Chapter 226 – Opening with Five Kills
"Junior Brother Gu, once you're inside the island, be careful. If the situation looks bad, just hide first." In the waiting area, Ding Shiyan found Gu Mo and whispered her warning.
Everyone would be teleported randomly into the island. Although no two people would land in the exact same place, each would be alone. And among them, someone like Gu Mo—nothing more than a simple spirit-plant master—was the easiest target to fall into danger.
"I understand!"
Gu Mo nodded. He was already planning to find a place to lie low, then devote all his focus to his avatar.
"Junior Brother Du, you too…"
After warning Gu Mo, Ding Shiyan turned to Du Jinpeng. Compared to Gu Mo, Du Jinpeng at least had some ability to defend himself with his combat-oriented spirit plants. But since his proudest trump card, the Roaring Ancient Tree, couldn't be brought inside, his fighting power was also questionable.
"Senior Sister Ding, don't worry."
If earlier Du Jinpeng still had some thought of making a name for himself in this Heavenly Chosen War, after witnessing the probing clash between that Grand Sword Sect disciple Lin Wu and the demonic sect true disciple just now, he had instantly buried the idea.
Against ordinary cultivators, he was indeed a Heavenly Chosen. But when faced with true disciples of that caliber, Du Jinpeng could feel the gap clearly.
Seeing that both of her junior brothers were being obedient, Ding Shiyan finally exhaled a long breath of relief. As for the other two true disciples from her sect—well, they weren't really with their group to begin with, so they naturally didn't need her reminders.
Soon, all participants completed their checks. There were no speeches or rituals before the match; they were simply brought into a formation. Once the formation was activated, everyone would be randomly transported into the island.
At that moment, every face was solemn. They all knew this was not truly a competition, but a slaughter draped in the guise of one. No one knew how many would still be alive by the end.
"Heavenly Chosen War—begin!"
As the sect masters of the Taiqing Sect and the Ten Thousand Ghost Cavern activated the great array, the two hundred figures vanished in an instant. Two hundred streams of light scattered down onto the vast island.
"It's begun! It's begun!"
On the countless smaller islands surrounding the great island, cultivators erupted in excitement. One by one, they cast Water Mirror Arts, projecting images of what was happening inside.
This Heavenly Chosen War was a matter of pride for both orthodox and demonic Dao lineages. It was open for all to watch. Anyone near the island could, with a water mirror, borrow the island's great array to project the images within.
Not only that—they could also precisely track each chosen participant, since every contestant carried an identity token. That made for a perfect anchor to lock onto.
Thus, if someone wanted to observe a particular contender, they could simply fix the mirror upon that token.
Of course, if a contestant didn't want to be spied on, they could remove this lock—by discarding their token.
Doing so would prevent any external tracking, but it also meant giving up their one and only lifesaving safeguard. How to choose was something each contestant had to weigh carefully.
For Gu Mo, however, there was no such dilemma. He simply tossed his identity token into the Black Mist Space, cutting off the tracking. Whenever he needed it, he could retrieve it again.
Without a locked token, no one could trace him. All he had to do was hide, and no one would ever find him.
But before that, he had to deliver equipment to his avatar. A swordless sword cultivator would suffer a massive drop in fighting power.
"Good, not too far!"
Sensing the distance between his true body and avatar, Gu Mo immediately moved to close the gap. Along the way, he spotted a crude wooden chest in a thicket.
That was a supply chest—the lowest grade of them. Opening it, Gu Mo found a few third-tier herbs and a palm-sized alchemy furnace.
Since all participants were at the Golden Core realm, the lowest grade of supplies provided would be tier three. Anything below that was useless. Still, the furnace was a pleasant surprise.
"They even gave out a treasure-grade alchemy furnace." Gu Mo picked up the tiny item. Only furnaces of treasure rank could change size freely. If it had been artifact-rank, it would've been a massive, immovable cauldron.
Stowing away the furnace and herbs, Gu Mo once more sensed his avatar's position. Then he took out two flying swords from the Black Mist Space—one red, one blue.
The blue sword was the ice-attribute weapon he had earlier given to his avatar, already awakened with a nascent spirit. The red sword was a fire-attribute blade, gifted to him by Xuan Tianhen, also carrying an incipient sword spirit.
Both were half-spiritual weapons—swords in which a spirit had been born but not yet fully formed. With steady nurturing from their master, they would eventually become complete spirit weapons.
Such self-nurtured weapons, grown together with their cultivator, were far more compatible and smoother to wield than pre-forged spirit weapons.
A sword one could wield fluently was far more valuable than a stronger sword that resisted its master. That was why Xuan Tianhen had given Gu Mo a half-spirit sword instead of a completed spirit weapon.
Placing the two half-spirit swords into the supply chest, Gu Mo next retrieved twelve bamboo swords. These, too, were for his avatar.
His avatar possessed twelve Sword Cores, capable of arranging the Dutian Twelve-Sword Killing Formation. With twelve external swords as well, the avatar could deploy another formation outside.
When both inner and outer formations erupted together, Gu Mo's combat power would rise another tier.
Beyond swords, Gu Mo also loaded the chest with pills and talismans. These were gifts from his true body. After the avatar had just shown off spectacularly, the demonic sect's true disciples were surely gnashing their teeth in hatred.
Naturally, Gu Mo needed to arm his avatar thoroughly for the coming battles.
Once everything was packed, he waited briefly. When he sensed his avatar approaching, he immediately withdrew. He could not allow the two to meet face-to-face.
With his identity token hidden in the Black Mist Space, no one could track Gu Mo's true body. That allowed him to calmly stock the supply chest.
But the avatar's token remained active. Countless eyes were currently fixed upon it through their water mirrors. Thus, his true body absolutely could not appear alongside it.
Just as Gu Mo expected, his avatar's figure was being displayed in countless water mirrors at that very moment.
"Lock his movement path. Have our nearby people intercept him." On a small island outside the great one, several demonic sect experts stared at the mirror projection of Gu Mo's avatar.
"I've already sent the signal!"
A young man spoke up. His face was identical to one of the demonic sect's Heavenly Chosen inside the island—clearly, this was a puppet avatar.
Though the island's array blocked communications, the demonic sect had devised this workaround. By using the special link between puppet and true body, they could transmit intelligence from outside the array into the island. The true body inside would then release a signal to coordinate ambushes.
"Five responses received!"
The young man quickly added. That meant five of their people had acknowledged the signal.
"Hahaha, Heaven itself aids us!"
Hearing that five people were nearby, one of the Demon Sect powerhouses looked ecstatic. That Lin Wu might be strong, but right now everyone had just entered the island with no equipment on them. A sword cultivator without a sword—his combat strength was at least cut in half.
Five against one, the chances of winning were high. And if they could kill Lin Wu, for the Demon Sect that would be like removing a thorn from their very heart.
A sword cultivator who had comprehended the Great Sun Sword Intent—once he matured, he would become a nightmare for all demonic cultivators.
"The target has stopped moving!"
"The target found a supply chest in the bushes."
"It's the lowest-grade supply chest. Who knows if it contains a flying sword. Even if it's only a magic-tool–grade sword, it would still greatly boost a sword cultivator's strength."
—Assembly Island.
"If this little fellow doesn't find a sword soon, he's going to be in real danger." The Nascent Soul True Monarchs of both righteous and demonic sects watched the giant water screen intently. The image conjured by a Nascent Soul expert's Water Mirror Technique was far clearer than anything ordinary cultivators could project.
Beside the water screen was another one showing the island map. On it were light dots in black and white—100 black, 99 white.
"Who threw away their identity token so early?"
Seeing their side's white dots drop to 99 at the very start, the righteous sect's Nascent Soul experts looked a little helpless. Later on, it would be understandable for someone to discard their token to hide their secrets, but right now? At this stage, when everyone should be scrambling for supplies to boost their strength? Throwing away the token was reckless.
If an accident happened now, they wouldn't even have the life-saving ability that the token provided.
But as five black dots converged on a single white dot, everyone's attention shifted. That Grand Sword Sect genius was in trouble.
Only, when they saw Gu Mo's avatar pull out two half-spirit flying swords from that low-level chest, everyone was dumbfounded.
Then their gazes all turned to the high-ranking figures of both righteous and demonic sects, silently asking if this was some kind of hidden gimmick—planting high-tier items in a low-grade chest on purpose.
Yet the high-level elders were even more bewildered. Especially the two Nascent Soul True Monarchs responsible for distributing supply chests—low-tier chests were never stocked with anything beyond herbs and ores. How could they possibly contain half-spirit artifacts? And two of them, no less!
All supply distribution had been mutually supervised by both sides; there was no way to cheat.
"Wait, isn't that…"
As everyone reeled in confusion, Xuan Tianhen's eyes widened. That fire-attribute half-spirit sword was the very one he had given to Gu Mo.
Which meant… that wasn't something provided by the competition—it was his disciple's own sword. But why had his disciple's flying sword ended up inside a supply chest?
"Holy—what kind of god-tier supply chest is this?!"
And it wasn't just those two half-spirit swords. Inside the chest Gu Mo also pulled out twelve high-grade bamboo swords forged from 3rd-tier Swordheart Bamboo, plus numerous pills and talismans.
This scene left everyone utterly slack-jawed. A low-grade supply chest yielding this much treasure?
But the true shock came when they saw Gu Mo directly absorb the two half-spirit swords into his body without needing to refine them at all. Normally, magic tools and spirit artifacts required refinement before they could be stored within and used to their full potential.
The fact that he could instantly wield them crushed the Demon Sect's last hope—that Gu Mo wouldn't have time to refine the swords before the fight.
As the crowd erupted in disbelief, the corner of Xuan Tianhen's mouth curved upward. He might not know how his disciple had smuggled those items inside, but since these were half-spirit swords he himself had carefully nurtured over time, they were already attuned to Gu Mo. He could unleash their full power from the start.
Which meant…
"Those five Demon Sect prodigies are in serious trouble."
In that instant, everyone's opinion shifted.
"Hurry, tell them to retreat!"
The sudden change threw the Demon Sect into chaos. They immediately had their puppet avatar relay the retreat order to the true bodies inside.
But it was already too late. With the island's formation barrier, communication was sluggish. Before the retreat signal could even be delivered, the five Demon Sect prodigies had already surrounded Gu Mo's avatar.
"So there really is a special channel for the Demon Sect to pass information." Gu Mo looked at the five weaponless demonic prodigies with a smile tugging at his lips.
The moment they entered the island, they had made a beeline for him. That meant they were receiving intelligence from the outside. And since they had rushed to intercept him immediately, they hadn't had the chance to scavenge any supplies for themselves.
"Lin Wu, today is your death day!"
The five, still oblivious to the truth, were elated at their apparent good luck. If they could kill their target, they would be rewarded handsomely—even if they quit the competition right after.
"Oh?"
Seeing their confidence, Gu Mo lifted his hand and summoned forth the half-spirit swords.
"What?!"
The aura radiating from the two swords froze the five in place. As prodigies, they instantly recognized the grade of the blades. It was precisely because they recognized them that their faces turned pale.
"Run!"
A jolt of terror shot through them. Without hesitation, all five turned to flee. But unarmed, against a fully-equipped sword cultivator? Escaping was nothing more than wishful thinking.
"Sigh…"
The cultivators outside, watching through the Water Mirror, couldn't bear to look. It was too tragic—five prodigies cut down in an instant.
Had they been properly equipped, even if they couldn't win, five against one would have at least put up a fight. But like this, it was a slaughter.
Right at the start, the Demon Sect had lost five of their hundred competitors. A heavy blow.
Worse yet, it was a senseless loss. If they had at least wounded the enemy in exchange, their deaths might have carried some weight. But this? This was death without the slightest value.
And worse still—the Demon Sect's remaining prodigies now faced the nightmare of a fully armed, terrifyingly powerful sword cultivator hunting them down.
While everyone else still lacked equipment, facing such a monster was nothing short of despair.
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)