Pov: Zhou Yulong
As soon as Luo Shengli announced the start of the first stage of the martial arts tournament, all the participants immediately rushed towards the portal.
Not wanting to be left behind, I rushed after them and noticed that Li Yuhua and Bai Yunsheng were in no particular hurry.
"They probably want to be among the last to enter! Oh well. They're strong. They can handle it!"
For a moment, I thought about Bai Yunsheng.
"Was he really that strong in his past life? Even at the Qi Refining (1) stage, I had no trouble beating him back then. And this Bai Yunsheng is not only stronger than the one I know, but he also didn't bother Li Yuhua, even though he's rumored to be a womanizer..."
I shook my head and sighed. Any unnecessary thoughts would only hinder me, so right now I need to focus on the tournament!
One by one, the participants disappeared into the portal and found themselves in the subspace. As soon as I passed through, I was surrounded by a bright light, forcing me to close my eyes.
Opening my eyes, I realized I was in a completely different place than Mount Wangmei.
I was by the shore, surrounded only by the jungle in front of me and the endless ocean behind me.
Inhaling the heavy, musty air of this subspace, I let my exhalation dissolve into the silence.
Ahead of me, the forest rustled—too real to be an illusion, and too alien to belong to our world. The leaves were a deep blue, and the tree trunks of this forest stretched skyward like spears thrust into the ground. The wind blew directly into my face, as if whispering, "Survive if you can..."
With a deep sigh, I entered the forest, bracing myself for the nightmare that lay ahead.
Hundreds of participants were scattered across this dimension. Each of them had their own goal: some dreamed of glory, some of resources, and some simply wanted to prove their abilities.
In my previous life, this tournament hadn't even finished...
I stopped, my fingers gripping the hilt of my sword. Memories flickered in my mind: blood, screams, and strange faces that shouldn't have appeared here. Those he had sent.
"Yan Pantu..." I whispered, gritting my teeth.
In my first life, I died during the first stage, without even scoring 20 points. I was too weak...
In my second life, the tournament was prevented from reaching its conclusion. Yan Pantu, one of the advisors to Lei Jiangxue, the mayor of Wujiang City, decided to rebel that day.
"If I remember correctly, 50 of the 250 people who entered the tournament were his men." The fact that so many people were able to sneak into the martial arts tournament unnoticed suggests that the authorities in this city have clearly been driven away!
Last time, I failed to save anyone, and as a result, a huge number of lives were lost.
"This time, it's different!" I said out loud, hiding among the bushes as soon as I spotted one of the monsters.
A roar shook the forest and the entire earth trembled.
I dropped to one knee, melting into the foliage.
A beast the size of a horse tumbled out of the thicket: a spirit wolf with silver fur and eyes that glowed like moonfire. Its mouth exuded steam, like smoke from hot metal.
The first rule in such a space is to make no noise.
The second is to leave no trace.
The third is to not rely on luck.
"The Spirit Wolf is one of the magical beasts in this world that can cultivate. Each magical beast has a different number of cultivation stages, but compared to humans, all the magical beasts in this subspace are no higher than a gold core (3), so there shouldn't be any problems!"
"Just like with this wolf..." I whispered quietly, gripping my sword tightly.
I waited for the moment when the beast lowered its muzzle to the ground, sniffing out prey. Then I immediately emerged from cover, made a lightning-fast dash toward it, and delivered a single, precise thrust.
My sword sliced through the air, and the blade slashed straight across the wolf's neck.
Thanks to the element of surprise and my experience as a swordsman from my past life, it was easy to deal with.
The Spirit Wolf howled and convulsed, blood streaming from its neck.
After a while, the wolf breathed its last, and after digging around in its entrails, I found a blue crystal.
Before entering the subspace, each participant was given a tablet that would calculate points. So if I place this crystal on the tablet, I'll get...
*Inscription on the tablet:
Zhou Yulong: 5 points
Five... nothing. But it's a start. Apparently, that wolf was too weak...
Thus, I spent several hours hunting magical beasts. The forest was bountiful: clawed monkeys with fish gills on the trees, snakes with chicken wings, giant insects, and so on.
I met each of them with cold calculation, and every crystal went into my points bank.
And soon my tablet showed 37 points!
"The other participants have probably accumulated quite a few points, so it would be a good idea to start the bounty hunt!" I said out loud, killing another winged serpent.
However, there was no rush.
The first trial would only last a few days and would end once the number of participants was reduced from 250 to 100. By then, many would have simply killed each other!
— So the rat's tactics should work perfectly!
While I was pondering my plan, I noticed another spirit wolf ahead.
"Even though it only gives 5 points, I can't complain. Points are points!"
I took a deep breath and, gripping my sword tightly, lunged toward the beast.
"Second Lotus Technique..."
"Silk Sword: Smooth Slash!"
A noise came from out of nowhere, and an instant attack struck the spirit wolf.
When the dust settled, a familiar figure stood before me.
"Excellent! Another beast defeated! That brings my total to 45 points!" a young voice rang out.
"Oh! I know you! You were in the preliminaries!"
Fan Zheng. The guy who fought Bai Yunsheng in the preliminaries and lost in one blow.
"That was my prey!" "I said coldly, returning the sword to its sheath.
Fan Zheng chuckled, clearly mocking me.
"Really? What a pity~ Do you want me to give you a couple of points so you won't be sad?" he said with a sly smile.
"Be patient, Zhou Yulong. In your past life, your impatience led to nothing good, and when you became a sword master, you realized that patience is the key to victory..." I thought to myself, trying to control myself.
Speaking of my past life, who is this Fan Zheng and where did he come from? He wasn't there in my past life! Could something have happened because of my second regression and ultimately had a significant impact on this world!?
While I was thinking this, I unknowingly followed Fan Zheng, and together we walked through the forest, killing spirit beasts and earning points.
After a few hours of this approach, I managed to score 85 points, and Fan Zheng 84. Just a little more and we'll be guaranteed to advance to the next round of the martial arts tournament!
I wonder how Bai Yunsheng and Sister Li Yuhua are?
"Hey, where are you from, Yulong? You fight quite well! Apparently your master is pretty awesome, huh?" Fan Zheng asked me with interest.
It was already getting dark, and we lit a fire, roasting rabbits and birds over it.
"I'm from the White Jade Sect. My master, Chu Yonghua, is the Sword Goddess of the White Jade Sect."
Fan Zheng's eyes widened at these words, and he whistled.
"Wow! You're so lucky~ And I don't have a master! I just found a book on silk sword techniques and learned to fight with it!" he said with a broad smile.
So he's self-taught... And at this age, he's almost my current age! What a talented bastard!
While we were talking like this, I accidentally heard a crunching sound.
My years of experience as a swordsman from my past life have heightened my senses. Although it was already clear that someone was watching us.
"Hey..." Fan Zheng began quietly, also hearing the noise.
I just quietly raised my finger to my lips and nodded.
"Wow... Someone even managed to form an alliance in such a short time..." Fan Zheng chuckled nervously, speaking in a low whisper.
"It's not an alliance. It's just Yan Pantu's men, and apparently they've already begun their 'purge'!"
"There are about nine of them, and they've surrounded us from all sides!" "I whispered quietly, taking a roasted rabbit drumstick and eating it without showing it. Fan Zheng did the same.
"Let's pretend we're asleep, and as soon as they try to attack us, we'll fight back!" Fan Zheng suggested to me in a whisper.
I nodded silently, and a few minutes later we finished eating, extinguished the fire, and went to bed.
We had to wait an hour for the observers to finally deign to emerge from their hiding place, and they all approached us with weapons at the ready.
"They're asleep! Let's finish them off quickly and go find the other tournament participants!" said the leader of this group, apparently.
"Poor kids! They won't even have time to realize they're eliminated! How lucky they are that death in the subspace will return you to the real world!" the largest of them said mockingly.
"Well, they're unlucky to be participating in the tournament at 'a time like this'!" a melodious female voice rang out.
"Stop wasting time! Finish them off quickly and let's go back!" the first one ordered irritably, and surrounding us, they all swung their weapons.
However, at that very moment, Fan Zhen and I drew our swords and parried their attacks.
Jumping away from them, we took a stance.
"Who are you?" I asked confidently, even though I already knew the answer.
The strangers didn't respond and simply attacked us.
A large man stepped forward and swung his enormous sledgehammer.
Fan Zhen and I managed to dodge, and the area where we were standing was instantly destroyed. We were immediately surrounded.
Four people stood around me, and so was Fan Zhen. The one with the bow, built like a woman, stood farthest away and took aim.
The large man slammed the ground, but I managed to dodge and, with one movement, sliced through the sledgehammer handle.
Second Lotus Technique: Horizontal Slash!
I delivered a horizontal slash, cutting the large man's torso, but the cut wasn't deep due to its durability.
I was immediately attacked from behind.
At the last moment, I jumped and did a backflip, landing behind my opponents.
Just as I dodged, the blow that was meant to hit me instead struck the large man, knocking the air out of his lungs.
"Looks like they're not that built if they're so easily tempted to attack each other," I thought to myself, trying hard to formulate a plan for the easiest way to fight them.
Taking a deep breath, I gripped my sword and charged at one of them.
My combat experience is far greater than theirs, so victory is mine!
Sixth Lotus Technique: Rush Strike!
Pointing my blade forward, I lunged toward the one who had attacked me, who was apparently a monk.
"Don't even dream of it!" he shouted and tried to strike me in the back of my sword, but at the last moment I blocked his fist with the back of my sword and executed a circular strike.
Fifth Lotus Technique: Circular Slash!
Like a whirlwind, I made a full circle with my sword and slashed the monk's neck.
Not giving him time to react, I immediately continued the attack.
Third Lotus Technique: Diagonal cut from the right!
Raising my sword above me, I smoothly lowered it to my side at the o'clock position and made a diagonal cut from top right to bottom left.
This time, the blow struck deeper, causing the sword to strike my enemy. He was thrown back and fell dead.
Wasting no time, I attacked the large man again.
Sixth Lotus Technique: Rush Thrust!
I lunged toward the large man, but at the last moment, a woman with daggers parried me.
The female archer immediately fired a couple of arrows at me, and dodging them, I jumped away, but their leader charged.
"Don't underestimate us, boy!" he said, swinging his saber. I blocked.
The others immediately attacked me as well.
I blocked their leader's attack from one side, while a large man's fist flew at me from behind, a woman with a dagger swung her weapon at me from the right, and a hail of arrows rained down on me from the left. arrows.
Smirking, I immediately tossed aside their leader's saber, jumping away from the large man's fist. As soon as I landed, I ducked, grabbing the woman with the dagger by the arm and holding her in the path of the arrows.
Multiple arrows pierced the woman's body, piercing her heart, lungs, liver, and eyes, killing her instantly.
Throwing aside the corpse of the woman with the daggers, I rushed at the woman with the bow and, before she could react, made a horizontal strike and severed her head.
"Don't underestimate us!!!" the large man shouted and rushed at me. But I didn't move.
As soon as his fist was centimeters from my face, I immediately jumped aside.
The big man, unprepared, didn't have time to stop and crashed into a tree, and I immediately severed his head.
Breathing heavily, I looked at Fan Zheng, who had also finished off his opponents. However, in Unlike me, he had too many wounds.
"W-what the hell?... We weren't told there would be such strong brats here!" the leader of this group said in a trembling voice.
Wasting no more time, Fan Zheng and I rushed at him and simultaneously pierced his lungs with our swords.
Spitting out blood, he fell to his knees, and Fan Zheng chopped off his head.
"You're lucky that death in space will return you to the real world!" I repeated their words, and Fan Zheng and I examined their corpses.
Luckily, they had a lot of points. Apparently, they had already managed to kill quite a few participants...
After dividing the points between us, we both had 260 points. That's enough to get into the top 3!
With joyful faces, we grinned and began to leave.
***
After a few minutes of walking, Fan Zheng and I stopped by a tree with heavy sighs.
On the way, we We also fought several spirit beasts and earned a few points.
"Yeah, I hope they give us a couple of days to rest after the trials!" Fan Zheng chuckled.
"Yeah... I wouldn't mind soaking in the hot springs..." I smiled wearily in response.
As soon as we passed through the bushes, we froze.
A chilling scene unfolded before us.
A huge number of corpses lay scattered everywhere. Some were missing their heads, some were impaled with several stakes, some were literally torn in two, some lay without a lower jaw or torso, some had their ribs protruding from their bodies, and some were missing limbs altogether.
"What... happened here?" Fan Zheng asked in a quiet voice, looking at the scene.
Our stunned eyes turned to the center of all this chaos.
There, breaking their necks. Some poor wretch was standing there, at 360 degrees. Bai Yongsheng.
He was covered in blood. And there was far more blood than a normal person would have, even though his body had few wounds.
His eyes met ours. Cold as ice, deep as an abyss, and dull as a corpse's, Bai Yongsheng's dark eyes stared at us, terrifying us with just his appearance...
"You're here..." rang out the cold, indifferent voice of this monster...
To be continued...