly reducing his combat strength.

As for such a powerful Mechanical Creation, everyone felt that it was impossible for Lin Jing to have a second one.

Even if Lin Jing could rebuild it in the future, most people believed that it certainly couldn’t be done in a short time. Re-manufacturing it would surely be mentally exhausting, and the mechanical Materials would definitely be extremely rare and in short supply.

Therefore, they could probably set their minds at ease.

After defeating Yan Xiangbei, Lin Jing would surely become famous throughout the Ancient Kingdom. Next, if they could defeat Lin Jing, who was now missing his powerful trump card, it would be a huge temptation for some of the Prodigies.

After becoming the winner of the third arena, Lin Jing returned to his seat to rest and recover. Although he hadn’t done anything the entire time—it was the Ice Soul Gu that helped him resist the charm Magic Treasure, and the Pine Leaf Squirrel that controlled the mecha and carried him away to dodge the explosion—Lin Jing still felt that he had worked hard.

“You…” The members of the Dragon Palace looked at Lin Jing in silence. They really wanted to ask when the Dragon Palace had changed its name to “Mechanism Dragon Palace.”

Next, the competitions continued. The winner of the fourth group was the fourth-ranked Prodigy on the heavenly pride ranking, a Prodigy from the Zhao Family, an immortal cultivation Family in the Ancient Domain. He was a graduate of the Academy, having enrolled in his teens and left the Academy at twenty-one to serve as the lord of a city.

The Zhao Family was the largest immortal cultivation Family in the Ancient Kingdom, aside from the Ancient Clans. Most of the Family members served as officials in the imperial court, and they wielded enormous influence.

As an Innate Fountain Body, the fourth-ranked Prodigy had an endless supply of Qi and recovered extremely quickly. This allowed him to practice most Spells to Perfection on a daily basis, making him even more adept in battle, as he didn’t need to worry much about Qi consumption.

The fifth group, like the third, was a direct upset. Although the fifth-ranked Prodigy was in the group, the winner was not him, but a reclusive Prodigy invited by the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. He was the successor of a reclusive Loose Cultivator at the Peak of the Soul Transformation stage and possessed an Innate Five Elements Physique.

The Five Elements Physique was comparable to a combination of the five elemental spirit bodies, ranking on the Divine Body list, and was incomparably powerful.

The sixth group was another upset. The winner was not a Prodigy who grew up in the Ancient Kingdom either. He came from the Ten Thousand Poison Sect and possessed an Innate Poison Body. Since childhood, he had followed his Master to the Cloud Sea Mountain Range for training; he left at twelve and returned at twenty-seven. After fifteen years of hard cultivation, once he returned to the kingdom, he became famous in the region.

The seventh group, on the other hand, did not have an upset; the seventh-ranked Prodigy achieved victory. However, it was a very difficult win, the hardest among the seven groups. He was also an early graduate of the Academy and was currently serving as a city lord.

The winner of the eighth group was Wang Xiao, an Innate Heavenly God Body from the Dragon Palace. After reaching the Perfection of Foundation Establishment, and with the assistance of his king blood War Tiger, he became one of the only two people from the Dragon Palace to enter the third round. The audience was not surprised by his victory; after all, he was also an Innate Heavenly God Body. In this battle, Wang Xiao did not struggle much; what struggled was his War Tiger, which blocked Spells for him the entire time and was covered in wounds, leaving the audience silent and witnessing once again the value of a Pet Beast.

Of the eight final winners, four had attended the Hidden Dragon Academy, which showed the influence of the Hidden Dragon Academy.

“The third round will adopt an arena challenge mode. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion will randomly select one person to serve as the arena Master to welcome challenges from other Prodigies. The loser is eliminated, and the winner takes over, until no one challenges them. The arena Master will become the final winner of the Heavenly Pride Battle.”

The Tian Huihua announced that the third round of the Heavenly Pride Battle would also take place seven days later. Compared to the previous eight-person melee, this third round tested luck and strength even more.

If someone became the first arena Master, they would be extremely unlucky. They might have to accept challenges from seven people. Under this wheel battle, even if one were the strongest to begin with, they might not be able to stand until the end.

Fortunately, what could ultimately receive the blessing of the Starry Universe Turtle was not the first place of the Heavenly Pride Battle, but the first place on the updated heavenly pride ranking, which the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion would update based on the Prodigies’ performance in the Heavenly Pride Battle.

“Seven days. I should be able to exchange all the Spirit Stones from the auction of the Rising Dragon Pill into High Grade vegetation. Currently, the Pine Leaf Squirrel’s Azure Emperor Longevity Art is at a Bottleneck state. If I’m lucky enough, within seven days, its Azure Emperor Longevity Art could reach Major Achievement!”

“After the Azure Emperor Longevity Art reaches Major Achievement, the Pine Leaf Squirrel will possess the plant manipulation abilities of a Golden Core Stage Spirit Monster. Combined with its Demon King True Body and spatial Spells, the power it can display should surpass the Mosquito-Powered Mecha…”

Judging from the performance in the Heavenly Pride Battle so far, Lin Jing felt that the strongest one might still be that Innate Dao Body. He didn’t know if relying solely on the Pine Leaf Squirrel would work when facing this person…

“Lin Jing.” The second round ended. Just as Lin Jing was about to return to prepare for the next battle, a group of people suddenly stopped him. It was the group from the Divine Machine Manor, led by the second-ranked Prodigy, Mo Qianyi.

Behind Mo Qianyi were a group of Golden Core and Nascent Soul Cultivators, but Lin Jing did not sense any hostility.

“Miss Mo, is something the matter?” He saw that Mo Qianyi was wearing simple cloth clothes, so he felt it was strange to call her Fairy, and thus addressed her as Miss.

He might have already guessed the other party’s intention.

“Saint Lin, the Divine Machine Manor would like the design blueprints for the Mechanical Creation you just displayed. Of course, the Divine Machine Manor will not take your things for nothing. As long as it is something the Divine Machine Manor can provide, feel free to make any request,” Mo Qianyi said. “The Divine Machine Manor can exchange them for design blueprints of other Mechanical Creations or rare mechanical Materials.”

“Aren’t you a Beast Master? The Divine Machine Manor also possesses methods to create many powerful mechanical beasts, and even methods to allow mechanical beasts to develop sentience and become mechanical lifeforms. I believe that although you have displayed Buddhist Dharma and Mechanism Art, you should… still be a Beast Master, right? I wonder if you are interested in contracting a living mechanical beast. Can we talk about it?”

The mechanical Cultivators of the Divine Machine Manor had become interested in Lin Jing’s Mosquito-Powered Mecha.

At the same time, on a branch of the Divine Pine, the Dragon Carp suddenly sneezed.