The presiding elder's voice carried across the martial arena.
In the waiting area, Chu Yunfei slowly opened his eyes.
The Boundless Creation Scripture still circulated within him. Spiritual power at the ninth level of Qi Condensation filled his twelve primary meridians and eight extraordinary meridians, settling in his dantian like a fully drawn bow, ready to erupt at any moment.
Across from him, Ling Feng had already stood up.
Boom!
A mighty surge of spiritual power burst from his body, whipping the surrounding robes into a frenzy and sending the fine gravel beneath their feet rolling outward.
Cries of astonishment immediately rose from the spectator stands.
"The fifth level of the Spirit Martial Realm?"
"Wasn't Ling Feng only at the fourth level of Spirit Martial a few days ago?"
"He broke through that quickly?"
Many disciples looked shocked.
In the elders' seats, Zhou Huanzhang slowly set down his teacup, his expression calm, as though he had known the outcome all along.
Chu Yunfei stared at Ling Feng for two breaths.
The pressure of the fifth level of Spirit Martial was powerful but unstable, surging one moment and receding the next. Every time spiritual power rushed through his meridians, the side of Ling Feng's neck bulged slightly.
Within his sea of consciousness, Xiaoxiao Dragon's low voice rang out.
"Kid, something's wrong with this fellow."
"This wasn't a normal breakthrough. His presence has risen to the fifth level of Spirit Martial, but his spiritual power falters as it circulates, and his meridians can't contain it."
"Someone fed him a forbidden drug that forcibly raises his cultivation realm."
A forbidden drug?
Chu Yunfei's thoughts stirred.
He had seen far too many such things in his previous life.
Forcibly boosting one's cultivation for a short time usually came at the cost of a damaged foundation. In mild cases, it required months of recuperation; in severe cases, it left permanent hidden injuries in the meridians, making any further progress difficult for the rest of one's life.
For today's battle, Ling Feng had staked more than his cultivation.
He had thrown his future foundation onto the gambling table as well.
Ruthless enough.
Chu Yunfei asked within his sea of consciousness, "What's his weakness?"
"His meridians can't bear the load."
Xiaoxiao Dragon said, "He was originally only at the fourth level of Spirit Martial. His body and meridians were only accustomed to fourth-level spiritual power. Forcing himself up to the fifth level now is like trying to hold a pond's worth of water in a water jar."
"The faster you fill it, the sooner it bursts."
"As long as he keeps using martial techniques that consume large amounts of spiritual power, the burden on his meridians will keep growing. Once it exceeds their limit, he'll injure himself before you even have to strike."
Chu Yunfei understood.
"Stall."
"Exactly."
Xiaoxiao Dragon's tone grew more serious. "But don't celebrate too soon. Before the drug's effects collapse, he genuinely has the combat strength of the fifth level of Spirit Martial."
"And spiritual power forced out by a forbidden drug is even more violent. If you can't withstand his initial onslaught, you won't live to see his meridians injure themselves."
"When will he reach the breaking point?"
"Hard to say."
"It could be ten moves, twenty, or even thirty. That depends on what drug he took and how far he loses his mind."
Chu Yunfei asked no more.
Weather the initial assault and drag Ling Feng into a battle of attrition.
The strategy was simple.
The difficulty lay in enduring the frenzied attacks of the fifth level of Spirit Martial until then with only ninth-level Qi Condensation cultivation.
The gap between their realms was right there.
Any single mistake could see him knocked straight off the platform.
His dantian might even shatter, his meridians severed.
Chu Yunfei stood up, having already brought his spiritual power into its smoothest, most harmonious state.
Mockery and discussion kept drifting in from all around.
"He's really going up there?"
"If he surrenders now, he can at least keep his limbs."
"Ling Feng at the fifth level of Spirit Martial, plus Liu Jie at the third? This isn't a match. It's a funeral procession."
As though he had heard nothing, Chu Yunfei walked toward the platform.
His steps were unhurried, without the slightest hesitation.
The Abyss-Devouring Sword at his waist trembled gently, releasing a low sword hum.
Humm...
The sound was quiet, yet it was like a sleeping savage beast opening its eyes.
Ling Feng leaped onto the platform first.
The instant his feet landed, a dull thud sounded from its surface.
He unleashed the pressure of the fifth level of Spirit Martial without restraint, waves of spiritual power billowing his robes and making them snap.
He stared at Chu Yunfei, the smile on his face growing increasingly savage.
"Chu Yunfei."
"Do you know how long I've waited for this day?"
Chu Yunfei ignored him.
A fool who traded his future for a single day of glory was not worth wasting words on.
Ling Feng's expression darkened.
"Keep pretending."
"Once I crush your dantian underfoot, let's see if you can keep up that act!"
Liu Jie stepped onto the platform at that moment as well.
He was burly, a full head taller than an ordinary disciple, his broad shoulders and back like a wall. A broad-bladed saber over four feet long hung diagonally across his back. With its thick, heavy spine, it weighed at least fifty jin.
Every step he took produced a dull thud beneath his feet.
The presence of the third level of the Spirit Martial Realm spread out with it.
It was less violent than Ling Feng's, but heavy and steady, pressing against one's chest like mountain rock and making it hard to breathe.
Liu Jie glanced at Ling Feng first.
When he sensed that fifth-level Spirit Martial presence, his brow creased slightly.
Clearly, he had not known about Ling Feng's last-minute breakthrough either.
Then he turned toward Chu Yunfei and pushed forward with the thumb resting on his saber's hilt.
Clang.
The broad-bladed saber slid half an inch out of its sheath.
Liu Jie said little. He merely shifted half a step without betraying anything, blocking the platform's right side.
Chu Yunfei was the last to walk onto the stone platform.
The three each occupied a corner, forming a triangle.
Ling Feng blocked the way directly ahead.
Liu Jie sealed off the right.
The left seemed open, but it led straight to the platform's edge. A few steps back would send him falling off the stone platform.
Their positioning was less a three-way melee than a net already drawn tight.
The surroundings gradually fell silent.
Thousands of pairs of eyes settled on the three of them.
Ling Feng's spiritual power grew increasingly violent, his killing intent utterly undisguised.
"Chu Yunfei, this platform will be your grave today."
Liu Jie raised his hand and drew his broad-bladed saber.
The heavy blade scraped against its sheath with an ear-piercing metallic screech.
Clang!
The saber's tip touched down and scraped across the dark stone surface, throwing up a scattering of sparks.
"Chu Yunfei, you're no match for us."
Liu Jie said in a deep voice, "Surrender now, and you'll suffer less."
Us?
Chu Yunfei glanced at him.
One word had already torn an opening in the facade of this so-called three-way melee.
Ling Feng wanted his life.
Liu Jie intended to eliminate the weakest person first.
In their eyes, he was clearly the soft persimmon easiest to squeeze.
Unfortunately.
This time, they've picked the wrong person.
Chu Yunfei gripped the Abyss-Devouring Sword's hilt and gently pushed its guard with his thumb.
A sliver of dark, subdued sharpness emerged from the mouth of the sheath.
"You want me to surrender?"
His gaze swept over Ling Feng and Liu Jie. His voice was quiet, but it carried clearly across the platform.
"You're not qualified."
The spectator stands erupted.
"Has he gone mad?"
"An eighth-level Qi Condensation cultivator provoking two Spirit Martial Realm cultivators at once?"
"Wait, he's already at the ninth level of the Qi Condensation Realm?"
"So what if he's at the ninth level? Ling Feng is at the fifth level of Spirit Martial now. What gives him the right to be so arrogant?"
Ling Feng was so furious that he laughed.
"Good."
"Very good!"
"Once I've broken every bone in your body, I hope your mouth stays just as stubborn!"
At the end of the elders' seats, Lin Wanyin sat motionless, her expression as cold as ever.
Only her fingers, resting on her knees, had quietly tightened.
She could tell.
Liu Jie and Ling Feng's positioning made it clear that they intended to join forces and eliminate Chu Yunfei first.
One at the fifth level of Spirit Martial.
One at the third level of Spirit Martial.
Chu Yunfei was only at the ninth level of Qi Condensation.
With the slightest carelessness, he would lose more than his qualification to compete today.
In the honored guests' seats, Nangong Wuhen also sat a little straighter.
His gaze lingered on Chu Yunfei for a moment, and a trace of amusement appeared at his lips.
"Interesting."
"Three days ago, he was still at the eighth level of Qi Condensation. Now he's already at the ninth."
"That sort of speed hardly looks like a good-for-nothing's."
Situ Shuang'er sat beside him and said nothing.
She seemed to be watching the center of the platform, yet her gaze drifted uncontrollably toward that gray-robed figure.
The ninth level of Qi Condensation.
Three days ago, he had clearly only been at the eighth level of Qi Condensation.
Half a month ago, he had even been a good-for-nothing whose cultivation had fallen, someone anyone could trample on.
In just half a month, he was already standing on the platform, facing one fifth-level Spirit Martial cultivator and one third-level Spirit Martial cultivator, still without retreating.
That kind of speed...
"He's only retracing an old path and recovering a little faster, that's all."
Situ Shuang'er supplied the answer in her mind.
But that answer did not calm her.
She pressed her lips together and forced her gaze away, looking toward Ling Feng on the other side of the platform.
As though simply no longer looking at Chu Yunfei could prove that her choice back then had not been wrong.
But that glance had already fallen upon him.
In the end, it was not so easy to take it back.