Second Time

Chapter 7 - Top Four

All the commotion had given Ren Meili time to recuperate. By the end of the top eight matches, she had fully recovered. She assumed Shao Yue had won and didn't ask about it, oblivious to everything that happened.

The field had narrowed to four disciples. They had all earned the right to explore the Cave Heaven, so now they only fought for prestige and contribution points.

"Rank nine, Ren Meili, versus rank five, Lei Ning."

A middle-aged man with a narrow mustache sauntered onto the stage. Resonance Realm, Eighth Stage. "I'm going to enjoy this!"

"I already defeated your master," Ren Meili said, standing across from him. "What chance do you have?"

Sects always had cliques. The weak would flock around the strong for protection. As the rank one, Sun Weimin had quite the number of followers.

"I won't know until I try!"

Lei Ning held nothing back, instantly attacking Ren Meili with full force. His qi seemed to swirl around his body with a mind of its own, lashing out at unexpected times.

Shao Yue raised her eyebrows. "Blood Venom Cobra!"

A man beside Shao Yue asked, "What's that?"

The nearby audience was quite familiar with Shao Yue calling out the names of Spirits. A lot of them they had heard about, but the man hadn't heard of a Blood Venom Cobra before.

"It's a grade four wood Spirit," Shao Yue explained. "It's highly dangerous, but also rare. It has the ability to evaporate vital essence with its Spirit essence. It's difficult to form a Core with it, because if you mess up, your vital essence will vanish and you'll die. But, if you succeed, then your qi can rival the greatest poisons."

"How terrifying!"

Shao Yue paid close attention to the fight, using her divine sense to not miss anything. If Ren Meili appeared to be in danger, Shao Yue would immediately intervene.

During the fight, things progressed smoothly. Lei Ning couldn't compare to Ren Meili in speed or power. She oppressed him at every turn. It took a hundred moves to defeat Sun Weimin, but only twenty for Lei Ning.

"It's your loss," Ren Meili said, standing over Lei Ning, who laid on his back.

Lei Ning raised his head with a wicked grin.

Shao Yue dashed forward.

Before Ren Meili could react, a small tube poked out of Lei Ning's mouth. A dart shot out and pierced into Ren Meili's upper arm. She cried out, stepping back.

Shao Yue yanked the dart out, used her fingernail to make a thin incision on Ren Meili's arm, then forced her water qi into her disciple's bloodstream. It wrapped around all of the drops of poison and extracted it before it could reach the brain, heart, or meridians.

Shao Yue glanced briefly at the small orb of purple fluid floating over her hand before using her qi to instantly clot Ren Meili's wound, stopping the bleeding.

The entire operation took under a second, leaving many to wonder what had happened. Even Ren Meili had no idea. She stared at the cut on her arm in a daze.

Shao Yue turned and ascended to where the Head Elder was, holding out her hands. "Head elder, this is the poison dart Senior Brother Lei attacked Senior Sister Ren with, and here is the poison that was applied. I don't have the ability to identify it."

She had received instruction in poisons from the Night Emperor, but that only covered exceptional poisons, ones that could threaten Emperor Realm cultivators. When it came to anything else, she was clueless.