Chapter 676: Advance!

The Second Class of the Upper Division was the only one who managed to make it into the top 8. Their practical combat instructor was Dou Zhong, who used to be at the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm, but he successfully stepped into the Martial Extermination Realm the year before. When he returned to the Upper Division, he was supposed to become the practical combat instructor of the First Class of the Upper Division.

However, he insisted on finishing what he started and completing his teaching of the Second Class. As the Teaching Division had always been lacking in manpower, Liu Qinglan wouldn’t reject the request.

It would be impossible for Dou Zhong to obtain his current achievements if he was actually useless. With his teachings, the students of the Second Class quickly became the strongest among their peers. They were also able to reach the top 8 teams in the competition.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy feat to go so far. They used up everything they had in order to do so. In their battle against the Protection Division, they managed to fling 3 opponents off the platform, but that was it. The Protection Division’s team was made up of 5 people, and the other 2 merely sustained light injuries. The team of 6 from the Second Class of the Upper Division was defeated badly. 3 of them were heavily injured, and 2 were thrown off the platform. The last member of their team fainted on the platform after being attacked by both opponents.

The Protection Division seemed to win with much difficulty, but they immediately managed to fill in the spots with members of the same cultivation level. They didn’t have to drop out of the competition at all, and that was something classes of the Inner and Upper Divisions could never do.

Just like that, 2 of the 4 spots in the semi-finals were filled. One of them was a team from the Protection Division, and another came from the Outreach Division.

Those divisions were where the elite disciples of the institution gathered, and it came as no surprise they made it that far.

Finally, the next round of battles arrived. The Fifth Class was up against the Warehouse Division while the other team from the Protection Division went up against the Contribution Division.

Comparing the 2, the Fifth Class was getting a lot more attention than the battle on the other platform.

When Shang Xia casually glanced at the members of the Warehouse Division, he discovered that their cultivation base was in the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm at the very least.

It made sense when he thought about it. One had to know that once a team reached the semi-finals, the institution would promise to provide their rank three advancement medicine when they were ready to break through. Even though the institution received a massive upgrade because of everything they've been through, it wasn’t cheap to obtain all the herbs and treasures required to make a set of rank three advancement medicine!

In order to receive one, disciples would have to produce amazing results! They would have to go through many trials and contribute to the institution. Ordinarily, a disciple at the peak of the Martial Extremity Realm would have to spend 5 years of time to obtain enough merits to exchange for a set of rank three advancement medicine. Also, that was assuming they were extremely lucky!

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many disciples in the various divisions who were stuck at the peak of the Martial Extremity Realm.

“The institution wouldn’t allow our students to borrow other sources of strength. Other than ordinary weapons, they can’t use any outside help. Of course, that’s with the exception of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation. The same restrictions don’t apply to the other teams!” Ju Hang panted as he ran over to Shang Xia. He brought a piece of shocking news.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but laugh, “Looks like the battle formation has finally caught the attention of the higher-ups. They wish to see how far the students of the Fifth Class can go.”

“Don’t you think that it’s a little unfair?” Ju Hang asked.

Shang Xia chuckled in response, “Do you think that they would be able to achieve this without the help of the battle formation? To the others, if the students of the Fifth Class didn’t use the Extremity Yin Yang Formation, they would have been eliminated a long time ago!”

Ju Hang’s expression froze for a second, but he quickly regained his composure. “Well, they can only blame the person who arranged for you to teach the Fifth Class then!”

“Nonsense. Anyway, the institution should have some way to make things up to the Fifth Class if they’re blatantly targeting them.” Shang Xia waved his hands dismissively.

Sniggering under his breath, Ju Hang shifted the topic once again. “Both sides have already arrived on the platform. The battle is about to begin.”

Shang Xia shook his head in amusement. He was too lazy to ask about the compensation given by the institution.

A familiar aura suddenly appeared in range of Shang Xia’s divine perception and Chu Jia appeared silently. She stood beside him and stared at the platform while asking, “Who do you think will win?”

Shang Xia glanced at her with a cursory gaze before sinking into contemplation. He glanced at the platform again and muttered, “Are you planning on laying down a formation?”

“Hehe,” Chu Jia laughed, “I’m not the one laying down the formation. However, there is a Formation Master in the Warehouse Division’s team. He came to ask me how to lay down a formation in the shortest time possible and I didn’t plan on hiding anything. Moreover, everyone out there is thinking of ways to destroy your battle formation and I won’t sit back and do nothing…”

Shang Xia obviously couldn’t say anything else now that she had spoken. He shook his head as a bitter smile appeared on his face as he silently watched the battle.

With a single command from the referee, the battle began. The students of the Fifth Class quickly gathered together to form their battle formation.

After going through several battles, they gained a lot of experience.

Hundreds of feet away, the sound of a bowstring snapping could be heard as an arrow tore through the air.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The disciples of the Warehouse Division didn’t use crossbows like the disciples of the Outreach Division. Instead, they only arranged for a single disciple to provide long range support with a longbow.

Mu Songfang immediately took charge of the battle formation and sent the arrow flying. With all 7 of them in position, the Fifth Class got ready for battle!

As teams from the Warehouse Division could be made up of 6 disciples, they were able to leave behind 1 to provide long range support while the other 5 huddled together while advancing towards the Fifth Class. The distance between both sides shortened, and when the disciples of the Warehouse Division entered their attack range of 100 feet or so, they launched their offensive.

All of them raised their hands at the same time and several short snapping sounds could be heard as rays of frosty lights shot out from their sleeves.

“That’s despicable! They’re using hidden arrow sleeves!” Ju Hang roared in anger.

Chu Jia sneered at the side, “What's the matter?! You can’t even take a single round of hidden attacks? Well, I don’t mind telling you… Even though the power in those hidden arrows might not be comparable to a crossbow, why don’t you take a guess and see whether or not they have more hidden weapons on them?”

“You…!” Ju Hang pointed at Chu Jia in anger but he seemed to have recalled something. He hastily lowered his hand while glaring at her the entire time.

Shang Xia clapped Ju Hang’s shoulder and sighed meaningfully, “Brother Ju Hang, relax. Calm down and keep watching. Look at how your students will deal with this!”

Turning back to the platform, Ju Hang quickly forgot his displeasure.

Shang Xia tilted his head to look at Chu Jia and chuckled, “What’s the point of provoking him anyway?”

“Heh, he doesn’t dare to mess around with you here! Why can’t I?” Chu Jia rolled her eyes at him and ignored the strange look that was forming on Shang Xia’s face. “Also, the weakest class of the Inner Division actually managed to make it all the way to the top 8! That fellow’s acting a little too arrogantly now. Also, it’s true that every team is targeting the Fifth Class and coming up with ways to destroy their battle formation. After all, the institution is very interested in seeing how far they can go. What you don’t know is that the little asshole Ju Hang is also a factor in drawing over the hatred of the masses. He’s part of the reason why everyone is coming up with countless ways to deal with your battle formation.”

Shang Xia was stunned speechless. Ju Hang was probably too repressed after being looked down on by so many people for so long. Now that they managed to reach their current heights, he probably went around bragging his ass off. There was no one to blame but himself.

After Shang Xia’s gaze landed on the platform again…

If they think they can break the battle formation with this…

Shang Xia stared at the last of the 5 people rushing at the Fifth Class before looking at Mu Songfang.

The Warehouse Division started their close range assault with a round of hidden arrows before tossing out rank two talismans. “When they were done, another round of hidden arrows arrived, along with flying knives and throwing rocks. After that, several jade bottles were thrown onto the platform and a series of yellow smoke and black mist filled the air. The arrows that were coming from the last member of the Warehouse Division didn’t stop either.

With the chaos and cover of everything they had thrown out, the Formation Master took the chance to place down several Array Flags around the platform. Seeing as they were about to complete the formation, Shang Xia looked at Chu Jia and sighed helplessly, “They are actually going a little overboard with this…”

Chu Jia smiled without giving him a response.

On the other hand, Ju Hang couldn’t sit still any longer. He roared with rage, “Who the hell prepares so adequately in a real battle? Members from the Weapons Hall, Talisman Hall, Medicine Hall, and someone from the Formation Hall laying down a formation on the platform… You guys have gone too far!”

Shang Xia noticed Chu Jia’s expression sinking and he quickly interjected, “Alright, enough! There’s no need to argue with each other. Since they wish to see the true strength of the battle formation, they have to go all out. Moreover, it’s not that easy to break my formation. Also, I’m the one who came up with it. I haven’t said anything! Why are you 2 so worked up?”

During their conversation, the situation on the platform changed once again.

Even though the students of the Fifth Class were taken by surprise and some of them were flustered, affecting the operation of the formation, Mu Songfang showed her true strength. Her understanding and control of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation were obviously much higher than the rest as she faced the incoming attack with a calm mind. They might be at a disadvantage, but that didn’t affect her. She continued to adjust the extremity qi in the formation and the mist and smoke on the platform scattered. She discovered array flags planted all around them.

The archer from the Warehouse Division also seemed to discover the weakness in their battle formation. Shooting several arrows, 2 students of the Fifth Class who were only in the initial stages of the Martial Extremity Realm were shot and Wang Chenglin also took an arrow to his left arm. Unfortunately, that was all the archer could do. The arrows that had been shot at Mu Songfang from time to time were easily deflected.

With a loud thud, one of the members of the Fifth Class fainted. It was their weakest member who had just broken through to the Martial Extremity Realm. He sucked in several breaths of knock-out smoke and failed to keep up with the Extremity Yin Yang Formation. The disciples of the Warehouse Division caught on to his weakness and focused their attention on him, eventually knocking him out with a throwing rock.

The battle had barely started but after several short exchanges, the Fifth Class suffered massive losses. 3 students were injured and 1 of them was knocked out. However, they failed to harm a hair on their opponent’s body.

Moreover, the Formation Master of the Warehouse Division completed their formation. It seemed as though dealing with the weakened battle formation wouldn’t pose a challenge!

Unfortunately for them, the situation turned on its head the next second. Mu Songfang launched her counterattack and gathered extremity qi from other members of the Fifth Class in her body. Using them to supplement her own energy, she waved her sword at her opponents.

“3… 4, 5… 6… What?! They actually managed to use 6 different types of extremity qi! Mu Songfang unleashed 3 of them herself!”

“That’s not right! Isn’t she at the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm? This… This is a martial intent! She actually comprehended her martial intent and stepped into the grand completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm!”

“I’m afraid she’s the only one who managed to understand the intricacies behind the Extremity Yin Yang Formation…”

The second Mu Songfang unleashed her sword, the various high-level experts of the institution who were watching the battle came to a conclusion. The outcome of the battle was decided!