"Whoosh!"
The dust and smoke gradually cleared, revealing everything on the ground.
Lin Yuan and the others hurriedly looked over, only to suck in a breath of cold air.
"That was brutally violent..."
He could not help marveling.
The others looked no better, each staring in amazement as though looking at a monster.
An enormous crater had appeared in the ground, torn open by the collision of the two forces.
At its center lay the Earth Desolate Bull Beast's corpse, practically shredded into countless pieces... no, chunks of flesh would have been a more fitting description.
The power of Gu Yiyi's spear strike had been truly terrifying.
Not only had it shattered the Earth Tremor Force that the Earth Desolate Bull Beast had unleashed with all its might, but it had also driven straight through the beast without losing any momentum, tearing its body apart.
"Whew..."
The girl drew a deep breath and planted her spear on the ground, gripping it tightly with her right hand to barely keep herself from collapsing.
Clearly, it had taken an enormous toll on her, too.
Unleashing the Thunder-Origin Dragon Spear is still too much of a stretch...
She sighed inwardly, feeling drained.
After all, she had only just awakened her thunder-origin immortal body. Both her body and her Star Power were still in their earliest stages, so recklessly unleashing this move carried tremendous risks.
But...
I don't want you to leave me too far behind, either.
The girl pressed her lips together, her eyes holding a stubbornness that belonged to her alone.
Lin Yuan's earlier sword strike had shocked her just as much—if anything, more than it had the other members of the Goddess Luo Squad.
After all, she and Lin Yuan had been classmates for three years. She knew perfectly well what his results had been back in school.
Yet in just a few months, Lin Yuan had come from behind and overtaken her. Not only had he likewise broken through to become a Starry-Sky Warrior, but that sword strike had even left her awestruck.
He's growing too fast!
I'm the one who's always been the martial prodigy, you know!
How could I fall behind someone else?
Especially the person I like...
The girl's pride had made her throw caution to the wind.
And the result had indeed shocked even Lin Yuan, leaving him inwardly marveling at how absurd special constitutions were—
This move was clearly an innate secret art that came with Gu Yiyi's special constitution, not a conventional stellar force secret art that anyone could learn.
Yet its power was outrageous.
One spear strike had blasted the Earth Desolate Bull Beast to death!
It was almost on par with Lin Yuan's Heaven-Sundering Sword Draw.
Its power rivaled sky-grade stellar force secret arts, yet she did not have to expend any effort learning it. Like an instinct, she could simply use it naturally!
How were ordinary Starry-Sky Warriors supposed to compete with that?
It was practically bullying...
Still, luckily, I'm no slouch myself.
Lin Yuan glanced at the densely packed talent traits within him: "Swordsmanship Mastery," "Martial prodigy," "Transcendent comprehension," and more...
Mm. Never mind, then.
"You both did very well."
Gu Shuangshuang smiled.
Her gaze toward the girl also held a trace of pride.
Lin Yuan was certainly a pleasant surprise, but our Yiyi is no slouch, either!
The thunder-origin immortal body...
It was one of the most powerful innate constitutions.
Among Human Civilization's current nine King-Sealing Realm experts, one supreme powerhouse known as the Thunderblade King possessed the thunder-origin immortal body!
As a result, countless people had long since witnessed this innate constitution's terrifying power, and naturally had high expectations for Gu Yiyi.
But the girl had not disappointed those who cared about her. Despite only awakening it at a preliminary level, she could already unleash the "Thunder-Origin Dragon Spear"...
"Heehee."
The girl recovered her energy and smiled once more.
She skipped back to Lin Yuan's side. Above her slender waist, those trembling, snow-white hemispheres were a breathtaking sight, bouncing with her movements and making Lin Yuan's heart pound.
An impressive pair, with tremendous potential!
All in all, this beginner trial for Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi had come to a perfect conclusion.
Neither was an ordinary newly advanced warrior. Not only had they claimed their first kills, but both had slain their targets in a single move. The women of the Goddess Luo Squad were happy for them, yet could not help feeling dispirited.
"The gap between one person and another really is wider than the gap between a person and a pig..."
Hu Meiniang gave a mournful sigh that conveyed all her heartache.
Their aptitudes were already quite good compared to ordinary people's. Otherwise, they could not have entered the stellar martial path at such a young age.
Once upon a time, they had been full of ambition, believing themselves no worse than anyone else.
Though every Stellar Behemoth was powerful, they had slain hundreds of them and could be considered battle-hardened veterans.
But what about Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi?
Two raw recruits, whose very first battles had surpassed their hundreds of life-and-death struggles...
It really was difficult not to feel depressed.
"Even among geniuses, there are differences."
"Those two are true Star-Martial Prodigies. Ordinary geniuses were never their equals, much less you and me."
As their captain and the strongest member of the Goddess Luo Squad, Gu Shuangshuang had long since prepared herself for this.
Seeing the women looking somewhat dejected, she offered them some comfort.
Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi exchanged a glance, neither saying anything.
Offering comfort themselves at a time like this would only make things worse.
They simply remained silent.
Fortunately, everyone had only been lamenting briefly, and soon rallied their spirits.
"It's up, it's up! The Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings!"
Gu Yiyi suddenly brightened.
Lin Yuan also looked down at his Stellar Communicator and opened the Star Warrior Forum. Sure enough, a new ranking list had appeared—
The Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings!
These were special rankings exclusively for newly advanced Starry-Sky Warriors who had registered for this year's Star-Martial Prodigy Talent Development Program.
Slaying just one Star Beast and earning Contribution Points would qualify them for the rankings.
The rankings would remain open for only one year. After that, records would close, and the top one hundred and sixty contestants on each regional list would advance to the preliminary selection.
"Let's check the Azure River Regional Rankings..."
Lin Yuan was a little curious, too.
In fact, the rankings had already been open for three months.
How many Star Beasts had Azure River Satellite City's newly advanced warriors killed by now?
Surely not many. After all, Star Beasts were not easy to kill. Even with his foundations, he had to go all out to slay one in a single strike...
The Goddess Luo Squad was curious as well. Would any dark horses emerge in this year's Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings?
With that in mind, Gu Shuangshuang did not stop them. Instead, she found a safe spot and joined everyone in looking.
"Star-Martial Prodigy Contribution Rankings!" "Azure River Regional Rankings—" "1st: Qin Tianyi, 135 Contribution Points!" "2nd: Mo Qingqing, 130 Contribution Points!" "3rd: Luo Yifeng, 126 Contribution Points!" "..." "10th: Chen Fan, 100 Contribution Points!" "..." "160th: Ling Shi, 66 Contribution Points!" "..." "6,666th: Lin Yuan, 1 Contribution Point!" "6,668th: Gu Yiyi, 1 Contribution Point!" "..."
The members of the Goddess Luo Squad exchanged glances without speaking.
But shock was plainly visible in their eyes.
Only three months had passed, and competition on the Azure River Regional Rankings was already this fierce?
What sort of monsters were those top ten contestants? Every one of them had over a hundred Contribution Points!
Were these really newcomers?
Even many veteran Mortal Transcendence Realm Starry-Sky Warriors would not dare go this wild, would they?
After all, Star Beasts were different from fierce beasts. Every one possessed an innate ability, and each of those abilities rivaled a stellar force secret art in power. It was essentially like having a stellar force secret art built in.
How could ordinary Starry-Sky Warriors master stellar force secret arts so quickly after breaking through?
They could only fight head-on with Star Power, relying on numbers to scrape out a victory.
As such, their efficiency in hunting Star Beasts was actually very low.
And that, in fact, was the norm.
People like Lin Yuan and Gu Yiyi were ultimately an exceedingly small minority.
That was what everyone in the Goddess Luo Squad had believed. Yet upon seeing these rankings, the women suddenly realized they had still underestimated the people of the world!
"This year's newcomers... are a little outrageous."
Gu Shuangshuang shook her head slightly, too.
Still, it was a good thing overall. The more geniuses there were, the easier it would be for powerful experts to emerge, and the deeper Human Civilization's foundations would become.
Lin Yuan, however, fixed his gaze on one particular entry—
"160th: Ling Shi, 66 Contribution Points!"
Even the contestant in one hundred and sixtieth place had a full sixty-six Contribution Points.
In other words, he would have to kill at least sixty-odd Star Beasts just to qualify for the Azure River Preliminary Selection seven months from now.
Only then would he qualify for the final Starflow Pulp reward...
The newcomers on the rankings will definitely keep hunting like mad during this time, chasing and overtaking one another, so...
I'll need at least a hundred kills to have any hope of breaking into the top one hundred and sixty and securing a preliminary selection spot.
Lin Yuan's gaze darkened slightly.
Starting three months behind really had put him on the back foot.
It looked like he would have to pick up the pace...
Before you continue