Inner Academy Selection Tournament!

As the Soul-Nourishing Pill entered his stomach, its gentle medicinal power spread through his body.

The cultivation he had attained by using the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill to break through to Eight-Star Da Dou Shi gradually became stable.

Xiao Qing could clearly feel his soul steadily growing stronger as the medicinal effect merged into it, until it reached a bottleneck.

Feeling the growth of his soul power stop, Xiao Qing circulated the Taiyi Soul Art and fiercely struck at the bottleneck blocking his path.

Bzzzz!

An intense buzzing rang out from the depths of his soul.

Immediately afterward, the bottleneck before Xiao Qing shattered like a thin membrane that broke at the slightest poke.

The buzzing lasted only an instant before Xiao Qing quickly recovered from the deafness in both ears.

Feeling his soul power surge, Xiao Qing understood that he had successfully broken through the Mid-Stage Mortal Realm bottleneck and reached the Late Mortal Realm!

With Late Mortal Realm soul power, provided his Dou Qi cultivation was sufficient, he could support himself in reaching the realm of a Seventh-Grade Alchemist!

"That really was an unexpected delight."

Joy appeared on Xiao Qing's face.

He had originally thought the Soul-Nourishing Pill would have little effect on his soul now that it had already reached the Mid-Stage Mortal Realm.

When refining it, he had merely intended to use it to stabilize the unsteady Dou Qi he had gained after breaking through with the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill.

Who would have thought that after taking it, he would unexpectedly sense the bottleneck to breaking through to the Late Mortal Realm?

With the Taiyi Soul Art, Xiao Qing immediately resolved to strike at the bottleneck.

Breaking through a bottleneck was extremely risky for ordinary people. Failure often brought backlash, with minor cases resulting in a drop in cultivation and severe cases ending in death and the destruction of the soul!

But for Xiao Qing, who possessed a soul cultivation technique, failure in this breakthrough would at most require him to recuperate for a time.

After all, he was only challenging the Late Mortal Realm bottleneck now. It would be another matter entirely once he reached the Spirit Realm and beyond.

After familiarizing himself with his greatly increased soul power, Xiao Qing eagerly walked to the medicinal cauldron nearby. With a wave of his hand, he removed a pile of medicinal ingredients from his Storage Ring and began refining pills.

As one of Jia Nan Academy's major events, the Inner Academy Selection Tournament naturally drew tremendous attention.

Thus, before dawn had even broken, the enormous circular plaza where the Inner Academy Selection Tournament was held was already packed to the brim. The clamor engulfed the entire plaza.

In the stands, Ge Long led the students of Xuan Rank Class Two as they took their seats.

As the instructor of Xuan Rank Class Two, his expression was somewhat anxious at this moment as he looked around as though searching for something.

As time passed, the sun gradually rose, and morning light spread across the land.

Hu Gan, dressed in red robes, rose from his seat at the center of the stands and loudly announced with Dou Qi:

"I hereby declare that this year's Inner Academy Selection Tournament has officially begun!"

"Waaah!"

Deafening cheers instantly erupted from the stands.

Amid the uproar, a middle-aged referee slowly stepped onto the arena.

"There are four hundred students participating in this year's Inner Academy Selection Tournament. Considering the size of the arena and the time constraints, this tournament will consist of three days of elimination matches, one round each day, to determine the final fifty who will enter the Inner Academy."

"During the matches, lethal attacks are forbidden. Violators will be expelled from Jia Nan Academy!"

"From this moment on, any participant whose name is called must take the stage promptly. Anyone who exceeds the allotted time will be deemed to have forfeited."

After introducing the rules, the middle-aged referee slowly retreated to a referee's stand at one side of the plaza. At that moment, two names rang out from the stand.

"Xuan Rank Class One, Dong Li!"

"Xuan Rank Class Three, Wu Feng!"

At the call, two figures flashed down from the stands and landed steadily in the arena.

With the referee's announcement that the match had begun, the two quickly began fighting.

The exciting match immediately drew the attention of everyone in the stands.

But Ge Long, seated above, had no mind to watch. By now, he was sweating profusely with nerves.

"Could Xiao Qing still be cultivating in the dormitory?"

At that thought, Ge Long could not help wanting to slap himself.

He had originally thought Xiao Qing would have some sense of time during the Inner Academy Selection Tournament, so he had not considered going to call him.

Who knew he truly had no sense of time at all!

Just then, a figure dressed in white robes slowly walked up into the stands.

Xiao Qing surveyed his surroundings and quickly found the section for Xuan Rank Class Two. As he approached, he saw Ge Long drenched in sweat.

"Instructor Ge Long, why are you sweating so much?"

Ge Long turned toward the voice and saw Xiao Qing in white robes standing beside him, looking at him in confusion.

At the sight, Ge Long immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but then his anger flared.

"Master Xiao, you still remembered to come compete? I thought you were going to cultivate all the way to becoming an emperor in the dormitory."

Hearing this, Xiao Qing said awkwardly, "Didn't I make it here?"

Back in the dormitory, he had been preparing to refine another pill when he suddenly felt as though he had forgotten something.

Just as he was about to leave the dormitory for a walk to clear his mind, he discovered there was not a single person in sight along the way.

Only then did Xiao Qing recall that today seemed to be the day of the Inner Academy Selection Tournament, and he hurried over.

"Xuan Rank Class Two, Xiao Qing!"

Ge Long had been about to say more when a voice came from the referee's stand.

"Instructor Ge Long, I'll go compete in the arena first."

Xiao Qing smiled at Ge Long.

"Go on, go on."

Ge Long waved a hand, too lazy to say anything further.

Xiao Qing nodded, turning into a streak of emerald-green light as he leaped down toward the arena.

Boom!

As the emerald-green streak gradually faded, Xiao Qing's figure slowly appeared atop the arena.

Looking ahead, he saw a sword-wielding young man already waiting opposite him.

"Xuan Rank Class Two, Xiao Qing!"

Xiao Qing politely introduced himself.

Seeing this, the sword-wielding young man followed suit. "Xuan Rank Class Three, Ye Li!"

"Begin!"

At the referee's command, the young man charged forward with his sword in hand.

"Master Xiao, watch out!"

As soon as he spoke, the young man slashed out streams of azure sword light while diving forward, their momentum looking immensely imposing.

Xiao Qing saw at a glance that these azure sword lights were all show and no substance.

Having no desire to waste time with him, Xiao Qing's Dou Qi surged through his body, forming an emerald-green palm seal in his right hand.

Scarlet Fire Seal!

Xiao Qing struck his palm toward the young man, sending an emerald-green palm seal crashing down upon his head.

The Scarlet Fire Seal was a high-grade Xuan-tier Dou Technique and a supplementary Dou Technique of the Scarlet Flame Manual.

Ever since he had taken Fire Elder as his master, Fire Elder had casually given this Dou Technique to Xiao Qing.

The palm seal extinguished the azure sword lights blocking the young man one after another. In the end, it narrowly brushed past him and smashed a palm-shaped crater into the hard arena.

At this sight, cold sweat immediately streamed down the young man's face.

The stone paving the arena was exceptionally hard granite. Even some Dou Ling experts could not damage it in the slightest!