Martial Saint with Passives

This strike surpassed mere speed, containing a hint of profound spatial manipulation!

Faced with this breathtakingly brilliant strike, a trace of approval finally appeared on Gu Qingxuan’s impassive face for the first time.

Her right hand gripped the hilt of the unadorned longsword on her back.

SHIIING—!!!

The cry of a dragon, higher and clearer than when Lin Qingyun had drawn his sword, rang to the high heavens!

Gu Qingxuan had finally drawn her sword!

The moment the longsword, as clear as autumn water, left its sheath, an incomparably pure and piercing Sword Intent erupted forth!

The temperature of the entire arena seemed to drop by several degrees at that moment!

Gu Qingxuan didn’t perform any fancy Sword Techniques. She simply and calmly extended her blade in a plain, unremarkable strike toward the impossibly fast "Extreme Shadow."

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

When the crowd could once again see the arena clearly, the two had already crossed paths and were standing with their backs to each other.

A moment later, the longsword in Lin Qingyun’s hand fell to the ground with a CLANG.

He slowly turned around to face Gu Qingxuan. There wasn’t a trace of dejection on his face; instead, he wore an expression of relief and heartfelt admiration, of having finally met his match.

"Your swordsmanship is not bad," Gu Qingxuan’s cold voice suddenly rang out.

Lin Qingyun started at her words, then said softly,

"Thank you."

With that, he turned and walked off the arena.

But just as he was about to step down, he stopped in his tracks. He turned his head toward Gu Qingxuan and said clearly, word by word,

"You may be right, but..."

His eyes burned with conviction.

"I will continue to walk my own path. I will take ’speed’ to its absolute limit! So fast that even your sword won’t be able to keep up!"

Without another word, Lin Qingyun turned and strode decisively off the arena, leaving behind only his proud and resolute silhouette.

On the arena, Gu Qingxuan stood silently for a moment.

She slowly sheathed her sword. In her eyes, which seemed to have been frozen for ten thousand years, a barely perceptible ripple stirred.

She watched Lin Qingyun’s departing figure, her cold voice echoing softly across the empty arena.

"I’ll be waiting."

...

Meanwhile, Arena Number One attracted countless eyes.

For this battle featured Chen Jiayu, the eldest son of the Chen Family!

Versus!

The top disciple of the Taiyuan Sect, Qin Wuya!

Although Chen Jiayu wasn’t as highly favored as Qin Wuya, as the heir to Cangzhou’s number one Noble Family, everyone was eager to see how he would perform against Qin Wuya.

On the arena, the two stood facing each other.

"Chen Jiayu of the Chen Family. I ask for your guidance, Brother Qin." Chen Jiayu said, waving his White Jade Folding Fan. He gave an elegant bow, his signature gentle smile still on his face.

But his eyes were filled with an unprecedented gravity.

"Qin Wuya, Taiyuan Sect," Qin Wuya stated indifferently.

In his hand, he held a Long Spear forged entirely from Profound Iron, its tip glinting with a deadly cold light.

At the refereeing Elder’s shout of "Begin!"

Chen Jiayu moved!

He made no attempt to test the waters. His opening move was a thunderous assault!

With a SWISH, the White Jade Folding Fan in his hand snapped open. A precious light flowed across its surface; it was clearly a priceless Treasure Artifact!

"Thousand Illusion Hand!"

Chen Jiayu’s figure blurred. He took a single step, leaving an afterimage in his place!

It was followed by a second, then a third...

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight versions of Chen Jiayu, each holding a folding fan, appeared on the arena. It was impossible to tell which was real as they all attacked Qin Wuya simultaneously from every direction!

Each figure generated a fierce wind. A flurry of overlapping palm and fan strikes sealed off all of Qin Wuya’s escape routes.

"It’s the Chen Family’s ultimate technique, the ’Thousand Illusionary Steps’!" someone in the crowd exclaimed. "They say when this Cultivation Technique is mastered to the Great Success stage, it can create nine phantoms. It’s impossible to tell the real from the fake!"

Faced with a technique that would give any expert of the same realm a massive headache, Qin Wuya didn’t even bat an eye.

He simply took a single step forward.

One step!

HUMMM—!

An invisible yet soul-crushing pressure erupted from him!

This wasn’t a simple release of Strength. It was the pressure of Divine Thought—something only a powerhouse who had begun Refining their Spirit and was on the cusp of the True Master Realm could possess!

Under the assault of this overwhelmingly dominant Divine Thought, Chen Jiayu’s head rang as if it had been struck by a massive, invisible hammer!

His seven or eight illusions, so realistic they were indistinguishable from the real thing, couldn’t even last for a single breath. Like bubbles in the sun, they instantly distorted, collapsed, and vanished into thin air!

Only his true self remained, staggering in place with a deathly pale face, his eyes filled with absolute horror!

The power of a single step and a mere ripple of Divine Thought had shattered his ultimate technique!

However, Qin Wuya’s assault had only just begun.

The second step!

He stepped forward again.

This time, his figure vanished on the spot.

Chen Jiayu’s pupils contracted, and the hair on his body stood on end!

Before he could even react, he felt a bone-chilling, soul-freezing killing intent materialize behind him!

Without a second thought, he whipped the White Jade Folding Fan behind him!

"Jade Shattered!"

From within the fan’s ribs, dozens of Silver Needles, fine as hairs and laced with a Highly Poisonous substance, shot out, forming a web of death that shrouded the space behind him!

However, this venomous web was met by a simple, unremarkable sweep of a spear shaft.

PING PING PING PING!

A rapid series of metallic clashes rang out!

The dozens of poisonous needles, each capable of piercing metal and stone, couldn’t even break through the Body-Protecting Qi coating Qin Wuya’s spear shaft and were all sent flying!

Then, Qin Wuya thrust his spear like a lunging dragon. The Profound Iron Spear Tip, glinting with a deadly cold light and carrying an all-piercing intent, struck with unerring accuracy against the Protective Treasure Armor on Chen Jiayu’s chest!

HUMMM!!!

The instant the spear tip touched the armor, a dazzling golden light erupted from Chen Jiayu’s chest!

A magnificent suit of inner armor, woven from countless fine golden scales, materialized from beneath his robes.

The armor shimmered with a lustrous light, automatically forming a thick, golden Shield of Light to block the fatal blow!

"It’s the Golden Scale Armor! The Chen Family’s heirloom! They say it can take a direct hit from an expert at the Early-stage of True Master Realm without a scratch!" one of the more knowledgeable Noble Family Members cried out.

Yet, Qin Wuya’s expression remained unchanged.

He simply uttered a single word:

"Shatter."

The moment the word left his lips, a terrifying power far beyond the scope of the Refining Organ Realm—a power that was nearly a nascent form of True Qi—erupted from the spear’s tip!

CRACK—

Before everyone’s disbelieving eyes, the seemingly indestructible golden Shield of Light was instantly covered in a spiderweb of cracks, as if it were a sheet of thin ice!

Then, with a sharp, mournful cry, it exploded!

The spear tip plunged forward, striking squarely against the Golden Scale Armor itself!

BAM!!!

As if struck by a sledgehammer, Chen Jiayu was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string!

The magnificent Golden Scale Armor on his body shattered inch by inch, starting from the point of impact, dissolving into a shower of golden fragments that drifted to the ground!

He landed heavily on the edge of the arena. He struggled to get up, but couldn’t.

"I... concede..." Chen Jiayu said helplessly, looking at the immeasurably powerful Qin Wuya.

The entire arena fell deathly silent.

Everyone was utterly stunned by what they had just witnessed!

"The Golden Scale Armor... actually... shattered?!"

"One strike... just one strike?! That’s an heirloom armor that can withstand an attack from a True Master!"

"Qin Wuya... His... his power... could he already be..."

On the high platform, even the faces of the Sect Leaders were etched with extreme gravity.

"A Half-Step True Master..." Sect Leader Xu Zhouzi of the Cangyun Sect slowly uttered the four words, his eyes filled with wariness. "This young man... of the Twelve Major Acupoints, he has likely opened eleven of them! His Divine Thought has already reached the Great Success stage! The power on his spear tip already carries a trace of the properties of True Qi! The only thing separating him from the True Master Realm is the final step of drawing upon the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism!"

The entire crowd erupted into an uproar.

With an almost invincible, overwhelming display of force, Qin Wuya had declared his power to all.

...

Meanwhile, Xiao Qingge also defeated her opponent.

With that, the list of the final four, the most anticipated contenders in this Young Alliance Leader selection tournament, was finally decided!

They were:

Qin Wuya of the Taiyuan Sect, Gu Qingxuan of the Cangyun Sect, and Xiao Qingge of the Profound Sound Sect!

And...

the biggest dark horse of the tournament, Jiang Che of the Cangyun Sect!