This was a girl, and judging by her uniform, she was from Shuren Zhengxue Academy as well.
Dragon Essence, Complete Body Tempering, and at least three of the fourth-layer Heart Arts at mastery level. The remaining three were excellent too. She must have had an easy time fighting her way here; even her qi armor remained intact. But she clearly knew Shi Tiexin. Upon seeing her opponent, she immediately sighed faintly. "It's you."
"It's me." Shi Tiexin sized her up from head to toe. "Shuren Zhengxue Academy really is a crouching tiger, hidden dragon. Someone like you never showed yourself at the Nine Cities Competition."
The girl said evenly, "The Nine Cities Competition was already five months ago. Five months ago, I wasn't qualified to participate."
That was true. Adolescents were already in a period of rapid growth, and five months was enough for many people to advance by leaps and bounds. With Shuren Zhengxue Academy's overall standard, once a few top students fell, more outstanding students would soon emerge to fill their vacancies.
It was rare to meet someone he could speak with normally, and Shi Tiexin suddenly grew curious. "Why haven't I seen any of the competitors from the tournament this time?"
From Qiu Huang to Lin Shuilian, including the other three, not one of them had appeared this time.
"The other three were scared out of their wits by you. Soon after the competition, they were surpassed by others. Knowing you would come, they chickened out. I don't know about Lin Shuilian. I'm not close to her, and she never went back to school after the competition. I did hear a little about Qiu Huang, though. It seems he went to the Asteroid Belt."
Shi Tiexin's heart stirred.
The Asteroid Belt?
It seemed Qiu Huang had gone