Quadruple split.

Chapter 2716 Frustration

"What's wrong, Brother Mo?"

Almost simultaneously, a gentle and refined voice resounded in Mo Tan's mind, carrying a faint smile in its tone—

'Could it be that they're starting to dislike my fan?'

【No. 】

Mo Tan shook his head, giving a mental answer without hesitation, while raising the heavy, warm, and unassuming iron fan in his hand again, regaining his composure, and staring at his opponent.

This was the third opponent he had faced since switching his weapon to the [Akatsuki Seven Star Fan]. The two opponents before him had both been defeated within ten minutes without exception, decisively and cleanly.

Indeed, despite his determination to hone his skills in the Grand Arena, win as many matches as possible to reach a higher rank and face the strong as soon as possible, and achieve the greatest training results in a short period of time, plans can't keep up with changes. After the 'people' who were dormant in [Akatsuki] awoke one after another, Mo Tan was immediately given a large number of 'side quests'.

Of course, this is not a side quest that can be accessed in the quest panel in the literal sense. Rather, it is a quest that he accepted everyone's advice after weighing the pros and cons and prepared to raise the average proficiency level of his weapon.

We have to admit that although the character 'Mo' has made great strides in strength during this period, not only gaining valuable experience in the [Debate on Guilt], but also mastering the super powerful skill [Domain], [Xiao] has not gained much experience. Or rather, although he has made great progress, he cannot keep up with the speed of Mo Tan's own progress.

According to the analysis of Shan Po and many other 'residents' within [Akatsuki], if this continues, Mo Tan will soon find himself in an awkward situation where he can neither change his weapon nor use his current [Akatsuki] to fight enemies of similar strength.

It's important to understand that although Mo Tan's strength has increased, the enemies he faces have also become more formidable. Especially after learning about the existence of the Viper Merchant Guild, everyone felt that if Xiao's quality remained at its current level, Mo Tan would most likely suffer a great loss in future battles against his enemies.

Therefore, apart from Jianpo selectively remaining silent, almost everyone believed that Mo Tan needed to hone his weapon skills to a "presentable level" before they would feel comfortable letting him venture out into the world.

The opportunity to hone one's skills in the grand arena is far more important than it seems literally, because before [Akatsuki] reaches a certain level of quality... that is, [Excellent] quality, only in the special place of Tianzhu Mountain can those masters who are defined as 'spirits' by Mo Tan communicate with him normally, instead of being in a daze and doing nothing.

And so, after Mo Tan had just fought a day in the Grand Arena, he changed his weapon form at everyone's strong urging and used the [Shura Halberd], which he had won in the draw battle, to fight his enemies.

The process went surprisingly smoothly. Although he had to maintain his "Reverse Scale" throughout to easily wield the incredibly heavy "Akatsuki Asura Halberd," Mo Tan quickly overcame his initial discomfort under the guidance of Halberd Soul, whose frequency was not high but whose guidance always hit the core. He defeated the matched enemies one by one and advanced to a level where almost all of them were high-level peak players.

Then, after several more overwhelming victories, the other spirits within [Akatsuki] suddenly became dissatisfied!
Because they discovered a blind spot: although 'Halberd Soul' won the lottery, in fact, the [Asura Halberd] is not the weapon that Mo Tan urgently needs to improve his training level.

The reason is simple: the five forms of Akatsuki's "Ruthless Sword," "Snowy Spear," "Dragon Abyss Staff," "Seven Star Fan," and "Asura Halberd" have already been upgraded to "normal" quality by Mo Tan. Under these circumstances, it is extremely difficult to achieve a breakthrough to "excellent" quality.

In other words, people can't afford to wait.

However, this raises another issue: if these five forms are excluded, the sword spirit, spear spirit, staff spirit, fan spirit, and halberd spirit will all be unhappy, because the reason these forms were able to advance is simply because Mo Tan uses them more often, and the 'guidance' they give Mo Tan is no more than that given to other artifact spirits.

Finally, at Shanpo's suggestion, everyone came up with a relatively fair set of rules.

Right now--

Continue having Mo Tan practice the corresponding form according to the results drawn by everyone. On this basis, if the form of [Akatsuki] is of 'Ruined' quality, then Mo Tan needs to train it to 'Normal' quality; if the form of [Akatsuki] is of 'Normal' quality, then switch to the next form after winning a fixed number of matches.

So, after Mo Tan used [Xiao Shura Halberd] to achieve nine consecutive victories, despite Halberd Soul's strong protests, the second draw, which excluded him from the game, still took place. And the winner this time was Fan Soul, who unhesitatingly chose to cheat and was not discovered by anyone except Killer Soul.

And so, Mo Tan began to fight using the [Dawn Seven Star Fan], and achieved the 'good result' of losing two consecutive times right from the start.

"That's unavoidable. Although you've used the 'fan' form quite a bit, it's mostly for defending against enemy attacks. After surviving those attacks, you generally choose to counterattack using the sword, spear, or halberd form."

In Mo Tan's mind, Shan Po sighed softly and chuckled, "That's why you're so unaccustomed to the attack style of a shield."

But in most cases, the purpose of a shield isn't for attacking, is it?

While asking himself the same question, Mo Tan narrowly dodged the horse girl's fierce whip kick, spread his Seven Star Fan to block the thick sole of her boot, and finally steadied himself by slamming his shoulder against the inside of the fan.

His opponent in this match is a very powerful high-level Fist Master monk. Although he is not as flamboyant as Xinglong, if this horse girl NPC is thrown into the [Questioning and Debating], she is guaranteed to be in the top 32 in the individual battle. If she is lucky, it is not impossible for her to advance two more rounds.

Although she hasn't reached the level of a half-step epic, this high-level peak horse girl is not a player with the same high-level peak stats but rather very little combat experience.

The Grand Arena is not without weaklings, but at Mo Tan's current level, the probability of encountering a "easy target" is almost zero. After all, those who can survive at this level are all formidable warriors.

As I described in the first paragraph of Chapter 90 seven years ago, the Tianzhushan Grand Arena is simply divided into five levels: beginner, first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. In most cases, the defenders of the beginner and fourth level arena are members of Tianzhushan, while the defenders of the other three levels are contestants.

Those who are capable of standing out in the Level 5 Arena and obtaining the 'Warrior Challenge Qualification' will face separate trials.

The ranking system is also relatively simple. Players below the intermediate rank start from the beginner arena, players from the intermediate to the advanced rank start directly from the level 1 arena, players in the semi-epic rank start from the level 3 arena, and players in the epic rank start from the level 4 arena.

Legendary-level powerhouses... will also start from the fourth-level arena, but they will be forced to suppress their strength to the peak of epic level.

Based on this, players who successfully advance to the fifth level of the arena need to accumulate victory points. When the victory points accumulate to a certain level, they will obtain the 'Warrior Challenge Qualification' and have the opportunity to leave their statue on the first floor of the Grand Arena.

It's worth mentioning that if an Epic-rank player encounters a Legendary-rank player who has suppressed their strength to the Epic rank in a Level 5 arena, they won't lose any victory points even if they lose. In short, putting aside those vague and uncertainties, Mo Tan, currently only at the High-rank level, started from the Level 2 arena this time. Although it feels like he got in through connections, as a chosen one of Tianzhu Mountain, this level of preferential treatment is really nothing.

Moreover, Tianzhu Mountain didn't provide much help, only saving Mo Tan a little time. After all, in the eyes of Noyce Huashao, the person in charge of the Grand Arena, Mo Tan's current strength was completely outmatched in the Level 1 Arena. Rather than letting him kill indiscriminately, it would be better to let him start from Level 2.

Mo Tan lived up to expectations, achieving a series of consecutive victories on the first day of the competition, breaking the record of nearly two months, defeating the defender of the second-level arena, and successfully advancing to the third-level arena where strong players abound.

There are no weaklings here. Even the most harmless-looking contestants are like wolves in sheep's clothing, and can be easily defeated if you're not careful.

Take, for example, the female warrior monk he is facing now. Although she is only at the peak of the high-level, she possesses acceleration and physical toughness comparable to a half-step epic level.

These two points alone are enough to make this red-eyed horse girl nicknamed "Red Trace" one of the 'Level 3 Rookie Killers'. After all, her physical toughness is too compatible with the Monk class, and her super speed is even more powerful, making her storm-like fighting style even more unstoppable.

However, in this match, the character known for her highly entertaining fighting style, [Red Trace], was surprisingly defended against in a way that resembled a "village brawl." Although Noyce would certainly have exaggerated a bit during the commentary, this still indirectly proved that the female monk was in a tough fight.

Of course, while the Red-Trace Girl was suffering, the one suffering even more was the half-dragon knight in front of her.

after all--

[They can only manage to avoid defeat temporarily, but have absolutely no chance of defeating the enemy... The only outcome is that they will be eliminated.]

Mo Tan, who held the iron fan horizontally in front of him and then slashed at his opponent's face in the next instant, sighed inwardly. He knew very well that he was fighting like a cornered beast and had never strayed from the dead end of defeat.

As expected, Chiji, using her left foot as the center, unhesitatingly unleashed a whirlwind kick on the spot, not only deflecting Mo Tan's [Dawn Seven Star Fan], but also once again 'delivering' her beautifully curved long leg towards Mo Tan's chest.

If that kick lands, it's no exaggeration to say that Mo Tan will be teleported directly out of the competition area; there's absolutely no other possibility.

However, he was not afraid of such a powerful and head-on attack.

Bang! Clang!
Mo Tan swiftly retracted the [Dawn Seven Star Fan], placed the fan in front of Chi Ji's feet, and spun back the instant he felt the violent force. After spinning around once, he raised the fan again to continue deflecting the force of the straight kick. After repeating this seven times, he successfully neutralized the attack.

【Seven Star Spin】

This is a new skill that Mo Tan recently learned under Shan Po's tutelage. Although it requires a shield-type weapon to use, it can greatly reduce the force of physical attacks. As long as the technique is precise enough, it can withstand any physical attack of the same level without taking damage.

However, the cost is a large amount of stamina consumption. Although the Seven Star Spin can neutralize the force of the opponent's attack and leave you unharmed, the 'unharmed' here specifically refers to health points, while stamina points will be greatly consumed, thus reducing the ability to sustain combat.

"If this continues, you'll end up like the first two matches. Although you're barely holding on now, once your opponent breaks through your defenses, your lack of counter-attack options will turn you into a sitting duck, completely at their mercy."

Shan Po's voice echoed in Mo Tan's mind again, with a hint of amusement in his words: "If you don't find a way to take the initiative and officially start your counterattack, you will lose soon."

This is nothing that you need to deliberately remind yourself of.

Because he was being suppressed so severely, he could barely concentrate on replying to Mo Tan, who was talking to the Fan Soul, in his mind. Then he reached out his fan again, trying to seal Chi Ji's neck.

However, just like before, this seemingly sharp attack, lacking in power, speed, and momentum, was almost instantly dodged by the horse girl who had suddenly closed the distance between them, and then—

Boom! ! !
Accompanied by a fragrant breeze, Ma Niang, who was standing close to Mo Tan, delivered a powerful knee strike to the former's abdomen. Due to the acceleration just now, the fan that could turn decay into magic could not be retracted in time, allowing Chi Ji to deliver a heavy blow.

34%!

With just one knee strike, Mo Tan's health dropped by 34% instantly. And this was just the beginning. Chi Ji grabbed Mo Tan's wrist as if dancing, snuggled into his arms, and in this seemingly intimate position, delivered a series of elbow strikes, sending Mo Tan flying into the air.

31%!

As his health points continued to drop, Mo Tan couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood. This further stimulated Chi Ji's aggression, causing it to leap high in excitement, instantly reaching a height even greater than the former.

"It's over!"

The next instant, the horse girl's long legs slammed down like a battle axe.

When they came to their senses, Mo Tan was already standing next to the summoning crystal on the sidelines.

A three-game losing streak, no doubt.

but--

'Finally found it?'

[I guess so, I can only say I have a slight idea...]

Chapter 2707: The End