Stalemate waiting

  Hurry!

  Ye Chen's sword was drawn swiftly, like lightning, and struck out.

  Ma Ruyuan had just turned around and wanted to leave, but it was too late to pull away from Ye Chen. Now he couldn't even escape, so he hastily swung his sword to block the attack.

  "Clang!"

  Ma Ruyu held a knife and retreated one step, his soul still in shock, only wanting to escape from the cliff.

  Ye Chen rebounded with great force, jumping a whole zhang high, and with another push on the cliff wall, he grasped his steel knife tightly in both hands, let out a loud battle cry, and struck down at Ma Ruyuan from above.

  "Tiger Leaps Three Consecutive Cuts!"

  Ye Chen's eyes flashed with a sharp glint.

  He slashed down fiercely, his wrist shaking, and the knife shadow was heavy, with at least three strokes!

  His basic strength is 600 catties. Tiger Leaps Three Continuous Cuts, with overlapping force, instantly bursting out a violent force of 1800 catties. Even a ninth-level Body Refining martial artist would not choose to collide head-on, but instead try to dodge as much as possible.

  Ye Chen had only been practicing this move for three months, and the success rate of executing it was less than half. Yet, with such a low success rate, he somehow managed to succeed.

  "What! When did you master Triple Strike?!"

  Ma Ruyuan's soul flew out of his body in shock, and he involuntarily let out a loud cry.

  He naturally understood that he couldn't withstand it, but on both sides of his body were steep cliffs, with no enough space for him to dodge.

  "Eight Gates of Golden Locks, Seal!"

  Ma Ruyun's heart was torn apart, and in his anxiety, he unleashed his most powerful defensive knife technique. The fine steel knife in his hand flashed out a dazzling golden flower, sealing off the entire upper path of attack, attempting to block Ye Chen's Tiger Leap Triple Slash. If the enemy only had 600 catties of strength, this move would have been enough to seal it off.

  "Clang, clang!"

  A clear and crisp golden bell rings out.

  Ma Ruyuan's hand-held fine steel knife suddenly withstood 1,800 pounds of violent force and snapped in two.

  "Hmph!"

  Ye Chen's blade continued to chop down, Ma Ruyuan hastily retreated with a miserable cry, Wu Yong's robe had an additional foot-long deep wound, fell out of a zhang away, gushing out large patches of blood that couldn't be stopped. If not for Wu Yong's robe weakening the force of the blade, this knife might have chopped down Ma Ruyun's left shoulder.

  Ye Chenfei landed on the ground, his palms were sweating, tightly grasping the hilt of his sword, his chest heaving violently. This move in an instant had almost exhausted all his strength, he raised his head and looked forward.

  Those four young martial artists had already entered the One-Line Cliff one after another. The One-Line Cliff was too narrow, only allowing one person to walk in front, and several people standing side by side would interfere with each other and be unable to display their martial skills. The first to appear was a ruddy-faced young martial artist.

  Ma Ruyuan rolled around on the ground in agony, and when he saw four rescue soldiers rushing over, he was suddenly overjoyed. He let out a loud, ferocious cry: "I'm going to die from the pain! Quick, you guys hurry up and kill Ye Chen for me!" As he shouted, he gritted his teeth against the pain and tried to stretch out his hand to crawl away and escape from Ye Chen's side.

  Ye Chen's foot came down heavily.

  Crack!

  Ma Ruyu's wrist couldn't be harder than the stone pillar, and in an instant it was completely crushed. "Ah~~, my hand!" A mournful cry echoed through the valley, a heart-wrenching wail that reached its peak.

  "You want to save people? Then weigh your own strength carefully!"

  Ye Chen held a bloody steel knife in one hand, stepped on Ma Ruyuan's wrist, and cast an icy gaze at the four young warriors who were chasing after him from the cliff, saying in a cold voice.

  "Master Ma was actually defeated!!""The move Ye Chen just used, isn't that the 'Tiger Leaps Three Times' that Master Yan claimed dominance over the entire Beishan Academy with?""Ye Chen has also mastered this move!"

  Four young men who had just witnessed the battle were shocked and terrified, their bodies trembling with fear.

  They were pale one by one, looking at each other in dismay, holding their weapons on guard, but constantly retreating.

  "This cliff is only a few meters wide at its widest point, and the narrowest part can only allow one person to pass through. We four against one are certainly unbeatable, but one on one, none of us four can be a match for Ye Chen."

  "This move, 'Tiger Leaps Three Consecutive Cuts', is too terrifying! One strike and it's either death or injury!"

  "Master Ma, we followed you in hopes of rising through the ranks and getting rich one day, not to die! Now that you've been seriously injured by a knife, it's uncertain whether your life can be saved. Master Ma, take care of yourself and stop the bleeding quickly, while we retreat outside first! We'll help block the outside for you, trap Ye Chen at Yixian Cliff, and avenge your blood feud!"

  Four young warriors shouted loudly and retreated more than a hundred feet in a hurry, coming out of a cliff.

  The four of them stood guard at the entrance of Yilin Cliff, each holding a sword, with a stern expression, as if waiting for death to avenge Ma Ruyuan. In this spacious entrance, the four of them could form a combined force and did not need to fear Ye Chen's knife skills being fierce.

  Ma Ruyu didn't expect the four of them to retreat in disarray, leaving him behind. Suddenly enraged, he spat out a large mouthful of dark red blood.

  "Ma Ruyuan, isn't it unjust that you lost?! At the Beilu Academy, you said you would take me in. I've been thinking about how you would make your move against me... Near the Beilu Academy, you wouldn't dare to act rashly, lest I escape back to the academy. The best opportunity is undoubtedly in the depths of the mountains. And in these mountains, there aren't many places suitable for making a move, this place just happens to be one of them! You probably didn't expect that I'm also very familiar with the terrain here."

  Ye Chen lowered his head and smiled at Ma Ruyuan on the ground.

  "It was my eagerness to kill you that made me fall for your trick! If I hadn't chased you into the cliff, and instead had them wait outside the cliff to ambush you, even if I couldn't kill you, I could have starved you to death on this cliff. The winner takes all, today I admit defeat!...... Now they are blocking the way outside, and can still starve you to death. You'd better be smart and let me go, let them take me back to save my life, and I'll spare your life! Either we live together or die together!"

  Ma Ruyuan clutched at his chest wound that pierced to the bone, panting heavily, and couldn't help but want to bite off a piece of Ye Chen's flesh.

  His knife wound was very serious, enough to be fatal for an ordinary person. However, a martial artist's physique is strong and robust, even with severe injuries, they can hold on for a while, as long as they return to the Beishan Academy in time to receive treatment, there is a chance to save their life.

  "I left the academy with a month's worth of dry rations. Even if you blockade me outside Yī Liǎn Cliff, I'll be just fine. As for after a month, you'll definitely have to bring back the head of the Grey Wolf and return to Běi Mù Academy to complete your graduation assessment."

  I don't believe you'd give up graduating from Beimang Academy and ruining your future just to kill a small commoner like me. Your future is worth more than my life, isn't it? Believe it or not, in less than a month, they'll definitely leave here to hunt the Gray Wolf. They won't sacrifice their own prospects for someone as doomed as you."

  Ye Chen couldn't help but laugh and said, "So you're doomed to die! I won't even kill you, the bleeding will be too much, and you'll slowly die in a day."

  "No! ... They won't!"

  Ma Ruyu was stunned, his face gradually turning ashen. Even he himself didn't dare to confirm that those four timid guys would avenge him and stubbornly stay outside the first line of cliffs, giving up returning to Beifeng Academy. Those four guys saw that Ye Chen wasn't going to die from starvation, most likely they would leave.

  "You killed me, how will you explain to the academy when you go back?! The four of them are witnesses, if you kill me, the academy will definitely expel you, and the entire Wu State will be on the lookout for you. My Ma family won't let you off either!"

  Ma Ruyuan still held onto his last shred of hope for survival, his fierce gaze fixed on Ye Chen.

  "You killed me, what reason will you use to explain it to the academy?"

  Ye Chen coldly snorted.

  "Push it onto Grey Wolf's head, wash your hands of the matter... the Academy won't pursue it!"

  Ma Ruyuan's face had completely lost its color, his hands were already crushed, the severe wound on his chest was constantly bleeding out air and life, he didn't even have the strength to crawl anymore. He finally understood that Ye Chen had calculated all of this.

  "It seems you're still somewhat clear-headed even in death."

  Ye Chen leaned against the stone wall inside the cliff, nibbled on a pancake, and held his steel knife as he drifted off to sleep. Having stayed in the mountains for a long time, he had grown accustomed to it, and at any rustling of leaves or swaying of branches, he would wake up from his light slumber.

  Ye Chen was left with nothing but waiting, watching him and those four people who could hold on longer.

  Four young warriors were also on the first cliff, guarding for a night, gradually relaxing and frowning, discussing what to do, with no one willing to take the lead.

  "How can we rescue Master Ma?"

  "Who's going to save him?... Ye Chen's current strength is probably approaching that of Sheng Han, the senior brother. If we rush in, I'm afraid we won't be able to rescue him and will instead lose our own lives."

  "Alas, what a pity! We finally managed to get on good terms with Master Ma, but he ended up dying like this. Yesterday, he even promised that after killing Ye Chen, we could join the border army and become a fifth-rank Du Jun Xun Wei, now it's definitely hopeless."

  "The most troublesome thing is that if the Ma family finds out that we saw Master Ma die and did nothing to save him, they might vent their anger on us. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have gotten involved in this matter."

  The four of them hung their heads in despair.

  Crack!

  A faint rustling sound of trampling on dry twigs came from the nearby thicket.

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  Tonight's rush ranking, updated at 0:00 in the morning.