Chapter 303: Finally! No More Tournaments!

  The ice, snow, and frost spreading from Jie's umbrella covered the entire ring. Her teammates' swords turned into ice swords but their bodies were completely unaffected by the weather changes. Tang Wuying's team on the other hand was quickly besieged on all sides by the cold. Tang skillfully swung his boomerang around himself at blurring speeds. Not a single speck of cold was capable of passing his barrier of wind.

  Jie thrust her umbrella's tip toward Wuying's throat while her teammates charged the temporarily slowed partners of Wuying. Wuying blocked her blow without much effort and instantaneously followed up with a counter swipe of his own aiming for her neck. A wall of ice suddenly appeared in between Jie's face and the giant weapon. It shattered without much resistance but gave Jie enough time to duck underneath the attack and pierce her weapon toward Wuying's undefended abdomen.

"You're not fast enough to keep up with me. Haven't you realized it yet?" Tang smirked as he looked down on Jie.

"Who said I was trying to compete in speed with you?" Jie smirked right back.

  Tang's instincts warned him to dodge and followed through with what his guts were telling him. As he appeared behind Jie, he looked back to see a spike made of ice that would've pierced through his skull if he didn't move. If he wasn't using Calming Heart, he was sure he would've exploded in fury at how close to death he was. A heavenly genius like himself nearly being killed by this nobody? A woman who is only known for the man she's in a relationship with? Tang Wuying refused to accept this.

"I got the idea of this technique from a friend of mine." Jie looked toward Jing momentarily as she thought back to her training. "She told me that I should use this technique only when I was surrounded by multiple foes and I was alone. This situation doesn't really match but the technique will still work out. You want to know why?" She asked.

"Humor me." Tang Wuying didn't really care. She was going to be crippled by him regardless.

  Several ice spikes shot out toward Tang's body in an instant. The icicles targeted his head, throat, heart, stomach, pelvis, and legs. Not a single part of his body was spared as the icicles flew through the air. Jie watched as Tang somehow instantly disappeared from where he was standing before sensing him high in the air and looking down on her.

"This is why." More and more spikes chased after Tang.

  The entire ring became a death trap just for the speedy cultivator. Hundreds of ice spikes appeared in random places from the view of the spectators. Sometimes they formed in the air, on the stage, and several times almost pierced Jie! However, Jie only laughed after seeing him try to use her own technique against her.

"It's a work in progress but definitely not to that amount." Her icicles harmlessly shattered into snow against her body. "Since you're faster than me, I just have to make your speed pointless. But oh wait, don't you have two teammates as well?" Jie let out an ohoho as the crowd suddenly focused their attention on Leech #1 and Leech #2.

  By this point, Tang Wuying could feel his emotions breaking through Calming Heart. He was being humiliated. Tang didn't give a single crap about those trashes placed with him but f he allowed her to target the leeches, his fate would be the very same as Jun's! The prodigal young master no longer bottled up his bubbling emotions. At this point, Tang Wuying was no longer holding back.

"Overdrive!!!" A burst of gold and blue qi exploded from Tang's body.

"Oh no you don't!" Jie surged all the qi within her body.

  Only for her to realize that she was somehow staring up into the sky. Confusion ran through her mind. When did she start lying on the stage? Wasn't she just standing up about to make a difference in the match? Jie gripped her left hand and felt nothing. Her umbrella was gone as well.

  Sitting up, Jie saw that her teammates were in a similar situation to herself. Weaponless, and lying on the ring without a wound on them. Across from them, they could see Tang Wuying scrunched up like a shrimp crying out in pain while his teammates came near them. Just as Jie jumped up to defend herself from Wuying's teammates, they appeared in front of her and knocked her out of the ring. Her teammates quickly followed and that was the end of the match.

"How did I lose...?!" Jie was confused!

"I don't know what happened either. One minute I was fighting against that guy and the next I was staring into the sky."

"Me too! I thought I was caught in an illusion array for a second or something."

"You did your best." Jing came over to the confused girls.

  Very few people were capable of catching Tang's movements at the end there. Jing believed that only herself, Li Li, and the top elders could have seen it completely. If Tang wanted to make a statement, that was a hell of a way to do so. His position within the sect has firmly been planted if it wasn't already before.

"He went past his natural limits and dealt with you three. He took your weapons, carried you to your side of the stage, and returned to tell his teammates to finish you off." Jing explained.

"All that training just to lose without even being able to react..." Jie sighed.

  She hoped to pay back and honor Jing by winning. Well, at least she made it to the semi-finals. Jie may have lost but she didn't feel that she lost face for Heaven's Angels. Even if she was officially a part of Badass Angels, Hu Tao's section of Heaven's Angels. She'll just have to train harder in the upcoming future if she wants to be strong enough to reign in Hu Tao.

"Good job." Jing patted her head.

  Xiucai was the last remaining angel in the tournament but his team quickly decided to surrender after seeing Tang Wuying's battle. Xiucai was dragged away by Chu Hua as punishment for making them surrender. And thus, Heaven's Angels' participation in the Grand Tournament has come to an end. The next several days were spent in good fun watching the remaining disciples fight. Eventually, by the month's end, the reward ceremony began and the top ten teams who exhibited traits stated at the beginning of the tournament were rewarded. This ruffled some feathers of certain people.

  Because of this strange way of rewarding, some of the teams in first place in their bracket didn't get rewarded! Usually, those teams were teams that were carried by a single person with overwhelming talent. The Elders showed repeatedly that they wanted teamwork. Their exact words were something along the lines of "What we will judge is how well you collaborate with your randomly chosen partners, how efficiently you pool together your strengths and cover up for each other weaknesses, and how badly you utterly fail at the first two." It was the fault of those stubborn disciples that they didn't receive anything for not listening to the elder's explicit instructions.

  Only Runt's team and Xiucai's team were rewarded from Heaven's Angels. They were given the opportunity to search through the top floor of the martial pavilion for a sky-ranked martial art, high-ranked spirit stones, and the choice of a top-quality weapon of their choosing to be made by the skilled spiritual blacksmiths of the sect. The rest were merely disappointed but everyone congratulated Runt and Xiucai. The two of them were considered the new generation of Heaven's Angels in a way with Xiucai being the most recent generation. It was simply amazing that out of everyone these two young men made it to the end of the competition.

  With the conclusion of the Grand Tournament out of the way, things were relatively peaceful for a while. Wen successfully assassinated Elder Ru's youngest disciple without any trouble. Wan Qing was punished with sweeping the sect for seven months for her actions during the Grand Tournament. Jing saw fit to reward her with a suitable cultivation technique perfectly tailored for her butterflies. Ying had a new master in the form of Pan Yi. A stern and tough elder but fair and rather desperate. She saw value in his core martial art, Hell-Devouring Flames. With that technique, she could clearly see the martial path she was meant to follow in her lifetime.

  The sect underwent a significant change as well after witnessing everything that went down in the Grand Tournament. Spellmasters, pill refiners, and other sorts of auxiliary occupations on the path of cultivation were no longer looked down upon as they were before. People taking on their monthly tasks now began to go out in pairs or groups once they saw the benefits in working with others. Even geniuses were included in this once they thought more deeply about it. Tang Wuying and Gong Jun were the sparks that lit the fire within the other prodigies. The two seemed closer than ever for some reason after their defeat in the Grand Tournament and it made people think. What kind of monster would be capable of defeating both Tang Wuying and Gong Jun if they worked together? There was also the Outer Court being completely transformed into an interconnected jungle with houses spacious enough to compete with the homes of core disciples. No one knew who was responsible but everyone in the Outer Court was grateful even though they felt like monkeys living in the trees.

  And then it was pairing season in the Golden Serpent Sect. Little prodigies and cultivators were looking everywhere for their perfect teammate to further their fighting potential. Heaven's Angels were not excluded in this aspect. Ying chose Bing as her partner without giving him a chance to speak. Lei Zhi paired up with Su Su, the little Grand Prodigy who stuck herself to Lei Zhi's side after he awakened her hidden potential. She offered it and didn't give him the opportunity to refuse. Xiucai tried to refuse Chu Hua's offer but was strong-armed into it by her aggressive advance along with Lin Shu's teasing. Runt was in a similar position as Lei Zhi and Bing with Jue partnering herself up with him. He Wenqing and Lin Shu decided to partner up because, why not? Wan Qing, Jing, Li Li, and Shang were the only ones without a partner. Shang didn't believe that he was strong enough to stand by her side in battle yet. So, he asked Jing to wait for him. Since spirit beasts in the eyes of others weren't counted as people, Li Li didn't count when he forcefully partnered himself with Jing. Jie chose Hu Tao as her partner despite her having a feeling he was going to try and pick Jing. In anticipation of that day, she trained every day to grow in strength as quickly as she could. Wan Qing simply hasn't found a person to compliment her that well in a fight.

  Jing also had a cute little surprise awaiting her after the ending of the Grand Tournament.

*DING*

[System has finished updating Host!]

[Here are some notifications you missed out on while the system was updating.]

[Multiple Missions Completed!]

[You allowed Gong Jun to reap Fu Kang's fortune! Reward: Talent-boosting Elixir]

[You have taken over the Inner Court through your number of supporters, superior strength, or influence! Rewards: 1 Legendary Ticket, Coffin of Undying, Restriction on Qi Consolidation Realm will be unlocked]

[You announced the purpose of Heaven's Angels at the Grand Tournament! Reward: SCP-018]

[You passed the first test of the Grand Tournament! Reward: 1 Legendary Ticket]

[You impressed the elders of the sect with a good showing throughout the Grand Tournament! Reward: World-Devouring Serpent Egg]

[You have killed over 1,000 disciples during the course of the Grand Tournament! Rewards: Extreme Violence Bracelet, Extremely Violent Ring, God-slaying Spear of Justice]

You have helped over 1,000 disciples during the course of the Grand Tournament! Rewards: Pure Cloud Pearl, Heavenly Armor, Angel's Blade of Righteousness]

[Multiple Missions Failed!]

[You have failed to successfully make it to the end of the Grand Tournament! Penalty: Loss of Fame]

[You have failed to somehow have all of your followers pass the Grand Tournament even with the system! Penalty: Massive Loss of Fame.]