Chapter 1084: Myriad Beasts Cube, Unrivaled Prowess
The people from the Nine Provinces only knew that spiritual beasts were usually differentiated by their physical sizes and species.
A massive body, as well as a rare high-quality bloodline, would determine a ferocious beast's battle prowess. A commonly seen monkey like Lu Zhiruo's would have limited power even if they could use simple weapons.
Therefore, Liu Mingdeng didn't take the monkey that had been squatting on Lu Zhiruo's shoulder seriously. However, the moment the battle started, he realized that his judgment was a little wrong.
This thing was very fast!
Swoosh!
Liu Mingdeng moved his head and dodged the attack. At the same time, he slashed out with his longsword, wanting to chop off this monkey's head. However, it did an agile somersault, avoiding the slash. Moreover, the stone spear pierced toward Liu Mingdeng's eyes once again.
Steady, accurate, vicious, not holding back at all.
Liu Mingdeng was held back by this monkey. There was no helping it. It was like a large-sized flea that kept on jumping around him and thrusting out its longspear crazily.
(Damn it!)
Liu Mingdeng was very anxious. He was neither able to catch nor slash the monkey. It was infuriating.
"You fool! Release your spirit pressure!"
Nangong Xun was speechless.
"Oh, right!"
Liu Mingdeng was struck by the realization and immediately activated all the spirit qi in his body, releasing spirit pressure.
To wild beasts, spirit pressure was like the pressure from a tiger roaring in the mountains. It was an aura that would make them shudder from their hearts. As expected, the monkey froze on the spot.
Liu Mingdeng could have sent the monkey flying with a kick, but he had accumulated a lot of fury from the exchanges earlier. Therefore, he swung his sword, wanting to kill the monkey to vent his anger.
However, at the instant Liu Mingdeng's longsword was about to slash onto its neck, it moved and darted out, biting Liu Mingdeng's wrist.
"Ah!!!"
Liu Mingdeng yelled out in pain, swinging his hand vigorously. However, he was unable to break free from the monkey, so he sent it smashing toward the ground. But before the Greenhaze Macaque got close to the ground, it reached out its legs, kicked against Liu Mingdeng's arm, and bounced away easily.
Pffft!
The monkey spat out the bloody flesh and bones in his mouth.
"I'm going to kill you!"
Liu Mingdeng lost a large part of his right wrist. Without the connection from his bones and muscles, his right hand drooped down and he was unable to hold onto his longsword.
"Sss, what monkey is this? Why is it so brutal?"
The audience was given a fright.
"This Liu Mingdeng was too careless."
"Don't be deceived by its appearance. This monkey is definitely not an ordinary one."
"That's right. It knows how to use battle tactics."
The great teachers started to analyze the situation.
This Liu Mingdeng had taken his opponent lightly when he saw Lu Zhiruo. He deserved this.
"Are you going to admit your loss?"
Right now, Lu Zhiruo had completed the summoning, and a big coiled-up snake blocked in front of her.
"Even if I only had one arm and one leg, I could still win against you!"
Liu Mingdeng pounced for the kill, sending out a lump of sword qi from his longsword.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The big snake had tough skin and bones, blocking all the sword qis. The Greenhaze Macaque also darted out once again, looking for an opportunity to attack.
Lu Zhiruo ran while making sure that the big snake was constantly between her and Liu Mingdeng. At the same time, her hands rapidly twisted the Myriad Beasts Cube.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Many light balls shot out, integrating in the air. Amidst the beaming light, they became a huge ancient elephant that landed on the arena with a great bang.
Mou!
The huge elephant let out a loud bellow, and many thick elephant tusks grew out from the ground. They were like a cage, wanting to trap Liu Mingdeng.
"What the hell?"
Liu Mingdeng dodged. He had just jumped into the air when that monkey came attacking again, piercing out with the stone spear.
Lu Zhiruo's head was aching tremendously. Using the Myriad Beasts Cube not only depleted spirit qi but also mental energy. This feeling was as if one's brain was placed into a juicer, having all the moisture extracted out.
"I'll go all out for Teacher! For the first place!"
Lu Zhiruo's consciousness sank into the cube once again. It was a spacious cubic room, and the walls were filled with mosaic-like fragments.
Each piece of fragment had a portion of a ferocious beast's body.
As Lu Zhiruo twisted the cube, these fragments would start moving. When they pieced together to form a complete ancient beast, it could be summoned out.
In six seconds, a ferocious beast took form!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Many light balls shot out and merged together to form a bald eagle. It came shooting down like a sharp arrow.
Liu Mingdeng dodged.
The eagle screeched and flapped its wings, brushing past Liu Mingdeng.
"That was so close!"
Liu Mingdeng looked at the eagle that was one head taller than he was, his face turning pale. He had narrowly escaped that attack, but he suddenly felt a series of intense pain in his body.
"What?"
Liu Mingdeng lowered his head and saw that his body was covered in wounds, with countless slash marks.
"It's wind blades!"
Someone cried out.
When the bald eagle flew past, the movements from it flapping its wings formed several tens of sharp wind blades around it. Even if it failed to catch its prey, the wind blades would be a second attack.
Liu Mingdeng had no chance to take a breather. The big snake swung its head and spurted out a tremendous amount of purple poisonous fog at him.
Swoosh!
The countenances of the audience changed and they backed off quickly.
Squeak squeak!
The monkey cried out in dissatisfaction. It had the chance to launch a sneak attack at Liu Mingdeng, but it was now unable to get close to him because of the big snake's poisonous fog.
The big snake paid the monkey no heed. Instead, it swung its tail and lashed out fiercely onto the ancient elephant's body because this guy's Ivory Entrapment had poked it.
"Stop fighting amongst yourselves!"
Lu Zhiruo panicked.
She had too little battle experience, so her spiritual beasts didn't know how to work together. They were unable to form a joint attack but would obstruct each other's movements instead.
The audience didn't know anything about battle tactics nor did they care about wins or losses. They were only here to have fun.
Therefore, they naturally cheered loudly when they saw so many huge beasts. In addition to Lu Zhiruo's sweet looks, they immediately became her fan and started to cheer for her.
The great teachers, especially spirit controllers and beast tamers, were all stunned.
"Scales on all four feet... Isn't this the Ivory Gigantic Elephant? But it's supposed to have become extinct!"
An ancestor-level expert by the surname of Bei, who was on the judges' seat, sat straight up, his eyes almost popping out.
"Is this huge elephant very famous?"
Someone next to him asked out of curiosity.
"After its husks are burned, it'll give off a strange smell that can bring a person into a mysterious domain. It's said that when one is in this domain, they can see things that will happen in the future. Don't you think that's mysterious?"
Ancestor Bei was very agitated.
He had only seen the Ivory Gigantic Elephants in ancient books because they had all gone extinct over one million years ago.
"It's really that amazing?"
The people near him gasped.
"I have no idea. That's what was written in ancient books."
Ancestor Bei took a few glances and then let out a sigh, returning to his seat. This Ivory Gigantic Elephant wasn't real. He had become agitated for nothing.
When a three-legged golden wolf was summoned, it bit off one of Liu Mingdeng's legs and the battle ended.
"This isn't fair!"
Nangong Xun bellowed. "What capability does she have to rely on secret treasures to win?"
Lu Zhiruo had wanted to cheer, but then she heard this questioning claim. She instantly became nervous.
"This great teacher, please conduct yourself with dignity!"
Tong Yiming warned. (Even if you aren't convinced, you can appeal. The judges will uphold justice for you. Can you not go shouting like this?)
"My disciple is almost beaten to death, and you're asking me to conduct myself with dignity?"
Nangong Xun's heart ached for Liu Mingdeng, but it ached even more for the great teacher title he had lost. He had only been one victorious battle away.
(It is one thing to have lost to a strong opponent. But to lose to a 15-year-old girl? I can't accept this!)
"Even though these ancient beasts are lifelike, they should have been extinct long ago. Now that they've been summoned, it must be due to that metal block."
Nangong Xun stared at the Myriad Beasts Cube in Lu Zhiruo's hands.
He didn't know about these things and had only said this after hearing the discussions between the spirit controllers and beast tamers around him.
"Lu Zhiruo, what's your explanation?"
Tong Yiming asked.
"I... I..."
Lu Zhiruo started panicking after so many gazes stared at her.
"Although it is a secret treasure, it doesn't have any attacking abilities. It's only a space that stores ancient beasts. It'd require an extremely strong talent in spirit control to be able to summon these huge beasts!"
Li Ziqi took a step forward and explained things before Sun Mo did.
(Teacher is now a 4-stars great teacher. It'd be beneath him to be arguing with these examinees.)
Everyone whispered amongst themselves.
Those spirit controllers revealed envious gazes. This object was the greatest secret treasure for them.
"Don't try to justify things. The reason she could win is because of these powerful spiritual beasts! Any other spirit controllers would be able to win with them as well!"
Nangong Xun let out a cold snort.
"If it was any other spirit controller, they'd die!"
Li Ziqi rolled her eyes. "Shall we look for a spirit controller to test it out?"
The little sunny egg was very confident because she had studied the Myriad Beasts Cube before and almost got stuck inside, unable to break free. It was Lu Zhiruo who had saved her.
"Alright!"
Nangong Xun looked around, cupping his fists together. "May I ask which great teacher can lend me a helping hand?"
Everyone mumbled away, but no one stood forward.
(What a joke. Your opponent is Sun Mo, an amazing talent who has risen by four stars within a year. He's the most famous newbie in the great teacher world, someone with limitless prospects. How are we supposed to continue with our lives if we were to pit against him?)
"Teacher Liu?"
Nangong Xun looked toward a friend he was close with.
That Teacher Liu immediately shrank his head and hid amongst the crowd.
Nangong Xun felt depressed and frustrated, but could only ask another person for help. "Teacher Hu?"
"Nangong, it isn't that I don't want to help, but spirit control-type secret treasures are very mysterious. If one were to touch it recklessly, they could get into trouble easily!"
Old Hu felt troubled.
They were friends for many years and he wanted to help. But Sun Mo was too strong of an enemy and they'd all get their heads crushed.
Huang Peng took a step forward in curiosity and was about to speak up when he was held back by one hand. He turned and saw that it was his teacher.
"Don't be reckless!"
Wan Xiulin reminded his student.
"Brother Hu, I can't accept losing like this!" Nangong Xun said strongly.
"Alright then!"
Great Teacher Hu had no choice but to step out, cupping his fists toward Sun Mo. "Teacher Sun, I'm doing this for your own good. After all, I'm sure that you don't wish for your student's victory to be questioned, right?"
"Zhiruo, what do you think of this?"
Sun Mo didn't mind the result of this battle. After all, he had won the 4-stars title. Based on his usual style, he wouldn't want to show others this secret treasure.
This was a trump card. The fewer people knew about it, the better.
"I want to let them approve of me!" Lu Zhiruo insisted.
"Teacher!" Li Ziqi smiled evilly. "Let him take a look then. People like him won't learn if they don't suffer!"