Chapter 216

Just as everyone's gaze turned to Liu Tianlin, Gu Banxia also stepped onto the stage. Her opponent was a male disciple named Cui Guang, who was at the tenth level of the Qi-Refining stage. He was slightly older than her and had mediocre talent among the inner disciples.
"Junior sister, if you want to stop later, please remember to shout 'stop' as I am afraid of accidentally hurting you." Cui Guangdao.
Not many people know about Gu Banxia's strength, so this senior brother from the inner sect has never really regarded her highly.
Half of what he said was mocking her for overestimating herself, and the other half was genuinely worried about hurting her.
Gu Bannian took a step forward and said, "Senior Brother, you don't need to worry."
As they spoke, the two of them had already started their competition. Cui Guang's weapon was a cold ice sword, and he cultivated the water spiritual root. Sword qi instantly gathered into a water dragon, proudly hovering above Gu Bannian's head.
Having achieved such attainments at the tenth level of Qi Refinement, she is already considered outstanding among the inner disciples. Given time, she will attain Perfection and further improve her cultivation.
Gu Banxia has never had a suitable spiritual weapon. On that day, she once again refused Gu Xifeng's Fire Spirit Whip, and could only use the common spiritual sword used by ordinary disciples.
Peng Banxia exerted all of her strength and managed to block Cui Guang's first move.
Hu Yueshan and Liu Xing, who were watching on the side, felt their hearts drop, but after three moves, they once again held their breath.
Cui Guang and Gu Banxia have similar cultivation levels, but Cui Guang started practicing several years earlier. Even though he didn't participate in the small competition, he has seen his fellow disciples participate and has far more practical experience than Gu Banxia.
A total of nine water dragons condensed from his sword aura, attacking Gu Banxia from different directions.
Gu Banxia cultivated the fire spirit root, pouring all her spiritual energy into her spiritual sword. The outcome of this move would determine victory or defeat. If she succeeded, she would win; if she failed, she would become one of those who were eliminated in the preliminary round.
At the moment when water and fire merged, everyone held their breath until they saw only a faint light on the arena. No one could believe that little girl Gu Banxia won the first round of the competition in such a short time.
"Banxia!" Liu Xing and Hu Yueshan ran towards the arena.
Gu Banxia supported the spirit sword with one hand and supported herself on the ground with the other. The huge consumption of spiritual power made her almost unable to stand up.
But Cui Guang, still conscious, couldn't stand up.
Gu Xifeng walked to Cui Guang's side and asked, "Can you continue the competition?"
Cui Guang tried to push himself up a few times but couldn't lift his body. In the end, he could only shake his head helplessly.
不能，他已经无法再继续比试了。
“好，这一场顾半夏胜，我先带她回去疗伤。”顾惜风把顾半夏抱了起来，直接往她的住处走去，等到将人甩在十丈之后，他才缓缓开口，“半夏，你这么做，太冒险了。”
Gu Banxia has no strength to speak, nor the strength to pretend in front of him. "Thank you for your concern, Uncle Gu. I know in my heart."
"You know in your heart? But what if someone hides their cultivation level in today's competition? Will you still use such an aggressive approach to defeat them?" Gu Xifeng was truly annoyed.
Gu Banxia's lips curled up, "Since my senior uncle is so concerned about me, then tell me, where did my brother go?"
"I..." Gu Xifeng forced a smile, "If I say that I have my reasons, would you believe me?"
Gu Banxia Hao Hao looks at Gu Xifeng firmly, "So you admit it..."
Gu Xifeng helplessly puts her hand on a stone by the roadside, "If I don't admit it again, will my little Banxia still refuse to accept my Fire Spirit Whip? Will I have to fight desperately with the opponent in the next match?"
Gu Banxia quietly lowered her eyelids, not just because of him, but more importantly, because she wanted to win, she wanted to be in the top ten, as she promised Yan Qingdao.
"Brother..." Gu Banxia called out.
Guxi Feng was stunned for a moment and replied, "Yeah, Brother is here."
"Since you are alive and well, why don't you come home? Do you know how much we miss you?" Gu Bannian said, with warm tears streaming down her cheeks.
Gu Xifeng's voice sank, "The ones who want me dead, are actually the people from my own family."
Gu Banxia stared at him with wide eyes, if it was someone from the Gu family who wanted him dead, it must be for the position of Gu family head, "Is it the sixth sister's family?"
Gu Xifeng nodded.
The Gu family has never had a female family head before. No matter how talented Gu Zisu is, she cannot gain the full recognition of the family.
"Since I have already told you, can you accept the Fire Spirit Whip now?" Gu Xifeng once again took out the Fire Spirit Whip.
Gu Banxia wanted to go and pick her up, but she was too badly injured to use her fire spirit root. Even a slight touch felt too hot for her.
Gu Xifeng picked her up again, but this time he didn't delay and immediately sent her back, handing her over to Yan Qingdao.
Yan Qingdao saw the miserable look on Gu Banxia's face and sat coldly in front of her after giving her medicine. "Do you really think you can enter the top ten like this?"
Gu Banxia did not answer. Today, Cui Guangyi used his ultimate move as soon as he stepped onto the stage. If she didn't fight back with all her strength, she would most likely be oppressed and beaten. She couldn't afford to lose, especially not in front of Gu Xifeng in this competition.
"You don't have to participate in the competition three days later," Yan Qingdao said, getting up to leave.
Gu Banxia took a step forward and grabbed his sleeve, "No, I want to participate."
She must participate. Now that she knows who harmed her brother, she must participate and she must win.
"Suit yourself. If you die on the arena, I won't help bury you," Yan Qingdao said, and left, flicking her sleeves.
Half Summer saw something falling out of his sleeve and wanted to pick it up and return it to him, but he had already gone far away. She opened the porcelain bottle and found a top-grade spiritual medicine inside, which could heal all injuries caused by spiritual power in a short period of time.
Gu Banxia felt that Yan Shishu was not a careless person, and presumably he deliberately left the medicine for her. She put the medicine in her mouth and used her own spiritual power to adjust for half a day, almost healing her injuries.
She picked up the fire spirit whip given to her by Gu Xifeng and walked into the courtyard to give it a try. With just one crack of the whip, there was nothing but a blaze and no grass could grow.
Gu Xifeng was not wrong. Although this fire spirit whip was not a rare treasure, it was considered top-tier to cultivators at the Qi Refining stage and would definitely be usable until the Foundation Building stage.
The next opponent will definitely be much stronger than Cuiguang in this match. Gu Banxia can only divide the remaining time into two halves, one for rest and the other for practicing the use of Fire Spirit Whip.
A burst of pain came from the palm, which was burned by the Fire Spirit Whip. All spirit artifacts in this world recognize their owner, whether they can be used smoothly or not depends on whether the spirit artifact recognizes her as the owner. For intermediate-level spirit artifacts like the Fire Spirit Whip, it naturally won't easily recognize her as the owner when she is still in the Qi Refining stage.
For two whole days, Gu Banxia never let go of the whip. Finally, there were no more burn marks on her palms from the flame whip. She knew that the flame whip recognized her.