Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Thousand Weight Spear

After announcing rules and rewards, the elder clapped his hands. “The tournament begins tomorrow at noon. The arena is the forest outside the academy beneath your feet. For now, you may move freely.”

Lin Zhao looked around and realized the road they’d come by had vanished at some point. The square was now surrounded by endless trees, like the mouth of a beast waiting to swallow them whole.

Ming Yue tilted her head, confused. “If the tournament starts tomorrow, why did they put us here today?”

Lin Zhao felt eyes on her from all directions and instinctively straightened. She scanned the crowd, gaze bright and steady. “Because he’s waiting for the newcomers to form alliances on their own.”

The South Sea Academy didn’t want a pack of clueless loners.

Ming Yue closed her eyes. The bell at her ankle chimed once, soft and sharp.

A dozen figures gathered as if from nowhere. They bowed toward Ming Yue.

“Disciples of Moon Inviting Sect greet the young sect master.”

Ming Yue nodded, casual. “Is this enough people?”

Lin Zhao looked them over—more than a dozen cultivators, each above the third layer of Enlightenment—and couldn’t help clicking her tongue.

Any one of them would rank among the top three in the Noble Houses.

Only a Transcendent Power like Moon Inviting Sect, second only to the three giants, could bring out this kind of young strength so casually.

“It’s enough,” Lin Zhao said. Then she added honestly, “But bringing me along will cause no small trouble.”

Ming Yue understood at once. “That guy—leave him to me.”

A mere ninth-layer Enlightenment cultivator meant nothing in Ming Yue’s eyes.

The disciples chimed in. “Immortal Maiden Wang Shu, don’t overthink it. Moon Inviting Sect isn’t afraid of a mere Sacred Light Empire.”

Lin Zhao rubbed her nose, helpless. She couldn’t exactly tell them: I’m going to level up by fighting monsters, and by the way, I plan to eliminate the entire Sacred Light Empire.

A first-layer Enlightenment cultivator, announcing she’d wipe out the team led by one of the five Newcomer Kings?

Anyone except Ming Yue would think she’d gone mad.

Ming Yue’s brows twitched. “If Sister has things to do, you don’t need to come with us. Just be careful, Sister.”

She drew a blue bell from her Spatial Ring and placed it in Lin Zhao’s palm.

“If anything urgent happens, shake this bell. I’ll sense it.”

Lin Zhao closed her fingers around it. “Let’s add each other’s Heavenlink IDs too. If something comes up later, we can contact each other through the Heavenlink Mirror.”

Ming Yue pulled out a Heavenlink Mirror. After they exchanged Heavenlink IDs, Lin Zhao’s figure slipped away into the forest.

Jia Lan, who had been watching Lin Zhao’s side the whole time, flicked a glance toward a scrawny man beside him.

The man’s eyes narrowed. He vanished into the trees.

After Lin Zhao left the square and traveled more than 100 li, she felt the aura tailing her falter—just slightly.

Good.

She stopped and turned. “You’ll be my first target.”

The scrawny man, Ling He, froze when Lin Zhao’s gaze landed directly on his hiding place. Realizing he’d been discovered, he dropped his disguise and jumped down from the branches.

He smiled, sneering and contemptuous. “Lin Zhao. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Lin Zhao drew the Heavenly Phoenix Bone Sword. “A dog of the Sacred Light Empire doesn’t need to waste breath on me.”

Ling He spread his hands, almost regretful. “Your talent is undeniable. But who told you not to know how to hide it? Young Lord Lin, there is always someone above you, always a sky beyond the sky. Today, let me teach you what humility looks like.”

His spiritual energy surged—vast, heavy, unmistakably the foundation of a fifth-layer Enlightenment cultivator.

Against Lin Zhao’s first, the difference should’ve been crushing.

Lin Zhao lifted her sword and released her own Enlightenment foundation.

Ling He’s heart tightened.

Her spiritual foundation—at the first layer—was not much weaker than his.

That meant her cultivation method was higher grade. The spiritual energy it produced was better. And it meant she’d reached the very peak of the first layer, on the verge of breaking through—clean enough to be called Perfect Grade.

Even Crown Prince Jia Lan hadn’t had such a foundation at the first layer.

Now Ling He understood why Jia Lan wanted Lin Zhao dead.

Offend an enemy like this, and the trouble never ends.

Fortunately…

In this fight, even if she wasn’t much weaker, she was still weaker.

His fifth layer was still above her.

A long spear appeared in Ling He’s palm. Cold light flashed in his eyes. “Taste this spear!”

The spear shot out like a rainbow, ripping through the quiet. Faint flames licked the air in its wake.

“Fire, Earth, Metal.” Lin Zhao read it instantly from the move. “A Triple Spirit Root.”

She swung the Bone Sword in a hard sweep.

Spear tip and sword edge struck. Sparks burst. Spiritual energy collided and snapped outward.

Both retreated.

Lin Zhao took seven steps back.

Ling He took three.

The opening exchange went as expected.

But battles between cultivators weren’t decided by cultivation alone.

That clash was only a test.

After confirming Ling He’s attributes and rhythm, Lin Zhao’s lips curved into a cold smile.

Ling He stared at her, shock sliding beneath his contempt.

How could someone at early Enlightenment have such a terrifying foundation—and a body that didn’t lose out to his mid-stage fifth layer?

If she reached the fifth layer, she’d be able to fight late-stage Enlightenment head-on.

His smile vanished.

“Lin Zhao,” he said, voice turning sharp, “it looks like I can’t let you live today. I thought Wei Wei’s item would be unnecessary, but I still underestimated you.”

He flipped his wrist. A silver pill lay in his palm. He lifted it toward his mouth.

Blue light flashed in Lin Zhao’s eyes.

Enormous blue flame wings burst out behind her.

Before Ling He could even react, Lin Zhao was already in front of him, crushing his wrist with a clean snap.

“How—”

An Enlightenment cultivator wasn’t supposed to be this fast.

This was almost the speed of a weak Golden Core cultivator using Shrink the Earth to an Inch.

The pill fell. Lin Zhao caught it and flicked it into her own ring.

Ling He’s pupils constricted. With his other hand, he thrust the spear straight at Lin Zhao’s face.

Lin Zhao raised her sword to block.

Then she swung.

“Thousand Spirit Slash!”

Hundreds of blue sword energies shredded the air, wrapping around Ling He and chopping down in a storm.

Ling He’s expression changed.

“Arrogant!” he snarled. “Don’t think you can live just because you used a cheap trick to knock away my pill. Fine—today I’ll show you what true mid-stage Enlightenment power looks like!”

The spear in his hand spun. Cloud-pattern lines appeared in the arcs it traced, like writing carved into the wind.

“Thousand Weight Spear!”

Ling He leaped, both hands gripping the shaft. With a harsh shout, the cloud patterns rushed back into the spear, and the entire weapon began to glow with a brownish-red light.

The spear tip pointed at Lin Zhao.

A cold point of silver—so small it should’ve been insignificant—yet it carried the weight of a mountain. Even Ling He’s grip trembled.

A sixth-grade spirit technique.

A single cold point, and 10,000 weights came down like a storm.

It was a technique that relied on extreme force—condensing all spiritual energy into one point, striking clean through.

Ling He’s eyes shone with confidence.

He’d only mastered it to sixty percent, but even so, it carried 6,000 jin of force.

One strike like this, and Lin Zhao would be crippled even if she didn’t die.