"Tantai, stop your hand!"
Chang Yueying commanded.
Tantai Lingzi’s brows furrowed slightly as she threw the three people out.
Ming Tian collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, completely drained of strength.
Yue Ren was in a slightly better state, but was trembling so much that he could hardly stand.
Bai Feifei was in the best condition of the three, but blood was also trickling from the corner of her mouth, though she managed to save some face.
"My thanks to you all," Tantai Lingzi said with a cold look on her face as she glanced at the people before her.
She was now certain that she was unquestionably the strongest disciple in the Moon Hua Sect, and her next move was to challenge Lan Yu’er to claim the position of number one amongst the top ten core disciples and become the Young Sect Master!
"Tantai, you have performed exceptionally well. With your current strength, I’m afraid even Lan Yu’er won’t be your match. You are rightfully the number one disciple of the Moon Hua Sect!"
An excited expression appeared on Chang Yueying’s face.
Her position as Sect Master had been stripped away, but her disciple had not let her down!
Meng Yuan lay unconscious.
Yue Ren stood to one side, dispirited.
Bai Feifei and Ming Tian, on the other hand, were filled with hatred.
However, it was not Tantai Lingzi they hated, but Ling Xiao!
If it weren’t for Ling Xiao, they wouldn’t have been eliminated so early, and maybe they too could have received such a fearsome Martial Soul Inheritance.
Then, they wouldn’t be as powerless as they are now.
They wished they could tear Ling Xiao into ten thousand pieces.
"Yueying, there’s no rush to challenge Lan Yu’er. Let Tantai lie low for a while. With her current ranking, she is sure to achieve great results in the Quad-Sect Tournament. As long as she performs well there, even Wu Xiang will have to provide her with ample resources to facilitate her cultivation, making it even more unrealistic for Ling Xiao to kill her."
Chang Yueli reminded her.
"What my teacher says is very true!"
Hearing about the Quad-Sect Tournament, Chang Yueying also nodded in agreement.
Ming Tian and Yue Ren, however, looked utterly dejected.
With their current rankings, they didn’t even qualify to participate in the Quad-Sect Tournament.
Bai Feifei had the qualification, but now she was worried about one person.
That person was Ling Xiao!
If Ling Xiao were to challenge her and defeat her, then she would lose her fourth-place position—a truly tragic outcome for her.
"Tantai Lingzi, Bai Feifei, Ming Tian, Yue Ren! Upon hearing the summoning order, hastily gather at the Inner Gate Square; someone wishes to challenge you!"
Suddenly, a resounding voice rang throughout the sky.
This was the summoning order of the Moon Hua Sect, capable of using the Sect’s protective Array Formation to transmit throughout every corner of the Sect without expending much True Essence.
Outside the Sect, however, it would not work.
"Someone wishes to challenge us?"
Tantai Lingzi paused momentarily, wondering who would be bold enough to challenge four people at once.
Suddenly, a name flashed through her mind.
Almost in unison, Tantai Lingzi, Bai Feifei, and Ming Tian exclaimed these two words.
"There’s no mistake, it must be this youngster; apart from him, no one dares to challenge four core disciples so arrogantly!"
Demonflame Celestial said angrily, "This youngster really doesn’t know how to show respect to his fellows, does he?"
"Demonflame, there’s no need for anger. The core disciple challenge is set by the rules of our Sect; since he wishes to challenge, Tantai and the others must respond to the call," Chang Yueying said with a smile. "However, this Ling Xiao probably doesn’t know just how formidable Tantai has become. Since he wants to make a fool of himself, let’s use this opportunity to ruin him completely!"
"Exactly, he wants to challenge four people, doesn’t he? Yue Ren, Ming Tian, Feifei, you three do your best to weaken Ling Xiao’s strength. I refuse to believe he will not fall!"
"There’s no need for such trouble, what is Ling Xiao anyway? He’s not Lan Yu’er, I can handle him myself!"
Bai Feifei coldly declared, "The me now is no longer the me from before, any tricks he plans to play with his array formations, it’s absolutely impossible!"
"Feifei, it’s still better to be careful. This Ling Xiao, you absolutely must not underestimate him. Since he dares to challenge you four openly, he surely has some means,"
Chang Yueli said in a deep voice.
"Disciple understands,"
Bai Feifei nodded, putting away her contempt.
She too dared not underestimate Ling Xiao, as the losses she had suffered at his hands were already plenty. She could not afford to repeat the same mistakes!
"If that’s the case, then let’s go!"
With that said, Chang Yueying, Chang Yueli, Elder Jin, Tantai Lingzi, Yue Ren, and Bai Feifei left first.
Demonflame Celestial called Ming Tian to his side and whispered, "With your current strength, it’s impossible to match Ling Xiao’s. If he challenges you, you’ll surely lose, but your master has a way to make you win. Are you willing to accept it?"
"Disciple is willing!"
At this point, Ming Tian had completely lost his ability to judge.
All he had in mind was to defeat Ling Xiao; as for the methods, he didn’t care in the slightest, even if it meant becoming some kind of monster.
"Good, wait a moment! Meng Yuan, come over as well, your master has a gift for you too!"
Meng Yuan had just awakened from unconsciousness, and when he heard Demonflame Celestial’s words, he couldn’t help shivering.
He knew well that the so-called gifts from Demonflame Celestial were never anything good.
But he had no choice.
Facing Demonflame Celestial, he did not dare to resist.
By now, the Inner Gate Square had gathered a lot of people. Apart from the disciples who were out on missions, most of them had come to watch the excitement.
The gathering order just now was so conspicuous that everyone, who was not blind, could see and hear it.
On one of the Martial Arts Platforms, Ling Xiao was sitting cross-legged, casually chewing on a blade of grass, evidently bored.
Suddenly, he stood up, his terrifying aura spreading all around.
Disciples nearby were frightened and hurriedly retreated backward.
"Heh heh, you’ve finally arrived, eh? I thought you might be too scared to come."
Ling Xiao showed a satisfied smile as he watched several figures quickly approaching from a distance.
"Hm? Where’s Ming Tian? He didn’t get too scared to show up, did he?"
The arrivals quickly neared, and Chang Yueying and others took their seats, while Tantai Lingzi and a few others stood together.
Yet Ming Tian was nowhere to be seen.
"There’s no need for Junior Brother Ming Tian to take action, I alone am enough to deal with you!"
Yue Ren had nearly no interactions with Ling Xiao, but that was only on the surface. In reality, his life had been completely disrupted by Ling Xiao.
He was originally ranked third among the top ten Core Disciples, his strength nearly approaching that of Lan Yu’er.
His plan was to defeat Lan Yu’er, so that once Ren Xing Tian ascended to the Heavenly Man Realm, he could become the number one Core Disciple.
However, what happened next completely despaired him.
Lan Yu’er advanced to a Half-step Celestial, far surpassing him.
What angered him the most was that Leng Hao, a new disciple who had been in the Sect less than a year, had actually defeated him.
Yet, the nightmare didn’t end there.
If Leng Hao was a genius and his defeat was somewhat excusable, then his defeat by Dai Yuling was something he absolutely could not accept.
And all these people were related to Ling Xiao, even Ling Xiao himself was the instigator!