Top Three

Liu Zheyan and Rong Xiaoling both came from Beast Taming Peak. Their inability to continue fighting was not because their spiritual power had run dry, but because the strength of their respective spirit beasts had been exhausted. Since neither had won, the match was deemed a draw.

And considering that beast taming required recovery, the two decided not to participate in the following matches.

The Liu-Rong internal battle had ended somewhat hastily, but what was even more hasty and astonishing was—

That Senior Brother Shi at the center of the Inner Sect's gossip storm had actually advanced to Foundation Establishment on the eve of the Sect Grand Competition finals.

Top Three

To be fair, during the Sect Grand Competition, quite a few disciples broke through at the eleventh hour. Setting aside distant examples, Bian Chunchou and Wen Xu had both made a small leap in cultivation by one minor realm. As for breakthroughs across a major realm, there had been some as well. One senior sister from the Inner Sect at Qi Refining Peak had advanced to Foundation Establishment during the arena matches.

There had even been cases of Foundation Establishment Peak advancing to Golden Core.

The reason everyone was so stunned was that the person who had advanced was Shi Yijian. Before today, Shi Yijian had been the poster child for damaged Spiritual Roots. If his Spiritual Root had not been damaged, he should have advanced to Foundation Establishment long ago.

Though everyone's gossip flew faster than the wind, they also understood perfectly well that, in several decades, whether it was Dual Spiritual Root Bian Chunchou or Single Spiritual Root Lin Congcong, both would leave Shi Yijian far behind.

Yet just as this understanding was about to take root in their bones, Shi Yijian, the Inner Sect's long-standing Qi