Chapter 43: How Can You Still Hold on?

The days passed, and it was the end of the year again.

Their Immortal Point was added to Spiritual Energy as per usual.

Chen Xun led the black ox and went to the main hall to obtain a stable 200 contribution points along with some elixirs.

...

"Old ox, let's save up and not consume them. We're going to participate in the sect's grand competition and win some more!" Chen Xun carefully placed the newly charged Eight Trigram Talisman into his storage bag.

"Moo!" The big black ox was overjoyed.

Chen Xun then registered for the competition with his talisman, and then registered for the ox as well, receiving another talisman in the process. When the time came, they would know which arena they would be fighting in.

A few days later, the bell rang and shortly the grand competition mountain peak was swarmed with people. It was still as lively as every year.

However, this year, Ge Shuang and Bai Shi will not be participating. It was rumored that they had been taken in as disciples by some elders and had become inner sect disciples.

"The sect's grand competition officially begins!" A loud voice echoed throughout the peak, announcing the start of the competition.

Immediately, Chen Xun's talisman vibrated, and his eyes drifted towards a certain platform.

Eager to compete, he pulled the black ox and went to the assigned platform.

Already standing on it was a disciple named Zhan Song, an eight stage Qi Refining practitioner.

Zhang Song's eyes widened in surprise when he saw his opponent; the person opposite him was also at the Qi Refining Eighth Level, and he even had a spirit beast with him. It seemed like it was going to be a tough battle.

"Senior brother, please go easy on me, I just broke through to the eight stage." Chen Xun chuckled and said. These disciples had mysterious techniques and numerous spells. He couldn't afford to be careless.

After observing last year's competition, he concluded that it was safe to rank within the top five hundred showing a cultivation base only at the eight stage. It shouldn't draw too much attention.

"Naturally, we'll stop when the sect's grand competition points are scored. I won't harm my junior brother's life."

Zhang Song looked somewhat puzzled by this person with a straw ox and his ox. They appeared really comical and bizarre really standing there on the stage.

"Junior brother, shall we begin?"

"Sure."

Zhang Song was a little speechless. His opponent had three iron axes hanging from his waist and it was obvious they were not magical weapons. Nonetheless, he couldn't afford to underestimate him.

His gaze gradually turned sharp and he started rapidly moving his fingers.

The moisture in the air dropped many degrees, condensing into ice and forming many sharp icicles that shot in the air, leaving blue trails at their tail that resembled the flowing of rivers. They whistled in the air as they shot towards Chen Xun.

"So powerful!" Chen Xun exclaimed before dodging and running away. His actions were rather embarrassing.

"Darn! You're really a senior brother!" He exclaimed as he scurried to dodge. The icicles were rather fast and they seemed to almost land on him every time, but then he would move ever so slightly in time and dodge them. The spirit beast was also fleeing in a similar fashion.

"Junior brother, maybe you should stop running around now."

Zhang Song remained in place, but his finger movements became faster, and the angles of the ice spikes became trickier.

Chen Xun took out an iron axe and used it to break the incoming ice spikes while continuing to evade with fear in his eyes and sweat on his forehead.

"Junior brother, how long are you planning to keep this up?" Zhang Song was getting impatient.

Why couldn't he hit him? At the rate he's expanding his spiritual energy he will run out eventually. "I won't hold back anymore!"

With that, Zhang Song's forehead veins popped and his fingers clashed, eyes revealing a hint of brilliance.

Suddenly, several ice blades appeared out of thin air, slashing towards Chen Xun without warning. Zhang Song dashed ahead, following close behind the spikes and sealing off Chen Xun's path of retreat,

"This guy is terrifying." Chen Xun and the black ox shrank their figures and disappeared from their original positions.

Zhang Song's pupils contracted as both him and his spell missed their target.

"Fireball Technique!" Chen Xun shouted.

Several small fireballs shot towards Zhang Song causing his eyes to focus. He waved his hand backward, conjuring more ice spikes.

A large puddle of water formed in the middle of the arena as more ice kept melting.

Zhang Song realized that his opponent was formidable and couldn't be easily defeated with just spells alone.

The two of them continued to battle on the platform, with neither gaining the upper hand. Zhang Song grew anxious. Why couldn't he land a solid hit on him?!

The big black ox watched from the side, constantly mooing, seemingly cheering on its master.

In some other arenas, people had already won two matches.

After half an hour of intense fighting, Zhang Song was drenched in sweat.

Chen Xun sat on the ground, panting heavily and seemingly on the verge of collapsing. "I can only use my trump card. I didn't expect to encounter such a tough opponent in the first round of the grand competition."

Zhang Song hesitated for a moment but didn't want to waste any more time. He slapped his storage bag and several formation flags flew in different directions before taking positions on the arena.

Suddenly, a strong wind rose, and before Zhang Song could react, two of his formation flags were pulled away—stolen?!

Ah, an ambush! A dark figure suddenly attacked.

The black ox made a fierce charge and Zhang Song was sent flying into the air with a bewildered expression and fell heavily outside the arena.

"Who am I, where am I?! What just happened?!" Zhang Song groaned in pain, his eyes still filled with confusion as he looked at Chen Xun. He was only missing a big question mark floating above his head.

"Senior brother, my apologies, my apologies." Chen Xun stumbled off the stage and returned the formation flags to him with a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face.

"Junior brother, you're really fast." Zhang Song took a step back and accepted the formation flags, a trace of fear flashing in his eyes. Wasn't he able to interrupt his casting speed with such speed!

"I was just lucky. Without the arena's restrictions I wouldn't be a match for senior brother."

"Hehe. Junior brother is just being modest." Zhang Song shook his head, finding the entire situation really bizarre.

Chen Xun walked up with great difficulty to the platform supervisor and respectfully said, "Senior uncle, this disciple wishes to continue."

"Mhm." The senior uncle responded indifferently and sent a surge of spiritual energy toward Chen Xun's yellow-ranked talisman, setting up a rematch with the winner of the first round.

In the second round, Chen Xun faced a stern-faced disciple named Liu Tao, who surprisingly had cultivation at the Ninth Level of Qi Refining.

"Junior brother, if you surrender now, you can avoid the unnecessary pain," Liu Tao said, looking at Chen Xun and the black ox, the latter looking quite unwell.

"Please, senior brother... Give me guidance." Chen Xun forced a smile before sitting down and appearing to recover some of his spiritual energy.

"Hmph, you underestimate me," Liu Tao said coldly, gazing at the disheveled Chen Xun.

He raised his hand and a black giant ring appeared. It slowly expanded in mid-air and produced a howling black wind as it locked onto Chen Xun.

The black giant ring suddenly flickered and it charged straight at Chen Xun. It was a low-grade, yellow-ranked offensive artifact!

Chen Xun's eyes flashed with a cold light.

He darted to dodge, leaving behind an afterimage in his original position, but to his surprise the giant ring followed him, seemingly already locked on onto him.

"Junior brother, if you can't hold on, it's not too late to surrender." Liu Tao sneered, watching Chen Xun flee desperately.

With a wave of his right hand, the giant ring emitted a golden light that formed into a circle before smashing down at Chen Xun from above.

"Not bad for a senior brother at the ninth stage of Qi Refining." Chen Xun threw him a compliment before suddenly throwing a punch at the giant ring!

Just at that moment, a sudden change occurred!

With the sound of clashing, the golden ring's light dimmed significantly. Taking advantage of this moment, Chen Xun fled again.

Liu Tao's expression changed drastically, and his eyes showed intense shock. Although it appeared to outsiders that the killing tool was unharmed, he could clearly hear the internal vibrations.

His expression gradually turned serious. Although this junior brother seemed as if he had just been through a fierce battle and hadn't yet recovered, he couldn't underestimate him.

"Fireball!" Chen Xun chanted a spell, and several small fireballs rushed towards Liu Tao.

Liu Tao's eyes filled with disdain. He actually dared to use such a low-level spell.

He opened his mouth wide, "Flameburst Technique!"

A burst of flames erupted in the arena, instantly extinguishing the small fireballs.

But at that moment, Chen Xun suddenly dashed out of the flames, holding an axe and swinging it at Liu Tao!

Liu Tao snorted coldly, and a longsword appeared in his hand.

They clashed again and again, and it seemed as though Liu Tao was pushing Chen Xun back more and more slowly.

Half an hour later, Liu Tao was drenched in sweat, and his spiritual energy was significantly depleted.

"Junior brother, how can you still hold on?!" Furious, he barked.

"Uh... just a little bit more," Chen Xun weakly replied, appearing as though he might collapse at any moment.

Liu Tao's spiritual energy was running low, and his eyes widened in thought....Why did this junior brother always seem to be a step faster in speed?

Right now, his mental energy was greatly exhausted.