Li Chen headed to the battlefield, puzzled.
Countless people were already seated in the stands, and quite a few recording and livestreaming devices hovered in the air.
Their battles were constantly projected onto the academy's big screens for students to watch and study.
"Glacier terrain?" Li Chen frowned as he looked at the ice-like surface beneath his feet.
The battlefield was a place that could change at any time, and the terrain was real. The academy wasn't worried about it being destroyed, because it had a special item that could repair anything without signs of life.
Across from Li Chen, his opponent held a Sky-Piercer Halberd he had made from ice. He struck a pose every now and then, seemingly trying to look cooler and show off on the livestream.
Li Chen was much simpler. He was dressed very ordinarily; the other man looked more like the one ranked eleventh, while he looked like he had just come along to make up the numbers.
A moment later...
The announcement rang out again.
[The challenger is Wang Hao, ranked among the top 67. The challenged...]
[Battle start]
Wang Hao snapped to attention in an instant, tightened his grip on the halberd beside him, and charged at Li Chen. That was how challenges worked: before they began, you could do whatever you wanted, but once they started, you had to focus on your opponent.
Li Chen merely glanced at the incoming attack without taking half a step back.
Boom~
The sound of the tremendous impact rang throughout the battlefield.
White mist filled the air.
It was white mist caused by the sudden drop in temperature.
Wang Hao stared in disbelief at the broken halberd in his hand. His attack had been stopped instantly by an invisible wall, and the halberd had snapped under the immense pressure.
"What is this?!! Isn't his ability only supposed to let him control those floating light blades?" Wang Hao had clearly come prepared, but he only knew the tip of the iceberg of what Li Chen had revealed.
After all, no one had ever managed to force Li Chen to use his full strength. The gap between an S-rank ability and their A-, B-, and C-rank abilities was indeed growing wider and wider.
It wasn't as though Li Chen hadn't worked hard while they were improving themselves.
Before Wang Hao could even question his life, Li Chen had already passed through the white mist, holding a mass of pure white energy in his hand. It was energy born from ice.
Light blades circled Li Chen. His expression remained unchanged as he said calmly, "Surrender."
Wang Hao's expression turned somewhat ugly. He could see the gap between them too, of course, but he couldn't accept it!
His move, which could have pierced through countless people, had been neutralized so easily. And if he surrendered without even touching the hem of Li Chen's clothes, it would be far too humiliating.
He was a student ranked sixty-seventh, after all!
And the terrain here was the most advantageous setting for him.
With that, a fierce light flashed in his eyes. He formed another halberd in his hand and charged at Li Chen. As he moved, a suit of armor made of ice began to appear over his body.
Li Chen said nothing and merely watched impassively. He raised a finger, and the eight blades circling him shot toward Wang Hao.
Since Wang Hao wouldn't surrender, it meant he wasn't convinced. Li Chen naturally knew how to convince him.
Not far away, quite a few people were watching this battle whose outcome was beyond doubt.
A man in a white hoodie and Bluetooth earphones murmured, "How terrifying. I didn't expect someone this strong to be unable to rank in the top ten. Just how strong are the top ten?"
"If I ran into him, how many moves could I last? Ten?"
He didn't know, and he couldn't even understand why a monster like that had come to Canglan instead of going to the Imperial Capital Academy.
At that moment, the woman beside him said, "That man is definitely stronger than his eleventh-place ranking suggests. I even think he has a chance of reaching the top."
"Reaching the top?" The man was stunned.
The woman continued, "That's right. He hasn't used his full strength at all. Didn't someone ranked twentieth challenge him before? Even then, he defeated those few people with just those same moves."
"Now that I think about it, he doesn't seem to have ever used his full strength. I even think he's holding back because he doesn't want his opponents to lose too badly."
Quite a few people nearby heard her words and fell silent. Perhaps she was right, because Li Chen's battles had never felt particularly intense. They always ended whenever Li Chen wanted them to.
The man sighed and said, "I was planning to challenge him before, but now it looks like I'd better keep cultivating. I'm still nowhere near ready..."
The woman also stood up. There was no suspense left in the battle and no point in watching any longer; the outcome had long been decided.
Elsewhere, Jianping sat cross-legged on rocky terrain, the black case resting on his legs. He was very calm.
Across from him stood a man holding a black scythe, his face covered by a piece of black cloth. A hoarse voice came from his mouth. "I'm taking a top-five spot today."
Jianping opened his eyes. It was as though each eye had two pupils, one red and one black. He said slowly, "You can try."
A sword rang out, and black and red auras instantly split the atmosphere on the battlefield apart.
Back on Li Chen's battlefield, Wang Hao was covered in wounds. His ice armor had offered no protection at all; against the light blades under Li Chen's control, he hadn't even had a chance to fight back.
He could only keep dodging, but there were eight light blades, constantly following him. Their dangerous aura lingered behind him like a god of death.
"Damn it, these light blades really are sharp!!" Wang Hao cursed, his face grim.
This battle was like a game of cat and mouse, and he was the mouse.
Li Chen stood at the center of the battlefield, his expression impassive, and formed several more white blades around him.
"Let's end this," Li Chen murmured.
He held the light blades in his hand and infused them with something. The white blades grew brighter and more dazzling.
He gave them a gentle push, and the white blades instantly locked onto Wang Hao, who was still running across the ice, and shot toward him at an incredible speed. In the instant he was stunned, a blade was already before his eyes.
"This!! Impossible!!" Wang Hao shouted.
He could feel the terrifying aura within that blade. He absolutely couldn't let it touch him.
But it was too late. As if it had eyes, the blade instantly pierced a short way into Wang Hao's ice armor, and a dazzling white light illuminated the entire battlefield.
Boom~
Li Chen's gaze was perfectly calm as he walked off the battlefield.
That was a combination of his ability, Compressed Bomb, and the blades. The problem of its slow speed had been solved, though its power was a little weaker.
But it should still be enough to deal with these challengers.