Survival? The Qualifiers' Hell Mode! (Two Chapters in One)

Ye Zhiqiu stood behind a protruding rock halfway up the mountain. Gravity Waves spread out silently, clearly mapping every fluctuation of soul power, tremor in the ground, and heat source within several hundred meters.

Fiery meteors were still raining down. He turned to glance at Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin, who were hiding behind another rock beside him. Both had withdrawn their martial souls. This was not the time to act.

"How many teams are left?" Dong Qianqiu asked quietly.

Ye Zhiqiu closed his eyes and swept the entire area with Gravity Waves.

"Five, including us," he said, opening his eyes.

Lan Mengqin frowned at that. "There were ten just a moment ago. We're already down to five?"

"The Earthfire Red Dragon's Fire Meteors cover too much ground. Teams without a strong control-type or defense-type soul master simply can't withstand them," Ye Zhiqiu said.

He paused, then continued, "But the five remaining teams should all be safe. Anyone who's survived this far won't have a low Preliminary Selection score."

At this point, he no longer had any intention of going out to rescue anyone.

He got along well with the other students in Class One. They chatted and joked during lessons and training, but that was as far as it went.

He was not their babysitter. He had given the warnings he needed to give and shown them the routes he needed to show. Anyone who had survived this far had done so through their own ability.

What happened next was in fate's hands.

Dong Qianqiu glanced at him without saying anything. She understood Ye Zhiqiu. He would never refuse help he ought to give, nor would he shoulder responsibilities that were not his.

"Anyone still alive should pretty much be safe. The Preliminary Selection judges survival time and kill scores. They just need to keep lying low," Ye Zhiqiu said.

Nearly another ten minutes passed before a mountain-shaking crash suddenly erupted from the distant cliff.

Over by the cliff, another Earthfire Red Dragon smashed straight through the ridge. An enormous breach burst open, sending rocks and dust flying dozens of meters, before a massive head poked through.

That Earthfire Red Dragon stepped straight across the ridge, clambering over from the valley on the other side.

There had originally been only one Earthfire Red Dragon in this valley. Now there were two.

The sight of two Earthfire Red Dragons appearing in the same valley made every fleeing Class One student instinctively freeze for a moment.

Ye Zhiqiu's mind moved a step faster than anyone else's.

Just as the Earthfire Red Dragon crossed the ridge, a golden halo suddenly swept across the valley floor.

It passed from west to east and south to north like an enormous scanning beam, covering the entire valley in an instant.

The Preliminary Selection Examination entered its second phase.

The moment the golden halo vanished, the two Earthfire Red Dragons changed their behavior.

They no longer lingered along the sides of the valley. Instead, both broke into a charge toward the human soul masters in the center.

Nor did they remain stationed in separate territories anymore. They now shared a single objective: prioritize attacking every human, regardless of who they were.

One Earthfire Red Dragon charged southeast, where three teams of students were gathered. The other charged toward Ye Zhiqiu and his companions.

Two enormous fireballs, one high and one low, shot simultaneously from the two Earthfire Red Dragons' mouths.

The higher fireball hurtled toward the three teams in the southeast. The lower one flew straight at Ye Zhiqiu's trio.

Ye Zhiqiu raised his left hand slightly. Absolute Gravity locked precisely onto the lower fireball, forcing it downward in midair until it struck the ground roughly ten meters from them.

The blast sent a wave of heat rushing into his face, blowing the loose hair over his forehead backward.

The three teams to the southeast were not so fortunate.

Although they avoided a direct hit from the higher fireball, its blast covered too wide an area. One team of three was hurled away by the shock wave, slammed into the cliff, and dissolved into three streaks of white light.

The other two teams avoided direct hits as well, but were forced to retreat toward the valley's edge, their formations completely shattered.

Without control-type or defense-type soul masters to back them up, the Earthfire Red Dragon's relentless ranged bombardment steadily squeezed away their room to dodge, eventually trapping them in a dead end.

When a fireball landed at their feet, six streaks of white light rose almost simultaneously.

At that point, all of Class One had been wiped out except Ye Zhiqiu, Dong Qianqiu, and Lan Mengqin.

Only the three of them remained in the valley.

Both Earthfire Red Dragons fixed their gazes on them at once.

Standing behind the rock, Ye Zhiqiu watched the two colossal beasts bear down on them, then turned to glance at Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin.

"We can't hide anymore. Let's fight."

Dong Qianqiu drew the Ice Spear from behind her back. Its tip quivered, and white frost spread through the air.

Lan Mengqin took two steps forward to stand on Ye Zhiqiu's left. She gently raised her right hand, and four purple soul rings rose beneath her feet at once. Ice-blue mist poured from her body, condensing into a slender humanoid phantom behind her.

The Heavenly Snow Woman.

The phantom wore a long ice-blue dress. Her features were indistinct, but the cold surrounding her made the air itself warp slightly.

Every contour of her form was condensed from pure icy power. As she stood there, the surrounding temperature plummeted, and a thin layer of frost swiftly coated the scattered stones on the ground.

Lan Mengqin rarely used the Jade Phoenix Zither, because the sounds she played on it were genuinely awful. Even she did not particularly want to face them.

The Heavenly Snow Woman was her true combat form.

"I'll hold off the one on the left. You two handle the right," Ye Zhiqiu said.

Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin both nodded without objection.

Seeing that, Ye Zhiqiu hesitated no further. He stepped forward with his left foot and shot out from behind the rock.

A silver-gray orb appeared in his left palm. The miniature galaxy within it spun faster, and a purple soul ring lit up.

Absolute Gravity.

He pressed his left hand down. A patch of ground roughly thirty meters ahead abruptly sank. The charging Earthfire Red Dragon planted its foreleg in that area, and the entire limb plunged into the earth. Its enormous body staggered violently, almost crashing to the ground.

The Earthfire Red Dragon roared in fury and swept its huge tail toward him. Ye Zhiqiu leaped sideways, dodging the bone spikes at its tip, then pushed off the cliff with his toes and sprang away. With a turn of his right hand, the Absolute Blade appeared.

His second soul ring lit up. Absolute Slash!

The blade traced a faint white arc through the air. Although it was still more than ten meters from the Earthfire Red Dragon's neck, the instant it fell, a wound deep enough to expose bone appeared out of nowhere in the scales along the beast's neck. Dark red blood gushed out, hissing as it splashed onto the rocks.

The Earthfire Red Dragon roared in pain, shaking the valley. But its reactions were far quicker than those of the armored dragon from before. It whipped its head around, unleashing a much thicker pillar of fire from its mouth and sweeping it toward him.

Ye Zhiqiu raised his left hand again. Absolute Gravity forcibly pressed the fire pillar several meters downward. It swept over his head, its heat making his clothes curl slightly.

But he had no intention of continuing this battle of attrition.

He needed to buy Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin time, and he also needed to finish his own opponent quickly so he could help them.

Pushing off with his toes, he shot forward again, skimming close to the ground with the Absolute Blade held diagonally at his side.

The Earthfire Red Dragon turned its head and opened its mouth. A molten core lit up deep in its throat as it prepared to unleash a second pillar of fire.

But the instant its mouth opened, Ye Zhiqiu's third soul ring lit up.

A purple soul ring rose beneath his feet, its light flowing.

His third soul skill, Boundary Severance!

Ye Zhiqiu swept the Absolute Blade upward, leaving an exceedingly fine silver trail in the air.

The silver trail did not fade. It hung in midair like a wound in space itself, several branches spreading outward from it.

Then the trail burst apart. Space within roughly ten meters instantly fell into chaos. The Earthfire Red Dragon's newly opened mouth abruptly froze, and the molten core deep in its throat lost its connection to its body in that instant.

The fire pillar caught in its throat, unable to emerge. The molten core churned uselessly inside its body, heat building in its chest with no outlet.

The Earthfire Red Dragon let out an incredibly muffled roar. Its chest swelled, and dark red light shone beneath its scales.

The disruption lasted less than two seconds.

But two seconds were enough. Ye Zhiqiu had already reached its side, raising the Absolute Blade high.

His first soul ring lit up at the same time. Concept Severance.

The blade cut across the bleeding wound along its neck. The Earthfire Red Dragon's body stiffened instantly, its soul power defenses vanished, and the muscles beneath its scales completely lost their soul power protection!

Then Ye Zhiqiu turned his blade, aimed its tip at the wound along the beast's neck, and drove it straight in.

The Absolute Blade's sharpness needed little explanation. It cut through scales, pierced muscle, and reached bone with almost no resistance.

The Earthfire Red Dragon gave a defiant, mournful howl. Its enormous body began to tilt, its limbs convulsed, and then it crashed to the ground.

Dead!

Ye Zhiqiu landed, took a breath, and turned toward Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin.

The battle against the other Earthfire Red Dragon was going somewhat better than he had expected.

Dong Qianqiu's Ice Spear had already pierced the joint of its right foreleg. Icy power seeped through the wound, freezing the surrounding flesh and meridians.

The Earthfire Red Dragon's movements had slowed as a result. It could barely lift that leg, severely hampering its mobility.

Meanwhile, Lan Mengqin's Heavenly Snow Woman stood at the center of the battlefield, both hands extended as ice-blue mist surged around her.

Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin worked together with excellent coordination. Dong Qianqiu handled close-range restraint and breaking its defenses, while Lan Mengqin's Heavenly Snow Woman provided ranged attacks and control.

Dong Qianqiu's ice element had coated the stones and dirt in white frost. Lan Mengqin had frozen the ground beneath the Earthfire Red Dragon into a thick sheet of ice, making it slip and lose its balance whenever it moved.

Then Lan Mengqin raised her right hand, and her second soul ring lit up.

A row of a dozen or so Ice Cones materialized on the ground before her. Each stood half a person's height, its point gleaming coldly.

She thrust her right hand forward, and the entire row of Ice Cones shot toward the Earthfire Red Dragon's flank.

A rapid series of metallic clinks rang out as the Ice Cones struck its scales. Most shattered on contact. The Earthfire Red Dragon's defenses were simply too strong; thousand-year-level Ice Cones struggled to penetrate them enough to inflict meaningful damage.

But several Ice Cones found the wounds Dong Qianqiu had made earlier with her Ice Spear and plunged inside, drawing another agonized roar from the Earthfire Red Dragon.

Ye Zhiqiu could see that Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin's combined assault had already left this Earthfire Red Dragon teetering on the brink, but it still needed one final push.

He drew a deep breath and raised his left hand.

Gravity Anchor.

He locked onto the patch of ground Lan Mengqin had frozen beneath the Earthfire Red Dragon, leaving an invisible Gravity Anchor under the ice.

Then he tightened his right hand around the Absolute Blade, planted his foot, and charged out again.

The Earthfire Red Dragon seemed to sense the danger, but it was in far too poor a state. Dong Qianqiu's Ice Spear had frozen its right foreleg, Ice Cones had pierced its left hind leg, and it kept slipping on the ice beneath its feet.

Ye Zhiqiu rushed directly in front of it, holding the Absolute Blade across his body.

His fourth soul ring lit up.

Ye Zhiqiu's fourth soul skill was an ability he rarely used.

His fourth soul skill, Realm Descent!

He thrust the blade forward, not at the Earthfire Red Dragon's body, but into the space before it.

An exceedingly fine crack appeared in that space where the blade struck. It spread outward, expanding into a web of fractures roughly five meters across in less than half a second.

The web of fractures hung before the Earthfire Red Dragon, then tilted toward it.

The fractures touched the Earthfire Red Dragon's chest.

Then a hole appeared in its chest. The spatial fractures had gouged out a chunk of it, making scales, flesh, and bone vanish simultaneously. Only its blood hung in midair for an instant before gushing out.

The Earthfire Red Dragon gave one final roar. Its enormous body began collapsing around the hollow in its chest. Its limbs lost their support, and it crashed to the ground, sending loose stones flying.

Ye Zhiqiu then landed, withdrew the Absolute Blade, and let out a breath.

Lan Mengqin looked up at the two Earthfire Red Dragon corpses, then turned to Ye Zhiqiu. "What was that move just now? You gouged a hole in its chest."

"My fourth soul skill. It's called Realm Descent," Ye Zhiqiu said. He walked over beside Lan Mengqin and continued, "It creates a spatial folding field in front of the target. Unlike Concept Severance and Absolute Slash, it acts directly on space itself. In simple terms, it temporarily makes that patch of space cease to exist."

"And everything in that patch of space ceases to exist along with it?"

"That's more or less it."

Lan Mengqin fell silent for a moment, then said, "Just how many of your soul skills are normal?"

"Not a single one."

Lan Mengqin rolled her eyes and said nothing more.

Dong Qianqiu walked over from the side. She looked at the two Earthfire Red Dragon corpses, then at Ye Zhiqiu, hesitating as though she wanted to say something.

"What is it?" Ye Zhiqiu asked.

"Nothing." Dong Qianqiu turned her face away, then said, "I just thought that move of yours looked pretty cool."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"I wasn't complimenting you."

"I know. Everything you say sounds like a compliment to me."