novelraw Chapter 234: That Damn Big Wood Spirit
Chapter 234: That Damn Big Wood Spirit
"It's the Azure Cloud Sect's Seven True-Transmissions!"
The entire plaza was packed to the brim, not to mention the Magical Girls, even the ordinary staff had gathered.
This was always the case with the Central Bureau's Mental Landscape trials; all staff could watch.
Especially after introducing the preliminary assessment space, sometimes it felt like a festival.
However, just like how Chinese New Year feels less festive over time, as the number of trials increased, most staff were probably getting a bit bored.
After all, there was no extra holiday. If you really skipped work to watch the trial process, while you wouldn't get a pay deduction, you wouldn't get paid for the day you didn't work. Over time, fewer people came to watch.
But today, upon hearing that the Azure Cloud Sect's Seven True-Transmissions were appearing, quite a few people couldn't wait to come and join the excitement.
One reason was naturally the Seven True-Transmissions' extremely outstanding performance recently.
Not to mention distant events, just the recent one: Bai Mei slaying the Black Mountain Realm's Pseudo-Full Bloom had caused a huge stir within the Witch Association and the old world. Naturally, some people at the Disaster Control Bureau Central Bureau had received the news.
Even those who hadn't heard the news, during this period when the inner sect disciples came to the Central Bureau for the exchange,they hadn't held back from boasting about their own true-transmissions.
The staff at the Disaster Control Bureau generally held their own Magical Girls in high regard, and quite a few had even clashed over whose Magical Girl was stronger. They were rather displeased with those Azure Cloud Sect inner sect disciples who were everywhere proclaiming the strength of the Seven True-Transmissions.
Most were very curious about the true-transmissions' strength.
And after the true-transmissions arrived, they rarely made public appearances. After all, the Azure Cloud Sect were guests from afar. Whether it was the Magical Girls or the staff at the Central Bureau, they wouldn't be so rude as to go to that so-called Mother-Child Building of the Azure Cloud Sect to inquire about their strength.
Now, having finally gotten a chance to witness the Azure Cloud Sect's Seven True-Transmissions in action, naturally everyone came.
For a moment, the dense crowd was so massive that even Susan felt immense pressure.
Instead, An Shiyu next to her got hyped up. "That's right, just like this! Back when I took the trial, it was even more lively than this! Coming down felt like being a superstar, it was so much fun!"
Iris immediately felt like she'd found a kindred spirit. Even though this poor kid might be a bit off her rocker, she hugged her anyway. "Yes, yes! It's so boring if no one watches during a competition!"
She even took the lead in cheering, "Go Keke, go Yiyi! Go Azure Cloud Sect true-transmissions, go!"
The numerous whispers gradually died down as the Seven True-Transmissions entered one by one.
Everyone held their breath, carefully observing those few Magical Girls.
Four Leaf directly carried Six Leaf in on her back. Last night, she was too excited and didn't sleep a wink,
so today she kept dozing off, still sleeping even as they entered the venue.
Four Leaf kept patting her sister's face, trying to wake her up.
Qinghua wore roller skates. The moment she landed in the independent space, she did a spin and then skated over.
She left a long trail of ice on the grass, not saying a word, looking very cool.
That is, until she almost face-planted.
Yumo had somehow drifted to a corner at some point, her presence extremely faint. Many people didn't even notice her. She was clutching her hood tightly, her face obscured.
They were all lacking in personality, making even Mùjǐn within An Shiyu feel a bit awkward about cheering for them...
Only Thousand-Pinweed sat calmly on her broom, swaying as she flew low over the grass.
Dressed in a little witch's outfit, she naturally won the favor of many Disaster Control Bureau Magical Girls.
"Why does it seem like there are only five people?"
"Not all of them came?"
"Tch, such big airs..."
Some people whispered quietly. Susan curled her lip, internally retorting that it was four, not five.
The status of the Seven True-Transmissions was so exalted, and everyone was very busy. Being able to get four of them to come this time was already good.
If the Disaster Control Bureau and the Azure Cloud Sect weren't partners, they wouldn't have the privilege of seeing so many of the Seven True-Transmissions.
Even the Azure Cloud Sect's inner sect disciples were quite excited to see the true-transmissions. Many waved the banners and cheering sticks they had prepared long ago.
"The Azure Cloud Seven True-Transmissions are the strongest!"
Susan also saw Xingxuan.
A huge banner floated in the air, different from the others, reading "The Slime Seven Monsters are number one in the world!"...
The other Azure Cloud Sect disciples could still mingle and chat with the Disaster Control Bureau's Magical Girls.
Only Xingxuan, everyone kept their distance. The Disaster Control Bureau's Magical Girls avoided her like the plague.
"Watch closely, the Martial Soul True Body that belongs to us, the Slime Seven Monsters!"
Susan also subconsciously distanced herself from Xingxuan.
She turned back to look at the assessment space, momentarily confused.
The Seven True-Transmissions entered too late. In fact, the Disaster Beasts had already been cleared out by Keke and Silver Lotus.
It seemed there was no chance for them to act.
So inevitably, some people started whispering:
"Did they specifically choose this timing to come in, so they wouldn't have to reveal their true colors..."
"What a classic cannon fodder villain line..."
"I'm just reasonably questioning!"
"Feels like they were just late."
"Hmph, who knows. Anyway, the assessment isn't over yet."
Amidst the outside discussion, the grassland scene changed again, this time to a mountain forest.
The Azure Cloud Sect's Seven True-Transmissions also showed no reaction. Four Leaf finally managed to wake Six Leaf up. Qinghua stretched her limbs. Yumo had already vanished into the wind. Even Thousand-Pinweed took out her magic wand.
No one spoke, and an inexplicable pressure spread throughout the entire venue.
Keke and Silver Lotus were fine, as they were old acquaintances. Even if not familiar, they weren't hostile, though it wasn't appropriate to greet them now either—the Azure Cloud Sect and the Disaster Control Bureau were, after all, two separate teams. The two of them couldn't just run over there.
But Hongmian and Camellia were having a rough time; both were starting to sweat.
The undisguised mana aura emanating from the Seven True-Transmissions was truly somewhat unnerving.
"Esteemed true-transmission friends of the Azure Cloud Sect."
Hongmian considered herself relatively skilled in negotiation, so she took the initiative to speak. "If you wish to enter the Mental Landscape, the assessment here isn't over yet. This is only the first layer of the test."
As soon as she finished speaking, a dense row of Magical Girls rose into the air above the mountain forest! All of them were replicants of the Disaster Control Bureau's Magical Girls!
"That's my replicant! She looks just like me!"
A Magical Girl among the outside spectators exclaimed in delight.
"Is that my magic effect?"
"Is that mine?"
"That's mine!"
"This one's mine!"
Many Magical Girls found their own replicants, feeling very novel. Watching their replicants surround the participants, they chattered excitedly.
The Azure Cloud Sect's Magical Girls, however, mostly looked unimpressed.
"You don't seem surprised at all."
The questioned Azure Cloud Sect disciple glanced at the Central Bureau Magical Girl beside her and smiled slightly. "The path of puppet illusions occupies its own peak within our sect. Moreover, our sect's records contain tales of the Young Emperor of Desolate Heaven suppressing the heroic spirits of ancient prodigies and battling the residual souls of the Supreme Youths of the Primordial Era within the Profound Heaven secret realm. This is already nothing new."
"Eh, r-really?" The Central Bureau Magical Girl listened, dumbfounded. "I don't really understand, but it feels like you guys know a lot."
"It's never too late to learn! Here, give me your phone. Look, first download this Zhongdian app, then bookmark this novel 'Starting from Magical Girl...' and then vote your monthly tickets..."
Naturally, the outside discussion couldn't affect the people inside the assessment space.
Hongmian watched the approaching replicants and took a deep breath. "This second layer test is far more troublesome than the first layer's Disaster Beast tide."
"You all should be careful. If you fail, you'll become everyone's laughingstock."
Inviting cooperation at such a time was somewhat meaningless, as they weren't familiar. But Hongmian ultimately possessed a friendliness far exceeding Jincha's imagination.
However, seeing that none of the Azure Cloud Sect group responded, Hongmian immediately rolled her eyes.
The Magical Girls from Beihai were really so rude!
Getting no response to her well-intentioned reminder, Hongmian gave Camellia a look. The two of them, along with Silver Lotus, Keke, and the remaining Magical Girls who hadn't been eliminated, began flying towards the north of the mountain forest.
The enemy Magical Girls were fewer in the north. Hongmian planned to lead everyone in a breakout from that side.
The replicated Magical Girls here were all at the Blooming level. Although, according to the more detailed current ranking system, many were only at the early or mid Blooming stage, there were simply too many of them to fight head-on.
Having one of the Magical Girls in the team deploy a concealment magic to cover everyone first, Hongmian maneuvered while searching for weak points in the encirclement.
Break out, then run while creating distance, disrupt the formation of these Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants, and create opportunities to pick them off one by one...
For Hongmian, this kind of simple strategic planning was basic, as she had already done it many times.
Although this year's Mental Landscape preliminary assessment seemed somewhat special, it was still within manageable limits.
Thus, when the Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants charged, Hongmian smoothly led her teammates in breaking through the encirclement.
Hongmian's cautious and reasonable plan naturally earned cheers from the watching Disaster Control Bureau Magical Girls outside.
Although there wasn't anything particularly special about it, the Azure Cloud Sect's presence was a factor.
During this period, the Magical Girls from both sides had been secretly competing quite a bit. There wasn't any real hostility.
But no one wanted their own side's Magical Girls to lose.
From the Disaster Control Bureau Magical Girls' perspective, it felt like a group of transfer students had suddenly arrived at the Bureau, always spouting arrogant nonsense.
It was just too arrogant, how could they tolerate that!
Sisters! Wands out!
For this exam, everyone must work together and strive to take first place!
Show them what we're made of!
This was probably the most vicious form of retaliation the Disaster Control Bureau Magical Girls could think of: everyone working hard to rely on their strength to secure first place and suppress the arrogant airs of the Azure Cloud Sect Magical Girls!
Seeing that Hongmian had already broken out, everyone's gaze naturally fell on the Azure Cloud Seven True-Transmissions, who so far hadn't shown any movement.
After the Disaster Control Bureau's Magical Girls went invisible, the hundreds of Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants immediately locked onto the Seven True-Transmissions. A multitude of magics began flashing around them.
Everyone held their breath, waiting to see how the Seven True-Transmissions would deal with the siege of numerous Blooming-level Magical Girls.
Then, they saw Thousand-Pinweed's magic wand waving in her hand like a conductor's baton.
She shook her head with her eyes closed, tracing elegant arcs in the air.
She didn't even glance at the surrounding Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants, instead pointing her wand towards Qinghua and Dandelion's positions!
"Confringo!"
Boom!
A huge explosion suddenly erupted at the positions of Dandelion and Qinghua!
Everyone was stunned.
Holy crap, with so many enemies right in front of them, they're still fighting internally?
Is the Azure Cloud Sect's style this wild?
Someone even sneered coldly.
"Ignorance and weakness are not the greatest obstacles to survival."
"Arrogance is."
Many Disaster Control Bureau Magical Girls couldn't help but nod.
This was too arrogant, simply not putting our Disaster Control Bureau's Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants in their eyes at all!
The Magical Girls on the Azure Cloud Sect's side didn't refute it either, just watched quietly.
In the mountain forest, a howling gale swept around Dandelion, but she swiftly vanished amidst the explosion. Qinghua, still on her roller skates, skated leisurely through the explosion, emerging from the blast range.
Only the hilltop where the three had been was leveled by the explosion.
The massive explosion directly swallowed the attacks of the surrounding Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants and was even continuing to expand!
The heatwave swept across the entire field first, causing countless trees to snap, their bark scorched black.
The terrain originally designed for participants to fight a war of attrition with these Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants
rapidly turned into a barren wasteland!
It completely exposed the few individuals to the sight of those Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants, leaving them nowhere to hide.
Just as everyone more deeply affirmed the notion of the Seven True-Transmissions' arrogance,
they saw Yumo, floating in the air, holding a few dandelion seeds in her right hand and blowing them gently towards Thousand-Pinweed.
"Protego Totalum."
An invisible wind blade was deflected by the barrier Thousand-Pinweed had set up. The wind blade instantly sliced through a whole row of Magical Girl replicants flying past behind her.
A full hundred Magical Girl replicants had no time to react before their forms were misaligned, directly vanishing from the air!
Neither Thousand-Pinweed nor Dandelion looked at those Magical Girl replicants, their gazes locked solely on each other.
Thousand-Pinweed locked onto Dandelion with her wand again. Although the ability to scatter with the wind was indeed tricky,
making her almost impossible to lock onto, Thousand-Pinweed simply targeted all the wind around Dandelion for her magic.
"Incendio!"
The flames spread madly along the wind, rapidly tracing back to their source—Dandelion!
Dandelion hadn't expected her magic to follow the wind back to her. She immediately severed the surrounding air.
Using the vacuum to isolate the spread of the flames.
But with flames attacking from all directions, she had no choice but to expand the vacuum range, trapping herself within it.
Thousand-Pinweed aimed at Dandelion from above, intending to overwhelm her with Sectumsempra...
"Yes, yes, just like that, you two, stand there and don't move, or Super Qinghua might miss."
Both of them looked down simultaneously. Below, Qinghua, who had been skating, had stopped. On the ground beneath them, she had drawn a massive circle with ice.
Super Qinghua suddenly stood at attention.
She looked up and saluted the two of them. "Goodbye, you two."
A gigantic ice pillar erupted from the ground!
The thick ice pillar instantly swallowed Thousand-Pinweed and Dandelion. And this single strike also completely cleared out all the surrounding Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants.
Both inside and outside the venue fell into dead silence.
"Arrogance and ignorance are not the greatest obstacles to survival."
Susan said sarcastically,
"Weakness is."
Someone coughed awkwardly.
No one else spoke.
Even Iris wore a serious expression, murmuring softly, "I underestimated this round, I should have participated too..."
If she could have made a dazzling entrance at such a moment, she definitely could have made Shion and the others look at her in a new light!
Now it's all ruined, the spotlight was completely stolen by these true-transmissions...
Qinghua clapped her hands and was about to go look for the others when
cracks began to appear on the huge ice pillar.
Gales and flames continuously leaked from the ice fissures!
Until the entire ice pillar exploded with a roar. Huge chunks of ice rained down like a bombardment, even affecting Hongmian's group over there, injuring several Magical Girls.
However, Qinghua just put her goggles back on and looked at Dandelion and Thousand-Pinweed, who had emerged from the ice pillar and were both now staring at her.
"Although there was a chance to take both of you out here."
Super Qinghua refused to lose face even in defeat. "But it's a pity, only this one puppet could come in. Not fighting anymore, going back to play games..."
Clearly, neither Dandelion nor Thousand-Pinweed wanted to listen to her excuses.
A gale and Sectumsempra simultaneously targeted her.
Super Qinghua raised both hands. "Wait, wait wait wait! Making this puppet is quite troublesome. I surrender, I surrender. Don't waste your energy on me. I know you two are having a great fight, but think carefully, besides me, have you overlooked some other troublesome character again?"
"Super Qinghua's friendly reminder: the ones who look weak are the troublesome ones~"
Thousand-Pinweed and Dandelion both froze immediately, scanning their surroundings.
Then, a sense of foreboding rose in their hearts.
In the distance, space began to distort, then grow scorching hot!
......
"Good news, all the Blooming-level Magical Girl replicants inside the assessment's independent space are gone."
"And the bad news?"
"If those two monsters touch us, none of us will be left."
Hongmian's team, on the other hand, gained a profound understanding of the saying 'when gods fight, mortals suffer.'
Just from some of the aftermath, two Magical Girls had almost lost their transformation state and been knocked out of the assessment space.
That heatwave that swept the entire field, the sharp, piercing ice rain, and the occasional bone-chilling wind that blew through almost gave them magical hypothermia...
What monsters.
The group could only try to put as much distance as possible.
And pray they just fought each other and didn't notice this side...
Silver Lotus watched for a long while and asked somewhat dazedly, "Why are they fighting?"
"Bad relationship?"
Keke responded with a smile. Among the Azure Cloud Sect, she was only familiar with Teacher Shion and Dandelion. The other Magical Girls, while their attitude towards her was also good, were ultimately strangers.
The Azure Cloud Sect Magical Girls suddenly fighting naturally left her somewhat at a loss.
"Should we help Dandelion?" When Qinghua froze the two of them, Silver Lotus couldn't help but whisper, "It seems, Dandelion seems to be in a bit of trouble."
Keke looked at Silver Lotus's worried face and couldn't help but laugh. "You're so worried about her?"
"Of course not!" Silver Lotus immediately retorted. "I, I'm just afraid she'll lose to someone other than me! Wouldn't that make me look even more pathetic!"
"Hehe, no need to worry so much. Dandelion won't lose that easily..."
Then Silver Lotus turned and asked, "Four Leaf, Six Leaf, is that really true?"
Keke's smile stiffened. She turned her head to look and saw the two little girls mingling in the center of the team.
It seemed no one realized anything was amiss.
As if, from the very beginning, Four Leaf and Six Leaf had been part of their team.
Hearing Silver Lotus's question, Six Leaf immediately raised her hand, like a student eager to answer the teacher's question. "Yes, yes! Dandelion won't lose that easily, she's super strong!"
No, no, no, no, no...
A massive sense of unease and dissonance surged in Keke's heart.
"You two be careful, don't run around. If you get caught by accident, it's over." Hongmian reminded Four Leaf and Six Leaf with utter naturalness. "Remember to hide among us, then they won't be able to find you."
Camellia even showed a silly smile. "That's right, we must protect Four Leaf and Six Leaf!"
Keke took a sharp breath of cold air and tugged at Silver Lotus's sleeve. "Yiyi..."
But Silver Lotus seemed unable to see her.
"Everyone!"
Not just Silver Lotus, the other Magical Girls seemed unable to see her too. No one responded.
Just as Keke felt her hands and feet turning cold, both her hands were suddenly grabbed.
Looking down, Four Leaf and Six Leaf each held one of her hands, showing innocent, sweet smiles:
"Sister, you're so amazing."
"To be unaffected, this is the first time Six Leaf and I have encountered someone like that..."
"But, if we don't stop those two from going crazy here, everyone will be eliminated."
"This place is just too small. If those two get serious, no one can escape."
The sisters spoke one sentence each, making Keke feel dizzy.
"I'm... not very familiar with you two, am I?"
"Eh, is that so? Shouldn't we be very familiar by now?" Six Leaf looked puzzled.
"Silly Six Leaf, it's just because the Sect Master has been telling us about Sister Keke all the time." Four Leaf explained. "The Sect Master often says Sister Keke is very smart, and her potential is about the same as hers, she has the makings of a Great Emperor!"
Keke was stunned for a moment, then asked softly, "Really?"
"Really, really!" Six Leaf immediately replied. "The Sect Master always tells us to work hard and learn from Sister Keke, otherwise one day we'll be surpassed by Sister Keke!"
"Mhm, mhm, and Jiang Si, big brother..." Four Leaf hesitated but continued, "...always says Keke will definitely become the strongest Magical Girl, as powerful as the Sect Master!"
"Really?" This time it was Six Leaf who asked.
Four Leaf gave her sister's head a hard knock. "How could it be fake!"
"Oh..."
Keke could no longer clearly hear what the two were saying. She felt dizzy and disoriented, as if she'd drunk fake liquor.
Only a tiny sliver of secret joy welled up in her heart.
So, Teacher Shion, and big brother, both value me that much?
Hehe...
Then the two girls shook her arms.
"Sister, sister, help us!"
"Take them all out!"
"Four Leaf and Six Leaf want to go to the Mental Landscape with sister!"
"O-okay, fine, I really can't do anything with you two." Keke scratched her head. "This... this is the first time I've been called 'sister'..."
When Four Leaf and Six Leaf let go of her hands,
a fire lotus began to bloom in Keke's palm.
Keke only had three types of mana: one given by Teacher Shion, one of her own, and one of Polluted Magic.
But this time, a fourth type of mana flowed in.
Followed by a fifth, a sixth, a seventh...
She looked back. Four Leaf and Six Leaf still wore their youthful, innocent, adorable smiles. Mana from the two of them continuously flowed into her.
"No need to worry."
"Big sister just needs to maximize the power."
"Our [Perception Obstruction] will guarantee it hits."
"Let them see."
"Magical Girl Ruri, big sister, is the strongest!"
A fire lotus of seven colors.
Slowly bloomed.