Rankings Soar!

"Why are you here?"

Zhong Xian frowned slightly, her eyes filled with confusion and disbelief.

Just moments ago, she had thought Li Qingshan was at the bottom of the rankings and had been too embarrassed to mention her own rank. Yet the moment she entered the Martial Arts Space, she ran into him.

"Looks like I underestimated you before. Unfortunately..." The surprise faded from Zhong Xian's face as her red lips parted.

"Your luck is terrible. Of all people, you got matched against me."

"There's nothing terrible about it." Li Qingshan shook his head with a laugh and said casually,

"It's my honor to receive Senior Sister's guidance."

Zhong Xian frowned even more deeply, her eyes fixed on Li Qingshan's face.

He claimed it was an "honor," but his expression was utterly indifferent.

"Li Qingshan, a rank close to 60,000 is indeed impressive, but it's not enough for you to become so arrogant!"

"You only matched against me because I haven't logged into the Battle Space for a month."

A month ago, she had still been at the Body Tempering Fifth Stage and only had mastery of her blade technique.

Now, she had reached the Body Tempering Sixth Stage, and her Lost-Trace Steps had reached mastery as well.

She had entered the Battle Space today precisely to see where her limits lay.

Zhong Xian lightly danced her long blade and said sternly,

"We focused on cultivation and ignored outside matters. I never expected that to let you develop such an arrogant personality. It's perfect—today, I'll wake you up."

"Senior Sister, there's something I'm not sure I should say."

Li Qingshan suddenly spoke, catching Zhong Xian off guard.

"What is it?"

"You talk too much!"

With a roar, he shot forward like an arrow, his long blade tearing through the air.

"Bold!"

Zhong Xian's expression changed sharply as she raised her blade to meet him.

The hundred-meter distance vanished in an instant.

Wind Shadow Blade against Wind Shadow Blade. The howling of slicing wind continued without end as the two long blades were about to clash.

Facing Zhong Xian's blade as it cut through the wind toward him,

Li Qingshan neither dodged nor retreated. The Thunder-Pattern Blade swung faster and faster, transforming into a sky full of blade shadows.

"Blade-Light Illusion. Is this your reliance?"

Zhong Xian gripped her blade hilt tightly and slashed with all her strength toward the blade shadows.

A Body Tempering Fifth Stage cultivator had a punching force of 1,000 kilograms, while a Body Tempering Sixth Stage cultivator had 2,000 kilograms—a full twofold difference!

A merely proficient Wind Shadow Blade could not block her!

Clang!

Metal rang against metal, and the blade shadows filling the sky vanished.

A confident smile appeared on Zhong Xian's face.

Everything was just as she had expected. Li Qingshan truly could not block her blade.

Then, at that moment,

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A fierce gale howled by her ears, and another blade-light suddenly flashed, attacking from beneath her arm.

Layer upon layer of blade-light overlapped, as though forged from countless blade shadows.

Zhong Xian's smile froze. Her eyes widened as she said in disbelief,

"Wind Shadow Follows!?"

The perfected ultimate move of Wind Shadow Blade, Wind Shadow Follows!

The blade flashed and vanished. Her slender body split into two.

"Opponent defeated. Current rank: 60,815. Continue matching?"

Li Qingshan stood still with his blade in hand, glanced at the long ponytail lying in the pool of blood, and casually pressed confirm.

"Please prepare for battle. Opponent selected: Chai Ye. Rank: 60,568."

"Countdown: 3... 2... 1!"

"Opponent defeated. Current rank: 50,753. Continue matching?"

"Opponent defeated. Current rank: 40,132. Continue matching?"

"Opponent defeated. Current rank: 30,398. Continue matching?"

"Please prepare for battle. Opponent selected: Lu Su. Rank: 23,653."

"Countdown: 3... 2... 1!"

On the battle platform, two figures darted and shifted, while the sound of clashing metal rang endlessly.

"Junior Brother, proficient Lost-Trace Steps are indeed formidable, but Big Sister's Ghost Shadow Steps aren't so easy to push around."

As she spoke, the charming figure held her long spear in reverse and suddenly thrust backward.

A return thrust!

Li Qingshan's expression tightened. He tapped off the ground with the tip of his foot, and the spear tip stopped just short of his chest.

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the spear changed again and swept across at him.

Li Qingshan frowned. His long blade split the wind, and the countless blade shadows condensed into two blade-lights that blocked the spear's path.

Bang! Bang!

With two heavy impacts, the spear's offensive slowed slightly before attacking again.

Li Qingshan's palm had gone numb, leaving him unable to swing his blade again to block it. He could only push his proficient Lost-Trace Steps to their utmost and keep weaving about.

"Junior Brother, you can't beat Big Sister just by dodging!"

Her flirtatious voice kept harassing him, leaving Li Qingshan looking helpless.

Throughout the previous hundred-plus battles, he had crushed his opponents with his perfected Wind Shadow Blade.

But after reaching the top 20,000, his opponents were basically all at the Body Tempering Sixth Stage or above, and proficient martial skills had begun to appear.

Lu Su in particular was at the Body Tempering Seventh Stage, with proficient spear techniques!

After three months of cultivation, no matter how hard Li Qingshan worked, he had only barely reached the Body Tempering Fifth Stage.

At the Body Tempering Fifth Stage, one's speed was 20 meters per second and punching force was 1,000 kilograms.

At the Body Tempering Seventh Stage, one's speed was 30 meters per second and punching force was 3,500 kilograms.

The immense gap between them was enough for Lu Su to crush him through sheer cultivation alone.

If Lu Su's Ghost Shadow Steps had not only been at mastery, he would have been pierced to death long ago.

Clang!

The long spear swept over once more with savage force.

Unable to evade, Li Qingshan could only barely raise his blade to block.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His long blade was knocked away, and the spearhead fiercely pierced his heart.

Li Qingshan fell backward, and a charming face appeared before his eyes.

"Junior Brother, I'll be looking forward to seeing you next time!"

Lu Su looked relaxed as she waved.

After the corpse on the ground closed its eyes and she confirmed that Li Qingshan had gone "offline,"

she suddenly let out a breath and stuck out her tongue.

"Old Continent has monsters like this? I almost capsized in a ditch!"

In the Battle Space, before the sheer cliff.

"You have been killed by your opponent. Current rank: 23,874. Continue matching?"

The cold mechanical voice sounded.

Li Qingshan rubbed his brow and looked up at the cliff. His gaze gradually rose to a point one-third of the way up, where one name after another enlarged before his eyes.

There was his own, Lu Su's, and those of several other opponents he had fought.

"This should be where the strongest second-years are, right?"

The martial arts classes eliminated students year by year. Fallen Blossom City had only three third-years, and other ordinary cities were likely much the same.

Wuyi, as the provincial capital, might be in better shape, but it could not have retained many more students.

By that calculation, there were probably fewer than 200 third-year martial arts students in an entire province.

Across all 107 provinces, there should be around 20,000 third-year martial arts students in total.

"At rank 23,874, it still isn't safe enough if I want to claim a top ten spot in the second-year Rookie Tournament. But Lost-Trace Steps are about to reach perfection, and my combat power can rise another step."

After calculating it over in his heart, Li Qingshan decisively exited the Battle Space.

The virtual pod's lid opened. Li Qingshan flipped himself upright, then turned his gaze toward the panel.

[Li Qingshan]

[Realm: Body Tempering 46/100]

[Technique:

The Thirty-Sixth Set of Radio Calisthenics—The Stars Are Calling 1235/3000 (Proficient)]

[Martial skills: Lost-Trace Steps 2896/3000 (Proficient), Wind Shadow Blade Perfected]

[Function: Martial Arts Space Lv1 (9/100)]

[Available time: 6 years, 213 days]

[Time flow rate: 1:10]

"Lost-Trace Steps are only a little over 100 proficiency away from perfection. It shouldn't take long. I should finish today's Body Tempering cultivation first."

Having just been crushed by Lu Su's realm, Li Qingshan would not neglect his real-world Body Tempering cultivation just for the sake of martial skills.

He stepped out of the virtual pod, took out a bottle of intermediate nutrient solution, and drank it.

Li Qingshan began cultivating methodically...