Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 357 He was defeated in one move, what's there to say?
For three consecutive days, Zhong Hui was on a winning streak, fighting at least ten matches without a single defeat. In fact, apart from the unexpected match against He Shilie, which required a bit more effort, he defeated almost everyone else in one move!

"Wow! The Tai Xu Fist is terrifying!"

Just as he heard his junior sister Shi Liu'er's sigh, Yu Shang opened the bamboo slip and turned pale upon seeing the names on it.

"Senior sister, senior sister, who did you draw in the twelfth round?"

As Shi Liuer spoke, she curiously stood on tiptoe to look at the bamboo stick in Yu Shang's hand.

Upon seeing the words on the bamboo stick, she screamed, "Ah—it's Zhong Hui!"

The screams drew the attention of the surrounding disciples, who, upon hearing Shi Liu'er's complaints, couldn't help but gloat: "Oh dear, Senior Sister Yu is in trouble! Senior Sister Zhong always hits people in the face! That's so fierce!"

Shi Liu'er's face turned red with anger: "Hmph! My senior sister has also reached the fourth level of Qi Refining, she's very powerful, she might not lose!"

"Liu'er!"

Yu Shangchong's cheeks puffed out as Shi Liuer shook her head slightly. Shi Liuer, who was fuming, immediately deflated, rolled her eyes at the gloating person, and then ignored him.

Yu Shang, however, patted Shi Liu'er's hair, smiled gently, and comforted her, "Don't worry too much. Even if we lose this time, I still have a chance to play in the revival match. Besides, we have been learning magic and supernatural powers from our master for so long, and our control over invisible forces is quite good. Although I am certainly not as good as Fellow Daoist Zhong in any single skill, I may not lose if we really compete."

Yu Shang's words of comfort reassured Shi Liuer somewhat, but the other disciples around her were clearly not optimistic.

Zhong Hui's power has been overwhelming these past few days. With just her bare fists, she has rendered disciples of the same level almost powerless to fight back. Even He Shilie, who was most likely to defeat her, could only withstand a few more punches. As a result, the name "Zhong One-Fist" has spread like wildfire throughout White Stone Mountain and even the entire Immortal Cultivation Circle...

Soon, after seven or eight rounds of competition, it was time for Yu Shang and Zhong Hui to have their match.

The two stepped onto the West Division stage and greeted each other.

Yu Shang had a gentle and graceful demeanor. She wore a light blue dress embroidered with white plum blossoms, and her black hair was styled into a bun, decorated with several exquisite blue turquoise hairpins.

Unlike many of her disciples who rushed to attack or prepared for battle, she slowly moved her hands in front of her body after the paper puppet announced the start. The spiritual power within her body drew upon the spiritual energy around her, which began to flow in a unique rhythm, shimmering with a light blue light.

"What is Senior Sister Yu trying to do?"

Many disciples below the stage were quite puzzled.

In the previous matches, Yu Shang used extremely sophisticated Five Elements techniques to counterattack according to the different attack methods that each disciple was good at. Almost every winning Five Elements technique he used was different. But at this moment, Yu Shang's actions were something that had never happened in the previous dozen or so matches.

A flash of spiritual light appeared at Yu Shang's fingertips, and he softly shouted, "Water Curtain! Activate!"

In an instant, a clear, flowing wall of water appeared out of thin air in front of her. The water rippled and reflected the sunlight. It seemed gentle, but it exuded a dense and resilient spiritual energy.

The water wall itself has little offensive power. To put it nicely, it's an auxiliary spell; to put it bluntly, it's just a "special effect."

However, it is not entirely useless. This water wall containing spiritual power can interfere with spiritual energy and can also remove spiritual power from moves that are imbued with it, although the effect is only so-so.

Of course, Yu Shang did not intend to stop Zhong Hui with just a water wall. As soon as the water wall rose, she threw out a handful of strange soil from her Qiankun bag. The soil rolled as soon as it touched the ground, and more and more rolled until it covered the entire arena in an instant. Then, many emerald green vines that shimmered with spiritual light emerged from the soil, like serpents, and wrapped around Zhong Hui's feet.

Zhong Hui's expression turned serious. She hadn't dared to launch a "sneak attack" this time, but she hadn't expected to be tripped up by these "little tricks".

No, we can’t delay any longer!

She considered herself to know Yu Shang to some extent, after all, Yu Shang was the personal disciple of Senior Sister Ruyan. Although due to the relationship between the inner and outer sects, everyone was treated differently and there was no direct seniority relationship, Zhong Hui had indeed met Yu Shang many times and knew that she was extremely skilled in all sorts of minor spells and supernatural abilities.

These minor spells and supernatural abilities are of average power, but they are extremely annoying. Although each one can be easily neutralized individually, once Yu Shang gains the upper hand and slows down his attack, he will be forced to neutralize Yu Shang's various spells and supernatural abilities first, making it difficult to break through completely in one go. Things will then become a vicious cycle and get worse and worse.

Sure enough, just as Zhong Hui tried to use fire magic to disperse the surrounding vines, the soil beneath her feet instantly became soft and muddy, and a powerful suction force came, making it almost impossible for her to move.

Then, several sharp, blade-like torrents burst forth from the water curtain, striking Zhong Hui from the side. As these torrents hurtled forward, they gradually condensed into ice pillars, shimmering with a cold light!

These are not ordinary icicles hanging from the eaves in winter, but a variant of ice-attribute magic formed with spiritual power and extremely lethal! This ability to manipulate the power of the same attribute to transform into each other in an instant made Zhang Chengdao, who had been idly watching the sect competition from the clouds, unable to help but straighten up and carefully observe the competition.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, your puppet is shaking!"

Just as he was watching intently, He Yu reminded him.

It turned out that the two were hiding in the clouds above the arena, concealing their figures for their own comfort. Behind the arena, on the "judges' platform" directly opposite it, were only paper puppets and "shadows" secretly placed by Zhang Chengdao and He Yu.

The former is a type of puppetry, while the latter seems to be a kind of divine power similar to the differentiation of divine consciousness that He Yu is good at. In fact, it has no real physical body, but it is possible because He Yu himself does not have a physical body.

"Cough cough cough..."

Zhang Chengdao coughed a few times to cover his embarrassment, and quickly cast a spell on the paper puppet that had inadvertently slipped out of his control because he was watching the competition too intently, so that it would continue to sit obediently in the armchair.

"I never expected that Fellow Daoist Zhang would have such a promising talent. This boy is not only exceptionally gifted, but he has also gained such a profound understanding of the Five Elements even before he has established his foundation or cultivated his spiritual root. Although the Five Elements techniques he uses are not very powerful, he is still very skilled in them. He is not to be underestimated."

He Yu praised Yu Shang without reservation, his eyes full of admiration.

On the stage, Yu Shang did not stop. He clasped his hands together and muttered something. Instantly, sharp metal energy condensed in the air, transforming into more than a dozen small golden swords about an inch long. They made a "whoosh" sound as they cut through the air, following closely behind the ice cones and shooting straight towards Zhong Hui.

Finally, she took a deep breath, raised her palm upwards, and a ball of blazing flame suddenly rose, distorting the air and radiating a scorching heat wave—

The wealthy are ruthless, the fire is explosive!

Water defense, wood control, earth trapping, ice disruption, metal and fire as the main attackers!

In just a few breaths, Yu Shang effortlessly mastered the basic Five Elements techniques, combining and applying them to form a near-perfect offensive cycle. This blocked all of Zhong Hui's routes of evasion and attack, leaving not only the martial artists who knew almost nothing about immortality and Five Elements techniques dumbfounded, but also the disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect who were watching wide-eyed.

"Wow! Senior Sister Yu truly lives up to her reputation as Senior Sister Ruyan's personal disciple!"

"Hilarious! You call Senior Sister Yu 'Senior Sister,' but why do you call Senior Sister Ruyan 'Senior Sister' too?!"

"That's not important! Each case has its own interpretation! What's important is, is this the kind of magic that direct disciples practice!?"

"Don't be so sour. I remember Senior Sister Ruyan had us study these things in every class. You just didn't take them!"

"It's not like you actually fixed it!"

"Senior Sister Zhong is so powerful, she won't be defeated by Senior Sister Yu, will she?"

"I think--"

Amidst the murmurs of conversation, as several disciples whispered and speculated about who would emerge victorious, a loud shout rang out from the arena by Zhong Hui—

"Ya-ha—"

If you can't pull your legs out, then don't pull them out. There are attacks all around, so if you can't dodge them, then don't dodge them!
She took a deep breath, and the spiritual energy she had been holding back instantly coalesced, then erupted like a volcano—

Without dodging or blocking, she simply threw a punch forward—

This punch was devoid of any fancy moves; it even appeared more simple and unadorned than the punch he had delivered when he defeated He Shilie.

But the moment the fist was thrown, an incomparably domineering and extremely condensed spiritual power rushed out along Zhong Hui's fist.

The air around her seemed to freeze. The entwined vines, the flying icicles, the muddy craters, the sharp golden sword, the scorching flames... all, upon contact with this powerful and unparalleled spiritual energy, were easily pushed aside and crushed like children's building blocks...

Then, the spiritual energy of that punch finally struck Yu Shang's face, sending her flying!

One move and he's done for!
(End of this chapter)