Cultivation: But Not a Game-Chapter 301 - 211: Zhongyuan Mountain Arena, Masters Emerge One After Another
Zhongyuan Island is located at the western part of Blue Mountain Island, at the north-south boundary, and is an absolutely neutral city.
The City Lord is a Celestial Immortal who achieved through loose cultivation, remaining neutral and not biased towards any sect.
Due to the absolute neutrality, disciples from the righteous and demon factions love to set up arenas here to challenge the opposite camp, which happens a few times almost every year.
With the ultra-fast speed of the Primordial Magnet Radiant Escape, Su Yu took only two days to reach the west side of Blue Mountain Island from the Xuanzhen Immortal Sect.
Upon entering the Zhongyuan Island area, he opened the local regional channel to check messages.
Speaking of which, after staying in the Fallen Star Islands for half a year, he got used to the overarching Vast Void God Net covering all places, and now he felt somewhat unaccustomed to the independently operating regional channels of Blue Mountain Island.
Zhongyuan Island, being the largest neutral city of Blue Mountain Island, has a huge flow of people, making the regional channel extremely noisy. However, the arena battles between the two factions are an exclusive major event of Zhongyuan Island, generating high heat. As soon as he opened the channel, he saw people talking about it.
"This time the scale of the battle is quite large, with true disciples from Xuanzhen Immortal Sect, Brahma Heaven Buddhist Sect, and Nine Heavens Sword Sect participating, and the Yin Yang Demon Sect and Blood Demon Hall also having true disciples responding. It’s bound to be a rare dragon and tiger fight."
"Moreover, this time it’s not just about true disciples joining, the stakes are very high; participants must put forth 10,000 taels of gold as the registration fee, and to mutually challenge, they must present stakes."
"Yes, I heard a Tier Seven flying sword or magic artifact, or more than 1,000 taels of gold as the minimum stake, with the winner taking the stakes."
"That’s just the common participant’s stake; I heard the stakes put forth by true disciples are at least Tier Eight flying swords or magic artifacts or tens of thousands of taels of gold."
"Hiss, so exaggerated?"
"I must buy a ticket to watch."
Speeding all the way, Su Yu soon saw Zhongyuan City nestled among the mountains, surrounded by a massive Sect Defense Array, with the most conspicuous sight being a gigantic inverted mountain peak hanging in the sky above the city, visible from afar.
From the chatter in the regional channel, it’s known that this inverted peak is the so-called arena, heavily packed with servitude prohibitions, densely populated with figures gathered atop.
Su Yu arrived as the arena battles were already underway, but he could join in at any point.
Su Yu flew up to the inverted mountain peak, and there was only one arena on the vast mountaintop.
This arena was set with a spatial array, not looking large from the outside, but it contained a world within.
At the center of the arena was what seemed like just a 1,000-meter round light bowl, yet it was actually a space of Grotto Heaven with a diameter of thousands of kilometers, sufficient for the martial arts of even a Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal.
The spectator seats circling around were similarly expansive, enough to host millions of spectators watching the battle simultaneously.
Entering the arena required a ticket purchase, one silver per ticket.
This couldn’t help but remind Su Yu of the Thousand Feather Association back then, where the guild’s arena also cost one silver per ticket.
Time flies, years unknowingly have passed, Su Yu had grown up, but the Thousand Feather Association had become history.
Su Yu did not spend 10,000 gold to register; he merely spent 10 gold to buy a front-row ticket, walking into the arena with his hands behind his back.
The true disciple Wan Yu did not invite him for assistance, spending 10,000 gold to enter and having to take out stakes for a challenge would only be done by a fool with a broken mind.
Spending 10 gold allows sitting in the front row, clearly witnessing the duel between faction experts, isn’t it a pleasure.
If wanting to test the artifact’s power, it can randomly look for some experts in the Demon Sect region later.
Su Yu was quite lucky; a battle was already ongoing at the arena, with high-ranking participants—a monk from Brahma Heaven Buddhist Sect and a familiar face from Blood Demon Hall, both having established their Dao Foundation, ranked 130+, evenly matched.
This was Su Yu’s first encounter with a Buddhist player, as Brahma Heaven Buddhist Sect was active in the northern and northwestern parts of Blue Mountain Island, seldom venturing into other areas. He had met less than ten Buddhist disciples in total over so long.
Within the Grotto Heaven, the core disciple of Blood Demon Hall activated the sect’s Blood River Grand Skill, transforming into a Sea of Blood stretching several kilometers, stirring up monstrous blood waves, with countless Blood God Children shuttling back and forth in the sea.
Amid the Sea of Blood hovered a white lotus, upon which a handsome monk clad in golden robes sat cross-legged, hands clasped in prayer, enveloped by a thick layer of golden light shielding his body, immovable despite the surging blood waves and the ceaseless impact from myriad Blood God Children.
Little Sandalwood Buddha Light!
One of the sect-level forbidden skills of Buddhism, refined with divine merit into demon-subduing Buddha Light, combining offense and defense, it was extremely powerful.
Su Yu had just seated himself, when the monk launched a counterattack.
"Great Light Wheel Demon Subduing Spell!"
Muttering incantations, a light wheel of Buddha light emerged behind his head, within which countless monk apparitions joined their hands in prayer, merging into a resounding demon-subduing Buddhist chant, as the monk extended his hands palm outward, sending Buddha light surging upwards like tides fiiling everywhere.
As the ubiquitous Sea of Blood met the Buddha light in the void, it swiftly ignited, reducing to ashes.
Each Blood God Child that approached was halted by Buddha light, their blood color gradually fading, replaced by a slowly coating golden hue.
In no time, each Blood God Child had been forcibly converted by Buddha light, flying into the monk’s light wheel behind his head to become one of his protectors.
The Blood Demon Hall expert immediately responded by taking out a magic banner and tossing it, the banner expanded rapidly in the sky, turning into a mountain-sized magic banner descending.
In the next moment, two gigantic Buddha hands stretched out, slowly supporting the descending magic banner.
"Boom!"
The Buddha’s light shook violently, and the sea of blood surged.
The demonic banner failed in its strike and immediately spewed blood flames. The countless ghosts and deities engraved on its surface turned real, each turning into a Blood Demon God and ghostly demons pouncing towards the monk.
"Mere child’s play!"
The golden wheel behind the monk’s head opened, releasing countless subdued figures that flew out, clashing with the numerous ghosts around them.
Although it was his first time seeing it, Su Yu recognized that the light wheel behind the monk’s head was a high-grade Buddhist treasure, also a powerful divine technique. It combined space treasures and Buddhist divine techniques to form a Buddha Country, absorbing many subdued demons into the Buddha Country behind his head, enhancing the monk’s power and calling them out to fight in crucial moments.
The subdued demons’ true spirits become one with the Buddha Country, allowing them to resurrect within it even if they fall in battle.
Only Buddhist cultivators who have established a superior Dao Foundation can cultivate a Buddha Country, which is one of the thresholds for mastery within Buddhism.
Su Yu watched with great interest, enjoying snacks and drinks, feeling very pleased.
It’s a pity there’s no beauty to accompany him; Vast Sea cannot reveal herself at this time, otherwise it would be even more delightful.
Both of these cultivators are masters, with closely matched strengths. The Buddhist and demonic magics clashed back and forth for nearly an hour, eventually ending with the Buddhist master smiling victoriously.
The foundation of the Buddhist Heart Skill is too solid, enduring and resilient, with no weaknesses in attack and defense, making it more enduring than the demonic skills when the two sides are evenly matched.
As the battle between these two ended, within less than ten seconds, two more people jumped into the arena in the Grotto Heaven.
One was from the Nine Heavens Sword Sect, and the other from the Yin Yang Demon Sect, both at the Loose Immortal level.
The Nine Heavens Sword Sect is renowned for its swords, with ninety-nine percent being advanced sword cultivators. Unlike Xuanzhen Immortal Sect which has thirty-six true disciples, the Nine Heavens Sword Sect only has Nine Heavens Sword Disciples, each wielding a Tier Nine Immortal Sword, with their combined combat power and skill level unsurpassed among the sects.
The Yin Yang Demon Sect, on the other hand, is divided into Yin and Yang branches, each with nine true disciples, for a total of eighteen.
The competitor was from the Yin branch, practicing an indiscernible heart skill, not a true disciple of the Yin Yang Demon Sect, yet their mastery of the Tai Yin Divine Shield was flawless, extremely powerful, blocking all of the Nine Heavens Sword Sect’s sword skills and ultimately defeating the opponent directly.
This divine shield technique caught Su Yu’s interest immensely, but unfortunately, it can only be cultivated after establishing the Dao Foundation.
Alternatively, additional practice is required. If one’s primary Qi Refining Heart Skill level is high enough, a complementary divine shield method usually emerges automatically after establishing the Dao Foundation.
The upcoming competitors were all masters with varying skill levels from each sect, including several Loose Immortals and many advanced Qi Refining cultivators who haven’t established the Dao Foundation. Though Su Yu felt they were not his opponents, they certainly exceeded their peers, with many capable of challenging Foundation Establishment cultivators across significant stages.
To Su Yu’s surprise, after watching for four to five hours, he saw Ding Lingyu appear on the stage.
His opponent was a peer from the Blood Demon Hall.
It had been a long time since they last met, and Ding Lingyu had made significant progress. His strength no longer relied solely on the transformation into a divine warrior but rather on a solid combination of mana and Daoism, integrating offense and defense, and even winning a round.
Su Yu admired his performance and sent him a message:
"Nice, you’ve finally found your path!"
Ding Lingyu quickly replied:
"Are you here too?"
"Why haven’t I spotted you?"
Seated in the front, Su Yu could clearly see Ding Lingyu looking around the competitor seating area from not far away and replied with a smile:
"I’m not participating. I’m watching you fight from the audience."
Ding Lingyu reached the edge of the competitor’s seating and surveyed the audience, saying:
"Do you have time? Let me treat you to a meal later."
"Of course, I have time."
The two arranged a time, and Su Yu turned off his communicator to continue watching the match.
Not long after, he suddenly saw a familiar face, Ye Xiyi, under Wandering Dragon Ancestor’s tutelage.
Having not seen him for over six months, his strength had also improved, surpassing Ding Lingyu not only in cultivation but also with very high levels in various Dao and forbidden techniques, and his arsenal was impressive, possessing two Tier Eight treasures.
For someone at the Qi Refining stage, he was exceptional, while someone of Ding Lingyu’s ability would definitely not be his opponent.
Yet, unfortunately, his opponent was even more formidable.
His opponent was from the Yin Yang Demon Sect, specializing in the demonic head flow, and used an unknown secret skill to incredibly cultivate a full three pairs of Yin Yang Demon Gods.
Yin Yang Demon Gods are unique life-bound demons of the Yin Yang Demon Sect, divided into Yin and Yang pairs, with levels matching the individual’s Qi Refining cultivation. The true self and demon gods are of one thought, unable to use treasures but capable of mastering most magic, which in itself is quite formidable.
The three pairs of Yin Yang Demon Gods are equivalent to six avatars each mastering most of their true self’s Daoist techniques, combining their forces with the host, overlapping their various magics sevenfold, exploding with tremendous power.
However, this wasn’t the most formidable aspect; the most formidable part was that these life-bound demon gods weren’t merely stacking but were independent entities capable of individually wielding various magics to coordinate with the main body, truly the most formidable skill of all.
