Chapter 410: Martial Arts Challenge 1

The square was filled with tension, but the challenges still had to go on.

After all, the two sides had sealed challenge contracts and breaking them would incur heaven’s fury.

“The martial arts challenge will begin in an incense stick.” Yang Zitao announced, and Shen Xu smiled.

“Are you confident?” Zhen Yuan asked, rubbing the double’s hair.

“Fifty-fifty.” Shen Xu said, and Zhen Yuan nodded.

He was also uncertain when he went up for the swords master challenge.

However, Zhen Yuan believed that Shen Xu was capable enough to deal with whatever obstacle was thrown at him.

[Don’t worry about your safety. I will protect you from the sidelines.] He transmitted, and Shen Xu nodded.

[I know.] He said.

He and Zhen Yuan had learned their lesson and would not allow another ambush to harm either of them.

An incense stick passed in the blink of an eye.

When the time was up, Shen Xu walked to the centre of the stage and stood opposite his opponent.

His opponent was Wang Kunpeng, the tenth disciple of the seventh mountain’s peak master.

From what Shen Xu knew, Wang Kunpeng was not an ordinary martial artist. He was a body cultivator and had mastered two body martial arts.

The first martial art was the iron cloak technique, and the second was the eagle claws art.

As the names suggested, the iron cloak technique was a defensive art that temporarily formed an iron cloak around the body, providing infallible defence, while the eagle claws technique turned a cultivator’s hands into talons that could tear a similar realm cultivator into pieces.

Shen Xu had a thoughtful expression as he looked at Wang Kunpeng.

’This challenge won’t be easy.’ He thought.

First, Wang Kunpeng was a pure martial artist while Shen Xu was just a dabbler. Considering that, it was natural that Wang Kunpeng had a better foundation and experience than the double.

Second, based on previous challenges, Shen Xu knew the martial arts competition would be designed to give Wang Kunpeng the greatest advantage.

Knowing this, he expected the match would only allow martial arts, but no weapons.

This in itself was not enough to worry Shen Xu.

After all, he had practised the four-star body art and was confident he would do well even without his hammer.

However, Wang Kunpeng was a Mahayana realm body refiner.

Unlike other challenges where cultivation didn’t have a significant effect on the challenge, Wang Kunpeng’s cultivation was a distinct advantage in the martial arts competition.

’Ayuan and I will get an entry token to the sect’s Thunder secret realm if we win all ten challenges. It wouldn’t hurt to go there before retreating.’ He thought and subconsciously narrowed his eyes.

He currently had two qi cultivation resources.

The first was the molten fire he got from Jianyu, and the second was the night rainbow fruit he received after completing the sect task. With just these, Shen Xu would be able to advance to the mid or late stage of the Mahayana realm.

However, these were not his only resources.

Excluding them, he had Yang Shi and the others.

When everyone advanced, Shen Xu would receive qi feedback and would likely advance to the peak stage of the Mahayana realm or half a step into the tribulation transcending realm.

Additionally, he expected to get some useful treasures from the sect’s treasury.

All in all, the next retreat would last several thousand years, but Shen Xu was sure he would advance to the tribulation transcending realm.

’There are also the primordial qi fruit and the chaos water.’ He thought.

However, he didn’t plan to use the primordial qi fruit for the time being.

After all, the first time taking the fruit allowed a cultivator to advance one major realm. Considering that, Shen Xu planned to wait until they ascended before refining his first fruit.

As for the chaos water, he wanted to refine it in the upcoming retreat.

On one hand, he wanted to improve his talent and physique so that he could grasp a better star of immortality than his original destiny and on the other, it was best to improve his talent before ascending to the immortal realm.

After all, with better talent, his spiritual qi would be transformed into more and higher-quality immortal qi when they ascended.

’If possible, I should refine my body to level nine before retreating to advance my qi. That way, I will have an easier time surviving the Mahayana realm and tribulation transcending realm tribulations.’ He thought, but suddenly frowned.

The Thunder Secret Realm could help his body cultivation breakthrough from the peak stage of level seven to the peak stage of level eight.

Unfortunately, if he wanted to advance to level nine, he needed to change places.

’Cursed valley….’ Shen Xu thought with a meaningful expression.

The Tianxuan continent had a few places where body refiners could advance to the peak-stage of level eight, but the Cursed Valley was the only place to advance to level nine.

However, the Cursed Valley was a death trap with a pitifully low survival rate.

Thinking of this, Shen Xu sighed, but he was discouraged.

After all, their group had explored the forbidden zone and other dangerous areas in the Tianqi continent.

Most importantly, the Cursed Valley was detailed in the original book.

With their experience and book cheat, Shen Xu didn’t believe their group would fail to survive the Cursed Valley or other dangerous areas in the Tianxuan continent.

However, this was not the time to think about that, and the double shook his head to clear the distractions.

“The rules of the eighth challenge are simple.” Yang Zitao said and quickly continued.

“First, no weapons are allowed.” He said and subconsciously looked at Shen Xu with pitying eyes.

Everyone knew that Shen Xu was deadly with a hammer.

After all, the whole mess started because Shen Xu disregarded Xuanyuan Ze’s identity and hammered him to within an inch of his life.

Now that weapons were not allowed, Yang Zitao felt that Shen Xu could not win the challenge and would likely shed several layers of skin.

That said, he could only sigh and had no way of helping the double.

“Second, you are not allowed to take your opponent’s life.” He said and narrowed his eyes with a solemn expression.

This rule ensured that the two challengers would not die during the competition.

Unfortunately, it only safeguarded their life and nothing else.

If one of the challengers was malicious, it was not impossible to cripple their opponent, thrusting them into a situation that was worse than death.

Wang Kunpeng and Shen Xu understood this.

However, neither was worried.

On his part, Wang Kunpeng trusted his iron cloak technique and didn’t believe Shen Xu could break it, while the double relied on his four-star body art.

Compared to the iron cloak technique, the defensive power of the four-star body art was more comprehensive.

Although Shen Xu had yet to fully master the art, he believed his current mastery was just enough to deal with Wang Kungpeng’s eagle claws.

“Finally, the match will last one day.” Yang Zitao said and continued.

“You lose if you fall out of the stage or if you use qi or soul power at any time during the match. If both are still standing at the end of the day, the match will be declared a draw.” He said, and the two nodded.

“Junior brother Shen, how about a wager?” Wang Kunpeng asked in a serious voice.

Hearing this, the double smiled with an expectant expression.

After all, he and Zhen Yuan had earned a lot of treasures from the wagers.

Seeing that another person was eager to send more treasures, Shen Xu was naturally happy and couldn’t wait to seal the deal.

“What does senior brother Wang want to wager?” Shen Xu asked.

“Ten level eight monsters.” Wang Kunpeng said, and Shen Xu couldn’t help but be surprised.

There were many level eight monsters in the Tianxuan continent.

However, they were difficult to kill, hence even the Myriad Treasures Pavilion had a limited supply of meat and parts.

’Ten level eight monsters…, I couldn’t ask for more.’ Shen Xu thought and subconsciously laughed.

For others, a monster body was not all useful.

However, for himself and Zhen Yuan, every part of a monster corpse was useful.

“In that case, I will give you a level eight mutated blue fern if you win the challenge. Is that acceptable?” Shen Xu asked with a nonchalant expression, but Wang Kunpeng was not calm.

Blue ferns were body refining treasures, and he had long been hoping to get one.

Unexpectedly, Shen Xu offered a mutated blue fern which was even better than an ordinary blue fern.

“Acceptable.” Wang Kunpeng nodded, and the two sealed the deal.

Seeing this, Yang Zitao took out his hourglass and activated it before leaving the stage.

“Junior brother Shen, let’s have a good fight.” Wang Kunpeng said, and Shen Xu chuckled.

“Let’s.” He said.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep