Martial Arrogance Dragon Soul-Chapter 118 - 112: Falling into Crisis
They had traversed more than half of Thousand Mechanism Valley.
The number of puppets within the valley was increasing, making the journey increasingly difficult.
Additionally, the strength of the puppets was also on the rise.
The puppets from the earlier part of the journey were only equivalent to the preliminary stage of the Soul Refinement Realm, but now, puppets possessing the strength of the middle late stage had appeared.
There were even a few puppets with the peak strength of the Soul Refinement Realm; each attack was incredibly taxing for these new disciples from Great Qian Martial Institute to fend off.
Fortunately, the Induction Spirit Arrays installed inside these puppets didn’t seem to be of high level, so, despite their great strength, these puppets had slow reactions and relatively low sensing abilities.
However, at this moment.
Qin Qing’s brows suddenly furrowed.
He sensed a dangerous aura.
"Be careful!"
Qin Qing shouted sternly.
Everyone stopped in their tracks.
The next instant, a Sword Qi suddenly descended from beside them.
"Pfft!"
This Sword Qi came from the sky, instantly burying itself into the ground.
It was only an inch away from a disciple next to it.
If Qin Qing hadn’t called out a warning, this disciple would have continued stepping forward and might have been directly pierced by the Sword Qi, with unimaginable consequences.
"Phew!"
The disciple took a long breath, relieved to have escaped the calamity.
"Chenxing, be careful!"
The disciple who was nearly pierced by the Sword Qi was a male named Yun Chenxing.
At this moment, the one asking about his well-being was Ying Xiaodie.
The two were childhood sweethearts who had grown up together and had been admitted to Great Qian Martial Institute that year, making them a pair of dao companions.
Qin Qing had also met the pair not long ago during their academic semester.
However, both of them held great respect for Qin Qing, and after the end of the class on Spiritual Patterns taught by Elder Mo Kong, Yun Chenxing had consulted Qin Qing on some questions about the way of Spiritual Patterns.
"I’m fine!" Yun Chenxing smiled at Ying Xiaodie, then turned to Qin Qing, "Senior Qin, thank you! If it weren’t for you just now, I’m afraid I would have been gravely injured, if not dead!"
Qin Qing gave a slight smile and nodded.
His impression of Yun Chenxing was quite favorable.
Yun Chenxing seemed to be the kind who came from a decent background and had been well-mannered since childhood.
And he was pure-hearted.
"That Sword Qi just now..." Yun Chenxing wanted to ask.
Suddenly, Qin Qing waved his hand.
He thrust out with his Azure Dragon Spear in hand.
A ray of spear light flickered forth.
"Boom!"
A muffled sound as the spear collided with another descending Sword Qi in mid-air.
The other West Courtyard Disciples, all looking alarmed, started converging toward where Qin Qing was.
"Be careful, the puppets have become even more formidable!"
The others didn’t quite understand what Qin Qing meant by that.
The next moment, a puppet descended from the sky, entering everyone’s view.
This puppet was clearly different from any of the previous ones.
From its aura, the puppet seemed to have a more restrained presence, but it also gave off an even more dangerous feel.
Furthermore, in this puppet’s hand, it actually held a sword!
None of the previous puppets had carried weapons, but this one was wielding a sword, and this was clearly no ordinary sword, with the fluctuations of Spiritual Patterns on it – it was actually a Spiritual Treasure!
A puppet equipped with a Spirit Soldier was obviously stronger, likely possessing the attacking capability of a newbie in the Divine Might Realm, and naturally its defenses were also stronger.
"Swoosh, swoosh!"
The Spirit Sword Puppet, upon landing, attacked Yun Chenxing once again.
Sword light flickered, and Yun Chenxing’s complexion changed dramatically. He rushed to counter with his sword, and although he was also using swordsmanship, Yun Chenxing’s skills were clearly inferior to the Spirit Sword Puppet’s.
After a dozen or so exchanges, Yun Chenxing was forced to retreat repeatedly, appearing to be on the verge of being overwhelmed.
"I’ll help you," Ying Xiaodie charged forward and attacked the Spirit Sword Puppet from behind.
While Qin Qing was about to lend a hand to Yun Chenxing,
He had just taken a step when he stopped, his eyes revealing a mix of confusion and seriousness.
Following that—
Groups of Thousand Mechanism Puppets started to appear around them.
More and more Thousand Mechanism Puppets emerged, crowding densely like encirclement rings rapidly closing in on the West Courtyard Disciples.
Even worse, another dozen or so puppets descended from the sky!
The puppets that descended, whether they were Spirit Sword Puppets wielding spiritual swords or puppets with Spirit Spears,
The aura emanating from these puppets was all at the Divine Might Realm!
"Damn!"
Qin Qing’s expression grew uglier by the moment.
The other West Courtyard disciples each wore a grave countenance.
"How could this happen? Why did so many puppets appear all of a sudden, including so many from the Divine Might Realm?"
Qin Qing was puzzled.
Normally, the trial for new disciples shouldn’t have such a high level of difficulty.
To suddenly face so many Divine Might Realm puppets, how could they resist? 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
"Everyone, close in on me. We need to defend against the Thousand Mechanism Puppets together!"
Qin Qing shouted, his gaze quickly sweeping the surroundings in search of a path to break through.
With so many Thousand Mechanism Puppets, they couldn’t get entangled; they had to find a way to break through. If they delayed, it was likely that all the West Courtyard disciples would be eliminated here today.
"Charge!"
Qin Qing bellowed, brandishing his long spear.
He took the lead, charging at the forefront.
The other West Courtyard disciples closely followed behind Qin Qing.
"Swoosh! Swoosh!"
Sword Qi whistled as three Spirit Sword Puppets simultaneously attacked, aiming to slaughter Qin Qing.
Additionally, two Spirit Spear Puppets, moving just as quickly, flanked from the rear side!
"Get lost!"
Qin Qing’s essence blood burned within him, his aura surged, and he seemed surrounded by azure flames.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The Azure Dragon Spear whirred like an angry dragon leaving the sea, its spear brilliance dazzling as it charged toward the three Spirit Sword Puppets.
"Ding ding ding ding..."
The brilliance of the spear and the Sword Qi clashed furiously in mid-air, sounding like hailstones striking steel at high speed.
The three Spirit Sword Puppets were sent flying by Qin Qing’s Sword Qi the moment they engaged.
Following that, Qin Qing swept his spear backhandedly, sending the two Spirit Spear Puppets that had been stabbing from the side also flying a dozen meters away!
But the defensive power of these puppets was much stronger than that of ordinary martial artists in the preliminary stage of the Divine Might Realm.
A strike from Qin Qing’s spear, like that, would have definitely killed a Great Martial Master in the preliminary stage of the Divine Might Realm instantly.
Yet these puppets quickly stood back up after being knocked to the ground.
It seemed that the materials used to refine these puppets were extremely durable!
However, what troubled Qin Qing the most was that other puppets had begun to surround the other West Courtyard disciples.
The strength of the other new disciples was scarcely enough to deal with these puppets!
The situation seemed to be growing more and more passive!
And it could be seen that more and more puppets were converging in their direction!
"Senior Qin, look over there!"
Yun Chenxing called out, pointing toward a spot not far away.
There, the East Campus disciples were breezing through the thicket, with the nearby puppets seemingly oblivious to their presence, instead rushing toward the area where Qin Qing and his group were...
But Qin Qing keenly noticed that three East Courtyard disciples were constantly setting up Spiritual Arrays and manipulating them!
"I see! It’s those scoundrels from the East Courtyard pulling the strings!" Gong Yanghe also realized what was happening and couldn’t help but burst out cursing, "I wondered why the puppets kept relentlessly attacking us. Those bastards are using the Thousand Machines Array to make us live targets, attracting all the Thousand Mechanism Puppets to attack us!"
"Ah!"
Just then, a disciple from the back screamed.
A Spirit Spear Puppet had thrust its spear through the chest of the disciple from behind!
The disciple spat blood, his life force withering in an instant!
This disciple had actually died during this stage of the trial!
This event left the surrounding disciples in shock.
Qin Qing himself sucked in a cold breath.
It turned out that one could actually die during the trials.
Previously, Xu Fang had said that they should not deliberately slaughter fellow sect members; Qin Qing thought that if they encountered danger during the trial, the Martial Institute would step in to save them.
But now it seemed this was not the case...
The Martial Institute allowed death to occur, perhaps to make the trials more thrilling and realistic!
Then, two more disciples cried out in pain, and while they didn’t die, they suffered injuries to varying degrees.
"Those bastards from the East Courtyard, to secure their advantage in the trial competition, they’ve actually plunged us into mortal danger!"
"How is this different from maiming fellow disciples?"
"Won’t the Institute Head and the Elders do anything? Senior Qin was previously stopped from killing East Courtyard disciples, but now they turn a blind eye! This is too unfair!"
"Damn it, the scum of the East Courtyard!"
Qin Qing’s eyes shot out a cold light, focusing on those three East Courtyard disciples manipulating the Spiritual Array.
"Gong Yanghe, Yun Chenxing, take good care of the others."
The moment Qin Qing’s words fell, his whole figure became a shadow enveloped by azure flames as he shot towards those East Courtyard disciples!
