Surrounded

Bai Yuan smiled faintly. "Of course it's me. Surprised?"

"You bet! We've known each other for years, and this is the first time I've seen your true strength. You've been hiding it well! It's not just me—even the teachers never saw through you," Bai Guanren said with a sigh.

What did he know? Bai Yuan had never deliberately held back before. Every time he fought, he'd wished he could give it one hundred and twenty percent.

The other website's domain

Bai Yuan looked toward the other man and calmly said, "Brother, do me a favor and let this matter end here. How about it?"

The man hurriedly nodded. He wouldn't dare think of fighting Bai Yuan now.

Just then, Bai Guanren suddenly spoke up. "Wait. I have a request."

The man's face immediately darkened. He thought Bai Guanren still held a grudge over nearly being eliminated by him and was determined to kill him.

But Bai Guanren's next words put those worries to rest.

Bai Guanren said to Bai Yuan, "I appreciate your kindness, but I haven't forgotten what we agreed on earlier. We'll use our own hands to earn everything that belongs to us."

"So let me finish this fight with him. Whatever the outcome, I hope you won't interfere."

Bai Yuan wasn't surprised. That kind of determination was exactly what he expected from Bai Guanren.

Quite a few of the Universe Realm powerhouses watching the fight nodded in quiet approval.

The opponent, meanwhile, was stunned. He hadn't expected Bai Guanren to make such a decision, and couldn't help but feel a measure of respect for him.

"Good! Then let's finish this fight!"

Bai Guanren nodded. Fighting spirit blazed around him as he charged at his opponent again, swinging his blade.

Boom!

As soon as the fight began, Bai Guanren fell completely onto the back foot.

His opponent had fully comprehended the intent and was far, far stronger than he was.

But Bai Yuan keenly noticed that Bai Guanren's strength was improving slightly as they fought.

The improvement wasn't great, but it was real.

"Just as I thought. Only by challenging opponents who surpass you, again and again, can you bring out your own potential."

Bai Guanren had cast aside all distractions and poured himself into every swing. His blade work grew more refined with each strike.

Unfortunately, the gap between them was too great. After only a few dozen exchanges, Bai Guanren was clearly struggling to keep going.

Just as everyone thought the fight was about to end, the unexpected happened...

Rumble!!

Under extreme pressure, with death close at hand, Bai Guanren broke through to the Planet Realm!

He had already been just a hair's breadth away from the Planet Realm. He'd only been holding back on purpose.

Now, with his entire focus on the fight and the pressure mounting, he unwittingly broke through that final barrier and advanced.

Even without this battle, Bai Guanren could have found a quiet place to cultivate in seclusion and successfully broken through to the Planet Realm.

But the two methods of advancement would have led to very different results.

Breaking through in seclusion would have been an ordinary advancement. Breaking through in a desperate situation, however, would allow him to dig deeper into his potential.

If Bai Guanren had advanced the normal way, his future limit might have been the Star Ninth Rank. But breaking through in such dire circumstances had given him a slim chance of reaching the Universe Realm.

As Bai Guanren entered the Planet Realm, a beam of white light suddenly enveloped him and instantly teleported him out of the Blade Tomb World.

After all, breaking through to the Planet Realm was against the rules, even if it happened unintentionally.

After Bai Guanren was eliminated, the other man looked at Bai Yuan with a grave expression.

Seeing that Bai Yuan looked as calm as ever and showed no sign of attacking, he felt a little relieved.

"Can I leave?" he asked tentatively.

"Of course. I have no intention of keeping you here," Bai Yuan replied, somewhat confused.

Did he really look that fierce? Why was the other man so wary of him?

Time passed, and more and more people were eliminated.

The truly top fighters were also gradually converging on Zone One.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

Even as twenty-seven flying knives closed in on him, Bai Yuan remained composed. He moved with astonishing speed, knocking all the knives aside in an instant before darting over to the opponent controlling them. One slash ended the fight.

"Martial Artists and Psychic Masters don't have an inherent difference in strength, but Psychic Masters do have a more obvious advantage in the early stages," Bai Yuan analyzed to himself.

Psychic Masters fell into two categories: Controllers and Illusionists. The former primarily controlled Telekinetic Weapons to attack, while the latter specialized in various soul techniques, targeting their opponents' souls directly.

Since they followed different paths, it was difficult to make a simple judgment about which was stronger.

In the early stages of cultivation, a Martial Artist generally wielded no more than two blades at once, while a Psychic Master could launch dozens of flying blades in a single attack.

Even if someone could defend with both hands, their eyes might not be able to keep up with such a dense barrage.

But as one's cultivation advanced, Domains, Origin Laws, secret techniques, treasures, and the like became the core factors that determined one's combat strength.

"Alas, my movement technique still needs work," Bai Yuan sighed.

Sharp Metal Thirty-Three Slash didn't include a Guidance Technique or a movement technique, so he could only make do with ones that suited him.

His movement technique's advantage lay in its explosive bursts of speed, which became even more formidable when combined with Sharp Metal Thirty-Three Slash.

But its weaknesses were just as obvious: it lacked flexibility, and his attacks were too straightforward.

If an opponent could block his blade head-on, he'd be in quite a difficult position.

So far, though, no one had been able to fully withstand his attacks head-on.

As he walked, Bai Yuan suddenly stopped and calmly asked, "You've been following me for so long. What do you want?"

As soon as he spoke, more than twenty figures stopped hiding and emerged from every direction, surrounding him.

A man with a War Blade strapped to his back said solemnly, "You're too strong and too dazzling. If you keep fighting, you'll overshadow the rest of us. So you have to be eliminated early!"

Quite a few people around him nodded. They clearly shared the same idea.

One was a perfect score, the other a passing grade.

Only with the perfect-score prodigy out of the way would those who'd passed have a chance to stand out.

Of course, some of them had come purely to fight Bai Yuan.

But if they went at him alone, they'd probably be defeated in an instant, so they'd decided to join forces and attack him together.

Bai Yuan's mouth twitched. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.

"What's the point of ganging up on me? If you have the guts, fight me one-on-one!" Bai Yuan shouted.

To his surprise, the others shook their heads repeatedly.

"If we could beat you one-on-one, why would we join forces? To be shamelessly honest, what we're doing is also a way of acknowledging your strength."

Hearing that, Bai Yuan truly didn't know how to argue back.

After all, the Blade Clan did have a saying like that.

A true powerhouse should fear no enemy. Even when surrounded by a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand opponents, he should be able to face them with ease.

But Bai Yuan had always felt there was more than a little bragging in that saying.

A man should know when to yield and when to stand firm. If you can't win, fight anyway; if you still can't win, run. Once you've grown stronger, you can come back and settle the score. There's no need to charge in headfirst.