Chapter 105 - 50: Direct Lineage of the Business Alliance

Chapter 105: Chapter 50: Direct Lineage of the Business Alliance

Throat. Spine. Heart. With each vital point Jiang Xuan named in a cold, detached tone, the terrifying pressure on Mu Lin tightened its deathly grip.

HUFF...

With over a dozen vital points on his body targeted by an unseen blade, Mu Lin’s muscles and sinews tensed to their absolute limit. Cold sweat streamed down his cheeks, soaking his collar.

What terrified his Heart Spirit even more was that he couldn’t tell which attacks were real and which were illusions.

’Damn it, which one of these attacks is real?’

’Or... are they all real?!’

With reality and illusion blurring, and killing intent everywhere, Mu Lin dared not make the slightest rash move. At this point, a single flaw in his defense would be enough to plunge him into eternal damnation.

But could he escape this Death Tribulation simply by remaining in a stalemate?

The answer, of course, was no.

He couldn’t afford to drag this out.

His tense Heart Spirit was continuously draining his Divine Soul Power. More fatally, as Jiang Xuan performed his Breathing Technique, the Frosty Winter Cold coiled within his body immediately turned into a bone-chilling white mist that swept out in all directions.

Jiang Xuan had personally endured this aura for over half a month, and his body had developed a resistance to the chill. Furthermore, the Frosty Winter’s Intent of the Winter Solstice even granted him a degree of control over this cold.

Mu Lin, however, was a different story. It was his first time encountering this extreme cold. His limbs gradually stiffened, the Magical Power in his meridians grew sluggish and slow, and a deathly chill pierced him to the very marrow.

And with that, realization dawned on him in an instant.

’I can’t drag this out. The longer this goes on, the worse my physical condition will become. In the end, he won’t even have to make a move; I’ll be frozen to death!’

SWOOSH!

Realizing this, and knowing his chances were slim, Mu Lin still grit his teeth and charged forward, his killing intent surging. "Die!"

He took a single step, about to close the distance with Jiang Xuan.

However, he had only taken a single step when his body abruptly froze—at the very moment he decided to risk everything in a final struggle, the killing intent surrounding him suddenly surged severalfold. It was like a bow being drawn or a sword being unsheathed!

The mortal peril made the hairs on his arms stand on end, and he couldn’t stop himself from sucking in a cold breath.

HISSS...

And it was a real, physical cold. That single breath sent a bone-chilling coldness straight into his Heart Soul. The flame he had ignited with his heart’s blood was suppressed by the frigid air, on the verge of being extinguished.

The extreme cold also made him shiver uncontrollably—this was an instinctual reaction of his Flesh Body, impossible to restrain.

SHKTH...

But that single shiver was the opening Jiang Xuan had been waiting for.

A transparent, colorless Ice Blade silently pierced through his spine from behind.

This time, Jiang Xuan didn’t hesitate. Without giving Mu Lin time to react, the Ice Blade exploded under his control.

BANG!

The Ice Blade shattered into a thousand icy splinters that riddled Mu Lin’s body. Completely powerless, he collapsed.

HUUH...

With Mu Lin’s death, Jiang Xuan slowly retracted the frosty winter aura around him.

Even after coexisting with this cold air for half a month, Jiang Xuan still found it difficult to bear.

On a normal day, he had to rely on a secret medicine concocted by Granny Lan and suppress the cold with his Magical Power just to barely keep his condition in check.

But this was an all-out battle. Not only could Jiang Xuan not suppress it, he had to actively release the cold from his body. As a result, he still ended up injured, even though his opponent never touched him.

’It’s not so different from the Seven Injuries Fist... Cultivating this technique will probably lead to a short life.’

Thinking this, Jiang Xuan wasn’t too concerned. The Guicang Jie Mie Sword was not the sum of his Cultivation. The Forest Spirit Scripture, the Flame Splendor Supreme Profound Chapter, the Three Elements Dao Fruit... all these Cultivation Techniques merged to forge the Four Seasons Reincarnation Technique, which was his true main path.

Besides, the revival and flourishing of the latter Cultivation Techniques could neutralize the hidden dangers brought by the Frosty Winter Cold.

[Do you wish to continue fighting?]

After Jiang Xuan defeated Mu Lin, the Array’s mechanical prompt sounded again in his sea of consciousness.

Hearing this, Jiang Xuan confirmed without a moment’s hesitation.

And so, Jiang Xuan continued to battle, reflecting on his successes and failures and tempering the killing intent in his Heart.

What he didn’t know was that his feat of steamrolling seven people in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea had already caused quite a stir in the outside world.

Jiang Xuan had guessed one thing correctly: this Mirage Mirror・Three Thousand Realms indeed had extremely deep ties to the Celestial Sea Business Alliance.

The Array’s core material, the Mirage Dragon Pearl, had been provided by the Celestial Sea Business Alliance.

Of course, the Celestial Sea Business Alliance was not on the losing end of the deal. The cooperation between the two was very tight. Besides collecting a portion of the fees for using the Mirage Mirror: Three Thousand Realms, the Shenxiao Sect also had to give the Business Alliance some slots every hundred years, allowing the Alliance’s disciples—or those who had purchased a slot for a great price—to enter the sect for Cultivation.

In this latest batch, disciples from the direct lineage of the Celestial Sea Business Alliance’s upper echelons had come.

However, after arriving at the Shenxiao Sect, they had to act according to the sect’s system.

One of the strictest rules was that if they wished to enter an Upper Peak to practice advanced Cultivation Techniques, they not only had to accept a Restriction forbidding them from teaching the Magic to outsiders, but also needed to rank among the best in the hundred-day assessment.

These rules forced the Business Alliance disciples to use every means at their disposal, desperately trying to expand their own influence.

Granted, most of the Business Alliance disciples who could come to the Shenxiao Sect to learn Magic had outstanding Talent.

But the price they had paid was too great; they could not afford even the slightest misstep.

The various Martial Arts Arenas were the Business Alliance’s feelers within the Shenxiao Sect, and they were the key places for the Alliance’s disciples to recruit Nobles from the Lower Classes and gather powerful allies.

Mo Yu and Bai Zhi were on duty here, both acting on orders and seeking out exceptionally talented newcomers for the masters they served.

When someone achieved a seven-match winning streak, the Array sent out a message that they immediately received, causing both women to jump to their feet.

"The Array sent an alert! Someone just got a seven-win streak in challenge mode!"

"Who is it?"

At this moment, both women were eager, their faces flushed with excitement. The reason was simple: the master they served was not only rich but also very generous. If they made a good find, they would receive a huge reward.

In such a situation, they were naturally anxious, and each hoped that the prodigy was the one she had personally received—this was also why Mo Yu had greeted Jiang Xuan the moment he arrived.

As for Bai Zhi, she had seen Jiang Xuan’s sickly, near-death appearance and decided he couldn’t possibly be an expert, which was why she had coldly looked on from the sidelines.

Meanwhile, though the two women stood up and scanned their surroundings, they couldn’t determine who the seven-win prodigy was.

The Shenxiao Sect was, after all, a Major Sect, not a vassal of the Celestial Sea Business Alliance. Although the latter had provided a lot of resources, for which the sect had granted them some special treatment and certain permissions related to the Mirage Mirror・Three Thousand Realms,

this didn’t mean the Shenxiao Sect had no defenses against the Celestial Sea Business Alliance. The Alliance couldn’t see what was happening inside the Three Thousand Realms, nor could they directly identify the person who had passed seven rounds.

This left the two of them with no choice but to look around, searching for the prodigy.

However, by just observing with their eyes, the two women were unable to lock onto the right person.

In her search, Mo Yu’s gaze swept over Jiang Xuan, but she quickly shook her head and looked away.

Although she had been the one to receive Jiang Xuan and didn’t want to speak ill of him behind his back, even she didn’t believe this pale, weak-looking young man could achieve seven straight victories.

Furthermore, Jiang Xuan had entered the Mirage Mirror: Three Thousand Realms less than a teacup’s time ago.

’Even if he were truly capable, it would be impossible to win seven matches in a row in less than a quarter of an hour... Excluding the waiting time between matches, that would mean he’d have to instantly kill every opponent. That’s just impossible!’

...