Arrival

"Phew! We've finally arrived." Looking at the familiar building below, a man carrying a sharp sword sighed.

Upon hearing the sigh from the man wielding the sharp sword, the benevolent-looking man beside him nodded, recalling the events of their journey, and immediately agreed, saying, "Yes, this trip has been truly arduous! We even encountered Spatial Storm. Fortunately, we encountered it not long after entering the spatial tunnel, giving us a chance to retreat. If we had encountered it later, we probably would have lost our lives in this Spatial Storm tunnel. We wouldn't have been able to fulfill our promise to Lin Ming."

That's right, these two are Jin Feng and Shao Qing, who have made a promise with Lin Ming to fight each other again in this year's Strong Ranking Tournament.

Jin Feng and Shao Qing are both from the Middle Continent. Their families are similar to Liu Qing's, and both have a Dou Zong Old Ancestor in their family.

In the Northwest Region, a Dou Zong expert is already considered a top-tier powerhouse. However, in the Middle Continent Plains, a Dou Zong is merely someone who can ensure the continuation of a family's lineage. As for being able to rule a region, that's impossible.

Jin Feng and Shao Qing set off half a year ago. They could have arrived at the Jia Nan Academy much earlier, but they didn't know whether it was good luck or bad luck.

During their journey, Jin Feng and Shao Qing met and were able to travel together. However, when they were traveling through the space tunnel, they encountered Spatial Storm.

In the original novel, when Xiao Yan and his companions traveled to the Middle Continent, they encountered Spatial Storm in a spatial tunnel. Even with Xiao Yan's strength as Seven-Star Dou Emperor, he almost lost his life under this Spatial Storm, which shows just how powerful it was.

The unlucky thing about Jin Feng and Shao Qing was definitely encountering this rare Spatial Storm. After all, the chance of encountering such a thing is not much higher than winning the lottery. Their good fortune, as Shao Qing said, was that they reacted immediately upon entering the spatial tunnel and seeing the Spatial Storm, retreating just as quickly as possible. This meant they only had a false alarm and suffered no real harm.

Of course, after encountering this Spatial Storm, they were unable to leave. As a result, they had to wait several months until the spatial tunnel was repaired before it could be reopened. This is why they have only arrived now.

"Alright, let's hurry up and go. This year's Strong Ranking is probably almost over." Although he was still a little scared, the most important thing right now was to get to the Inner Academy. So Jin Feng said this immediately.

As soon as Jin Feng finished speaking, Shao Qing nodded immediately. Then, the Wings of Dou Qi on their backs flapped, and they began to descend rapidly downwards.

Inside the Inner Academy, in the competition square, a plump ball of flesh was rapidly moving, wielding a golden ring saw that emitted a chilling light.

Such a large person would have found it quite difficult to move in his previous life. But here, his swift movements were so fast that, with the exception of a few, most people could not even make out his figure.

"Bang!"

Faced with the attack of the Golden Ring Saw, a jet-black iron hammer slammed heavily into the ground. Instantly, a crack as thick as an arm spread rapidly, and an extremely powerful deep yellow energy burst forth from the crack, striking the fleeting golden lightning directly and sending it flying straight into the sky.

"Haha, come again! Qian Shi Huan, you still have nine rings left!" After blocking Qian Mo's attack, Yan Hao laughed loudly, his Dou Qi surging rapidly within him. The skin on his body turned as hard as rock, with a grayish-white hue.

Seeing Yan Hao's battle Dou Qi covering his body, Qian Mo could only sigh with a wry smile. Yan Hao's Dou Qi belonged to the earth element, and it was also the relatively rare Rock Dou Qi. This kind of Dou Qi could make a cultivator's body as hard as rock. It had a significant restraining effect on his Golden Ring Saw.

It could be said that, in the Strong Ranking Tournament, besides Lin Xiuyai and Liu Qing, Yan Hao was also an opponent Qian Mo was unwilling to face. Apart from these three, Qian Mo was quite confident in defeating the rest.

The battle between Yan Hao and Qian Mo was a duel of offense and defense. In the end, such a match was a contest of the strength of one's Dou Qi. And since Qian Mo couldn't break through Yan Hao's defense at the beginning, it became even more impossible for him to do so later. Therefore, in the eyes of many, the outcome of this match was already decided.

Sure enough, after the battle lasted for a little over an hour, Qian Mo finally had no choice but to give up. He put away the last two golden ring saws in his hands and, amidst the astonished gazes around him, obediently raised his hands in surrender.

Qian Mo's conceding defeat was expected by many, including those on the Referee Seat. So much so that Great Elder Su Qian Mo announced the result of the match without delay.

"Hmm! What's this? These two guys have finally arrived!" As Great Elder Su Qian announced the results, Lin Ming immediately sensed the fluctuations coming from the air. So much so that apart from Great Elder Su Qian, the other elders were all a little puzzled when they saw Lin Ming smiling.

"What's wrong with the Great Elder? Why hasn't he announced the start of the next match yet?" Seeing that Great Elder Su Qian only announced the end of this match without calling for the start of the next one, many onlookers began to whisper among themselves.

In previous matches, the start of the next match was announced immediately after the results of the previous round were announced. But now, they were completely stunned.

"Buzz~!"

As discussions arose at the scene, two sharp, piercing explosions suddenly rang out in the sky, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

"So it's these two guys. No wonder Elder Lin has that expression." Upon seeing the two who had arrived, an elder from the elders' seat immediately spoke up.

These elders had been in the academy for many years, and they naturally remembered the strongest individuals on the previous year's Strong Ranking. In particular, they remembered the final battle of the previous year, which wasn't a typical one-on-one fight, but a chaotic melee involving these two and Elder Lin. Such a memorable event couldn't be forgotten in just a few years.

However, all the elders silently mourned for the two who had arrived. After all, Lin Ming's strength was now overwhelming even for them, let alone for these two youngsters!