Chapter 0689: Winning Without Effort

Chapter 0689: Victory from the Ground

The lunch break was short, and Qin Yun could only rest in bed to replenish his spent inner energy.

The fractured bones in his body had not healed, still broken in multiple places.

Fortunately, with the Sky Lion Mystic Body, even severe physical damage could gradually recover—it just required time.

For others, such severe injuries would require long-term treatment with rare, expensive herbs to fully heal.

"With injuries like yours, you won’t recover in less than two days!" Ling Yuner sighed. "Can you win this afternoon?"

"Hard to say." Qin Yun couldn’t say for certain.

As the time for the afternoon match approached, Jian Ruyan came in and helped Qin Yun to his feet.

She kept Long Qiaofeng from helping, worried the Long family might spot her, as Long Qiaofeng was still undercover among them.

"Qin Yun, are you really okay? You can’t even stand!" Jian Ruyan supported him while examining his internal injuries, discovering that most of his bones were shattered.

"Don’t sweat it, I’ve got this!" Qin Yun smiled. "Just get me to the dueling platform in the square."

After obtaining the Sword Profound Body, Jian Ruyan’s strength had indeed improved significantly, but Qin Yun wasn’t entirely confident in her.

To guarantee Immortal Blade City claimed another Immortal Essence, he had to persevere.

If they obtained another Immortal Essence, the Immortal Blade Palace’s energy reserves would surge.

Moreover, Bingxing’s power would grow even quicker, and Qin Yun himself could use the power of two Immortal Essences to cultivate an Immortal Body sooner.

...

Most of the crowd had stayed, waiting for the afternoon matches.

Over a dozen groups would determine their top contenders that afternoon.

The factions hostile to Immortal Blade City, such as the Totem Pavilion and the Medicine Immortal Valley, looked grim, having lost their most talented disciples.

If Immortal Blade City secured another Immortal Essence, they would soon surpass them.

A sect with two Immortal Essences—the mere idea was frightening.

The midday sun blazed, with nine blazing suns hanging in the sky, scorching the land.

The floating islands were particularly affected, heat shimmering off them.

For fire cultivators, this was the ideal environment.

Qin Yun was helped over by Jian Ruyan and then carried onto the dueling platform, where he lay on the ground.

The spectators gaped at him lying there.

"Qin Yun’s bones are all shattered, and he’s still fighting?"

"Is he just giving his opponent a free win?"

"Not necessarily. This guy’s full of surprises! Han Yilai from the Medicine Immortal Valley dropped dead out of nowhere this morning!"

"Han Yilai had beaten Qin Yun half to death earlier, but then just keeled over and got taken out by Qin Yun’s shady tricks!"

Here’s the refined translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

"That Qin Yun guy might have cultivated some powerful forbidden techniques!"

The crowd recalled the match between Qin Yun and Han Yilai in the morning and couldn’t help but discuss it, as it was truly mind-boggling.

Qin Yun’s opponent was an Immortal Disciple from Canghuo Immortal Mountain!

In Group Fifteen, there were both Demon Disciples and heretic cultivators, but the final two on the stage were from immortal sects.

This showed that the overall strength of demonic and heretic factions still lagged behind that of immortal sects.

Among demonic disciples, only those from the Totem Pavilion managed to enter the afternoon finals, proving that the Totem Pavilion was indeed the dominant force in the Demon Wasteland.

The elders of other demonic sects wore ugly expressions, as their most formidable heretic and demonic disciples had failed to secure spots in the top sixteen.

The Immortal Disciple from Canghuo Immortal Mountain wore a robe wreathed in flames. As soon as he stepped onto the stage, he removed his outer garment, revealing only a pair of shorts underneath.

His body suddenly burst into Purple Gold Flame, which he shaped into clothing, making him look flamboyant as hell. This set off a roar of approval from the audience below.

On the way here, Qin Yun had also heard from Jian Ruyan about this Immortal Disciple.

His name was Wu Feng, a handsome yet madcap youngster who loved grandstanding.

At this moment, he used the Purple Gold Flame to form a long, flowing head of hair, even shaping his eyebrows from the same flame. This set off shrieks from many female disciples below, which was quite annoying.

"Qin Yun, you hold a blood feud with our Canghuo Immortal Mountain, yet you still come to fight me in this state. Are you here to die? Or are you genuinely seeking redemption?" Wu Feng asked.

"I will defeat you!" Qin Yun lay on the ground, turning his head to glance at Wu Feng.

"I remember you once said that anyone who sets their sights on the Star Monarch Rune Soul you possess will be killed by you!" Wu Feng chuckled. "Well, I have that very thought, and soon I’ll turn it into action. Let’s see how you plan to kill me!"

Qin Yun shot back, "If that’s your intention, then step down and forfeit now! Otherwise, you’ll be dead without a doubt!"

After speaking, Qin Yun turned to the quasi-immortal elder from Canghuo Immortal Mountain and shouted, "Quickly make your disciple withdraw! Otherwise, don’t blame me when he dies!"

"Qin Yun, you’re already half-dead. What are you bluffing for? Are you trying to scare our disciple with empty threats? How naive!" The quasi-immortal from Canghuo Immortal Mountain roared with laughter.

Given Qin Yun’s current state, it seemed impossible for him to defeat Wu Feng.

"Bastards of Canghuo Immortal Mountain, since you insist on letting your disciple fight Qin Yun, you’d better prepare your curses now—because your golden boy disciple is doomed!"

Bao Changshou laughed heartily. Though he didn’t know how Qin Yun would win, he had to support him in terms of morale.

"Are you trying to scare me? It seems Qin Yun truly has no cards left to play!" The quasi-immortal from Canghuo Immortal Mountain also laughed loudly.

Tu Tiandi sneered, "Any fool can see Qin Yun has no chance of winning. He can barely support himself with spirit energy—otherwise, he’d just be lying there!"

Grand Master Ye nodded. "Canghuo Immortal Mountain is about to score. They might actually obtain the Star Monarch Rune Soul!"

The quasi-immortal from Medicine Immortal Valley snapped, "You’re all too naive. Have you forgotten how Qin Yun won this morning? That remains a mystery!"

"Han Yilai’s corpse was vaporized—we couldn’t even determine the cause!"

Grand Master Ye smiled. "Qin Yun’s gimmick can only work once! Han Yilai lost inexplicably because he got too close to Qin Yun."

"Qin Yun’s Dao Core contains the power of tremor thunderflames. Han Yilai must have been struck by its internal force when he touched it."

Tu Tiandi nodded. "I think so too. As long as you don’t get close to Qin Yun, what can he do? His spirit energy is strong, but he’s only at the Early Spiritual Martial Realm. Most Immortal Disciples here are at the Late-stage Lingwu Realm—whose spirit energy isn’t stronger than his?" After this analysis from the elders, the crowd became even more convinced that Qin Yun was fighting a losing battle.

The competition was about to begin. The demi-immortal elder from Canghuo Immortal Mountain shouted, "Wu Feng, watch out for the vines and gravity field he’ll unleash!"

"I know. One spark is all it’ll take to burn them to cinders!" Wu Feng gave a cool smirk, maintaining fifty meters between himself and Qin Yun.

"Begin!" the middle-aged referee barked.

The moment the call ended, jets of Purple Gold Flame erupted from Wu Feng’s body, coalescing into a massive hammer.

Under Wu Feng’s control, the enormous flaming hammer pummeled Qin Yun’s body with deafening booms.

Each strike sent Purple Gold Flame exploding in showers of sparks.

Qin Yun lay motionless—even with mental energy, he couldn’t dodge fast enough, forced to endure the assault.

"Hahaha..." Wu Feng cackled wildly. "This is a blast! I’ll pound you into the dirt, you bastard! Hahaha..."

Flat on the ground, Qin Yun only felt jolts of force rattling his body. Painful, but no big deal.

His Sky Lion Mystic Body could endure extreme heat, and with his Nether Sun Martial Soul’s protection, Wu Feng’s attacks were meaningless.

Suddenly, Wu Feng morphed the hammer into a giant flaming palm and slammed it down, pinning Qin Yun.

"Time to fry you up!" Wu Feng sneered.

"Idiot! Qin Yun wields black flames—your fancy flames are weak sauce next to his!" Jian Nanhu jeered. "He’s not even breaking a sweat!"

Wu Feng ignored him, yanking back the flaming hand to reveal only scorched earth.

"I won! Qin Yun’s turned to toast!" he crowed.

Then the flames dissipated—Qin Yun still lay there, unharmed.

The air went awkward, making Wu Feng see red.

Everyone saw his attacks had zero effect.

"Wu Feng, what a clown!" Jian Nanhu muttered.

As Wu Feng raged, he sensed movement beneath him—a tangle of vines burst up, locking him down tight.

"Burn them!" the Canghuo elder shouted.

Wu Feng’s body erupted in Purple Gold Flame, but the vines held fast.

They dragged him toward Qin Yun.

As he neared, Ling Yuner dropped a crushing weight on him.

Wu Feng let out a bloodcurdling shriek!

Qin Yun seized the moment, firing his gathered mental energy as Jushensha—a violet beam that speared Wu Feng’s skull.

The light cut his screams short as he collapsed, out cold.

The elders recognized it: a mental energy attack so refined it shone like starlight.

"Wu Feng’s finished! Drop the barrier, now!" the Canghuo elder barked in alarm.

The middle-aged referee saw that Wu Feng had no reaction and dropped the barrier.

The people from Canghuo Immortal Mountain came in and carefully examined him, their faces ashen.

"Wu Feng is dead... his soul has been shattered!" The demigod glared at Qin Yun, burning to kill him, but Bao Changshou stood guard there.

The most shocking thing was that Qin Yun had actually won!

A fluke win!

Even seasoned veterans had never witnessed such a way of winning.

Jian Nanhu snorted, "Wu Feng was truly trash. How the hell did a trash-tier Immortal Disciple even qualify for the tournament?"

If Wu Feng was trash, yet he had defeated Demon Disciples and Heretic Disciples to reach the group finals, then those he defeated were total bottom-feeders!

It wasn’t that Wu Feng was trash—it was that Qin Yun was too strong!