Yang Jagak tried to comprehend why his opponent had suddenly improved but couldn’t do so.

To him, it was as if Xiong An wasn’t the same person at all. It was someone else.

‘How is this possible… I was winning and now…’ Yang Jagak felt frustrated. “THIS IS WRONG!” he suddenly shouted.

His eyes turned bloodshot as anger was birthed within his heart. 

~DENG~DENG~DENG~

In the next second, Yang Jagak swung his staff eight times pushing Xiong An back. 

“WHOA! How did he do that?” The people in the audience were riled.

“You! I’ll end you!” Yang Jagak exploded in anger.

His staff started to overflow with energy, as immortal Qi poured into it. 

“Six Fluted Staff Technique! Whistling Illusion!” Yang Jagak growled.

~PHEW~

His staff turned illusory from the speed, as a strange whistling sound rose from it. The sound could be heard by everyone and those who did so felt like their vision was turning tilted.

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~SHUA~

The formation protecting the ring activated too, dispelling the effects of the technique.

“Damn, it actually managed to affect us.” The people in the audience were not expecting this.

“It’s a passive effect of the Six Fluted Staff Technique. The barrier won’t protect us from it directly and needs to dispel it instead.” One of the cultivators who was also a formation master explained. “This is one of the advantages of sound based techniques.”

“Can’t it be stopped using an insulating formation?” Someone asked.

“Of course, it can. But then again, it’ll also prevent any sound from the ring from reaching us. I don’t think we want that.” He replied.

“That’s right. It’ll get too boring.” The people nodded in agreement.

~CLANG~

But soon their attention was brought back to the ring as the fight got intense. 

Yang Jagak was aggressively attacking Xiong An while the saber wielding man was using finesse to battle.

“Doesn’t it feel like… Their styles have switched?” A person realized.

“Now that you say it… it does look like that.”

“Yang Jagak was the calm and composed one, and Xiong An was the aggressive one.” The people started to analyze.

“Now they are doing the opposite. How did this happen?”

“I don’t know… it doesn’t really make sense.”

“Bah! Don’t you guys understand? Is this your first tournament?” An old man spoke up.

“What?” 

“This is my second tournament.”

“My first!”

“Mine too!”

“No wonder… you all are newbies to this.” The old man shook his head. “Let me tell you a secret.” He gestured for them to come closer.

“What is it, tell us?” The people were impatient.

“What Yang Jagak and Xiong An are doing is… a play!” The old man revealed.

“A Play? You mean they’re acting?”

“Ridiculous! How can that be?” some people were skeptical.

“How else would you explain this sudden change?” The old man pointed to the ring. “This is a classic way to pull attention. Do you think you all would have noted them in your minds if their battle went on like before?” he asked instead.

“Hmm… that does make sense.”

“Yeah, it was pretty much a basic battle before that.” The people started to figure it out.

“Exactly! Now the two have gained everyone’s attention and will have a better impression. They probably decided who’s going to win from the start.” The old man stated.

“Do you really think that?”ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

“Won’t that be against the modicum of the tournament?” the people doubted.

“As long as the battle is true, it is still fine. Besides, there is a chance it might be beyond our expectations.” The old man added.

“Looks like we’ll just have to wait and watch.” The people reckoned.

But while the audience was discussing all this, they didn’t know that the true culprit behind this was literally sitting in front of them.

Lin Mu had been using the Calming Heart Sutra and the Burning Heart Sutra on the two fighters. He had observed the styles of the two and chose to use Calming Heart Sutra on Xiong An who was aggressive and Burning Heart Sutra on Yang Jagak who was composed.

‘Hmm… The effects of the sutras can be controlled to some extent even like this. Though the two need to be regularly influenced by it to maintain the effect.’ Lin Mu observed everything with a close eye.

His immortal sense was spread over the battlefield and was sensing every minute change that was happening. This was how he was able to determine the extent of the sutras’ effects.

‘On an average, the first time effect of a sutra seemed to last at least thirty seconds on them. Though this is also affected by their cultivation base and mentality.’ Lin Mu noted down.

He understood that once the effect of the sutra was about to wear off, he only had a few seconds to reintroduce it. If he did it at the right time, the effect would continue like before, but the time limit of influence would decrease.

From thirty seconds, it first fell to twenty five seconds. And whenever he used it again, the duration reduces by five seconds.

‘Five second decrements. I need to test this in stronger cultivators too. They are just at the First Tribulation Stage of the Immortal realm. I wonder how much it’ll affect those that are above me.’ Lin Mu thought to himself.

In this single battle, he had managed to learn a decent amount about the two sutras. Granted, the limitations were there as he couldn’t let the effect be too strong. 

At first, Lin Mu didn’t even know if the Nine Divine Heart Sutras would work on the immortals with the barrier protecting them or not. But after using them the first time, he confirmed that the barrier was ineffective against the sutras.

This gave him a great advantage as he now knew how to utilize them better. 

Then there was the fact that the sutras were undetectable by the others through normal means. Even if someone saw him muttering or chanting, they would have no idea that Lin Mu was doing something.

There were many eccentric immortals, and it wouldn’t be out of place for some to mutter all the time. After all, there were cultivation techniques that required one to do so. One couldn’t just tell someone to stop doing that, as long as they weren’t bothering others.

Some immortals might even be eccentric enough to directly bash someone’s head in if they tried to even suggest them to shut up.

Thus with no obstacles like this in the way, Lin Mu was free to use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras. Of course, it wasn’t like he could use all of them either. He could only use one sutra on one person or perhaps two at maximum.

‘The elders and priests of the temple of the guardians will certainly sense something is wrong if the contestants act too strange. I need to keep it within limits.’ Lin Mu made sure of it.

He would glance over at the referee as well, just to ensure that he hadn’t sensed anything. Lin Mu had also checked the arrays of the ring and was sure that they couldn’t sense much from his actions.

Then there was the fact that he wasn’t the only one using energy, or emitting energy fluctuations. The sheer number of immortals here helped him hide his presence quite well.

~BANG~

“ARGH!” back in the ring, the fight seemed to be reaching an end as both Yang Jagak and Xiong An were injured.

Xiong An had one of his arms broken, while Yang Jagak had a long gash on his leg. This prevented the two from using their full powers and also slowed them down. 

“SO CLOSE!”

“Yang Jagak will win for sure.”

“No Xiong An will win!”

“Didn’t you say before that Yang Jagak will win? Did you switch your choice?”

“That was before Xiong An showed his skills and Yang Jagak turned into a mad dog.” 

The people in the audience were enjoying their time while Lin Mu stopped chanting.

‘The sutras are now ineffective…’ Lin Mu grasped seeing that they were not influencing the two.

While the two were still acting opposite to their original personalities, they were already returning to it.

“How did you do this? How did you get accurate?” Yang Jagak asked, gaining a bit more of his composure.

“Why should I tell you?” Xiong An retorted, returning to his aggressive personality.

~SLASH~

Instead, the man just swung his saber widely letting out an arc of energy that slashed towards Yang Jagak.

“Tch~” Yang Jagak found it hard to dodge it with his injured leg.

~THUD~

He chose to slam his staff onto the ground, creating a wave of energy that weakened the incoming slash.

~SPLAT~

But even with that, he was unable to fully stop it as a wide cut was left on his chest!

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