Initiation Stele, battle space.
On a square platform ten kilometers to a side, Li Qingshan stood with his saber in hand, looking at the figure gradually solidifying opposite him.
The black-haired young man stood empty-handed, with a somewhat frivolous expression.
Setting aside his hair and looking only at his face, he was actually older than Ye Yukong was now.
Since appearing, the young man had made no move.
As the defender of the arena, he would only enter attack mode once his opponent came within a certain range.
"Dean Ye?"
Li Qingshan observed him intently, not rushing to attack as he had before.
The Initiation Stele recorded the hundred strongest students Ziying Academy had produced over the past five thousand years.
This year's freshmen had only managed to squeeze into the bottom ranks because of the academy's policies, with many of them giving up on Breaking Limits early.
Excluding them, nearly everyone after the fiftieth rank was a Limit Breaker; there were even those who had reached the Fourth Turn of Limit Break.
Zhou Yunze, ranked forty-ninth, was a dividing line—a standard newly entered Rainbow Transformation Realm combatant.
From ranks forty-nine through six, there were no more Limit Breakers. After all, an ordinary Limit Breaker needed at least five turns to rival the Rainbow Transformation Realm.
All the way here, Li Qingshan had fought opponents who had broken through at the Third Turn and were in the Blood Solidification Realm, capable of matching an ordinary Rainbow Transformation Realm combatant.
The exact gap in strength depended on the quality of one's Limit Realm cultivation guidance method, as well as the level of one's martial techniques.
For Cheng Wenchang to reach rank thirty was already quite impressive.
After all, the Initiation Stele was only open to freshmen for half a year, and the data collected by the battle space had mostly been left behind in the last few days of the year.
Still, generally speaking, all of them were a little weaker than that female ape from before.
To Li Qingshan after his breakthrough, they were as easy as chopping melons and slicing vegetables!
Of course, Ziying Academy had stood for a full five thousand years.
Feng Boyong had only comprehended the fifth level of "Starry Sky Beckons" and attained Limit Realm Completion in the previous millennium.
Before him, there had been three seniors who had likewise attained Limit Realm Completion and embarked upon the Path to Breaking Limits.
All of them had reached the Third Turn of Limit Break, ranked third, fourth, and fifth, and possessed strength nearly equal to Li Qingshan's before his breakthrough!
It was one thing for the legendary Feng Boyong to claim the top spot.
But Ye Yukong, who always looked so calm and unruffled, had actually suppressed those three seniors during his freshman days?
Li Qingshan carefully looked at the black-haired young man's open hands but found no weapon at all.
"Dean Ye, then let me experience your methods!"
Clang!
He drew his saber from its sheath.
Purple lightning swept out as his body shot forward like electricity.
The black-haired young man's gaze sharpened. Countless flashes of silver suddenly scattered from his palms, sealing off Li Qingshan's path.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Saber shadows filled the air, instantly sweeping away every silver flash.
Alloy beads rolled across the ground, yet even more silver flashes came flying in from all directions.
"Hidden weapons?"
Li Qingshan swung his saber, confusion in his eyes.
What puzzled him was not Ye Yukong's use of hidden weapons, but his realm.
Blood Coagulation!
He was only in the Blood Solidification Realm. Naturally, that posed no pressure to Li Qingshan now, yet Ye Yukong's strength had definitely surpassed those three seniors from before!
A Blood Solidification Realm breakthrough after the Fourth Turn of Limit Break!
"He was already at the fourth turn, just one turn away from Rainbow Transformation. Yet he chose to give it up?"
Below the Initiation Stele, everyone craned their necks upward, their eyes fixed on the top of the rankings.
"Third place! Li Qingshan must be fighting Dean Ye right now!"
"He climbed the rankings so quickly before. Li Qingshan should be able to win, right?"
"Not necessarily. Don't forget, that's Dean Ye!"
Discussion rang out one after another, yet no one noticed that one of the people they were talking about had somehow already arrived beneath the stele.
The silver-haired youth rubbed an iron ball between his fingers, calm and composed.
"Teacher, can Li Qingshan beat you?" Lu Qing tilted her head and asked.
"He couldn't before entering the academy, but now it should be very easy." Ye Yukong spoke with a faint smile.
"A True Dragon Chosen possesses a unique gift for comprehending the path of qi and blood. Their speed in Breaking Limits far surpasses that of ordinary people."
"Breaking Limits?" Lu Qing murmured, glancing around.
She discovered that everyone had ignored them—or rather, had deliberately "overlooked" the two of them.
This was one of Ye Yukong's methods.
After weighing it over, Lu Qing could not help asking:
"Teacher, you had already reached the Fourth Turn of Limit Break back then. Why did you still choose to give it up?"
"I wasn't at Limit Realm Completion. One extra turn or one fewer turn made little difference."
Ye Yukong spoke calmly, as if he did not care much.
But Lu Qing looked as though she wanted to speak but held herself back.
Little difference? How could that be possible!
At the Fourth Turn of Limit Break, one was just a step from the threshold of the Fifth Turn of Rainbow Transformation.
Even if one had not broken through from Limit Realm Completion, the accumulated foundation would still differ enormously!
Moreover, after breaking through at the Fourth Turn of Limit Break, one was only in the Blood Solidification Realm and had to spend time gaining control over qi and blood again before breaking through to Rainbow Transformation.
No matter how she calculated it, it was a loss!
Ye Yukong seemed to see what his student was thinking. He shook his head and laughed.
"Little girl, don't spend every day thinking in terms of profit and loss. Whether you gain or lose, you first have to stay alive!"
Lu Qing's expression tightened as she recalled some of the legends she had heard before.
Ye Yukong had broken through during a Star Realm mission.
However, Ye Yukong never spoke much of that journey into the Star Realm, and she did not dare ask further.
Just then, the ranking at the top of the stele changed.
Initiation Stele Second, Li Qingshan.
"He won! Li Qingshan really won!"
"He's about to challenge Senior Boyong! Senior Boyong held the top spot for a whole thousand years!"
"I hope Li Qingshan can win! Then our academy will have turned over a new leaf!"
"Win or lose, Li Qingshan will definitely get to meet Senior Boyong now."
"Yeah! Unlike certain people, who brag all day long. They've already fallen below thirtieth place, yet they still want to meet Senior Boyong?"
"Right, right, everyone take a screenshot of the rankings. Let's bump that post again together."
The discussions gradually turned into mockery. Cheng Wenchang's face alternated between green and red as he silently retreated behind the Crimson Yellow Star group.
Lu Qing was also in high spirits. Looking at the top of the stele, she said:
"Teacher, do you think Li Qingshan..."
"He can win." Ye Yukong's tone was certain.
"Huh?" Lu Qing froze for a moment, then asked in confusion:
"When Senior Boyong climbed the rankings, it was at the end of the year. Is Li Qingshan really stronger than he was back then?"
Ye Yukong glanced at his student and calmly shook his head.
"You have it wrong. Li Qingshan is merely stronger than the Feng Boyong inside the battle space."
Initiation Stele, battle space.
The phantom solidified, and a figure appeared opposite him.
"Senior Boyong?" Li Qingshan studied him curiously.
The young man had ordinary features, the sort of utterly generic face one would lose in a crowd.
The only strange thing was that a weapon hung at each side of his waist.
One saber, one sword.
"Dual-wielding weapons?"
Li Qingshan smiled faintly and charged forward with his saber raised.
Whoosh!
A wild wind sprang up, saber shadows condensing into clouds as purple lightning twisted and darted.
By the time he drew close, his figure was already wrapped in a pillar of wind and lightning.
Nine Heavens Wind-Thunder Saber!
Clang!
Feng Boyong drew his saber, purple lightning spreading across its blade.
Whoosh!
A wild wind instantly spiraled around him, while lightning pythons wound around him as though alive.
A tornado of wind and thunder rose from the ground.
Saber against saber!
"Nine Heavens Wind-Thunder Saber" against "Nine Heavens Wind-Thunder Saber"!
"Hahaha, well met!"
Li Qingshan laughed wildly as the two wind pillars collided in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, one of the wind pillars was on the verge of collapse.
Li Qingshan's expression shifted as he looked toward Feng Boyong, who had been sent flying backward.
In that brief instant, their sabers had clashed hundreds of times.
Feng Boyong had indeed broken through at Limit Realm Completion, but he had only reached the Third Turn.
One was at the fourth turn, the other at the third. This was an absolute difference in speed and strength!
Just as Li Qingshan was about to press his advantage and pursue,
Whoosh!
Feng Boyong swung his saber, and another tornado pillar rose from the ground.
But this time, it was not merely wind and thunder!
Flames and frost intertwined, spinning with the wind.
Under the extremes of cold and heat, the eye of the storm rapidly swelled and expanded, transforming into a lightning storm.
"Three A-rank saber techniques, and all of them at major mastery!"
Li Qingshan's gaze sharpened as his right hand tightened around his saber.
"Since that's the case, Senior Boyong, don't blame me for crushing you with my realm."
As his words fell,
A sonic boom exploded. His body instantly smashed through the air wall of the sound barrier and shot toward the heart of the storm, striking straight at the yellow dragon's lair!
The hundred-meter stele stood silently.
Below it were faces tilted upward.
Hopeful, uneasy, excited—every expression was there.
The only thing they shared was that every gaze was tightly focused on the top of the stele.
Suddenly, the screen flickered, and a name quietly rose to the top.
Initiation Stele First, Li Qingshan!
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