Not counting yin corpses, the enemy had four people while his side had three. They were outnumbered, but held the advantage in quality.
World Returns to Fire had already been eliminated by him. As long as they dealt with either Qingsongzi or Tone-Deaf, the scales of victory would tip in their favor. Between Tone-Deaf and Qingsongzi, Tone-Deaf's musical slaves were spirit bodies, countered by Zhang Yuanqing and Sun Miaomiao. His sonic attacks were in turn countered by Earth God's helmet. As long as they broke through the defense of his cuirass, that man could be eliminated.
Qingsongzi, on the other hand, excelled at melee combat, was agile, had seemingly bottomless stamina, and had inherited World Returns to Fire's blade. He was far more troublesome than Tone-Deaf.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing believed Qingsongzi should be eliminated first, because within the arena, only Qingsongzi and Yuan Ting still had usable reporting functions. (Note 1)
Putting himself in the enemy's shoes, they would definitely try every means to find the most cost-effective report to eliminate Earth God, who had only 1 point left.
Yuan Ting had already turned to their side. As long as Qingsongzi was eliminated, Earth God would be safe for the next half hour—and half an hour was more than enough to end this battle.
After weighing the pros and cons, Zhang Yuanqing took a step back, raised a hand to cover his mouth, and lowered his voice:
"Sun Miaomiao, keep Yuan Ting and Zhao Chenghuang tied down. Earth God, pin down Tone-Deaf—kill him if you can. I'll deal with Qingsongzi."
Dividing the battlefield and defeating them one by one was the optimal strategy.
Recalling the scene of World Returns to Fire shattering Yuanshi Tianzun's weapon with a single strike, Sun Miaomiao glanced at the narrow-bladed long saber in Qingsongzi's hand and whispered with a frown, "Can you manage? I have to tell you, I can't stall Zhao Chenghuang for very long."
Earth God also cast a skeptical glance.
As a top-eight contestant, Qingsongzi was hardly a soft persimmon that could be squeezed at will. While he was definitely not Yuanshi Tianzun's match, when an agile Wood Demon wielded a hair-splitting weapon, his combat power surged dramatically.
Moreover, Sun Miaomiao couldn't stall for long. Yuanshi Tianzun might be able to defeat Qingsongzi, but trying to eliminate him purely through combat in a short timeframe was exceedingly difficult.
Neither Sun Miaomiao nor Earth God believed he could pull it off.
"One minute. Within one minute, I will eliminate Qingsongzi," Zhang Yuanqing said, keeping his hand over his mouth to prevent the enemy from lip-reading their conversation.
*One minute?*
Earth God and Sun Miaomiao both raised their eyebrows.
Yuanshi Tianzun's words brimmed with unmatched confidence. Could it be that he hadn't gone all out in his previous matches?
Yet how could that be possible?
While the two were still stunned, Zhang Yuanqing's body vanished into thin air before everyone's eyes, and his yin corpse, Corpse No. 1, sprinted toward Qingsongzi at full speed.
*His target is me?* Qingsongzi was startled. Retreating with saber in hand, he shouted:
"Attack!"
At the same time, a surge of fury welled up within him. Did Yuanshi Tianzun take him for an easy target? He felt thoroughly insulted.
Tone-Deaf immediately raised his bamboo flute to his lips and began playing a plaintive tune.
Sharp, wailing sound waves pierced the eardrums and brains of everyone present like steel needles, inflicting pain that made the soul tremble.
A Musician in the Transcendent stage had three skills: soothe, inspire, and hypnotize.
Yet Tone-Deaf used none of them, because this bamboo flute could play only a single melody. It could not soothe, hypnotize, or inspire; instead, the song directly damaged spirit bodies, compounded by a Musician's sonic damage. Its potency was so terrifying that even Level 3 Night Wanderers, renowned for their formidable spirit bodies, could hardly endure it.
There was simply no need to deploy Musician class skills.
*Thump, thump!*
The ground beneath Tone-Deaf's feet suddenly bulged, and dark brown earth condensed into two pairs of large hands that clamped around his ankles.
Clad in his leather jacket and leather pants, Earth God leaned low and charged forward like a steed breaking out of camp, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.
Treating himself like a siege ram, he careened toward the frail young man with reckless, brute abandon. The soul-piercing sound waves had no effect on him whatsoever.
Seeing this, the flute melody abruptly accelerated. Two hazy figures drifted out from the bamboo flute—one graceful in posture, the other burly in build.
The two musical slaves whistled through the air, crossing paths as they rushed to meet Earth God.
Although sonic attacks were useless against him, musical slaves were fundamentally spirit bodies. A spirit body's possession disrupted the physical body rather than the soul—a power that the helmet could not guard against.
The two musical slaves plunged headlong into Earth God's body, fighting for control of his form.
Earth God's bull-like momentum faltered, and he ground to a rigid halt.
Earth God let out a grunt and took a deep pull. His chest and abdomen sucked inward sharply, and the cigar clamped between his teeth flared with brilliant red light.
"Whoosh!"
He forcefully exhaled white smoke toward Tone-Deaf several meters away. No, it wasn't white smoke, but a dense, heavy blanket of fog.
The thick fog engulfed Tone-Deaf, who was trapped in place. The flute song cut off, replaced by Tone-Deaf's violent coughing.
He was poisoned.
Meanwhile, Qingsongzi, witnessing this unfold, calculated rapidly in his mind.
*Tone-Deaf has the cuirass protecting him. Although Earth God's defense is formidable, his offense is weak. Their fight won't be settled anytime soon...*
He glanced toward Zhao Chenghuang's direction and found the two Night Wanderers darting left and right, sometimes dashing forward, sometimes falling back, yet always somehow winding up back where they started.
Not far from them, Sun Miaomiao's eye sockets were pitch-black. Behind her stood the female ghost in the nightgown as she strained to maintain the illusion.
*Sun Miaomiao can actually trap both Zhao Chenghuang and Yuan Ting—two peers of the same class—at once. She truly lives up to ranking third on the leaderboard. But she can't keep two fellow disciples trapped indefinitely...* Observing the situation, Qingsongzi immediately knew what he had to do.
Buy time!
Wait for Yuan Ting and Zhao Chenghuang to break free and enter the fray, then overwhelm the enemy with superior numbers and reverse the tide.
A cluster of greenery sprouted beneath Qingsongzi's feet and spread rapidly, forming a circular lawn eight meters in diameter with him at the center.
The principle behind this move was similar to scattering flour on the ground: detecting invisible assailants through their footprints.
It was an effective defense against sneak attacks by Night Wanderers.
*The grass isn't swaying—Yuanshi Tianzun hasn't come... His yin corpse is watching from the sidelines without attacking...* Qingsongzi felt no panic.
Tone-Deaf's flute music had interrupted Yuanshi Tianzun's offensive rhythm earlier. Now that the interference was gone, he still wasn't attacking?
Not attacking suited him just fine; stalling worked in his team's favor.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, black smoke suddenly billowed from Qingsongzi's face. His rationality degenerated rapidly under a surge of negative emotions. Clasping his head in agony, he screamed, his eyes turning bloodshot like a madman, like a wild beast.
*Thud, thud, thud...* Outside the lawn, the yin corpse sprang into motion, bolting into the lush green circle. Muscles rippled beneath its skin as it moved like a leopard hunting its prey.
Suddenly, while still clutching his head with one hand, Qingsongzi snatched a three-inch-tall carved wooden figure from his inventory with the other.
Black smoke hissed from the wooden figure's head with continuous sizzling sounds. The smoke grew denser and denser, while the black smoke on Qingsongzi's face faded.
*Crack!*
The carved wooden figure split apart.
The black smoke cleared entirely from Qingsongzi's face, and his sanity returned.
Looking at the yin corpse right in front of him, Qingsongzi sneered.
Yuanshi Tianzun had used this very move against Maoshan Daoist. In his assessment, it was one of Yuanshi Tianzun's trump cards, far deadlier than his other methods.
Furthermore, it was nearly impossible to guard against.
Consequently, Qingsongzi had prepared a consumable item specifically to counter it.
A consumable derived from the Witch Doctor class.
Among the orthodox professions, the only ways to dispel curses and corruptive contamination belonged to high-level Water Ghosts and high-level Night Wanderers—Scouts counted as half a counter—but none of these effects could be provided by items at the Transcendent stage.
Items from the Saint stage were beyond his reach and forbidden to use anyway.
After much thought, he had concluded that fighting fire with fire was the only way.
Thus, he had pulled strings to purchase this consumable from a branch Elder. Named "substitute puppet," it could absorb a single attack on the user's behalf when subjected to filth, corruption, curse, and similar afflictions.
Qingsongzi casually tossed aside the cracked puppet and strode forward carrying the narrow-bladed long saber, charging to meet the yin corpse.
He wanted to catch Yuanshi Tianzun off guard.
Relying on the sharpness of the war armor's weapon, he intended to cripple Yuanshi Tianzun's yin corpse.
He could already picture Yuanshi Tianzun's pained and furious expression.
Sprinting at high speed, Qingsongzi leveraged the agility of a Climber to suddenly shift his center of gravity, dodging the yin corpse's straight punch with an angle change that defied the laws of mechanics.
*Creeeak.* Twisting his ankle, he spun his body to face the yin corpse's flank. With a low roar, Qingsongzi thrust the narrow-bladed long saber forward, combining the weapon's sharpness with a Wood Demon's monstrous strength.
To sever the corpse in a single strike!
*Pfft!*
The tip of the blade struck a layer of murky gray light. The barrier caved inward under the thrust, threatening to shatter at any second, but it held.
*This yin corpse possesses an Earth Monster's defensive traits...* Qingsongzi's expression changed drastically.
Right at that moment, he saw blades of tender green grass being trampled down. The bending stalks formed footprints closing in on him at terrifying speed.
Yuanshi Tianzun's attack had arrived.
At the same time, the yin corpse beside him let out a beastly roar and pounced violently.
Given Corpse No. 1's close-combat prowess, even an agile Wood Demon could forget about retreating unscathed.
Qingsongzi did not retreat. Calmly retrieving his blade, his left hand pulled out a wooden stick. The rigid stick suddenly softened, spinning like a propeller before tightly coiling into a wooden shield.
*Bang!*
Raising the shield and sinking into a deep stance, Qingsongzi blocked the yin corpse's heavy punch. His eyes never left the approaching footprints; the moment they reached him, the muscles in his right arm holding the narrow-bladed saber bulged.
The saber swept across, carving a shrill whistle through the air.
He was confident this swing would force Yuanshi Tianzun back. Across all their previous fights, Yuanshi Tianzun had never displayed any defensive items.
And if Yuanshi Tianzun insisted on trading blow for blow, Qingsongzi didn't fear that either. A Night Wanderer possessed immense vitality and decent self-healing, but how could that compare to a healer?
*Splosh.*
The blade seemed to have sliced into something, yet encountered no real resistance. It didn't feel solid—more like cutting through water?
In the next second, Qingsongzi saw splashing water and caught sight of Yuanshi Tianzun's figure emerging from the strike. He wore a dark robe with crimson flames embroidered along the hem and cuffs, and silver billowing waves across the chest.
The Night Wanderer had completely ignored the saber's sweep. Driving a forty-centimeter-long yanagiba forward, he plunged it viciously into Qingsongzi's chest.
*A Water Ghost skill! He has a Water Ghost item...* Excruciating pain distorted Qingsongzi's face.
He kicked Yuanshi Tianzun away, blocked two punches from the yin corpse, dropped the narrow-bladed long saber, and retreated swiftly. Even with his heart pierced, his movements remained agile and nimble, like an ape adept at climbing.
Blood gushed from Qingsongzi's chest. Jade-green light gathered over the wound, trying to repair the damage, but no matter how hard he pushed himself, he could only slow the bleeding.
The Bloodthirsty Blade's bleed effect countered a Wood Demon's regeneration.
*I haven't lost! I still have one chance at "Resurgence." Once I enter a near-death state, I can revive at full health... For now, I just have to rely on my agility to evade Yuanshi Tianzun and the yin corpse's attacks until Resurgence triggers...*
Unflustered by danger, Qingsongzi quickly devised a strategy.
He had cast aside the narrow-bladed saber; it was too heavy, and in his current state, it would only hamper his agility.
A Wood Demon's agility was now his sole reliance.
Suddenly, two dull thumps sounded from his back. Qingsongzi's shoulder blades cracked, sending him stumbling forward.
*An ambush?* Shocked and enraged, he looked back over his shoulder. A few meters behind him, a pair of pristine, delicate Red Dancing Shoes were eerily rising and falling, as if an invisible person were wearing them and stepping in place.
*An item from the Night Wanderer class?* Staring at the creepy, bizarre Red Dancing Shoes, Qingsongzi's expression warped once more.
A frantic thought screamed in his mind: *Why does he have another item?!*
*How can he possibly have so many items?!*
*Tap, tap, tap...*
The Red Dancing Shoes charged forward with brisk steps.
Qingsongzi shook out the coiled wooden shield, unraveling it into a long whip. With a snap of his right arm, *crack*, the whip cracked sharply through the air, lashing toward the Red Dancing Shoes.
The two items collided in midair without affecting each other in the least, as though existing in different spaces altogether.
*It's incorporeal? No, if it has no physical form, how did it kick me earlier?* Qingsongzi lunged sideways, evading the Red Dancing Shoes' stomp toward his chest.
Hitting the ground, Qingsongzi kept rolling.
*Bang, bang!* Where he had just rolled, craters were left behind in the dirt.
Coordinating with the Red Dancing Shoes, Zhang Yuanqing unleashed a flurry of attacks. Although none landed cleanly on the agile Wood Demon, the seamlessly chained strikes left Qingsongzi scrambling desperately to survive.
Just as Qingsongzi bounded back to his feet, a pair of fists met his eyes.
Tilting his head slightly, he dodged one fist by a hair's breadth, only for a sharp, blinding pain to pierce his chest—the Red Dancing Shoes had stomped right onto his wound.
Darkness swam before Qingsongzi's vision, and his consciousness abruptly collapsed.
Under the barrage of relentless attacks, the resilient Wood Demon finally ran out of steam and entered a near-death state.
In the very next second, a surge of potent vitality erupted from his frail body, like parched, cracked earth welcoming fresh water.
His mind cleared, and power flooded his limbs and bones.
*I've revived!*
Elation washed over Qingsongzi's face. Immediately following that, however, he heard the Spirit Realm notification tone:
[Ding! You have died. You have been eliminated!]
In Qingsongzi's final vision, all he saw was a fountain of blood spurting from his severed neck. Yuanshi Tianzun stood with blade in hand, bathed in blood.
Qingsongzi's body dissolved into white light and vanished.
The second contestant had been eliminated.
Under Yuanshi Tianzun's ferocious assault, the armed Wood Demon had lasted less than a single minute before being knocked out.
In the distance, Earth God halted his "beating" of Tone-Deaf, a look of genuine surprise on his face. "It really wasn't even a minute. You brat were hiding your strength."
Sun Miaomiao turned around sharply, just in time to catch Qingsongzi dissolving away.
*So strong...* Sun Miaomiao's confidence and pride as a top-three contender took a hit.
Before this, she had firmly believed she was stronger than Yuanshi Tianzun. Now, she realized he was an extraordinarily dangerous competitor.
In the arena, the spectator stands were finally silent no longer. Cheering and applause broke out in wave after wave.
*Now this is what the quarterfinals should look like! Now this is exciting!*
*Could any carbon-based lifeform have come up with threatening to drop one's pants as a combat tactic?*
"So strong! Qingsongzi lost too fast."
"Yuanshi Tianzun dictated the entire rhythm. Did he suddenly get stronger?"
"He didn't suddenly get stronger—he just wasn't using his full strength before! Holy crap, was this guy holding back during all his matches over the past few days?"
"Doesn't that mean that even in the arena tournament, Yuanshi Tianzun easily has what it takes to be top three?"
"Let's not exaggerate. He was definitely holding back, but not by that much. Those dancing shoes and the robe don't look exceptionally overpowered—they're premium at best. Premium items aren't enough to threaten the top three contestants."
Chapter 206