The young man on the platform, seeing that Mo Tiange had completely ignored him before bowing to the referee cultivator, as if he were utterly beneath her notice, was greatly displeased. He snorted and didn't return the courtesy either, directly summoning his flying sword.
Mo Tiange was well-prepared. She took out her Azure Wood Sword and began to duel with him.
Although the Azure Wood Sword was made of wood, it had been repaired by a high-level cultivator and was also a high-grade spiritual artifact. Moreover, it was well-matched with her Azure Wood Art, so it was not inferior to her opponent's flying sword. Thus, the fight was evenly matched, with blows traded back and forth.
Seeing the young man concentrating on controlling his flying sword, Mo Tiange quietly fished out a handful of seeds from her Qiankun Bag.
To qualify, she needed to win ten consecutive matches. Although she had Spirit-Replenishing Pills, no one could predict what kind of troublesome opponents they might encounter, so it was best to end fights quickly in the beginning to conserve Spiritual Qi. Therefore, Mo Tiange did not plan to win slowly. After just testing the waters to confirm the young man's methods, she made her decision.
Once again, she manipulated the Azure Wood Sword to meet the opponent's flying sword. In the next moment, her left hand flicked, sending three seeds flying towards the opponent's upper, middle, and lower body respectively.
The opponent quickly sensed something was wrong. In his haste, he didn't dare to block them head-on and could only dodge. But Mo Tiange sent out another three seeds. This time, he barely managed to tilt his head aside, but the other two seeds struck him solidly. The one that hit his body instantly sprouted into a ball, which then exploded, shattering his protective shield. The one that hit below immediately grew into thorns, firmly entangling his legs.
The young man was shocked and horrified. He hurriedly directed his flying sword back to cut the thorns while pulling out a talisman from his robes and hurling it at Mo Tiange to stall her Azure Wood Sword.
But Mo Tiange didn't block the talisman. Instead, she leaped up, retrieving the Azure Wood Sword and simultaneously dodging the talisman. In an instant, she charged forward, sword in hand.
Before the young man could react, the Azure Wood Sword swept aside his flying sword and pointed directly at his heart.
The young man didn't dare move, because Mo Tiange already had a talisman ready in her other hand. He believed that if he moved even a muscle, that talisman would be thrown. Unwillingly, he said, "I admit defeat."
Mo Tiange revealed a smile and withdrew the Azure Wood Sword. During the years of wandering with her second uncle, she had noticed that cultivators in Dharma Combat relied too heavily on spiritual artifacts and talismans, while being unskilled in martial arts. Therefore, she had integrated secular martial arts techniques into her Lightness Art foundation. This way, her reactions were faster than others. That day in the forest when she killed the man from the An Family, the reason she gained the upper hand was also because her reactions were faster than his.
Defeating this young man was relatively easy because her second uncle had always made her practice the application of Spiritual Qi, and her spiritual artifacts were also top-notch. Her chances of winning against cultivators of the same level or even one or two levels higher were quite good. After all, this wasn't like that day where she was fighting for her life. Today, with her second uncle watching below, she wasn't in mortal danger, so she could face her opponent calmly.
Of course, if it were a Qi Refining Level 10 cultivator, or a particularly strong Qi Refining Level 9 cultivator, winning would be difficult.
The second challenger was also a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator like her. Mo Tiange didn't expend much effort and won.
However, after that, no more Qi Refining Level 7 cultivators came up. Instead, it was Level 8 and Level 9 cultivators. At first, Mo Tiange was still relatively relaxed. After defeating five or six, she was starting to feel the strain. The last few were basically won by relying on the Azure Wood Sword's superiority over ordinary high-grade spiritual artifacts. Often, by the end of a fight, her Spiritual Qi was almost completely depleted.
For such situations, the Yunwu Sect also had rules. The winner could meditate for a short while, though not for too long, so they had to rely on Spirit Stones to recover Spiritual Qi. Fortunately, Mo Tiange had prepared ample Spirit Stones and could recover her Spiritual Qi each time. However, after five or six consecutive matches, she still felt tired. This was mental exhaustion; even with her Spiritual Qi replenished, it was of no help.
Nevertheless, her consecutive wins had attracted the attention of the surrounding spectators. There were many Qi Refining Level 7 cultivators among the participants of the Immortal Platform Meet, but most of the advantage lay with Level 9 and Level 10 cultivators. It was rare to see someone consecutively defeat four cultivators whose cultivation was higher than their own. Currently, apart from this platform, there wasn't a single other platform being held by a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator.
Moreover, the spell technique she used was truly different from others. The seeds sprouted instantly, only attacking when they reached the enemy. This was far more formidable than ordinary wood-attribute spells. One must know that ordinary wood-attribute spells used Spiritual Qi to conjure plants, which definitely consumed more Spiritual Qi than using seeds. Throwing seeds like this was really hard to defend against.
After using an Advanced Talisman to barely defeat a Qi Refining Level 8 cultivator, the next challenger left Mo Tiange feeling rather helpless.
This was a Qi Refining Level 10 cultivator.
If the odds were fifty-fifty against Qi Refining Level 8 or 9 cultivators, against a Level 10 cultivator, she was clearly at a disadvantage. However, she instantly made up her mind. Since that was the case, she would just rely on talismans and spiritual medicine.
After the two exchanged courtesies, Mo Tiange immediately summoned her Azure Wood Sword and slapped a defensive talisman onto herself.
This cultivator was a middle-aged man, clearly experienced in Dharma Combat. He unhurriedly summoned his spiritual artifact—a small flag that floated before him.
Flag-type spiritual artifacts were either defensive or spirit-controlling types, both troublesome to deal with. Mo Tiange became more cautious. Manipulating the Azure Wood Sword, she simultaneously hurled seeds mixed with talismans, relentlessly bombarding the middle-aged cultivator.
Yet, the middle-aged cultivator showed no urgency at all. With a wave of his small flag, it emitted Spiritual Qi that attracted all the attacks, and the flag remained completely undamaged under the assault.
Mo Tiange frowned. It seemed this flag was a defensive treasure. This was troublesome. The opponent's cultivation was higher than hers, so blocking his attacks would be strenuous. Her plan had been to strike first and gain the initiative. If she could injure him in a rapid assault, he would be much easier to handle. But unfortunately he had such an artifact.
She continued to scatter seeds by the handful but stopped using talismans. If they were useless, wasting talismans would make the later fights harder.
While blocking her attacks, the opponent shot a fireball towards her.
Fire-attribute spells were the most powerful among the Five Elements. Most cultivators with a fire spirit root cultivated fire-attribute spells. Mo Tiange didn't dare underestimate it. She immediately activated her Lightness Art and dodged to the side, only to find the fireball wasn't that hard to avoid. Delighted, she realized the opponent was skilled in defense but not in attack. This meant she still had a chance to win.
Fortunately, she was only using ordinary thorn grass and cactus seeds. The seeds didn't cost much, so she could just throw them like they were free.
As her assaults consistently failed to take effect, Mo Tiange grew somewhat anxious. Continuing like this was definitely disadvantageous for her because she had already fought for too long. Her mental fatigue had reached a certain level, and even though the opponent wasn't skilled in attack, she was finding it increasingly difficult to dodge. Moreover, the opponent only needed to raise his flag; he didn't require any other defensive means, making it much easier for him compared to her. One could say that as long as he completely defended against her attacks, he was in an invincible position because she would definitely make a mistake before he did. No, she had to change this situation to have a chance of winning.
She clenched another handful of seeds in her hand and threw out over a dozen seeds simultaneously. The middle-aged cultivator still just channeled Spiritual Qi into the small flag, not noticing that a few seeds weren't thrown at him but fell in other directions.
Mo Tiange patiently dodged spells and threw seeds, finally filling all the intended positions.
She stopped moving, gathered energy in both palms, and suddenly pressed them downwards. Around the platform, several clusters of thorns erupted violently, completely surrounding the middle-aged cultivator.
The middle-aged cultivator was startled. He discovered these thorns were spinning around him. As they spun, the scene before his eyes slowly blurred. Afterwards, even the thorns disappeared. His surroundings became a vast, confusing expanse. He could see nothing but himself.
He looked around, heightening his vigilance. Deep down, he felt a trace of panic. He originally hadn't taken this Qi Refining Level 7 kid seriously, but this move was clearly a formation—a field he was completely unfamiliar with.
Suddenly, spells came attacking. He blocked them one by one with his flag, but the attacks were continuous and unending. He couldn't relax for a moment. Finally, his Spiritual Qi slowly depleted, and even Spirit-Replenishing Pills couldn't sustain him for long.
Outside the formation, Mo Tiange wasn't attacking at the moment. Instead, she threw out a few Spirit Stones to control the formation, allowing herself a brief rest while waiting for the opponent's Spiritual Qi to run out.
Fortunately, the opponent wasn't proficient in formations and hadn't moved from his position. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to set up the formation during combat.
Finally, seeing the opponent growing increasingly weary, she took out a water-attribute Advanced Talisman and threw it over.
Water rose from the middle-aged cultivator's feet. She then threw out an ordinary earth-attribute spell, and Quicksand appeared beneath the cultivator's feet.
Things at one's feet were not easily noticed. Moreover, by this time, the cultivator was already struggling to use his flag. By the time the Quicksand appeared, the water had already trapped him. He wanted to use the flag to break the spell but found he no longer had sufficient Spiritual Qi.
Mo Tiange released the Azure Wood Sword, thrusting it towards the cultivator.