“`
“Clang!”
“Clang!” Li Yuan’s long spear kept changing, blocking the three claw strikes in succession.
Then, with a sudden roll, his figure was incredibly agile, once again avoiding the combined attack of two claws.
It was extremely dangerous.
“Pfft~” as he sprang up from the roll, Li Yuan casually thrust back, the spearhead piercing the eye socket of a Fish Spirit Clan member who couldn’t dodge in time.
As he withdrew as soon as he struck, the spear tip had already churned through the brain.
Bang~ The creature fell over.
“Kill Count +1.” the system notification sounded.
Compared with his previous four attempts at the promotion battles, there had been no essential progress in Li Yuan’s spear technique.
The greatest improvement was his movement technique, which allowed him to face the siege of these Fish Spirit Clan members with more composure.
“Too clumsy,” Li Yuan thought to himself, “In terms of physical quality, these Fish Spirit Clan members should all be at least Eighth Level or even close to Ninth Level, much stronger than me.”
“But their skills are estimated to be at the peak of the Second Stage.”
If it were one on one, Li Yuan could kill a Fish Spirit Clan member at first contact.
But there were too many of them.
Even ants can overwhelm an elephant, let alone these Fish Spirit Clan members whose claw swipes carry the force of over a thousand kilograms.
“Roar~”
“Howl!!” The Fish Spirit Clan warriors roared, seemingly more furious as they saw their comrades being killed, their bloodshot eyes fixed on Li Yuan, seeking to kill him.
“Puff!”
“Pffht!” While evading and blocking, Li Yuan would occasionally burst out with his spear.
Most of the time, Li Yuan was on the defensive.
But, whenever he found an opportunity to strike with his spear, the Fish Spirit Clan would be either dead or injured.
“They may seem numerous, but due to spatial constraints, at most three or four can attack me at a time,” Li Yuan kept counterattacking by using their force.
Time ticked away.
“Kill Count +1”
“Kill Count +1” the system kept reminding.
In less than a minute, six Fish Spirit Clan members lay in a pool of blood, and the pressure on Li Yuan was steadily decreasing.
Suddenly.
“Waaah~” One of the Fish Spirit Clan members suddenly let out a strange cry, its four arms waving wildly, its claws like knives, grazing the endpoint of Li Yuan’s long spear.
“Bang~” The spear shaft was forced to move in a different way, exceeding what Li Yuan had anticipated. His arms went numb from the shock, and his dodging body involuntarily slowed down by half a beat.
Being half a beat slow in a life-or-death fight means the difference between life and death.
“Hoof!”
“Swoosh!” A series of emerald figures leaped toward Li Yuan, giving him no space to break out of the encirclement.
No fewer than six claw strikes, sharp as blades, were swooping in from all directions simultaneously.
“Clang!” “Clang!”
“Thump!”
Li Yuan wielded the spear, swinging it twice to block two claw strikes, only to feel a terrifying force hitting his back.
It was as if he had taken a brutal chop! Li Yuan’s entire body went numb, blood churning inside him.
“Pfft~” A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out.
Huff!
Li Yuan steadied his stance, desperately mobilized the vigor throughout his body, and surged forward with the flow of the claw attack to avoid the claw that was swooshing in right after.
However, more claws were coming down, exactly when Li Yuan’s old strength had faded and new strength hadn’t yet formed.
“This is bad,” Li Yuan’s scalp tingled.
He felt a sense of mortal danger.
In his previous four attempts at the promotion battles, the first two times he was beaten to death as soon as he arrived.
The third time he killed three members of the Fish Spirit Clan.
The fourth time he killed five members of the Fish Spirit Clan.
He had thought that with his improvement in mobility, he had a chance to break through, but Li Yuan realized he had still underestimated the difficulty of the Fallen Star promotion battle.
After killing six Fish Spirit Clan members, the remaining six seemed to enter a berserk mode, displaying even more exaggerated speed and strength.
“Kill!”
“I need to be faster! Even faster!”
Li Yuan’s eyes were faintly red as he let go of all restraints, knowing he was unlikely to escape and exerting all his strength to execute his spear technique.
In that instant, Li Yuan felt as if the blood in his body was boiling.
It was as if it was the natural burst of instinct in the face of death.
All the vigor in his body seemed to be activated, with spirit, will, and body simultaneously exploding to their limits, reaching a mysteriously harmonious realm.
“Huff!”
At that moment, Li Yuan felt as though he had broken through some kind of limit in his control of his body, breaking free of shackles.
The transfer of power throughout his body became wonderfully fluid, a sensation Li Yuan had never experienced before.
“Boom!”
Li Yuan’s spear suddenly increased in speed, carrying a much greater force with it.
In an instant, the spear tip traced a semicircle through the air.
“Puff!” “Puff!” A sweep of the spear cleared away one claw, and the spear tip directly grazed the throats of two Fish Spirit Clan members, blood splashing.
“Kill Count +1”
“`
“Kill Count +1”
Two consecutive system notifications flashed by.
“Boom!” “Bang~” Several other attacks from the Fish Spirit Clan finally arrived, their sharp claws viciously slashing at Li Yuan’s body.
One claw, in particular, was exceedingly precise, whooshing through the air and ferociously aiming for Li Yuan’s neck.
With a splurch! Li Yuan felt the world spinning around him.
Agonizing pain transmitted to his consciousness and he instantly vanished from where he was.
Fallen Star advancement match, fifth challenge failed.
Kill count, eight!
…
Inside his personal space on the Starry Skies Fighting Network.
“I.”
“What just happened?” Li Yuan stood dumbfounded on the spot, not the least bit disheartened by his failure in the Fallen Star advancement match.
On the contrary, his eyes were filled with excitement and joy.
“That last burst with my spear?” Li Yuan reminisced about that spear thrust.
In the moment between life and death.
Under that unprecedented oppression, all Li Yuan wanted was to be faster! Even faster!
There was no deliberate move execution, only a desperate ‘bite off a chunk of the opponent even in death’ frenzy.
In this state of madness, Li Yuan channeled his vigor throughout his body, achieving a truly perfect, complete state.
Because of this, he was able to turn the tides in his bleakest moment and strike down two members of the Fish Spirit Clan.
“The transmission of vigor was flawless, without the slightest obstruction,” thought Li Yuan.
His gaze swept across the Divine Palace panel in his field of view, looking at the section regarding his skill realm.
——
Skill Realm: Spear Technique (Third Stage 99%), Movement Technique (Third Stage 99%), Fist Technique (Fourth Level 0%)
——
“The realm, it really broke through,” he said.
“Fist Technique, it has stepped into the Fourth Level,” Li Yuan’s eyes sparkled: “Fist Technique is a fusion of body and mind, a focus on the control of one’s physique, it was bound to be the first skill to break through.”
“Hahaha!”
Li Yuan finally couldn’t help but burst into hearty laughter, feeling an unprecedented sense of exhilaration: “My Fist Technique has been at Third Stage 99% for three or four months.”
“My Spear Technique reached Third Stage 99% two months ago.”
“In these past few months, I have been training my Spear Technique like a madman,” said Li Yuan, with a glint in his eyes: “But I’ve been unable to break through, struggling to get a grip on it.”
“Just last night, my teacher told me to try and figure it out on my own, saying I might break through at any time.”
“I didn’t expect it.”
“So soon, just a single advancement match, and I’ve already broken through?” Li Yuan felt incredibly satisfied.
Failure in the advancement match, a breakthrough in Martial Arts Skills.
Li Yuan knew that it wasn’t a breakthrough amidst life and death, since it was all virtual combat, and deep down, he knew there was no real danger of death.
Being able to break through was more due to the countless previous spear and fist practices, the accumulation of experience, comprehension, and a little bit of—luck.
From this breakthrough, he stepped into a completely new realm.
“Master.”
“Congratulations, Master, you’ve broken into the top 1000 of the Blue Star Junior Rankings,” the maiden beside him giggled: “Your current ranking is 996.”
“996?” Li Yuan was taken aback.
His eyes had just scanned a system notification.
“Guardian · Yuan, you killed eight Guardians in the advancement match. Your ranking on the Blue Star Junior Rankings has risen from [1132] to [996] globally, [243] in the Xia Country District, and [9] in the Jiangbei region.”
Li Yuan, previously too excited, had focused solely on himself and missed this message.
“996?”
Li Yuan murmured to himself: “That uncle I met earlier also had 996 points.”
“Could it be, I have a special connection with 996 today?”
“But I clearly ended up with 007.” After joking about himself, Li Yuan ceased paying attention to the ranking.
996th place?
This ranking on the Blue Star Junior Rankings is based on stage points and performance in the advancement matches.
His previous four attempts at advancement matches each caused his ranking to soar.
This time, he had successfully entered the global top thousand.
This was already an astonishing ranking.
After all, Li Yuan’s gaze passed over a data display regarding the Blue Star Junior Rankings: the listed number for the 2042-2043 period was ‘36,874’ individuals.
In the span of half a year.
The Blue Star Junior Rankings had skyrocketed from just over four thousand people when Li Yuan first joined the list to over thirty thousand.
Li Yuan couldn’t see the specific list, but he could see the totals.
This was to ensure every Martial Path prodigy on the list had a general understanding of their own position, to prevent undue arrogance.
“If I could have another go at the advancement match, I should be able to pass the Fallen Star stage match,” Li Yuan thought to himself: “Too bad there’s no chance left.”
Failure in an advancement match meant a cooldown period of seven days.
“Xiao Yu, on the Blue Star Junior Rankings, how many have reached the Fallen Star stage now?” Li Yuan casually asked.
“As of today, there are 164,” the girl in blue, Xiao Yu, answered: “The names cannot be disclosed.”