Seven days passed in the flick of a finger.
Han Li rarely ventured out, pouring all his energy into cultivation. He had already consumed every pill Mo Juren had given him, and his cultivation had stabilized at the peak of the third level of Qi Refining. All he needed was an opportunity to break through.
That morning, the melodious tolling of bells rang throughout the Seven Mysteries Sect.
The annual outer sect tournament had officially begun!
A sea of people already surrounded the vast training grounds. Thousands of outer sect disciples had gathered, their clamor soaring into the clouds. Every sect elder was present on the raised platform, and even several grand elders rarely seen in public watched from behind a curtain. Mo Juren was among them, smiling as his gaze occasionally swept toward an inconspicuous corner of the crowd.
Han Li had changed into the blue robes of a core disciple. Standing among other core disciples dressed the same way, he nevertheless seemed entirely out of place. His aura was restrained and his expression calm, a stark contrast to his fellow disciples, who were nervous, excited, or merely pretending to be composed.
"Look, that's Han Li!"
"A dark spiritual root? He doesn't look all that special."
"Shh! Keep your voice down. Have you forgotten what happened on the Sword-Grinding Path?"
All manner of gazes converged on him-curiosity, scrutiny, jealousy, and disdain-interweaving into an invisible net.
Li Feiyu stood nearby, surrounded by several followers. He cast a sinister glance at Han Li, a cold sneer curling his lips. Over the past few days, he had exchanged for considerable resources and stabilized his cultivation at the second level of Qi Refining. Convinced that his strength had grown enormously, he was waiting to wash away his previous humiliation in the tournament and trample this wielder of a variant spiritual root who had stolen all the limelight beneath his feet!
The tournament was presided over by a Foundation Establishment elder surnamed Zhao, who announced the rules in a ringing voice. "The tournament will use an arena challenge format. Anyone who successfully defends an arena for ten matches will advance! Deliberately maiming or killing an opponent is forbidden. Violators will be severely punished! Now, let the tournament begin!"
The instant his voice fell, several figures eagerly leaped onto the largest arenas, releasing their auras. Most were disciples at the first or second level of Qi Refining, hoping to seize the initiative with an imposing display.
Han Li was in no hurry to enter an arena. He stood with his hands behind his back, watching coldly. In his eyes, these low-level disciples' battles were riddled with openings, no different from child's play. He was waiting-for a more worthy opponent, or for the right moment to act.
Fierce battles soon erupted across the arenas. Sword qi crisscrossed, spells flashed, and shouts and collisions rang out without pause. Disciples were continually knocked from the platforms, while others successfully defended their arenas, drawing waves of astonished cries from below.
Seizing his chance, Li Feiyu sprang onto an arena. A flick of his longsword produced several fierce sword flourishes, immediately throwing the defending disciple, who had just endured a hard-fought battle, into a frantic scramble. Finally, a slash caught the disciple's wrist, sending his weapon flying and defeating him.
"Thank you for the match!" Li Feiyu stood with his sword lowered, brimming with confidence as he cast a challenging look at Han Li below.
"Senior Brother Li is mighty!"
"What fine swordsmanship!"
His followers immediately cheered at the tops of their voices, attracting considerable attention.
Han Li remained expressionless, as though he had not seen Li Feiyu's provocation, while countless thoughts stirred within him. Brother Li, you and I were close in my previous life, and I often acted under your name. But that was another time, another lifetime. If you insist on blocking my path, I can only accept your challenge!
As time passed, more and more disciples entered the arenas, and the battles grew increasingly fierce. Even disciples at the third level of Qi Refining began to fight, defeating their opponents with ease and drawing slight nods from the elders on the raised platform.
With his exquisite swordsmanship and substantial spiritual power, Li Feiyu had defeated seven opponents in succession, enjoying unrivaled prominence. Growing ever more pleased with himself, he turned his gaze toward Han Li again and called out, "Junior Brother Han Li! As a genius with a dark spiritual root, are you going to keep hiding like a turtle with its head tucked into its shell? Do you dare come up here and exchange a few moves with your senior brother?"
The moment those words rang out, every gaze in the grounds focused on Han Li.
"Li Feiyu is challenging him by name!"
"Will Han Li accept?"
"I heard he only joined a few days ago. Even with a variant spiritual root, his cultivation probably..."
A hint of amusement flashed through Mo Juren's eyes on the raised platform. He, too, wanted to see just how capable Han Li was in actual combat. The other elders also looked intrigued.
Faced with this brazen provocation, Han Li finally moved. He slowly raised his head and calmly looked at the swaggering Li Feiyu in the arena. The faintest trace of a smile seemed to curve his lips.
Without a word, he took a step forward.
His figure moved like a phantom. Everyone saw only a blur before Han Li appeared soundlessly in the arena, facing Li Feiyu from a distance.
What swift footwork! Many disciples' pupils contracted.
Li Feiyu's heart also tightened, but that alarm was immediately replaced by fiercer anger. Nothing but ghostly tricks! He shouted, "Junior Brother Han, watch yourself!"
Before he had finished speaking, spiritual power surged wildly through his body. His longsword erupted with dazzling blue light, becoming an incomparably fierce rainbow of sword light that stabbed straight toward Han Li's face! He had put eighty percent of his strength into this thrust, determined to defeat Han Li in a single move and thoroughly humiliate him!
Cries of shock rose below the arena. The power of that thrust far exceeded that of an ordinary second-level Qi Refining disciple!
Yet faced with this lightning-swift thrust, Han Li neither dodged nor retreated. Only when the sword tip was about to reach him did he raise his right hand with seeming nonchalance.
No spiritual light shone. No aura erupted.
He merely extended two fingers and gently pinched.
Clink!
A faint sound rang out, like metal striking metal.
That menacing blue rainbow of sword light was caught firmly between his two fingertips! It could not advance even a fraction farther!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
The entire grounds fell deathly silent!
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the bizarre scene in the arena, unable to believe what they were seeing. Li Feiyu's all-out thrust, which he had been certain would secure victory, had actually... been stopped so casually? With only two fingers?
The smugness on Li Feiyu's face instantly froze, turning to horror. He felt as though his sword had pierced into ten thousand fathoms of profound iron. A recoil traveled back through it, numbing his arm until he could barely hold the hilt!
"You..." He had only managed a single word.
Han Li applied a little pressure with his fingers.
Crack!
That longsword of considerable quality shattered inch by inch from the spot where he held it! Fragments clattered all over the ground.
"Pfft!" With his bonded artifact destroyed, Li Feiyu suffered an injury to his spirit. He spat out a mouthful of blood, his face instantly turning as pale as paper.
Without even glancing at him, Han Li casually flicked away the broken blade between his fingertips. His gaze swept over several other core disciples below who had been itching to fight, and he spoke in an even voice that nevertheless carried an invisible pressure:
"Who else wants to come up and exchange a few moves?"
Not even a crow or sparrow made a sound.
The disciples who had previously looked down on Han Li or considered challenging him were now as mute as cicadas in winter. They instinctively took half a step back, not daring to meet his eyes. Li Feiyu had been among the strongest of them, yet he had been crushed so overwhelmingly. Han Li's strength was unfathomable!
Silence reigned on the raised platform.
Several elders exchanged looks, each seeing shock in the others' eyes. Even the red-faced Elder Li's hand stopped stroking his beard. The sinister Elder Wang's expression darkened. Even the auras of the grand elders behind the curtain fluctuated slightly.
Mo Juren's smile remained, but deep within his eyes, a profound wariness flickered. This boy's strength was growing far too quickly! And those methods-handling such weight as though it were nothing, ruthless and decisive...
Han Li stood alone in the arena, his blue robes stirring gently. Though he radiated no astonishing aura, he possessed a bearing that looked down upon all before him, leaving no one daring to underestimate him.
He did not need to defend the arena for ten matches.
One battle was enough to establish his might.
Because of him alone, the outcome of the outer sect tournament was already settled.
And this was only the beginning. After this battle, his days of peaceful cultivation in the Seven Mysteries Sect would likely come to an end. More attention and more trouble would follow one after another.
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