~SHATTER~
"MEI NIENZHEN!" The people in the audience cried out as they saw the body of the woman shatter.
"She's dead!"
"Killing is forbidden! How could Mu Lin do this?"
An uproar spread through the crowd, with some stunned about Mei Nienzhen's defeat while some cried out about Lin Mu delivering a fatal attack. But even in the audience, there were several people that were calm.
They knew better than to think that Lin Mu had killed someone like this.
"Mu Lin! How dare you kill Mei Nienzhen!" The youth in the audience shouted in range.
~THWACK~
But then a fist hammered on his head.
"Shut up you buffoon!" The youth's uncle shouted. "Do you think the people of the temple are fools? They haven't interfered, not said anything yet. Do you think you are qualified to do that?!"
His word served to warn others as well, as they started to calm down. And when they looked at the ring again, they were surprised.
"Wait… how did she?"
"She's still there?"
In the ring, the cold faced woman stood some distance from her earlier position. The arrow that had shot towards her was now frozen and lying on the ground, while Lin Mu stood beside the Ice Lotus.
"Just as I thought, that wasn't even your real body." Lin Mu spoke.
Mei Nienzhen's expression fluctuated a bit, as a doubt appeared on her face.
"You… Managed to see it?" She replied, her voice reaching Lin Mu like a breeze.
"Indeed." Lin Mu nodded. "I must say it is an impeccable masking skill… Creating a substitute of ice that is hard to differentiate and can also hide your presence… Impressive." He praised.
Lin Mu had been feeling that something was strange right from the start when he had seen Mei Nienzhen. The fact that there were barely any energy fluctuations in her body was the first point of interest for him.
At first, he had thought that it was some immortal tool, but as the fight went on, Lin Mu realized that it was actually a skill.
The second point was the fact that Mei Nienzhen had barely moved from her position. She had only moved her hands to attack and even that was mild gestures. The true power had been coming in from the Ice Lotus with the Iridescent stamens.
The fact that he couldn't see a clear link of energy between the two also showed that there was something else going on.
And once Lin Mu had seen the attacks of the Ice Lotus, he had been able to sense hidden energy links between Mei Nienzhen and the Lotus. What was strange was that they were still coming from her, just that they were hidden underground.
Mei Nienzhen had frozen the ground underneath her and connected to the Ice Lotus. Which she further controlled using her fingers and immortal sense.
And when Lin Mu's arrow finally stuck her, it was revealed.
Mei Nienzhen had in fact, coated her entire body in a thin layer of ice that was transparent. It made her energy fluctuations be contained as well as masked the other energy links that she was using to control.
After all, they simply felt like ice masking the presence of the energy.
Seeing that Mei Nienzhen was unable to block the arrow, she chose to sacrifice her skill and use it to create a substitute that would take the attack while she herself retreated.
'Misdirection, deceit, and fast attacks that render one immobile…' Lin Mu concluded his analysis of Mei Nienzhen.
~SHING~
Having understood this much, Lin Mu was now done probing and decided to take a direct approach.
"Should we finish this then?" Lin Mu asked while walking towards the cold faced woman.
~Sigh~
"Yes… I surrender." Mei Nienzhen replied, much to everyone's shock.
"Huh?" Lin Mu had not expected that at all and was left stunned.
His rising aura suddenly dissipated while Wonder Seeker and Afternoon Pine were also confused.
"WHAT!?" it wasn't long before the audience broke out in uproar again.
"How can she admit defeat?"
"Is she exhausted?"
"Maybe she's injured."
The people tried to figure out the reasoning behind her actions but couldn't do so.
"Mei Nienzhen has admitted defeat! Mu Lin is the winner!" The referee announced, declaring the results.
With that done, Mei Nienzhen turned around and walked towards the seat. But before she could go, a voice drifted over.
"You could still fight? Why would you give up?" Lin Mu asked with genuine confusion.
Mei Nienzhen stopped for a second but didn't reply. She simply shook her head and left the ring.
Lin Mu was left staring at the back of her head.
What he didn't see was Mei Nienzhen's lips move.
"I've done enough, so mother won't scold me. Now I can go sleep."
A slight smile appeared on her face before quickly disappearing. She looked at her fingertips that had had red spots on them.
"He still managed to face me to use half of my strength… And it didn't seem like he was using all of his either. Interesting…" Mei Nienzhen muttered before disappearing in a swirl of frost.
Unaware of Mei Nienzhen's thoughts, Lin Mu returned to his seat. Having obtained his first win, Lin Mu didn't really feel that content.
'I was prepared with several strategies… and now they are going to be left as it is.' Lin Mu let out a sigh.
Deciding to let it be for now, Lin Mu sat back on his seat and put Little Shrubby on his lap.
"Why did that woman give up?" Little Shrubby couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know…" Lin Mu shook his head.
"Is it because she was hurt? I could smell blood." Little Shrubby replied.
"Huh? Blood?" Lin Mu couldn't recall seeing any blood being spilled. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I could smell blood." Little Shrubby confirmed.
'I guess she really was injured and didn't want to show it…' Lin Mu reckoned but was still harboring several doubts.
By the time Lin Mu's fight with Mei Nienzhen was over, it was already quite late at night.
Of course, the matches wouldn't stop just because it was night time. The tournament would continue nonstop until all of the preliminary matches were over. The preliminary matches would reduce the number of contestants by six times.
After all, if one wanted to qualify for the preliminary matches, one had to defeat five cultivators without losing. Thus out of six, only one person would continue their journey while the rest would have to wait till the next tournament.
He watched three more matches and practiced with the Nine Divine Heart Sutras before he felt his token hum again.
"That was fast…" Lin Mu saw that his next match had been scheduled. "Oh, it's two days from now? That's far…" he muttered.
"We can now go look at other places." Little Shrubby suggested.
"Ah yes! Let's get another thing ready till then." Lin Mu hadn't forgotten his plan to earn a pretty profit.
He left the ring and went in search of an acquaintance.
"Now then… where would Luo Liqin be?" Lin Mu wondered.
His spread his immortal sense and searched the ring where Luo Liqin and Yao Changying's fight had occurred in. And sure enough, it didn't take long for him to discover the injured man.
He was in one of the recovery pavilions that had been built next to most of the rings.
With how many contestants got injured during the fights, this was some time that was necessary for a tournament of this scale. The people of the temple of the four guardian beasts had healers ready to take care of the injured contestants.
While they wouldn't fully heal them, they would at least prevent them from immediate death and surface injuries.
Luo Liqin had been injured quite a bit by Yao Changying and thus had to rest at the recovery pavilion.
Having found the man, Lin Mu quickly reached the recovery pavilion where he was stopped at the entrance.
"Who are you here for?" An attendant asked.
"Luo Liqin is here, I assume?" Lin Mu asked. "I am a friend."
"Alright." The attendant took a look at Lin Mu before letting him in.
While it wasn't likely for someone to hurt or attack the injured contestants under the watchful eye of the temple, this level of security was still needed.
After all, there were bad-faith actors everywhere in the world. A little caution served well and went a long distance.
Entering the recovery pavilion, Lin Mu saw tens of beds, half of which were currently occupied. There were injured cultivators lying on them, some more injured than others. The most severe seemed to be a man who was missing an entire leg.
Luo Liqin was also one of the people that was heavily injured.
"Hello, Luo Liqin." Lin Mu spoke after approaching the man.
Luo Liqin opened his eyes, surprise evident in them. "Daoist Mu Lin?" he said in a hoarse voice.
