Starting with the titmouse, seventy-two transformations

Chapter 174 Bloody Melee

Yuding Lake.

Waves surged into the air, and the crashing water pounded against the shore.

Amidst the intense, earthy yellow glow of the sunset, a stone platform rises abruptly from the ground, standing atop the rippling water, spanning several acres in open space.

Furthermore, a water curtain rises up, acting as a barrier to shield the surroundings and eliminate residual waves and air currents.

Three ice bridges, frozen together, connect the lake shore and the stone platform, serving as passageways. They are crystal clear and sparkle under the sunlight.

For a moment, the clouds and mist swirled, and the light and glow filled the air, creating a scene resembling a fairyland.

Talismans, magical implements!
Driven by a Qi cultivator, it is comparable to ancient immortals and Buddhas.

"The same talisman can produce vastly different effects in the hands of a martial arts master versus a Qi cultivator."

Liu Sheng felt a chill run down his spine. He moved his feet and made Jing Lin follow in the crowd, waiting patiently.

Before long, all three Qi Refiners arrived.

Without much preamble, he directly announced the start of the martial arts competition.

Three ice bridges simultaneously radiated light, one red, one green, and one white, piercing through the mist and connecting to the stone platform.

At a single command, the three groups participating in the martial arts competition immediately sprang into action.

The passage for the imperial court was a red ice bridge.

Disciples from various sects and families, including Fuhu Temple, Qixia Sect, Wuhe Sect, Wuxing Sect, Longmen Escort Agency, and the Cui and Wang families, flocked to the temple.

Even the surviving wandering martial artists were granted the qualification.

The number of people is no less than several hundred.

Jinglin's eyes darted around, wanting to speak, but her lips remained tightly pursed. She followed her senior and junior sisters, carrying her sword, and stepped onto the ice bridge.

"Amitabha! This humble nun has been controlled by the spider's sorcery. What should I do?"

The young nun was terrified, but recalling the mysterious and magical state she had experienced while practicing her sword dance in the tent earlier, she felt inexplicably reassured.

If it were anyone else, being controlled by the threads would surely be terrifying, but she was thinking about other things instead.

This young girl is all about being carefree and self-reliant.

"Jinglin, are your eyes bothering you? Why are you turning them around like that?"

Jingyi, who was standing next to her, pulled the little nun aside, sensing that something was off about her today.

"I... got a bug in my eye."

Liu Sheng manipulated Jing Lin into giving a perfunctory reply, then quickened his pace, shook off Jing Yi, and stepped onto the ice bridge.

This feisty little nun is very cunning; if you stay around her for too long, she might see through your scheme.

Before long, over a thousand people from three different groups gathered on the stone platform in the lake.

It's unclear who made the first move, but amidst the flashing swords and the clash of blades, the shouts of battle soon filled the stone platform.

Disciples from various factions under the imperial court, including the Iron Sword Sect, Xuan Yan Sect, Five Tigers Sect, Iron Horse Society, Flowing Cloud Sword Sect, and Rakshasa Sect under the Jin Prince's Mansion, as well as the small but elite White Lotus Army, immediately engaged in a fierce battle.

In an instant, shouts of killing filled the air, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and severed limbs were scattered all around.

Screams, wails, and the splattering sounds of weapons piercing and cutting flesh mingled together, creating a scene reminiscent of hell on earth.

Among them, the Fuhu Temple, the Rakshasa Sect, and the White Lotus Army were the most bloodthirsty, each forming their own formations and weaving through the crowd to kill.

They each occupied one side, clearing the area in unison, leaving limbs scattered everywhere and people and horses in disarray.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

The eighteen warrior monks of Fuhu Temple formed the Arhat Subduing Tiger Formation, wielding copper cudgels and uttering the roar of subduing tigers, creating a terrifying aura.

These martial monks were all broad-shouldered and muscular, exuding explosive power.

Every move, every move, exudes terrifying power.

Wherever he went, he almost never defeated his enemies with a single move.

Even a true martial arts master, once caught in the formation, cannot last more than a few moves before being reduced to a bloody mist.

Corpses littered the ground, their destructive force overwhelming, none could withstand them. Similar to the warrior monks of Fuhu Temple, the Rakshasa Soul-Chasing Formation, composed of thirty-six disciples of the Rakshasa Sect, was equally formidable.

Clad in iron armor and wielding razor blades, they swept through almost the entire enemy force.

Six disciples of the Five Crane Sect, led by two True Form Martial Masters who were no less skilled than Sun Mubai, briefly clashed with him.

After three moves, these Five Crane Sect disciples, including two True Form Martial Masters, were cut into pieces, their livers and brains scattered on the ground.

Similarly, there was the White Lotus Army, a formidable force. Even without using crossbows to fire, they advanced with long spears and broadswords, their advance as solid as a wall, leaving no survivors in their wake.

In addition, several major sects, including the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect, the Five Elements Sect, and the Blazing Fire Sect, also formed formations.

Although not as forceful as the Fuhu Temple, the Rakshasa Sect, or the White Lotus Army, they still performed well and firmly occupied their territory.

In an instant, hundreds of wandering martial artists, as well as disciples from small sects such as the Dragon Gate Escort Agency, the Xuan Yan Sect, and the Iron Sword Sect, became the targets of the massacre, suffering heavy casualties.

Some martial arts practitioners, seeing the situation was not good, jumped off the stone platform and fell into the water. Although they lost their qualifications, they saved their lives in the process.

As for Shuiyue Nunnery, which was also a major sect, the nuns occupied a corner and formed a small Shuiyue sword formation. With their tight defense, they killed more than a dozen people.

Most of them were self-confident martial artists who thought a group of young nuns were easy to bully, as well as disciples of small sects.

On the stone platform, the battle was fierce, and a large number of severed limbs and blood fell into the lake, attracting thousands of aquatic creatures.

Fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish—everything was available, and everyone vied to eat it.

No one noticed that ripples were beginning to form underwater.

At the bottom of the lake, whose depths are unknown, faint rosy light and auspicious clouds emanate.

It seemed as if a phantom was slowly solidifying.

……

As time went by, the number of people remaining on the stone platform dwindled.

Among the wandering martial artists and disciples of minor sects, some died, some fell into the water, and those who remained on the stage were all tough and daring enough to fight and kill.

Moreover, relying on the large size of the stone platform, they did not take the initiative to attack. Instead, like Shuiyue Temple, they chose a corner and joined forces to repel the enemy.

These people came from diverse backgrounds, but each possessed exceptional abilities. Their cultivation levels were generally above the Great Perfection of the Internal Organs, and the total number exceeded fifty. The core twelve even possessed the strength of the True Form Realm.

On paper, their power even surpassed that of Fuhu Temple, Rakshasa Sect, and White Lotus Army.

"There are still over five hundred people. We need to reduce the size of the stone platform, otherwise the number will exceed three hundred..."

Among the many Qi Refiners watching around the stone platform, Xie Bao's eyes flickered as he exchanged a glance with the Prince of Jin and Lei Zhong.

The next moment, the stone platform on the lake surface made a loud "boom", the yellowish-brown light mist flowed, and the earth's energy contracted.

In the blink of an eye, the entire stone platform shrank to a size of 100 zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Thus, the martial monks of Fuhu Temple, the disciples of the Rakshasa Sect, the White Lotus Army, the nuns of Shuiyue Nunnery, disciples of other sects, and wandering martial artists, who originally occupied their own territories, were now adjacent to each other and within arm's reach.

"kill!"

A wandering swordsman brandished his blade and launched an attack on the nuns of Shuiyue Nunnery.

Disciples from other sects also bullied the weak and feared the strong, and intimidated the powerful Fuhu Temple, Rakshasa Sect, and White Lotus Army, so they ruthlessly killed the nuns of Shuiyue Nunnery.

Organizations such as the Iron Horse Society, Iron Sword Sect, and Xuan Yan Sect under the command of Prince Jin all used ruthless and unrestrained attacks.

Even the imperial court, including the Cui and Wang families who were originally allies of Shuiyue Nunnery, as well as the Five Elements Sect, took advantage of the situation.

These guys, taking advantage of the fact that the nuns at Shuiyue Nunnery are few in number and have compassionate hearts, are trying to defeat them in one fell swoop.

In order to secure a spot to enter the ruins, all notions of chivalry and honor were cast aside.

For a time, the small Shuiyue Sword Formation formed by the nuns of Shuiyue Nunnery was surrounded by enemies on all sides, under immense pressure, and in grave danger.

Outside the sword formation, several women were injured one after another, and the sword formation was on the verge of collapse—

"choke!"

A sword rang out, and a sudden change occurred.

(End of this chapter)