I... Admit... Defeat

Honestly, when the Invincible Core produced such a detailed countermeasure, Lu Yang had been utterly awed. Previously, the Invincible Core had offered only two options: flee for your life, or fight however you like. That had led Lu Yang to treat it as nothing more than a cultivation-detection technique. Who would have thought that when facing a formidable enemy, it would actually provide an extremely reliable plan? Truly worthy of a Golden Core acknowledged by the Immortal Fairy! "Heh-heh, now do you know how amazing this immortal's Invincible Core is?" Rearing her head in rare triumph, the Immortal Fairy climbed out of bed, conjured a chair, sat down with one leg crossed over the other, and swung her little foot back and forth. "Show this immortal a little more respect in the future. What I know goes far beyond just this!" "My shoulders are sore. Give this immortal a massage." The Immortal Fairy gestured for Lu Yang to rub her shoulders. Lu Yang felt that, as Yun Zhi's junior brother, the foremost cultivator of his generation, the number-one Golden Core swordsman, and, incidentally, the personal disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect's sect master, giving an immortal senior a massage was beyond reproach. "Is this enough pressure?" "A little harder. Mmm... that's about right." The Immortal Fairy was very pleased with Lu Yang's attitude. *** The moment Bai Ming conceded, a commotion erupted below the stage. No one had expected him to lose so quickly. Both were disciples of immortal sects, and both were at the early Golden Core stage; there shouldn't have been such a vast disparity between them. "They say Bai Ming is a master of Five Elements spells. Did he really just concede after casting only metal and earth spells?" "What else could he do? Stay trapped in the dirt forever?" "Bai Ming was robbed! He got pinned down before he could even show what he's capable of." A cultivator with combat experience at the Demon Quelling Pass took offense to such talk and snapped, "Robbed? Who gives a damn about that on a battlefield? Do you think an enemy would be foolish enough to wait around while you show off every move in your arsenal?" The reprimanded cultivator stammered, unable to offer a rebuttal. "Old Mr. Kang, did you figure out what Lu Yang's Golden Core is?" A crowd of Golden Core cultivators at the front of the stage was still waiting for Old Mr. Kang's answer. Granted, given their talent, none of them had any hope of forming a first-grade Golden Core in this lifetime, but broadening their horizons was worthwhile nonetheless, if only to give them bragging rights back home. Old Mr. Kang stroked his white beard so hard he nearly pulled it out, yet he still could not discern what Lu Yang's Golden Core was. "While I cannot identify the exact Golden Cores of Bai Ming and Yan Tianzhi, there are at least traces to follow, clues to discern. Bai Ming's Golden Core relates to the five elements, and Yan Tianzhi's relates to suppression. But Lu Yang's... forgive these old eyes, for I truly cannot make head or tail of it." Old Mr. Kang shook his head. The Golden Cores of the Dao Seeking Sect were wild and varied, an absolute eye-opener. Even with all the countless Golden Cores he had witnessed, and his qualifications to critique the cores of every cultivator in Qingzhou, he could not recognize all the Golden Cores of the Dao Seeking Sect. There was a shared consensus at the Imperial City Academy: anyone who could recognize even three or four out of ten Dao Seeking Sect Golden Cores could be hailed as a peerless scholar. "Perhaps Lu Yang's Golden Core is one that has never existed before, with no prior equivalent." At this Golden Core Appraisal Convention, they had only managed to roughly identify Lan Ting's Primordial Chaos Golden Core and Meng Jingzhou's Pure Yang Golden Core. Old Mr. Kang had given Meng Jingzhou some face by calling his Bachelor Golden Core a Pure Yang Golden Core instead, just to make it sound more respectable. On the arena stage, Lan Ting was still locked in a bitter struggle against Lu Yang's lotus clone, her mind far from at ease. Earlier, out of the corner of her eye, she had caught sight of Lu Yang fighting Bai Ming: a single Arhat Fist, and all of Bai Ming's hair had vanished. She was terrified that Lu Yang's clone might suddenly toss aside the Green Blade Sword and hit her with a round of Arhat Fist as well. *Staying away from the clone is the safest bet.* Putting distance between herself and Lu Yang's clone, Lan Ting retrieved a palm-sized wooden box from her identity jade pendant. "What is that?" Lu Yang's clone probed it with his divine sense. Inside the little box lay a thick stack of talismans, and at the bottom was an array formation that looked vaguely familiar to him. Lan Ting did not keep him in suspense: "After returning to the Immortal Palace, this maiden spent day and night researching the Automatic Skewering Array. Alas, my talent in formations is limited, and I could never get it right—the bamboo skewers would always shoot out at astonishing speed. "So I changed my line of thought. If bamboo skewers could be propelled out through the array, couldn't talismans do the same? Working from that premise, I made slight modifications to the original design, shrinking the array and replacing the skewers with talismans. Just like this." Lan Ting aimed at Lu Yang's clone and activated the wooden box's array. Talisman after paper talisman whizzed out in rapid succession—*swish, swish, swish!* In midair, they morphed into lightning bolts, flames, wind blades, and various other forms. Every single one had been meticulously drawn by Lan Ting, each potent enough to severely wound a Golden Core cultivator, making Lu Yang's eyelids twitch at the sight. *Boom—* *Crack—* *Bang—* Each talisman was a distinct form of attack, delivered without any interval in between, crashing relentlessly one after another against Lu Yang's clone with a cacophony of blasts. Holding the Green Blade Sword horizontally before him, his wrist vibrated continuously as he parried the ceaseless onslaught. The talismans detonated, kicking up clouds of dust across the stage. As the box ran out of talismans and the dust settled, it revealed Lu Yang's clone, still relatively intact. "Impressive skills, Senior Brother Lu. But how about double the firepower?" With that, Lan Ting brought out two more wooden boxes packed with talismans, their dispenser slots aimed squarely at Lu Yang's clone. Just as Lan Ting was about to launch another barrage, Lu Yang's true body strolled over with a chuckle. "Bai Ming has already conceded. Now it's just you left." "He lost?" Lan Ting was dumbfounded. She had been so caught up in firing her talismans that she hadn't paid attention to Bai Ming's side. How could he have lost in such a short time? Turning her head, she saw Bai Ming sitting in the judges' area, looking utterly disgruntled. She looked back at Lu Yang and his clone. Realizing her chances of winning were slim, she sighed. "Forget it. I concede too." Meng Jingzhou and Yan Tianzhi were locked in a fierce battle. Yan Tianzhi seemed like a true Taotie, devouring all things with terrifying ferocity. Meng Jingzhou was even more ruthless. He opened his mouth and unleashed the divine ability he had just learned from Lu Yang—Heaven-Swallowing. The spiritual energy on the stage was instantly sucked dry, held entirely within his mouth. "Ptooey!" The spiritual energy was compressed to the extreme inside his mouth, forming a regular sphere that he spat straight at Yan Tianzhi. Not daring to make contact with the energy sphere, Yan Tianzhi dodged it with a somersault. Meng Jingzhou sneered coldly. "Let's see how many times you can dodge. Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" Three energy spheres sealed off Yan Tianzhi's path of evasion. Yan Tianzhi's eyes narrowed as another tattoo flared to life. "Shield Ghost!" A shield-bearing ghost king bared its fangs and brandished its claws, materializing behind Yan Tianzhi. The ghost king's shield interposed itself before him, and the energy spheres detonated upon striking it. This was a war tattoo Yan Tianzhi had inked back in the Foundation Establishment stage—the Shield Ghost. It had no offensive capability; its sole merit was its defensive power. "I don't believe this! Ptooey!" An unending stream of energy spheres spat from Meng Jingzhou's mouth, the duration of the assault depending entirely on when he ran out of spit. After spitting until his mouth was parched, Meng Jingzhou pulled a gourd from his identity jade pendant and guzzled some water. Once finished, he advised, "Brother, take my advice. If you concede early, it saves everyone the trouble. You wouldn't want me beating you until you can't even crawl—how would that look if word got around?" Yan Tianzhi was infuriated. He ground out, word by word, "I... admit... defeat..." Meng Jingzhou was overjoyed. *He's so reasonable!* He hopped down from the arena stage to wait for Lu Yang. Then he heard Yan Tianzhi deliver the second half of the sentence: "...My... ass!" Meng Jingzhou: "..."