Chapter 96

In the midst of the spirits at the Spirit Meeting stage, the Great Bear Spirit was also considered to be of exceptional strength; unfortunately, a hero cannot withstand a multitude, and facing the assault of over a hundred spirits at the peak of the Spirit Meeting stage, he had no means of retaliation.

Just as Jiang Wei walked from the center of the arena to its edge, the Great Bear Spirit had already been beaten to within an inch of his life.

"This bear, he doesn't even check the opponent's strength before acting recklessly... Besides, he doesn't even consider that I'm in the middle of a duel..." Jiang Wei shook his head and called over a nearby ghost soldier maintaining order, "Separate them, or it will cost a 'ghost life'!"

Immediately, a team of elite ghost soldiers, whose strength approached the peak of the Spirit Meeting stage, stepped forward and forcibly separated the crowd, rescuing the Great Bear Spirit.

Although this team of elite ghost soldiers numbered only twenty to thirty, and their strength had not yet reached the peak of the Spirit Meeting stage, they represented the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion. These wandering cultivators naturally did not dare to act rashly. After all, there were no shortage of Soul Condensation stage ghost cultivators from the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion around the arena. These Soul Condensation stage ghost cultivators held a high status and generally did not intervene, but if anything happened, they would definitely step in.

"Ah..." Looking at the Great Bear Spirit, who was beaten to the point of being unrecognizable, Jiang Wei said, "Brother, do you still want to continue the duel?"

"I... I can't even..." The Great Bear Spirit could hardly speak clearly; after much effort, Jiang Wei barely understood—He can't even move his fingers, let alone continue the duel...

"In that case, I'll consider this round a win for me!" Jiang Wei waved his hand, signaling the elite ghost soldiers to take him away to recover.

Although these elite ghost soldiers also had strength approaching the peak of the Spirit Meeting stage, their status was incomparable to Jiang Wei's. Jiang Wei could easily reach the Soul Condensation stage and had boundless potential in the future; while these elite ghost soldiers would likely only reach the peak of the Spirit Meeting stage in their entire lives—the huge gap in potential led to a huge gap in status.

The disciples were the masters of the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion, while the elite ghost soldiers were merely its servants.

"Thank... you..." Although the Great Bear Spirit's mind was not sharp and he was now beaten to a pulp, he still had some ability to discern right from wrong. He knew that if it weren't for Jiang Wei's help, he would have been beaten to death.

Jiang Wei smiled but said nothing.

Jiang Wei was not a good person with a compassionate heart, nor did he suddenly feel a surge of love to save this Great Bear Spirit; he helped only to understand how the Great Bear Spirit managed to increase his soul strength by over a hundred times!

...

After this battle, in the following days, Jiang Wei won five more consecutive matches.

These five matches naturally did not bring any trouble to Jiang Wei; even the opponents he faced were quite mediocre, not much stronger than ordinary spirits at the peak of the Spirit Meeting stage. Therefore, Jiang Wei won these five matches very decisively.

"Bang!"

Jiang Wei's sixth opponent was thrown flying by a single punch from Jiang Wei.

"I surrender!" This ghost cultivator shouted loudly as soon as he landed; clearly, Jiang Wei did not use excessive force, otherwise he would not have had the chance to speak.

This kind of duel, where life and death are at stake, was not a game; if the shout was too soft and the opponent and the referee did not hear it, it would be tragic!

"Jiang Wei wins!" The referee, also a member of the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion but not a formal disciple, whose status was far lower than Jiang Wei's, announced.

Thus, Jiang Wei had won six out of six matches.

Jiang Wei calmly walked off the arena, but in his heart, he thought, "These ghost cultivators are so weak, why do they even participate in the duel; with their strength, do they really hope to gain the opportunity to advance to the Soul Condensation stage? Isn't this just asking for a beating?"

Jiang Wei did not know that among these weak "extra" participants, there were actually some who had good luck and managed to stand out.

After all, there were sixteen arenas, and there were always one or two arenas without any experts. In those one or two arenas without experts, ordinary ghost cultivators would eventually enter the final round; as long as they entered the final, their goal was achieved.

In fact, this was a deliberate arrangement by the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion; giving weak ghost cultivators a glimmer of hope to stand out, they would flock to participate in the duel, wouldn't they? It's like buying a lottery ticket; although only one or two people actually win, everyone believes they will win; thus, more people buy lottery tickets.

Moreover, some ghosts, even if they lost in the duel, but if they performed impressively, would still be favored by the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion. For example, the snake-haired female ghost who fought against Fang Siqi was directly absorbed by the Heavenly Wasteland Pavilion after the duel; and it could be foreseen that in the near future, she would advance to the Soul Condensation stage and join the ranks of experts.

"Jiang Wei, you're performing quite well!"

As soon as Jiang Wei walked off the arena, he heard Fang Siqi's sarcastic and mocking voice.

Although Jiang Wei had won six consecutive matches and each time won very decisively, in Fang Siqi's view, Jiang Wei's opponents were too weak, and winning such opponents was nothing to be surprised about. Because after his battle with the snake-haired female ghost, Fang Siqi also won each match very decisively.

"If he could win against an opponent like the snake-haired female ghost, then he might barely catch my attention!" Fang Siqi thought arrogantly.

Fang Siqi would never know that Jiang Wei had once survived an attack by a hundred ghost shadows with soul strength three hundred times greater, and even killed all of them. Each of those ghost shadows was not weaker than the snake-haired female ghost; let alone a hundred of them attacking together.

Because he did not know, Fang Siqi naively believed that Jiang Wei's strength was only slightly better than ordinary spirits at the peak of the Spirit Meeting stage, and far weaker compared to himself.

"No matter how well you perform, you still can't match up to Senior Brother Fang!" Jiang Wei replied coldly. Jiang Wei had no intention of making peace with Fang Siqi, so there was no need to give him face.

"Of course you can't match up to me!" Fang Siqi laughed arrogantly, "I didn't expect you, Junior Brother Jiang, to be in the same arena as me, number seven. I wonder if it's fate or... if you deliberately came to seek your own death! Ha, these are all unimportant. I've been looking forward to a duel with you for a long time—so I even had someone help arrange it..."

"Arrange it?" Jiang Wei looked at Fang Siqi mockingly. With Jiang Wei's current strength, no matter how Fang Siqi tried, he was just a clown.

"It's not a big arrangement, just that my next opponent in the duel... has been arranged to be you!" As he said this, Fang Siqi carefully observed Jiang Wei's expression, hoping to see fear or panic; but he was disappointed.

Fang Siqi continued to mock, "Oh, right, I almost forgot to remind you—my attacks are always heavy, so I hope you perform well in the duel; if I accidentally scatter your soul, I'll be very sorry!"

"Then let's see!" Jiang Wei sneered.

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