Chapter 190: Dai Yue’s Frenzy

Things in the arena were quite different from what the audience members thought. Even though Dai Yue’s attacks were aggressive, relentless and seemed all-encompassing, Dai Yue’s heart was not filled with delight at the situation at all. In fact, her heart only grew more and more frustrated as time went by.

Dai Yue had been taught to use the whip by the Third Elder of the Eternal Summit Sect, the strongest whip user in the entire sect. Thus, she had always possessed immense confidence in her own abilities with the whip.

Furthermore, Dai Yue had often sparred with her martial brothers and sisters from the Eternal Summit Sect. Each time she did so, she would invariably viciously force her martial brothers and sisters off the stage with her whip. This further increased her self-confidence with the whip.

It was in such circumstances that Dai Yue adjudged that there was going to be no suspense as to the outcome of this battle at all. She was going to win. She was bound to win at all costs.

However, as soon as her surprise attack at the commencement of the duel entirely missed Jun Xiaomo, Dai Yue immediately realized that things might not be as smooth sailing as she had earlier thought it would be.

She fervently suppressed the swelling sense of frustrations and uneasiness in her heart as she glared viciously at Jun Xiaomo. Yet to her horror, Jun Xiaomo chuckled lightheartedly at her.

Damn! Jun Xiaomo must be doing this on purpose! She’s mocking me! She’s laughing at me!

Thus, Dai Yue imbued her whip with even more spiritual energy than she had done before. With a macabre glint in her eyes, Dai Yue began to lash at Jun Xiaomo with her whip once more!

Her heart was crying out to kill Jun Xiaomo. But the precondition was that she had to be able to kill Jun Xiaomo to begin with.

One incense of time later, Dai Yue found that she had been completely unable to cause any form of harm to Jun Xiaomo. Conversely, the spiritual energy within her body was dwindling extremely quickly. Off the stage, the audience was beginning to find that there might be a glimmer of hope for Jun Xiaomo to defeat Dai Yue after all. There might be a chance of yet another miracle happening.

After all, she had already sustained for one incense stick of time already, hadn’t she? In the last battle, Dai Yue’s opponent was a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Mastery, yet even he did not last as long as Jun Xiaomo did.

At the Eternal Summit Sect’s seating area, Liang Yulong found himself seated at the side as he silently watched the battle between Jun Xiaomo and Dai Yue.

“If martial sister Dai Yue continues like this, she’s not going to be able to defeat Jun Xiaomo.” After deliberating for some time, Liang Yulong suddenly spoke up, “Jun Xiaomo’s doing this on purpose. She might very well be wasting the spiritual energy in martial sister Dai Yue’s body and biding her time until martial sister Dai Yue’s energy has almost completely dried up before launching her own counterattack.”

“Shut up! You lost to Jun Xiaomo in the last round. What gives you the right to assess your martial sister’s conditions right now?!” Dai Yanfeng castigated him with infuriation, “Once this competition is over, I’m going to lock you up inside the penal hall so that you can thoroughly reflect on your misdemeanors!”

Liang Yulong’s eyes flickered, and he immediately grew taciturn.

In fact, how could Dai Yanfeng, the Eternal Summit Sect’s Grand Elder, not notice Jun Xiaomo’s strategy if his disciple could determine as much? He had only castigated Liang Yulong so that he could preserve his own reputation.

After all, Dai Yue was undeniably his own daughter. An admission that Dai Yue was inferior to Jun Xiaomo, was practically tantamount to an admission that he was inferior to Jun Linxuan. This was absolutely unacceptable to him.

Besides, in order to allow his dear daughter to come out ahead of the competition, Dai Yanfeng had resorted to several underhanded ways and means, including expending precious, invaluable resources in order to bribe two referees of the competition.

Dai Yanfeng’s heart would ache in pain whenever he thought about the things that he had “given” to the others to smoothen the way for his daughter.

If his daughter lost and got knocked out in the second round of the competition after all that he had done, then everything that he had given out as bribes would have completely gone to waste.

As soon as he thought about the prospects of this, Dai Yanfeng couldn’t help but wish that he could turn back time and recover everything that he had lost!

No. It’s still not over yet. I can’t be anxious. Dai Yanfeng fiercely suppressed the indignation rising up from his heart as he thought with gritted teeth – My daughter still has her trump card. She will definitely win!

As to whether his daughter’s trump card was allowed by the competition regulations, this was something outside the scope of Dai Yanfeng’s considerations. In his eyes, it was not outrageous to resort to some underhanded means as long as this meant that he could obtain the results that he had desired.

Just as Liang Yulong had anticipated, even as Dai Yue’s spiritual energy depleted quickly from her body, she was unable to leave any marks or damage on Jun Xiaomo’s body at all.

So what if her attacks were ferocious and devastating? These hardly meant anything if she could not even land her attacks!

Liang Yulong had experienced firsthand that Jun Xiaomo possessed an incredible combat intuition and judgment. It was as though she were able to preempt what her opponents would do before they even motioned to unleash their next attacks.

Thus, there was only two possible solutions if Dai Yue was to defeat Jun Xiaomo. The first was to completely suppress Jun Xiaomo with her advantage in cultivation levels so that Jun Xiaomo had no way of avoiding the attacks; while the second was to end the battle quickly with area of effect spells.

And even then, Dai Yue’s odds at victory were at best fifty percent – perhaps even lower. This was because Jun Xiaomo’s wealth of combat experience was truly that formidable that it could make up for her cultivation level deficiency. This was not something that a young sprout like Dai Yue who had never even set foot outside of her sect could compare with.

This was also the main reason why Liang Yulong had predicted Dai Yue’s loss to begin with.

That said, the arena was an unforgiving and unpredictable place. The tides of battles were susceptible to the greatest changes at the slightest slip ups. Furthermore, Dai Yue still held her trump card close to her heart. With the presence of these variables, the victor of this battle was still very much undecided for now.

Dai Yue was infuriated at Jun Xiaomo’s nimble avoidance of her attacks. Finally, after three incense sticks of time, Dai Yue couldn’t help but bark at Jun Xiaomo, “Jun Xiaomo! Do you only know how to jump and prance about like a little clown?! Do you dare to fight me head on?!”

Jun Xiaomo raised an eyebrow quizzically and squinted her eyes – Eh? You’ve already lost your patience just like that?

One must never lose their cool and patience in battle. This was an undergirding truth about combat that was deeply ingrained in each and every cultivator that possessed a wealth of combat experience.

But Dai Yue was evidently lacking in this regard. She was unable to keep her hot-temper in check and maintain cool-headed in the heat of combat.

At this moment, Jun Xiaomo estimated that as a cultivator at the eighth level of QI Mastery, Dai Yue would only have one-third of the total amount of spiritual energy within her body remaining.

I guess it’s also about time for me to make my move.

Jun Xiaomo lifted her head and locked eyes with Dai Yue. An inconspicuous smile crept up the corner of her lips, and then her aura suddenly flourished!

Dai Yue was astonished by the sudden change in Jun Xiaomo’s disposition, and her next attack completely missed her mark.

To Dai Yue’s eyes, this was just a small and inconsequential slip-up. Yet to Jun Xiaomo, this was the prime opportunity for a counterattack.

Jun Xiaomo made a feint, before quickly closing the distance between herself and Dai Yue. Jun Xiaomo gripped the whip tightly and lashed it ferociously towards Dai Yue.

Dai Yue’s pupils constricted. She had already just lashed out with her whip, and there was no way she could retract the entire length of the whip in time. Thus, she reflexively raised her hands to block Jun Xiaomo’s oncoming attack, and Jun Xiaomo’s lash of the whip ferociously struck Dai Yue squarely on the arm.

“Ah!” Dai Yue cried out in anguish. She had practically heard her bone chipping inside her arm.

If she had not expended two-thirds of her body’s spiritual energy; and if she had not channeled most of her remaining spiritual energy into her earlier attack, leaving little to protect her body with, Jun Xiaomo’s attack might not have dealt her such a serious injury.

But all of this was knowledge on hindsight. Dai Yue’s lack of combat experience meant that she had chosen an erroneous approach to this battle, and her opponent had taken advantage of it.

Dai Yue’s overconfidence in her own abilities was one of the main contributing factors to her lack of combat experience. She had thought, given her undefeated status within the sect, that she would be similarly victorious in every battle outside of the sect.

Yet little did she consider the possibility that several martial brothers and sisters within the sect had intentionally lost to Dai Yue on account of her identity as Dai Yanfeng’s daughter.

But could anyone really blame them for doing so? Who dared to offend this unruly and headstrong princess within the sect? If they had defeated her in battle and tarnished her reputation of being completely undefeated, who was to say that she would not bear a grudge and attempt to expel her opponent from the sect later on?

After all, it was not as though there were no such precedents.

Thus, there were several disciples of the Eternal Summit Sect who did not even feel a single bit sorry for Dai Yue when she was ferociously struck by Jun Xiaomo. In their eyes, Dai Yue deserved every single bit of it, and she only had Dai Yanfeng and Qiu Laifeng’s over-protective ways to blame for it all.

That said, it was still far too early to decide the victor in this battle.

“Jun Xiaomo! You’re asking for it!” Dai Yue needed several moments to dispel the excruciating pain from the forefront of her mind. This was practically the first time she had experienced such pain ever since she was born.

But Jun Xiaomo refused to give Dai Yue any breathing room. After successfully putting Dai Yue on the backfoot with her first attack, she immediately took another step forward and launched another second attack straight towards Dai Yue.

Dai Yue hurriedly attempted to block this attack. Even though she imbued far more spiritual energy into her whip than Jun Xiaomo did, Jun Xiaomo’s attack came from such a peculiar angle that Dai Yue was only able to graze the corner of Jun Xiaomo’s whip. Thus, bulk of Jun Xiaomo’s attack still landed squarely on Dai Yue’s body.

Jun Xiaomo’s second attack – success!

Thus, this turn of events seemed to be a point of inflection in the eyes of the audience, and Jun Xiaomo and Dai Yue’s roles seemed to have reversed completely. Earlier, Dai Yue had been the one launching each and every attack, while Jun Xiaomo was forced to dodge and avoid every attack. But now, Jun Xiaomo had become the aggressor, while Dai Yue was busy attempting to escape.

But if they took a closer look, they would discover that the present scenario was still very much different from what happened earlier –

Even though both had been attacking, Jun Xiaomo’s attacks were far more effective than Dai Yue’s attack. Earlier, Dai Yue was practically unable to land any attacks on Jun Xiaomo’s body at all; but right now, Jun Xiaomo had practically landed every single attack that she had released on Dai Yue’s body.

Furthermore, it had to be said that because Jun Xiaomo’s cultivation level was not as high as Dai Yue’s cultivation level, this meant that the strength of her attacks on Dai Yue’s body was greatly diminished. This was because the higher a person’s cultivation level, the stronger the layer of defensive spiritual energy that was naturally congealed around their bodies.

That said, no matter how weak Jun Xiaomo’s attacks were, the accumulation of damage on Dai Yue’s body could still be incredibly debilitating. After all, even ant bites could kill an elephant.

At this moment, there was not a single part of Dai Yue’s body that was not in pain. It was as though her bones had been shattered and reattached together once more.

Most of all, sustaining such injuries in battle was incredibly humiliating to her. After all, she had been put perpetually on backfoot and reduced to such a tragic state by a measly cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Mastery.

Dai Yue had not discovered that Jun Xiaomo had already attained the sixth level of Qi Mastery. Otherwise, Jun Xiaomo would most certainly have dragged things out a little bit more before commencing her counterattack on Dai Yue.

Dai Yue thought about her argument with her father Dai Yanfeng a few days back. In order to be matched up against Jun Xiaomo in the second battle in this competition, she had forced her parents Dai Yanfeng and Qiu Laifeng to bribe the referees once more.

She had taken the stage with the vicious intention of thoroughly tormenting Jun Xiaomo before killing her off. Yet this turn of events was completely outside of her expectations – she was presently completely restrained and rendered helpless by Jun Xiaomo’s moves.

Back then, Dai Yanfeng had found himself unable to resist his daughter’s willfulness and headstrong attitude, and he had used an eighth-grade exquisite cauldron and twenty-seven seventh-grade superior medicinal pills to arrange for the match-up between Jun Xiaomo and Dai Yue.

It had to be said that if these items had been sold at an auction instead, the amount of spirit stones that they could have earned was practically enough for purchasing a small city!

After bribing the referees and returning to the inn, Dai Yanfeng had even thrown a tantrum in complete disbelief that he would have done something so silly.

But Dai Yue had firmly believed that all of this would be worth it. After all, it was as her father had said – any and all means were permissible as long as it meant that one’s goals could be achieved.

Even then, Dai Yue was not Dai Yanfeng. She had never faced any forms of hardship before, and she was completely unaware of the objective value of what her father had just given away as a bribe.

Furthermore, Dai Yue had rarely seen Dai Yanfeng angry at her before. Thus, she was rather taken aback when she saw Dai Yanfeng’s incensed tantrum earlier.

“Dai Yue! If you don’t defeat Jun Xiaomo this time, I’m going to lock you up at the sect’s back mountain for closed door cultivation for five years!” Dai Yanfeng bellowed in rage.

The Eternal Summit Sect’s back mountain was tantamount to a treasure trove for cultivators, and there were several Eternal Summit Sect disciples who coveted the opportunity to cultivate at the back mountain even for a short period of time. But to Dai Yue, being locked up at the back mountain with nothing else to do apart from cultivating was an incredibly dull and tedious punishment.

She did not want to lead that kind of lifestyle at all. Thus, she was even more determined to defeat Jun Xiaomo at this moment.

No! I’m going to lose if things go on like this… After innumerable lashes of Jun Xiaomo’s whip, Dai Yue’s mind finally shed her state of denial.

Dai Yue gritted her teeth, and a nefarious gaze flickered across her eyes.

She retrieved a medicinal pill and swiftly consumed it. The competition allowed the usage of recovery pills, but it was limited to one use of a medicinal pill per battle.

After the consumption of this medicinal pill, she would no longer be able to consume any other medicinal pill no matter how grave the injuries she sustains. Her only other option at that time would be to admit defeat.

Dai Yue’s medicinal pill had been especially modified and enhanced. It looked like a normal recovery pill on the surface, but it hid a powerful effect.

Off the stage, the audience looked on with a pleasant surprise and found themselves wowed by the fact that Jun Xiaomo could force Dai Yue to such a state where she would have to consume her recovery pill.

At this moment, the audience’s admiration towards this dark horse Jun Xiaomo grew more and more.

Then, as soon as Dai Yue’s medicinal pill took effect, an incredible sight occurred. Not only did Dai Yue’s spiritual energy recover, her body even experienced some qualitative changes.

The surrounding spiritual energy began to rush madly into Dai Yue’s body. Even the audience members that were a distance away from the arena could clearly experience the changes to her body.

“She…is she really going to breakthrough in the midst of combat?!” A cultivator located closer to the arena exclaimed aloud.

Breaking through in the midst of combat was not too uncommon. But most times, cultivators would choose to suppress the urge to breakthrough to the next level or simply admit defeat and abandon the battle before breaking through.

It was because breaking through during a battle was far too dangerous.

Yet nobody would have expected Dai Yue to breakthrough in the midst of combat.

“Ha…haha…Jun Xiaomo, I bet you’d never expect this, did you? I was on the brink of breaking through to the ninth level of Qi Mastery.” Dai Yue chuckled coldly as she barked at Jun Xiaomo. Her eyes were filled with a maddened bloodlust.

This was Dai Yue’s trump card!