They Were the Challengers!

"What did you say?!"

Hearing this, the most shocked person was not Chen Deng, but Xu Lihong, who had remained silent from the very beginning.

As a Martial Arts High School teacher, he understood better than anyone present just how preposterous those words had been.

One person had fought through more than a hundred people?!

Xu Lihong stared hard at the girl, disbelief written all over his face. "You really aren't joking?!"

Tang Yao replied casually, "I've already asked more than a dozen people. If I were still joking, wouldn't that be rather boring?"

Even after learning that Ye Li had fought through more than a hundred people alone, not a trace of nervousness could be seen on the girl's proud, beautiful face.

"..."

Hearing that, Chen Deng collapsed back onto the hospital bed. Between ragged breaths, he gave a bitter laugh. "Other than you, Ying Province actually has a genius like this..."

Originally, he had believed that a genius of Tang Yao's caliber could not possibly have a second equal anywhere in all of Ying Province.

Even the eldest daughter of the Jiang Family in Linhai City, who had awakened an A-Grade Martial Arts Talent, was no exception.

After all, Chen Deng had personally witnessed the girl's heroic bearing when she held a saber and challenged every student in the school by herself.

That was precisely why he admired her so deeply.

To the point that he had regarded her as the goddess in his heart and pursued her without regard for anything else, all so he could catch up to her footsteps.

Unfortunately... it had been nothing more than a fool's dream.

Chen Deng's smile was bitter.

The Tang Yao of that day and the Ye Li of today were actually so alike!

"..."

Tang Yao's delicate brows furrowed slightly. Unlike Chen Deng, she did not believe Ye Li could be mentioned in the same breath as her.

She merely found him somewhat interesting.

But forget it.

She had no intention of arguing with Chen Deng.

A mediocrity like him was destined to drift through life without accomplishing anything.

There was no need whatsoever for her to spend even a shred of time getting acquainted with him.

With that thought, Tang Yao turned around, preparing to leave.

She had only come to learn about the situation. Now that she understood it, there was nothing worth paying attention to, so naturally, she had to return and prepare for the afternoon's Exchange Competition.

She slowly walked out of the hospital room.

At that moment, Xu Lihong, who had been sitting in a chair, suddenly sighed. Looking at Chen Deng on the bed, he said with a bitter smile,

"Looks like this afternoon's Exchange Competition is a lost cause. I'll go withdraw for you later. Focus on recovering properly."

"Withdraw?" Tang Yao's questioning voice sounded beside him.

Xu Lihong turned his head and saw that the beautiful girl who had just left had returned. She looked at him with dissatisfaction and said coldly,

"Who said we were withdrawing?"

"But..." Xu Lihong was somewhat stunned. "Six out of the seven people on our team have already been seriously injured!"

"So what?" Tang Yao asked calmly.

"Th-this..."

For a moment, Xu Lihong had no idea how to answer.

In his view, things had already reached this point. Of course they should withdraw from the competition and recuperate properly!

But when he thought of the girl's almost arrogant, extreme personality, he swallowed those words back down.

At such a young age, she had developed a B-Grade talent to attack power comparable to an A-Grade talent, possessed Second-Tier Level Six peak cultivation, and carried countless Premium Martial Skills from the Sword Pavilion... Tang Yao truly had the qualifications to look down upon the masses.

He took a deep breath.

For some reason, Xu Lihong felt his confidence surge.

He looked at the girl and asked in a low voice,

"Then what do you mean?"

"Do you even need to ask?" A trace of amusement flashed through Tang Yao's eyes, only to quickly settle again.

Immediately afterward, an incomparably sharp sword intent burst forth from her, as though it would forcibly split the hospital beneath her feet in two!

Under Xu Lihong's absent gaze, the beautiful girl with extreme confidence raised her cool eyes and said faintly,

"We'll compete as usual. I'll be participating."

"But that Ye Li..."

"He is indeed not bad."

Tang Yao suddenly spoke, cutting Xu Lihong off. Cold words spilled from her cherry-colored lips.

"But that is all."

"He merely swept away a bunch of shrimp soldiers and crab generals. Anyone could easily accomplish something like that. It is nothing worth boasting about."

"Let me make this clear first."

"In this match, they are the challengers."

Qingshan City, downtown.

Inside a rather upscale hotel.

Ye Li sat cross-legged on the bed, his mood somewhat heavy.

According to Wang Yongfeng, Qingshan First High School would most likely withdraw from the afternoon's Exchange Competition because they lacked enough people. His plan to give that Sword Dao Genius Girl a savage beating would have to go down the drain as well.

There would be no chance to earn more Malice Points...

Ye Li sighed, calmed his emotions, and summoned the panel.

[Current Malice Points: points. Treasure Tools available to draw]

Even with his temperament, he could not help but smile again when he saw that number on the panel.

Sure enough, no one would see the remaining balance in their account and not smile.

If they did not smile, then their account balance had probably run dry.

Although the students from Qingshan First High School had provided few Malice Points each, there had simply been too many of them!

With the boost from more than a hundred people, his reserves had directly reached a terrifying level.

Through the experience he had accumulated over several attempts, Ye Li had also discovered some of the system's rules for judging Malice Points.

Only martial artists who harbored hostility toward him would provide Malice Points at the normal level after being defeated.

Take Jiang Qingzhu as an example.

When he had guided that young lady in martial skills, Ye Li had not held back at all. Every strike had been aimed at earning Malice Points.

Yet even after he had left Jiang Qingzhu limp on the ground, her eyes hazy, the Malice Points recognized by the system had only reached two digits.

Damn it, was this to stop me from farming points infinitely...?

Ye Li sighed. No matter what, now that he had successfully obtained the Breathing Technique, he could begin allocating points to his Martial Arts Level, which had not improved for quite some time.

Though calling it a long time was a bit much. It had only been two or three days.

But before that...

Ye Li turned his gaze toward the new words that had appeared after the Malice Points.

As he farmed Malice Points, the system seemed to gradually unlock new functions.

For example, when he had first transmigrated here, defeating Wang Ren had added the "Cultivation Point Allocation" function to the system.

That was truly a good thing.

Not to mention that he was still lacking a handy gun-type Treasure Tool.

With a thought from Ye Li, the text on the panel immediately began to change.

[Spend one thousand Malice Points to draw once from the Treasure Tool Roulette]

[Treasure Tool Roulette: A miraculous roulette containing all kinds of Treasured Artifacts from across the heavens. Any manner of wondrous item may be drawn from here. If you wish to ascend to the heavens in a single step, why not come test your luck?]

[Note: This Treasure Tool pool guarantees an item after forty draws. The guaranteed item will definitely be a Gold Quality Treasure Tool!]

Damn it, no wonder this thing had only appeared after he reached forty thousand Malice Points!

Ye Li instantly understood. The system had apparently decided he had the courage to go all in, so it immediately served up this roulette.

System, you have mistaken me. Ye has never been the kind of gambling addict who throws everything away!

Ye Li sneered.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he chose to make one draw first to test the waters.

There was no other reason.

With a new pool placed right before his eyes, could anyone refrain from giving it a try?

[Ding!]

[Congratulations on obtaining a Purple Rare Quality Treasure Tool--]

A purple light illuminated Ye Li's handsome face.

Not bad. Although he had not pulled gold in a single draw, purple was still decent.

He nodded slightly and looked toward the panel.

[Functional Treasure Tool: Harmony Ring]

[Effect: Consume true qi to force enemies within a five-meter radius to kneel before you. The higher the enemy's level, the more true qi is consumed!]

[Cooldown: One day]

"...?"

Ye Li was speechless for a long while. Are you sure using this Treasure Tool would let people coexist harmoniously?

Not only did this Treasure Tool have no rank, only quality, but this effect was also far too...

Perfectly suited to him!

A faint gleam lit Ye Li's dark eyes.

Knock, knock, knock—

At that moment, a knock sounded quietly at the door.

"Are you still resting?"

Jiang Qingzhu's slightly surprised voice came from outside the door.

"Qingshan First High School didn't withdraw. They called us over to compete."

Oh ho, not only had they not withdrawn, they had actually come toward him instead?

Inside the room, Ye Li's lips slowly curled upward.

This Tang Yao's courage was worthy of praise.

But unfortunately, that was the only thing about her he could praise.