A Guaranteed Top Three

Jiang Xiaodong, the deacon of the East River Genius Group, stepped forward and shook hands with the reception deacon from Cloud River Province: "Hello."

At this moment, a female reporter from Yunchuan Province walked up to the Genius Group and went directly to Chen Lie was at the very front.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Qingqing, a reporter from Cloud River Province Provincial TV Station. Are you Chen Lie, the martial Martial Leader of the East River Provincial Genius Group?"

Chen Lie nodded and said, "I am Chen Lie."

"Chen Lie, would you be available for an interview? It won't take long, just five minutes."

"Okay." Chen Lie nodded.

"Okay, thank you for your cooperation."

Zhang Qingqing immediately instructed the staff of the Provincial TV Station to set up the camera and film.

"Hello Chen Lie, as the East River Province Martial Leader, do you feel pressured and worried that you might not achieve a good ranking in the Three-Province Martial Tournament?"

Chen Lie: "No pressure."

Zhang Qingqing: "Oh? Is it because you have a good mindset and feel no pressure, or is it because you are confident in your abilities and believe you can achieve a good ranking in the Three-Province Martial Tournament?"

Chen Lie: "Because of the latter."

Zhang Qingqing: "So what kind of ranking do you think you can achieve in the martial arts competition?"

Chen Lie: "Guaranteed top three."

Zhang Qingqing: "Does that mean you're confident about being second or first?"

Chen Lie: "Yes."

Zhang Qingqing: "What are your thoughts on Ji Lingxuan, the Yunchuan Province Martial Leader, and Gu Yang, the Martial Leader of West River Province? Do you consider yourself to be on the same level as them?"

Chen Lie: "I've never fought him, so I don't know."

Zhang Qingqing: "Without knowing the strength of his opponents, Chen Lie is confident that he can at least get a top-three ranking in the three-province martial arts competition. He must be very confident in his martial arts skills."

May I ask how old Mr. Chen Lie is this year?

Chen Lie: "18."

Zhang Qingqing: "Okay, thank you Chen Lie for cooperating with our interview. On behalf of the staff of Cloud River Province Provincial TV Station, I Chen Lie good luck in achieving a good result in the Three-Province Martial Tournament."

After the interview, Zhang Qingqing immediately asked the TV station staff to move the camera and randomly select members of the Genius Group to continue the interview.

"Chen Lie, are you crazy? How dare you say in front of Cloud River Province TV that you can guarantee a top-three finish in the martial arts competition?" Tang Jiu'er couldn't help but say from behind.

"Oh, what's wrong?"

Do you think that breaking through to the Blood-Qi Extreme Realm will make it easy to win a top-three spot in the martial arts competition?

The Blood-Qi Extreme Realm in Yunchuan Province are usually the sum of those in West River Province and East River Province Provinces combined.

This year, three people from East River Province have reached the Blood-Qi Extreme Realm. It's likely that the combined number of people at the Blood-Qi Extreme Realm Three Provinces of Chuanzhong this year will reach double digits. Among so many people, are you absolutely certain you can take a top-three spot?

"If I'm unsure, I won't say it in public."

Tang Jiu'er rolled her eyes at Chen Lie: "Whatever, I wasn't the one bragging in public anyway. If I don't get into the top three, we'll see how you get yourself killed."

Shortly after the TV station staff finished their interviews, the receptionist from the Yunchuan Province Martial Artist Association led the members of the East River Provincial Genius Group to the Yunchuan Provincial Genius Group's reception hall.

Led by Chen Lie and the receptionist from Cloud River Province, they entered the reception hall.

The reception hall is several thousand square meters in size. At this moment, there are already fifty or sixty teenagers in different uniforms gathered in the hall. Judging from the insignia on their uniforms, these people are all members of the Guancai Group from Cloud River Province and West River Province.

"The students from East River Province have arrived! Someone, come and greet them!"

As soon as they entered the hall, the receptionist from Cloud River Province called over some staff members to arrange for the members of the East River Genius Group to take their seats.

As the East River Martial Champion, Chen Lie naturally sat at the very front. He glanced at the directions of Cloud River Province and West River Province and saw Ji Lingxuan sitting at the front of Cloud River Province and an unfamiliar young man at the front of West River Province. He guessed that this must be Gu Yang from West River Province.

"Hello everyone from the Provincial Genius Group, welcome to the Three Provinces Gathering today. Our task today is to discuss the specific date for the Three-Province Martial Tournament and the preliminary preparations."

Next, please welcome Inspector Bao Yongchai, the Chuanshan- Shaanxi Inspector appointed by the Blue Star Martial Artist Association.

No sooner had Cloud River Province's receptionist finished speaking than a middle-aged man stepped forward.

The middle-aged man glanced at the many members of the Provincial Genius Group present and said, "I am Bao Yongchai, and I am in charge of hosting this Three Provinces Gathering."

As is customary, I will now examine the Martial Leader of the Three Provinces of Chuanzhong. Ji Lingxuan, Gu Yang, and Chen Lie, the three of you, please step forward.

Upon hearing this, Chen Lie immediately stood up and went to the front of the reception hall, where he stood with Ji Lingxuan and Gu Yang.

Bao Yongchai's gaze swept over Chen Lie and Gu Yang, finally settling on Ji Lingxuan: "The martial arts competition of the five provinces of Shanling Five Provinces was completed the day before yesterday. Yang Tianlai, the Martial Leader of the Guannei Province, won first place. I heard that you fought against Yang Tianlai during the Eight Provinces Gathering. Although there was no clear winner, Yang Tianlai was at a disadvantage. Is that true?"

Ji Lingxuan nodded slightly.

"You're quite good. Guannei Province has always been the top of the eight provinces. It's truly an anomaly that Chuanzhong could produce a martial arts genius like you. With your current level of martial arts, you'd be a worthy contender even among the top ten provinces on Blue Star."

You can skip this school entrance exam.

After speaking, Bao Yongchai looked at Chen Lie and Gu Yang.

"You two, come and spar with me. Don't worry, I'll control my power and won't hurt you."

"Who should go first?" Gu Yang asked.

"You all come together!"

Bao Yongchai finished speaking, he immediately reached out and punched Chen Lie Chen Lie and Gu Yang Gu Yang at the same time.

Gu Yang swayed, and then his fist slammed towards Bao Yongchai in an instant, the thunderous sound of the Myriad Jun Great Strength hitting the ground echoing endlessly.

On the other side, Chen Lie did not fight as aggressively as Gu Yang, but dodged the punches and engaged in a fierce battle with Bao Yongchai.

The reception hall was filled with swirling internal True Qi, making it difficult for Chen Lie and Gu Yang to make contact with Bao Yongchai due to the attack of this True Qi leaving his body.

"The advantage that True Qi has when it leaves the body in battle is far greater than that of Blood-Qi Stage."

After muttering something to himself, Chen Lie, under the pressure of Bao Yongchai's True Qi, fought and dodged simultaneously.

On the other side, Gu Yang had already begun to unleash S-Rank Martial Art, his blood-red handprints continuously striking towards Bao Yongchai, but all of them were shattered by his True Qi.

Gu Yang was putting in a lot of effort, but Bao Yongchai felt that this East River Province Martial Leader was unusually cunning. From the beginning until now, after dozens of moves, he hadn't used his full strength at all.

After Bao Yongchai unleashed a punch at Gu Yang with his True Qi, he turned his attention to Chen Lie.

With a flick of his finger, dozens of streams of True Qi instantly split off and attacked Chen Lie.

Left with no other choice, Chen Lie had to retaliate with all his might. He unleashed dozens of palm strikes in an instant, each one containing Myriad Jun Great Strength, shattering the persistent True Qi.

Having already tested Chen Lie and Gu Yang's strength, Bao Yongchai waved his hand dismissively.

With a loud "boom," the True Qi spread out, instantly forcing Chen Lie and Gu Yang back more than ten meters.

In just a short while, Bao Yongchai exchanged over a hundred blows with Chen Lie and Gu Yang, and thanks to Bao Yongchai's deliberate guidance, the reception hall remained largely undamaged.

"That concludes the assessment. I have a general understanding of your abilities."

As he spoke, Bao Yongchai looked at Chen Lie.

He only felt that this Martial Leader from East River Province was slippery, letting the Martial Leader from West River Province take the lead in everything, and only at the last moment did he realize his strength.

"Chen Lie, is it? Your combat experience is indeed very rich, but your strength is indeed a notch weaker. You only recently stepped into the Blood-Qi Extreme Realm?"

Chen Lie nodded and hummed in agreement.

Seeing that Chen Lie nodded, Bao Yongchai did not ask any further questions.

He thought to himself, "It seems that East River Province will still be at the bottom this year. Even the strongest Martial Leader is much weaker than the West River Province Martial Leader. The other members of the Genius Group will definitely be even worse."

Among the Martial Leader of the three provinces, the Martial Leader from Cloud River Province is the strongest, while the champion from East River Province is clearly the weakest.

At this moment, Chen Lie suddenly hummed in agreement.

He suddenly felt a divine sense probing him. After sensing it for a moment, he realized that the source of the divine sense was Gu Yang, who was standing next to him.

Gu Yang from West River Province is also Divine Sense Master?

"Now that the exams are over, I'll arrange for the members of the Provincial Genius Group to have a friendly exchange."

The Martial Leader of the three provinces, go and discuss the details and date of the Three-Provinces Martial Tournament!

After Bao Yongchai finished speaking, he beckoned to the reception officer from Yunchuan Province, while he himself went to the Provincial Genius Group.

"Three students, please follow me."

Cloud River Province's receptionist invited Chen Lie, Ji Lingxuan, and Gu Yang to a quiet meeting room.

After the three of them sat down, he said, "The three Martial Leader, shall we first discuss the date for the Three-Province Martial Tournament?"

From the end of this month to the beginning of next month, that is, from the 20th of this month to the 10th of next month, is fine. You can discuss the specific time.

Ji Lingxuan looked up at Chen Lie: "Chen Lie, do you have any thoughts?"

"In my opinion, it's better to do it sooner rather than later. Let's set it for the 20th of this month," Chen Liedao.

Ji Lingxuan nodded slightly and looked at Gu Yang.

Gu Yang also said, "I don't mind, sooner or later is fine."

"Then let's go along with Chen Lie's suggestion and set the martial arts competition for the 20th of this month," Ji Lingxuan said.

The receptionist nodded repeatedly, then said, "So—where to? We have five options. One is the training ground of the Cloud River Province Genius Group, another is Jiangyun City No. 1 High School, which is adjacent to the East and West Rivers. This place is close to all Three Rivers, and—"

"Let's leave it to the Yunchuan Martial Artist Association to decide. It's all in Cloud River Province anyway, so it doesn't matter where they choose," Gu Yang said.

Chen Liedao, "I have no objection."

Ji Lingxuan nodded as well.

"The next point is the number of participants in the Three-Province Martial Tournament. Should we hold a competition for all participants, or only compare the top ten members of Provincial Genius Group?"

This is something to be aware of. If a newly promoted member of the Genius Group faces a top member from another province in a martial arts competition, they might be defeated in less than one move, which could severely damage their confidence in martial arts.

"In this way, we can divide the competition into multiple zones, with the top ten members from each province advancing together, and the remaining members of similar strength assigned to the same zone," Gu Yang said.

"Okay." Chen Lie nodded.

Ji Lingxuan also hummed in agreement.

The receptionist from Cloud River Province said, "Please report the number of members in your Genius Group from each province. As the host, Cloud River Province will do its utmost to welcome our distinguished guests from afar."

Gu Yang: "27 people from West River Province."

Chen Lie: "30 people from East River Province."

Ji Lingxuan also gave a token number of people. "24 from Yunchuan Province."

After Ji Lingxuan finished speaking, she realized that the East River Provincial Genius Group was already full.

This had never happened before in Cloud River Province. Whenever the number of Yunchuan Provincial Genius Group exceeded 25, the advancement standard would immediately increase significantly.

Under the guidance of the Cloud River Province reception officer, Chen Lie and the other two discussed several preparatory matters for the Three-Province Martial Tournament.

It took about twenty minutes to reach an agreement on all matters.

"The three of you, these are the rewards for the top twenty in the Three-Province Martial Tournament. Please take a look. We will release them to the public through various official media channels today."

As he spoke, the receptionist distributed three identical sheets of paper to the three people present.

Chen Lie took the paper and was immediately shocked.

"The reward for first place in the Three-Province Martial Tournament is incredibly generous!"

He certainly couldn't miss out on such a generous reward.

"Now that everything has been agreed upon, I'll report to the Martial Artist Association. The three of you can go to your respective provincial teams on the second floor of the Infinity Building Realm."

After the receptionist finished speaking, he left first.

Chen Lie stood up, intending to leave, but suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Chen Lie, please wait a moment."

Chen Lie turned around and saw that it was Ji Lingxuan who had called him, so he asked, "Ji Lingxuan, did you call me for something?"

"At the last Eight Provinces Gathering, my classmate Chen Lie gave me very precise guidance. That method of circulating qi and blood was much more useful to me than I had imagined."

I remember you mentioned last time that I had shortcomings in the Tendon Refining and Bone Refining training of the Six Steps of Body Refining, so I would like to ask Chen Lie to point them out and correct them for me.

Don't worry, I won't let you waste your time. I can exchange it for Resource Gold Booklet.

Seeing Ji Lingxuan's sincerity, Chen Lie couldn't help but sigh. As expected of a martial arts genius who rose from humble beginnings, her manners and dealings with people were far superior to those of disciples from noble families.

However, Ji Lingxuan is already the strongest by a wide margin, with Blood Qi Value exceeding four thousand calories. She is Martial Artist has already begun to Organ Refining internal organs. If Chen Lie points out her shortcomings now, she will definitely be able to improve her strength again before the Three-Province Martial Tournament.

He wouldn't risk losing more than he gained; Chen Lie would never do something that would aid the enemy. So he said, "Give me the Resource Gold Booklet. After the Three-Province Martial Tournament, I'll point out your shortcomings in Tendon Refining. How about that?"

Ji Lingxuan thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay."

As she spoke, she took out a Golden Card Album and handed it to Chen Lie, Chen Lie accepted Gold Booklet without hesitation.

After speaking with Ji Lingxuan, Chen Lie left the Council Chamber and went to the second floor.

At this moment, nearly a hundred members of the Provincial Genius Group had all gathered on the second floor.

The second floor of the reception hall was even more spacious than the first floor, and several pairs of Provincial Genius Group were sparring on the central Duel Platform.