This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder

After the Core Formation realm competition, it was the Nascent Soul realm competition. The battlefield was still the arenas atop the ninety-nine pillars, but the size had increased, and the defensive formation arenas were also strengthened. 

Surprisingly, one of the top contenders among the Nascent Soul realm disciples stepped onto the first ranked arena early on, even earlier than when Tianyi had stepped onto the ninth arena. The Nascent Soul realm disciple was San Mirong. Tianyi had heard of her when he was on the immortal boat from Xia Yushan. 

She wore blue robes, and her hair was dark blue, almost to the point of pure black, but Tianyi had no time to appreciate her beauty because she had countless lightning marks streaking under her skin like her body was a storm cloud. Her eyes were even more like lightning, as if they were a portal to endless thunderstorms. Just one look at her would let one know that she cultivated in lightning arts.

Her weapon was even more overbearing, a giant ax whose handle was thicker than her own arm. The ax blade glowed a brilliantly yellow like lightning; it was a total contrast to the blue lightning squirming under San Mirong’s skin.

San Mirong's attacks were overbearing and tyrannical. Each one of her opponents was defeated in one strike. Her ax chops resembled how Pangu split heaven and earth in the legends. None of the defensive or evasive techniques the other Nascent Soul Realm disciples displayed could block her attack.

After six to seven rounds, many Nascent Soul realm disciples were intimidated by San Mirong, and for a time, no Nascent Soul Realm disciple dared to clash with her. But humans were creatures with short memories, and soon, more and more disciples were challenging San Mirong again.

Although it only took her one attack to defeat each disciple, the expenditure surely wasn't light, and many people could see sweat beginning to form on her brows. Just as the crowd thought the genius of the Eternal Night Sect would fall under the swarm of numbers, a storm cloud suddenly formed above Heaven Shroud Island.

Tianyi felt his hair stand on end, and on reflex, he moved hundreds of meters away from his last location. He stared at the storm cloud with wariness. It was such an abrupt action that those from the other continents who noticed couldn’t help but be confused by Tianyi’s abnormality.

Even among the Buzhou Immortal Sect, many stared at him. Not many knew that Tianyi was constantly struck by tribulation lightning.

“Elder Meng, you shouldn’t be so close to me,” Tianyi said. He was worried that she would suddenly be caught in the tribulation lightning’s range.

“Young Master, look closely. That isn’t tribulation lightning.” As Elder Meng said those words, Tianyi observed the lightning once more, and he noticed that it wasn’t tribulation lightning. If Tianyi had more time, he would have also discovered the truth behind the lightning.

The sudden appearance of the storm cloud came out of nowhere and caught Tianyi off guard, and his body automatically reacted. When he observed more closely, he discovered that it was just an ordinary storm cloud, and the position was right above the first arena. 

As for the reason the storm cloud was summoned for, Tianyi soon found out as a bolt of lightning struck San Mirong. She wasn’t injured or fazed but seemed more relaxed than before and once again unleashed another ax chop and defeated her opponent.

Only this time, the ax chop was even fiercer and seriously injured her opponent more than all the previous ones combined. If the previous one just had scratches, this one directly had half his bones broken, and internal organs ruptured.

San Mirong's final attack was the straw that broke the camel's back. First, her attacks were nigh unstoppable, with no one able to block it so far. Second, the lethality of her moves increased, and the poor fool who challenged her last needed years to recover from his injuries. And third, it seemed that she had a secret method to replenish her true qi. 

This meant that unless someone could defeat her quickly and push her out of the arena, the chances of her losing were extremely slim. Unless the elite disciples decided to group together and wear her down, San Mirong's ranking was cemented in stone. The elite disciples would do such a thankless task. Instead of wasting energy on the first arena, it was better to secure another arena.

Thus the number of challengers decreased dramatically. However, there was an extremely humorous challenger. He was a disciple of Myriad Sun Sect, and against everyone’s expectation, he openly confessed his love to San Mirong. It was like a repeat of Tianyi's experience.

Tianyi felt his teeth ache as he watched the Myriad Sun Sect Nascent Soul disciple crash onto the ground from San Mirong’s ax chop. 

'Resist the urge to look at the Earth Continent crowd. Resist it, Tianyi!' 

It took every ounce of willpower to stop himself. Luckily, he didn’t see the disappointed look on Nanfang Wubai’s face, or else he might've puked blood.

Right after San Mirong established her dominance, Xia Yushan floated atop the second platform. Seeing that San Mirong could actually last consecutive fights, the other top disciples didn’t want to appear any weaker and thus chose to occupy the top arenas.  

The only one who didn't jump up was Li Mu, the other top genius Xia Yushan had formed Tianyi about. Instead, he calmly watched the fights as if he didn't care about the prestige.

Xia Yushan’s opponent was a cultivator who used metal spells. In response, Xia Yushan’s sword glowed bright red, and he displayed the Fire Element Sword Arts of the Five Element Sword Arts. 

If his opponent used water techniques, he would use Earth Element Sword Arts.

If his opponent used wood techniques, he would use Metal Element Sword Arts.

If his opponent used fire techniques, he would use Water Element Sword Arts.

If his opponent used earth techniques, he would use Wood Element Sword Arts.

Even if his opponent was skilled with numerous techniques, the fluidity of Xia Yushan sword arts was amazing. He could switch between any of the five elemental sword arts instantaneously. The most important part was that he was even able to borrow the opponents’ elemental attacks to boost his attack of the same element before changing the element of his sword.

In other words, he could return whatever his opponents threw at him twofold. This created a situation that was very similar to San Mirong. In addition, his opponent was not able to force him to use any more moves aside from the ones he already showed.

The Five Element Sword Arts was also quite famous, and the most famous part was merging all five elements onto one to create a sword containing the foundation of the world. Cultivators of the Five Element Sword Arts are able to nurture a lifebound weapon. By cultivating the Five Element Sword Arts, they would be able to nurture that lifebound sword into an immortal level rank treasure.

Lifebound weapons were special, and many cultivators wanted to nurture one. Although they may not be as useful to other people once the cultivator died, a lifebound weapon showed its greatest might in the hands of the cultivator who created it, possibly exhibiting power higher than the user's level.

Till this point, Xia Yushan had yet to display his lifebound weapon, and it was clear that he still had plenty of strength and qi left. Because of San Mirong’s actions, many geniuses showed their dazzling talent early on. Not only were they a step above everyone else, but their ability to fight continually was also revealed. 

However, this did not mean that geniuses who could not fight consecutive battles were inferior, just that they were not as shining because of San Mirong and those who followed her example. 

As the time limit neared, many new talents with strength on the same level as San Mirong and Xia Yushan began to emerge. After this Three Heavens Connection Meeting, their fame will resound throughout the Huang Realms.

As for who was stronger between San Mirong and Xia Yushan?

That was hard to say.

San Mirong was a late nascent soul grandmaster, and she only needed one strike to defeat her opponents, but aside from that, no one else had seen her use any other moves. In comparison, Xia Yushan was in the early Nascent Soul Realm and used numerous techniques to defeat his opponents, displaying great finesse. 

Even then, he was showing tremendous growth with each battle. His swordsmanship showed greater complexity each consecutive battle, and the effort needed to defeat his opponent became less and less.  

Xia Yushan showed great finesse and was continually growing, while San Mirong showed great force and did not reveal anything else. So it was hard to say who would win between the two. But San Mirong had the greater advantage as a late nascent soul grandmaster.

However, to many people’s surprise, when there were only two hours left, a disciple of the Eight Pillars Sect, Duan Muli, stepped onto the first arena where San Mirong was holding fort.

The two didn’t say anything and immediately began fighting.

To the surprise of many, San Mirong didn’t instantly defeat Duan Muli. Having survived her first move, she imbued her ax-shaped artifact with her qi. The yellow blade became stark white and grew to the size of a metal board, ten meters tall and one meter wide.

She unleashed a chop, and that chop was extremely powerful. Even space itself seemed to be affected, but Duan Muli wasn’t an average disciple either, and he deftly avoided San Mirong’s strike by the slimmest of margins.  

No matter how San Mirong attacked, Duan Muli would be able to dodge it by the slimmest of margins, like a speck in the water. No matter how much you tried to grab it, it would always slip through your hands. 

Duan Muli wasn’t just passively defending either. With each dodge, his fingers lightly tapped the blade of the ax. After more than tens of taps, cracks began to appear on the white energy blade. More and more cracks appeared until it all shattered, revealing the original yellow ax head. 

The shattered fragments didn’t dissipate into the air, and San Mirong widened the distance between them as her hands blurred through several hand seals. At the same time, the broken fragments of her ax became pillars of lightning that reached towards the heavens. At the top of the lightning bolts, storm clouds formed.

It resembled a cage of lightning. This was San Mirong’s Sky Lightning Cage Lock technique. But San Mirong wasn’t done yet as the cage began to shrink. No matter how slick Duan Muli was, he couldn’t change his size and slip out, could he?

Duan Muli was unrushed as he too made several hand seals, and as the cage around him neared, the space around him seemed to warp. The lightning cage naturally warped into a bubble. Around Duan Muli, the lightning formed a bulbous sphere, while the upper parts resembled a stem.

San Mirong frowned as she sensed an uncomfortable feeling. She detonated the lightning cage before Duan Muli could use it against her. 

Although Duan Muli’s cultivation was average, and there was nothing special about his nascent soul aside from having all five colors, his attainments and insight into the dao of yin and yang were extraordinary. He was the most skilled in reversing his opponents' moves against them.

As for attacking up close?

That was even more dangerous than attacking from range as one wrong move, and a fatal counterattack might occur.

Tianyi watched the battle intensely, especially Duan Muli. His usage of yin and yang spells was an eye-opener for Tianyi. He felt that he could glean something from Duan Muli if he continued to watch, but how could it be so easy? 

Unfortunately for him, he could only grasp the barest of ideas from Duan Muli. It was actually much better for him to seclude himself to meditate over the manner than watching Duan Muli. If experts could copy techniques just from watching someone perform them, then there would be no secret techniques.

The battle between Duan Muli and San Mirong raged on. Neither side was giving an inch, and both were still in near perfect condition. Duan Muli’s clothes and hand had been burned, but it was a negligible injury to cultivators like them. San Mirong didn’t seem injured, but the lightning's movement under her skin had fallen, and her skin seemed to have dimmed.

To everyone’s surprise, Duan Muli chose at this moment to exit the arena, greatly puzzling everyone. However, the reason was revealed as he challenged the third arena once the rest period was up. It seemed that he judged he would not be able to defeat San Mirong in a short time, so why not just give up first place and get another arena? 

Xia Yushan hadn’t fully revealed his strength, and Duan Muli wasn’t confident in defeating him in a short time. The combination of five elements was equal to the combination of yin and yang. In the end, the first place to third place was as follows.

First Place: San Mirong

Second Place: Xia Yushan

Third Place: Duan Muli

Surprisingly Li Mu had taken ninth place, and he did it at the most opportune time. Not so short that others would think he was taking advantage of the time limit to steal a spot from the original disciple on the ninth arena. But it was long enough to fight several battles to defeat over ten opponents yet still hide the majority of his abilities.