"Even now…" A few words escaped Yang Jagak's lips as he collapsed to the ground.
A pool of blood formed around him as the cut on his chest kept on bleeding.
"Xiong An is the winner!" The referee announced.
~WOOOO~
The sound of cheers could be heard coming from the crowd, the excitement of the battle surging through them. The sudden change in the personality and styles of the two contestants was good enough to catch their attention and serve as the perfect way to cement the image of the two.
One could imagine that even after losing the match, Yang Jagak's reputation would still be rising. After all, from what they had seen, he was matched with an appropriate contestant. The audience liked when a match was between two similarly matched contestants rather than one overpowering the other entirely.
The reasoning for that was obvious as it provided more entertainment factors as well as giving better learning opportunities for the people watching.
After all, there were many people who here hear to learn and obtain experience, Lin Mu being one of them.
"I still need to test out more…" Lin Mu muttered as he went over what he had learned about the Calming Heart Sutra and the Burning heart sutra.
While he did this, Yang Jagak and Xiong An were taken away for treatment after which the the next match finally started.
"Mo Zhenzui and Yu Heng come to the ring!" The announcement was given while the faces of the two contestants were shown on the formation screen.
Lin Mu looked at it as well, finding it to be a woman and a man this time. They didn't make anyone wait for long and in just a few seconds they were already in the ring.
Mo Zhenzui looked to be in her twenties and was beautiful while Yu Heng was a man who looked rather old. At the very least, he looked to be in his fifties. But the surprising part was that both the cultivators were at the Third Tribulation Stage of the immortal realm.
"Oh? Seems like we'll have a good battle this time."
"Yeah, the strong contestants are finally appearing."
The audience was pleased as they wanted to see more strong immortals. They had heard that the other rings had their share of strong immortals, and the wanted them too. After all, if their ring didn't get any they would feel like they were missing out.
Of course, they could choose to switch their rings but there was no guarantee they would find enough place to sit in the other rings. Not to mention there were others who had their matches in this ring, and would thus have to return to the ring.
Leaving the ring would only make them delayed for later and thus it would not be good for them.
"Hohoho, seems like I shall be educated by a junior this time." Yu Heng spoke, his voice a bit raspy.
"Senior or junior doesn't matter in a battle. All that matters is who is stronger." Mo Zhenzui said in a plain voice.
Yu Heng narrowed his brows while his smile stiffed.
"As you wish." Yu Heng said and cupped his hands in salute.
Mo Zhenzui did the same before the referee spoke.
"Fight!"
~HONG~
As soon as the command was give, Yu Heng moved. Eighteen large metal beads appeared around his wrists, each the size of lemons. Lin Mu looked at the beads finding them to be a mid grade immortal tool.
'This is new…' Lin Mu hadn't seem something like this before.
While he had seen many immortal and spirit tools that were in the form of beads, they were usually supportive or defensive in use. But the current ones were clearly meant for offense.
Yu Heng thrust out his hand while extending his index fingers and thumbs.
"HAH!" Letting out a cry the Eighteen metal beads flew out at great speed.
They whistled through the air while turning into mere blurs.
Mo Zhenzui narrowed her eyes and withdrew her weapons as well. A pair of large fans appeared in her hands, one red, one green which she quickly waved.
~WHOOSH~
A barrier of wind surrounded her her body, preventing the metal beads from hitting her. The beads bounced off the wind barrier and returned to Yu Heng.
"Oh? Seems like this junior is capable." Yu Heng said seeing that his attack had been thwarted.
"A mere surprise attack isn't enough to harm me." Mo Zhenzui said as she straightened the red fan. "Great Savannah Blaze Fan!"
The red fan burst into flames as a great heat poured out of it. Then with the wave of Mo Zhenzui's hand, the flames spread around the ring. The flames were incredibly hot, and could easily melt iron and bronze.
Yu Heng narrowed his eyes but wasn't one to back down from a fight so easily. He pinched his middle finger and thumb together before turning his wrist. This caused the metal beads of his left hand to spread out in a circle before spinning rapidly.
~HUMM~
The metal beads let out a humming sound, as they reached a resonant frequency.
In the next moment, the flames and the beads collided.
The flames were blocked in the center by the metal beads while the rest of the parts could progress as usual. It was as if a wave of fire had been split in half, while Yu Heng stood in the center.
"What is that technique?" the people in the audience couldn't help but question.
"The Eighteen Mala Mystic Art… I never thought I'd see it again." One of the older elders in the audience spoke.
"You know about it?" The others asked.
"Yes… It is something that is not from our world. It belongs to the Buddhist orthodoxy and it is rare to see non-monks practice it." The old man answered.
"So it is a Buddhist technique?" The people asked.
"Its source is indeed Buddhist, but Yu Heng does not seem to be cultivating any Buddhist energies. Instead it seems like he has adapted the skill to his immortal Qi cultivation base." The old man explained.
Lin Mu who heard this was intrigued.
'A skill from the Buddhist Orthodoxy huh… this is the first one I've seen.' Lin Mu had the calming heart sutra which was the representative of the Buddhist path, thus his interest in the Eighteen Mala mystic art was expected.
"It is a mere cheap imitation." But much to Lin Mu's surprise Xukong actually commented.
"It's not good?" Lin Mu raised a brow.
Xukong had been cultivating and hadn't been focusing much on the outside. But it seemed like he had taken a break to see how Lin Mu was doing. Of course, if Lin Mu had asked anything, the spider would have answered him, but there had been no need so far.
"The true Eighteen Mala Mystic Art is a Buddhist skill that is fierce yet elegant. But that is only when it is used by a Buddhist cultivator that had nurtured the beads properly using Buddhist energy.
That Yu Heng seems to have found it somewhere randomly as it seems to be incomplete too." Xukong explained. "Besides he isn't using the right type of beads either." He added.
Lin Mu had read a bit about the Buddhist cultivators from different books as well as from the Lost immortal's memoirs and knew that they often used items like prayer beads, rosaries, staffs, clothes, scarfs, rings and more to fight.
And in that he had seen the descriptions of these weapons and tools.
"They should be made out of wood, if recall correctly?" Lin Mu asked.
"Indeed. They are to be made of either wood, or special seeds. The wood needs to be nurtured in Buddhist energies while the seeds need to be blessed by the Joss smoke. But Yu Heng is using metal beads." Xukong replied.
"Guess he couldn't used the wooden beads with it as it wouldn't work for him." Lin Mu assumed.
"Of course. His Eighteen Mala Mystic Art is a mere imitation that too not a good one." Xukong scoffed.
Seeing that Xukong had a low image of Yu Heng, Lin Mu switched his attention to Mo Zhenzui. Her use of fans also seemed to be rather different and he felt like he had heard about them.
'A Red and green fan huh… with the red one called as the Great Savanna Blaze Fan.' Lin Mu tried to recall where he had heard about it.
A few seconds, it finally clicked and he quickly pulled out a jade slip.
"Of course… She was one of the rankers." Lin Mu read through the information that was in the jade slip.
Mo Zhenzui was one of the good candidates and had several entries in the various information slips. They even described about her battle style, as she had previously fought in one of the many banquets that were organized in the capital city!
"Interesting… They are actually Mid Grade immortal weapons, but when used together they are equivalent to a High Grade." Lin Mu muttered.
