Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Three days after the first round of battles occurred, the defeated Witchcraft Sect, Blue Origin Sect, and Typhoon Mountain met up once more to compete for first place in the loser bracket in order to regain the qualifications to enter the finals.

There was a crowd of spectators. Besides the camps of the three sects, the supporters of other sects also came to watch.

In addition, the four other sects temporarily led by the Hidden Fog Sect also came. They were paying attention to this event in order to avoid any accidents.

In the long span of years that the Beast King War had been conducted for, there had been examples where the final leader was the victor of the losers' bracket. Everything in this world was possible so it was best to show as much caution as possible to avoid any upsets.

The chosen method was a three-way tangled melee battle. The winner would have the chance to challenge one of the four original victors. Perhaps this process wasn't fair, but as losers they had no other choice.

So the battle of the losers would often be incredible and amazing. It was because of this that a massive number of cultivators were drawn to watch the battle.

After a fierce fight, the Blue Origin Sect's blue ape won the bloodbath. As for the Witchcraft Sect, they disappointed once again. Those that supported them cursed out loud, knowing that their trip to Dragon City had ended ahead of time.

The Witchcraft Sect didn't stay in Dragon City. They embarked on their flying ship and directly left. The rumors said that they needed to return to their sect as soon as possible to deal with some sort of turbulent change in their ranks.

All of their high spirits and confidence that they came in with had completely vanished. When the Witchcraft Sect left, while they still flew away on their flying ship, the atmosphere was dark and dreary.

This topic was on the tips of everyone's tongues for a day before it was replaced by speculation of which sect the Blue Origin Sect would choose to challenge. Because they were the losing party, they didn't have the qualifications to be the focus of attention.

The next day, news spread out from the Blue Origin Sect. it instantly swept through Dragon City, causing an uproar.

Tomorrow, the blue ape would enter the arena and challenge the first place Hidden Fog Sect's spirit beast - the dark star ice serpent!

This matter was completely beyond everyone's expectations. They all had their own theories as to why this happened.

The carefree and happy atmosphere in the Hidden Fog Sect had dulled down a little because of this.

Hu Fu convened an emergency meeting of the sect's high level figures. The dark star ice serpent had broken through ten rings to win, so why would the Blue Origin Sect choose them?

When things occurred that were beyond expectation, there had to be a reason for it. Some Elders guessed that this might be because of Radiance Temple, but this thought was soon overruled.

Even if the Blue Origin Sect and Radiance Temple were on good terms, they wouldn't take their sect's spirit beast as the price to flatter them.

Moreover, weren't they afraid of thoroughly angering the Hidden Fog Sect?

After all, in this current situation they were the most powerful competitor for leader!

Four hours later, the meeting disbanded. In the end no one was able to figure out why the Blue Origin Sect chose the dark star ice serpent.

…

At the Blue Origin Sect's station, the crowd of high level figures all had dark complexions. The atmosphere was constrained and tight, so cold that it could almost freeze over.

"Sect Master, what is the problem? Challenging the Hidden Fog Sect is not a wise move!"

"The dark star ice serpent can break through ten rings in the arena. Its strength is unimaginable. Even if the blue ape is tyrannically strong, how can it fight it?"

"I ask Sect Master to rescind your order!"

When it came to challenging the Hidden Fog Sect, every high level figure within the Blue Origin Sect, besides an Elder who was close with Radiance Temple, utterly opposed this position.

The Blue Origin Sect Master had a calm expression. He lightly said, "I have my own reasons for this. The challenge target has been selected and no further changes are allowed."

Seeing that everyone still wanted to speak, he waved his hand and interrupted them. "Since I see that so many of you still refuse to accept this, then after we leave Dragon City you all may propose to impeach me. I will not speak about this matter anymore!"

He had a firm attitude.

The high level figures of the Blue Origin Sect had increasingly cloudy expressions. After this stalemate, several Elders walked away in a huff and the negotiations ended on bad terms.

"Teacher, what are you trying to do?" A disciple to the side asked with a wry smile.

The Blue Origin Sect Master shook his head, "You don't understand, none of you understand."

He no longer spoke. He stood up and walked away. When he avoided everyone's eyes, his calm face distorted.

If he had a choice, why would he be willing to provoke the Hidden Fog Sect while they were at the peak of their power? But things were beyond his control.

Even if he knew tomorrow was bound to cause an uproar, he could only remain silent and endure it.

…

The next day, Dragon City's arena.

The Blue Origin Sect challenged the Hidden Fog Sect. Because of how strange a choice this was, it attracted attention from almost the entirety of Dragon City.

There was still a period of time until the challenge would begin, yet the giant stone chairs in the arena were already packed full of cultivators.

They were all curious. Why would the Blue Origin Sect choose the Hidden Fog Sect? Where did their confidence come from?

Did they not fear that their sect's spirit beast would be slaughtered on the spot by the dark star ice serpent?

"Look! Those are Radiance Temple cultivators!"

"The Limitless Sword Sect and Moonkeep Tower also sent people."

"Those from Typhoon Mountain have already arrived!"

"This war has attracted a great deal of attention from everyone. Well, to them this battle is incredibly good news."

"The dark star ice serpent will reveal its true strength in today's battle. Moreover, even if they win their strength will suffer."

"Tsk tsk, I really can't figure out why the Blue Origin Sect would sacrifice themselves for others. What is the reason for this?"

Loud discussions could be heard from all around. The five sects remained quiet, but in truth they also couldn't figure out what today's battle was about.

It was said that there was an internal conflict within the Blue Origin Sect yesterday. The Blue Origin Sect Master had maintained a tough attitude and suppressed the opposition of the Elders.

But before coming to Dragon City, no one had heard that there was any enmity between the Blue Origin Sect Master and the Hidden Fog Sect. According to what they knew, they had always gotten along.

Moments later, along with a flurry of restlessness, today's two main characters appeared. Cultivators from the Blue Origin Sect and Hidden Fog Sect walked up and met each other.

The Hidden Fog Sect people had calm expressions. In contrast, the Blue Origin Sect cultivators all had worried and heavyhearted appearances.

Hu Fu lightly said, "Sect Master Wei Han, my sect has come to accept your challenge. But, I have some questions in my mind and I wonder whether or not you can dispel them for me?"

Wei Han shook his head, "With things having reached this point, why bother chatting? Let's begin!" He flicked his sleeves. With a flash of light, a great ape landed on the arena ground, causing the earth to shake and thunder.

Hou -

The blue ape reared back its head and roared.

Hu Fu furrowed his eyebrows before calming down. Since the Blue Origin Sect had chosen to reject his final good intentions, there was no need to hold back…with the dark star ice serpent's strength, the result of this battle was doomed before it even began.

Pitch black scales with a lone silver-white horn that aimed towards the heavens, the dark star ice serpent's massive figure condensed from nothingness into reality.

Silver white lines crossed around between its eyes. It locked onto the blue ape, its gaze faint and cold.

Hum -

The ground shook. A sphere of light appeared and with the arena as the center, it isolated the outside from inside.

The seal had been activated. When one side won the battle, the seal would naturally open up.

The blue ape stepped forward. It shot into the skies, soaring towards the dark star ice serpent like a falling mountain. Before it arrived it released a terrifying aura that caused cracks to appear in the ground.

The dark star ice serpent looked up. The temperature in the world began to rapidly fall, and the air became thick and viscous. Like an invisible net, it covered the blue ape. Then a faint white layer of frost appeared on the blue ape's large and tyrannical body, soon turning into a layer of ice. Although it seemed frail and thin, it was harder than iron and stone!

When this sight fell into the eyes of the audience, they all felt awe and respect.

This dark star ice serpent was truly worthy of being a spirit beast capable of breaking through ten rings. Before it had truly attacked, it had already managed to suppress the blue ape.

With the way things were going, the blue ape would be frozen into a giant ice statue before it could even approach. Was this the Blue Origin Sect's challenge? If there was no backup plan then this was simply laughable.

Unless the Blue Origin Sect Master Wei Han had gone insane, he wouldn't do something like this that would lead to zero harvests. There was a follow up, there had to be a follow up!

The Hidden Fog Sect Master Hu Fu also believed this. So even though the dark star ice serpent seemed to occupy an absolute superiority from the very start, the truth was that he didn't relax at all.

The unknown often meant danger. Although he was confident that the dark star ice serpent could overcome the Blue Origin Sect's challenge, he always felt that there was something a bit inappropriate happening.

But this blue ape…or to be more exact, the Blue Origin Sect's backup plan…just what was it?

Kacha -

Kacha -

The layer of ice rapidly thickened on the surface of the blue ape and released an increasingly strong imprisoning and killing strength. But, it still hadn't done anything. It only retained its initial posture of crashing down on the dark star ice serpent, but it seemed to have lost all ability to do anything.

Was it over?

Hey, could this even be considered as a strong start and weak end?

What in the world was Wei Han planning!?

Was there an advantage to using their Blue Origin Sect's spirit beast to play jokes on everyone here?