A normal person would certainly never think of accepting Hua Jian’s challenge after seeing the pile of people collapsed on the ground.
The Sword Hero was still a normal person. Furthermore, looking at the expressions of the cultivators nearby, they weren’t angry at Hua Jian; rather, they felt a faint sense of fear and apprehension.
This was enough to prove that Hua Jian’s actions hadn’t actually touched the interests of these cultivators. She had only targeted Zhao Ming.
‘Could it be that she’s actually a good person?’
Seeing that the people’s hearts were not on his side, the Sword Hero could only bow his head and admit defeat. He still had things to do and couldn’t afford to fall here.
The person struck by the object falling from the sky wasn’t Zhao Ming, but him—the Sword Hero who represented justice!
He just didn’t know what was going on. The large box given to him only contained a single Token, without any of the material support others had received.
For the Saint Sect to engage in such discrimination at a time like this was truly unprecedented.
Now that he had the Token, he was essentially being roasted over a fire. He couldn’t exactly know what was happening in the Secret Realm and do nothing, could he?
He could only take the Token and lead his subordinates to the Forbidden Land to set up the Array Formation.
Even if he had other small schemes in mind, he had to handle the matters on the surface properly.
The Sword Hero gathered the nearby remnants of the defeated group and led them toward the Tiandao Sect’s Forbidden Land.
Meanwhile, Hua Jian and her Sword Cultivator Senior Brother did not linger, flying back the way they had come.
Once the message was delivered, they had to hurry back to their own tasks.
There were five Forbidden Lands but only three Ling Kings; he had to hurry back to his side to relieve Xiao Qi so she could return.
On the way back, this Senior Brother asked for a detailed account of the conflict between Hua Jian and Zhao Ming.
After listening, the admiration in his gaze toward Hua Jian grew even stronger.
This personality of striking whenever there was a disagreement suited his tastes perfectly.
It was a pity this Junior Sister hadn’t thought about joining the Jian Sect; otherwise, their sect would have gained another formidable young Heavenly Talent.
Straightforward, repaying grievances and seeking revenge—the Jian Sect loved such disciples.
However, the Senior Brother had some minor reservations about her taking Zhao Ming’s Storage Pouch after knocking him down.
“Doing that isn’t very good.”
Taking a Storage Pouch could easily lead people to mistake Hua Jian for someone motivated by greed, assuming she had attacked Zhao Ming just for his belongings.
This could cause significant damage to Hua Jian’s reputation.
“Should I let him keep those things just to annoy me? Senior Brother, you probably don’t know his character. He is narrow-minded and vengeful. Now that I’ve beaten him once in front of everyone, he definitely won’t let it go once he wakes up.” Hua Jian shook her head, explaining with a hint of regret.
“If it weren’t for the Demonic Path Invasion disrupting the Secret Realm’s teleportation mechanism, I would have sent him out of the Secret Realm long ago.”
Previously, Hua Jian had no psychological burden when striking to kill, but now a killing blow would result in actual death. It was better to do such things less often.
Even if it had to be done, it should be done covertly, followed by destroying the evidence…
Regardless, doing it in front of everyone was out of the question. Therefore, she could only settle for the next best thing: stripping the opponent of his ability to resist.
Zhao Ming’s strength was actually quite hollow. In internal conflicts, he relied entirely on his high-grade Spirit Tools.
By taking his Storage Pouch, Hua Jian had essentially neutralized most of his combat power.
Without his Spirit Tools, Zhao Ming likely wouldn’t even have the strength of a mid-tier member in that Alliance.
‘If he doesn’t learn his lesson and continues to cause trouble, I can’t guarantee I’ll continue to tolerate such a nuisance jumping around in front of me.’
The Sword Cultivator Senior Brother felt his eyebrows twitch as he sensed the faint killing intent in Hua Jian’s words.
In just half a day of interaction, Hua Jian’s image had become vivid and multi-dimensional in his eyes. He didn’t dislike this kind of personality.
The Right Path was indeed composed of good people, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t kill.
This was especially true for sword cultivators; they were often the ones who valued life the least.
However, this coldness was usually reserved for those of the Demonic Path.
Yet in the current situation, if Zhao Ming stubbornly continued to cause trouble, how was he any different from a Demonic Cultivator?
The sword cultivator highly approved of Hua Jian taking action to resolve such hidden dangers.
“The ones chasing them were two Ling Kings from the Demonic Path, but those two didn’t seem to have much killing intent. Rather, they were playing with and torturing them.”
Once the previous topic ended, the Senior Brother spoke about the scene he had witnessed while rescuing them.
The fact that they could hold out against two Ling Kings until the Senior Brother arrived was naturally not because the Sword Hero was powerful, but because the Ling Kings of the Demonic Path were taking it easy.
Perhaps thinking victory was certain and the Sword Hero could no longer cause any waves, they didn’t join the siege, instead letting their subordinates torture him.
The result of this negligence was that the Sword Hero lasted until the sword cultivator arrived.
As soon as those two Demonic Ling Kings saw a sword cultivator appearing, they fled without hesitation, not even attempting to fight.
“Those two Ling Kings aren’t strong. They might have just broken through to the Lingwang Realm. At most, they are lower-middle tier within the Demonic Path.”
This judgment was not outside Hua Jian’s expectations. To be sent here for such a high-risk job, the status of these Demonic Cultivators within their faction certainly couldn’t be very high.
They were likely just a bunch of cannon fodder.
But even cannon fodder from the Demonic Path was stronger than their group of small fry.
After all, the Ascension Gathering was an entrance exam.
With age restrictions in place, the participants’ strength would at most reach the high stages of the Spirit Master Realm; there wouldn’t even be any at the peak.
“Then, if you cooperate with the other two Senior Brothers and Shijie, how many Demonic Ling Kings can you handle?”
This question made the sword cultivator fall silent for a moment.
He initially wanted to give a confident answer, but after some thought, he felt he shouldn’t be overconfident. He couldn’t let Hua Jian misjudge their side’s strength.
“If the demonic cultivators’ strength is only at the level I just saw, the three of us should be able to handle six to seven.”
For a Saint Sect Disciple, fighting two at once was generally considered standard.
But even if they could fight two to one, the number of Ling Kings on the side of the Right Path was still insufficient.
The remaining Spirit Masters wouldn’t be able to withstand the attacks of the other Demonic Ling Kings.
The gap was massive and completely impossible to fill.
“I still have a peak Lingwang Realm Contract Spirit Beast I can use. That should be enough, right?” Hua Jian asked.
The sword cultivator didn’t register what Hua Jian said at first. A few seconds later, he came to a sudden halt in mid-air.
“Peak Lingwang Realm?!”
“Yes, peak Lingwang Realm.” Hua Jian nodded obediently, indicating that the Senior Brother hadn’t misheard. It was indeed the peak Lingwang Realm.
The sword cultivator looked Hua Jian up and down. No wonder the Wanling Sect and Jade Pool were fighting tooth and nail over her.
This girl was indeed extraordinary… No, she was simply beyond extraordinary!
Who wouldn’t be dazed when encountering such a Heavenly Talent? He was feeling a bit lightheaded himself!
“Incredible. If we have a peak Lingwang Realm Spirit Beast helping us, we might not even need the Spirit Array…”
……
“How could I forget about this? This little girl still has such a Treasure in her hands!”
Fenghua Venerable, who had already lost contact with the interior of the Secret Realm, slapped her thigh and muttered to herself amidst the speechless gazes of the people around her.
“Aiya, who would have thought a Spirit Master could subdue a Lingwang Realm Spirit Beast? This makes things difficult. They aren’t planning to skip using the Array, are they?”
Venerable Penglai quickly raised his hand to signal Fenghua Venerable to tone it down. ‘Who are you showing off to? Hua Jian won’t necessarily end up in your Yaochi Sect anyway.’
The actual interested party, the Lingcaifeng Master, hadn’t said a word yet. Why was she being so talkative?
“Why worry so much? It’s just a peak Lingwang Realm Spirit Beast. There are peak Lingwang Realm disciples in the Secret Realm as well. Just have them step in and beat that Spirit Beast back.”
The Tiandao Sect Venerable picked up the conversation, indicating that the matter was easily resolved.
They had considered many things when arranging this grand play and had placed stronger disciples in the Secret Realm as ultimate insurance.
Among them were even several Ling Emperor cultivators. They just needed to step in and shatter Hua Jian’s idea of taking a shortcut.
“You’ve made it so complicated. In my opinion, it would be better to just take Hua Jian out of the Secret Realm and name her the first place winner. The others can continue their assessment in the Secret Realm; it would be less likely for accidents to happen.” The Lingcaifeng Master gave a soft snort.
She understood Hua Jian’s potential well. As long as Hua Jian remained in the Secret Realm for even a day, that little girl wouldn’t give up on her ideas of stirring up trouble.
Rather than letting her continue to cause chaos inside, it would be better to just give her early admission.
However, this suggestion was quickly rejected by the other Venerables. The reason was simple: it wasn’t fair. Who knew if a Heavenly Talent capable of rivaling Hua Jian would emerge later?
If someone performed even better than Hua Jian but Hua Jian was already guaranteed first place, wouldn’t it become a huge joke?
Though the probability was small, one couldn’t deny the possibility existed, could they?
“Speaking of which, the Demonic Path hasn’t made any moves. Could it be that our plan really disrupted their deployment?”
“The suspicious individuals have all been given special attention. Except for that Sword Hero, the others have more or less shown some unusual traits. The moles sent by the Demonic Path should be those people.”
“That Zhao Ming isn’t normal either. The source of his strength is a mystery. Perhaps there are shadows of Wanhuagu behind him. You know, that place always likes to let others be their scapegoats.”
On the surface, Zhao Ming had no connection to the Demonic Path, but Wanhuagu excelled at making the cultivators they manipulated appear completely unrelated to them.
Often, even the manipulated cultivators themselves didn’t know Wanhuagu was hiding behind them, pulling their strings with invisible threads.
“What about his little girlfriend? I remember she was also a highly suspicious person.”
“After being abandoned by him, she disappeared. She hasn’t come out of the Secret Realm, and we can’t find where she went. It can be confirmed that she is a Demonic Cultivator from Wanhuagu.”
Because of the spreading Black Mist, many areas had appeared in the Secret Realm that even the Venerables’ detection couldn’t reach.
After all, they weren’t present in person; they were watching through a Spirit Tool.
Spirit Tools were ultimately inferior to their actual selves and could have various issues and blind spots.
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