For the next round, Luo Bing chose another outer disciple. This new disciple was very muscular, looking like a powerful brute-strength fighter.
But Long Chen still didnât choose anyone in particular to go out. Seeing Long Chen didnât say anything, one of the Heaven Earth Factionâs outer disciples jumped up.
Long Chen recognized that disciple. He had been the one who had almost died to the Tigermouth Fish during the disciple selection trial. Long Chen had saved his life back then.
He had originally been one of Qi Xinâs people, but in order to pay back Long Chenâs favor, he had told him about the matter of Qi Xin harming Little Snow, and Long Chen had accepted him into the Heaven Earth Faction.
That little fellowâs name was Zhao Qian. His talent wasnât bad, and amongst outer disciples, he could count as a well-known figure. Seeing him go out, Long Chen nodded. Another eighty thousand merit points were about to be sent their way.
The muscular man facing him was another mid Tendon Transformation expert. Seeing the early Tendon Transformation Zhao Qian, he disdainfully said, âYou arenât my match. If youâre smart, youâll immediately scram. Otherwise, Iâll take your life.â
âCome at me.â Zhao Qian shook his head, taking out his sword.
âFine, since you want to die, Iâll help you out.â
That muscular man snorted and took out a broadsword. He seemed extremely suited to fighting with brute strength.
He suddenly charged at Zhao Qian, his figure like a phantom, appearing outstandingly domineering.
The thirty-sixth monasteryâs disciples all cheered. This muscular man was their strongest outer disciple.
Not only was his cultivation base the highest, brute strength was his speciality. When he fought, he possessed a large advantage.
Seeing that sword coming right at him, Zhao Qian completely ignored it and his sword directly stabbed towards his heart.
That muscular man couldnât help being frightened. This was clearly a suicidal move. He had decided to take him down with him right at the start?
What he didnât know was that Long Chen had already instilled in them all a certain fighting tactic:
Risking your life. Risking your life was one of the most effective slaughter methods. But it wasnât effective on all people, so you had to judge who to use it on.
If you wanted to risk your life, youâd have to find those people with more normal thinking. If you were to risk your life against someone who was a coward afraid of death, then they would immediately become easy pickings.
Because they were afraid of death, they would be terrified, and they definitely wouldnât dare risk their own life to go all-out against you. By then, youâd have already won half the battle.
However, this tactic wasnât effective against everyone. Other than crazies and idiots, there were also true warriors who didnât fear death and would dare risk their own lives against you.
True warriors had long since become unafraid of death. As for these show-off, vain braggarts here, how could they possibly be real warriors?
Zhao Qian didnât even need to think before using this tactic to fight. To the 108th monasteryâs disciples, their lives had been snatched back from the hands of death by Long Chen before.
They had already cheated death once. Even if they had to lose their life now, they wouldnât care that much. And so they dared to risk their life, and they were filled with an indomitable will.
That muscular manâs expression changed when he saw Zhao Qianâs sword stabbing towards his heart. He naturally didnât wish to die with this fellow, and his broadsword hastily switched direction.
Their two swords collided. Due to being extremely physically powerful and having a stronger cultivation base, he managed to force back Zhao Qian.
The muscular man icily snorted, âWeak!â
His broadsword once more slashed down on Zhao Qian. This time he was using even more power. That previous attack had just been a testing blow.
His second attack was now even faster. It would reach Zhao Qianâs body in just the blink of an eye. Zhao Qian repeated his suicidal attack, stabbing his sword at his lower abdomen.
But Zhao Qian wasnât as fast as his opponent this time. If this continued, the muscular manâs sword would quickly slash through his shoulder.
And yet, Zhao Qianâs sword didnât waver the slightest bit. He seemed to be thinking, âYour sword might cut me into pieces, but my sword will also pierce through your Dantian. Even if you donât die, youâll be crippled.â
That muscular man saw that Zhao Qianâs expression was still completely calm and indifferent. He was shocked, as at the beginning, he had thought that he had just been trying to scare him.
But now he realized he was wrong. This bastard clearly didnât fear death! He was clearly planning on bringing him down with him!
This muscular man could also count as a ruthless person amongst outer disciples. His attack were merciless, and many of his fellow outer disciples had been injured by him.
The weak feared the strong, the strong feared the ruthless, and the ruthless feared those who didnât fear death. In this world, there were few people who werenât afraid of those who were unafraid of death.
Previously, this muscular man had even mocked the tall, thin man who had lost. But now facing Zhao Qian, he finally realized his struggles.
His broadsword had just been an inch away from cutting through Zhao Qianâs body, but he quickly took it back to block that sword stabbing at his stomach.
Due to having changing his attack, his speed was now slower than Zhao Qianâs. Although he managed to just barely block it, Zhao Qianâs sword tip had just reached his abdomen, and a hole had been cut through his clothes.
That muscular man could even sense the coldness on his stomach. He thanked his luck over and over that he had taken back his attack, or he would already be dead.
Now he began to sweat. Seeing Zhao Qianâs indifferent expression, he was terrified. How could he treat his life as if it were nothing?
That muscular manâs courage was completely broken now. Zhao Qianâs sword was now piercing towards him. All his attacks were ruthless. He didnât aim for power, but to kill.
This was one of the reasons why Long Chen told them not to duel or fight each other. That would end up causing them to become accustomed to dueling, and not battling. The goal of battle was always to kill your opponent. It was not a game.
And now this example in front of them was the best proof. Whether it was cultivation base or strength, this muscular man was a whole level ahead of Zhao Qian.
But in front of Zhao Qianâs ruthless attacks, his movements became a complete mess and he became too cautious, unable to display any of his strength.
That was also a principle Long Chen had taught them: when two people fought, the one who was more afraid of death would be more likely to die.
Only through escaping the restrictions of your fear of death could you allow yourself to stay calm, to easily grasp everything within your eyes, to see every opening in your opponents, and to bring out your greatest strength.
This was bringing out one hundred percent of your strongest strength to attack your opponentâs weakest point.
In terms of cultivation technique, Battle Skills, cultivation base, physical strength, and perhaps even wisdom, Zhao Qian was inferior to his opponent.
But just by relying on his valiant will, he was able to break his opponentâs confidence, causing his combat ability to sharply drop.
Other than having a slight advantage in their first exchange, this muscular man was now continuously forced back, only defending reactively to Zhao Qianâs attacks.
Zhao Qianâs attacks were all ruthless, risking his own life sometimes. And that especially calm expression he had the entire time was even more frightening than if he had put on a savage expression.
Tang Wan-er couldnât help shaking her head. She glanced at Long Chen. That first disciple had only managed to imitate seventy to eighty percent of Long Chenâs style.
But Zhao Qian had imitated pretty much ninety percent of Long Chenâs expressions and posture. That kind of soul-piercing calmness really was too similar.
She found that funny. Almost all the monasteryâs disciples viewed Long Chen as their idol. But in truth, none of them knew that Long Chen was only seventeen years old now. That was a year younger than her.
It was just that Long Chen also had a steadiness and calmness that did not match his age. He even had a wisdom that far surpassed them. So to them, Long Chen seemed more like someone in his twenties.
Looking at Long Chen relaxing on his chair, Tang Wan-er felt a burst of warmth. She really did feel good to have Long Chen by her side.
She found that she was becoming more and more dependent on Long Chen. It was as if as long as Long Chen was present, then even if the very heavens collapsed, his shoulders would be able to bear that weight.
A loud explosion rang out on the martial stage, cutting off Tang Wan-erâs thoughts. When she turned to look, she saw that Zhao Qianâs arm was hanging limply, completely broken.
As for his opponent, he was holding his throat. Blood was flowing past his fingers, and he was completely terrified.
âYouâve lost.â
Although Zhao Qianâs arm was broken, he was still expressionless. He pointed his sword coldly at his opponent.
The crowd was deathly silent. Just now, everyone had clearly seen Zhao Qian use his arm to forcibly block an attack from that broadsword in order to slit his sword across his throat.
If Zhao Qianâs sword had pushed forward just a little bit more, that wouldnât be a slit throat, but a fallen head.
Having had his throat cut like this, that person was unable to say anything. Filled with terror, he hastily jumped off the martial stage.
Someone immediately came to help heal him. That person was a wood cultivator who quickly stopped his bleeding.
For an ordinary person, having their throat slit would equal certain death. But cultivators could suppress the flow of blood, so it wasnât much.
But that cut across his throat had terrified him completely. In his panic, he hadnât dared stay on top of the martial stage.
After seeing that person be miserably defeated, the thirty-sixth monasteryâs disciplesâ hearts sunk.
âBastards, you really are vicious!â Luo Bing was incredibly angered. Her disciples were not at all used to that kind of fighting style.
âVicious?â Long Chen disdainfully laughed. âEven this is called vicious? All that proves is that you are all too naive and ignorant.
âYou can ask any of the disciples beside me. Which one of them hasnât crawled out of a mountain of corpses? Which one of them hasnât killed far over a hundred opponents in the same realm?
âFighting across levels is nothing out of the ordinary for them. We all walked out from a path paved with the Corrupt disciplesâ bones and flesh.
âIn front of us, who have experienced a trial of blood and fire, do you, a bunch of spoiled children who lived in your greenhouse environments, even have the qualifications to compete with us? And you even dare look down on us? Laughable!â
Following Long Chenâs words, the 108th monasteryâs disciples were all filled with pride, and they felt their blood heat up. It was like they had returned to when they had fought together with Long Chen on the battlefield.
âSo give me less crap. Youâve lost the second round, so hurry up and pay up.â Inside, Long Chen scolded himself for wasting words with her. You wanted to give us a slap in the face? Then come and try it.
âDonât worry, I, Luo Bing, definitely wonât fail to pay up to a bunch of beggars.â Luo Bing snorted and once more threw out her badge to Tu Fang.
One reason she let Tu Fang withdraw the points himself was because she trusted Tu Fang didnât dare take more of her merit points. The other reason was because doing it herself would have filled her with too much pain.
When she once more received her badge, there were eighty thousand merit points less on it.
Although she acted indifferent, her mouth trembled slightly, showing how vexed she was.
âHmph, in the next round, weâre switching levels. Let the core disciples fight!â