Li Wei Defeated Again!

"I'll do it!"

Over the years, in Inner Disciple battles, those with lower rankings had always been the first to issue challenges. Yet now, one man's shout left everyone slightly surprised.

"Li Wei, are you sure you want to fight first?"

Li Xuanji frowned and asked. The first to speak was actually Li Wei, who had previously suffered consecutive defeats at the hands of Li Xuan and Li Ye! He looked much recovered now. Clearly, during the intervening time, he had taken expensive healing medicine.

After losing repeatedly, Li Wei had already fallen from seventh among the Inner Disciples to ninth!

"Sixth Elder, don't worry. These minor injuries don't require much rest."

Hearing his arrogance, Li Xuanji shook his head without saying much. He simply nodded. "By the rules, you may only challenge someone ranked above you."

Battles between Inner Disciples were originally meant to be opportunities over the course of a year for everyone to strive for higher rankings, so they could only challenge those above them.

At this moment, Li Wei could only challenge the eight people ahead of him.

After sweeping his gaze across them, Li Wei's face turned livid. He silently thought, The first through sixth are all at the eighth level of the Spirit Martial Realm. Even at my peak, my chance of defeating them is less than thirty percent. Challenging them would be nothing but wasting an opportunity and might even worsen my injuries.

The seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm was known as Martial Master, but there was still a considerable gap between it and the Grandmasters of the eighth level of the Spirit Martial Realm. Li Wei wisely gave up on challenging the first six. After all, he had originally been the number one Inner Disciple beneath the Grandmasters. It was a wise choice.

He then looked at Li Xuan, who was ranked seventh, and felt uneasy. This man is the Third Elder's son, and his strength runs unfathomably deep. Although he lost earlier because he underestimated his opponent, even if we fought again, my odds of victory would still be under fifty percent. Not suitable.

In the end, he set his eyes on Li Ye, temporarily ranked eighth, and dense battle intent immediately radiated from him.

"Sixth Elder, I choose to challenge Li Ye!"

Not many people found this result surprising. Among the top eight, the first six were all Grandmaster-level powerhouses, while seventh-ranked Li Xuan was equally unfathomable. Only Li Ye, ranked eighth, had cultivation at merely peak Spirit Martial Tier Four. Among all the Inner Disciples, he stood out like a sore thumb.

"Are you sure?" Li Xuanji glanced at Li Ye. Seeing that the latter remained calm without the slightest anger, he secretly nodded. Though this kid awakened a little late, he does have something of Second Brother's bearing from back then.

"I'm sure!"

Li Wei knew that his chances of successfully challenging the others were low. Only against Li Ye did he still feel unconvinced by his previous defeat!

In that last battle, I only lost because I lost focus at the final moment. I refuse to believe he still has some demonic trick that can affect my mind! Against him, I have at least an eighty or ninety percent chance of winning!

Clearly, the mental impact of Blood Eyes that Li Ye had used was an exceedingly rare move on the Cloud Soaring Continent, so Li Wei mistook it for demonic sorcery.

Having been named as the challenger, Li Ye leaped directly onto the arena.

"Li Ye, I underestimated you earlier. And that little trick of yours—don't think the same trick will work twice. If you admit defeat now, you can still preserve some strength for the battles ahead."

Li Ye shook his head. In his eyes, Li Wei's confidence was nothing more than self-importance.

Although he had a major weakness in terms of realm, Vampires seemed to possess an innately exceptional affinity with Blood Soul power. The Blood Soul power of peak Spirit Martial Tier Four was equivalent to that of an ordinary person at peak Spirit Martial Tier Six. Combined with speed that ranked among the very best even at the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm, Li Ye was confident he would not lose to Li Wei even without using Blood Eyes to unleash illusionary mental attacks.

"Enough nonsense. Make your move!"

Seeing that Li Ye remained unmoved, Li Wei's eyes filled with rage. In his view, he had already given Li Ye plenty of face and had even been considerate of him. Unfortunately, he did not know Li Ye's true circumstances. Otherwise, he would never have thought that way.

"Since that's the case, then don't blame me for being merciless!"

As soon as he spoke, Li Wei's entire body swayed repeatedly in place. Three or four afterimages made it impossible to tell where he truly was.

"Li Wei is indeed a decent seedling within the clan. Phantom Step is considered rather difficult to cultivate among Yellow Tier High-Grade Movement Techniques. I never expected him to cultivate it to this level. If I'm not mistaken, he has already reached the minor accomplishment stage."

Seeing Li Wei's performance, several elders nodded with smiles.

Li Ye also focused his attention. Phantom Step, a Yellow Tier High-Grade Movement Technique. Rumor has it that when cultivated to the extreme, it can produce twelve clones in battle, making it difficult to distinguish real from fake.

At this moment, his pupils had already turned blood-red, and the copying and reading effect unfolded once more. However, although Phantom Step was also Yellow Tier High-Grade, Movement Techniques were inherently harder to learn than ordinary Combat Techniques. It would not be so easy for Li Ye to copy it.

Then Li Wei launched his offensive. Three or four clones, as real as his true body, swept up countless kicking shadows.

Relying on his speed, Li Ye barely dodged them one by one without counterattacking. Instead, he continued secretly learning his opponent's Phantom Step.

Just a little more!

To outsiders, Li Ye was being completely suppressed, immediately disappointing many who had hoped to see another miracle. Even Li Huangran on the viewing platform looked somewhat disappointed, then sneered repeatedly.

"Looks like I overestimated this kid. He is not his father, after all. To think I believed he would be like his father. Li Huangran, Li Huangran, when did you become so timid and fearful?"

After ten moves, Li Ye felt that his room to maneuver was shrinking. The relentless effect of Gale Legs had fully revealed itself, putting him under immense pressure.

Finally, Li Ye's body trembled, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"So that's how it is! Phantom Step works like this!"

He had finally copied Li Wei's Phantom Step. It had taken more than twice as long as copying Gale Legs and Frost Fist, but he was extremely satisfied with the result and did not think it was unworthy in the slightest!

"This Phantom Step is definitely not merely a Yellow Tier High-Grade Movement Technique. It should be a fragmentary copy or simplified version of some Mystic Tier Movement Technique Combat Technique!"

Phantom Step used unfathomably changing footwork and positioning to confuse an opponent's vision. Ordinary Combat Techniques and Movement Techniques were divided into five levels of cultivation: beginner, minor accomplishment, major accomplishment, mastery, and perfection. At the beginner stage, one could create a single clone. At minor accomplishment, four clones; at major accomplishment, six; at mastery, nine; and at perfection, twelve.

Li Wei could display three or four clones, which was enough to show that he had cultivated it to the minor accomplishment stage. That was already an impressive achievement. After all, ordinary Yellow Tier High-Grade Movement Techniques demanded more than Combat Techniques. Even some Grandmasters at the eighth level of the Spirit Martial Realm could at most cultivate them to major accomplishment.

But after secretly learning it, Li Ye discovered that twelve clones were not the limit. It could be cultivated to even greater depths. However, Phantom Step had clearly been deliberately altered, which was why it felt somewhat discordant to him.

Looks like I need to find an opportunity to look at the secret manual for Phantom Step!

Every Inner Disciple had one chance to enter the Martial Arts Pavilion, so Li Ye was in no hurry.

To avoid causing a sensation, Li Ye did not immediately display Phantom Step. Although he could now barely create one clone, doing so would undoubtedly make Li Huangran and the others want to kill him even more. Thus, he restrained himself from using it right away.

With the naturally agile physique of a Vampire, even at the beginner stage of Phantom Step, I might be able to create around three clones, close to the minor accomplishment stage.

Though he did not use Phantom Step, Li Ye's speed still abruptly increased by thirty percent. Li Wei's figure, which had previously seemed dizzying and chaotic in his eyes, also began to grow clear.

Storm of Gale!

Unable to win after fighting for so long, Li Wei grew anxious as well. Ignoring his previous injuries, he began to attack fiercely.

Frost Fist!

Having experienced this move before, Li Ye dealt with it with ease. He could now use Frost Fist proficiently, and by its grading, he had already reached the beginner level of Frost Fist. However, when facing Li Wei's Gale Legs, which had at least reached minor accomplishment, the frost shattered at once. Yet Li Ye's true killing move followed immediately after.

Storm of Gale!

"What?!"

Li Wei was dumbfounded. It was the same move. Though it still looked somewhat crude, Li Ye was clearly using his own technique against him!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three consecutive kicks. Although Li Wei dodged most of them as best he could, he was still struck by all three kicks. One of them landed right on his previous injury. His throat sweetened, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Li Ye wins!"

Without question, Li Ye had won this battle.

"Useless trash!" A cold snort sounded, heard by only a few people. Li Ye was one of them.

Perhaps no one knew that a Vampire's five senses were far more monstrous than those of ordinary people. Li Huangran's cold snort could not possibly escape Li Ye's ears.

Li Wei's defeat caused many Inner Disciples who had originally been eager to challenge Li Ye to beat a retreat.

"Where did this freak Li Ye come from? He is clearly only at peak Spirit Martial Tier Four, yet he is this powerful. Not only has he learned the two Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Techniques, Frost Fist and Gale Legs, he has now defeated Li Wei, who was once seventh among the Inner Disciples, twice. He looks like trouble."

"Could this kid be deliberately concealing his true strength? Perhaps, like Li Yu, his true realm isn't peak Spirit Martial Tier Four at all, but the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm?"

Some people guessed as much. Li Ye's realm was simply too eye-catching! Only that could explain it.

Even Li Huangran furrowed his brows tightly, wondering whether Li Ye had concealed his true realm.

It was not just him. Everyone, including Li Xian Nian, refused to believe that Li Ye was only at peak Spirit Martial Tier Four! If that were truly the case, they might as well buy a block of tofu and bash themselves to death with it!

Next, among the Inner Disciples, Li Yijian, formerly the number one Outer Disciple, defeated his opponent in fewer than ten sword strikes and became the twelfth Inner Disciple. Li Yu, who had concealed his cultivation, successfully challenged an Inner Disciple ranked one place above him and rose to twentieth. Even Li Datou defeated one person, rising from twenty-sixth to twenty-fourth.

"I challenge the seventh Inner Disciple, Li Xuan!" At last, it was Li Ye's turn. The moment he spoke, the entire scene fell silent.