Blue Robed Woman

A pleasant voice sounded from outside the formation and reached Bai Hu's position inside the alchemy room.

"May I enter?"

The voice asked a question, though it carried an authority that made it sound more like an order than a request. Bai Hu opened the formation after a brief hesitation.

"Follow the path and wait for me. My current appearance is quite unsightly"

The woman floated in the sky for a few moments before entering the hole in the formation. She tensed slightly when he felt the many arrays and formations around the gravel path before walking along it.

Meanwhile, Bai Hu was busy cleaning himself and cursing. He had recognized the owner of that voice.

"Damn it, why is Shui Bing here? First the 4 kings, and now the Foundation freak!"

Bai Hu put on a new white uniform after drying himself. Exiting the secret abode, he made sure that all the formations around it were secure before walking towards the guest area.

A beautiful woman dressed in blue robes was reclining on a chair with a teacup in her hands.

She looked at Bai Hu, "Took you long enough"

Bai Hu scratched his head, "You didn't exactly notify me beforehand"

Though, he didn't say this out loud due to the fact that she had a higher cultivation base and is his senior. Shui Bing read his expression and took another sip of her tea.

"I'll get straight to the point. Cooperate with me during the final battle"

Bai Hu's eyes twitched when he heard that. The 4 kings had literally just come to his mountain peak and asked him the same thing.

"I know they must have come to you first, though you probably haven't accepted their proposition yet"

"You- how did you know?!"

"I guessed"

"..."

After a moment of silence, he spoke again, "What do you want me to do?"

"Hold back the other participants while I deal with the 4 kings"

This was a simple request as the others should not be on the level of the 4 kings and would be easier to deal with.

"What if I finish them before you eliminate the kings?"

"Then you can help me get rid of them. Once that happens you'll be guaranteed second place"

Shui Bing didn't bother mentioning first place as Bai Hu knew she wanted it. If he fought for first place with his current cultivation base then it is no better than suicide. Not that he wanted first place anyway.

Bai Hu nodded, "Alright"

Bai Hu had thought the conversation was over and was just about to open the formation when Shui Bing said something that caught him off guard.

"This place is quite... dark. If you'd like I can arrange a different mountain peak for you to live on"

His heart shook and he hurriedly declined.

"No need to trouble yourself with something so trivial. I actually prefer this kind of environment, plus, this mountain peak is something my master had given me"

"Hm, I see"

She stood up and walked away. It seems that Bai Hu's words had offended her slightly and now she was in a bad mood. He sweated inwardly, this mountain peak possesses abundant wind and thunder qi, making it the best place for him to cultivate. Had he accepted Shui Bing's offer, his progress might stagnate and his cultivation speed hampered.

"Damn, I hope I didn't earn her ire by rejecting her second offer"

Bai Hu made sure to make another mental note before going back to make more Thunderflame Beads.

Women are unpredictable creatures whose moods swing from left to right.

BOOM!

He had failed again due to his disturbed mental state.

…

Over the course of the week, Bai Hu had made great preparations for the coming battle. He refined the Fire Silk Scarf into his own treasure and refined many Thunderflame Beads.

His success rate for refinement increased drastically after the first few successes and after dozens of tries, Bai Hu managed to obtain a 100% success rate in refining these beads. He now had a spatial pouch containing over 60 of the Thunderflame Beads.

Most of the credit goes to the Thousand Soulspirit Art. After rapidly draining his divine sense and qi many times to refine this weapon, Bai Hu managed to make a quick breakthrough to the eight level of qi refinement and the fifth level of the Thousand Soulspirit Art.

He was ecstatic at first, but when he sensed his cultivation speed his expression pale significantly. A breakthrough to the ninth level required so much qi that it might take over a year of arduous cultivation to gather. He could only imagine how much time was needed to break through to the tenth level and eventually Foundation.

Bai Hu sighed and paid someone a few spirit stones to bring him to Brightsky Peak.

To his surprise as he drew ever nearer, the original medium sized platform on Brightsky Peak had been replaced with a massive 100 meter wide circular arena. Formations lined the surrounding area and he could see countless people staring at large projections at the bottom of the mountain.

Bai Hu jumped off the senior's flying treasure and landed next to 10 other people. Shui Bing, the 4 kings, and 4 other unknown people stood in a loose circle with dozens of meters in between. Bai Hu stood in a vacant spot and looked at Elder Gong who stood at the very center of the arena.

He cleared his throat, "Since everyone is here we'll begin now"

He waved his arm and made a few hand seals. A red line suddenly appeared around the outer perimeter of the arena.

"The rules are simple; no killing or crippling opponents, and you are disqualified if you surrender or step foot outside the red line. Besides that, there are no rules"

He jumped into the air and stayed a few dozen meters up. Bai Hu immediately identified Elder Gong to be a Gold Core cultivator at the very least as only Gold Cores and above can fly without the assistance of a flying treasure.

Bai Hu looked at the faces of everyone present. Shui Bing was directly across from him with the 4 kings on his left and the unknown people on his right. He managed to catch Yang Feng exchanging a glance with the other 4 cultivators.

"Damn bastards! So they contacted the other 4 to help them. No wonder Shui Bing wanted me to hold the others back"

Before he could react, the 4 kings had already surrounded Shui Bing. They made several hand seals and slammed their palms onto the ground.

""Great Cardinal Formation!""

The illusory form of a compass appeared above their heads. Shui Bing faltered slightly but managed to keep herself upright at the last second.

To Bai Hu's shock, the other 4 cultivators also moved and it seems like they were trying to go to the spaces between the 4 kings.

3 of them got into place and began chanting and making hand seals. The last one was almost there when something unexpected happened.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

3 consecutive explosions sounded, knocking the man away. He coughed a mouthful of blood and landed a few feet away from the red line. Before he could get up, a figure appeared in front of him and sent a vicious kick to his side.

Crack!

Sounds of bones breaking could be heard as he was sent into the air and out of the red circle. He landed with a poof on the ground.

Bai Hu could feel several gazes filled with killing intent trying to bore a hole through him and shot back, "Don't you all think it's shameful to gang up on one lady? Have you been cultivating your skills or your face?!"

Dong Wang's expression looked like it could kill and he barked orders at the 3 other youths, "What are you standing there for?! Go get him!"

The 3 cultivators glanced at each other and left their spots in the formation. Now that one of them is out, the final formation cannot be placed.

A tall man who seemed to be their leader spoke, "I suggest you give up, kid. Offending the 4 Kings and sneak attacking our teammate isn't something a Righteous Dao cultivator should do"

Bai Hu sneered at the man's words. His comrade was simply too conceited and didn't put up any defenses. Plus, is ganging up and attacking a young woman in line with the Righteous Dao's teachings?

Bai Hu never liked the teachings of the Righteous Dao. Yes, there are righteous people with kind intentions out there, but mostly there are only hypocritical opportunists that bend the rules in their favor. Bai Hu had told himself that he will only listen to his own judgment when doing things and won't let old rules keep him down, even if he had to resort to despicable means.

As for offending the 4 kings? Their status doesn't amount to much compared to Shui Bing's and Bai Hu would benefit the most from working with her.