After I left the sect, the entire sect knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

At first, she thought that the Xuan Tian Sect's disgusting tactics would lead her to face off against the disciples of the Miao Fa Sect again.

Her opponent was also at the Golden Core stage, but she couldn't tell exactly what level he was. This could only mean that his cultivation was higher than hers, or that he possessed a magical artifact that concealed his cultivation level.

She leans more towards the former!
To win, you must first use the formation to lure people into your "territory" to fight before you can make any other moves!

Most people would think Lu Ji would win this match. She herself wasn't confident she could beat her opponent, but there was room for maneuver.

Lu Ji is a named character in the original work. He is said to be exceptionally talented and is expected to break through to the Nascent Soul stage before the age of one hundred, becoming the youngest Nascent Soul cultivator.

But this very character died an exceptionally tragic death. It was because his innate talent was too exceptional that he was coveted by his own master and also targeted by a demonic cultivator, becoming the demon lord's vessel.

In the end, he was destroyed by the main characters, his body was smashed to pieces, his soul was annihilated, and there was no possibility of him surviving.

His fate was unfortunate, yet she felt no resentment, sympathy, or sorrow for him. Because her own fate was also unfortunate, and now she was his adversary; to sympathize with the enemy would be cruel to oneself!

The original work mentions that his weakness is that he has a bewitching Gu planted on his lower back. This Gu was planted by his master when he was young, with the purpose of waiting for him to reach a high level of cultivation so that the master could use this Gu to devour his consciousness, control his spirit, and take over his body.

Before the Gu worm matures, it can be activated in a way that temporarily suppresses its spiritual power and controls its actions. However, activating the Gu worm prematurely will result in its death. If it is not removed in time, the toxins will spread, ruining the body.

His master would only activate the device if he wanted to obtain his body, and this would be done as a last resort.

But she wasn't a good person, and knowing this, she naturally had to take advantage of it.

The original text didn't mention how to activate the Gu worms; it only mentioned it briefly. She didn't know anything about Gu either, but that didn't matter. All she needed to know was that any living being could be awakened through spiritual power intrusion.

All she needs to do is awaken the Gu worms and disrupt Lu Ji, and that will be her success. As for controlling Lu Ji through the Gu worms... she doesn't have the ability to do that.

Having a plan in mind, she had already thought out the whole operation.

Unlike her previous head-on confrontations, this time her fighting style was much gentler, not taking the initiative to attack but only neutralizing attacks and occasionally counterattacking.

This is to create the illusion that she is testing his strength. Once the other party follows his line of thinking, setting up an illusion array will be far more effective than directly pulling the person into the array.

The fighting on stage continued incessantly, causing various forms of optical pollution. Suddenly, the stage was shrouded in a layer of mist, making it difficult for those with lower cultivation levels to see clearly.

Her opponent clearly anticipated this move, and the moment the clouds and mist enveloped her, she opened her eyes and released her divine sense in an attempt to quickly find a weakness in the formation and break it.

Surrounded by clouds and mist, Lu Ji clearly sensed something was wrong; the air he inhaled seemed to contain a drowsy, intoxicating mist.

The rules of the competition prohibit the use of hidden weapons, sleeping powder, or similar items. Her use of these items violated the rules, and according to convention, she should be declared the winner immediately.

The fact that the referee did not speak out from the sidelines indicates that the opponent used very clever tactics to deceive the referee, or that the opponent had bribed the referee!
There have been precedents of referees being bribed before. Afterwards, they said the referees were hired externally and had nothing to do with the sect, so they just dismissed and kicked them out.

Lu Ji hated people who didn't follow the rules. He thought he would not only defeat her, but also expose her methods in public.

He wanted everyone to know that even her underhanded methods couldn't defeat him! He held his breath, preventing himself from inhaling more of the sleeping gas. Just as he found the magical artifact maintaining the formation and was about to use his spiritual power to destroy it, his hand was grabbed.

At this moment, his head was throbbing. The effects of the sleeping gas were greater than he had expected. Before he could knock the person away, a domineering spiritual force invaded his body.

The female cultivator's eyebrows and eyes relaxed, as if she were smiling.

He had already used his spiritual power to launch an attack with his other hand, but she noticed and also used her spiritual power to suppress her other hand.

The energy ball that was formed just grazed past, barely creating a gust of wind.

Lu Ji's cultivation level was one level higher than hers, and his forceful suppression made her condition not very good. Fortunately, she had already achieved her goal.

She quickly released her hand, then threw the larger cloud of energy she had gathered in her hand.

As her opponent parried, her figure vanished. Immediately afterwards, a mocking, silvery voice rang out from the clouds: "I found a very amusing little thing on you...tsk tsk tsk, who planted it in you?"

Lu Ji didn't understand what the other person meant, but he soon felt unwell.

It hurts so much... It feels like something has torn open a cocoon and escaped. What's even more terrifying is that he discovered his spiritual energy was sluggish and his divine sense was as if veiled, preventing him from using it to explore his surroundings.

This situation was extremely unfavorable for him during the competition! What tricks did that rogue cultivator use on him just now?
He wasn't mentally challenged; he knew that sleeping gas alone couldn't achieve that level of effect.

What's frightening isn't his current abnormal state, but rather his abnormal state on the competition stage. Even more frightening is that his opponent claims there's always something inside his body, but he's never felt it before…

His current feelings made him realize that this was not an exaggeration!

Lin Yan retreated back into the mist to quickly regulate her breathing. Her condition was very bad. The price of forcibly suppressing and breaking through Lu Ji's defenses was that some of her meridians were broken, and her spiritual energy could no longer circulate freely.

Fortunately, the golden core was intact, and the spiritual root was undamaged; only the meridians and body suffered severe damage. It's alright, these can be recovered through taking pills and recuperation.

Just bear with it a little longer. Her opponent will be in a much worse situation than her, and then she can take action and get her off the stage.

The rules of the competition are that you win if your opponent concedes, falls off the stage, faints or loses the ability to fight on the stage, or dies!
After adjusting her breathing, she was able to force herself to fight, so she touched him again to check on his condition. As she had expected, Lu Ji's condition was indeed not good.

His eyes were glazed over; he was suffering immense pain and his reason was clouded. The vulnerability of a handsome man always made one want to look at him a few more times, and she had a sudden urge to whip him.

She quickly suppressed this thought and gathered spiritual energy in her hands to launch a sneak attack from behind.

Lu Ji's condition was terrible. The incompletely matured Bewitching Gu had broken free of its cocoon and was gnawing at his reason and consciousness; it even seemed capable of devouring his soul...

He had no time to pay attention to the sneak attack before he was hit by a powerful force and thrown out like a rag doll.

(End of this chapter)