Chapter 0312 The First One

Chapter 0312 The First One

Fifty small, blue tents were arranged in the competition arena. Once set up, the middle-aged men quickly exited the arena.

Lan Huayu said, "These tents are small sealing arrays. You will enter them, and I will activate the sealing arrays from the outside. You must break out of the array within half an hour without damaging the sealing array!"

Breaking an array in just half an hour is a tight deadline.

Many senior Runes Masters found it somewhat challenging.

Naturally, without having tried it, they couldn't gauge the exact difficulty.

If it were truly difficult, in the end, no senior Runes Master would be able to pass the competition.

"Alright, according to the previous rankings, the top fifty will enter the tents first!" Lan Huayu said.

Qin Yun and Lan Fengjin, both ranked in the top fifty from the previous round, each entered a tent.

"This sealing array is way more formidable than I expected!"

As soon as Qin Yun entered, he could immediately sense the internal structure of the sealing array through his perception.

Being inside such a sealing array, you'd feel utterly suffocated.

After all, being trapped in a very confined space gives a suffocating feeling, exerting immense mental pressure.

In such conditions, focusing on breaking the array is incredibly tough.

"Let the challenge begin!" Lan Huayu shouted, and all the sealing arrays were activated.

Once the arrays were activated, the Runes Masters inside felt the same way—somewhat frightened, worried that they might be sealed inside forever.

"Only those who break out within half an hour will advance to the fourth round!" Lan Huayu's voice came through.

Qin Yun sat inside the tent, which was entirely blue and devoid of spiritual energy, but he could hear sounds from outside.

"This round is really tough. Maybe fewer than thirty Runes Masters will make it to the fourth round!"

Qin Yun furrowed his brow, channeling his spiritual power to assess the sealing array's condition.

"Brother Yun... I can break the array!" Mo Mo suddenly called out.

Qin Yun suddenly remembered that Mo Mo had this ability because she could sense hidden runes.

The difficulty in breaking an array lies in the inability to see the hidden runes.

If one is thoroughly familiar with both the visible and hidden runes of an array, they can accurately understand the array's structure, then block its energy flow, causing the array to stop and successfully breaking it.

"Mo Mo, what do you plan to do? Will you tell me about the hidden runes?" Qin Yun carefully released Mo Mo. Inside this array, no one outside could see in.

"No, I have a special ability to paralyze the energy transmission pathways of the runes, temporarily disabling the array!" Mo Mo said, her green eyes glowing faintly with green light.

"Wait!" Qin Yun urgently called out.

Mo Mo immediately stopped and asked, "Brother Yun, what's wrong? I can break this array right away and get you out!"

"I just entered. If I leave immediately, it will raise suspicions!" Qin Yun smiled. "Wait until it's almost time, then start breaking the array."

Mo Mo quickly nodded, "Alright, I'll go back in first!"

Qin Yun stored Mo Mo in his storage space and took the opportunity to observe the formation, attempting to break it himself.

He closed his eyes, focusing his mental energy to probe the formation.

Soon, he clearly sensed the faint fluctuations of Nine Sun energy.

"The spiritual lines of this formation are continuously absorbing the Nine Sun spiritual energy from the outside. My mental energy, cultivated through the Nine Sun Divine Soul, is extremely sensitive to Nine Sun energy, which is why I can detect it."

Qin Yun didn't expect to accidentally discover the energy transmission lines, meaning he had already touched upon the key to breaking the formation.

"Perfect!"

He immediately used his mental energy, shaping it into several threads, and injected them into the energy transmission lines of the spiritual lines, blocking them.

Blocking them also took some time.

Qin Yun proceeded smoothly, taking less than half an hour to successfully block the energy transmission lines of the sealing formation!

The sealing formation immediately became ineffective, and he opened the tent from the inside, only to be met with many surprised gazes!

He was pretty surprised himself, as he was the first Runes Master to break out of the formation!

Originally, Mo Mo could have broken the formation faster, but he didn't let her act, instead figuring it out himself, and unexpectedly became the fastest to break the formation!

"You... are the first!" Lan Huayu exclaimed in surprise. "How could it be so fast? Generally, a senior Runes Master performing at their limit would take about half an hour!"

"I don't know what happened, but I easily sensed the vein spiritual lines and then blocked them!"

Qin Yun rubbed the back of his head, grinning, "Senior Lan, is there something special about my tent? It was so easy for me to sense the energy vein spiritual lines!"

The onlookers were clueless, and only a few Runes Masters understood.

Zhuochuan said, "The energy vein spiritual lines are very hidden and difficult to block. Generally, formations have several vein spiritual lines, and only by blocking all of them can the formation be rendered ineffective. As vein spiritual lines, they are very hard to detect."

Lan Huayu checked Qin Yun's tent again and said with certainty, "There's nothing wrong with the formation... perhaps it's because you've cultivated the Divine Soul Vein, making your perception very strong!"

The Divine Soul Vein allows spiritual lines to accompany the soul when it leaves the body.

And the spiritual vein is the most sensitive thing to energy. If it were simply released to probe the formation, it could indeed quickly sense the energy transmission lines.

Qin Yun silently thanked Huo Zhong, as it was the Soul Jade given by Huo Zhong that continuously improved his use of the soul.

He didn't realize the significance of being the first to emerge.

He had previously thought that other Runes Masters should also be able to come out within half an hour.

But after waiting, no one else had emerged from the tents.

"Is that sealing formation really that powerful?" Qin Yun kept staring at Lan Fengjin's tent, hoping she would come out soon.

"It's incredibly strong. Even I couldn't get out as fast as you without wrecking the tent!" Lan Huayu said. "Of course, once I'm familiar with this sealing formation, it's much easier to come out!"

Even with familiarity, it's not that easy.

Because the energy transmission lines of these sealing formations can change, and when setting them up, the Runes Master can arbitrarily select the energy lines.

Therefore, the fifty tents here each have different hidden energy lines.

As half an hour was about to end, finally, a Runes Master came out!

The senior Runes Master who emerged was dressed in a blue robe, a senior Runes Master from the Blue Spirit Star Palace. As he stepped out and saw many tents still closed, he couldn't help but feel a smug sense of pride.

However, when he noticed Qin Yun standing by the side of the competition area, he was startled as if he had seen a ghost.

Qin Yun, this little brat, had actually come out before him!

The senior Runes Master snorted lightly and then walked over to Lan Huayu.

Next, several Runes Masters emerged from their tents, but not many, only eight in total!

Half an hour had passed, and those who failed to break the sealing formation were eliminated!

Qin Yun couldn't help but frown because Lan Fengjin hadn't come out!

Many people felt it was a great pity; Lan Fengjin, one of the few young female Runes Masters, had actually lost here!

Lan Huayu walked over and opened the tents one by one, letting the Runes Masters inside come out.

Lan Fengjin, knowing she had lost, walked out with a dejected expression.

As soon as she emerged and learned that Qin Yun was the first to come out, she was thrilled.

She had indeed apprenticed herself to Qin Yun, and this only confirmed that she hadn't made a wrong choice, while also feeling proud of her master in her heart!

"Impressive, truly worthy of being my... hehe!" Lan Fengjin came to Qin Yun's side, pinched his arm and laughed.

"I really didn't expect you to lose in the third round!" Qin Yun sighed. "I thought you would make it to the final round to compete with me!"

"Hmph, are you mocking me?" Lan Fengjin snorted lightly.

"Of course not!" Qin Yun smiled. "Sister Lan, you're still young, with a promising future ahead!"

Seeing Lan Fengjin lose, everyone also secretly admired Lan Huayu for not cheating or helping his granddaughter through the third round... unlike the martial arts contests, which were rife with corruption.

Lan Fengjin also knew her own level; making it this far was quite an accomplishment.

After all, many senior Runes Masters had also been eliminated here, so there was nothing to be ashamed of.

Qin Yun smoothly advanced to the fourth round, now waiting for the final results.

Next, the remaining fifty Runes Masters also entered their tents and began to break the formations...

Half an hour later, fifteen of these Runes Masters managed to emerge.

In this third round, only twenty-five people could advance!

Qin Yun had previously guessed it would be around thirty, fewer than he had expected.

After the competition ended, Qin Yun and Lan Fengjin, along with others, returned to the small grove.

...

Upon returning, Qin Yun saw Yang Shiyue flitting agilely through the grove, demonstrating masterful lightness techniques.

"That's the Star Profound Steps... but her steps are very chaotic, and her breath is not smooth. She's still learning," Lan Huayu said from a distance upon seeing her.

"The Star Profound Steps are quite difficult to master. Different people will have very different steps after learning it; it's a very personalized lightness skill!" Zhuochuan laughed.

Those who had obtained the Star Profound Steps earlier, including Huo Zhong, Murong Daren, and Xue Ziyeh, had started learning it long ago.

Qin Yun had also asked them, and indeed, each had their own unique way of learning.

Yang Shiyue approached and politely greeted the two elders, Zhuochuan and Lan Huayu.

"Miss Yang, you are Qin Yun's mentor. You have three days to guide him before the fourth round begins, right?" Lan Huayu asked.

The fourth round of the martial competition starts in three days.

Since many warriors were injured in the third round's killing array challenge, they needed a few days to recover.

Yang Shiyue nodded: "I'm not sure what the fourth round will entail, but the challenges will only get tougher. The final round, however, is certain to be the much-anticipated martial contest!"

"Your Blue Spirit Holy Palace is being really stingy, not offering any rewards for the two matches in the third round!" Qin Yun grumbled: "It was so tough, and yet no rewards? That's just stingy!"