I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World

Chapter 121: Chapter 103: Fighting Their Own Battles

By the riverside in the dense forest, the sky was dim, and the cold wind was piercing.

Jiang Yuebai set up a Golden Light Array with a set of array flags for defense, leaned against a tree, and took out a Revitalizing Pill and some external wound medicine.

The wounds all over her body burned painfully; the Revitalizing Pill went down her throat but couldn’t relieve it. Jiang Yuebai tried to circulate her internal energy to accelerate the medicine’s effect, and immediately her body felt as if it was being sliced by knives.

Hiss——

Jiang Yuebai gasped in pain and checked her wounds. With her physique, the bleeding should have stopped long ago, but now it was still continuously oozing blood, and the external medicine was of no use.

”Damn Sword Qi!”

Sword Qi is a special spiritual energy transformed by a sword cultivator using a sharp sword and stored in the Dantian. It’s difficult to remove, causing wounds to bleed continuously and hard to heal; every time she circulates her internal energy, her meridians get cut, making it very troublesome.

When Jiang Yuebai fought with Lu Nanzhi, her Sword Qi had water and ice attributes, which could be resolved by countering with fire; the same applied to other Five Elements Sword Qi.

Zhuo Qingfeng’s Sword Qi was of the wind attribute, invisible and traceless, and Jiang Yuebai didn’t know how to resolve it for a moment.

Over the years, she studied the Five Elements Three Wonders and knew that ice comes from water and metal can attract thunder. She read in books that wind comes from fire but couldn’t understand it or comprehend it.

At present, the only plan was to forcibly gather the Sword Qi at one point and expel it from her body, but doing so would damage her meridians, requiring three to five days of recovery.

Jiang Yuebai simply bandaged her wounds and stood up, releasing three Cloud Lark Puppets to scout the surroundings.

A moment later, Jiang Yuebai saw through the Movie Viewing Mirror that the dense forest was boiling with Evil Qi, shadows of ghosts loomed, and that direction was also on her must-pass route.

After a brief contemplation, Jiang Yuebai decided to temporarily ignore the Sword Qi within her. As long as she didn’t excessively run her spiritual energy, it wouldn’t harm her.

She swallowed a Fasting Pill, leaned on a long spear, and stepped into the dense forest.

After hastily traveling a mile, the dense forest was deep, cold, and void of any light.

Crows cawed, and anguished spirits wailed.

Jiang Yuebai’s eyes could see in the dark, and she saw black mist drifting around, with green eyes flashing within, eerily terrifying—it was clearly Yin Evil Ghosts.

The rustling noises grew denser and closer.

Her heart tightened, and Jiang Yuebai clutched her spear, staying on guard.

The Evil Mist closed in, dozens of Evil Ghosts rushed in like meteors, dragging long tails of black mist.

Jiang Yuebai didn’t hesitate, and with a flick of her hand, she used an Earth Escape Talisman.

In the small-scale competition, only by killing other disciples would it count as a kill; even if her kill count didn’t match others’, being able to hold out on Flat Peak Mountain till the last moment was a victory.

That was her ultimate goal, and before reaching the foot of Flat Peak Mountain, aside from killing other disciples, there was no need to waste physical strength and spiritual energy.

Jiang Yuebai was very clear about this, so she didn’t linger in battle.

As the Escape Talisman activated halfway, Jiang Yuebai suddenly crashed into an invisible barrier and fell out from underground.

With a sharp cry, a bloodred ghost claw came down on her, and Jiang Yuebai rolled and thrust her spear upward.

Thunder restrained the evil, and the Evil Ghost screamed tragically, turning into flying ash.

Jiang Yuebai scrambled to her feet, and with the Heavenly Eye Technique, surveyed her surroundings, realizing she was trapped inside a Ghost Array.

The atmosphere was oppressive and cold; Evil Ghosts hidden all around were ready to move.

On the square, seeing Jiang Yuebai trapped, True Monarch Fuyi, who was secretly watching her, had a gleam in his eyes, curious to see how she would break the formation and assess her talent in Array Dao.

When she fought Zhuo Qingfeng earlier, the Water Gathering Array Plate she carved was quite good, knowing to utilize the abundant Water Spirit Energy from the river, proving her fundamentals were solid.

Jiang Yuebai didn’t know that she had already caught the attention of the True Monarch Fuyi she longed for. If she performed well, she would surely gain True Monarch Fuyi’s favor. She only knew that she needed to get out quickly because the Sword Qi inside her was yet to be expelled.

Once again, three Evil Ghosts howled out from the Evil Mist, and Jiang Yuebai threw out three Nine-Grade Fire Bomb Talismans, simultaneously making a single-handed seal and pressing the Earth-Shaking Technique onto the Ghost Array Barrier with force.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flames soared into the sky, and under the fiery red light, the Ghost Array Barrier exploded into an empty space under the dense shock force of the Five Layered Earth-Shaking Technique.

The surrounding Evil Mist surged and closed, and Jiang Yuebai switched to a Wood Escape Talisman, took a swift step into an ancient tree next to her, and vanished.

True Monarch Fuyi’s expectations fell through, his eyes flashed with disappointment, and he turned his gaze to Hee Wangchen, whom he had just taken under his teaching.

The skinny black youth was among the chaotic rocks halfway up the mountain, surrounded by wolves, and with hidden killing intent in the Illusion Array.

After initially panicking and getting injured, he gradually calmed down, accurately found the weak point of the Illusion Array but chose not to break it directly. Instead, he used the arraying formation tools on him to alter the Illusion Array into a Killing Array and counterkill the wolves.

True Monarch Fuyi nodded with satisfaction; no matter when, Array Dao Disciples can always utilize the terrain to break and set up formations, turning disadvantages into advantages.

”Fuyi, you’ve found a good disciple.”

Wenn Ci, secretly observing the other outstanding disciples, happened to see Hee Wangchen altering the array and breaking out, couldn’t help but praise.

True Monarch Fuyi nodded, looking indifferent.

”That Jiang Yuebai, who was impressive earlier, how come she’s now like a turtle hiding in its shell, just running away?”

”Exactly, she’s using her Escape Talismans as if they’re free, escaping at ease.”

There were whispers around, many who were watching Jiang Yuebai shook their heads and sighed, diverting their attention to the one hundred names gradually appearing beside the mirage.

At this time, the top ten on the ranking were all disciples of the Sword Sect, with sword-shaped marks before their names, conspicuous.

”It’s just the beginning, Sword Sect taking the lead for now isn’t significant. Sword Sect has five outstanding individuals, our Heavenly Interence Sect besides Lu Nanzhi, Xie Jingshan, Song Zhi’ang, and then there’s Hee Wangchen, whom True Monarch Fuyi just took in, are all worth watching.”

”Not only that, but Shen Huaxi is also severely underestimated by everyone. Qing Nangzi is affiliated with our Heavenly Interence Sect, although he rarely shows up, his Medical Dao is extraordinary. Shen Huaxi learning from him is surely proficient in self-preservation and concealment, might just hold on till the end to seize the fisherman’s gain. I haven’t even figured out where he’s hiding.”

”Yes, besides these few, our Heavenly Interence Sect’s top ten on the combat strength list aren’t bad either. Look over at that mountain hollow, Zhou Shishui and Liu Sizhen are working well together; Zhou Shishui focuses on Body Refining up front, while Liu Sizhen devastates from the back with her Fire Meteor Fire Rain, they’re already... wow, they’ve entered the top twenty.”

”Is that Song Zhi’ang? The amount of magic artifacts he’s brought is quite significant, mimicking Yuu Qiuqi’s hundred artifacts mastery. Look, he hammered that Sword Sect disciple into submission, forcing him to run, hahaha.”

The leaderboard was ever-changing, heroes sprouted like bamboo shoots after a rain, emerging one after another.

Once famous, once unknown, now all shone on the list, competing fiercely, continuously shifting.

The crowd pursued these names, searching within the mirage.

Zhuo Qingfeng swept through all he encountered, killing humans, slaughtering beasts.

Lu Nanzhi encountered a giant puppet ape halfway up the mountain, one person and one sword, piercing the blue sky, like astonishing snow blooming.

”You rats, eat this sword from your master!”

Xie Jingshan engaged in close combat, taunting endlessly to disturb minds, his sword force fierce, like wind and fire.

Deep in the forest, Yun Shang was agile as a fox, opened the way with Thunder Fire, Spiritual Rats on alert, Spiritual Insects defending her body.

An old white ape commanded from behind, traversing mountains and water without contest, only pushing toward Flat Peak Mountain.

And the much-watched disciple of Sword Sect, Zhao Kun struck with the Spiritual Heavy Sword, shattering the mountain, repelling a three-man assault, carrying the huge sword on his shoulder, taunting that no one from Heavenly Interence Sect dared to face him.

Hua Yingshi cut with a single sword, myriad flowers bloomed, flying flowers filled the sky, slaughtering hundreds of ghosts, rescuing two Sword Sect disciples. Without staying with them, she moved forward alone.

Xie Qianjin and Xie Qiancheng, siblings with connected bloodlines sensing each other, teamed up to fight numerous demonic beasts.

One wielded a broad sword with sweeping force, robust power; the other with a light sword moved swiftly, frost glinting on the sword, their Two Principles Sword Array stood invincible, dual swords dominating proudly.

The brilliance shone forth from the pouches; all the heroes unveiled their own light.

Jiang Yuebai traveled most of the day and stopped atop a canyon cliff, seeing five people surrounded by Human-Faced Spiders below, fighting bloodily.

She immediately revealed herself and shouted, ”Hey, need some help?”

Her clear voice echoed, and the five Sword Cultivators looked up to see a young maiden standing on the cliff, with a full round moon behind her, her clothes fluttering.

She scattered a handful of Fire Bomb Talismans like sowing seeds, a sly grin on her lips.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The flames shot to the skies, and the Human-Faced Spiders turned to ash, the five sword cultivators fell out of the Mirror World in amazement, still wearing traces of firelight.

Jiang Yuebai’s name instantly leaped into the top hundred.

”No need to thank me, let’s just call it a good karma~”

Jiang Yuebai jumped off the cliff and continued moving forward, not far behind her, someone emerged from a tree, silently following her distant silhouette...