You've Already Chosen the Path to Your Death!

"I have a problem! I want to challenge the third place winner— Shen Li, Senior Brother Shen!"

After he finished speaking, the audience fell silent for a moment.

Fu Chongshan glanced sideways at Shen Li, as if he had already seen through something, and without even raising his eyelids, said in a nonchalant tone, "Go to the Law Enforcement Hall to receive your punishment after the competition."

"Yes, disciple understands."

Shen Li showed no surprise or dissatisfaction, as if he had expected to be seen through, but he didn't care at all, as long as the system remained in place.

An uproar erupted from the audience, with someone exclaiming in a low voice, "Mid-Meridian Opening challenging Late Meridian Opening?"

"Did I hear that right?" Some people shook their heads, while others frowned.

Someone said in a low voice, "Isn't this courting death?"

Standing in the crowd, Ye An also sensed that something was wrong.

He wasn't familiar with this ninth-place finisher, but the one he was challenging was Shen Li, someone he had a past conflict with.

Ye An glanced in Shen Li's direction. Shen Li had already stepped onto the arena, his face expressionless, showing neither excitement nor nervousness.

The competition began quickly.

The two exchanged blows on the ring for several rounds, a back-and-forth affair that was quite entertaining. However, the commotion from the audience gradually subsided, and someone frowned and muttered, "Fraudulent? Aren't they afraid?"

The words weren't spoken loudly, but everyone standing nearby heard them, and no one objected.

The movements looked intense, but the force and rhythm were off. Every time Shen Li made a move, it stopped right within the range that his opponent could block, and every time his opponent countered, it hit Shen Li exactly where he was finishing his move.

It's like they're cooperating in a play, treating the audience like fools.

The next second, Shen Li was defeated.

The ninth place team won.

Mid-Meridian Opening Refining cultivator defeats Late Meridian Opening Refining cultivator, a victory of the weak over the strong. Logically, there should be cheers from the audience, but the audience was completely silent. No one applauded, no one cheered, and some even looked away, indicating they couldn't be bothered to watch the ending of this drama.

Fu Chongshan sat on the high platform, his face expressionless. When he announced the results, his tone was as flat as before. To him, it was just a procedure that didn't require much thought, "Sheng, the ninth-ranked player, rises to third. Shen Li falls to ninth."

He didn't even glance at it. To him, whether it was ninth or third place, or whether the ranking changed, didn't matter. What really mattered was whether he could enter the Four Halls, whether he could Qi Condensation after entering, and whether he could Gathering Essence after Qi Condensation.

The results had barely been announced when Shen Li's voice came down from the arena, "I challenge—eighth place, Ye An, Senior Brother Ye."

The audience fell silent for a moment, then erupted into an even louder murmur than before.

All the doubts and questions from before were resolved at this moment—he lowered his ranking, went around in circles, and set his sights on eighth place; this was exactly what he wanted to do.

Lu Xingzhou's expression changed, and he lowered his voice to say, "I see, Brother Ye, they're coming towards you."

While Ye An was still happy when he Ye An, Shen Qing was also a little surprised; she hadn't expected Ye An to beat Xu Zhao.

But now their joy has vanished, replaced by a stark and unsettling worry.

Shen Qing looked at Ye An, her voice lower than usual. "Senior Brother Ye, something's not right. Why don't you just forfeit? He's after you."

Ye An didn't respond to her words; he glanced at Shen Li instead.

Ever since that questioning at the Qingshi Beast Arena, this person hadn't given him a friendly look, and then remained silent. It turned out he was waiting for him here.

He didn't want to get involved with this kind of person, but the other party clearly wasn't going to let this opportunity pass.

Just as Ye An was about to walk forward, Shen Qing reached out and grabbed his sleeve, then quickly let go, realizing that Ye An was not Lu Xingzhou. She released his hand without explaining further.

Ye An glanced at her and Lu Xingzhou, his tone unchanged. "It's okay, I'll just go up and admit defeat."

The two of them were stunned for a moment after hearing this.

Lu Xingzhou breathed a sigh of relief. Shen Qing's gaze lingered on Ye An's face for a moment, a mixture of surprise and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on, but she didn't ask any further questions.

Ye An stepped onto the arena.

Shen Li stood opposite him, speaking in a blatant and undisguised tone of contempt, "Senior Brother Ye, please enlighten me."

How sarcastic that address, "Senior Brother Ye," is.

Ye An didn't reply, not even glancing at him. To see someone like that was a form of pollution.

Shen Li's smile faded slightly, and he lowered his voice, so that only the two of them could hear. "Very good, very good. I hope you won't admit defeat now."

He drew his sword from his waist, employing Spirit Grade Swordsmanship, and his first move was a killing blow, showing no intention of testing the waters.

Ye An did not retreat. A stream of True Qi had already condensed at the tip of his Star-Shattering Finger. That True Qi was not flat, but rotating, like a high-speed spinning top condensed at his fingertip.

When a normal person enters the Mid-Meridian Opening, their True Qi can only be released to a depth of about one inch. But Ye An's true qi has now reached a thickness of three inches, condensed around his fingertips. His entire finger is wrapped in a thin layer of True Qi, like an invisible armor.

The two exchanged blows several times. Shen Li's sword pressed down repeatedly, with considerable force and angle, but each time it was deflected by Ye An's True Qi. After the third exchange, he sheathed his sword, and a slight softening appeared on his face, as if he hadn't expected Ye An to last this long.

The expressions on the faces of the two people in the audience had changed.

Lu Xingzhou clenched his fists, while Shen Qing's eyes narrowed slightly—he had agreed to admit defeat as soon as he stepped onto the stage, but this guy started fighting as soon as he got there, showing no intention of surrendering at all. Lu Xingzhou wanted to shout something, but the sword winds on the stage were too dense, and his voice was already drowned out by the surroundings. Shen Qing remained silent, his gaze never leaving the stage.

They briefly separated on stage again. Shen Li held his sword horizontally in front of him, his tone colder than before. "You've been hiding it quite well. But that's enough for now. Enjoy your next life."

With a flick of his wrist, the sword's momentum changed, the blade shifting from a horizontal slash to a diagonal thrust. The tip of the sword vibrated rapidly three times within a three-inch radius before solidifying into a straight line and stabbing out.

Ye An originally just wanted to honestly get into the top ten and advance to the Four Halls, without aiming for the top five or the top three, and without causing any trouble.

But someone actually went from third to ninth place, making this whole roundabout way just to find him. A line from a novel he'd read in his past life suddenly flashed clearly into his mind—this person already has a way to die!

Someone in the audience recognized it. "Threefold Frost? Micro? Shen Li has mastered this move to the Micro?" Ye An didn't recognize the move, but he could sense that this sword strike was different from the previous one.

Shen Li's sword strike was nearly twice as fast as before. The tip of the sword vibrated three times in a very short distance, each vibration carrying an outward-spreading Sword Qi aura, like ice cracking from the inside after being struck three times in succession. The first Sword Qi deflected Ye An's center of Sword Qi, the second blocked his evasive route, and the third Sword Qi was the truly fatal blow—a straight stab to the chest!

It was faster than the first two. Ye An had already made a judgment before the third Sword Qi arrived. He did not retreat or dodge to the side, but instead pushed the True Qi of the Star-Shattering Finger forward. The rotating True Qi surged from his fingertip, like a high-speed rotating drill, and pierced into the third Sword Qi.

The moment the two made contact, the Sword Qi was shattered by the True Qi, spreading outward into a blurry mist. Shen Li's sword momentum was broken by this, but it did not completely collapse; the remaining force still propelled him forward a short distance. Ye An seized this opportunity and changed the direction of his True Qi.

The Star-Shattering Finger was originally a straight, rotating advance, but upon contact with the remaining force of the Threefold Frost, Ye An slightly shifted his fingertip. The rotating True Qi changed direction, turning from a straight advance to a curve, brushing against the side of Shen Li's sword. This was so subtle that most of the disciples below the stage didn't see it clearly, only noticing that Shen Li's swordplay suddenly paused, as if something had blocked it from the side.

Only Fu Chongshan's gaze shifted slightly. He saw that the True Qi at Ye An's fingertip changed direction at the last moment, turning from a straight path to a curve, and landing precisely on the weakest tendon on the inside of Shen Li's wrist. This kind of extreme control cannot be achieved by brute force or spirit medicine; it requires extensive practice to make the True Qi turn at the last moment without dissipating.

Fu Chongshan didn't speak. His gaze lingered on Ye An's fingertips for a moment. Ye An's reaction was like a lamp flickering slightly in the darkness.

Shen Li's sword slipped from his hand.

As the sword twirled in the air, Ye An caught the hilt before it fell—his movement was natural, as if he knew it would land there. As he gripped the hilt, his wrist rotated half a circle, the blade slicing an arc in his hand. The speed wasn't fast, but the trajectory was steady, as if he had practiced for a long time.

Fu Chongshan's eyebrows twitched. He recognized the sword arc— the Rosy Cloud Sword Technique, also a Spirit Grade Swordsmanship. He hadn't expected Ye An to have practiced Swordsmanship, and the trajectory of that sword arc was no longer at the Initial Glance level, but showed signs of Micro. The vibration of the sword was minimal, indicating that the user's feel for the sword was already in place, but not yet at the point where he could draw the sword without thinking.

He glanced at Ye An again; this man practiced two Spirit Grade Martial Techniques and had mastered them both to the same level.

Ye An didn't pay much attention to the outcome of his sword strike; he already knew where it would land— Shen Li's left shoulder. The blade encountered almost no resistance as it sliced through the base of Shen Li's left arm. The arm detached from his shoulder, tumbled twice in the air, landed on the edge of the arena, rolled down, and fell to the ground. The crowd all took a step back in unison, and no one uttered a sound.

Shen Li's body stiffened for a moment before he began to tilt to one side. His mouth opened as if he wanted to shout something, but the pain arrived before he could make a sound. His body slumped down, and before the blood from the severed wound on his left shoulder had fully seeped out, he had already lost consciousness.

Ye An lowered his sword, took a step back, and did not deliver the finishing blow.

Severely injured, disabled, and in a coma.

This is perhaps the limit of what's allowed in the arena: you can die, but you can't die in the arena.

He glanced down at the severed area on Shen Li's left shoulder, then at the True Qi gathered at his fingertips, before withdrawing his hand and looking away.

He not only severed Shen Li's arm, but Shen Li's Threefold Frost technique also heavily relied on the power of his left arm to maintain the stability of his sword stance. Without his left arm, all the sword moves he had practiced for so long were now useless.

Moreover, after I injected the spinning True Qi from the Star-Shattering Finger into Shen Li's body, the true situation was self-evident.

Even if a miracle doctor were found and the arm were reattached, the pathways for the circulation of Internal Energy would be disrupted, making it very difficult to recover.

The audience remained silent for a long time.

Lu Xingzhou was the first to react, and his throat seemed to be blocked by something before he could utter a sound, "You won?"

He pushed through the crowd, took two steps toward the ring, then stopped, looking at the person standing on the platform, then at the severed arm below, as if he had been jolted.

Shen Qing remained silent. She stood beside Lu Xingzhou, looking at Ye An with an indescribable look in her eyes.

She didn't speak, but her fingers gripped the edge of her sleeve so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

She recalled the first time she met Ye An on the carriage to the Four Symbols Sect a long time ago. At that time, she didn't look at him properly, thinking he Root Bone potential, and her politeness along the way was just out of habit.

Later, the three became familiar with each other. Ye An remained the same quiet person, and she always felt that she would surpass him sooner or later. But today, looking at the severed arm on the stage and Ye An's back as he stood at the edge of the stage, her thoughts suddenly became very light. She didn't sigh, didn't speak, but simply loosened her grip on her sleeve.

The two of them had been on a rollercoaster of emotions today. They were worried at the beginning of the competition, overjoyed when they entered the top ten, panicked when Ye An challenged them, and now they were incredulous.

This Senior Brother Ye had already walked ahead of the two of them.

Fu Chongshan sat on the high platform, his face expressionless.

His gaze lingered on Ye An for a moment longer before shifting away.

He announced the results, his tone still neither too loud nor too soft. "The ninth-ranked player challenged the eighth-ranked player, and the eighth-ranked player wins. The rankings remain unchanged." Someone began cleaning up the bloodstains at the edge of the arena and carried Shen Li off.

Ye An didn't go down. He stood on the stage, glanced at Fu Chongshan, then at the rankings below. "Elder, this disciple wishes to challenge for third place."

The audience fell silent for a moment again.

This time, no one felt anything was wrong.

The seventh-place player tensed up instinctively, but quickly realized that Ye An's attention wasn't on him; the third-place player was his real target.

The third-place disciple, a Mid-Meridian Opening cultivator, remained silent for a moment before speaking. His tone was neither resentful nor angry. "Senior Brother Ye's strength is superb, as I have already witnessed. I willingly concede defeat."

When Fu Chongshan announced the results, there were no objections from the audience.

Ye An rose from eighth to third, while Shen Li fell from third to ninth, and was then carried off the field.

No one thought anything was wrong with the process, no one raised any questions, and even the whispers among the people decreased significantly.

Everyone knew that Ye An's victory over Shen Li wasn't a fluke; it was a true battle against a higher-level opponent. Mid-Meridian Opening defeated Late Meridian Opening Refining cultivator, even though the latter had used Micro, Spirit Grade Swordsmanship, which was ultimately broken by the Star-Shattering Finger.

This record is enough.

The fourth person stood in the crowd, looking at Ye An on the stage with a complicated expression.

He remained silent for a long time, and ultimately did not speak.

He knew in his heart that Shen Li was in the Late Meridian Opening and had mastered the Threefold Frost technique to Micro, so he wasn't confident that he could win.

He touched the hilt of his sword, but ultimately lowered his hand, thinking, "Oh well, as long as I can enter the Four Halls, it doesn't matter if I'm missing one Martial Arts."

He suppressed his resentment and looked away.

Ye An stood on the stage without speaking again, and no one in the audience raised another challenge.

Fu Chongshan waited a while, and after confirming that there were no new objections, announced the final result, "The top ten in the Inner Sect Grand Competition have been determined, and the rankings will be based on this."

When Ye An stepped down from the stage, Lu Xingzhou and Shen Qing stood below, saying nothing.

Shen Qing was silent for a moment, then spoke, her tone slightly accusatory. "You said you'd just admit defeat as soon as you went up there?"

Ye An saw the worry in her eyes but didn't take offense at the questioning tone.

Lu Xingzhou, who was standing to the side, didn't say anything. In his opinion, as long as Ye An was still alive and kicking, there was no problem.

Ye An met her gaze, neither looking away nor offering any explanation, simply saying, "I originally wanted to give up, but I didn't have the chance."

Shen Qing frowned slightly, but said nothing more.

Lu Xingzhou then chimed in, "Brother Ye, you really kept that a secret! You said you'd admit defeat, but then you went up there and broke his arm. I almost jumped out of my throat backstage!"

"I didn't even have time to react before you took care of him. Next time, please let me know in advance, otherwise my heart can't handle this kind of sudden shock."

"It's my treat tonight! What do you want to eat? Don't be shy!"

Lu Xingzhou smiled happily; one might mistake him for a disciple of the Four Halls.

"Eat, eat, eat! Let's go to the most expensive place and use up all his Contribution Point." Shen Qing seemed to have no anger left, and as she spoke, she went over and slapped Lu Xingzhou hard.

Lu Xingzhou stumbled and whispered, "Be gentle, you're so strong."

Shen Qing was reignited and chased after the Lu Xingzhou.

The two walked in front of Ye An. The Four Halls disciples were just the beginning; there was still a year before he could draw his Golden Finger again.