The Slaughter Was About to Begin

The next day.

"How many spirit points did our lodging cost? It seems pretty nice." Wu Ling munched on a spirit fruit he had brought from their lodgings and looked at Yun Mo.

They were currently looking around the Guardian Land.

The Guardian Land was gradually filling up. Whether people intended to participate in the final selection or not, they would ultimately have to come here.

Generally speaking, though, very few people withdrew at the final stage, because that meant giving up their eligibility for Spiritual Energy Empowerment and wasting the precious time they had spent in the Spirit Road.

Unless they truly had no confidence and were forced to do so to save their lives.

"Not that many. The tokens we snatched along the way had nearly two thousand spirit points altogether. That's enough to cover our expenses for the next few days, and we can even trade for a few things with these people," Yun Mo replied.

Bartering had become far more sophisticated now. Healing medicines and body-tempering medicines were readily available. Presumably, the widespread availability of maps of the Spirit Road had left its natural treasures with nowhere to hide.

However, the things people wanted in exchange were rather outrageous.

For instance, a battle weapon as sturdy as a medium-grade spirit tool.

Or armor on the level of a low-grade spirit tool.

After all, the Golden Armor and Red Dress Yun Mo had previously obtained for Wen Qingxuan had cost him almost all his spirit points, allowing their little group to keep going.

Now people actually dared to ask for spirit artifacts in exchange for just a few medicinal herbs. That really was a little ridiculous.

Still, it was enough to prove just how precious these medicines and battle weapons had become before the selection.

Perhaps someone would break through after eating a single body-tempering medicinal flower? There were still people willing to take that gamble. Likewise, if someone had been injured earlier, they naturally needed to recover to their peak condition before the final selection.

"Why don't you bring out a few things to trade too?" Wen Qingxuan smiled and asked Yun Mo.

"Me? With Nocturnal Honey or Nine-Leaf Fruit? Honestly, their wares are decent, but they're nowhere near as good as what I have. As for spirit artifacts and the like, forget it. I'm not short of those."

There were few trading stalls in the Guardian Land, and they reached the end of them in no time.

But just as the four were about to head back, several groups erupted into a torrent of insults.

Perhaps it was the pressure of the selection, or perhaps it was their youthful hotheadedness. Either way, friction was inevitable.

It was just that none of them dared to fight here.

Hurling insults therefore became their way of provoking one another.

"Are they trying to make the other side lose control and attack, so the Mirror of Judgment will slap them dead?" Wu Ling did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"It certainly looks that way. The crowd over there seems to be growing. Should we go take a look?" Wu Yingying's eyes shifted toward Yun Mo.

"No, forget it. We'd be better off going back and studying the Wu Clan Body Tempering Scripture. Speaking of which, have you grasped even the barest basics yet?" Wu Ling rejected Wu Yingying's suggestion on Yun Mo's behalf.

The Wu Clan Body Tempering Scripture was extremely difficult to comprehend. It contained only nine bizarre symbols, and, more strangely still, one could only understand the scripture through careful contemplation of one's own, without drawing on anyone else's experience. That was actually understandable. Everyone's physical body was different, after all.

Although the final result was always the Heavenly Demonic Body, the process varied greatly. All one could say was that it truly lived up to its reputation as the strongest body-tempering technique in the Great Thousand World.

"You just had to lift the kettle that hasn't boiled." Wu Yingying rolled her eyes at him. With her aptitude, she had no idea how long it would take to transform her body into the Heavenly Demonic Body.

The four stopped wandering and headed to the Martial Combat Arena where the selection would take place.

The Martial Combat Arena was truly magnificent. Its vast expanse occupied almost a third of the Guardian Land.

It was also completely flat, with nowhere to hide. They just did not know what the selection rules would be.

"What do you think the rules for the final selection in this Spirit Road will be?" Yun Mo asked the other three.

"Judging by previous years, it should be a fight to the death. That's the simplest and most effective method."

"Right. The old man at the Martial Spirit Academy mentioned it before. Fight until the end, and whoever survives naturally advances to the final stage. And once you enter, you can't back out."

"Yes, you need to hold a token to participate. You can also seize tokens during the selection."

"So that's how it works."

Yun Mo nodded. At first, he had thought possessing a token was enough to reach the endpoint and qualify for empowerment.

The Spirit Road had three routes in total, and each route had its own Guardian Land.

That meant only thirty-odd people would remain standing in this Martial Combat Arena at the end.

Yet from Yun Mo's observations, there were still at least two hundred trial participants in this Guardian Land. It truly was a road that bred venomous survivors by pitting them against one another.

At that thought, Yun Mo looked at Wu Ling and Wu Yingying and asked curiously, "Then what about the final stage? What is that?"

"We don't know about that. Fewer than a hundred people reach the final stage, and it's almost always conducted differently. That depends on what the Spirit Academy organizing this Spirit Road has in mind."

"Forget it. There's no point thinking about that now. Let's focus on the selection in two days. We should head back and prepare," Yun Mo said to the other three.

Even a lion used its full strength to hunt a rabbit. Although they were confident in their abilities, they could not afford to be careless about anything in this world. After all, the slightest misstep could send them to the Yellow Springs.

In Yun Mo's room.

"Is there anything you want to redeem through the tokens? We shouldn't waste the spirit points," Yun Mo said to the other three.

"I want that scarlet Crescent Blade! A bow won't be much use in there!" Wu Yingying's eyes lit up, as though she had been waiting for this moment.

"A little girl like you wants a Crescent Blade!"

"Qingxuan has a spear, Wu Ling has a War Staff, and even you have a Battle Halberd. Why can't I have a more imposing battle weapon?"

"Uh... she used a big blade back at the Martial Spirit Academy," Wu Ling said, covering his face.

"You really are a wild girl. This Crescent Blade counts as a low-grade spirit tool in the token. It costs over a thousand. If I get it for you, there won't be enough left for Wu Ling or Qingxuan to redeem anything," Yun Mo said, scanning the information in the token.

"There's nothing I want," Wen Qingxuan said, shaking her head.

"What about you?" Yun Mo looked at Wu Ling.

"Same here. Let's use it all to get her that Crescent Blade."

In Wu Ling's opinion, wielding a Crescent Blade would indeed be, to a certain extent, better for Wu Yingying than a longbow by

a considerable margin. Very few people would use a longbow against others in the Martial Combat Arena. After all, once several opponents closed in, things would inevitably become troublesome.

Besides, most of what she had learned before was related to that weapon.