The First Summoner - Chapter 117

When the contestants behind them tried to pursue, they discovered that Shen Yan and the flood dragon were already far away. Catching up was impossible.

They had no choice but to give up.

The flood dragon was soon recalled. Shen Yan’s spiritual power had run dry. She leaned against a tree, gasping for breath, her face pale and her lips slightly cracked.

After a moment’s thought, she decisively took out a second-grade pill and swallowed it.

She found another place and sat down to recover.

Time passed quickly.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, the third and final day arrived.

The secret-realm trial was about to end.

Only about two hundred contestants remained, and the competition grew increasingly fierce. Their chance to study at Western Region Academy depended on it.

Pei Wusu had replaced Shen Yan at the top of the rankings.

He had eliminated one hundred and one people.

After resting through the night and using a pill to heal her wounds, Shen Yan had recovered most of her spiritual power.

She summoned the beast horde again and eliminated other contestants as quickly as possible. Her count rose rapidly.

Pei Wusu was also eliminating people without pause, his total climbing steadily.

Neither yielded to the other.

Shen Yan consumed more spiritual power than Pei Wusu because sustaining so many summoned beasts required a great deal of it.

At intervals, she recalled the horde and fought alone. Her sword moves were fierce, allowing her to eliminate contestants with lower cultivation quickly.

Shen Yan and Pei Wusu were not alone. The other high-ranking contestants accelerated their eliminations as if sprinting toward the finish.

In less than half a day, fewer than one hundred people remained inside the trial realm.

Half a day was left before the contest ended.

Anyone still inside who had not made the top hundred could raise their rank by eliminating others.

Thus, the rankings and names in the top hundred would not become final until time ran out.

While eliminating other contestants, Shen Yan encountered Yu Changying.

Yu Changying smiled with exquisite gentleness. Before Shen Yan could speak, she said, “Little Sister Shen Yan, I know you’re very strong. Please don’t eliminate me, all right~? I’d be terribly sad if I were sent out.”

Shen Yan studied her.

Yu Changying currently ranked fifth with sixty-eight eliminations.

Shen Yan gave her a slight nod. She had no intention of wasting time on Yu Changying, whose strength was… formidable.

If Yu Changying possessed a powerful hidden card, Shen Yan might be the one eliminated.

Shen Yan circled around her and prepared to leave.

Yu Changying watched her retreating back with a faint smile, a trace of deeper meaning flashing through her eyes.

The spectators outside were somewhat disappointed. They had expected the two women to fight. What a spectacle that would have been!

The elimination contest had entered its most intense stage.

Only a little over fifty people remained in the secret realm.

Among them were Shen Yan, Pei Wusu, Wen Yuchu, Yu Changying, Jiang Xianyue, Qi Lingxuan, Zhuge Youlin, Chi Yue, Qiu Yaqian, Zhu Hezhou, Zhu Miaoqing, and others.

Almost all the geniuses with Heaven-rank aptitude had lasted to the end—except Lu Jing of the Cangyu Sect.

Watching from outside, Lu Jing felt increasingly miserable. The youths beside him were astonished that he had been eliminated so early.

Someone asked, “Lu Jing, no wonder your rank kept falling. You were already eliminated! Who did it? Surely it wasn’t someone weaker than you?”

Lu Jing slowly shook his head and pursed his lips. “Yu Changying.”

The other person understood at once. “So it was her! Then there’s no shame in your loss!”

Lu Jing stared at him. Was that supposed to be polite?

Nearly everyone at the Western Region martial field was now debating whether Shen Yan or Pei Wusu would take first place—or perhaps Wen Yuchu, who followed closely behind them.

“Wen Yuchu is incredibly strong!”

“What a pity half his face was disfigured. Otherwise, countless young women would fall for him!”

“He doesn’t need to make a living with his face. Strength is enough!”

“I never expected Wen Yuchu to be a music cultivator. He plays the guqin beautifully.”

“His fingers are gorgeous too—fair, clean, and slender. Every time he plucks a string, it’s like he’s plucking at my heart! Aaaah!”

Wen Yuchu was playing his guqin. Black and gold, with patterns carved along the edges, it looked elegant and stately.

He used spiritual power to suspend it in midair. With his head slightly bowed, he played intently. The winding, melodious notes sounded like music from heaven.

To the contestants whose seas of consciousness were under attack, however, it was the music of demons!

“Stop playing! Stop!”

“I surrender!”

Two contestants clutched their heads in agony. Their weapons had fallen to the ground. The lighter and livelier the music became, the more their seas of consciousness hurt. It felt as though daggers were being driven repeatedly into their skulls.

Wen Yuchu’s expression did not change. He continued playing as the music gradually swelled in intensity.

Blood streamed from the two contestants’ eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. Powerless, they sank to their knees and curled up in pain.

When the piece ended, Wen Yuchu slowly raised his head. A half mask concealed one side of his face, leaving only the other visible. His eyes were exceptionally beautiful.

“This piece is called… Clear Melody,” he said softly. “It is for you.”

The two contestants had already lost consciousness and could not respond.

Wen Yuchu put away the guqin, walked over, took their tokens, and crushed them.

His elimination count increased again, though his rank remained third.

He examined the current standings. Pei Wusu was first, Shen Yan second.

The next instant, Shen Yan rose into first place.

Only seconds later, Pei Wusu’s rank increased and pushed her back down.

Their elimination counts differed by only one to three.

They kept trading first place.

Wen Yuchu trailed them by around fifteen eliminations.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He lowered his eyes slightly, concealing his expression.

Then he pressed two fingers together between his brows.

His powerful mental power instantly spread outward with his spiritual sense, searching for nearby contestants.

He soon located three people.

Though he did not know their identities, he could sense their powerful auras. Two seemed to be at roughly the first stage of the Earth-rank realm.

His eyes deepened, and he walked toward them.

At that moment—

In a dense forest, Shen Yan unexpectedly encountered Pei Wusu and Chi Yue.

Pei Wusu gripped his black longsword and swept a sharp gaze over Chi Yue and… Shen Yan.