Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

Though night had fallen, the battle continued. Black Tiger melded its entire being into the darkness, seizing the opportunity to launch a fierce assault. However, its repeated risky ambushes were all thwarted by Zhang Yuanjing. On one occasion, Zhang Yuanjing even seized upon a flaw, landing a heavy blow on its abdomen. Despite the protection of its scales, the strike still injured its internal organs.

However, this did not intimidate Black Tiger. Instead, it ignited its ferocity. With a roar, it channeled its entire body's blood energy, causing the spikes on its back to protrude and half-foot-long sharp claws to emerge from its paws. Its running speed increased several times over, becoming almost like a gale, as it launched a frenzied attack around Zhang Yuanjing.

After defending several times, Zhang Yuanjing found it difficult to fully predict Black Tiger's attack routes. He simply resorted to using the Earth Prison Technique, completely shielding himself, allowing the ferocious demon to display its might.

Black Tiger exhausted all its means, even firing its back spikes in several rounds, but all were blocked by the Earth Prison, achieving nothing. This made it somewhat frustrated, yet utterly helpless.

After fiercely attacking for several hours, Black Tiger's strength gradually began to wane, forcing it to switch from offense to defense, seizing the opportunity to recover its power. To its surprise and frustration, Zhang Yuanjing did not take the opportunity to attack it. Instead, he remained vigilant, strictly guarding his position, waiting in full battle array.

As dawn gradually approached, Black Tiger launched another fierce assault. It rapidly circled Zhang Yuanjing, accelerating faster and faster until it transformed into an afterimage, far exceeding the limits of what a Core Formation cultivator's spiritual sense could capture.

At this point, wisps of eerie, cold wind began to emanate from the afterimage, blowing towards Zhang Yuanjing.

This was Blackscale Tiger's innate ability to establish itself in the Hengduan Mountains - Bone-Crushing Yin Wind. Once this wind touched the body, it could easily bypass the barriers of skin and muscle, directly ravaging the bones. If one couldn't withstand it, their bones would shatter, leading to death.

Because Black Tiger's speed was extremely fast, this wind was also difficult to avoid. Now, on the arena, it was even more impossible to dodge.

The Sandstorm Technique that Zhang Yuanjing commonly used had not been employed precisely for this reason. The Yin Wind released by Black Tiger was extremely domineering, and the Sandstorm could not block it.

Zhang Yuanjing continued to use the Earth Prison for protection, but the Yin Wind quickly passed over the wall, assaulting him. Even the earth armor he wore could not stop the wind. He simply activated the Sky-Supporting Art, using his tough bones to resist, treating the Yin Wind as an opportunity to temper his body.

Releasing the Bone-Crushing Yin Wind consumed a great deal of Black Tiger's energy. After sustaining it for a quarter of an hour, it saw that its opponent was completely unharmed and had no choice but to reluctantly cease its efforts, retreating to a corner of the arena to rest.

Zhang Yuanjing dispelled the earth wall and released the Limitless Blade, merely circling near Black Tiger, disrupting the beast's recovery, without launching a fierce counterattack.

After such a stalemate lasted for half an hour, a deep red triangular flag was raised on the human side of the arena.

This was a method devised by the Hall of Affairs to command arena battles. It was divided into three colors and nine flags: green for retreat, black for defense, red for attack, light red for actively attacking and seeking opportunities, medium red for primarily attacking and secondarily defending, and deep red for attacking at all costs, consuming the opponent, winning if possible, and creating opportunities for the next cultivator to enter the arena if not.

The moment this flag appeared, more than half of the Core Formation Perfected cultivators watching the battle below the arena frowned. Ascending the arena to fight was already an extremely dangerous matter. A slight oversight or lack of strength could lead to death and the dissipation of one's Dao. If one was not even allowed to independently choose their battle and defense strategies, how could this battle be fought! As Perfected cultivators, no one was willing to work themselves to death, paving the way for others.

Zhang Yuanjing caught a glimpse of the deep red triangular flag and glanced at Guo Songtao's face, which was full of murderous intent. He sneered and ignored it, continuing to slowly and steadily implement his pre-determined strategy.

After another half hour of fighting, the situation on the arena remained lukewarm. Guo Songtao frowned and turned to summon Lu Tianying.

"Tianying, isn't this Zhang Yuanjing your grand-nephew? Why is he disobeying orders?"

A hint of mockery flashed in Lu Tianying's eyes, and he said with a smile, "How could he disobey orders! With your command, Yuanjing ascended the arena to fight, didn't he? And he even achieved a victory. This battle also seems to be gaining the upper hand."

"Gaining the upper hand? If he's gaining the upper hand, why isn't he attacking according to the instructions! Such dragging and delaying is dissipating the momentum that my human race has worked so hard to accumulate!" Guo Songtao pointed to the demon beasts on the opposite hillside, who were making mocking noises for a while, "Look, those demon beasts are clamoring again!"

Lu Tianying almost rolled his eyes. This dignified Nascent Soul True Person was really telling blatant lies. His face darkened, and he said unhappily, "True Person, you can't say that. The rise and fall of momentum, its increase and decrease, doesn't depend on who shouts the loudest, nor on who attacks the fiercest. In the end, it depends on victory and defeat, on who occupies the arena for the longest time. Yuanjing is on the arena, defending skillfully, leaving his opponent with no way to implement their strategy. Every breath he persists is accumulating fortune for the human race, and establishing merit. How can it be said that he is 'dragging and delaying'?"

These words were reasonable and well-founded, leaving Guo Songtao speechless.

At this time, a Core Formation cultivator on the side said, "Fellow Daoist Lu's words are also incorrect. Now that my human race is fighting the demon race, it is not a battle of one person or a few people, but a battle of our twenty-three Perfected cultivators against the demon beasts' thirty-odd Perfected cultivators. We must pay attention to strategy and coordinated collaboration. In the past few days, even Fellow Daoist Tan, who still had strength, retreated according to the Hall of Affairs' arrangements."

Lu Tianying looked over. The speaker was Qiu Shengling from the Immortal Mark Sect in the Central Domain. This person was a master of formations, with a prominent reputation. Whether Central Domain cultivators or Southern Domain cultivators, all vied to befriend him. In the past, Lu Tianying had also taken the initiative to show goodwill, but this person's response was lukewarm, so there was little interaction.

Lu Tianying nodded and said, "Fellow Daoist Qiu's words are very true. We are such a group of people, with strengths and weaknesses. Of course, we must arrange personnel according to the demon beasts' innate characteristics, targeting them to maximize our advantages. However, once a person is on the arena, they should still be allowed to choose their own battle strategy! After all, only the cultivator who is truly fighting knows how to overcome the enemy in front of them!"

"In my opinion, Fellow Daoist Lu's words are also somewhat specious." A person approached and said, "Since we are to cooperate in battle, it is not just a matter of who goes up and who doesn't. We must also decide whether each match is to be offensive or defensive, whether to consume the opponent or delay the opportunity, or even to kill or concede, so that we can speak of strategy and overall planning!"

This person was Yu Guangchen from the Profound Stillness Palace. He slowly and leisurely stated a set of words that seemed quite reasonable, but the Core Formation Perfected cultivators present were not fools and did not agree with this view.

Fan Chongshan was most displeased with this person and immediately ridiculed, "According to you, the Fellow Daoist on the stage has finally gained an advantage, but because of a word from the Hall of Affairs, they should throw away the merits they have obtained? The Fellow Daoist on the stage risks their life to consume the opponent and create an opportunity for the Fellow Daoist who comes on stage later to defeat the enemy? The Merit Jade Scroll issued by the Hall of Affairs only says what to reward for killing one enemy, and what to reward for occupying the arena for one day, but it doesn't say what to reward for letting the enemy go once, let alone what to reward for creating an opportunity for other Fellow Daoists to defeat the enemy! In this way, it is impossible to convince the public!"

Guo Songtao, who had first spoken to blame Lu Tianying, was now silent, allowing the others to argue endlessly. The short, stout True Person Ying XiongHui stared intently at the arena, as if he had not heard the quarrel behind him, but a sneer had unknowingly appeared on the corner of his mouth.