First Place

There was something wrong with the battle space.

That was Ning Yue's first reaction.

He found the battle space rather rigid. Apart from its holographic simulation, which gave those inside it a sense of reality,

its functions were limited, and it had no spirit at all.

It was less interesting than the games from his previous life.

After he waited in the lounge for another half hour or so, a message came from the battle space.

[The top one hundred students in the schoolwide martial dao mock exam have been selected. The finals are about to begin.]

A choice then appeared before Ning Yue.

Participate in the finals? [Yes] [No]

Ning Yue clicked [Yes].

He had already made it to the finals. How far away could first place be?

He blinked, and when he opened his eyes, he was on an arena.

The arena was as large as the school's main athletic field, covering nearly a hundred thousand square meters.

He also saw the class monitor, Liao Dong; his classmate Zhao Liang; Xu Shaoyang, with whom he had a grudge; and Wang Xueqing, a pure and innocent goddess.

When they saw Ning Yue, surprise appeared in their eyes.

When Xu Shaoyang saw Ning Yue, killing intent filled his eyes.

Sure enough, it was much as Ning Yue had imagined. Xu Shaoyang had never intended to let them go. Otherwise, he wouldn't have remembered a nobody like Ning Yue so clearly.

By his guess, if Xu Shaoyang made a move, it would be either after the mock exam or after the college entrance exam.

During this mock exam, Ning Yue planned to intimidate him, ideally buying some time.

He believed that by the time the college entrance exam was over, he would have the strength to protect himself.

[Welcome to the Slaughter Space. Current number of participants: 86.]

[The Slaughter Space will determine the final victor.]

[Begin]

"Fourteen people dropped out."

As a voice rang out, Ning Yue's eyes turned red, and boundless killing intent filled his heart. When he saw the contestants not far away, it was as though he were looking at mortal enemies. All he wanted was to charge over and slaughter them.

"What is this?"

Ning Yue was startled. He suppressed his instinctive urge to kill and discovered that every contestant's eyes were red.

More than a dozen contestants had even begun fighting in a melee.

Sabers, spears, swords, and halberds-all manner of weapons clashed.

Before long, two people turned into light and were eliminated.

Seeing this, Ning Yue dodged the attacks coming at him and ran toward the edge.

The closer he was to the center of the arena, the more likely he was to be surrounded and attacked.

With so many people here, even with the defense of his Iron Yang Physique and the attack power of Ninefold Thunder Saber, he didn't dare face too many enemies at once.

Moreover, every contestant's qi and blood value was not much lower than his, and there were even several top students at the Martial Dao First-Rank Qi Ingestion Realm.

The Martial Dao First-Rank Realm was different from the Qi and Blood Realm. It was divided into three stages: early, middle, and late.

Different realms meant different combat strength.

The First-Rank Realm had corresponding divine abilities: qi ingestion and grain abstinence.

Qi ingestion meant swallowing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, seizing the workings of heaven and earth to strengthen one's own body.

Grain abstinence literally meant that one could go without food or water for a short time without dying.

Not to mention that those in the First-Rank Realm could already cultivate martial techniques, some of which even possessed corresponding attributes, such as the basic metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

For example, the Ninefold Thunder Saber Ning Yue had learned contained the power of thunder.

He needed to reach the First-Rank Realm before he could use it.

When he reached the edge of the arena, he discovered that Xu Shaoyang had been following him for who knew how long.

"Let's see where you run!"

Xu Shaoyang held a longsword, his white robes fluttering. If not for his blood-red eyes and twisted face, he would have had the bearing of a sword immortal.

Once Ning Yue stopped, Xu Shaoyang thrust his sword at him. One glance was enough to tell it was a genuine martial sword technique.

The sword technique was extraordinary, and it was clear he had put a great deal of hard work into it.

Three inches of sword qi even appeared at the tip of his blade.

Seeing this, Ning Yue laughed aloud.

"Well met!"

Gripping his steel saber, he slashed back. His strike was exquisite to the utmost, narrowly avoiding the sword's tip and landing on the middle of Xu Shaoyang's blade.

Ning Yue had worked out this method himself after twenty battles.

Combined with his martial technique at the major accomplishment stage, he called it "Minute Subtlety."

Minute Subtlety: wondrous effects emerged from fine details, with subtleties beyond words.

Before Xu Shaoyang could counterattack, Ning Yue stepped to his side and, following through, slashed his neck.

With one slash, his head flew off.

Xu Shaoyang was dead!

"Madmen often lose their composure."

Ning Yue shook his head. Although killing intent in one's heart could increase combat strength to a certain extent, it also overwhelmed a calm mind, leaving one without sound judgment.

If Xu Shaoyang had remained calm, Ning Yue would not have killed him with a single slash.

He could have withstood at least two.

Xu Shaoyang's death was only one small part of what was happening in the arena.

In a melee of more than eighty people, contestants were dying at every moment.

Ning Yue observed the other contestants' fights, paying particular attention to those in the First-Rank Realm and watching their combat strength and how they dealt with their enemies.

At the same time, he dealt with the enemies attacking him. Whoever the enemy was, he ended the fight quickly; if he could kill them with one slash, he would never drag things out until a second.

If he kept dragging things out, he might be surrounded and killed.

There was no room for delay at a time like this. He had just seen his classmate Zhao Liang surrounded and killed, not because Zhao Liang's combat strength was too weak, but because the person fighting him was nearly his equal. They had fought for half a minute without either being able to defeat the other.

In the end, both were killed and eliminated by others at the same time.

"Ning Yue, come on! Let's see which of us is stronger!"

At that moment, Liao Dong came before Ning Yue. His eyes were blood-red, but he showed no signs of confusion. His emotions were clearly stable.

Ning Yue replied, "All right!"

He realized that Liao Dong had come to him not merely because slaughter had taken control of his mind, but also because of jealousy.

Ning Yue understood that his rapid improvement during this period would raise questions for many people.

It would also make many who had once been stronger than him unwilling to accept it.

As class monitor, Liao Dong was also the best in Class Seven of the third year, and ranked among the top ten in the entire school.

Of course he didn't want anyone to be stronger than him, at least not in Class Seven of the third year.

So he had come.

Ning Yue said nothing more.

You don't accept it?

Then either swallow it, or, if you can't, I'll just have to beat you until you do.

Without waiting for Liao Dong to attack, Ning Yue unleashed Ninefold Thunder Saber and slashed at him.

Three inches of saber light trailed from the tip of his blade.

What? You say the protagonist always draws his saber last?

No. Ning Yue believed that once someone was dead, it didn't matter who struck first.

A dead enemy was a good enemy.

Besides, Liao Dong didn't count as an enemy in his eyes, merely an obstacle in the arena.

The sooner he swept him aside, the sooner he could face his real enemies.

He took a look around.

Fewer than twenty people remained in the arena. The final battle was about to begin.

The rules of the arena battle had been made very clear.

In the Slaughter Space, the final victor would be decided.

That meant the losers died, and the winner lived.

The last one standing would take first place in the martial dao mock exam.