"A few exchanges?"
Light as a swallow, Lin Yuan bounded down the mountain in a few leaps and entered the valley.
He faintly heard the excited chatter of the women in the Goddess Luo Squad and could not help smiling.
You should be in for a surprise. After all...
I haven't spent this past week doing nothing.
Lin Yuan stood tall, calm and composed.
His right hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his waist. His posture was relaxed, his cold eyes fixed on the enormous creature nearby without a trace of fear.
All he felt was fighting spirit that pierced the heavens and icy killing intent.
"Moo—"
This Earth Desolate Bull Beast stood six meters tall, slightly smaller than the one Wu Junru had slain, but no less intelligent.
One look at the human's icy gaze told the beast that a battle was inevitable.
The beast roared in fury, its four hooves grinding incessantly against the ground and sending dust flying.
As a member of the noble Stellar Behemoth race, the beast had been born with knowledge. The ancient information inherited through its bloodline told it that every other race in the universe was an ant; only Stellar Behemoths endured for eternity.
And now, a mere ant dared to provoke a noble Stellar Behemoth like this?
Kill!
Cold killing intent shone in the beast's large, round eyes.
Without hesitation, the Earth Desolate Bull Beast stamped forward. Instinct etched into its genes allowed the beast to unleash its innate talent with seamless ease, shaking the earth ahead almost instantly.
Boom!
The earth heaved, surging toward him in wave upon wave.
This was the Earth Desolate Bull Beast race's most common opening move. The one Junru had slain earlier had used the same attack.
Almost instinctively, Lin Yuan leaped more than ten meters into the air, avoiding the waves sweeping across the ground.
"Hmph!"
Unexpectedly, the Earth Desolate Bull Beast gave a cold snort at the sight, a hint of mockery lurking deep in its eyes.
Foolish mortal...
How could the beast be as stupid as ordinary members of its race?
Whoosh!
As Lin Yuan leaped high into the air, the Earth Desolate Bull Beast, which should have been exhausted from unleashing its innate talent, raised its head again.
The pale blue Star Pattern on its forehead erupted with brilliant golden light.
Whoosh—
A deep, almost dark-golden Earth Tremor Force condensed into a single beam, tearing through the sky like a blade as it sliced straight toward Lin Yuan.
The beast still had enough strength to unleash a second innate talent?
Perhaps even the earlier upheaval of the earth had been bait, meant to lure Lin Yuan into the air to evade the damage. The true killing blow was this condensed beam of Earth Tremor Force!
"Hm?"
"This is bad!"
"That vile beast!"
The sudden turn of events made the faces of the Goddess Luo Squad members watching from afar shift slightly, their beautiful eyes widening.
Gu Shuangshuang frowned faintly, her hand settling on the saber hilt at her waist, while her eyes remained locked on Lin Yuan's movements and expression.
Faced with this sudden, life-threatening crisis, Lin Yuan's expression did not change at all. His eyes remained icy, and his steady, composed presence eased Captain Gu's heart slightly, even as she inwardly marveled.
"..."
Suspended in midair, Lin Yuan had no way to dodge the dark-golden Earth Tremor Force slicing toward him at tremendous speed.
But he made no attempt to evade it. Instead, he instantly drew his sword—
Clang!
A ringing sword cry echoed across the sky.
Immediately afterward, a strand of fiercely concentrated, dazzling Sword Qi slashed out, like starlight flaring into existence, like the river of heaven cascading down.
The Sword Qi was incredibly long and slender, spanning heaven and earth.
Though it was only a single strand, it seemed capable of cleaving the galaxy and shattering stars, its beauty breathtaking and utterly stunning.
"Heaven-Splitting Draw!"
"Find life in the face of death!"
Lin Yuan's gaze was icy.
He had chosen to meet the Earth Desolate Bull Beast head-on!
Whoosh—
Sword Qi swept through the air, cold as frost.
Caught off guard by that dazzling sword strike, the Goddess Luo Squad members all turned their heads slightly, averting their eyes from its cutting brilliance.
When they looked back, they saw something that shook them to the core—
Whoosh!
A long fissure had suddenly appeared across the earth!
Its edges were smooth, as though torn open by Sword Qi, and it stretched straight ahead for over a hundred meters.
On either side of that fissure lay the Earth Desolate Bull Beast's corpse, cleaved in two!
Even the "Boundary," which embodied a Star Beast's undying vitality, had been sliced apart. It had dimmed completely, without so much as a ripple of star power remaining.
"..."
Silence!
It was as though someone had pressed pause on the entire valley.
Every member of the Goddess Luo Squad fell silent. Red lips slightly parted and beautiful eyes frozen, they stared blankly at the sword scar in the earth and at Lin Yuan, who calmly sheathed his sword.
An inexplicable sense of absurdity suddenly welled up in their hearts.
What did I just see?
What the hell did I just see?
The women, who had always been poised and proper, now felt an almost irresistible urge to swear.
The sight before them was simply too terrifying.
Facing the Earth Desolate Bull Beast's exceedingly cunning tactics, Lin Yuan, a mere newcomer fighting a Stellar Behemoth for the very first time, had actually achieved such a terrifying result?
"Ten exchanges?"
One woman murmured in disbelief.
And to think they had gone to all that trouble guessing how many exchanges Lin Yuan would need to win.
Well, now they had their answer—
An instant kill with a single strike. Could anyone believe it?
"Are all newcomers this terrifying these days?"
Someone gave a bitter smile, looking rather dispirited.
Back in their first battles, they had considered it an achievement just to keep their legs from buckling. Winning after a hard struggle had been more than enough to make them proud.
They had thought they were pretty good themselves, but now...
The gap was far too vast.
"Heaven-Sundering Sword Draw..."
Compared with the other members of the Goddess Luo Squad, their captain, Gu Shuangshuang, was even more astonished.
She had recognized the Stellar Force Secret Art Lin Yuan used—it was none other than the Heaven-Sundering Sword Draw!
This Stellar Force Secret Art was renowned among warriors.
After all, it was one of the few top-tier Stellar Force Secret Arts with no star power requirement, allowing its power to be adjusted freely.
In theory, even a newcomer who had only just broken through and possessed a single strand of natal stellar force could master it.
Unlike other advanced secret arts, which could not be performed at all without a certain amount of natal stellar force.
A low entry threshold, tremendous power, and, when perfected, the ability to shatter a star with a single strike!
All of this naturally made countless Starry-Sky Warriors covet it. Who knew how many practitioners of the sword Dao longed to master it?
But unfortunately...
The Heaven-Sundering Sword Draw ranked second in cultivation difficulty among Sky-Grade Stellar Force Secret Arts. Its requirements for deconstructing and applying star power, as well as understanding swordsmanship, were extraordinarily high.
Its overall difficulty was considerable even among Sky-Grade Stellar Force Secret Arts. Ordinary Starry-Sky Warriors had no chance at all.
Those who mastered it were powerful warriors with exceptional attainments in the sword Dao, who had also traveled far along the path of star power and accumulated ample experience.
Lin Yuan...
Had actually mastered the Heaven-Sundering Sword Draw?
Gu Shuangshuang was shaken to her core.
And he had only broken through recently, hadn't he?
According to Yiyi, it had been one or two weeks at most.
In just one week... he had mastered a Sky-Grade Stellar Force Secret Art?
She pressed her lips together and fell silent.
For the first time, she truly felt how terrifying a genuine genius could be.
"Perhaps he really does have a chance to distinguish himself in this year's Star-Martial Prodigy Training Program and become the brightest true prodigy in all of Human Civilization..."
Before you continue