Volume 8, Chapter 556 – Arrival at the Immortal-Forging Platform

“Impossible! The poison in this sword comes from the Flame Scorpion’s sting. Even a cultivator of my same strength would find it extremely difficult to resist. Why are you unaffected?”

Though Fu Xin’s body was immobilized, his head shook frantically in disbelief.

Cheng Hongling withdrew her sword and strode away elegantly. The Profound Ice on the ground gradually began to melt.

“I initially thought the Huarong Sect chose you as their Holy Maiden out of desperation! Now it seems you are at least a passable substitute!”

Fu Xin slowly clambered out of the swamp.

“A substitute? By tonight at the latest, you’ll realize I am her superior replacement.”

Qi Huang casually tossed out the remark before following after her.

“Haha, my disciple wins again. She always wins. Surely, someone must be very disappointed?”

Shi Yuqi offered a sarcastic, mocking comment, then scurried after them like a devoted follower.

“The Sect Leader was right. The Holy Maiden truly is capable of anything!”

Protector Yuan sighed with emotion, the worry on her face completely vanishing. She strode forward purposefully, her back ramrod straight.

In stark contrast, Hua Meng and her disciple wore gloomy expressions, their eyes shifty, filled with both disappointment and embarrassment.

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“Don’t worry, there will be more opportunities later!” Ping Yan tried to comfort her disciple.

“Sigh! It’s useless. Aside from those few monsters, someone like Fu Xin is already considered top-tier among the younger generation. If even he can’t defeat her, then there’s even less hope for anyone else!” Hua Meng lamented with deep sighs.

“Don’t lose heart! While there might be no one stronger than Fu Xin, you mustn’t forget there are many more obstacles ahead on the path. Fighting her way through continuously will eventually exhaust her. That’s when your chance will come again!” Ping Yan explained.

“Hmm?” Hua Meng’s eyes lit up, the gloom on her face swept away in an instant.

“The Huarong Sect’s Holy Maiden won again? And against Fu Xin! He’s a genius ranked just below the Nine Monsters. I’ve never heard of him losing to any peer cultivator with a bloodline purity below nine points!”

“It seems we were all wrong. The Huarong Sect abandoning Hua Yu wasn’t some act of desperation. This Jiang Ling’s talent is definitely not much worse than hers!”

“This is the first time in my life I’ve seen an ordinary cultivator with talent comparable to those monsters! It seems the Bloodline Wheel isn’t as unshakable as we thought!”

“What kind of incredible luck does the Huarong Sect have? First Hua Yu, now Jiang Ling. Why can’t our sect find geniuses like this?”

The skepticism on the faces of the crowd of onlookers had completely vanished, replaced by expressions of awe and reverence as they followed behind the procession.

“Why didn’t you use your Killing Intent or the Heavenly Thunder Sword earlier? If you went all out, dealing with him wouldn’t have been so difficult!” Qi Huang secretly sent a mental message to her main body.

“True, but don’t forget, in this cultivation world, aside from me, you probably can’t find another cultivator who can use Killing Intent or the Heavenly Thunder Sword. After the last Evergreen Conference in Yongning Prefecture, this is no longer a secret, even the Lü Family in the Central Continent knows. So we must be extremely careful! Once our identity is exposed, our entire plan will be completely ruined!” Cheng Hongling explained.

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“That makes sense!” Qi Huang came to her senses, but still felt uneasy: “But fighting with such restraint, I’m afraid you might not be able to sustain it. Why not leave the rest to me?”

“Relax. Didn’t you investigate before? Those few monsters are in a league of their own among the younger generation. Below them, it’s people like Fu Xin at the Eighth Layer of the Incarnation Realm who dominate. There’s no one with higher cultivation than him.” Cheng Hongling reassured her.

“But even with two or three more like him, you can’t withstand a war of attrition!” Qi Huang reminded her.

“The technique I cultivate is the Water Exquisite Art. Its speed for absorbing spiritual energy far surpasses ordinary techniques. Trying to defeat me through attrition won’t be so easy!” Cheng Hongling stated confidently.

The facts proved her right. Over the next three hours, Cheng Hongling fought her way through, conquering every challenge, directly from the gates of Wuye City all the way to the foot of the mountain where the Immortal-Forging Platform stood!

By now, Hua Meng and her disciple felt their hearts sink into despair, following the procession like lifeless corpses. They simply couldn’t understand how the woman at the front managed to be so tenacious.

Cheng Hongling had experienced dozens of battles, large and small, yet her appearance showed no trace of dishevelment. With a thought of her Divine Sense, she soared up the mountain. Although cultivators lined the path, none dared to challenge her further.

The Huarong Sect contingent flew upwards. The square atop the mountain, where the Immortal-Forging Platform was located, was already packed with a massive crowd. They were all waiting for Cheng Hongling’s arrival. The matches currently happening on the platform stage itself were completely ignored.

“To think the Huarong Sect’s Holy Maiden actually managed to fight her way all the way to the Immortal-Forging Platform!”

“Indeed! I heard she’s only eighteen! With talent like this, she’s practically on par with those monsters with nine point bloodlines!”

“I originally thought the Huarong Sect was forced to hastily select a Holy Maiden just for show. I never imagined they’d actually find a genius almost as good as Hua Yu!”

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“If I were Hua Yu, I’d be furious. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too, but ended up being replaced.”

“You can’t quite say that. Being the young madam of the Cao Family is a few degrees more respectable than being the Huarong Sect’s Holy Maiden.”

“What about resources? The Cao Family already has a peerless genius like Cao Yang. How many resources can they possibly divert to his wife?”

“Right. Without sufficient resource support, what if Cao Yang marries another woman among the Nine Monsters? Will her position as young madam even be secure?”

“Young madam? How short-sighted. The ultimate goal of a cultivator is to achieve immortality. With her talent, she originally had a sliver of a chance. Now, she’s ruined it with her own hands!”

Tens of thousands of onlookers whispered amongst themselves, all mocking Hua Yu for her shortsightedness.

Hua Yu’s face was livid, her teeth nearly gritted to dust.

“Senior Sister Hua, it seems your Huarong Sect’s new Holy Maiden’s talent is no worse than yours at all!”

Right at that moment, a clear, melodious female voice rang out. Because the speaker amplified it with True Qi, it carried extreme penetrating power, echoing over the Immortal-Forging Platform.

Hua Yu followed the sound and saw the speaker was a petite girl. Her beautiful hair was styled into two hanging buns suspended at her temples, framing a face the size of a palm. Her features were exquisitely delicate, like works of art. Her large, bright eyes were as deep as the starry sky, and her small cherry mouth was vividly red. Set against her tender, pink skin, she was clearly visible even from a distance. She wore a purple high-waisted ruqun dress. Though the skirt was loose, it couldn’t completely hide her well-developed chest curve, and a pair of perfectly proportioned jade legs were faintly visible beneath the skirt.

Seeing this girl, Hua Yu’s expression grew even colder. This was none other than the other famous female monster, her equal in reputation, Yang Jin, the Holy Maiden of the Youxuan Palace.

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“Junior Sister Yang, have you developed amnesia? That Fu Xin didn’t even last one move against me in the previous round!” Hua Yu forcefully suppressed her anger to remind her.

“I think it’s Senior Sister Hua who has amnesia! I was clearly talking about talent just now! I didn’t say strength!” Yang Jin replied with a mocking laugh, then added, “Her current strength is indeed inferior to yours, but what about in ten years?”

“Ten years? Are you giving her a ten-year loan? Cultivators aren’t like pigs in a pen, only slaughtered when their time comes. Who’s to say she won’t die young someday?” Hua Yu cursed, devoid of any grace.

“Holy Maiden Yang, enough of your insinuations. I think it’s better for us to show some unity now! Can you hear those discussions? The more impressive that little upstart performs, the more we, the so-called Nine Monsters, lose face!” Cao Yang stepped in to smooth things over.

“Brother Cao is absolutely right. You mustn’t forget, her bloodline is only eight points. Yet now she’s completely stolen our thunder. How can we live up to the immortal blood flowing within our veins?” This time, the speaker was Xiao Dian, the Holy Son of the Jingtian Sect. He was also one of the Nine Monsters. Elder Zuo had once tried to promote Cheng Hongling to him, but it was in vain, he simply looked down on a female cultivator from a remote country.

“You two senior brothers misunderstand me. I wasn’t being insinuating! I just wanted to remind Senior Sister Hua that if she doesn’t employ… extraordinary means, regaining her position as the Huarong Sect’s Holy Maiden won’t be easy.” Yang Jin defended herself, deliberately emphasizing the words “extraordinary means”.

“To think my little sister would actually consider things for me. The sun must be rising from the west today,” Hua Yu retorted sarcastically. Even a fool could tell this cunning woman was trying to sow discord.

“Of course, we’ve known each other since childhood. Who else would I help if not my sister?” Yang Jin continued to whitewash her intentions.

“Save your petty schemes! Even without your attempts to sow discord, she and I are already like fire and water!” Hua Yu stated her stance without any concealment.

“Excellent! Senior Sister truly has backbone!” Yang Jin’er offered one last backhanded compliment before finally falling silent.

And right at that moment, Qi Huang and Cheng Hongling led the way into the square housing the Immortal-Forging Platform.