Spellcasting in Combat

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Chapter 20: Spellcasting in Combat

Back in the cultivation room, Chen Beiwu could not help gasping for breath.

Escaping death by a hair had been one hell of a thrill!

If the Spirit Lake Formation had not possessed the ability to conceal his aura, he probably would not have escaped the Azure Thunder Tiger's senses, let alone used the power of the Ten Directions Chaos Gate to slip through space and flee.

Once he had calmed his nerves, Chen Beiwu looked at Iron Egg.

The dog stood in front of him with its tail tucked between its legs, its body trembling uncontrollably.

Chen Beiwu reached out to stroke its head and reassured it, "Don't worry. We're safe now."

Iron Egg had landed him in quite a mess this time, but its loyalty was beyond question.

Faced with a Second Realm lesser demon, an ordinary exotic beast would have been scared shitless long ago. The fact that Iron Egg had stood in front of him proved that it possessed an excellent quality: loyalty!

Iron Egg whined, a trace of lingering fear flashing through its eyes.

It had never imagined that hunting snakes would lead it into the Azure Thunder Tiger's territory.

"Woof." Iron Egg gave a low bark of explanation.

Chen Beiwu's expression shifted. "You mean you didn't go to the wrong place?"

"Woof!"

"There are Jade-Scale Snakes on the island in the middle of Spirit Lake, and lots of them?"

"Woof!" Iron Egg nodded.

"That makes things difficult." Chen Beiwu frowned.

Every herb carried its share of poison.

To prevent pill toxins from accumulating in their bodies, weakening their foundations and making the Three Foundation Establishment Trials difficult to overcome, any cultivator in the Immortal Alliance with even a little ambition avoided taking too many pills during Qi Refining. At most, they would take one or two when breaking through a realm barrier, then slowly purge the pill toxins from their bodies.

That was also why Chen Beiwu had cut off only a single slice of Black Gold Ginseng to consume, rather than devouring the whole thing.

Cultivators from impoverished households, however, had no such reservations. Whenever they had pills, they gulped them down, focusing solely on advancing their cultivation-even though they often ended up stuck at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, with no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment.

The reason Chen Beiwu cared so much about the Jade-Scale Snake Gallbladder was that it was one of the exceedingly rare beast materials usable during Qi Refining that did not damage a cultivator's foundation and could even strengthen their roots and replenish their vitality.

Spiritual materials like the Jade-Scale Snake Gallbladder, which nourished the spirit and tempered the body without any harmful aftereffects, were generally luxuries reserved for geniuses born into cultivation lineages.

But no matter how fine a treasure was, one had to survive to enjoy it. The Azure Thunder Tiger was not a demonic beast to be trifled with.

Unless Chen Beiwu advanced to Foundation Establishment, he would never approach Spirit Lake again, much less catch snakes on its central island.

What a shame Grandfather passed away so early. Otherwise, that Spirit Lake would have made an excellent blessed ground for cultivation, Chen Beiwu thought regretfully.

He could not defeat the Azure Thunder Tiger, but making one's way in the world depended on more than strength. Connections mattered too.

If his grandfather were still alive, killing an Azure Thunder Tiger and claiming that Spirit Lake for himself should have posed no problem.

Snuffing out his wishful thinking, Chen Beiwu shook his head and looked at Iron Egg. "Are there Jade-Scale Snakes anywhere besides Spirit Lake?"

"Woof."

Iron Egg blinked, indicating that it could search, but a single snake's scent was far too faint, especially when the snake was hiding.

If it searched for them one at a time, it might well find the wrong kind of snake.

"All right. Go get some rest."

He glanced at the faint sunlight spilling through the window. There was still an hour before class.

Chen Beiwu waved Iron Egg away, then began his daily morning cultivation before leaving for school.

That morning's class was beast taming with their homeroom teacher, Wang Kui. As it happened, they would finally be sparring again after quite some time.

"Chen Beiwu, Xu Ziqing!"

As soon as Wang Kui called their names, the boys in the class focused their attention on the Combat Platform.

Before Chen Beiwu had broken through to late Qi Refining, Xu Ziqing, who was at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, had always kept him firmly beneath her in combat class.

Now that he had reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining as well, he would surely go all out to shake off his title as the eternal runner-up.

;psme&;psme&

Meanwhile, to preserve her ranking as the best in their year, Xu Ziqing might even unleash the Fallen Dragon Xu Family's secret techniques.

They would not miss this rare chance to watch!

After all, with most of their classmates still at the fourth layer of Qi Refining, Chen Beiwu and Xu Ziqing were practically big shots at the seventh layer. Watching them fight would surely teach the others a great deal about actual combat.

Noticing the eager gazes around him, Chen Beiwu thought, What a hassle.

After experiencing deadly battles in another world, he had no interest whatsoever in spellcasting matches that felt like children playing house.

Xu Ziqing stood at the center of a group of girls, her gaze resting on Chen Beiwu.

She pushed lightly off her toes, her sleeves streaming behind her in the breeze, and landed gracefully on the Combat Platform, facing Chen Beiwu from a distance.

"Go, Beiwu! Take down number one, and you'll be number one!"

A sudden shout of encouragement rose from the crowd.

Xu Ziqing's gaze changed, and out of the corner of her eye, she immediately locked onto Xu Lingling, who stood below the platform looking perfectly solemn.

Seeing this, Xu Lingling feigned ignorance, her gaze instinctively wandering to either side.

"Quiet."

With that, Wang Kui strode into the center of the arena and looked at Chen Beiwu and Xu Ziqing. "Choose your sides. Since this is a spellcasting sparring match, whoever triggers their protective talisman loses."

Chen Beiwu and Xu Ziqing nodded.

"Begin!"

The moment their homeroom teacher finished speaking, Xu Ziqing moved.

Her fingers flew as she formed a spell seal, and a searing pillar of fire instantly erupted beneath Chen Beiwu's feet. The hot currents churned up by the surging flames made some of the students watching from the front row instinctively retreat.

Too slow!

Chen Beiwu activated his variant art, Wind Manipulation. Without looking at the pillar of fire exploding behind him, he closed in on Xu Ziqing with the speed of thunder striking before one could cover one's ears, then formed the seal for the Water Mist Technique.

In an instant, billowing mist engulfed the Combat Platform, turning Xu Ziqing's entire field of vision into a sea of white.

"That move again? Can't you try something different?" Xu Ziqing swept a finger on her right hand downward through the air. Three fierce fire pythons immediately tore through the surrounding mist, shielding her from every direction without a single blind spot.

"An old trick is fine as long as it works." A deep, resonant male voice came from every direction in the mist.

The next second, Chen Beiwu's figure silently appeared behind Xu Ziqing.

Her eyes sharpened. As though she had eyes in the back of her head, she immediately changed the seal formed by her right hand.

"Blazing Flame Pull!"

The three fierce fire pythons abruptly converged, transforming into thirty-six pale-orange threads of fire that sealed off Chen Beiwu's retreat.

Boom!

As the violent explosion rang out, Xu Ziqing slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

The explosion had looked tremendously powerful, but its actual destructive force was fairly modest.

Since this was a sparring match rather than a fight to the death, she had deliberately allowed some of the spell's power to dissipate, leaving just enough to trigger the protective talisman Chen Beiwu carried and win the match.

Yet the next second, under Xu Ziqing's astonished gaze, a pale-gold defensive barrier silently appeared. It was her protective talisman activating automatically to protect her.

She turned to look. A tiny, thin blade formed from compressed water hovered silently two inches from her neck, stopped by the defensive barrier.

At the same time, in the center of the Combat Platform, two figures-one in front and one behind-suddenly turned into flowing water and vanished.

"The match is decided!" their homeroom teacher, Wang Kui, announced.

The surrounding students exchanged bewildered looks and exclaimed in disbelief.

"Didn't Beiwu only break through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining a few days ago? How has he already mastered a high-grade tier-one variant art, the Water-Gathering Technique?"

(End of chapter)