Chapter 43: Overpowering the Heroes (Part 1)

  After resting for half an hour, the ranking match began.

  Because they wanted to finish in one day, all ten were arranged to go on stage for a competition without rest.

  "Wei Yurou vs Zhou Xinlai, next on the stage."

  "Wang Ling Tian challenges Wang Yi on the second number ring."

  "Fang Feng versus Wang Lingqing, third match on the main stage."

  "Wei Wenxing wins on points, 4-0."

  "Zhou Hongfei vs Wei Tai, on the fifth match of the arena"

  The match arrangement was all drawn, but the first round of matches was clearly a big surprise. Except for the third and fourth arenas, all other arenas had people who surrendered voluntarily. The audience could only focus their attention on the third and fourth arenas.

  For this situation, Fang Li had long expected it and was not surprised at all. He just calmed down and faced his opponent.

  "Wei Jia Wei Wen Xing, please advise." Fang Li's opponent was a young man in his twenties, with an elegant and refined appearance, using a relatively rare paper fan as his weapon.

  "Fang Li." Fang Li also cupped his fists and reported his name. As for this opponent, Fang Li was still relatively cautious, strictly speaking, this was the second cultivator he had faced who had reached the sixth level of Qi Refining, the first being Yin Gui San Ren, who had already died at his hands.

  After finishing the courtesy, Wei Wenzhen stopped talking, and the paper fan suddenly unfolded, immediately attacking Fang Li.

  At first, Fang Li still had some doubts about his weapon, but after seeing the structure of the paper fan clearly, he suddenly felt a chill on his body. This paper fan was called "paper", but those ribs were all made of fine steel, like sharp arrows pointing outwards, extremely sharp. Moreover, there were blood grooves on those ribs, and some even had reverse hooks, if one wasn't careful to be scratched by it, they would definitely be torn off a piece of flesh.

  "Sly." Fang Li's face gradually turned cold, and he no longer had a shred of goodwill towards the person in front of him. From the commonly used weapons alone, one could see some of the cultivator's character. Someone who would modify a paper fan into such a vicious instrument was not much better even if they weren't ruthless.

  Wei Wuxing, however, seemed to be unaware of this and continued to attack him. The paper fan in his hand spun half a circle before being swung directly at Fang Li's face. If it were to hit its mark, the damage would be minor, but it was likely that even his eyes would be pierced by the protruding bones of the fan.

  Fang Li saw this and anger rose in his heart. He secretly thought: "If you are so ruthless, then don't blame me for being too severe."

  At this thought, Fang Li let out a loud roar and for the first time mobilized his full strength. The Xuan Iron Sword in his hand suddenly shone brightly, and a dense water and fire aura burst forth, like two small dragons coiling around the sword body, quite intimidating.

  "Get out!" Fang Li's long sword flashed, directly stabbing towards Wei Wensheng's paper fan.

  Wei Wuxing was also intimidated by the power of Xuan Tie Jian, his heart had already weakened, and his momentum had weakened a bit. He wanted to dodge, but found that Fang Li's sword was extremely strange, and unknowingly sealed off all his retreat routes. If he forced himself to dodge, he would definitely be caught up by this sword. It was better to fight him head-on, maybe he could even defeat him in return.

  "It's just a slightly stronger long sword, I, Wei Wenzhen, wouldn't be afraid. In front of my Iron Spine Ghost Fan, any weapon must lower its head." Wei Wenzhen calmed down, gritted his teeth and clashed with Fang Li.

  However, with a loud crash, the two small dragons formed by the fusion of water and fire on the Xuan Tie sword immediately pounced towards the paper fan. The next moment they collided and exploded. Wei Wenxing only had time to let out a miserable cry before he was blown away and fell off the stage.

  "Another sword, another instant kill!" The spectators on the viewing platform, whether they were ordinary disciples or those elderly figures, all revealed expressions of astonishment. Defeating an opponent of the same rank with one sword strike could be said to be luck once, but when it happened repeatedly, it was no longer just a matter of luck.

  "Fang Li was able to defeat Wei Wuxing with one sword, relying on the weapon in his hand. If I'm not mistaken, it should be a pretty good fake artifact, its power is at least comparable to that of a seventh-grade ordinary artifact." A sharp-eyed Wang family elder said.

  "It turned out that it was because he possessed a seventh-grade ordinary sword. I said so, how could this kid possibly defeat an opponent of the same rank with one sword? However, he does have good fortune." The audience on stage was not lacking in envious and jealous voices.

  The voice on the platform was unheard of, and he walked down the platform calmly.

  At this time, the trial on the third arena had just begun, and Fang Feng and Wang Lingqing were entangled together. Fang Feng attacked with his bare hands, his most powerful weapon being those iron fists, each swing like a giant stone crashing down, Wang Lingqing did not dare to fight back head-on.

  Although Wang Ling's qinggong was inferior, he had an advantage in agility and for a time did not fall behind.

  The two men were locked in a stalemate for a long time, and finally Wang Lingqing's true energy was exhausted, and he fell to the ground. Fang Feng won the victory.

  Not long after resting, the second round of competition began. This time Fang Li's opponent was Wang Yi again, a guy who had been defeated by him in the group stage.

  Wang Yi knew he was no match for Fang Li and directly admitted defeat.

  In the third and fourth rounds, Fang Li defeated Wei Tai and Zhou Xinlai respectively. Both were at the fifth level of Qi refining, and were directly defeated by Fang Li's sword, winning easily.

  So far, the only ones who have won all four games are Fang Li and Wei Yurou. Everyone else has lost at least one game. Wang Lingtian lost to Wei Yurou in the second round, Fang Feng lost to Wei Yurou in the third round, and Zhou Hongfei lost to Fang Feng.

  Wei Yurou alone occupies the top, in everyone's heart has long been an iron fact. Wang Lingtian and Fang Feng losing to her is not regrettable. However, Zhou Hongfei losing to Fang Feng is extremely annoying. Originally relying on his lightness skill, Fang Feng couldn't even touch his clothes, but unfortunately during one attack, the long sword in his hand was actually taken away by Fang Feng bare-handed. Zhou Hongfei lost his weapon and could no longer hold on, so he had to admit defeat.

  "The fifth round of competition, Fang Li vs Zhou Hongfei, please go to the first arena; Wang Lingtian vs Fang Feng, please go to the second arena..."

  "I heard your name is Fang Li? Your skills are quite good, but your winning streak ends here. You can't be my opponent."

  On the No. 1 stage, Zhou Hongfei stepped up lightly and came to the stage with ease. He had lost to Fang Feng in front before, and now facing Fang Li, who was also a member of the Fang family, he naturally felt unhappy.

  "Are you Zhou Hongfei? I've heard that among the younger generation of the four major families, you're also considered one of the best." Fang Li said with a light smile, mimicking his tone.

  Zhou Hongfei's face suddenly turned black, he had only lost a game, now even stray cats and dogs dared to provoke him in front of him, and he immediately shouted: "You're looking for death!"

  Fang Li's face also turned cold, and he said indifferently: "Whether or not you're looking for death isn't up to you to decide. You may have never taken me seriously from start to finish, but in my heart, you are not my opponent either. The lightness skill that you take pride in, in my eyes, is no different from a snail crawling."

  "Alright, alright, don't think that defeating a few useless people means you can boast in front of me. Today, I'll let you know what it means to be a genius." Zhou Hongfei was now thoroughly enraged, his feet stomped once and he vanished from Fang Li's sight, only to reappear behind him the next instant, sword flashing out.

  Fang Li's divine consciousness was extremely powerful, and he had already sensed something was amiss. However, in his heart, he couldn't help but secretly sigh - no wonder this person was known as the "Ghost Sword". He was so elusive that if one wasn't careful, they would fall into his trap. But that was only when compared to others; in front of Fang Li, using lightness skills for anything other than escaping would be too late.

  "Teng grass, out!" Fang Li shouted loudly, and his body's aura suddenly surged violently. The next moment, the twelve true energy Teng grass burst out of his body.

  "What kind of kung fu is this!" Zhou Hongfei was shocked, seeing so many vines shooting towards him, and immediately swung his sword to cut them off. However, these vines were all condensed from Fang Li's true energy, unless the true energy was exhausted, how could they be truly cut off?

  In a state of panic, Zhou Hongfei lost his composure and tried to dodge backwards, but he was already entangled by the rattan grass. His usually reliable lightness skill was completely useless at this moment.

  "Not good, Zhou Hongfei's lightness skill is being completely restricted by Fang Likai, it seems like he's going to lose!" The young masters of the Zhou family on the viewing platform were shocked, this was their first time seeing such a strange and bizarre technique that could actually condense true energy into vines to bind the enemy, wasn't this the nemesis of all those who mainly practiced lightness skills?!

  "This kid used to be able to retreat with a single sword, I thought his strongest asset was the Xuan Tie sword in his hand. Now it seems that I was wrong." Many of the elder spectators revealed solemn expressions, and in terms of overall strength, this young master from the Fang family was by no means inferior to Wang Ling Tian and others.

  The elderly members of the Fang family saw this, and their faces all showed a pleased expression. Fang Li brought honor to the family and gave them prestige. Unconsciously, many of the elderly began to accept Fang Li as a member of the branch in their hearts. Of course, there was one exception, namely the Guardian Elder Fang Lie, whose face was gloomy at this time.

  "This kid's growth rate is truly astonishing, two years later he might actually be able to defeat me." The Guardian Elder muttered to himself, a hint of ruthlessness suddenly flashing in his eyes.

  "No!" With a miserable cry, Zhou Hongfei, who was entwined by the True Energy Vine, only resisted twice before being struck flying by Fang Li's sword and falling off the stage.

  "Fang Lisheng wins." The chief referee announced the result of the match immediately.

  Zhou Hongfei lay on the ground, his face pale, and until now he still didn't know why he had lost, nor could he completely accept this result.

  "Why, why, I'm a cultivator at the peak of the sixth layer of Qi Refining, how could I lose to a waste who just barely showed his face?" Zhou Hongfei slammed his fist on the ground, feeling extremely resentful. If losing to Fang Feng was just a slight annoyance in his heart, then losing to Fang Li was a humiliation. He had never taken Fang Li seriously before, even when he showed decent strength, it was only as a joke to tease Wang Lingtian, and yet he ended up losing to him.

  Fang Li walked down from the stage, seeing Zhou Hongfei's eyes still staring at him, and suddenly chuckled. He walked around to his side and said in a voice that only Zhou Hongfei could hear: "Now you may feel that losing to me is a shame, but it won't be long before you don't think so. Because soon, Wang Lingtian and others will also lose to me, even the number one genius of Yan City - Wei Yurou."

  Zhou Hongfei was taken aback, his eyes staring blankly at him, slow to react.