The light screen over the battle platform rippled like water.
Wen Qingxuan stood at the center of the battle platform, her long hair tied in a high ponytail, revealing her slender, fair neck. As she lifted her chin slightly, her innate pride shone through her eyes and brows.
She stood with her arms folded, her gaze fixed on Mu Chen, keen interest flickering in her eyes.
"Wen Qingxuan, from the Myriad Phoenix Continent." She introduced herself, fighting spirit rising in her eyes. "I know there isn't much of a gap between Wu Ling and me. If you could subdue him with one hand, you can probably do the same to me."
She paused, her smile growing brighter and more radiant. "But I don't want to concede. I want to experience just how strong you are for myself!"
"I hope you won't hold back!"
"All right. As you wish." Mu Chen smiled.
The instant the battle platforms connected, Wen Qingxuan moved.
Mu Chen merely raised his hand and flicked a finger.
Whoosh-
A gust of force, condensed to the utmost, tore through the air with a piercing shriek and instantly struck the Shanzhong Acupoint on Wen Qingxuan's chest!
Pfft.
With that soft sound, Wen Qingxuan's entire body shuddered violently.
She felt a sharp burst of force pierce her body and explode through every limb and bone, instantly scattering the strength she had gathered.
"Ugh..."
Wen Qingxuan gave a muffled groan and froze in place, every muscle in her body trembling uncontrollably.
As her blood surged, her legs buckled.
She dropped to one knee, bracing her right hand against the battle platform to keep herself from collapsing entirely. Fine beads of cold sweat seeped from her forehead, and for the moment, she could not muster even a fraction of her strength.
"Thank you for the match," Mu Chen's voice reached her.
"...I lost." Wen Qingxuan raised her head with difficulty. Her voice remained clear, but a hint of complicated emotion had entered her eyes.
Proud as she was, she had never imagined she would lose so decisively, without the slightest ability to fight back.
I told you not to hold back, and you really didn't hold back at all?
"What level is your spirit body, exactly?" she could not help asking.
Mu Chen smiled without answering.
He did not pause. With another thought, the markings on the battle platform beneath his feet lit up, and an invisible ripple crossed space to lock onto the next platform.
One battle platform after another was linked, and one fight after another began and ended.
Like a tireless hunter on patrol, Mu Chen roamed freely across the chessboard that was the War Realm.
There was no pattern to his challenges, nor did he target anyone in particular. Or rather, he targeted everyone except Luo Li!
Even a fourth-grade spirit body could not withstand a single move from him, let alone a level three spirit body.
The three-day time limit was up.
Every battle platform in the War Realm shook simultaneously, the markings on their surfaces bursting with unprecedented brilliance.
Light shot skyward from every platform and gathered at the vault of the War Realm, forming a vast sea of light.
The sea of light slowly revolved, gradually revealing an enormous light screen.
On the screen, a hundred names were listed from top to bottom, each followed by a pillar of light.
The pillars varied in length, representing the amount of War Realm spiritual light each person held.
There was no suspense about the name in first place.
Mu Chen.
The pillar of light behind his name was more than five times as tall as the one in second place. Like an immense pillar holding up the heavens, it towered at the very top of the light screen, radiating suffocating pressure.
Second place, Luo Li.
Third place, Wen Qingxuan.
Fourth place, Wu Ling.
The names and pillars of light became fixed, proclaiming the final outcome of the three-day contest in the War Realm.
The hundred battle platforms fell utterly silent.
Every gaze, whether awed, resentful, or conflicted, converged on the name at the top of the rankings, its pillar of light supporting the heavens.
Mu Chen's name was seared like a brand deep into the heart of every surviving trial participant.
High in the sky, the Dean of Sacred Spirit Academy spoke once more, his detached, majestic voice echoing throughout the War Realm.
"The contest in the War Realm ends here."
"The top twenty in spiritual light shall be crowned kings and contend for the crown!"
Hum-
The instant his words fell, twenty brilliant beams split off from the sea of light and shone down upon twenty battle platforms below.
A moment later, all twenty beams contracted inward at once.
An immensely vast, circular white-jade battle platform appeared, connecting to the twenty platforms.
Almost simultaneously, everyone's gaze involuntarily turned toward the very center of the platform.
There, an object hovered-a crown.
The entire crown had the warm, translucent luster of colored glass, resembling jade yet not jade, gold yet not gold.
Wisps of milky-white spiritual light hung from the crown like strings of jewels. As they swayed gently, they stirred the surrounding spiritual energy into ripples.
The Spirit Crown!
According to the rules of past Spirit Road trials, these twenty exceptional talents standing on the final battle platform would now begin the Spirit Road's last, fiercest, and most brutal "Battle of the Kings" to determine who would ultimately claim the Spirit Crown.
The air on the battle platform suddenly grew taut. Just as that atmosphere of drawn swords and bent bows reached its peak-
Tap.
Mu Chen began walking, heading straight for the Spirit Crown.
He was ignoring everyone and simply taking the Spirit Crown?!
How dare he?!
Even if he ranked first in points and his strength was unfathomable, this was the final battle platform. Apart from Luo Li, there were still eighteen of them!
Yet despite those thoughts...
No one dared move!
No one dared speak!
Because Luo Li, who ranked second, was also watching them!
As Mu Chen drew closer and closer to the Spirit Crown, a strange change began to creep into the atmosphere on the platform, which had been stretched almost to breaking point.
Even their breathing unconsciously grew softer.
Eighteen proud, exceptional talents from different continents could only watch helplessly as that black-clad figure bathed in the milky-white radiance falling from the Spirit Crown.
Mu Chen stopped before the Spirit Crown and, without the slightest hesitation, took it!
The one standing here now was Spirit Crown Holder Mu Chen!
"The Spirit Crown Holder has been decided. Let us begin the next stage, then."
The Dean of Sacred Spirit Academy's voice echoed over the War Realm, though a barely perceptible trace of darkness still lingered deep within his indifferent eyes.
Under everyone's watchful gaze, whatever schemes he harbored, he had to abide by the Spirit Road's ancient rules at this moment.
Still, if Mu Chen came to the Sacred Spirit Academy, the matter of Ji Xuan could be put behind them. He would even make Mu Chen a priority for nurturing...
Standing upon his golden seat of light, his white hair stirred without wind as he gently swept his broad sleeve toward the vast final battle platform below.
Hum-
The entire War Realm trembled.
Spiritual energy formed a sea, suspended in the heavens!
It surged into existence out of nowhere, hovering silently high above, stretching for an unknown distance and flowing slowly as it radiated heart-stopping, boundless fluctuations!
Its naturally emitted pressure alone made everyone on the platform below except Mu Chen catch their breath.
This was the gift the Five Great Academies had prepared together for the final trial participants of every Spirit Road, expending unimaginable resources and means-Spirit Road Empowerment!
The crucial point was that it increased cultivation without any side effects!
"Next," the Dean of Sacred Spirit Academy swept his gaze across the platform below, pausing briefly on Mu Chen in particular, his voice majestic, "take out your Blood Tokens, draw in the spiritual energy, and begin the Spirit Road Empowerment!"
"The duration and effect of the empowerment will depend on the number of tokens each of you possesses. The more tokens you have, the greater the spiritual energy you can draw in, the longer it will last, and the stronger the foundation you will forge! Your cultivation will rise all the higher!"
"Remember, act within your limits. Excessive greed will only harm you!"
Before you continue