All eyes turned unanimously toward the man walking slowly out from behind Xiao Ran and onto the square platform.
He was here, finally here. Junior Brother Ye Fan, the child of miracles, was finally making his debut!
The problem was that Xiao Ran had defeated two opponents in a row with mortal strength, his talent shining blindingly bright and the victory already decided. Even if Ye Fan won against him using Foundation Establishment strength, it could not change the final outcome.
Perhaps he simply wanted to vent his anger... everyone thought.
Ye Fan had entered the Outer Sect ten years ago with an ordinary appearance and mediocre talent. In the Outer Sect, he frequently suffered cold glares from others, but his leveling speed after joining was extremely fast. He reached Qi Refining in a single year, making him the second person in Qi Refining within the Outer Sect over the past thousand years, second only to Lin Yunzi.
He then entered the Inner Sect, achieving Foundation Establishment three years later, and was rumored to now be preparing for Core Formation.
Over the past ten years, there were many legends about him on Zongzhi Mountain, such as the child of destiny, one who possessed exotic treasures, a humanoid miracle-manufacturing machine, and that widely circulated phrase—
My junior brother Ye Fan has the potential of a great emperor!
To protect this rare and precious young sapling, Master Boyun cared for him greatly and had once promised that as long as he could achieve Core Formation, he would take him on as a unique direct disciple.
Yet Ye Fan seemed to harbor a greater fondness for Lingzhou Yue, who had defeated Master Boyun. Taking advantage of the implementation of the Dao Alliance's new rules, he recommended himself to Lingzhou Yue, and then...
There was no then.
After that incident, Master Boyun also seemed to stop talking about his previous desire to take Ye Fan as a disciple.
One could only imagine what kind of jealousy and hatred Ye Fan held toward Xiao Ran.
Even if Xiao Ran's talent was sufficient to qualify as a Direct Disciple, Ye Fan insisted on stepping up to fight! Everyone thought, Very well, although Uncle-Master Xiao has high talent, his demeanor is too domineering and he is surrounded by beauties. Letting Ye Fan blunt his sharp edge is also exceptionally good.
A good show was about to begin! The crowd held their breath with concentrated minds. Amidst the sweeping winds, one could almost hear the sound of pounding heartbeats.
On the square platform.
Xiao Ran turned around and glanced at the young man walking over from behind the sword stele.
He was short in stature, with the appearance of a passerby, yet his brows carried an indomitable will. His azure robes rustled, and upon closer inspection, he possessed quite a bit of bearing.
Was this his past-life idol, the great emperor potential of Ye Fan?
He hoped it was merely the same name.
He thought, Although this guy isn't handsome, he isn't considered ugly either. Master's reason for a polite refusal was far too devastating.
It made him feel somewhat sympathetic toward Ye Fan, which was not a good thing before a battle.
As for combat, Xiao Ran was fighting a Foundation Establishment cultivator with mortal status. Even with Heaven Tier Resonance Power as a cheat, winning was impossible.
However, short of an emergency, he would never use his Filial Piety Points.
This was not for the sake of showing off or playing the pig to eat the tiger, but because Filial Piety Points could be exchanged for full-health packs, which could be urgently traded for blood packs to save his life at critical moments of life and death! With Master not by his side, what would he do if he encountered a Wraith?
Especially upon arriving at the Sword Plaza, he constantly felt a sense of mental unease...
Whether it was a Wraith or Ye Fan, no matter how powerful the enemy was, as long as he had enough Filial Piety Points, he could exchange for a blood pack at the moment of near death, feign death, and muddle through.
Advancing Qi Refining early would at most allow him to deal with Ye Fan. If he encountered a Wraith, he would have no money left to buy blood packs.
Very well, he would first deal with the Foundation Establishment cultivator using mortal strength and see where the limit of this Resonance Power lay.
The sharp edges of the sword stele sliced through the howling morning wind, emitting a whistling sound that was at times piercing and at times lingering.
Opposite the sword stele.
Ye Fan's azure robes rustled and his body stood straight as a pine. He stared directly at Xiao Ran's dashing and handsome face, a myriad of emotions churning in his heart. When the thousands of words reached his lips, he merely cupped his fists and said in a deep voice, "Uncle-Master Xiao, offense is taken."
With those words finished, he suddenly bowed, knelt on one knee, and slammed a palm against the bluestone ground.
"Flipping Stone Seal."
A ring of blue magic seals instantly expanded, driving the spirit runes within the gaps of the bluestone to overturn all the stones across the entire square platform in a single instant.
Resembling four walls of giant waves, they surged toward Xiao Ran.
At a glance, Xiao Ran saw that the spiritual oscillation frequency of every single bluestone slab was different. If he used Resonance Power, it would take too much time and bungle the military opportunity...
Clearly, Ye Fan had carefully studied his tactics through the previous two battles and adopted a suitable countermeasure.
He was truly a talent.
In the blink of an eye, four stone walls erected high, slapping over like giant waves.
Xiao Ran's soles vibrated as he soared into the air, accelerating step by step. His posture was steady, yet his speed was still too slow.
The four walls were about to close in.
Usually, when four walls enclosed a space with only an upper opening left in the void, an ambush was bound to be set.
Yet listening to all things, Xiao Ran faintly discerned that there was some bizarre spiritual power fluctuation outside the walls, as though brewing something. If he forcefully broke his way out through the walls, he would likely fall into an even more dangerous ambush.
Choosing the lesser of two evils, he stepped and soared rapidly upward, shooting straight into the firmament like a rocket! "Not taking the bait?"
Ye Fan curled his lip.
It seemed this Uncle-Master Xiao was much more agile than he had imagined, possessing almost a sense of prescience.
He was also waiting for the hare by the tree in midair, distantly controlling eight flying swords to descend from the sky and block Xiao Ran's upward trajectory.
"Plum Rain Sword Array!"
Xiao Ran drew his sword, pressing forward with an unyielding head and meeting the sword array head-on without ever changing his path to break through the wall.
Bearing the Foundation Establishment spiritual pressure overhead, he brandished his treasured sword against the sword array that fell like pelting rain.
With a single sword strike, chaotic slaughter!
It whipped up howling, piercing turbulent air currents, constantly resonating with the sweeping morning wind to trigger wave after wave of miniature hurricanes.
Although this sliver of power differed vastly from the sword array of the Foundation Establishment Realm, it was sufficient to cause the Plum Rain Sword Array to deflect...
That instantaneous deflection cleaved open a pathway for Xiao Ran.
Xiao Ran took a step across the heavens, rushed out of the walled enclosure, and escaped into safety.
Theoretically, Xiao Ran had achieved the utmost perfection, but the gap between enemy and self was like a natural chasm. Greeting him—
Was Ye Fan's strongest punch descending from the sky.
"Underworld King Fist!"
Black mist coiled around the fist peak, emitting the roar of a wild dragon.
Roar! In midair, Luo Sheng's slightly narrowed eyes froze abruptly, all smiles vanishing from his face. It was already too late to make a move to stop it.
He had not expected Ye Fan to possess such power mere steps into Foundation Establishment.
He wanted to severely injure Xiao Ran! Xiao Ran did not mind. Meeting the fist peak, he raised his sword to block.
Fist and sword collided, setting off a clanging vibration.
Bang! Using his sword to vibrate and resonate, Xiao Ran abruptly shook the fist force horizontally away, scattering it outward like ripples that shattered the surrounding stone walls with a deafening crash.
Xiao Ran bore merely one-thousandth of the fist force, maintaining an upright posture as he plummeted straight down and landed firmly.
This punch, which should have severely injured Xiao Ran, ended up shattering the enclosing stone walls.
The very instant the stone walls were shattered—
Nine massive azure-black dragon shadows gradually materialized, flying and spiraling around one another to enclose the area and form a black tower.
"Nine Dragons Great Desolate Pagoda!"
Xiao Ran's vision went dark as he was completely engulfed by the black tower.
He had reached the limit...
In midair, Ye Fan panted heavily.
He never would have imagined that dealing with someone who had yet to undergo Qi Refining would force him to pull out his trump-card spell.
Even so, it hadn't harmed the opponent in the slightest, trapping the other party inside the Nine Dragons Desolate Pagoda only by relying on seamless and meticulous tactics.
Just what kind of background did this Xiao Ran have! On the suspended stone cushion.
Because the strike was too heavy, Luo Sheng had originally intended to apprehend Ye Fan, but seeing that his cultivation method was formidable and his tactics rigorous, and that in the end Xiao Ran had not suffered the slightest injury, he refrained from arresting Ye Fan on the spot out of a desire to encourage talent, taking the lead in applauding instead.
"Splendid! Truly worthy of the prodigy favored by Master Boyun."
The crowd fell dead silent, astounded and speechless.
Everyone understood that Uncle-Master Xiao's performance was the far more brilliant one.
Luo Sheng also stood up respectfully and cupped his fists toward Xiao Ran:
"Junior Brother Xiao... you have truly opened my eyes."
Just as his voice fell, his brows abruptly furrowed hard!
"This—"
Clearly, what opened his eyes was yet to come...
"Hm?"
Ye Fan started, similarly detecting a trace of abnormality.
Ten breaths prior.
Inside the pitch-black Nine Dragons Great Desolate Pagoda.
Pitch darkness met Xiao Ran's eyes, yet he seemed to see a starry sky.
Of course, it might also have been the system panel.
Glancing around, he found no traces of a Wraith. Xiao Ran decisively purchased the upgrade package.
Qi Refining Cultivation Level Upgrade Package: Price 100 Filial Piety Points. Does the host confirm purchase?
"Purchase."
Congratulations to the host for upgrading to Qi Refining!
Before Xiao Ran even had time for his body and mind to sublimate, the system chimed once more.
Ding—discovered that the host has already mastered the Heaven Tier Myriad Resonance mental cultivation method. Integrating with the cultivation level, automatically ascending to Perfect Qi Refining Great Perfection!
An unexpected joy!
Far beyond mere Qi Refining, Xiao Ran even had the sensation of undergoing feather-transformation and ascending to immortality.
Main Peak.
A thousand feet underground.
Patriarch's Cave Dwelling.
At the convergence point of ten thousand spiritual meridians, Qian Junzi, who was engaged in dormant cultivation, abruptly opened his eyes—
Great Emperor potential!
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