Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Xukun's two swords floated, strengthened by his energy, they shined and shimmered. Together, they stabbed into the puppet's faceless head which he followed and grabbed. They produced a harmonious sound that rang into everyone's ears and began to split the head apart. With Xukun's accumulations in the Dao of Metal, the extent of which he could strengthen and control his weapons reached a new level.

Anqing followed with her short spear which had been modified. The spearhead was given multiple fullers as the hollowed parts of the head was filled with vials of poison. As Xukun pulled his swords out, Anqing stepped forth and pointed the spear at the puppet. Its broken head made it look offputting and creepy.

She pierced the puppet's body and twisted the spear shaft. Compressed air shot from her spear as the poisoned vials emptied themselves into the puppets body, gnawing the inside of the puppet.

Pushed back by the attacks, the puppet trembled as the poison slowly broke it apart. It fell on its knees as each limb fell to the floor. Its chest slowly melted into a puddle, leaving behind a white gem.

"The Ivory Asura Puppet left behind a gem. It must be the core of the body."

The closest to the puppet, Anqing grabbed the gem and held it in her hands, showing it to the others. Ming Yue studied the gem and found that the energy it exhibited did not resemble nythign she had seen before.

"It must be the Dao of Puppetry", she thought.

"We should destroy it, right?"

She spoke right after, looking at the gem.

"If it is destroyed, then we would be exempt from the next two rounds."

As they spoke, the limbs of the puppet slowly floated back to its body. But its melted chest did not seem to reform for the corrosive poison of Anqing was active and powerful. Then suddenly, the gem shined a disappeared, reappearing inside the puppets body as it fully reformed in mere seconds. There was a surprised look on all of their faces as the Grand Elder spoke.

"That concludes the end of the first round. You will have the time it takes to burn this incense stick before we begin the next round."

Floating above the arena, his voiced echoed in everyone's mind as he returned to the tower. There he lit a single incense stick giving them about an hour to rest.

The arena floor reformed as the puppets descended below the floors. Those that survived sat down and recovered their strength. As for the trio, they could only give a hapless smile and blame themselves for not destroying the gem sooner. They looked around before sitting down like the others.

"That felt very quick."

Speaking her thoughts, Anqing didn't think the first round would end so abruptly. It felt like only few minutes had passed from when the round started. However as the most oldest disciple of the three, Xukun explained that it was far longer. He looked at the sun's position, gauging how much time had past.

"It only feels quick when you're in the moment. From the looks of it, this round lasted over an hour. Time is only a seconday detail when it comes to this tournament."

"A secondary detail... I wonder what the next round will be."

"No one knows, the elders come up with hundreds of different formats that are randomly chosen. We may be asked to battle a massive beast, endure violent weather, or fight each other. In this way, it keeps the tournament interesting and unpredictable."

Ming Yue silently listened to them, thinking of what the next round could be. Though she hoped that it would be something that she was confident in, some form of battle or a test of her swordsmanship. Things like illusions and formations were her weakness, not to mention, her offensive power was great but in terms of defense she was lacking. She might have formed Mental Force but she was not as proficient as she would like to be.

With everyone preparing for the next round, the crowd was filled with discussion. Some wondered what the next event could and a few prominent figures kept eyes on any talent that caught their eyes.

Heaven's Gate was a place that fostered all sorts of accomplished people. With its influence and connection to many powers, it became a place to scout for the next generation. Leaders of different organizations, nobles and royalty alike, they all murmured amongst each other, discussing any prospective choices for positions as personal guards, military positions, perhaps teachers for their children.

There had even been a few watching Ming Yue's group. While they did not fully destroy a puppet, they did defeat it once. However, these thoughts could change easily. What would develop in the coming events of the tournament would greatly influence them and the second round was beginning.

The incense stick was nearing its end and the Grand Elder stood up, appearing in the air above the arena.

His presence alerted everyone as they watched him, ready for the next event.

"The second round shall begin! Please prepare yourselves for this time, you will have to break a rather troublesome binding."

Suddenly, a mark appeared on everyone's body, resembling that of the Heaven's Gate insignia. It was a sun rising above the clouds but there was the addition of a gate beneath the clouds. As soon as it appeared, everyone's body was constricted and forced into the lotus position. In seconds, many people attempted to break out but found that they could barely budge. Those that were body cultivators were able move much more but the seal only shimmered and snapped them back to position.

The onlookers slowly quieted down and watched intently. Certainly, there wasn't much going on but the excitement was in who and when will someone be able to break it. The arena was quiet as each disciple focused on trying to break this strange seal.

"What sort of seal is this? No matter how much power I use, it won't break!"

"There must be sort of trick to it! Maybe there was a clue in his words!"

Some had already expressed their frustration over this situation. Many of them were confident in their strength but when it came to this seal, they were powerless. Every attempt only resulted in returning to the lotus position.

"Hm, look! Someone has already succeeded!"

A young woman stood up with a happy face as the insignia on her body faded away. She wore a pale red hanfu along with an elegant sword on her back. Her black hair was cut short, reaching down to her chin. Looking around, the expression on her face turned even more gleeful upon seeing that she was the first to succeed. Then without missing a beat, she turned into a beam of light and was sent out of the arena.

This only placed more pressure on everyone else and they scrambled to figure this out.

Ming Yue, Anqing, and Xukun tried to force their way out of the seal but their attempts ended in the same way as the others. The more power they used, the stronger the seal would become.

"Just using brute strength would be difficult. There has to be some sort of trick."

Anqing was not flustered and began to think as to how this seal could be dispelled. The other two also began to think and examine the seal. Xukun then found a few characteristics to this seal.

"It affects our entire body, flowing through our internal organs and splintering into different paths. From the looks of it, the seal must be binding our pressure points and meridians.. If we expel it, then we should be able to get rid of the seal."

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