Inside the Hall of the Martial God

The members of the council no longer wasted any time and immediately started the reprimanding.

Bai Ming didn't bat an eyelid, but a slight, sideward glance at Wu Po Xing preceded his words, straightforward and to the point.

"It is a rule that the participation of Grandmasters is not allowed. But since when did martial artists need special permission just to compete?"

This… The room fell silent as everyone pondered the point.

"Vice Alliance Leader Bai," one member interrupted, "the Martial Arts Tournament is to select geniuses and determine the distribution of cultivation resources in the coming year. Obviously, ordinary martial artists cannot compete at that level, so it's not a waste of time, right?

"Oh?" Bai Ming suddenly lifted up his eyes. "May I ask the Alliance Leader, if that truly is the purpose of the Martial Arts Tournament?

Wu Po Xing replied unequivocally.

"Martial Arts Tournament. since its very creation, had always been one crucible, meant to burn and try out martial artists."

"Any martial artist can join."

"This was the selection of geniuses and the allocation of resources," Wu Po Xing said, "just auxiliary functions tacked on afterward."

Hiss—

There was a collective gasp through the room. As the words settled, it jogged the memories of the council members.

"That's right!"

"Decades ago, when the tournament was first held, that was indeed the stated purpose," a council member was forced to admit.

At this juncture, William jumped in. "It is true that Qin Mu's participation isn't technically a violation. However. his current lazy demeanor shows a complete lack of respect for the tournament."

He gestured at the screen. "Other martial artists are out fighting Vicious Beasts and earning points. But what is he doing?"

William burst into a mocking laugh. "He's running around Dragon's Nest, actively trying to avoid fights. I think this is just the kind of guy the Alliance Leader was talking about-somebody who is not even qualified to be given resources, right?

"Precisely!" the council member beside him repeated.

"Finally, by applying the Dragon's Nest simulation, we could nurture these cowards into individuals with courage. It's not worth it to waste any more resources on them."

"I propose that even if this Qin Mu manages to achieve a ranking, his reward should be taken away from him. Furthermore, notification should be sent to his Martial Arts School to cut off supply lines.

"In fact," the member added mercilessly, "he ought to be made to repay his past investments. Let him be an example to others!"

"Huh?" Bai Ming suddenly laughed. "Didn't Council Member Karmen just say that Qin Mu wasn't qualified to take part? Why is he now worried that he will get a ranking?

"Hmph!" Council Member Karmen snorted coldly. "Why does the Vice Alliance Leader twist my words? Whether he ranks or not, a martial artist of his nature should be dealt with exactly as described!"

Before Bai Ming could retort, Wu Po Xing suddenly interjected.

"I agree with the statement of Karmen."

Bai Ming looked stunned. He stammered, "Alliance Leader, Qin Mu is a promising sprout—a genius Mentalist."

"Hahahaha!" Karmen laughed triumphantly. "Indeed, the Alliance Leader has foresight! Such a cowardly martial artist should be stripped of his resources so he is forced to rely on himself!

"A genius Mentalist? That's good!" Karmen continued viciously, "Qin Mu definitely signed a 'Genius Contract' and received a huge sum of funding. Now, he has to pay it back. If he can't, calculate it as debt with interest! Force him to hunt Vicious Beasts to pay his debts!"

"Hmm. in that way, perhaps this 'genius' might still have some value."

The members of the council, though feigning nonchalance, were secretly dumbfounded at the ruthlessness of the method; all looked toward Wu Po Xing for the last word.

"Since everybody feels this way, then I agree with them. Let us vote," said Wu Po Xing forthwith.

"During the Martial Arts Tournament, whoever among the martial artists is afraid to fight the Vicious Beasts will be deprived of the reward quota, and all the invested money will be taken back!

"I second that!" was raised by Karmen.

"Seconded," William followed.

The other council members fell right in line. "Seconded."

Only Bai Ming was left.

"Vice Alliance Leader," Karmen said, laying back in his chair with a languid, provocative air. "If you have something to say, please speak directly.

Bai Ming frowned slightly. "I only have one question: How do we objectively determine if a martial artist is 'afraid' to fight Vicious Beasts?

Wu Po Xing answered with a concrete definition.

"I have ordered the smart system to modify the density of the Vicious Beasts in the Dragon's Nest. The low-level beasts at the outer perimeter will be killed very fast."

Wu Po Xing pointed to the center of the map.

"Here. The core area. Whoever does not dare to enter the core area of the Dragon's Nest by the end of this simulation will be deemed afraid of fighting!

"Ah?"

The other members of the council were astounding.

"Good! Agreed!" he nodded directly.

Karmen was stunned. "Alliance Leader, this. wait, wasn't this vote to confirm Qin Mu as a coward?"

Bai Ming's face was calm now, like still water. "Council Member Karmen, your proposal was passed unanimously. What is there to question? Do you really think that a martial artist who does not dare to go to the core area-even in a virtual simulation-is not a coward?"

"You-!?

Looking at Bai Ming, Karmen had a shock.

What's going on here? Did these two old foxes premeditate on their discussion to fool others?

Yet that single sentence from Wu Po Xing changed the dynamic. Not only Karmen, but even the other council members started to get uneasy.

"The vote is unanimous," Wu Po Xing said with a straight face while he was laughing all the way to his bones. "Everyone can now quietly await the results."

normally with a face like stone, Wu Po Xing thought that he never expected Bai Ming to be so convincing while acting.

He turned his gaze to the screen, watching Qin Mu leisurely strolling through the map.

And this little one. is he studying the landscape? Then perhaps my Dragon Star will very soon be receiving a violent and mighty Dominion Grandmaster!

Inside the Dragon's Nest

Qin Mu stopped after he walked to the end.

"Is the map scan complete?

Before him appeared Xiao Yi's miniature avatar. "Yes, Master. I've finished everything."

Being able to connect to his personal smart system even within the Martial God Hall saved Qin Mu a great deal of trouble.

"Good."

Map completed.

Next. Time to kill.

Qin Mu shifted his stance on the shield hovering beneath his feet. He chose a passage more than a hundred meters wide and shot into the depths of the Dragon's Nest.

The outside perimeter was peopled with Fifth and Sixth-order Vicious Beasts. He didn't care about those, so he passed through the wide tunnel and breached the core area.

Immediately, he saw his first target.

"Master! That's an Earth Walking Dragon—a Seventh-order Vicious Beast!" Xiao Yi hurriedly reminded him.

Before him stood a gigantic creature. The body of the Earth Walking Dragon was almost thirty meters long, its skin as thick as military-grade alloy. In the ambient light, his armored hide actually shone.

Seventh-order! A grandmaster-realm vicious beast!

Qin Mu didn't slow down. He flew directly toward it.

He raised his finger in the air.

Swoosh!

The Azure Flame Flying Sword flashed into existence.

In an instant, the sword broke into several sub-swords and then quickly assembled back into a single beam of light, sharp as a whistle.

Puff!

Feeling danger, the Earth Walking Dragon barely began to lift its head when the Flying Sword pierced straight through its forehead, drilling directly into its brain.

Instant death.

A second later, Qin Mu flew past where the collapsing carcass was.

"Master is great! Points increased by 700! Current points: 1020. Rank: 148!" Xiao Yi clapped enthusiastically.

Ahh, damn.

Qin Mu looked at AI. Do you have a fan club or something?

Yet he was calculating, inside.

A 7th-order beast gives 700 points. I killed a 6th-order one earlier, and it only gave 60.

It seemed that the scoring logic was deliberately skewed for this tournament. The "Genius" martial artists participating needed to have at least Martial General level combat power, while the Mentalists from the Myriad Sword Pavilion possessed Grandmaster-level power—they were lawnmowers for monsters, in other words.

With the Vicious Beasts being unlimited and the points being static, the Myriad Sword Pavilion Mentalists would dominate the rankings through sheer number grinding.

But now? 6th-order beasts basically yielded nothing. One 7th-order kill was equivalent in points to more than a dozen of its lower tier. No matter how much you grinded in the outer perimeter, it would never come close to the core's efficiency.

"Tsk. It's likely there won't be much left to grind outside anyway," Qin Mu said with a guess.

He instantly inferred the logic of the rules: the tournament would not spawn infinite beasts within the safety of the outer ring. They were forcing the martial artists into the core of the Dragon's Nest. This must be Wu Po Xing's idea, Qin Mu thought with a smirk.

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