The hot-blooded clashes on the wooden platform gradually faded, and the rhythm of the drill ground began shifting into another dimension.
As the rankings climbed, so did the blood qi levels of the martial artists taking the stage. From the peak of the Qi-Blood Second Level to the early Qi-Blood Third Level, then onward to its middle and late stages, every step up the rankings brought opponents a notch more ferocious.
After securing waist token thirty-six, Yi Zhanzhi did not rush to challenge anyone else. Liao Xu gestured for him to step down and rest. The meaning was clear-conserve his strength and leave something in reserve.
Everyone from the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall understood this as clearly as a polished mirror. Their young prodigy had already reached the top forty. Any higher, and he would enter the territory of the fourth blood qi level, where he could afford no mistakes.
The drill ground's attention shifted to others.
An Acting Patrol Commander from the Heaven Patrol Office took the stage. Long-faced and a little over thirty, he had reached the perfected Qi-Blood Third Level. His movements marked him as a regular army man through and through. He attacked with everything he had, his saber work vicious, his offensive so dense that his opponent struggled to withstand it. After a dozen exchanges, the martial arts hall disciple facing him was driven steadily backward before falling straight off the edge.
Scattered applause rose from those who understood what they had seen.
Another challenger stepped up. He was a deputy hall master from some small martial arts hall, just over fifty, with a full head of black hair and late Qi-Blood Third Level cultivation. His eyes carried the weathering of years of deadly combat. He opened with his signature art, his sword tracing uncanny