Fifth Night

The fifth night.

The map shrank again, and the fighting between examinees grew ever more intense. Every minute, every second, someone was brutally eliminated.

Jiang Yan cut his way through all obstacles, and the points in his hand had already reached the terrifying number of 3,200.

"I wonder what score first place has now."

Jiang Yan thought about it. Naturally, he did not believe that one day's gains could surpass everyone else's points from the previous four days.

During the examination, they did not know the rankings or any information about the other examinees. Everything was carried out in the dark.

Compared to the examinees, the audience had a god's-eye view throughout the whole event, with the rankings in the upper-right corner of the livestream laid out clearly.

"He's climbing, he's climbing! Jiang Yan has already squeezed into the top five thousand!"

"That's amazing. He slept through the first four days, yet in just one day, he managed to leave most people behind."

"Do any of you feel like Jiang Yan's fights against the other examinees are practically one slash, one kill? It makes everyone else look like complete rookies."

"Hahaha, the war god of the upper realm feeds on the Prodigies of our lower realm. Believe it or not, any examinee who hasn't been eliminated yet could be pulled out alone and crush us."

Jiang Yan's strength gave the comments the illusion that "these examinees are weak; if I went up, I could do it too."

The officials gave plenty of face to this examinee who had taken double first place in the first two rounds. The prolonged solo camera shots sent his popularity soaring again.

Jiang Yan was simply too fast.

The battles continued without pause. Every examinee before him was taken down in a single slash, without exception.

Under such high-intensity combat, Jiang Yan's Battle Saint Armor stacked attributes at a terrifying rate.

Battle Saint Armor: Defense +190% (originally 100%)

Other attributes +89% (originally 50%)

The golden cloak accompanied Jiang Yan, and a new blazing sun rose in the dark sky.

"It's Shang Xingren! Jiang Yan is heading toward Shang Xingren, the number one on the rankings!"

The commentator shouted passionately.

The viewers in the comments were swept up by the heated atmosphere as well.

As the saying went, kings did not meet kings. These two had displayed strength far beyond the rest since the first round. Everyone had thought they would not see their showdown until the final circle, yet it was about to happen now.

Shang Xingren was taking a short rest, his eyes closed as he calmed his mind.

Suddenly, his brows rose slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes.

He heard the wind.

Sure enough, light shone down from behind him. With his back to the light, he saw his own small shadow.

"Interesting. He came for me."

Shang Xingren rose to his feet and looked at the streak of golden light above.

His brows furrowed, and the playful irreverence he had shown since the examination began vanished from his face.

The next second, his figure disappeared from where he stood.

"A spatial ability! Shang Xingren's ability, which he has never used in actual combat since the examination began, is actually a spatial ability!"

"It seems Shang Xingren held back in the first round. With his spatial ability, taking first place would have been no problem at all."

The two commentators played off each other.

No one had expected that Shang Xingren, who had consistently held a place in the top five of every Ranking, had concealed such a heaven-defying talent.

Why did everyone flock after spatial talents like ducks to water?

Here was a fact: this Alternate Space, which served as the examination grounds every year, had been created by the Space Martial Saint.

No one knew how the Space Martial Saint had obtained this Alternate Space.

But without question, spatial talent had played a decisive role.

This was the type of opponent all martial artists feared most.

In battle, they were as unpredictable as gods and ghosts, suddenly teleporting behind you and giving you a slash. Wasn't that just sinister?

Within Jiang Yan's field of vision, Shang Xingren had vanished from where he stood for no apparent reason.

Jiang Yan suddenly smiled.

He thought of a fellow prisoner from some space.

Behind him, the wind howled.

Clang!

Jiang Yan gripped his blade and swept it backward.

Two pieces of steel collided, spraying fierce sparks through the air.

The sharp presence behind him vanished. After failing to land his strike, Shang Xingren immediately disappeared without a trace.

System Log updated: You successfully blocked damage, triggering Rebound

Pfft—

Within the shadows, Shang Xingren let out a muffled grunt, a thread of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

He wiped away the blood at his lips, his expression dark to a frightening degree.

Yet to outsiders, it merely looked as though Jiang Yan had casually swung his blade behind him, and sparks had erupted from thin air.

Throughout the entire battle, Shang Xingren's body had only appeared vaguely once.

"Even his fighting style is so similar."

Jiang Yan licked his lips, and the blood in his body began to boil.

"I've finally met a worthy opponent."

A cold laugh echoed from the void.

Whoosh!

A blade flashed from the shadows.

Thud!

The sharp dagger sank into the phantom image of the golden cloak, yet could not pierce even a fraction deeper.

Jiang Yan was completely unharmed.

He grabbed the dagger with his backhand.

With a crack, the dagger was crushed into fragments.

Shang Xingren's attacks could not harm Jiang Yan at all.

But for now, Jiang Yan seemingly had no way to deal with Shang Xingren either.

"Can't break through my defense? Then how about trying this?"

Ripples spread around Jiang Yan's position, as though something was being compressed.

The air became scorching hot, and the scent of gunpowder spread through the surroundings.

Boom!

The entire area exploded, turning the dim sky into daylight for an instant. Enormous heat dyed the whole sky crimson like burning clouds, and the entire region became a searing red.

"You received minor damage. Battle Saint Armor has increased slightly."

The cloak fluttered, and the sea of flames merely burned away a little dead skin from Jiang Yan's body.

He grew even more excited. As expected of an examination ground where experts gathered like clouds—someone would always bring him a surprise.

Jiang Yan looked forward to Shang Xingren bringing him even more surprises.

Then, there was no further movement.

Jiang Yan: Can't use it consecutively?

Below, Shang Xingren knelt halfway to the ground. His chest heaved violently, his mouth opening and closing as heavy breaths escaped him.

"Sure enough, this move is still too much of a strain."

He barely lifted his head. Above him was the sea of fire he had just created, Jiang Yan's figure swallowed within it and nowhere to be seen.

"A decent opponent."

Shang Xingren gave Jiang Yan the highest evaluation.

"But that is all."

"Is that so?"

Shang Xingren's pupils contracted. He had never expected Jiang Yan to walk out of that attack.

"Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash."

A blade aura crossed the distance between them. Empowered by the enormous attributes of the Battle Saint Armor, the Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash reached a whole new height of might.

A sea of lightning tore through the air, roaring as it rushed toward Shang Xingren.

Boom!

The area where Shang Xingren stood was charred black, carved through by a huge blade scar. Endless lightning flickered within the deep mark, showing just how powerful that slash had been.

Where there was smoke, there was no injury. Jiang Yan understood that.

He really wanted to say that Shang Xingren was merely a lower-tier substitute for the Void-Rending Weasel.

That was right, merely a lower-tier substitute. The Void-Rending Weasel in the Combat Space could travel through space almost continuously for an hour. Compared to the Shang Xingren he was fighting now, it was stronger by more than just a little.

And when Jiang Yan killed the Void-Rending Weasel, he had only been at the second rank of Blood Coagulation.

Of course, there had been some suspicion of stacking damage through resurrection.

Before him, there was no one.

Jiang Yan sheathed his blade and murmured to himself.

"Did he... run away?"

Male commentator: "Has Shang Xingren used his spatial talent to hide within space, waiting for another chance to severely wound Jiang Yan?"

Female commentator: "Unfortunately, Shang Xingren's previous two attacks failed to break Jiang Yan's defense. What kind of countermeasure will he use in his next attack?"

"Alright, let's show the audience Shang Xingren's first-person perspective."