Modern Cultivation : The Strongest Couple Bonded by Vampire System

Chapter 367: Challenge

"Tempest is far stronger; it also allows me to use the thunder element, but I never use it as my father put a seal."

"I see. He's afraid someone will kidnap you because of this."

"Yes, that is why I am even more confused about what has happened lately."

Alex let out a chuckle, then told her his speculation. Meanwhile, the crowd began to cheer as the fight grew intense.

The man with the earth dragon bloodline was launching a barrage of attacks. He started by shooting forward a few earth spikes, then dashed toward Zhu Zeng.

But just before he reached Zhu Zheng, the floor surface suddenly felt slippery and cold. He tripped and then almost fell on his back.

Zhu Zheng appeared on top of him, wielding a blue staff.

Bang!

Despite his high defense, the man felt like his spine was broken. The attack also felt very painful.

It was like his back was not hit by a blunt weapon but by a sharp weapon with many small needles.

His face hit the floor, head down. But Zhu Zheng was not finished. He pointed his staff downward, planning to skewer the man's arm.

Feeling the incoming attack, the man's qi surged forward. At first, he tried to manipulate the floor to make a shield, but it failed. Having no other choice, he sent out a rock from his storage ring, then infused his qi, creating a shield and a pillar that pushed his body away.

Boom!

The makeshift shield shattered into dust, obscuring Zhu Zheng while the man tried to stand up. But the back pain was too much, making his movements slower.

Gritting through the pain, he infused his qi to fasten the recovery, but it wasn't working. Only now did he realize the area where he was hit was now invaded by foreign ice qi.

Meanwhile, in the audience seat. "Do you know that man?" Alex asked.

"Yes, he is Zhu Zheng from ShangXi Temple."

'ShangXi Temple? Is this the same one from MingYue world?'

Alex had heard the name multiple times, making him wonder if he was in the central region of the plane or not. But then, looking at the different sky colors, he thought, 'Maybe it's just a coincidence, or this place is some kind of secret realm.'

After thinking about some other possibilities, Alex decided to confirm it with Reina. "Does ShangXi Temple stay in this region? Where do they come from? I don't have their information with the last jade slip."

Reina frowned, then ruminated for a moment, "Now that you say it, I don't know much about them. They only occasionally appear in public events. I think they are like you, a hidden village."

"I see… By the way, do you have a map of your world?"

Uncle Moria's eyes perked up at the mention of a map. "If you want a world map or even a region map, then we will not be able to help you. Only the Patriarch has those."

Alex frowned. With the cultivator's capability, making a map should be easy. "Isn't that needed? Otherwise, people can go into danger zones."

"Hmm… well, it's always like this. No one sells maps for the region; I also never heard of anyone doing it. As for danger zones, people usually move around utilizing teleportation arrays.

Only a few cultivators go around looking for a secret realm or adventure. So almost no one cares about this."

'No wonder even independent cultivators here make their own guild. It seems going independent is very dangerous as geographical information is monopolized.'

Alex then remembered the clan that stayed on the frontline. Based on his knowledge, the MingYue world doesn't have this; they don't have any external enemy.

Back at the arena, the man was now miserable, his body now covered in ice, making him look like an ice statue. But the ice was not normal.

It was painted red, like it was sucking out the man's blood, making him feel weaker.

"I surrender… "The man mumbled, but his words were cut off in the middle.

Bang! Zhu Zheng appeared in front of him and then shot him out of the arena. He ended up being knocked out after crashing into the barrier.

"Winner, Zhu Zheng!" the host announced as the crowd cheered.

Meanwhile, the princess that the man fought for looked at him with disdain. She didn't blame him for losing to Zhu Zheng, but getting badly injured in the first fight spelled doom for her.

The tournament system was done by having the champion fight at least once with other princes' champions. They were then ranked by points. The top 8 would then fight each other and start getting rewards.

The winner would get one wish from the Patriarch that could be used to reject marriage arrangements. As for the other princesses, they would get resource allocation and different treatment in the clan depending on the result.

The difference in treatment was more on favoritism, like one is most likely to be favored by the Elders and Patriarch in the Midnight clan if they perform well.

But now her champion was heavily wounded; even if she bought him a good healing pill, at most, he could only fight at 80% of his strength.

She had told him to quickly forfeit when fighting Zhu Zheng, but he just didn't listen.

As the winner, Zhu Zheng now had the option to skip the match or continue with the enemy of his choosing. He glanced at Alex, who was still busy with his own thoughts. "I challenge you."

Alex felt annoyed getting called out when he was thinking, but he didn't show it on his face. With a smirk, he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Cut the crap and come fight me," Zhu Zheng replied as his qi spread through the arena.

Some of the people quickly frowned as they could tell he was near a breakthrough; his qi was at late-stage spiritual transformation realm, but it showed some quality like those at the mystic integration stage.