I'll Finish You in Three Breaths!

At Dongshan Martial Academy's Martial Arts Arena, enormous banners blotted out the sky. The scarlet battle flags fluttered and snapped in the winter wind.

By the time Lin Yi arrived at the Martial Arts Arena, it was already close to the fifth quarter of the Si hour (10 a.m.).

The snow covering the arena had long since been cleared away. The spectator stands all around were already packed with academy officials and visitors from every direction.

They watched dozens of students on the field, armed with all manner of weapons, battling the Bronze Automata with a clanging din. Some wore excited expressions, others remained calm, while still others were so thrilled their faces flushed red.

"Lin Yi, you're here."

As soon as Lin Yi arrived at the arena, he saw Teacher Sun—the middle-aged scholar who had been by Zhao Hai Hong's side during the entrance examination—come over with a smile.

"I was thinking that if you still hadn't shown up in another quarter or two, I'd go to your lodgings and call for you!"

"After all, the Martial Academy Grand Competition is a major event that Dongshan Martial Academy holds only once a month. Even if you can't break into the top three and earn a chance to enter the Red Dragon Pool, making the top ten or top five would still bring you plenty of rewards. You absolutely mustn't miss it."

"Mm, thank you for your concern, Teacher Sun. I wouldn't miss something as important as the Martial Academy Grand Competition. But I figured there wouldn't be anything for me to do if I came early, so I stayed home and cultivated for a while."

Lin Yi smiled as he replied.

The rules for Dongshan Martial Academy's competition were different from those at Guangling Martial Academy.

At Guangling Martial Academy, the final rankings for the top twenty, top ten, top three, and champion were decided through two rounds: battles against Bronze Automata and then arena matches.

Dongshan Martial Academy also held two rounds, one against Bronze Automata and one of arena matches. But only ordinary students who had ranked below the top ten in the previous competition had to take part in the Bronze Automaton round.

The top ten students didn't need to participate at all. They advanced straight to the second round of arena matches.

The arena matches also worked differently from those at Guangling Martial Academy, where students were paired off one on one and eliminated in turn.

Instead, the ten students who had ranked in the top ten during the first-round assessment could choose which of the previous competition's top ten they wanted to challenge.

If one of these first-round students defeated a member of the previous top ten, they automatically took that student's rank.

Although Lin Yi hadn't participated in Dongshan Martial Academy's previous competition, he had displayed formidable strength during the last assessment on the training grounds.

So Dean Zhao Hai Hong had specifically allowed him to skip today's first-round Bronze Automaton assessment. Once it ended, Lin Yi would join the ten students who had qualified in challenging the previous competition's top ten.

That was why Lin Yi had been able to cultivate peacefully at his lodgings today and break through to the Late Sixth Rank.

As Lin Yi pondered this, he watched the students compete alongside Sun Wen Fang and waited quietly.

Time flew by. Before long, half an hour had passed.

On the Martial Arts Arena, the final batch of students finished their challenges.

A moment later, a burly man at the center of the arena took a sheet of paper from one of the tallying instructors and announced loudly:

"I hereby declare the first-round assessment of Dongshan Martial Academy's November-end competition concluded."

"In this round, the students Huang Can, Liu Yingying, Zhang Yuanlong, Bai Xian... and six others performed exceptionally well. Together with Lin Yi, the student who came from Guangling Martial Academy to study at our academy at the beginning of this month, that makes eleven of you advancing to the second round. You're qualified to challenge the students who ranked in the previous Martial Academy Grand Competition's top ten."

"Now, all eleven of you, along with the students who placed in the top ten last time, come onto the stage for the second-round assessment!"

"Yes!"

At the burly man's words, Lin Yi and the other twenty students answered in unison, then stepped onto the competition ground together.

"Heh, kid. You're Lin Yi, right?"

As soon as Lin Yi stepped onto the arena, a hulking youth approached him with a wide grin. His body was covered in thick muscle, his skin was dark, he stood over two meters tall, and he was thickly covered in hair. He looked like a giant ape, and his expression was openly provocative.

"That's right! I'm Lin Yi. What do you want?"

Seeing that the newcomer seemed hostile, Lin Yi furrowed his brow.

"Kid, I hear you're pretty arrogant!"

The hulking youth sneered.

"Some country bumpkin comes here from the sticks and makes a name for himself by stepping on our Dongshan Martial Academy students just a month after arriving. You've got a death wish!"

"I've wanted to teach you a good lesson this whole month. Too bad you've been so good at hiding, you country bumpkin. I couldn't find a chance."

"Heh, you can't hide today, can you? Tell me, do you dare to come up to the arena and fight me?"

"What! Wan Yong is challenging Lin Yi!"

Before Lin Yi could answer, the students erupted.

"Hahaha! It's happening! They're going at it! Wan Yong and Lin Yi are going at it!"

"Hahaha! Well said, Wan Yong! Some brat from the sticks thinks he can act all high and mighty just because he's got a little strength. I've been sick of the sight of him for ages! If I'd been strong enough, I'd have taught him a good beating myself!"

"Hahaha! Qian Chuan, you'll finally get to vent your anger this time. Wan Yong ranked sixth in the last competition. He's achieved Minor Accomplishment in Extreme Strength and Great Accomplishment in his Fourth-Rank Martial Art, just like Lin Yi, and his cultivation is even higher. He's at the Middle Sixth Rank."

"With him stepping in, Lin Yi is bound to lose!"

"Exactly! That country kid is going to get thrashed by Wan Yong this time."

The students cheered excitedly.

Although Lin Yi had stunned everyone with his formidable strength last time and won over some of the students, many more still refused to accept him.

After all, the students of Dongshan Martial Academy were used to acting superior. They had long been accustomed to looking down on students from the Martial Arts Academies in the commandery cities below them.

Now a student from a commandery city had dared to trample on their pride. Naturally, they were furious. It was only because they hadn't been strong enough before that they'd held back.

But now that they saw a powerful student standing up for them, they were naturally thrilled.

Meanwhile, at Wan Yong's words, Lin Yi's expression turned completely cold.

"Oh, hiding?"

"Hah! Who do you think you are? You're not worth hiding from!"

"If you want a fight, then I'll fight you!"

"But in the second round of the Dongshan Martial Academy Grand Competition, each student only gets three chances to fight other students, right?"

"Now you want me to waste one of my precious chances fighting you, you piece of trash. Tell me, what are you willing to pay?"

"Pay? What do you want?"

At Lin Yi's scathing words, fury surged in Wan Yong's heart. But to make Lin Yi accept the challenge, he forced down his anger, narrowed his eyes, and let out a cold snort.

"It's simple!"

Lin Yi replied coolly.

"If I win, you give me three thousand taels of silver, plus the reward you earn in this Martial Academy Grand Competition."

"Of course, that reward must be at least what you'd get for making the top ten—that is, two thousand taels of silver. Otherwise, you'll have to make up the difference out of your own pocket. That's to stop you from deliberately missing the top ten after you lose to me, just to pay me less."

"If I lose, I'll give you the reward I earn in the competition. Of course, that'll be at least the reward for making the top ten too. What do you say?"

"No problem!"

Wan Yong felt that Lin Yi's terms were a little unfair, but he agreed without hesitation.

He'd never even considered the possibility that he might lose to this country kid.

After all, who was he?

The sixth-ranked student at Dongshan Martial Academy! A peerless genius at the Middle Sixth Rank, with Minor Accomplishment in Extreme Strength and Great Accomplishment in a Fourth-Rank Martial Art! Lose to some kid from the sticks?

"Good! Then let's get on the arena!"

Lin Yi nodded, pulled a long saber from the weapon rack, and walked slowly toward the arena.

Wan Yong did the same, taking a black iron staff over a zhang long and heading for the other side.

Before long, Lin Yi and Wan Yong stood facing each other across the enormous arena, which was over a hundred zhang long and more than fifty meters wide.

"Heh! Kid, you've got guts, actually coming up here to fight me."

Wan Yong grinned at Lin Yi, baring a row of gleaming white teeth. Combined with his ugly, ape-like features, it made him look downright ferocious.

"I guarantee this will be the worst decision you ever make!"

"All right! Since you've got guts, I'll let you strike first. That way, no one can say I, Wan Yong, bullied some country kid!"

"Oh, you'll let me strike first?"

Lin Yi smiled faintly, then slowly raised his left hand and held up three fingers.

"What? You think letting you strike first isn't enough? You want me to give you three free moves too?"

Wan Yong furrowed his brow at Lin Yi's gesture, but then he flashed a confident smile.

"Fine! Since you're such a piece of trash, I'll give you three moves. Go ahead!"

"No."

Lin Yi gently shook his head.

"I mean I'll finish you in three breaths!"

Boom!

As soon as he spoke, Lin Yi's body shot forward like a cannonball fired from its barrel.

In an instant, he tore through the layers of air, leaving behind a series of explosive cracks and afterimages.

Then, saber in hand, he slashed at Wan Yong in a single stroke!