Chapter 675: Dou Zhong’s Cultivation

The team from the First Class of the Inner Division brought in 3 replacements after losing a substantial amount of combat power. With the Extremity Yin Yang Formation they weren’t exactly too familiar with, they still managed to defeat a team from the Contribution Division to enter the top 8.

However, it seemed as though that was their limit.

They managed to win, but they paid a huge price in the process.

Of the 7 students who took part in the battle, 5 of them were injured. The final 2 were utterly exhausted and they were in no condition to fight the next battle.

That might be so, but according to some rumors going around, the First Class was celebrating like there was no tomorrow.

Since they entered the top 8, they would each gain a spot to enter the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool.

When Shang Xia entered the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool back then, it was because he managed to make huge contributions to the institution. It wasn’t easy to obtain a chance to cultivate in the pool back then, but now that several years had passed, Shang Xia learned that the institution managed to build several more Polarity Essence Gathering Pools. Every one of them was built larger than the other, and it became much easier to gain a spot to cultivate in it.

All they had to do at the moment was to enter the top 8 of the competition held by the institution. They didn’t even have to go out there to kill cultivators from the Azure Spiritual World or risk their lives hunting spiritual beasts. ‘Seniors’ like Shang Xia and Sun Haiwei could only sigh helplessly.

There were people celebrating their victory, and there were people who were doing the exact opposite.

The Second Class of the Inner Division had also learned the basics of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation. However, they chose not to use it and were eliminated. Their complaints became even louder.

The same could be said for the chief disciple of the First Class and those who left with him. They couldn’t be more upset.

What caused them extreme discomfort was the conflict in their mind on whether they should shamelessly follow the rest to enter the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool.

When the news of how the First Class defeated the team from the Contribution Division spread, everyone who was disappointed by the fact that they couldn’t observe the proper demonstration of the formation by the Fifth Class started to pay attention to it again.

However, the next moment, the First Class’ victory no longer mattered. The team from the Fifth Class, led by Mu Songfang, put up a spectacular show on their platform.

…

The Fifth Class was caught by surprise and lost 2 companions before being thrown into a state of chaos by the onslaught of several talismans. They were unable to properly deploy their battle formation as the disciples of the Contribution Division descended on them to push them into a state of individual combat.

It might seem as though the disciples of the Contribution Division were about to claim their victory, but the students of the Fifth Class held their ground and showed off their frightening resilience.

Mu Songfang held off a disciple at the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm until she managed to regroup with another student in the initial stages of the Martial Extremity Realm from the Fifth Class.

The other student had already been heavily injured, and he was about to exhaust his inner qi at any moment. However, the moment Mu Songfang arrived, he managed to recover at a frightening speed and they worked together to form a simple form of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation. With that, they managed to stop the joint assault from 2 disciples of the Contribution Division!

Mu Songfang quickly displayed her powerful control of extremity qi. Even though there were only 2 pairs because of their combination, she managed to fight evenly with the disciples of the Contribution Division.

Bursting forth with incredible strength, she managed to regroup with Wang Chenglin to increase their battle formation to 3 people. With his addition, they no longer seemed to be at a disadvantage. Despite Wang Chenglin being heavily suppressed by his opponent, everything changed the moment the duo arrived. They started their counter attack and slowly gained the upper hand against their 3 opponents.

That was how quickly and strangely the battlefield changed.

Yan Weihai and Shi Huai made up the other pair and they had been working together for a long time. They might not have been able to do what Mu Songfang did to gather several members herself, but they weren’t weak to begin with. They held off their opponents’ initial assault before gathering together. They also deployed their battle formation and with their combined strength, they immediately suppressed the members of the Contribution Division.

With things progressing up to that point, there was no way the various experts of the institution couldn’t see how incredible the battle formation was.

Initially, Shang Xia taught them how to deploy their battle formation in a team of 7. With that, they managed to step through the gates and understand how it truly worked.

Not only could the formation make use of different types of extremity qi, but they could also maintain balance and transform it into different types according to the people who were part of it.

They would be able to deploy the formation with 7 people, 6, or 5. In fact, they would even be able to increase the number of experts in the formation! It would be possible to have 8, or even 9 experts.

If Shang Xia was the person using the formation, he would be able to deploy it alone! Of course, that was a whole other story…

Everyone could tell that the situation on the platform was slowly tipping in favor of the Fifth Class. They weren’t exhausting much inner qi compared to their fellow opponents.

One had to know that the members of the Outreach Division definitely cultivated for a much longer time than the students. They had higher cultivation levels and stronger reserves. They had a lot more experience when it came to fights, but now that they were fighting the students of the Fifth Class of the Inner Division, they were quickly falling behind. Those students seemed to be able to maintain their utilization of inner qi really well and they didn’t seem tired in the slightest!

Eventually, those watching came to the conclusion that the battle formation didn’t just reduce the amount of inner qi used. It could even supplement the energy they lost during the battle.

That was a little over the top if they thought about it carefully.

If the battle dragged out, that would mean that they would grow stronger by the minute.

Everything might seem unbelievable, but the scene that was playing out on the platform couldn’t be faked. After all, those were disciples and students in the Martial Extremity Realm. They wouldn’t be able to hide anything from the high-leveled cultivators watching.

When the students of the Fifth Class managed to gain an advantage, everything seemed to fall in their favor. The members of the Outreach Division could do nothing to turn the tides.

Everyone could tell that the disciples of the Outreach Division were trying their best, but under the oppressive might of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation, they were eventually rolled over.

Once again, the extraordinary aspect of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation was displayed to the institution.

Ever since the competition started, everyone could be sure that none of the teams that advanced did so through a fluke. Even so, when the top 8 teams were announced, many people were still shocked by the fact that there were 2 teams from the Inner Division.

All of them thought that the Inner Division would be the weakest link in the competition. After all, they might barely be able to gather 7 Martial Extremity Realm students to form a proper team.

Their cultivation bases were extremely varied too. They hadn’t been through many battles and were somewhat lacking in experience. Everyone expected them to be defeated a long time ago.

Who would have thought that both teams from the Inner Division not only managed to advance from the group stages, they would also charge their way into the top 8?

Ignoring those who were there to enjoy the competition and take part in the hype, everyone else who had half a brain could tell that those students didn’t reach their level of achievement because of their talent or individual strength. It was because of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation!

Now that the top 8 teams were out, the institution gave everyone 2 days to recover.

Of the final 8 teams, 2 of them came from the Inner Division. The Upper Division managed to keep 1 team in the competition, and there were 2 teams from the Protection Division. The Outreach Division and Contribution Division had 1 team each, and the final team came from the Warehouse Division. The Scripture Depository had been eliminated.

During the short break given by the institution, the chief disciple of the First Class, Zhuang Su, seemed to have reignited the fire in his heart as he wanted to try using the battle formation against their next opponent in a last-ditch attempt to advance.

Unfortunately, he was quickly rejected by the rest due to their injuries and he was eventually given the cold shoulder by the others. In the end, their Custodian relayed the news that they would give up their chance to fight and end their journey in the top 8 before everything calmed down.

2 days later, the competition resumed.

Of the 8 platforms erected on the Central Plaza of the Tongyou Institution, there were only 2 left.

Because the First Class surrendered, the team from the Outreach Division who were supposed to be their opponents advanced to the top 4 without a fight. They erupted with joy as they praised their luck.

Everyone turned their attention to the other platform where teams from the Upper Division and Protection Division were about to fight for a spot in the semi-finals.

There would be another battle later in the day between the other team from the Protection Division and the team from the Outreach Division. Alongside their battle would be the contest between the team from the Fifth Class and the Warehouse Division.

Even though Shang Xia didn’t head over to the other platform to watch the fight, he knew everything that was happening.

If nothing went wrong, the team from the Protection Division would emerge victorious.

It wasn’t as though the team from the Upper Division was weak, but the disciples from the Protection Division had an advantage when it came to their battle experience.

It was a separate matter when the potential of their individual members was taken into account. They might lose the battle, but the various divisions would probably set their sights on those elite disciples who managed to make it that far. In fact, they probably already offered them a place before the battle.

When he was observing the battle, Ju Hang approached Shang Xia out of nowhere and whispered softly, “Hey, do you know who’s the teacher of the Second Class of the Upper Division?”

Shang Xia raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

“Do you still remember Dou Zhong? Back when the institution sent a huge amount of experts into the vast sea of stars, we had a massive power vacuum. That brat managed to grab an opportunity and received the institution’s nurturing. He took the chance to break through to the Martial Extermination Realm. He only emerged from his seclusion last year…” Ju Hang muttered.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but chuckle in response, “Oh? It’s him. Of course I remember him. He even managed to enter the Martial Extermination Realm… Brother Ju Hang, you have fallen behind by quite a bit…”

Rolling his eyes, Ju Hang continued, “The kid never used to stand out much. No one knows how he managed to catch the eye of Chief Shang Lubing of the Contribution Division and his cultivation started to soar. If this granddaddy here had a Martial Extermination Realm expert to guide me, I wouldn’t be weaker than Dou Zhong! So what if he entered the Martial Extermination Realm? It’s not like he can be compared to you…”

Shang Xia chuckled softly in response, and he clearly didn’t care about Dou Zhong’s progress.

Ju Hang started to joke around. “Regardless, you better take care of yourself. That brat never seemed to like you. He’s been comparing himself to you the whole time. It’s a shame you progressed too quickly and he can’t seem to catch up for the time being. However, it doesn’t mean that he has given up. Among students of your generation, he’s the other shining star…”