Tower Defense: Public Enemy

Chapter 518 Green Mangzi

"Hey, this examiner is nice. Unlike that Naga in the Gate Hall, her good character actually gets extra points..."

Lei Chi took back the inheritance token, feeling that a total score of 820 wasn't too bad.

The examiner continued, "After being promoted to an inner disciple, you will lose your status as the senior disciple of the outer sect. However, if you obtain the corresponding level certificate in the three inner sect academies, you can compete for the position of senior disciple of the inner sect."

"I understand!"

Lei Chi controlled his Azure Flame avatar and cupped his hands in greeting. In fact, Lei Chi had inquired about the identities of these guardians from the Spirit of Inheritance at the Burning Fire Divine Palace. It seemed that most of them had offended the Cowardly Emperor, and all of them possessed extraordinary strength. They were then captured by the Cowardly Emperor, suppressed in this Holy Divine Palace, and forced to become guardians, serving their permanent imprisonment here.

"Successor, I must remind you that after advancing to the inner sect, there are more opportunities, but also more dangers. Before you, seven previous disciples have already passed through the Hall of Blessings, and at least four of them will be active in the inner sect disciple activity area for a short time. If you encounter them, you must be careful. A coward never competes with others, hides his strength, develops stealthily, and plays the fool to become a great emperor. The successor he wants will definitely be the same. Think carefully!"

The avatar of Azure Flame bowed again and said, "Thank you for informing me, Senior!"

A moment later, Lei Chi passed through the Youfu Hall and entered the inner disciples' activity area.

Here, a guardian was also in charge of greeting us. This guardian was a stone figure more than five meters tall. He said in a deep voice, "Inner disciple, listen carefully. To the left is the area for disciples' cave dwellings. In this era, the Holy Temple has nurtured a total of 72 cave dwellings. The cave dwellings are of varying quality. You can choose any one to stay in. In principle, it is first come, first served."

"To the right is the cultivation area, which includes buildings such as a blacksmith shop, weapon forging pavilion, alchemy room, scripture library, sword god academy, and trial tower. You can enter by using your inheritance token and consuming your fortune points."

"Beyond this is the Temple Pool. In this era, the Holy Temple gave birth to three temples, which will be obtained by those with the right destiny. You can try to collect one, but you can only collect one at most. Next is the Hall of Destiny. The True Disciple Assessment can be held in the Hall of Destiny. You only have one chance to take the assessment. If you pass, you can be promoted to True Disciple! If you fail, it doesn't matter. After becoming an inner disciple, you can freely enter and leave the Holy Temple. Unless you violate the rules set by the coward, there is no question of expulsion! In addition..."

The stone man continued without any emotion: "In addition, there is a hidden secret realm in the inner disciples' activity area called Fish-Dragon Pool. Those who are destined can enter! This is your cave token. It can be activated after you find a new cave. The cave token is the only proof of entering the cave. Do not lose it. If you encounter danger or are being chased, you can hide in your cave. Now I have told you everything I need to tell you. Do not bother me again."

After saying that, the stone sat down on the ground with a thud, its head shrank back, and immediately became like a giant rock, no longer moving an inch.

Lei Chi, controlling his Azure Flame avatar, still bowed to him, then put away his cave token and walked to the left without hesitation.

There's no need to rush into choosing your own cave dwelling, because Lei Chi knows that it's unlikely any inner disciples will be promoted in the near future. He's currently looking for the cave dwelling of Huangsha Lord Sha Wujing.

Lord Huangsha, Sha Wujing, was a disciple of the Secret Realm. He had previously given Lei Chi three cave dwelling tokens, which could be used to open his cave dwellings in the inner disciple activity area, the true disciple activity area, and the secret realm disciple activity area, respectively. According to him, there were a lot of cultivation resources in these three cave dwellings, all of which were given to Lei Chi.

Just as the Azure Flame Avatar entered the cave area, a horned monster wearing a green robe and holding a whisk appeared in the central square. He squinted at the Azure Flame Avatar's back and smiled sinisterly.

"The first inner disciple of this generation, hehe, well done!"

His figure suddenly blurred again, turning into a wisp of green smoke and chasing after the green fire incarnation.

Lei Chi controlled his Azure Flame avatar and used his divine sense to explore the surroundings. He quickly discovered a series of cave dwellings, which were actually spheres of light, no more than ten feet in diameter. Some were on the ground, while others were floating in mid-air. They were actually independent small spaces that Lei Chi's divine sense could not penetrate. With the naked eye, he could see that the spheres contained green trees and mountains, palaces and pavilions, or snowy landscapes, each with its own unique scenery and environment.

However, Lei Chi could not detect the wisp of green smoke that had been following him. He only had a strange feeling as if he was being watched, and this feeling was getting stronger and stronger, gradually making him wary.

"I am no longer an ordinary person. Not to mention the sixth sense, I have even cultivated the seventh sense. If I suddenly feel nothing, it is probably because someone is watching me. Is it a disciple from the previous generation...?"

Lei Chi seemed to understand something. He controlled his Azure Flame avatar to stop and carefully observed his surroundings. He found no clues, which did not make him relax. Instead, he became more vigilant.

However, Lei Chi did not show any abnormality. He stopped searching for Huangsha Lord Sha Wujing's cave and instead used his own cave token to search for unclaimed caves.

A moment later, Lei Chi found an abandoned cave dwelling. The cave dwelling was standing on the ground, and through the light screen, he could see a green mountain with a platform in the middle. Behind the platform, there seemed to be a stone gate.

As soon as they approached the sphere of light in the cave, the cave token in the hand of the Azure Flame avatar emitted light, and then the three large characters "Take Over" appeared on it.

"In this era, the Holy Palace has gathered a total of 72 cave dwellings. The cave dwellings should be divided into good and bad, but the difference is probably not significant. Their main function is probably not cultivation, but more importantly, refuge..."

Thinking of this, Lei Chi calmly activated the cave token in the hand of his Azure Flame avatar and said leisurely, "You have followed me all this way. What is your purpose? Please show yourself and explain."

Silence reigned all around, and no one responded.

The avatar of Azure Flame snorted and said, "Why must you hide your true colors?"

Still no one responded.

Lei Chi frowned. He thought that no matter if anyone was secretly following him, he should shout a couple of times to try and trick them out. But no one responded, which made him a little uneasy. He then controlled his Azure Flame avatar to say, "Since you are unwilling to show yourself, then continue to hide. I will not keep you company any longer. Goodbye."

After speaking, Qinghuo's avatar pressed the cave token in his hand, and the cave light sphere in front of him immediately flashed, revealing an entrance.

Just as the Azure Flame avatar was about to step into the entrance, a voice suddenly rang out: "Junior brother, why are you in such a hurry to go to the cave?"

The avatar of Qinghuo stopped in his tracks, looked in the direction of the sound, and saw the horned monster wearing a green robe and holding a whisk.

The strange man smiled and continued, "We are both disciples of the 'Suomen' sect. I joined earlier than you, so it's not a problem for me to call you junior brother, is it?"

The avatar of the Azure Flame also smiled and said, "Of course, there's no problem. My name is Zhao Shuibiao. May I ask your name, Senior Brother?"

"Fu Qingmang, whose Taoist name is Qingmangzi."

"So it's Senior Brother Fu. May I ask what brings you here to see me?"

Qing Mangzi said, "It's nothing major, I just wanted to borrow Junior Brother Shui Biao's cave token for a moment, and also ask him to go to the Divine Temple Pool!"

"Lend me your cave dwelling token? Senior brother, you must be joking. If I lend you this token, how will I enter and leave my cave dwelling?"

Lei Chi cursed inwardly. If he gave the cave token to this green mangzi, it would mean losing his refuge. This guy was obviously trying to control him and his intentions were definitely not good.

Qing Mangzi smiled sinisterly and continued, "Junior brother, don't worry. Once I've advanced to the level of a true disciple, I'll return this token to you!"

"Senior brother, let me think about it first." Lei Chi didn't want to break ties with Qing Mangzi yet, and his Qinghuo avatar maintained a smile as he asked, "I wonder what Senior brother means by asking me to go to the Divine Temple Pavilion?"

"Three divine temples are nurtured within the Divine Temple Pavilion. From what I've observed, there is a Heavenly Thunder Temple, a Starry Sky Temple, and a Gale Temple. Junior Brother, as a current disciple, according to the rules of the Sect, you have the opportunity to acquire one of these temples. I, your senior brother, entered the sect forty thousand years earlier than you, yet I still don't have a temple. Therefore, I've suggested that you try to acquire one and then transfer it to me. Naturally, I won't let you suffer a loss. I'll give you a large amount of cultivation resources in return. We'll help each other out and both of us will benefit. What do you think, Junior Brother?"

"Senior brother, oh senior brother..."

The Azure Flame incarnate laughed loudly, saying, "You truly have no shame!"

"Um?"

Qing Mangzi's face turned cold, and he said, "So you're unwilling?"

"Of course I don't want to! How can trash like you deserve the title of 'senior brother'? If you want the temple, go get it yourself! You want me, the God Lord, to work for you? No way! You piece of trash, I truly despise you!"

"Zhao Shuibiao, you're asking for death!" Qing Mangzi's face immediately turned so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water.

The Azure Flame avatar had already stepped halfway into the cave, but it wasn't afraid at all. It said, "Ox-Head, stop spouting nonsense. What can you do to me?"

"Hmph, you ignorant little brat, take this!"

Qing Mangzi made his move. With a flick of his whisk, a large number of snow-white sword tips appeared silently around Lei Chi. Then, longswords appeared out of thin air, forming a cage of swords that was about to strangle Qing Huo's avatar.

"A total of 6568 swords? This is outrageous!"

Lei Chi spread his divine sense and instantly knew the number of longswords that were attacking him. He felt as if he had fallen into a trap. While he was shocked, he immediately used his methods, frantically supplying his mental energy to the Azure Flame avatar, which immediately formed a mental energy barrier around it.

At the same time, the [No Thought Cycle] was interrupted, and the 42 Long Sky Swords automatically protected the body, blocking the long swords that appeared from the void.

In the blink of an eye, after a series of rapid clanging sounds, more than three thousand longswords were deflected and knocked away by Lei Chi's Long Sky Sword. However, Lei Chi's mental barrier was also shattered. The remaining three thousand longswords then struck Qing Huo's avatar, but were quickly shaken away. Many of the longswords were broken or even shattered.

"Is this the method of the previous generation's disciples?"

Lei Chi was even more shocked. The Azure Fire Avatar had been seriously injured, but it was physically strong and had many swords and powerful attacks, but the damage it caused to the Azure Fire Avatar was not very high. If you count the life points, it was probably only more than three million.

"Um"

Qing Mangzi was also quite surprised. He flicked his whisk and said, "Your body is strange. Could it be that you've been practicing a body-tempering technique?"

"you guess?"

Lei Chi had no intention of talking to him and was now launching a counterattack. With a thought, he first threw out a [Psychic Storm].

【Psychic Storm】Although it is an area-of-effect attack, it does not deal much damage to a single target, but it is extremely fast to cast.

Impacted by the [Psychic Storm], Qing Mangzi rubbed his forehead and took two steps back. His eyes immediately turned blood red as he shouted, "Good lad, a soul attack, huh? Too bad it can't hurt me. You won't take a polite offer, so let your senior brother teach you a lesson..."

With a wave of his hand, ten more great swords flew out from the void, their tips pointing directly at the Azure Flame Incarnation.

The Azure Flame avatar slapped its chest and hurriedly shouted, "Get lost!"

He used the [Shocking God Break] technique, and a large amount of mental energy transformed into an invisible hammer with his roar, striking Qing Mangzi's head hard.

Qing Mangzi suddenly felt a ringing in his ears, his eyes rolled back, as if he had been thrown into an abyss, and his thoughts immediately stopped.

At this moment of pause, the ten longswords that had appeared in the void immediately disappeared, while Lei Chi's Long Sky Sword charged forward. However, there seemed to be an invisible barrier around Qing Mangzi, and under Lei Chi's control, the 42 Long Sky Swords all bent, unable to penetrate more than three feet around Qing Mangzi.

The next moment, Qing Mangzi woke up. He smacked his head and said, "What a skill! You almost damaged my soul. I will never forgive you!"

With a stomp of his foot, countless sword tips appeared behind him. Then, as if a giant wave was crashing in, those sword tips transformed into longswords. The countless longswords formed a giant wave that threatened to engulf the Thunder Pool.

The pupils of the Azure Flame avatar contracted. Among the dense array of longswords, he recognized the one at the very front—it was none other than the Divine Will Universe Blade.

"This guy is practicing the Divine Sword Technique!"

Lei Chi understood, and with a thought, the 42 Long Sky Swords returned. He did not intend to take Qing Mangzi's move, but quickly retreated, having already entered his own cave.

Instantly, the cave's sphere of light was restored to its original state. The giant wave of swords crashed down, accompanied by continuous sword cries, but it could not harm the cave's sphere of light in the slightest.

Having entered the cave, the Azure Flame avatar had already disengaged from the battle. His expression was serious as he muttered to himself, "As expected of a disciple from the previous generation, his skills are superb, and his soul is extremely strong. He withstood both the mental storm and the Divine Shock Break without injury. With my current abilities, I'm afraid I'm still not up to the task of going head-to-head with him!"

Shaking his head, Lei Chi controlled his Azure Flame avatar to turn around, and then carefully examined the small world of his own cave dwelling before him.

Outside the cave's sphere of light, Qing Mangzi's face was extremely grim. He roared, "You little beast, you hid pretty fast! I'll see how long you can hide. I'll be right here guarding you! As soon as you come out, I'll make sure you're pierced by ten thousand swords!"

Although he was surprised by the methods of the Azure Flame Incarnation, he was confident that his strength far surpassed that of the Incarnation, and that he would definitely be able to defeat it in their next encounter.

To his surprise, the next day, "Zhao Shuibiao" actually dared to step out of his cave.

Qing Mangzi immediately made a move. He was shocked to find that Zhao Shuibiao's strength had increased significantly, but after three moves, he still retreated back to his cave.

(End of this chapter)