Chapter 218: Secret Weapon – Poison of the Thousand-Eyed Spider
Du Lianqin was not strong enough, so she could only silently watch the group battles from the audience seats. She gnashed her teeth in heartache as she anxiously observed the interaction between Du Yongxu and Jun Xiaomo.
From her perspective, Du Yongxu looked as though he was about to kill Jun Xiaomo in no time, so she had concluded that these moments of feelings for her would be fleeting at best. Yet two incense sticks of time later, Du Yongxu and Jun Xiaomo were still duking it out with each other.
What threatened Du Lianqin the most was the fact that Jun Xiaomo was undeniably eye-catching. Her striking red garments looked as though they had been tailor made for her, and they allowed her to appear as a burgeoning fire with dancing flames gently licking at the surroundings. It was extremely attractive.
“Clan Head, how come brother Xu isn’t killing her with one blow? What in the world is he doing?!” Du Lianqin tugged Du Ruiguang’s sleeves as she cried out with indignation.
She had been fond of Du Yongxu ever since she was young, and she was certain that Du Yongxu would end up marrying her one day. Yet who would have thought that Jun Xiaomo would appear mid-way and thwart her plans like that.
Even though Du Yongxu did not expressly state that he was fond of Jun Xiaomo, Du Yongxu’s gaze had undeniably been transfixed on Jun Xiaomo’s body ever since the start of the fight. It was as though Jun Xiaomo was a treasure chest full of hidden secrets, and he was slowly probing and trying to reveal its secrets.
Du Lianqin’s heart swelled with a sour and aching sensation. She did not want Du Yongxu’s gaze to fall on the bodies of other ladies like that.
And what does Jun Xiaomo have that attracts brother Xu’s attention so? Du Lianqin exclaimed in her heart with exasperation – Why must brother Xu look at her like that?!
As his father, Du Ruiguang naturally understood Du Yongxu far better than Du Lianqin. That said, he also felt that the gaze in his son’s eyes were not normal at all.
I hope I’m just thinking too much right now. Du Ruiguang squinted his eyes as he sighed in his heart. He absolutely abhorred the idea that his son might have taken an interest to a young girl from a Secondary Sect with a cultivation at only the sixth level of Qi Mastery despite being seventeen years-old.
“Alright, don’t think too much about it. Xu-er knows his limits. Go back to your seat.” Du Ruiguang calmly shrugged off Du Lianqin’s concerns.
Truth be told, he was hardly pleased by the prospects that Du Lianqin might become his future daughter-in-law. Even though Du Lianqin called Du Yongxu “cousin”, they were merely distant cousins. In any event, Du Lianqin’s abilities were average at best.
In Du Ruiguang’s eyes, his future daughter-in-law needed to have stature, authority as well as abilities. None should be lacking. In this regard, Du Lianqin had failed to meet his expectations in each and every single one of these fields.
Of course, he had also observed that the affection and advances from Du Lianqin were completely unrequited – his son did not appear to be interested in her at all.
Du Ruiguang trusted in Du Yongxu’s taste, and he temporarily content with taking a backseat when it came to his son’s pursuit of eternal bliss. However, when it came to Jun Xiaomo…
Du Ruiguang gazed into the water screen at the interaction between Du Yongxu and Jun Xiaomo, and a layer of fog crept over his heart.
In the marshlands, Du Yongxu continued to use weak yet annoying attacks to strike Jun Xiaomo, just like how a confident hunter would play with his prey when he was confident that it could never escape from his grasp. He would allow her to run about fervently despite there being no way out of his current entrapment.
The Heavenly Peak disciples also witnessed Jun Xiaomo’s predicament, but they were trapped in their own predicaments as well. There was no way they were able to lend Jun Xiaomo a helping hand or even divert their attention from the battles they were faced with.
After all, the Du Clan disciples following Du Yongxu were all incredibly strong. Notwithstanding the group battle tactics employed by the Heavenly Peak disciples, their teamwork was something that had only been built up over the last two days, and it was most certainly insufficient to make up for their cultivation deficiency when compared with the Du Clan disciples.
Whenever they intended to team up to beat down and subdue one of the Du Clan disciples, they would find another Du Clan disciple interfering with their tacit coordination, causing them to have to regroup and reset their formations.
Very soon, several wounds began to appear on the bodies of the Heavenly Peak disciples. As Jun Xiaomo continued to be “toyed” with by Du Yongxu, the mounting wounds on the bodies of the Heavenly Peak disciples appeared to cast them into an even sorrier state.
After all, the other Du Clan disciples were hardly concerned about a game of cat-and-mouse. Their only goal was to dispose of the Heavenly Peak disciples as quickly as they could, and they naturally held nothing back as they attacked with all they had.
“Damn!” Jun Xiaomo’s heart roiled as though it had been tossed into a cauldron of boiling oil.
She could almost see the scenes from her previous life flash before her eyes right now – her martial brothers from the Heavenly Peak fell one after another, yet she was completely helpless to do anything to resist it.
Just then, Wei Gaolang was caught out and wrapped up by a tongue made of flames, and his anxious cry snapped Jun Xiaomo back to her senses.
“Little Lang!” Jun Xiaomo cried out in dismay and was about to rush over to rescue Wei Gaolang when a bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of her, leaving a small crater in the ground.
“Jun Xiaomo, don’t forget that your opponent is me.” Du Yongxu stood not far away and chuckled as he curled his lips wickedly.
A fiery rage burgeoned in the depths of Jun Xiaomo’s heart. She lashed out with her whip and immediately launched herself towards Du Yongxu.
“Hah, so it turns out that you care for that young sprout? This much is enough to cause you to want to kill me and get revenge for him?” Du Yongxu hardly set Jun Xiaomo’s attacks in his sights. He unhurriedly avoided each and every whiplash from Jun Xiaomo as he continued to attack Jun Xiaomo, “But, I’m quite curious. Logically speaking, at your cultivation level, the amount of spiritual energy in your body should already have been completely depleted. Why is it that you’re still able to use your spells and stacks now? I’m truly curious to know the secrets that your body contains.”
Jun Xiaomo was momentarily taken aback. She had never expected Du Yongxu’s sensitivity to be so high.
Just then, Wei Gaolang’s voice called out from her side again.
“Pah! Pah! A mouthful of soot…Martial sister, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” Wei Gaolang had used a talisman in the nick of time to escape his predicament. That said, the talisman had burnt up to a crisp and left Wei Gaolang with a face full of soot.
Jun Xiaomo heaved a sigh of relief. But this was only for a split second, because in the very next moment, she was squarely struck by Du Yongxu’s next attack.
A long bolt of lightning struck her shoulder, causing her to groan in pain.
“Martial sister!”
“Martial sister!”
When they saw their martial sister get injured, the Heavenly Peak disciples involuntarily let out a cry of concern. Yet Jun Xiaomo raised her hand in the next moment and responded, “I’m fine.”
This type of injury was well within the scope of what she was able to bear.
Just then, rustling sounds suddenly filled their surroundings. That said, everyone was currently engaged in the heat of battle, and nobody managed to pick up on these tiny details.
Of course, everyone else in the audience noticed this, because the ones responsible for these rustling sounds were indeed none other than the missing disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect. They had followed Jun Xiaomo’s instructions and run far away from the present battleground to make some preparations, and they had finally returned.
Du Ruiguang had been so fixated on the battle between Du Yongxu and Jun Xiaomo that he hardly noticed where the disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect had gone.
In fact, he did not even realize the fact that the Heavenly Peak faction which comprised of three whole teams suddenly had tens of people missing. In the end, when all was said and done, Du Ruiguang had undeniably grown complacent and underestimated his opponents. In his eyes, the Du Clan disciples were so strong that the ragtag faction of three teams combined could hardly hold a candle to his dear dream team.
That said, as soon as he saw the return of the disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect, a deep sense of uneasiness immediately swelled from the bottom of his heart.
Just as Du Ruiguang whipped out his Transmittance Talisman and was about to remind Du Yongxu to be careful, he saw the disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect rush out from the foliage in the woods and charge straight into the fray.
These disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect had applied Invisibility Talismans on themselves, so even though the members of the audience could see them clearly through the powerful arrays set up within the identity token, the disciples who were battling it out with each other could not.
This was particularly so for the Du Clan disciples who had been fully immersed in their battles. None of them noticed anyone quickly approaching their position right now.
Just as they were about to arrive at the heart of the battle, the disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect suddenly whipped out a piece of talisman each from their Interspatial Rings and tossed them straight at each of the Du Clan disciples.
In the next moment, the Du Clan disciples felt a strange sensation on their arms, neck, shoulders, and so on. They lowered their heads and immediately noticed that there was an additional talisman that had just struck their bodies.
Naturally, the Invisibility Talismans lost their effects as soon as the disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect struck the Du Clan disciples with the talismans. Thus, in the eyes of the Du Clan disciples, tens of cultivators had suddenly appeared in their surroundings. It was incredibly striking and stunning.
Du Yongxu had also noticed the sudden development in their situation. He was momentarily taken aback, before he quickly realized the identity of these people who had suddenly appeared.
“Haha, do you think that you’ll be able to take us by surprise and turn the tables? Don’t forget that the competition regulations limit the power of the talismans that you can use. The talismans that you can bring for these group battles are completely useless against us. If you think that these talismans will allow you to turn the tables, then you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”
Du Yongxu had looked directly at Jun Xiaomo when he finished his spiel. His lips were even filled with a contemptuous and disdainful smile.
Is that all Jun Xiaomo has up her sleeves? After such a long time, her schemes are only worth that much? What’s the use of these few pieces of talismans?
The other Du Clan disciples thought the same way, and everyone laughed sardonically. None of them were even in any rush to tear off these talismans that had just struck them.
Their bodies were protected by the circulation of their spiritual energy after all. Furthermore, they were well-equipped with some defensive items that were unique to the Du Clan disciples. These accessories hardly looked like anything beyond the ordinary, and it was for this reason that the Du Clan disciples were able to sneak them past the referees during the verification and examination process.
That said, appearing to be ordinary did not mean that they were useless. The truth of the matter was that each of these accessories greatly boosted their offensive and defensive capabilities.
In other words, normal talismans would never be able to harm their bodies.
Thus, the Du Clan disciples waited patiently for the moment that Jun Xiaomo and the rest of the Heavenly Peak faction discovered that their talismans were useless. At the same time, the Du Clan disciples continued to mock the Secondary Sect disciples for their ignorance and ineptitude.
Having a lifetime of experience under her belt, how could Jun Xiaomo not be able to see the current intentions of these Du Clan disciples? A bright gleam flashed across her eyes, while the disciples from the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect struggled hard to stifle the laughter and prevent a smile from creeping up their faces.
Du Yongxu and the Du Clan disciples were not the only ones waiting to watch a good show – the disciples from the Heavenly Peak faction were equally waiting for a good show as well.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and Jun Xiaomo hardly wasted any time either. Within moments, she raised her right hand and lightly snapped with her fingers.
Snap!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Instantly, the talismans on the bodies of the Du Clan disciples exploded.
These minute explosions hardly even left a scratch on the Du Clan disciples. The Du Clan disciples immediately plastered a haughty and disdainful smile on their faces and poised themselves to attack the Heavenly Peak faction once more. Just then, the Du Clan disciples felt their arms and legs seize up, and they instantly collapsed onto the ground.
What in the world is going one?!
Every single one of the Du Clan disciples revealed an incredulous expression on their faces, including Du Ruiguang as he watched on in the audience booth.
“This is the poison from the Thousand-Eyed Spider, and it possesses a powerful numbing effect…what’s the matter? How does it feel to have your arms and legs completely numb?”
Jun Xiaomo coiled up her whip and tapped it gently on her palms as she calmly questioned.
Jun Xiaomo raised and eyebrow quizzically as a smile crept up the corner of her lips. This was her true secret weapon against the fools from the Eternal Summit Sect.