The Long Journey to Immortality

After simply introducing themselves, the two fell silent.

Wen Erya adjusted her breathing, planning the order in which to use various magical tools after the battle began. In her haste, she also looked into the distance and glanced at an arena that had just been plunged into the snow and ice.

With a soft chuckle to herself, Wen Erya offered a symbolic prayer for Han Lu's opponent before turning her gaze back to her opponent, who was about fifteen feet away.

Both of them on the stage had heard of each other's names and were considered celebrities within their respective sects.

Wen Erya's fame goes without saying, while Wen Shuyi received more attention because she was the only female cultivator among the original seven main champions.

Of course, Wen Shuyi, who had advanced to the semi-finals of the major competition twice, the finals of several minor competitions, and won a championship, already had a certain reputation in her Nanshan Academy before the Ancient Cultivation Secret Realm incident and was regarded as a future Golden Core cultivator.

As for his appearance...

In Wen Erya's opinion, she was definitely slightly better in this regard.

The fact that two cultivators who look so alike are standing on the same arena, about to engage in a challenge for a spot to enter the ancient cultivation secret realm, naturally attracted the attention of many spectators and challengers waiting to take the stage.

Although Zhan Yujun was not notified, she happened to be in the audience that day, watching the match from afar.

Sitting next to her was a male cultivator with a somewhat tense expression, as if he were the one standing on the arena competing against her.

"Senior Sister Zhan, that must be your good friend, Senior Sister Wen."

"Ah."

"And who's the last one? It's Senior Sister Han, who won the main title yesterday."

Zhan Yujun pouted, "Mmm!"

"Senior Sister Zhan, do you think Senior Sister Wen can win?"

"Mm." Zhan Yujun nodded.

"Hey, you don't think that way just because you're good friends, do you?"

"Mmm...mmm!" Zhan Yujun felt as if her lips were glued shut. She had a million words she wanted to say, but she couldn't open her mouth.

Despite being invited to watch the battle, Zhan Yuyun's indifferent attitude left the male cultivator somewhat embarrassed.

"Senior Sister Zhan, could you please stop answering me with 'uh-huh' all the time? If someone overhears us, they won't know what we're doing."

The male cultivator tried to make a slightly suggestive joke to ease the awkward atmosphere, but to his surprise, Zhan Yuyun simply replied, "Okay."

The two, who had feelings for each other but hadn't confessed, chose to have their first date in the arena's spectator area, and the atmosphere between them was rather strange.

Fortunately, the referee had already started the countdown, which interrupted their awkward conversation and allowed them to focus their attention on the game itself.

Having just finished her own match, Han Lu immediately returned to the arena where Wen Erya was. Standing below the stage, based on her understanding of Wen Erya, she helped her think of a few magical items suitable for use when the battle began. However, when the match actually started, Wen Erya's actions still surprised Han Lu.

Han Lu thought that Wen Erya would use the magical items that had been with her for two and a half years at the beginning of the battle, but to her surprise, when the referee finished the countdown and announced the start of the match, Wen Erya directly took a scripture into her hand.

This scripture is one of the three magical artifacts that Wen Er Ya recently received from her father, the Emperor. It is also the highest-ranking and most powerful magical artifact among them.

This scripture is of the second-highest grade and contains a large number of magical techniques.

If this scripture is used as a medium to cast the spells recorded in it, the caster can save a lot of spiritual energy when casting the spells.

The information indicated that the document was lacking in spiritual power, so Wen Erya planned to use this method to attack its weakness and wage a war of attrition.

Opening the scripture and infusing it with spiritual power, Wen Er Ya chanted a spell. Moments later, a dramatic change occurred on the arena.

A raging fire suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the arena, spreading outwards from where Wen Erya was standing.

These crimson flames looked far more powerful than those summoned by ordinary spells. In the blink of an eye, half of the arena was completely ignited by these rootless flames.

Fortunately, the arena was reinforced with restrictions and protected by magic arrays; otherwise, it would have been reduced to ashes with just one move.

Seeing this move, Han Lu nodded slightly, understanding Wen Erya's general intention.

Han Lu had encountered this move before when the two practiced together.

Her countermeasures were to ride her flying sword into the sky to avoid its sharp edge, or to directly use the "Thousand Miles of Ice Seal" supernatural power to fight fire with ice.

Watching the raging fire burn on the arena, Han Lu turned her head to look at Wen Shuyi, anticipating her response.

Including Wen Shuyi, almost none of the Qi Refining cultivators could fly on swords at this low level like Han Lu, escaping into the air to avoid these seemingly unstoppable flames.

However, Wenshuyi, who possesses a large number of magical treasures, has its own way of dealing with this.

She patted her storage bag with her right hand, and in the blink of an eye, a small, exquisite, translucent golden bell appeared in her left hand, palm up.

With incantations and hand gestures, the golden bell magic tool was activated and expanded several times its original size in a single breath.

"go!"

With a push of his left hand, Wen Shuyi then used his lightness technique to leap up from the arena.

In an instant, this translucent golden bell became a vessel to hold the object, holding the leaping document in an upside-down manner, and slowly flying into the air.

The golden bell, carrying the document instrument, flew to a height of seven or eight zhang above the ground, successfully avoiding the sharp edge of the earth fire.

Seeing how Wen Shuyi responded, Han Lu couldn't help but silently cheer for Wen Erya's opponent.

Since Wen Shuyi was not a potential rival to Han Lu, she did not conduct much research or investigation on Wen Shuyi based on the available information.

Han Lu had no idea how the golden bell in Wen Shuyi's hand was used or what powerful supernatural abilities it possessed.

But she was certain that, judging from the awkward posture of Wen Shuyi standing in the golden bell, the golden bell was definitely not a flying artifact.

At the crucial moment of the magical duel, Han Lu felt it was not an exaggeration to shout "good" for the document instrument.

Even after her first move failed, Wen Er Ya still had a backup plan.

She abruptly closed the scripture, held it in one hand, and fanned it in her hand like a paper fan, creating a gust of wind.

The wind fanned the flames, and the originally scattered ground fires, under Wen Erya's control, converged into a fire dragon, which suddenly soared into the sky, opened its blood-red maw, and bit at the golden bell hanging upside down in the air.

Wen Shuyi's expression changed slightly, but her hands did not stop moving despite the change in her expression.

A bound volume, composed of numerous talismans, appeared in her hands.

She casually tore a handful of talismans from the thick "collection" and tossed them into the air.

Countless talismans flew out from the upside-down golden bell and connected with it in the air, piecing together a large shield made of talisman paper.

The moment the paper shield was formed, it collided head-on with the fire dragon controlled by Wen Erya.

An unexpected scene unfolded: what was clearly just a talisman completely blocked the seemingly powerful fire dragon, preventing it from advancing even half a step.

When the flames subsided and the fire dragon disappeared, the talismans had also completed their mission. They were ignited by the embers remaining in the air and burned completely in a short time, leaving only a cloud of smoke.

The two fighters on the stage paused for three breaths in perfect unison, as if to tell the onlookers that in this "first round," they were evenly matched and had fought to a draw.

Chapter 172 The Battle Between Daoist Duobao

Physical fighting ceases, but intellectual fighting begins.

Wen Shuyi, standing inside the golden bell, spoke first, "Junior Sister Wen, your magic just now was excellent. May I ask the origin of your scripture?"

Wen Erya didn't mind explaining the simple matter to Wen Shuyi on the arena, "It's nothing special, just a spellbook written by a Golden Core cultivator. It has been read by thousands of students in the library of a mortal Confucian scholar for thousands of years, which is why this book has the charm of a magic weapon."

"Senior Sister's Golden Bell looks quite impressive. What's its background?"

In return, Wen Shuyi replied, "It's not as good as your scripture. It was originally just a broken bell that had been hanging in my family's ancestral hall for over three hundred years."

"Ten years ago, this broken bell was finally replaced."

"Because the materials used when the clock was made were of good quality, I asked someone to try refining it."

"I never expected it would actually become a mid-grade fifth-rank magic tool, possessing considerable supernatural powers."

Unlike the intellectual contest between Han Lu and Lu Liangcai, the two Daoist masters on this arena actually compared the origins and rarity of their magical treasures.

"Oh? What kind of supernatural powers does it have?" Wen Erya asked curiously.

Wen Shuyi smiled slightly, "Then I'll show my junior sister the power of this golden bell now."

As soon as the words were spoken, the atmosphere on the stage suddenly became tense. The two tacitly understood that the verbal duel had come to an end and the physical duel would continue.

The golden bell landed, enclosing the document container like a small hut, providing it with complete protection.

Seeing this, Wen Erya only regarded the golden bell as a defensive magic tool and did not take it to heart.

Although she knew it, the change in the next moment almost blinded Wen Erya.

It's not an exaggeration, it's truly blindingly bright.

The translucent golden bell suddenly transformed into a light source, radiating outwards and emitting dazzling light.

Even with the arena's protective barriers, those standing below the stage had to squint or simply turn their heads away to avoid being blinded by the dazzling light.

Han Lu, on the other hand, decisively used her "Cold Moon Eyes" technique, her eyes gleaming with blue light as she continued to watch the arena and observe the changes taking place.

The sudden change in the Golden Bell caught Wen Er Ya off guard.

Even if you close your eyes hastily, a lot of light will still enter your eye socket through the gap between your upper and lower eyelids.

Wen Erya felt as if she had temporarily lost her sight, and the bright light was also stimulating her mind, making her feel dizzy.

Despite feeling dizzy, Wen Er Ya's rich combat experience led her to make what was probably the right choice immediately.

A cloud of black mist appeared out of nowhere, completely enveloping Wen Erya.

The dense black fog not only blocked outsiders from looking at Wen Erya, but also completely blocked the light reflected from the golden bell.

The scribe, sitting inside the golden bell, was unaware of Wen Erya's actions. She simply used her combat experience to control the golden bell as the sun for ten breaths before retrieving the magical artifact.

Upon seeing the black mist that completely enveloped Wen Erya, Wen Shuyi pondered for a moment and then chose to take out another "new favorite" as a countermeasure.

A silver needle appeared in Wenshuyi's hand.

These silver needles are all of ungraded quality, but the magic tool made up of these fifty-four silver needles can be rated as a mid-grade sixth-rank magic tool.

Compared to the spirit sword, the silver needle is less powerful when used with weapon control techniques, but it is also more flexible.

However, if fifty-four silver needles are activated at the same time, even Han Lu will feel a tingling sensation on her scalp for a moment.

Wen Shuyi's thinking was simple. She estimated that Wen Erya was still blind at this time, and using her nimble silver fingers to deal with Wen Erya at this moment was bound to be extremely effective.

With a simple throw of silver needles towards the direction of the black mist, Wen Shuyi made a hand seal with his right hand, controlling the silver needles with a rather crude method of weapon manipulation.

Upon seeing this, Han Lu subconsciously shook her head, feeling that Wen Shuyi was far inferior to her senior sister Wen in every aspect.

"If it were Senior Sister, she might be able to use these silver needles to manipulate the artifacts for embroidery." Han Lu never hesitated to praise Wen Erya's artifact manipulation skills.

Praise aside, in the eyes of most people, Wenshuyi has already gained the upper hand in the arena at this moment.