Linghu Xiao's expression was cold and indifferent.
Ouyang Xuan's face wore a mocking smile.
Mo Hua, Cheng Mo, and Situ Jian all had somewhat subtle expressions.
The youth didn't say anything else. After dropping the harsh words, he glanced at Linghu Xiao again from the corner of his eye, then raised his head and walked away. After he left, the arena was quiet for a moment.
Mo Hua gradually realized a problem and frowned, saying, "He told us to remember his name, but—he didn't say what his name is?"
Situ Jian pondered, "Perhaps he feels that we should all know who he is?"
Cheng Mo also curiously asked, "Who is he?"
Mo Hua took out the Tai Xu Order, found the opponent in the match, and let his light sweep over the names of the five people on the opposite side. His thoughts moved slightly, and after a bit of deduction, he found his name: "Wu Ming."
"Named 'No Name'?"
"Heaven Wu, Sun and Moon Ming."
"Oh—so he's from the Wu family," Cheng Mo said.
"The Wu family?" Mo Hua asked.
"A family in the talisman crafting world, they earn a lot of spirit stones, very rich," Situ Jian said in a simple and exaggerated manner. "Their main family is in Kun State, but in many places throughout the Nine States, the Wu family has scattered branches."
"Very rich?"
"Yes, very rich." Situ Jian nodded. "Qian State has a long history, widely accepts talented individuals from all over, hence it is a land of outstanding people and spiritual energy, where prominent families gather."
"Kun State, on the other hand, has fertile land, extremely prosperous production, and is the wealthiest among the Nine States. Thus, it has also nurtured a large number of incredibly wealthy prominent families and rich households."
"The Wu family is one of Kun State's wealthy households. Because they are rich, they can operate the 'money-burning' industry of talisman crafting. And talismans are expensive, the talisman crafting industry is also very profitable. The Wu family's profits are rolling in, and they are growing bigger and bigger—"
Situ Jian explained everything to Mo Hua one by one.
He was a steady and cautious person, quick-witted and good at learning. He knew a lot about the situation of prominent families. Most of Mo Hua's knowledge about prominent families came from listening to him.
But Mo Hua still had a doubt: "Why is talisman 'very profitable'?"
Usually, when he fought against cultivators, he rarely saw people use talismans.
Talismans were merely supplementary tools, used for temporary emergencies or escapes. Up until now, he had never seen a cultivator who relied on 'talismans' as their primary means of killing.
Situ Jian said, "There are many reasons for this: high cost, Dao Court control, single-use consumption, etc. Most cultivators will not overuse talismans."
"The more skilled one is, the higher their Dao method inheritance, the less they need to rely on talismans."
"The biggest use of talismans is still in Dao cultivation wars and some medium to large-scale cultivator battles, used for temporary firepower suppression and fixed-point explosions, and so on."
"Dao cultivation war is just burning spirit stones."
"If you don't burn spirit stones, then you have to burn 'human lives'."
"In war, the best way to burn spirit stones is to use 'arrays'."
"But arrays are bulky, difficult to set up, rely on array masters for deployment, are troublesome to arrange, difficult to repair, require pre-preparation, have many limitations during battle, and are not very effective."
"Outside of arrays, there are talismans. Simple, direct, convenient, and crude. They can be used immediately upon activation, and their killing power is not bad."
"Generally, the Dao Court, or some large forces, will purchase large quantities of talismans in batches at relatively favorable prices, used as 'military equipment' for large-scale combat among cultivators."
"But to produce talismans requires huge financial support. Only some extremely wealthy prominent families in Kun State, whose disciples have good spiritual roots, sufficient spiritual power, whose family foundation is good, who have many spirit stones, and whose local state has rich resources, can carry out large-scale talisman production."
Mo Hua nodded, roughly understanding.
Talismans were 'military fire'.
Kun State's prominent families were 'landowners'.
Landowners selling military fire generated huge profits and became 'wealthy households'.
Mo Hua lowered his head and glanced at the match list. Their opponent this time was from the 'Ling Fu Men' among the Twelve Flows.
"Ling Fu Men—" Mo Hua pondered.
"Ling Fu Men is a sect specializing in talisman refining techniques," Situ Jian said. "Some large prominent families in Kun State do not wish their disciples to learn the inheritances of the Four Sects and Eight Gates. Instead, they prefer them to systematically learn some rare talisman refining techniques."
"Therefore, although Ling Fu Men is one of the Twelve Flows and is proficient in talisman crafting, it also has some disciples with very good aptitude within the sect."
"More importantly, Ling Fu Men is also very rich."
Mo Hua was curious: "How rich can they be?"
Situ Jian said, "It is said that they are even richer than the average Eight Great Gates."
"Why?" Mo Hua didn't quite understand. "Do they have a talisman crafting industry? Do they sell talismans themselves?"
Situ Jian nodded, "They should be—"
But he wasn't actually too clear on the specifics.
At this moment, Ouyang Xuan, who had been sitting with a sullen face but was always secretly listening to the two of them talk, said indifferently: "Because they have the supply from Kun State's wealthy households."
"Supply from Kun State's wealthy households?" Mo Hua was a little surprised.
Seeing that the 'deeply hidden' Mo Hua also had things he didn't know, Ouyang Xuan dared to let out a cold laugh without showing any trace of it, then said: "Some wealthy households in Kun State, for example, the Wu family, will provide large amounts of spirit stones and rich resources to Ling Fu Men, supporting Ling Fu Men in carrying out research on talisman refining techniques."
"Ling Fu Men researches talisman refining techniques and then feeds them back to Kun State's wealthy households."
"At the same time, Ling Fu Men will also leave some 'special' enrollment spots for Kun State's wealthy households, maintaining mutual ties through master-disciple relationships and shared interests."
"This part of the spirit stones is very abundant, even comparable to the share of the Twelve Flows sect Qianlong Mountain's spirit mine."
"Therefore, Ling Fu Men, as one of the Twelve Flows, is even richer than most of the Eight Great Gates."
"Other sects mostly follow a pure inheritance system, occasionally having a small part of the industry."
"But Ling Fu Men follows a system of fusion between sect and wealthy households, where Dao cultivation skills are shared and interests are deeply intertwined..."
The always silent Ouyang Xuan spoke a long string of words.
Mo Hua couldn't help but fall into thought.
The fusion of sects and prominent families/wealthy households...
On the surface, it seemed mutually beneficial.
But upon closer examination, wasn't it a double 'monopoly' of both Dao cultivation inheritance and Dao cultivation resources?
Ultimately, sects and wealthy households joined hands, growing bigger and stronger together, completing the ultimate monopoly.
Who would be the unlucky one in the end?
Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked at Ouyang Xuan, "How do you know these things?"
Ouyang Xuan snorted coldly, his expression disdainful, but he still honestly answered Mo Hua's question: "I heard it when the ancestor and the sect leader were chatting."
"Oh—" Mo Hua nodded.
If Ouyang Xuan could eavesdrop on the ancestor and the sect leader's conversation, it meant his identity was possibly a bit higher than Mo Hua had previously expected.
"Are there restrictions on talismans in the sword discussion?" Mo Hua asked Situ Jian again.
Situ Jian nodded, "After all, it's a sword discussion. Talismans are like arrays; if they can be used extensively, it will greatly affect the balance."
Especially some 'rich guys' whose family fortune was abundant, throwing talismans around like they were free, nobody could stand it.
"But, only the grade and quantity are restricted, not the type," Situ Jian added. "Ling Fu Men should specially refine some rare high-grade talismans for the sword discussion."
"Mm," Mo Hua slowly nodded, "No matter, let's just fight and see."
"Little Senior Brother—" Situ Jian was silent for a moment, then asked, "Are we—still using the same fighting method as before?"
That set of basic tactics was too crude.
It had been used in so many matches, and people must have thought of ways to counter it.
Using it again might not guarantee a win.
Mo Hua laughed, "No matter, let's use it again."
He looked at Situ Jian, Cheng Mo, Linghu Xiao, and Ouyang Xuan, and said meaningfully: "This is to give you 'burdened' training, letting you substitute practice with matches, so you can better coordinate."
"After all, if I were to make a move, the battle situation would have been different long ago—"
Cheng Mo, Situ Jian, and Linghu Xiao understood immediately, their eyes brightened, and they all nodded: "Yes, Little Senior Brother."
Ouyang Xuan didn't speak, but in his eyes, a trace of deep apprehension flickered, even, it could be said—
Fear.
In the sword discussion arena, mountains and rivers were intricately arranged.
Mo Hua and the others entered the arena.
Outside the arena, after a blur from the Fang Tian Painting Shadow, the figures of Mo Hua and the others were displayed, similarly causing a lot of discussion.
Basically, there were no kind words.
Most of the criticisms were along the lines of 'Tai Xu Men is finished', 'The ancestor is muddle-headed, the sect leader is mediocre, the elders are sycophantic', 'Disciples dare to be angry but dare not speak', and so on.
Besides that, there were sympathetic voices like 'my heart aches for Linghu Xiao', 'my heart aches for Ouyang Xuan', 'my heart aches for the silly big guy', 'my heart aches for the little brother with the sword'...
There were also criticisms like 'How is this shameless Mo Hua still here?', 'I want to see how long he can keep this up', 'The shame of Tai Xu Men', 'Useless trash'—
All these were the same old words.
And as the criticism outside the arena raged like a tide, the battle inside the arena also began.
This was still a five-on-five melee.
The match format didn't change, and Mo Hua was too lazy to change tactics. He still used the most basic fighting style, letting Linghu Xiao and the other four fight relying on their abilities, using this to cultivate some instinctive tacit understanding.
The arena wasn't too big, and Mo Hua's divine sense was too strong. He basically knew where the opponents were with a single sweep.
But he didn't open his mouth to remind them.
Because it wasn't time for him to truly employ some 'insidious means'.
Both sides met normally.
Among Mo Hua's five people, the 'silly big guy' Cheng Mo stood at the front, and the others divided into columns to fight, forming the most basic formation.
Opposite, from Ling Fu Men, stood a majestic youth at the front.
It was precisely the arrogant and confident youth who had previously spoken harshly to Linghu Xiao.
From the Kun State wealthy household, the Wu family's Wu Ming.
Wu Ming wore a luxurious set of armor. Both his arms were covered in fire-red, shimmering armguards, which were both luxurious and imposing, looking very expensive at first glance.
This set of armor was specially made.
The armguards were also embryo spirit tools forged with heavy investment.
Besides Wu Ming, the other four members of Ling Fu Men were similarly clad in fine armor, shimmering with the light of 'not lacking money'.
Don't look at Ling Fu Men being just a Twelve Flows sect, but those who could enter Ling Fu Men were either rich or noble.
These several people with Wu Ming were all first-class direct descendants of wealthy young masters.
With just a glance, Mo Hua knew that their equipment was all custom-made at a high price for the Sword Discussion Assembly.
The quality was two or three percent higher than the custom spirit tools produced by Gushan Refining Tool Row.
But the price was estimated to be ten times more expensive.
And it was still 'consumable'.
This was probably something only disciples from Kun State's prominent families and wealthy households were willing to spend spirit stones to forge.
Mo Hua secretly smacked his tongue.
Normally speaking, when both sides meet, they would just start fighting without any nonsense or idle chatter.
But this time was different. Before the battle began, Wu Ming seemed to have something to say.
Ling Fu Men didn't make the first move.
Mo Hua also didn't let everyone make a move, wanting to hear what he had to say.
Wu Ming extended his arm, which was covered in fire light and very luxurious armguards, pointed at Linghu Xiao, and said with a cold laugh: "Linghu Xiao, today, you will surely be defeated by me!"
"I will prove to Miss Lu that you, the so-called sword dao genius, are nothing but a coward, a loser, fundamentally not worth her even glancing at—"
The first half of his sentence was fine, quite imposing.
The second half was a bit abstract.
Mo Hua couldn't help but look at Linghu Xiao, "Who is Miss Lu?"
He originally thought this was a battle between heaven's favored ones, but unexpectedly, it was still tied to gossip.
Linghu Xiao also seemed a bit confused, not knowing at all what this Wu Ming was talking about.
His appearance provoked Wu Ming.
Wu Ming suppressed his anger and said coldly: "Still pretending to be foolish with me here? Truly a coward."
"Today I will let everyone know that you, the so-called sword dao genius, are just a waste with an empty name!"
"I will use my family's technique, the Glazed Bright Fire Fist, to personally bombard and kill you!"
His words were quite imposing.
But Mo Hua didn't listen to what he said at all. Instead, his gossipy heart burned, his eyes lit up, and he whispered to Linghu Xiao, "Do you have a private relationship with this 'Miss Lu'?"
Cheng Mo and the others all turned their heads to look at Linghu Xiao, their gazes bright.
Even Ouyang Xuan had a curious look on his face.
Linghu Xiao's face turned black.
If someone else had asked this question, he would have chopped them with his sword long ago.
But the person who asked this question was Mo Hua. He could only pull a face and say unhappily: "No———I don't even know who this Miss Lu is?"
Mo Hua nodded, feeling a bit disappointed.
No gossip to eat—
And their whispering, their appearance of not caring about others, made Wu Ming even more annoyed.
"Kill!"
Wu Ming said with a cold laugh, then activated his spiritual power, urged his armguards, displayed the Glazed Bright Fire Fist, and took the lead, drawing out a path of surging fire light, rushing straight towards Mo Hua and the others.
Cheng Mo grabbed his large axe and directly met him.
Linghu Xiao and the others also drew their swords.
Only Mo Hua, with a step of his foot, lightly and gracefully left the crowd, distanced himself from the battle, and watched from the side.
In front of the Fang Tian Painting Shadow, his action of 'fleeing in battle, teammates forward, I backward' was clearly seen by the crowd.
A wave of scolding voices rose again:
"Here we go again?"
"Still not making a move?"
"Still watching?"
"The thickness of his skin is astonishing."
Some people also spoke comforting words: "Don't make things difficult for him. He doesn't know anything, how can he make a move? As soon as he makes a move, he'll be exposed."
"Have you seen his Lun Dao Jade? His defense is unbelievably poor, probably unable to withstand even a single move. He'll be 'slaughtered' as soon as he goes up."
"Everyone can see it now, and you still expect him to make a move? I can only say, some people's brains are not good and can be used to feed demonic monsters—"
The discussion outside the arena was in full swing.
Inside the arena, no one from Ling Fu Men took Mo Hua seriously either.
It was the same as before; Mo Hua just stood aside and 'watched the show', no need to bother with him at all.
As long as they dealt with his four teammates, removing this Mo Hua would not take any effort.
Led by Wu Ming, the five disciples of Ling Fu Men began to surround and annihilate Linghu Xiao and the other four.
Wu Ming seemed to be a disciple who was 'blinded by love' and eager to win, but their 'tactics' were carefully designed and gave Linghu Xiao full respect.
They fundamentally did not dare to let Linghu Xiao make a full-force move.
Therefore, from the beginning, two body cultivators, one using a walking knife and the other using refined iron claws, tangled close to Linghu Xiao.
Linghu Xiao was unable to display large killing high-grade sword moves.
If he wanted to force it, he would be interrupted by the two body cultivators.
If he wanted to use the one Gold Body Talisman to prevent his sword moves from being interrupted, the opponent would definitely retreat temporarily, drag it out until his Gold Body disappeared, and then come back to continue consuming him. He would then only be 'suffocated' to death like this.
This was also a commonly used method in the Sword Discussion Assembly, targeting a single prominent 'heaven's favored one' disciple.
The premise of this method was that this heaven's favored one was a spirit cultivator who needed to accumulate power to cast spells, or a remote sword cultivator.
His teammates were also unable to help him.
And now, Ling Fu Men, with more people attacking fewer, was just suitable for this set of methods.
This kind of method had been used by other sects against Linghu Xiao before.
But the disciples of Ling Fu Men were stronger, their spirit tools were better, and the effect was more obvious.
Furthermore, this team of Linghu Xiao had won until now relying almost entirely on 'hard strength' of four against five. Although their tactics were skilled, they were also relatively basic. With so many sects and so many eyes watching, they had long since researched this clearly.
Once researched through, they would be targeted everywhere.
What's more, they were still short one person.
Linghu Xiao continued to be consumed by the two body cultivators.
Cheng Mo's physical strength was abundant, but his killing ability was still slightly inferior to that of first-line heaven's favored ones. He could only be in a stalemate with the disciples of Ling Fu Men.
Situ Jian was a 'jack of all trades', but without tactical cooperation, his ability was not too outstanding in the Sword Discussion Assembly where heaven's favored ones were like clouds. Although he had the upper hand, he couldn't win for a while.
Ouyang Xuan then fought with Wu Ming.
Wu Ming's strength was average, but his spirit tool equipment was really too good.
Ouyang Xuan also had the upper hand, but in a short period of time, he similarly couldn't do anything to him.
During this time, Ling Fu Men would similarly carry out offensive rotations, relying on their numerical advantage, mutual cooperation between disciples, and jointly suppressing them.
Tai Xu Men did not.
Under the situation of numerical disadvantage, they could only passively fight, fundamentally having no room to transform into an offense.
And under this kind of situation, Linghu Xiao's spiritual power was also being rapidly consumed.
Linghu Xiao's killing power was superior, but high killing power also consumed a lot of spiritual power. In a one-on-two situation, he couldn't support it for too long either.
Just when Linghu Xiao's spiritual power was almost consumed.
Wu Ming detected that the time had arrived, his eyes immediately brightened, "I'm coming!"
He abandoned Ouyang Xuan and began to attack Linghu Xiao.
And the two people who were originally consuming Linghu Xiao then turned to drag Ouyang Xuan.
Cheng Mo and the others immediately understood what this Wu Ming wanted to do.
Verbally, he said he wanted to defeat Linghu Xiao.
But his actual plan was to let two teammates consume most of Linghu Xiao's spiritual power, and then he would make a move to 'single combat' with Linghu Xiao, using this method to defeat Tai Xu Men's sword dao genius.
Speaking of shamelessness, he was indeed shameless.
But this was originally just a sword discussion. If he really won, no one would say anything.
Even if he stepped on his teammates' shoulders and chopped off Tai Xu Men's genius, it would still count as a 'win'.
This was still not enough.
Wu Ming also took out a dark silver shimmering jade talisman. After crushing it, a layer of refined iron light quickly flowed all over his body, condensing into a layer of 'iron clothes'.
A high-grade iron clothes talisman.
This was a rare talisman. After crushing it, the spiritual power condensed into iron clothes, which could defend against sword qi attacks.
Each disciple in the sword discussion could only select one talisman.
Linghu Xiao chose the 'Gold Body Talisman', and this Wu Ming chose the 'Iron Clothes Talisman' specially made by Ling Fu Men.
The purpose was specifically to target Linghu Xiao.
With the protection of the Iron Clothes Talisman, Linghu Xiao's sword qi damage could be greatly reduced within a quarter of an hour.
Wu Ming wanted to use this quarter of an hour to decide the victory.
This was also his once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity.
His spiritual power was fully urged, and his Dao method was operated to the extreme.
The Glazed Bright Fire Fist, every punch brought surging flames, punch after punch, like a rain of fire, assaulting Linghu Xiao.
Most of the fire-colored fist shadows were offset by sword light.
But there was still a part that bombarded Linghu Xiao's body, bit by bit penetrating into the Lun Dao Jade on his body.
Linghu Xiao gritted his teeth and endured.
Wu Ming, however, struck even more fiercely, his momentum for a time like a rainbow.
At this moment, most cultivators outside the arena, seeing this situation, all 'clucked' in their hearts.
Linghu Xiao was about to lose!
They didn't dislike Tai Xu Men to the extent of saying Tai Xu Men was finished, mostly because a certain array dao chief's name didn't match reality. As for Linghu Xiao, who worked hard and carried the team forward with his own strength, most cultivators in their hearts still acknowledged him.
Now seeing Linghu Xiao being pressed and hit, they all felt very uncomfortable in their hearts.
Thinking again that Linghu Xiao was about to lose, they were all filled with regret and heartache.
"Heaven envies talent!"
"Born at the wrong time!"
"Such a good seedling, how did he just happen to be unlucky and fall into Tai Xu Men—"
And inside the arena, Wu Ming's expression became more and more proud.
Being able to press and hit a genius like Linghu Xiao was enough to make him feel elated and vindicated.
With the Iron Clothes Talisman adding to his strength, and continuing to fight like this, Linghu Xiao would undoubtedly lose.
If he were to display the Gold Body Talisman and use a powerful high-grade sword method to fight him head-on, he wouldn't be afraid either.
Not to mention that having consumed so much spiritual power until now, he might not even be able to display a killing move. Even if he could, the time needed to accumulate power and condense qi would be enough for him to bombard and kill him.
In the worst-case scenario, both sides would perish together.
But with the Iron Clothes Talisman protecting his body for a short time, even if he took a sword attack head-on, he wouldn't necessarily die.
"I can kill him!"
Thinking this, Wu Ming became more excited, his offensive more fierce, wanting to thoroughly defeat Linghu Xiao, letting him suffocate and die—
Then at this moment, Mo Hua, who was on the side of the arena, let out a slight sigh.
He knew that this was the end.
This set of basic tactics could only go this far. After this, they had to change the way they played.
Mo Hua slowly lifted his arm, his fair hand finally extending from his sleeve, and he extended two fingers.
Many sharp-eyed cultivators outside the arena immediately captured this scene from the huge Fang Tian Painting Shadow.
They saw Mo Hua, who had always stood on the mountain watching the fire, standing by, finally extending his hand from his sleeve.
Everyone's heart, without reason, suddenly jumped.
"Is this Tai Xu Men's array dao chief finally going to make a move?"
"Making a move for the first time in the Sword Discussion Assembly?"
"Given the situation at this stage, what does he want to do? What can he do?"
They unexpectedly suddenly felt nervous in their hearts.
And inside the arena, Wu Ming, whose killing intent was just raging, also detected this trace of abnormality the moment Mo Hua lifted his hand.
He had only 'ignored' Mo Hua, but that didn't mean he had truly forgotten about Mo Hua.
The sword discussion was a five-person competition.
Only this 'array dao chief' of Tai Xu Men had always been without achievement in the sword discussion before, like a 'waste'.
Therefore, everyone acted as if he didn't exist.
But at this time, he unexpectedly lifted his hand.
"What does he want to do?"
Wu Ming had a slight sense of foreboding in his heart.
Then he caught a glimpse of a trace of fire light out of the corner of his eye, saw the condensation of a basic technique, and immediately laughed.
"Fireball technique?"
"Just a mere fireball technique?"
"So far away, he wants to use a fireball—"
Then, in just an instant, Wu Ming felt his mind 'boom', directly exploding, as if a flame shell,
With an unbelievable speed that he couldn't detect at all, directly bombarded his head———
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