Spirit Martial Tier Five!

Having defeated Li Wei, who stood at the peak seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm, despite only being at the initial-entry Spirit Martial Tier Seven, Li Xuan's true strength now made even those Martial Dao Master-level powerhouses among the Inner Disciples, whose positions had never changed, turn their eyes toward him.

Clearly, Li Xuan was now qualified to challenge a Martial Dao Master at the eighth level of the Spirit Martial Realm!

No one felt this more keenly than Li Ye.

"Realm suppression!"

Li Ye felt somewhat helpless. He did not believe his cultivation speed was any slower than anyone else's. In fact, the Moon Dream Heart Sutra made his cultivation advance at lightning speed, and combined with the Vampire race's innate affinity with Blood Soul power, it allowed him to fight above his level as easily as eating and drinking. But his time had still been too short. Less than three months had passed since he condensed his Blood Soul!

The immense pressure also made Li Ye sense a faint loosening in the bottleneck that had originally held him at the peak Spirit Martial Tier Four.

This delighted him! Clearly, everyone had mistaken him for hiding his true realm, but that was not the case. His actual realm truly was only peak Spirit Martial Tier Four! It was merely because of the Vampire physique's special nature that he appeared stronger even than cultivators at Spirit Martial Tier Six.

"Just a little more. If I could face an even greater threat!"

He felt the blood within his body begin to boil. It was an exceedingly strange phenomenon. Though Vampires were not as legends claimed, with blood as cold as ice, their blood was still quieter and more dormant than that of ordinary people. Yet now it began to boil like water in a pot, a scorching sensation spreading through his body before flowing into his heart, as though fuel had been pumped into an engine, making it pound violently!

If he could inspect the inside of his heart at this moment, he would surely see that the Blood Soul crystal, originally no larger than a sesame seed, had now grown to the size of a grain of rice!

At the same time, bright-red blood poured madly into it, while what emerged was a dark-red, viscous fluid.

Outside, after Li Xuan revealed that his true realm was peak seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm, he stopped holding back and threw a punch. He moved like a gust of wind, instantly closing in.

"Li Ye! This ends here!"

A trace of smugness showed in his eyes. He had endured in silence for so long for this very day—to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat and contend with those few geniuses of the Lineage!

In his eyes, Li Ye was merely an appetizer. Even though Li Ye had risen all the way as a dark horse, he still could not make Li Xuan take him seriously. At most, he was a stepping stone.

Bang!

That punch struck Li Ye squarely in the chest, blasting him away. A layer of ice crystals instantly spread across his chest. The terrifying chill invaded Li Ye's body directly, as though it intended to freeze his blood!

"Hmph! The true power of Frost Fist does not lie on the surface, but in its terrifying chill invading the body and freezing the blood—perhaps even freezing all five viscera and six bowels!"

Having landed his blow, Li Xuan did not press his advantage. In his view, everything had already been decided. Once struck by his punch, unless the opponent was stronger than him and could use overwhelming Blood Soul power to disperse the chill inside his body, the outcome might even be death!

"Do not blame me for being ruthless. Blame yourself for choosing the wrong time!"

Standing with his hands behind his back, Li Xuan was like a king looking down from on high upon the crowd. His expression was proud and cold, his eyes brimming with powerful confidence.

As for Li Ye, after being struck by that punch, he staggered back dozens of steps before finally steadying himself at the edge of the arena. His whole body was a sheet of white, covered in frost. Even his brows had turned snowy white, without a trace of warmth on him, like a corpse buried deep beneath a snow mountain.

"Defeated? Li Xuan is terrifying. With Frost Fist in his hands, forget Martial Masters at the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm—even Martial Dao Masters at the eighth level might not necessarily withstand it!"

People always cast away the old and embrace the new, focusing their attention on the strong. At this moment, Li Xuan stood with his hands behind his back like a proud lone expert. In the eyes of countless girls, he resembled a prince on a white horse. Some female disciples from collateral branches were even secretly planning how to use their beauty to attach themselves to this rising star, destined to soar within the Lineage!

Crack!

Just as Li Xuanji was about to speak and declare Li Xuan the victor, he suddenly heard a faint cracking sound.

Then everyone saw that Li Ye, whom they had assumed to be seriously injured, unconscious, or even dead, suddenly had the frost covering his entire body shatter and fall to the ground.

"Hmm?"

Seeing that Li Ye had not died, Li Xuan frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with the result.

"Li Ye did not actually kick the bucket? He really is a cockroach reborn!"

"It is useless. Even if he survived that move, the gap in strength between him and Li Xuan is right there. He does not have the slightest chance."

"Li Ye, if you cannot go on, say so. Do not force yourself."

Li Xuanji could not help lowering his voice. Only Li Ye could hear him.

Li Ye looked at this elder, who had always been fair and impartial within the Lineage, cold-faced yet kind-tempered, with some surprise. In his memories, he had not interacted much with this man, whom he should properly have called Sixth Uncle.

"Rest assured, Elder. That was just a small matter!"

With a faint smile, he ignored Li Xuanji's startled expression and stretched his limbs.

"Li Ye, it seems you truly are quite capable. You managed to withstand even that punch, but do you think you still have a chance?"

Li Ye's response to Li Xuan's half-smiling, mocking gaze was extremely simple!

"Storm of Gale!"

Countless leg shadows swept forth, though compared to when Li Wei had used it, they lacked that ethereal quality and carried an added aura of grim slaughter.

"Useless! Your Gale Legs have only just entered the gate. They cannot possibly threaten me!"

With a cold laugh, icy air filled the sky like a Siberian cold wave descending. A thin layer of frost coated the entire arena.

Sure enough, Li Ye's figure was exposed, deepening the mockery in Li Xuan's eyes.

"You are finished! It ends here!"

With a savage grin, Li Xuan threw a punch. The piercing whistle of wind tearing apart was followed by his fist passing directly through Li Ye's chest. This time, Li Xuan showed no mercy whatsoever—he had actually moved with killing intent!

"No!"

A cry of alarm rang out from the stands! It was Li Yating. Anger and anxiety flashed through her beautiful eyes as she sprang to her feet.

The others wore varying expressions. Li Huangran's eyes held a trace of relief and a smile, while the rest appeared far more conflicted.

But soon, someone gave a startled cry.

The joy that had appeared on Li Xuan's face after piercing Li Ye froze instantly, because he had clearly not felt the sensation of piercing a human body.

Sure enough, the Li Ye before him slowly vanished, and not a drop of blood flowed out.

"Afterimage!"

Only then did everyone realize that it had merely been an afterimage, not his real body!

"Not good!" A flash of alarm and vigilance shot through Li Xuan's heart. He immediately turned around, but it was already too late.

"Behind you!"

That was Li Huangran's shout. Yet when Li Xuan turned his head, all he saw was a pair of blood-red eyes filled with an endless abyss, a bottomless black hole that seemed capable of dragging even one's soul into its depths.

Bang!

Li Xuan's body flew straight out of the arena and crashed into the crowd. Immediately, quite a few people wailed in pain, and some were even covered in a layer of ice crystals.

"Li Ye wins!"

Looking at the unconscious Li Xuan, Li Xuanji gave Li Ye a deep glance before immediately announcing the result.

This was an utterly unexpected ending. Who could have imagined that Li Ye would turn defeat into victory? Even now, some still felt that Li Xuan had lost unjustly.

Bang! In a burst of fury, Li Huangran shattered the armrest of his seat with one palm. He had placed great hopes on Li Xuan, and Li Xuan had indeed lived up to them, displaying extraordinary strength and composure from the very beginning. Yet the match had ended in such a fashion. How could he not be enraged!

However, he did not strike out as he had before. His eyes merely swept over Li Ye and Li Hou Nian, heavy with killing intent. With a cold snort, he flicked his sleeve and left.

"Good lad!"

Li Hou Nian gave Li Ye's shoulder a forceful slap. Only now did he finally relax, especially after Li Huangran left in anger. At least for the moment, no one would dare touch a single hair on Li Ye's head.

Taking the seat Li Xuan had occupied moments before, Li Ye had succeeded in his challenge and directly risen one position.

"Seventh among the Inner Disciples."

He felt somewhat excited. He had never imagined reaching such a height before.

One had to know that Inner Disciples differed from Outer Disciples. Only the thirty strongest among their generation could become Inner Disciples, and the Lineage also gave its Inner Disciples tremendous support!

Who would dare call him trash now?

He even noticed that the gazes some elders directed at him carried a trace of inexplicable fear!

"They saw the shadow of that man from back then in you."

A voice sounded beside him. It was unexpectedly Li Xuanji, the Lineage's famed poker face. Li Ye turned toward him in surprise, only to find that the other man was not looking at him at all.

"My father's shadow..."

Li Ye fell into thought. He had few memories of that man. He only knew that, back then, nearly all of Wuzhou City had regarded him as supreme. Even the other two great Lineages had lived in his shadow, treading on thin ice for years, until he left Wuzhou City.

Next, quite a few Inner Disciples launched challenges of their own, seeking to raise their rankings by one or two places. However, no one broke into the top ten. After all, apart from Li Ye, everyone in the top ten had entered the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm and become Martial Masters. They were not comparable to ordinary martial cultivators.

Li Ye did not rush to challenge anyone again. Instead, he calmed himself and sorted through his current condition.

"Spirit Martial Tier Five. I did not expect I would truly break through!"

It turned out that during his exchange with Li Xuan just now, that punch had not only failed to seriously injure him, it had instead helped him break through his bottleneck in one go, crossing from peak Spirit Martial Tier Four into Spirit Martial Tier Five!

"If I fought Li Wei again now, I would not need Blood Eyes to defeat him with absolute certainty! Even if I fought Li Xuan again, my odds of victory would be at least sixty percent!"

Spirit Martial Tier Four and Spirit Martial Tier Five might not appear far apart, but for Li Ye, the improvement was more than double!