Translator: CinderTL
Jiang Ye versus Wang Bo!
As the announcement rang out, two figures instantly materialized on the arena.
"Holy shit!"
"Those two? Already facing off?"
"This is going to be good."
"Place your bets, everyone! I'm betting on Jiang Ye to win."
The crowd of over a hundred thousand spectators erupted into a frenzy once more.
Jiang Ye had annihilated Star River University's Heavenly Pride with a single spear strike. His strength was undeniable.
Wang Bo was equally terrifying, having dispatched his previous opponent in just three moves.
Which of these two powerhouses would prevail?
"Damn it!" Mo Zixuan cursed inwardly. "Why did they have to clash so soon?"
He genuinely hoped Wang Bo would defeat Jiang Ye. But what if he failed? Wang Bo would be eliminated in the Round of 16!
The mere thought of this outcome turned Mo Zixuan's face ashen.
This time, Elder Bai offered no words of comfort.
"Jiang Ye... can he win?" Elder Bai straightened his posture, his gaze fixed intently on the arena. He, too, recognized the immense significance of this battle.
On the arena, Wang Bo and Jiang Ye stood facing each other.
"Jiang Ye," Wang Bo said, his crimson hair framing his tiger-like eyes. "I didn't expect to face you so soon. I thought we'd meet in the championship match, or at least the semifinals."
"Then it seems we won't have to wait that long," Jiang Ye replied with a faint smile.
Wang Bo nodded, taking a deep breath.
"Jiang Ye," he said gravely, "you're strong. But for the sake of Donghai University's honor, I won't hold back."
There was one more thing he didn't say aloud:
He would definitely defeat Jiang Ye!
And advance to the top eight, the top four, and ultimately become the champion.
"Same here," Jiang Ye replied earnestly.
He had never underestimated Wang Bo, Donghai University's top fighter.
The moment Jiang Ye stepped onto the arena, the stellar energy within him began to surge and boil, preparing him for battle.
Both men fell silent, waiting for the match to begin.
Match Start
Boom! Boom!
The instant the subtitles appeared, both fighters transformed into blurs, exploding toward each other.
Spear tips flashed!
Wang Bo and Jiang Ye both wielded spears.
According to intelligence, Jiang Ye and I have both achieved Major Success in spearmanship, Wang Bo thought, his mind racing. But my Vast Sea Spear Technique is an earth-rank low-grade technique, while Jiang Ye's Great Sun Spear Technique is only a profound-rank high-grade technique.
My spearmanship holds a significant advantage!
If I exploit this, I can definitely defeat him.
With that thought, Wang Bo launched a relentless assault, his movements as swift as lightning.
He unleashed a series of spear techniques, each strike carrying overwhelming power.
A spear slashed down!
Rumble! The strike descended like a vast ocean, threatening to drown and annihilate Jiang Ye.
Clang!
Jiang Ye remained vigilant, gripping his spear tightly and thrusting upward with all his might.
The two clashed instantly.
A terrifying shockwave erupted like a storm, causing the entire arena to collapse with a thunderous roar.
Fortunately, the arena was constructed from Cosmic Fluid, a material that instantly restored itself.
"This power?" Wang Bo's expression twisted the moment their weapons met.
As the top student at Donghai University, his perception far surpassed that of Wang Xuan and Wan Yaoyang.
"This guy's strength is at least three times mine... no, maybe even more?"
"He's also at the mid-second breakthrough stage! How is he so strong?" Wang Bo retreated violently, unable to withstand the overwhelming force.
In the very first exchange, he had already been completely overwhelmed.
"Opportunity!" Jiang Ye's eyes flashed like lightning as he thrust his spear forward with explosive force.
In a competition like this, he couldn't afford to give his opponent a moment to breathe.
Whoosh! Jiang Ye's spearmanship transformed in an instant, conjuring countless spear shadows. In the blink of an eye, endless spear rays coalesced into a massive Orange-Red Great Sun, radiating overwhelming pressure.
"Kill!"
Jiang Ye unleashed his spear in a single, devastating strike.
As the spear thrust forward, the orange-red Great Sun hurtled after it, descending upon Wang Bo like a falling star.
"Damn it!"
Wang Bo's expression darkened, sensing the threat of death in this attack.
Without hesitation, an invisible wave of energy surged outward.
Innate Ability: Raging Tide!
Boom!
A colossal pressure erupted from Wang Bo's body.
Simultaneously, an invisible domain expanded outward from him, covering a radius of a hundred meters.
"Raging Tide Domain," Wang Bo thought grimly. "Within this domain, the strength of others will be suppressed, while my own power will be amplified several times over for a short period."
Grasping his spear, he thrust it violently toward the descending Great Sun.
Crack!
A fissure appeared in the center of the Great Sun, and it shattered into fragments that drifted away.
After activating his Raging Tide Domain, Wang Bo's strength and momentum surged exponentially.
With a single strike, he effortlessly neutralized Jiang Ye's terrifying offensive.
"The tide is about to turn."
Wang Bo gripped his spear, his aura reaching its peak. The overwhelming power coursing through him brought a confident smile to his lips.
"Innate talent, you say?" Jiang Ye's eyes narrowed, then he suddenly smiled. "Indeed, an opponent worthy of my full strength."
In the next moment, Jiang Ye held nothing back.
Within his Guanyuan Acupoint, millions of strands of stellar energy surged violently, coursing through his Star Meridians and erupting into an intense life magnetic field.
Boom! A terrifying Martial Dao Aura erupted from him.
At that moment, the true power of the White Dragon True God Manual was revealed.
Third-Tier Civilization Inheritance!
How could stellar energy refined through such a technique possibly compare to that refined by ordinary earth-rank or Heaven-Tier Techniques?
In the blink of an eye, Wang Bo, who had just unleashed his innate ability, felt like a mayfly facing the vast sky, his momentum instantly crushed.
"What?"
"This aura... is he really only at the mid-second breakthrough stage?" Wang Bo's face paled completely. He had already activated his Innate Domain, yet before Jiang Ye, he felt as insignificant as an ant.
Before he could react, Jiang Ye had already transformed into a bolt of lightning.
Whoosh! He instantly closed the distance to Wang Bo.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Jiang Ye's spear flashed like lightning, unleashing dozens of strikes in the blink of an eye with the force of ten thousand tons, each strike accompanied by a terrifying roar.
Wang Bo struggled to defend, his expression growing increasingly shocked.
"I can't hold out."
"I can't hold out at all!" Wang Bo gritted his teeth. "Under this relentless assault, I don't even have a chance to unleash my ultimate move!"
Executing an ultimate move required time to build up.
Although Wang Bo could typically do it in just a few seconds, Jiang Ye gave him no such opportunity.
An overwhelmingly powerful attack! Relentless and unbroken, it completely suppressed Wang Bo, denying him even the chance to unleash his ultimate move.
This feeling left Wang Bo utterly stifled and humiliated.
Finally—
Boom!
Jiang Ye's spear erupted forward, shattering Wang Bo's defenses. The spear's tip, like a shooting star, pierced through Wang Bo's chest with devastating force.
Pfft! Blood splattered.
Whoosh!
A figure flew off the arena.
Jiang Ye wins!
"It's over?"
"Hiss! Amazing, absolutely amazing!"
"What a thrilling battle!" The audience remained silent for a few seconds before erupting into thunderous cheers.
Most spectators couldn't understand the intricacies of ultimate moves.
All they knew was that Jiang Ye and Wang Bo had clashed fiercely for hundreds of exchanges on the arena.
Jiang Ye emerged victorious.
What a thoroughly exhilarating battle!
Of course, seasoned experts saw things differently.
"Jiang Ye completely dominated Wang Bo throughout the entire fight."
"Wang Bo didn't even get a chance to use his ultimate move?"
"That Martial Dao Aura Jiang Ye unleashed just now... it far surpasses the mid-second breakthrough realm, doesn't it?" The sixteen remaining contestants wore grave expressions.
They hadn't yet faced Jiang Ye in combat.
But merely witnessing his battle against Wang Bo sent a crushing wave of pressure crashing down upon them.
"He lost."
"Eliminated in the top sixteen." Mo Zixuan's face was livid. "That arrogant brat Wang Bo was too careless! If he'd used his ultimate move earlier, he never would have been so thoroughly suppressed!"
He wasn't alone in his shock.
Teachers from other schools were equally astonished.
"The gap is far too wide!"
"What cultivation technique is Jiang Ye using? How can a mid-second breakthrough cultivator unleash such astonishing Martial Dao Aura?"
"From what I know, even peerless prodigies who cultivate First-Tier Civilization Inheritance techniques rarely achieve such heights."
"Jiang Ye must have obtained an extraordinary inheritance," the teachers murmured among themselves.
They all knew that Jiang Ye had acquired two Heaven-Tier High-Grade inheritances while at White Dragon University.
But what exactly were they?
No one knew.
White Dragon University had maintained excellent secrecy, preventing other schools from gathering any information.
"I won," Jiang Ye said as he returned to the waiting area.
'The True God Manual truly lives up to its reputation.'
'Its stellar energy utilization efficiency and explosive power far surpass other cultivation techniques,' Jiang Ye thought to himself. "With just this alone, I can already suppress many opponents."
The White Dragon True God Manual.
Even before reaching the first breakthrough and the ninth breakthrough—the stages where its true potential begins to manifest—it already far surpassed most Heaven-Tier Techniques.
"Cultivation techniques are the core of all art techniques."
"If my internal energy is strong enough, the power of my techniques will double," Jiang Ye mused, a smile playing on his lips.
Through this battle, he had gained a deeper understanding of his own combat prowess.
Was Wang Bo, Donghai University's top student, truly weak?
Absolutely not weak.
It's just that Jiang Ye is currently too strong, making his opponent seem utterly vulnerable.
The competition continued.
In the second match of the Round of 16, Lin Qingxue faced Zhang Nan.
In this battle, Lin Qingxue exerted minimal effort, defeating Zhang Nan in just ten moves.
"Zhang Nan lost," Jiang Ye remarked, unsurprised.
Zhang Nan, though a student at Penglai University, was no match for Jiang Ye, and even inferior to Liu Wanxiao.
His advancement to the Round of 16 owed much to luck.
Against Lin Qingxue, defeat was inevitable.
The third match pitted Li Qi against Shen Changxi.
"This is bad."
"Another Penglai student is about to be eliminated."
Upon hearing the match-up, the Penglai University audience couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.
"Shen Changxi," Jiang Ye called out to the aloof girl, "Do your best."
"I'll give it my all," Shen Changxi nodded in response.
Whoosh!
Shen Changxi vanished from the arena.
"Shen Changxi, Penglai University's second strongest fighter after Jiang Ye."
"Even if she's not Li Qi's match, she should be able to hold out for several hundred moves."
"It'll probably be a fierce battle." The audience was eagerly anticipating the fight.
Most people expected a prolonged contest.
But what followed defied all expectations.
As soon as the match began, Shen Changxi unleashed her ultimate move, Moonfall.
This technique was several times more powerful than the one she had used in the Freshman Competition six months prior.
Its terrifying force erupted like a detonating meteor.
Yet even under this astonishing display of power...
Buzz!
The world fell silent for an instant.
A thin crack appeared in the void, and a faint blade light suddenly swept out horizontally.
The blade light expanded instantly, as if gathering all the world's most extreme colors. With a majestic pressure capable of crushing stars, it descended like the end of the world.
Before it, all sound vanished, even Shen Changxi's Moonfall was devoured.
Whoosh!
The World-Destroying blade light swept across, cleaving the falling crimson moon in two before crashing down on Shen Changxi.
Boom!
Shen Changxi's figure was sent flying backward, blood arcing through the air.
"Shen Changxi!"
"Oh no, Shen Changxi is injured!"
"Medical team!" Panic-stricken cries erupted from the crowd.
Immediately, a team of figures in white lab coats descended from the sky to provide emergency medical assistance to Shen Changxi.
"What happened? Isn't there a protection mechanism? How could she still get hurt?"
"Li Qi's attack probably exceeded the protection mechanism's limits."
"The protection mechanism has an upper limit. If it were too strong, the system wouldn't be able to determine victory or defeat."
"Li Qi's attack was terrifying!" The audience erupted in gasps of awe.
In the battle zone, the remaining competitors wore solemn expressions.
Li Qi's World-Destroying blade light had been overwhelmingly powerful, leaving them with no confidence in their ability to withstand it.
"Li Qi," Jiang Ye murmured, narrowing his eyes. "He truly is a formidable opponent."
Li Qi was the only competitor to have achieved Major Success in an earth-rank intermediate blade arts technique.
Now, his demonstrated power lived up to his reputation, proving him to be exceptionally strong.
"Fourth-tier Ultimate Move, World-Destroying?"
"Li Qi has actually mastered a Fourth-tier Ultimate Move! That's an earth-rank mid-grade blade arts technique!"
"Incredibly terrifying." The teachers erupted into a similar uproar.
Earth-rank mid-grade blade arts were far more difficult to master than Profound-Tier Cultivation Techniques.
Their power was also significantly greater!
"The championship will most likely come down to Li Qi and Jiang Ye."
"I'd say Li Qi has the higher chance."
"Agreed. While Jiang Ye's stellar energy is stronger, his spearmanship is only at the profound tier, a far cry from Li Qi's earth-rank blade arts."
"Unless Jiang Ye has some hidden trump card," the teachers speculated.
By this point in the competition, they had already formed a tentative consensus on the likely champion.
The matches continued.
Fourth match, fifth match, sixth match...
By the eighth match, Yun Qing'er finally took the stage.
She faced the third-ranked competitor from Star River University, whose strength ranked only below Li Qi and Wang Xuan.
Yet this battle, too, defied all expectations.
Throughout the entire match, Yun Qing'er was relentlessly pressured by her opponent. But in the final moments, she unleashed a flurry of 400 strikes per second, shattering both of her opponent's arms on the spot.
The battle concluded with Yun Qing'er's victory.
"Li Qi, Lin Qingxue, Yun Qing'er, Jiang Ye, Wang Xuan, Zhou Jin, Zhu Bufan, Xu Wan'er."
"Congratulations to all of you for advancing to the quarterfinals!"
"You have all qualified to participate in the Great Stellar War!" Chu Jingye announced loudly.
As his words echoed through the arena, a flicker of excitement flashed across the faces of the eight quarterfinalists.
Yet most, including Jiang Ye, showed little outward emotion.
Compared to the distant Great Stellar War, the immediate quarterfinals and the championship match held far greater significance for them.
"Now, I declare the quarterfinals officially underway."
Chu Jingye wasted no time, his voice booming across the arena:
"First match: Jiang Ye versus Wang Xuan."
"Both competitors, take your positions!"
Wang Xuan!
Star River University's second-ranked fighter, second only to Li Qi in strength!
As the match pairings were announced, the eyes of over a hundred thousand spectators instantly turned to the arena.
"This will undoubtedly be a fierce and protracted battle."
"It could last for hours."
"Wang Xuan is significantly stronger than Wang Bo. Let's see how Jiang Ye handles this."
"Jiang Ye should win, but it'll probably be a pyrrhic victory." The audience watched with bated breath.
On the arena floor, the two stood a hundred meters apart.
"I really wanted to see you fight Li Qi," Wang Xuan said, shaking his head as he gripped his battle blade. "But now it seems that won't happen."
"You think I'll lose?" Jiang Ye smiled faintly.
"I don't underestimate you," Wang Xuan replied frankly. "But defeating me will be extremely difficult."
"Then let's fight!"
Jiang Ye wasted no more words.
The moment the "Match Start" banner flashed, he transformed into a bolt of lightning.
Boom! Tens of thousands of strands of stellar energy surged forth like a tidal wave, converging into his spear.
The terrifying force made the surrounding air tremble visibly.
Whoosh! The spear swept horizontally!
A continuous stream of spear shadows materialized into a blazing sea of sunlight. In an instant, astonishing rays of light shot skyward.
Endless stellar energy coalesced into an orange-red super-sun.
Great Sun Spear Technique, Fourth Gear Ultimate Move—Sea-Burning!
The moment Jiang Ye thrust his spear forward, the Great Sun erupted like a nuclear bomb.
Terrifying energy waves detonated hundreds of times within the sea of sunlight. Each explosion was powerful enough to obliterate any mid-second breakthrough powerhouse.
Under this horrifying onslaught, Wang Xuan didn't even have a chance to resist. His protective mechanisms activated instantly, ejecting him from the arena.
Jiang Ye wins!
(End of the Chapter)
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