A Challenge Letter's Ripples and Preparations Before the Storm

If Lin Xiao's previous actions—breaking the Gravity Tower record, resonating with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, and making a three-month promise with the Vice Dean—were merely like throwing giant stones into a calm lake, creating ripples.

Then, at this moment, when he personally wrote on the Merit Monument a Life and Death challenge to Li Tianyi, the chief of Heaven Class Three, his actions were no different from igniting a dormant volcano that had been silent for ten thousand years!

"Boom—!"

The entire outer court of Cloud Creek Academy was plunged into unprecedented fervor and madness!

The thousands of students gathered before the Merit Monument, who had witnessed this scene firsthand, erupted in cheers that could shake the heavens after a brief moment of stunned silence!

"Madman! This guy is an absolute lunatic! Body Refinement Seventh Level challenging the peak of Body Refinement Eighth Level? Who does he think he is? A prodigy from the inner court descending to the mortal realm?!" "Li Tianyi! He's one of the top eleven powerhouses in the outer court! His 'Blazing Flame Saber' is incredibly dominant; he once single-handedly killed three peak second-tier demonic beasts during a mission! What can Lin Xiao possibly use to fight him?" "I admit he has extraordinary talent, a rare genius. But talent doesn't equal strength! There's an entire major realm difference, and more! This isn't confidence; it's suicidal!" "What a shame for a star that should have risen brightly, but will now fall prematurely due to excessive arrogance."

Doubt, mockery, pity, confusion... various voices converged into a massive wave of public opinion, spreading and fermenting wildly in every corner of the academy.

In less than half an hour, the news had spread throughout the entire outer court, and even some students in the inner court had heard this "news," arguably the most explosive of the year.

Upon hearing the news, the students of Heaven Class were first stunned, then collectively enraged and dismissive.

"Ha? A nobody from Yellow Class dares to challenge the chief of our Heaven Class? Does he even deserve it?" "Senior Brother Li Tianyi is the pride of our Heaven Class Three! This Lin Xiao is simply asking for humiliation! He's provoking the authority of our entire Heaven Class!" "Senior Brother Tianyi must accept the challenge! And he mustn't let him die too easily! He must be ruthlessly crushed underfoot in front of the entire academy, letting him and his ignorant Yellow Class understand what the difference between heaven and earth truly means!"

Meanwhile, in the cultivation area of Heaven Class Three, the other protagonist of the incident, a storm was brewing.

"Bang!"

A cultivation dummy made of a whole piece of profound iron was split in two by a ferocious, crimson saber energy. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, with residual scorching marks.

A tall, burly young man with a defiant face and short, fiery red hair slowly sheathed his saber. His upper body was bare, his bronze skin covered in crisscrossing scars, exuding explosive power. A scorching and domineering aura emanated from him, causing the air around him to distort slightly.

He was Li Tianyi!

"Senior Brother! That trash from Yellow Class named Lin Xiao has posted a challenge to you on the Merit Monument!" a Heaven Class student burst in, scrambling, his face filled with unconcealed rage.

"Oh?"

Li Tianyi showed no surprise on his face; instead, a cruel and contemptuous cold smile curled his lips.

"It seems Boss Xiao Lang guessed correctly. This suicidal mad dog actually dared to bite me first."

He picked up a towel nearby and wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes filled with the playful amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.

"Who does he think he is? Relying on some so-called 'Innate Dao Body,' relying on the Vice Dean's favor, he really thinks he can ascend to the heavens in one step? How naively laughable!"

"Senior Brother, then we..."

"Accept the challenge!" Li Tianyi's voice was decisive. "Not only accept it, but make the spectacle as grand as possible! Go spread the word that I, Li Tianyi, will personally cripple this arrogant fool who doesn't know his place on the Life and Death Stage in three days! Let everyone see the consequences of provoking the authority of our Heaven Class!"

He paused, a vicious glint flashing in his eyes.

"Also, go to the Mission Hall and set up a betting pool! Bet on the outcome of this duel! I, Li Tianyi, will have odds of one to one. That trash Lin Xiao's odds... ten to one!"

"Senior Brother is brilliant!" The student was overjoyed upon hearing this. "Not only will this utterly humiliate that trash, but it will also allow us to earn a large sum of Merit Points!"

"Hmph, he's just a dead man walking," Li Tianyi snorted disdainfully, his gaze drifting towards the top of the cultivation tower. "What I truly want to do is help Boss Xiao Lang crush this annoying thorn completely!"

The news, as if it had grown wings, quickly flew back to the cultivation grounds of Yellow Class Nine.

When they heard that Li Tianyi not only accepted the challenge but also set up a humiliating betting pool with odds of ten to one, the entire Yellow Class Nine was furious!

"This is going too far! This Li Tianyi simply doesn't take us seriously!" "Ten to one? What does he take the chief for? A lamb to be slaughtered?!" "No! We have to do something! We can't let the chief face this alone!"

The crowd was agitated!

After a month of hellish training, these young men and women had undergone a complete transformation. The iron will and team spirit that had been forged within them made them no longer fearful in the face of Heaven Class's provocation, leaving only righteous anger and a shared sense of purpose!

"Everyone quiet down!"

Just as the crowd was clamoring noisily, Lin Xiao's calm yet powerful voice drowned out all the commotion.

He looked at the indignant faces before him, showing no anger at all. Instead, a smile of approval appeared on his face.

"Anger is the sign of the weak. And what must we do?"

He swept his gaze across the entire assembly and said word by word: "Turn the enemy's contempt into our sharpest blade! Turn their humiliation into the most solid stepping stone beneath our feet!"

He walked to the front of the formation, his gaze sweeping across everyone's eyes.

"Li Tianyi's betting pool is excellent! Excellent! This is exactly the result I wanted!"

The corners of his mouth curved into a meaningful arc.

"Zhou Xiaoshu!"

"Here!" The once timid boy now stood straight, his voice loud and clear.

"I have a task for you." Lin Xiao looked at him. "Withdraw ten thousand Merit Points from our team's public fund! Then, organize all your classmates to pool all the Merit Points you've accumulated this month!"

"And then?" Zhou Xiaoshu's breathing became somewhat rapid.

A terrifying glint flashed in Lin Xiao's eyes.

"Then bet all the Merit Points!"

"Bet it all on me winning!"

If Lin Xiao's challenge was the detonation of a volcano, then when the news spread that Yellow Class Nine had bet a massive total of over twenty thousand Merit Points on Lin Xiao to win at "ten to one odds," the entire outer court could only be described as "crazy"!

"Two thousand Merit Points! Yellow Class Nine has bet their entire fortune on this!" "Are they crazy? Do they really think Lin Xiao can pull off a miracle?" "This isn't gambling anymore, it's throwing money away! Quick! Take all the Merit Points I earned from last month's missions and bet them on Senior Brother Li Tianyi winning! It's free money, why wouldn't I take it!"

For a time, the entire outer court was swept by a betting frenzy!

Nearly ninety-nine percent of people unhesitatingly placed their Merit Points on Li Tianyi. In their eyes, this wasn't a match with any suspense, but a guaranteed profit and a Merit Point harvesting feast meticulously planned by Li Tianyi!

In just one day, the total ** on Li Tianyi's odds broke the unprecedented record of one hundred thousand Merit Points!

Meanwhile, on Lin Xiao's side, apart from the twenty thousand points bet by Yellow Class Nine themselves, there was almost no other interest.

Lin Xiao made no further response to the overwhelming public opinion from the outside world.

He poured all his energy into his final preparations before the decisive battle.

He no longer engaged in conventional cultivation.

He confined himself to his dormitory, sinking his consciousness into the system and frantically sorting and deducing.

[Target: Li Tianyi] [Realm: Body Refinement Eighth Level Peak] [Cultivation Technique: Blazing Fire Art (Earth-Tier Low-Grade)] [Martial Skill: Blazing Flame Saber (Mysterious-Tier High-Grade, Mastered), Chasing Wind Steps (Mysterious-Tier Mid-Grade, Minor Success)] [Overall Combat Power Assessment: 195] [Weakness Analysis: Arrogant personality, underestimates opponents, rushes in; Saber techniques are broad and powerful, strong but lacking in variation; Three inches below the left rib, old injury, weak point in defense...]

All information about Li Tianyi on the system's light screen was analyzed clearly.

Lin Xiao's mind, like a high-speed supercomputer, began to frantically simulate all possible combat scenarios that might occur three days later.

He continuously deconstructed, reassembled, and fused the one thousand three hundred and twenty-four basic martial skills he possessed in his mind.

He discovered that when his "Unbending True Meaning" combined with the "Book of Ten Thousand Laws," it produced a wondrous chemical reaction! He could perceive the most fundamental "martial dao principles" contained within these basic martial skills from an unbelievable perspective!

He began to try incorporating the "inch-force" from basic fist techniques into basic swordplay; combining the "turns" from basic movement techniques with the "force-dispelling" from basic palm techniques...

New killing moves, far more powerful than the original martial skills yet subtle and traceless like a cornered animal, continuously took shape and were perfected in his mind.

This was a true power that transformed the rotten into the miraculous!

Besides his own deductions, he did not forget his team.

He locked himself in his room for a full day and night, using a rune pen to write dense text and drawings on dozens of specially made beast hide papers.

These were personalized "Martial Skill Optimization Plans" and "Cooperative Combat Formation Diagrams" he had tailored for each member of Yellow Class Nine based on their individual characteristics!

The next day, when Lin Xiao, with dark circles under his eyes, handed these beast hide papers to Shi Lei, Su Yue, and the members of Yellow Class Nine, everyone was utterly shocked by the exquisite content that seemed to directly point to the origin of the martial dao!

"My heavens... So my Mountain Splitting Fist can be used like this! Its power can increase by at least thirty percent!" Shi Lei trembled with excitement as he looked at his own diagram.

"This... This 'Three Talents Sword Formation' is practically tailor-made for the three of us! If we master it, our combined strength might even be able to contend with cultivators at Body Refinement Sixth Level!" Su Yue's beautiful eyes sparkled as she looked at the intricate formation diagram.

Their gaze towards Lin Xiao was no longer one of admiration, but... reverence!

This had surpassed the category of "genius"! This was practically a hidden martial dao grandmaster!

"All I can teach you is this," Lin Xiao's voice carried a hint of exhaustion but was filled with undeniable authority. "For the remaining two days, your mission is to engrave these things into your very bones! Two days from now, I want to see what kind of team Yellow Class Nine is on the Life and Death Stage for the entire academy to witness!"

"Yes! Chief!"

Twenty-nine perfectly synchronized roars echoed through the sky!

Time flew by amidst the fervent and anxious atmosphere of the entire outer court.

The morning of the third day.

As the first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone upon the Life and Death Stage of Cloud Creek Academy, filled with a murderous aura.

It was already packed, with a sea of people!

Tens of thousands of outer court students, and even many inner court students who had heard the news, surrounded the Life and Death Stage, three layers deep, forming an impenetrable wall. They were all waiting, waiting for the start of the most anticipated duel in the academy's history, a duel that had captured the attention of the entire world!

"He's here! Senior Brother Li Tianyi is here!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd automatically parted, creating a path.

Li Tianyi, dressed in fiery red tight-fitting clothes, carried an exaggerated, crimson saber on his shoulder. He strode forward with a powerful gait, surrounded by a group of Heaven Class students.

His expression was arrogant, his gaze contemptuous, as he enjoyed the thunderous cheers and shouts from the surroundings, as if victory was already assured.

He stepped onto the Life and Death Stage, forged from obsidian, and heavily planted his saber on the stage!

"Clang!"

A loud metallic clash, accompanied by splashing sparks, echoed throughout the entire plaza.

"Where is that trash named Lin Xiao? Why isn't he here yet?" Li Tianyi's voice, like a booming bell, spread across the venue. "Could he be a coward who fled at the last minute?"

His words drew bursts of laughter from the Heaven Class students below the stage.

And at that moment, the crowd in another direction also began to stir.

"They're here too! It's Yellow Class Nine!"

Their entrance was completely different from Li Tianyi's arrogant and overbearing style.

A team strode forward with unified, steady, mountain-like steps, drawing countless complex gazes.

They made no shouts, no clamor.

But the iron-blooded, solemn aura formed by the twenty-nine individuals gathered together, like that of battle-hardened elites, involuntarily silenced everyone who had been mocking them.

Leading this team from the very front was Lin Xiao.

He was still wearing his simple, plain cyan student robe, holding no weapon in his hands and showing no expression on his face.

He calmly walked onto the stage that decided life and death, step by step, and stood before Li Tianyi.

Their eyes met.

One was wild and domineering like a fire, wanting to burn down the eight directions.

The other was tranquil like an abyss, hiding a ten-thousand-fathom raging tide within.