Thousand Illusions Body Technique

The screen flickered again, and beside Lin Feng's name appeared another familiar name—Zhou Min.

At the sight of this matchup, a barely perceptible ripple finally stirred in Lin Feng's calm eyes.

For this gifted Second High School student who had fought alongside him in Phantom Beast Alley, cheerful and steadfast by nature, he held a measure of recognition and respect.

Zhou Min took a deep breath. Her pretty face was filled with gravity, yet her gaze was exceptionally resolute.

She knew full well the gap in strength between herself and Lin Feng, especially after witnessing him defeat Wang Pan and Chen Feng as easily as brushing away dust.

But asking her to retreat without a fight was absolutely impossible.

This was not merely a contest for rankings, but a precious opportunity to test her own martial path.

She tightened her grip on the short spike in her hand and stepped steadily onto the arena.

"Brother Lin, please enlighten me." Zhou Min clasped her fists in salute, her tone solemn.

Lin Feng gave a slight nod in return. "Please."

The referee announced the start.

Zhou Min did not hesitate in the slightest. She knew that against Lin Feng, seizing the initiative was meaningless.

She pushed her cultivation technique to its utmost limit. With a blur of her body, three identical "Zhou Mins" instantly appeared on the arena!

The three figures moved differently, their auras impossible to distinguish as real or false. Like ghosts, they spread apart and closed in on Lin Feng from different directions!

This was the signature technique that had made her famous—the Thousand Illusions Body Technique!

Combined with the short spike in her hand, it mixed illusion and reality, targeting an enemy's openings and leaving them impossible to guard against.

During the Phantom Beast Alley qualifying trials, she had shone brilliantly with this very technique.

The three "Zhou Mins" flitted like butterflies among flowers. Their short spikes carved out fierce flashes of cold light as they stabbed toward Lin Feng's throat, heart, and lower back respectively, so fast that only streaks of afterimages remained!

The spectators below held their breath. They had all witnessed how troublesome Zhou Min's movement technique was, and they wanted to see how Lin Feng would deal with such indistinguishable attacks.

Yet Lin Feng remained where he was, without even changing his stance.

He merely slowly closed his eyes.

After his mental power reached 50 points, his perception had long surpassed the limitations of sight.

Under his web-like mental perception, the subtle differences in energy fluctuations and blood flow among those three seemingly flawless phantoms were as clear as candle flames in the darkness.

The one on the left had the most solid energy fluctuations, its blood surging like a river—it was the real body!

The ones on the right and behind him had slightly hollow energy, and their movements were imperceptibly slower—they were phantoms!

Just as the short spikes of the three "Zhou Mins" were about to strike him—

Lin Feng moved!

He ignored the phantoms to his left and right. As though he had foreseen it all, he tilted his body slightly at precisely the right angle, allowing the "fatal" strike from behind to skim past the edge of his clothes.

At the same time, he pressed together the index and middle fingers of his right hand. A wisp of purple-black Wind and Thunder True Qi, condensed to the extreme and nearly imperceptible, curled around his fingertips. It was not an attack, but rather a precise scalpel that lightly sliced toward the wrist of the real body on the left, the hand holding the spike!

That stroke was exquisite down to the finest hair in timing, angle, and force!

Swift as lightning, yet light as a swan's feather!

"Hiss!"

A faint sound, like silk being torn.

Zhou Min only felt a slight numbness and stinging pain at her wrist. Her gathered True Qi abruptly stalled, and the incomparably fierce momentum of her thrust was forcibly interrupted by that seemingly casual stroke!

Horror filled her heart. She wanted to change her move, but a soft, insidious force of wind and thunder invaded along her meridians, instantly leaving her arm weak and limp!

The other two phantoms she had created also swayed like soap bubbles when the real body was restrained and their energy supply became unstable, then vanished.

Only her real body remained on the arena. Her right hand holding the spike trembled slightly, frozen in midair, her face full of disbelief.

Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes and looked at Zhou Min, who stood within arm's reach. He said calmly, "The phantoms may be exquisite, but the instant your real body exerts force, your blood and True Qi must converge. That is the sole flaw in your movement technique. Only if you can conceal that point will your Thousand Illusions Body Technique truly reach great completion."

He did not continue attacking. Instead, he directly pointed out the crucial flaw in Zhou Min's cultivation technique.

Zhou Min stood stunned, as though thunder had exploded in her mind!

Lin Feng's words had directly awakened the confusion that had plagued her all this time!

She had always felt that her Thousand Illusions Body Technique was just a sliver short of the mark, unable to become truly flawless. So this was the root of it!

She stared blankly at Lin Feng. The shock in her eyes gradually turned into realization, followed by heartfelt gratitude.

That single sentence of guidance was worth far more than the outcome of a match!

She took a deep breath, suppressed her churning blood and excitement, withdrew her short spike, and stepped back. Then she solemnly clasped her fists and bowed. "Thank you for your guidance, Brother Lin! Zhou Min... has learned much! I concede this match!"

She accepted her defeat completely.

She had not only lost in strength, but also to his insight that saw through everything and his open-hearted bearing.

The entire audience erupted in uproar once more.

They had not expected this highly anticipated duel to end in such a manner.

There had been no fierce clash, no dazzling martial techniques. Lin Feng had merely used one finger and one sentence to make the formidable Zhou Min voluntarily concede!

"Th-That's it?"

"Lin Feng... he seemed to have guided Zhou Min?"

"This is the bearing of a true powerhouse! He crushes his opponent in strength, yet he is still willing to offer guidance!"

Praise and discussion rose one after another.

Lin Feng's image grew even taller and more mysterious in everyone's hearts.

The referee was also stunned for a moment before loudly announcing, "Arena One, Lin Feng wins!"

Lin Feng gave Zhou Min a slight nod and turned to leave the arena. Zhou Min watched his retreating back with a complicated gaze—gratitude, admiration, and a trace of indescribable loss—but more than anything, the resolve of someone who had found her direction forward.

Through this battle, Lin Feng had not only displayed absolute strength, but also the bearing of a martial Grandmaster that transcended the competition itself.

This raised his prestige among the many examinees and spectators to an entirely new height.

In the rest area, Zhao Feng watched Lin Feng return. His cold face showed no expression, but the knuckles of the hand gripping his sword had turned faintly white.

Qin Wushuang lightly tapped the armrest of his seat, a hint of amusement in his smile. "Strength, insight, bearing... Lin Feng, you are becoming more and more interesting to me."

On the screen, the list of those advancing refreshed once more. Lin Feng's name was among them without suspense.

His next opponent would likewise be a top genius who had surged forward all the way, displaying terrifying strength.

The finals had already entered their white-hot stage!