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"This tournament is meant to be a friendly exchange, but blades have no eyes, and accidents are hard to avoid. Everyone must know where to draw the line. Under no circumstances may you take a life." After the groups were assigned, Immortal Venerable Shen announced some of the rules. He even smiled and nodded toward Ye Qinghui's group, thinking, This time, I'll make you suffer. Ye Qinghui will leave either dead or badly wounded.

"Damn it! The other groups only have one or two people at the Golden Core Late Stage. Shen Xingyan's group only has Shen Xingyan. Why does Eldest Senior Brother's group have three?"

"These groups weren't assigned at random. Immortal Venerable Shen must be using his position to settle a personal grudge!"

"Poor Eldest Senior Brother. His Inner Core hasn't even recovered, and now he has to face such a dangerous fight. What are we going to do?"

Ye Qingyao, Ye Qingchuan, and the others grew worried. Ye Zhenzhen, however, sucked on her milk bottle and smiled at the familiar names on the group list. It's fine. Even without his Inner Core, Eldest Senior Brother can handle these people with plenty to spare.

Ye Qingyao asked, "Little Junior Sister, do you have a way?"

This mountain sage has a clever trick up her sleeve.

The tournament officially began. Ye Qinghui's first opponent was Li Tiankui, a saber cultivator who had reached the Golden Core Late Stage.

Even a single stage of difference between cultivators often meant an overwhelming gap in strength. Li Tiankui was broad and burly, his body like iron and his face covered in whiskers. He strode up to Ye Qinghui, who had lost almost all his cultivation, and swept his sleeve. A violent gust rose, and his sheer presence completely overpowered Ye Qinghui.

Li Tiankui sent out his divine sense to probe him, then sneered. "You think you can stand in my way without an Inner Core? A dull, edgeless sword will be nothing but scrap metal beneath my saber!"

"Then come and try." Ye Qinghui lightly raised his sword and leaped into the air, standing tall and straight with his robes fluttering.

Li Tiankui lifted his saber, which weighed over a hundred jin, and swung straight at Ye Qinghui. The force of his presence made it hard to breathe, while the whirlwinds it stirred seemed capable of tearing space apart. Ye Qinghui did not meet the blow head-on. He shifted his feet and dodged, and the storm of energy from the saber split open the ground beside him.

"What terrifying strength!"

"As expected of a saber cultivator at the Golden Core Late Stage. He's ferocious!" The spectators, shaken by the saber's power, retreated to a safer distance.

Seeing the crowd cowed and Ye Qinghui unwilling to take a blow, Li Tiankui grew smug. "Where do you think you're going?" he roared. His steps quickened as he swept his saber in every direction. At the Golden Core Late Stage, he was no clumsy, sluggish saber cultivator. Though he wielded a saber weighing hundreds of jin, he moved swiftly and pressed Ye Qinghui at every step.

Without his Inner Core, Ye Qinghui relied on the agility he had honed through years of grueling practice. He used Flowing Light Illusion, creating multiple afterimages with his extraordinary speed to confuse Li Tiankui. Graceful as a swimming dragon and fleeting as a startled swan, he slipped past each attack by a hair while his illusions disrupted his opponent's vision and rhythm.

Again and again, the burly man swung to cleave Ye Qinghui in two, only to strike an afterimage. Frustration surged through him. "Coward! Fight me head-on if you have the guts! Stop dodging!"

"Then come at me." Ye Qinghui suddenly appeared close before him, a smile spreading across his handsome, otherworldly face.

He dares come this close? He's asking to die! Li Tiankui roared. Pressure as vast as mountains and rivers surged from him as he brought his saber down on Ye Qinghui's head.

Just as the blade was about to strike its target, dust suddenly billowed across the arena. Li Tiankui's fellow disciples assumed the cloud had been raised by the saber's tremendous force. They beat gongs and drums, raised their sabers, and cheered for the victory they believed was coming.

Bang! The arena shook violently.

Ye Qinghui evaded Li Tiankui's attack in the blink of an eye. Moving so fast even the air could not keep up, he swung the Flowing Light Sword and used softness to overcome strength, knocking Li Tiankui's saber to the ground.

He held his sword against Li Tiankui's neck, his eyes bright as stars.

"How could this happen?" Li Tiankui had thought victory was in his grasp. Now disbelief filled his face, and his bull-like eyes nearly popped out. "What just happened? My eyes must have played tricks on me. Let's go again!"

Ye Qinghui shoved him off the arena. "Next time."

First Senior Brother is incredible! First Senior Brother is so handsome! Below the stage, Ye Zhenzhen clapped so hard her little hands were nearly red. When she had read the original book, she had learned that Li Tiankui possessed immense strength and was difficult to fight. But he lacked endurance. If an opponent held out long enough, an opening would appear.

After hearing about Li Tiankui's weakness, Ye Qinghui had decisively avoided the edge of his strength before defeating him in a single move—using four ounces to move a thousand pounds.

He went on to fight several more grueling matches, winning through speed and Swordsmanship. Every opponent was at least at the Golden Core Early Stage. None could be taken lightly, and he could not afford a moment's distraction.

After so many matches, Ye Qinghui was visibly exhausted.

In his tenth match, he faced another powerhouse at the Golden Core Late Stage: Tang Jiuzhou, the young master of the Kunshan Tang Family, an Aristocratic Clan renowned for its formations. Skilled in formations and brimming with force, Tang Jiuzhou had already used his family's inherited killing formation to swiftly defeat more than a dozen opponents. Some had even been carried away gravely injured and barely breathing.

"How frightening!" Ye Qingyao watched a contestant who had faced him being carried off and sensed that things were going badly. Before stepping forward to treat the contestant, she warned Ye Qinghui, "Eldest Senior Brother, his formation is extremely dangerous. Please put your safety first."

"Yes, Qinghui. Even I would need some time to break the Tang Family's inherited killing formation," Ye Ruheng said, stroking his beard. "Protect yourself first. Don't try to be brave."

It's not that hard. Stop worrying over nothing. Ye Zhenzhen winked at Ye Qinghui, took a Phoenix Spirit Fruit from the Heaven and Earth Pearl to replenish his spiritual energy, then handed him her milk bottle. She lowered the volume of her inner voice as far as it would go and secretly gave him a few instructions.

"Little Junior Sister, you really are wicked." Ye Qinghui could not help laughing, his face alight.

Ranking List

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Transmigration into a Book

Wish Fulfillment

Cannon Fodder

Group Favorite