Chapter 94 : Chapter 94

Chapter 94. Ninth-rank Magical Artifacts, Displaying Divine Might!

The arena.

Wrapped in golden-red Radiant Flame, Su Linyu slowly opened the ninth-rank Magical Artifact in her hand, the Vermilion Bird Feather Fan. With a turn of her wrist, she swept it toward Phoenix Team.

In an instant, towering flames surged across the arena platform and engulfed the battlefield.

The inextinguishable fire leaped across the ground, violently burning away the Blood Qi and Spiritual Power of any enemy within its range. It was equivalent to a debilitating effect.

All five members of Phoenix Team froze at once, disbelief rising on their faces as they stared at the ninth-rank Magical Artifacts in the hands of the three opponents.

Ninth-rank Magical Artifacts. They were the finest in all of Huaxia, treasures so precious that even the top great families treated them as clan-protecting heirlooms.

They would never normally be taken out and used.

Yet now, in nothing more than the preliminary round, Spark Team had directly brought out three ninth-rank Magical Artifacts.

How was anyone supposed to play against that?

The key point was that the league rules only stated that weapons used in the match could not be lower than sixth-rank Magical Artifacts. There was no mention at all of an upper limit.

What Spark Team was doing fell entirely within the rules.

Captain Huang Lu frowned and immediately circulated her cultivation art, trying to extinguish the Radiant Flame Su Linyu had spread across the arena, but it had no effect whatsoever.

The flames were strange. Not only were they scorching their bodies, but even their minds could not escape.

Under these conditions, both their Blood Qi and Spiritual Power were being consumed at a rapid rate.

The five members of Phoenix Team gradually put away their earlier contempt, and difficulty finally showed on their faces.

The six people in the VIP section could not help revealing puzzled expressions when they saw this scene.

This was only a Team League match, yet the configuration of these weapons and equipment was downright terrifying.

“Madam Shen, for the sake of this Team League, they’ve even brought out ninth-rank Magical Artifacts. The Jiang Family’s foundation truly runs deep,” Tang Wuji said with a hearty laugh, deliberately flattering her.

He certainly had not given his own son a ninth-rank Magical Artifact. He himself treasured such things like sacred relics.

Yet Jiang Yichen had handed them over to Spark Team for use in the preliminary round. That alone showed just how profound the Jiang Family’s resources were.

Beside him, Chu Ningfeng and Su Zhan also nodded slightly, marveling at how unfathomably deep the Jiang Family’s reserves were.

Shen Qingyue, however, stiffened.

What was this?

Neither she nor Jiang Zhentian had given Xiao Chen any ninth-rank Magical Artifacts.

She could not understand where her son had obtained all these top-tier Magical Artifacts.

But at the same time, she felt a hint of delight. For the first time, she suddenly felt that Spark Team might not necessarily lose.

Among the six of them, the expressions of Zhou Mingyuan and Jiang Dongnian were far less pleasant.

Still, neither showed much emotional reaction. For low-realm martial artists, wielding ninth-rank Magical Artifacts required an immense expenditure of Blood Qi and Spiritual Power.

As long as Phoenix Team adjusted quickly enough, Spark Team would still be defeated without a doubt.

Meanwhile, waves of exclamations broke out among the audience.

“Damn! Spark Team is outrageously loaded. Who the hell fights a preliminary round by directly equipping their team members with ninth-rank Magical Artifacts, weapons of this level?”

“It’s almost impossible to imagine. A great family is still a great family. Only a great family could produce a display like this.”

“I thought this would be a complete stomp, but... look, even Phoenix Team is starting to struggle. Spark Team really is not as weak as we imagined.”

“It’s still too early to say that. Using high-rank Magical Artifacts consumes a huge amount of energy, and Spark Team is competing for the first time. In terms of both strength and tournament experience, they still fall short of Phoenix Team.”

“That’s true. I still think Phoenix Team has the better chance of winning. Look, Phoenix Team is making its move.”

“...”

On the arena platform, Phoenix Team truly lived up to its reputation as a powerhouse tempered through several major competitions. Faced with a disadvantage in weapons and equipment, they decisively adjusted their strategy.

“Their equipment is better than ours. We need to prepare for a battle of attrition.”

“But before that, eliminate the Su Family’s young miss first. The flames from her fan are burning away our Blood Qi and Spiritual Power.”

After analyzing the situation, Huang Lu immediately made a decision.

If they were going to drag this into a prolonged fight, then the most unfavorable factor at present was Su Linyu’s flames, which could burn away both their Blood Qi and Spiritual Power.

In an arena match, as long as Su Linyu was knocked out beyond the boundary of the platform, she would be considered eliminated.

“Yes, Captain!”

All five moved at once, charging at Su Linyu from different directions.

Huang Lu released the aura of a peak Grandmaster of the Sixth Realm. Her eyes turned crimson, and a pair of wings formed from condensed Spiritual Energy unfurled behind her.

A rain of fiery feathers descended from the air and landed upon the members of Phoenix Team, coating their bodies in a layer of scarlet flame.

For those standing within the Radiant Flame, the rate at which their Blood Qi and Spiritual Power were being consumed instantly slowed.

This was the first ability of Huang Lu’s SS-rank talent, Phoenix Wing Fire Feathers: Phoenix Wing Protection. It could grant her allies a flame shield and lessen negative effects.

Then Huang Lu slowly raised her hand, aimed it at Su Linyu on the arena platform, and shouted sharply,

“Fire Feather Restraint!”

The moment the words fell, the fiery feathers that had been drifting down slowly suddenly froze in midair like short swords, then plunged downward and stabbed into the area around Su Linyu.

Immediately afterward, they transformed into scarlet chains that bound her in place and left her unable to move.

Shock appeared on Su Linyu’s face. The vast difference in realm put considerable pressure on her.

Fortunately, Huang Lu and she both possessed fire-attributed martial talents, and Su Linyu’s Vermilion Bird Blaze was superior to Huang Lu’s.

Su Linyu swung the Vermilion Bird Feather Fan.

Crack!

The scarlet chains shattered one after another.

Huang Lu frowned slightly and gave the order, “Attack together!”

The other four team members nodded and rushed toward Su Linyu at high speed.

“Uncle Lei, are we really just going to watch?” Sleep God asked in a drowsy voice, sounding utterly listless.

Lei Zhen nodded slightly. “We have to give the younger ones a chance to show themselves. We old members just need to cover for them.”

“But five against three seems a little too much, doesn’t it?”

Lei Zhen smiled, a mysterious glint in his eyes. “It is a little much, but they have their methods.”

Just as the five members of Phoenix Team closed in to besiege Su Linyu, Chu Xingchen and Tang Long took their places at her side.

“Heh, if you want to lay a hand on our captain, did you ask my shield first?”

Tang Long slammed his shield heavily into the ground. As Spiritual Energy poured into it, the golden shield rapidly expanded at a visible speed.

A grin curled on his lips as he shoved forward with both hands.

“Reflect!”

The ninth-rank golden shield suddenly burst forth with brilliant light, dazzling the eyes of the two Phoenix Team members charging in at full speed so badly that they could not open them.

And in that brief instant of disorientation, a terrifying repulsive force blasted the two of them away, sending them hurtling at tremendous speed into the wall outside the arena platform.

“Phoenix Team’s Zhou Qi and Bai Yun are eliminated,” the host announced in a precise, professional tone.

Lei Zhen nodded slightly. “See? Now it’s three against three.”

Sleep God looked a little less sleepy and gave a thumbs-up. “The divine might of a ninth-rank Magical Artifact!”

At once, the entire arena fell into dead silence again.

Huang Lu was stunned as well. The speed at which those two had been blasted away was so fast that even she had failed to see it clearly.

Her brows drew together slightly as a sudden realization struck her.

She had been tricked.

Spark Team had known from the beginning that Phoenix Team would focus all their attacks on Su Linyu, so they had deliberately baited them in.

Then, by exposing an opening on purpose, they had used the ninth-rank Magical Artifact to eliminate two opponents in one stroke.

Hovering in the air, Huang Lu slowly clenched her hand, fine beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

She had still underestimated the power of a ninth-rank Magical Artifact.

And from her vantage point high above, with a full view of the battlefield, the strongest members of Spark Team, Lei Zhen and Sleep God, had not even made a move yet.

Just three fifth-realm fighters had already eliminated two members of her side.

This...

Huang Lu looked at the sixth-rank Magical Artifact in her hand, her heart full of bitterness and unwillingness.

She had never imagined that she would lose not because of strength, but because of weapons and equipment.

Now all of their former advantages had vanished completely. Instead, they had fallen into a disadvantage in numbers.