Chapter 106: Chasing After Xiao Tingfeng

  In the mountains, Li Ruo Knife had climbed over a hundred zhang high, the mountain peak was even steeper, in the thick fog there were no human shadows, only the bluestone and some low shrubs were slowly surpassed by Li Ruo Knife.

  He took a few more strides, his eyes fixed on the Golden Token on his wrist. In front of him, there were now only twenty people left, and he was getting close to his goal of reaching the top ten. However, the distance between each of those twenty people was still relatively far apart.

  Climbing up here, Li Ran felt an overwhelming pressure once again.

  His shoulders shook and his footsteps lightened, taking another step forward, a stronger sense of oppression pressed down on his body, Li Ran's knees involuntarily buckled, stopping and panting heavily for several breaths.

  Climbing to such a height, more than half a day's time had passed, and the sky was entering dusk, with nightfall gradually shrouding the entire mountain peak. The twenty people in front were all walking with great difficulty, but each one of them was an extraordinary talent, every single one of them being absolutely elite.

  Li Ran's knife is hard to surpass, even one person is difficult to overcome.

  The old man Xiao Baiyi's face gradually became solemn from a distance.

  This disciple has reached this level, it's already very good, extremely outstanding. Li Ran's knife is only so big, yet he can burst into the top 20 among 20,000 geniuses in one go, what kind of heavenly talent is this?

  However, Xiao Baiyi was not reconciled in his heart.

  If only advance ten more, Li Ruo's knife just need to surpass ten people, there will be a happy ending for all, but now, still short of that goal by a full ten places, and the strong gray-clothed ones are chasing after.

  It's too difficult.

  Li Ran's dagger felt a tearing pain in his chest, as if flames were about to erupt from his throat. Taking another step forward, the vital energy inside him circulated rapidly, and the energy of the Washing Marrow Pill transformed faster, gathering in his dantian to form his own power.

  Li Ran took a deep breath, his entire skeletal system creaking under the pressure of the sword array, but his heart was extremely full.

  Before going up the mountain, Li Ruo had already taken the Marrow Washing Pill. The spiritual pill transformed into a rich, dense liquid that flowed into his abdomen, where the immense medicinal properties were stored, quietly being refined and transformed within him.

  Li Ruo discovered that the more majestic the sword array was, the faster he could refine his elixir. After climbing the mountain for half a day, his powers had increased exponentially, directly advancing from mid-9th rank to high rank, and even showed signs of continued growth.

  At such a speed of cultivation, Li Ruo himself secretly whistled in admiration. Only then did he deeply understand the painstaking efforts behind the Sect's decision to hold such a grand competition for their gray-robed disciples every two years.

  Bathing in the pressure of a sword array indeed stimulates one's cultivation potential.

  With every step forward, the pressure increased a little, and the energy in Li Ran's Dantian also grew quietly by a little. Although the pressure on his body was getting heavier and heavier, Li Ran was not afraid at all, as he had the unrefined spiritual elixir energy inside him, which gave him infinite potential.

  Step by step, he climbed up with difficulty and left the two behind, Li Ran's knife entered nineteenth place.

  The night grew darker, and the mountains were pitch black. Li Ran's eyes emitted a faint glow as he made his way forward with his hands and feet, feeling like he was jumping over a boulder and a low-growing plant again, the heavy pressure making him almost suffocate.

  Originally in meditation, he had been taking medicine to increase his powers, and many subtle residues of the medicine's energy remained stored within his body.

  The sword array's oppressive might grew stronger, and Li Ran felt his body burning at its deepest level. A considerable amount of energy that he had not noticed before flowed out in a gentle stream, and the remaining medicinal energy was fully refined and absorbed into his meridians, stored within his dantian.

  Such an increase in energy brought Li Ruo a stronger climbing force, and he struggled to climb several meters again. He raised his wrist to look at the Golden Order, and had already surpassed one person, entering 18th place.

  Li Ran's knife fight was so fierce and stubborn, Fang Ziyi, who was watching from the waist of a distant mountain, felt moved in his heart. He quietly walked to Xiao Baiyi's side and said in a low voice: "Master, Li Ran...".

  Xiao Bai Yi nodded slowly, gazing into the Heart Mirror Stone, and said in a low voice: "Ran Jian has reached this point, he has already won my heart. His potential, his perseverance, and his determination are all top-notch. This time, regardless of whether he can make it to the top ten or not, I will immediately accept him as my disciple when we return."

  Fang Ziyuan was overjoyed, excitedly raising his head. He had never seen Shifu like a disciple to this extent before. Dan Sheng Upper Immortal, the standard for accepting disciples has been lowered again and again. It seems that Li Ruo Dao has indeed gained the recognition of this Upper Immortal.

  The long night is so long, and those disciples who are struggling in the long night, each of them is experiencing a kind of rebirth through fire. Under the pressure of the sword array, every moment they persist is equivalent to increasing their cultivation potential.

  The whole night passed, and the mountains welcomed the dawn. The sword array's oppressive might had been pressing down for a day and a night, and Li Ran felt that the spiritual energy of the elixir was being rapidly refined under such pressure. The energy in his dantian was growing at a visible rate.

  He has now pushed his strength to the peak of Jingyuan Jin's ninth layer, and after a day and night, several months of effort have been made, and the continuously replenished energy has made Li Ran's back strong enough. With a slight swing of both shoulders, he took another step forward with a mysterious stroke under his feet, and then reached out to a mountain rock with both hands, using his hands and feet together, and took another big step forward with a loud shout.

  Looking at the gold medal list, I've already made it to 17th place.

  After a whole night, Li Rengdao had only advanced three places and was still far behind the 16th place. Li Rengdao knew that this would be a tough and prolonged fight.

  Xiao Tingfeng closed his eyes slightly, walking in the wind, and carefully sensing the shock of the wind. His body moved like the wind, allowing him to walk proudly at a height of thirteenth rank. However, as he climbed to this point, several hundred feet high, already nearing the middle of the mountain, the lower part was completely submerged in clouds and fog, with an overwhelming pressure that was astonishing, and also not a small burden for him.

  Xiao Tingfeng's forehead was beaded with cold sweat, one step, two steps... He walked forward steadfastly, listening to the wind, using his heart to feel the flow of the wind. With each step forward, his body swayed lightly, borrowing from the flowing law of the wind to perfect his own movements.

  After an unknown period of time, in that mysterious and profound realization, he took another step forward, like a sea wave pressing down with even greater force. Suddenly, Xiao Tingfeng's body shook slightly, and taking advantage of the wind's fluctuations, he managed to shake off some of the pressure on his body.

  In an instant, Xiao Tingfeng knew that his Wind Step had finally made a small breakthrough under the pressure of the sword array. He saw the hope of rushing into the top ten and his waist slightly swayed with each step, every movement was full of profound meaning. Xiao Tingfeng's footsteps suddenly quickened a bit, making it easier for him to climb the mountain as he slowly chased after those in front of him.

  Someone passed by.

  Another one has passed by.

  There is still one more to surpass and then it can enter the top ten.

  Xiao Tingfeng shook her hips into a charming posture, gritted her teeth and chased from behind. After an hour, she took a deep breath and stepped forward, finally overtaking and entering the top ten.

  Xiao Tingfeng was overjoyed, leaning heavily on a bluestone to catch his breath. He raised his wrist and looked at the Golden Token, but in that instant, Xiao Tingfeng's face turned pale with shock.

  Li Ran's pursuit was extremely difficult, but he knew that his goal in mind was not just the people in front of him, but also the Sword Domain on the mountain.

  The closer to the mountain top, the heavier the sword array's pressure was. For Li Furan, the faster the energy of the alchemy pills grew, the more rapidly his cultivation speed increased. Every step forward he took was equivalent to increasing his own cultivation speed.

  And unknowingly climbed a distance, seeing that the 16th place in front was not far away, and that person also felt the pressure from behind, quietly speeding up, not wanting to be overtaken. In the process of the two people using all their strength to compete for this ranking, Li Ran's knife felt like his chest was panting and almost smoking, and he was almost using his hands and feet to climb upwards.

  At this moment, another surge of powerful spiritual energy poured into the dantian, and Li Ran's somewhat numb head felt a loud rumble, his whole body was stunned, standing still in shock. His divine consciousness retracted to look inward, and before his eyes, an endless expanse opened up, a brand new world with tenfold stronger vital energy slowly unfolding. The powerful energy flowed quietly like a long river under the sunset.

  A brand new and powerful momentum burst out from Li's body.

  Li Ran's eyes lit up, his shoulders slightly swayed, and his feet made a strange movement forward, taking a step that spanned several feet, suddenly accelerating to chase after.

  Like a fish swimming in water.

  In just a few breaths, Li Ran's knife had already overtaken the sixteenth name with ease, accelerating upwards and leaving him stunned. The sixteenth name stared blankly at the Golden Order on his wrist, somewhat dazed.

  "How is this possible? How is it possible? That Li Nuo's knife has climbed to such a height and only now starts accelerating? What is this kid's body made of? How can he be so abnormal?"

  In the distance, at the waist of the mountain, Fang Ziyuan suddenly noticed a change in Li Ran's knife and exclaimed in a low voice: "Master, look quickly, Ran is...".

  "What's wrong with Burning Blade?"

  Several nearby Dan Xian turned their heads at the same time and saw Li Ran's knife rapidly accelerating, quickly surpassing the sixteenth place.

  Li Ran's footsteps were light and quick, his feet moved swiftly, like a fish tail lightly brushing against the water, in the blink of an eye he was over ten meters ahead, clinging to the mountain rocks as he chased after the fifteenth ranked.

  In less than a minute, he took a big step forward and with a loud shout from the height of the sea, he left the fifteenth place behind.

  "Huh?"

  Xiao Baiyi's eyes lit up as soon as he saw this, and Li Ran's speed made him feel extremely pleased in an instant. He could see that Li Ran must have achieved some kind of breakthrough, only to be able to accelerate at such a critical moment in the competition. The acceleration effect was too astonishing, Xiao Baiyi watched as Li Ran once again overtook 14th place, both shocked and delighted.

  "Can Reng Jian really fulfill his promise? Is it possible for him to enter the top ten?"

  This immortal acknowledged that his mood was somewhat unsettled at this moment.

  The long-bearded man beside him widened his eyes, turned his head and looked at Xiao Baiyi, who burst out laughing: "Baiyi, your disciple is hiding very deeply. Is Li Ran's knife this kid going to make it into the top ten in this session?"

  Xiao Bai Yi humbly said: "The foundation of Burning Knife is still shallow, it seems that it was just luck, and breaking through in the formation is all."

  The bearded man no longer listened to Xiao Baiyi's words, and laughed loudly: "Old Xiao, you're a bit unkind, one is one, two is two. You tell me the truth, your original expectations for Li Ruo Dao were not low, right?"

  Several people next to him couldn't help but smile and look at Xiao Baiyi, the Thirteen Peaks elder was taken aback, nodded and acknowledged: "At that time, I set the final goal for Rong Jian, which was to enter the top ten, but I didn't expect him to actually have a chance of achieving it."

  Several ascetics in the late Dan stage on the other side were stunned at the same time.

  They only then realized that Xiao Baiyi had such high expectations for this disciple, it seemed that Li Rendao's cultivation potential was even stronger than they understood, and these upper immortals began to take the name Li Rendao seriously for the first time.

  Tenfold Essence Power, at the level of Essence Power, Li Ruo finally reached the pinnacle of his skills. The powerful energy accumulated and burst forth, combined with the fusion of 40% of Sword Intent Secret Patterns into his body techniques, plus his grasp of the flowing rules of sword arrays, Li Ruo finally erupted, gritting his teeth as he chased down target after target from behind, leaving the fourteenth place far behind, leaving the thirteenth place far behind. In just one short hour, Li Ruo once again climbed dozens of feet upwards, chasing closely behind Xiao Tingfeng's back.

  Beyond that, Li Ran's knife entered the top ten.

  Xiao Tingfeng suddenly raised his wrist, looked at the Golden Order, and was startled. He saw that Li Ran's knife was only a few feet away from him, slowly moving towards him from behind.

  Xiao Tingfeng was stunned and stood still, unable to believe that what he saw in front of him was real.

  "How did this junior brother of the Blazing Sword Sect catch up? From being outside the top fifty to suddenly breaking into the top ten, it's too unbelievable. Did he grow wings and fly here or something?"

  Thinking of his previous boast in front of Li Ruo, Xiao Tingfeng stomped his foot on the mountain rock and quickly turned to climb up with force.

  "Brother Burning Knife, I'd like to see whose new understanding of Wind Step can last longer, mine or yours."