Upon hearing this self-introduction, Lan Weiyu gave Li Yunxian another look.
Seventh layer of Qi Training, ranked 91st on the arena—indeed, that’s enough to be proud.
No wonder he was appointed team leader.
“Li, the difference between Arena Rank 71 and 91 is enormous,” Lan Weiyu said, his tone full of meaning.
Li Yunxian lifted his foot and walked towards the arena. “You should say that after the match.”
Lan Weiyu smiled at his words. Li Yunxian was confident—so was he. So he said nothing more.
Everything should indeed be said after the match.
The two stood on the arena.
Perhaps because Jifa focused mainly on spell cultivation, every arena here was much larger than Tiantong’s. But that made no difference to Li Yunxian.
The referee announced the start. The Xiayun Sword instantly flew from Li Yunxian’s hand, its blade shrouded in radiance, like clusters of lightning, streaking towards Lan Weiyu.
Lan Weiyu didn’t move slowly, casting two instant spells at once… No, actually, he couldn’t even call it casting.
He clearly finished his spells, but felt the surrounding spiritual energy flow become sluggish, especially as it approached Li Yunxian—or rather, the area around the Xiayun Sword, it became even slower.
Yet in contrast, the Xiayun Sword’s speed appeared blindingly fast to Lan Weiyu.
He didn’t even have time to change his incantation before the Xiayun Sword was upon him.
Pa!
The Xiayun Sword crashed hard against Lan Weiyu’s body.
With a dazed expression, Lan Weiyu felt himself flying.
What just happened?
In the final moment before hitting the ground, Lan Weiyu felt his spiritual energy begin to flow again.
On instinct, Lan Weiyu instantly cast a floating spell.
He landed lightly, less than half a meter from the ground.
Only at that moment did Lan Weiyu feel that he’d finally shown some of his Rank 71 ability.
But it was already useless.
He lowered his head to look at his position, then glanced up at the arena not far away.
He… was out of bounds.
The moment the referee had announced the start, the match was already over.
Lan Weiyu’s mind went blank for a second.
What he felt at this moment wasn’t anger or humiliation.
He subconsciously began to judge—did Li Yunxian cast some illusion on him?
From birth to now, in twenty-one years, Lan Weiyu had never been in a fight where he couldn’t even react before it ended.
Even against the top-ranked, there was no way he would be this powerless.
Lan Weiyu could still doubt whether he’d been tricked by illusions, but for the spectators below the arena, there was no such suspicion.
No one would cast illusions on the spectators.
After the referee’s announcement, they had just opened their mouths, ready to cheer for Lan Weiyu.
Now their mouths hung open in shock, frozen in place, making for a ridiculous sight.
Fortunately, they weren’t the only clowns—the Tiantong side wore the same expressions.
In fact, their mouths gaped even wider than the Jifa students’.
There was no helping it; being on the away team, they had to try even harder to match the opponent’s energy.
But now, faced with this scene…
“She never used her full strength before when fighting?” Ying Qian was the first to break the silence, murmuring softly.
He’d watched Li Yunxian’s bout with Shen Bofeng on video.
At least that match lasted a few rounds and took a minute or two.
A minute or two?
This time, not even a second or two!
Among their group, a few had seen Li Yunxian fight several times, and calmly analyzed before giving the others an objective answer.
“No, she’s just gotten even scarier…”
Everyone was silent for a long while before someone finally spoke again.
“What did she do after advancing to the seventh layer of Qi Training?”
“I heard… she went to Wenwu for a bit?”
“Wenwu’s really that strong?” someone exclaimed.
…I don’t think it’s a Wenwu problem.
Whatever the crowd below thought, it had nothing to do with Li Yunxian. After watching Lan Weiyu land steadily, Li Yunxian turned toward the referee.
The referee was slow to react.
He stared at Lan Weiyu’s original position for several seconds before meeting Li Yunxian’s gaze.
***
In the top 100 arenas, the referees at all academies were the same—teachers at the Golden Core stage.
Even he couldn’t make sense of what happened with Li Yunxian’s strike.
He reflexively wondered if he could take that blow, then slowly announced the result.
“Tiantong, Li Yunxian wins.”
Li Yunxian didn’t care that the referee was slow to declare the result. She turned to the Jifa students’ complicated, unreadable stares, smiling brightly and amiably. “Anyone here ranked above 70?”
“If not, could you please give a shout?”
“But calling people one by one each time is actually quite troublesome.”
“How about letting your number one take the stage directly?” Li Yunxian’s eyes arched in a smile.
Well, although she wasn’t good at making trouble, she could always recall those who’d stirred up trouble for her in the past and copy their ways.
Guaranteed to make everyone’s blood pressure spike!
Sure enough.
Hearing Li Yunxian’s arrogant words, the Jifa students were undoubtedly enraged. Some grabbed their phones and furiously sent messages, while others shouted threats at Li Yunxian, anger in every word.
The Tiantong students, meanwhile, were still a bit slow to react.
Even during her days at the academy, Li Yunxian had always been friendly with her classmates, never brash in words even when acting.
Rumors circulated from time to time—if anyone encountered difficulties, somehow, Li Yunxian always passed by and lent a hand.
This was the first time they’d seen this bold side of her.
“When did Sister Xian turn like this after one trip to Wenwu?!” Everyone was shocked.
“Yep, it’s definitely Wenwu’s fault!” They quickly pinned the blame.
After this round of scapegoating, someone finally spoke up, offering their reading of the situation.
“Did the captain notice we all wanted to go back to the dorms, so she decided to end the task early so we could leave?”
Enlightenment dawned on the crowd.
“So that’s it!”
“The captain is always the captain!”
“A senior who graduated once told me, being teammates with the captain and being her enemy are two completely different experiences. I finally understand now.”
“Good thing Sister Xian hasn’t been led astray by Wenwu.”
With her spiritual sense, Li Yunxian clearly heard all these random comments.
She thought Wenwu should go get his spine checked at the hospital.
The academy was big, but who knew if it could carry such a huge blame.
Word spread fast, and soon wave after wave of people came to the arena.
Some came to cheer for their academy, some were in the top 100, ready to crush Tiantong’s momentum.
But after hearing Lan Weiyu lost—and in a single move at that—everyone couldn’t help but turn to look at him.
Seeing the humiliation on Lan Weiyu’s face, people still found it hard to believe, but it confirmed the truth.
The newcomers gazed at Li Yunxian with grave expressions.
They hesitated over whether to step up.
A one-move defeat carried too much weight.
Losing didn’t matter, but going up there just to lose—only to bring shame to their academy—served no purpose.
Seeing Li Yunxian’s indifferent look, as if she didn’t take anyone seriously, someone in the crowd gritted their teeth, leapt up, and landed opposite her.
Li Yunxian turned to look.
“You’re Jifa’s number one?” Li Yunxian asked.
The girl glared. “Jifa 24, Gu Qingmei.”
So she wasn’t the top, but that didn’t matter. Li Yunxian stepped back a few paces, returning to her position.
“Alright, let’s fight,” Li Yunxian said.
With a nearly 50-rank difference, Gu Qingmei was far stronger than Lan Weiyu, but still no match for Li Yunxian.
Since she’d just arrived, she had no idea how Lan Weiyu had lost, but with strong combat instincts, she added an extra shield in front of herself to block the Xiayun Sword.
But in the end, inevitably, she too was sent flying off the arena by Li Yunxian.
Landing in exactly the same spot as Lan Weiyu.
The Jifa crowd instantly noticed, and their anger flared even higher.
“Ling Zhou!”
“Ling Zhou, go beat her!!”
“Ling Zhou! Kick her out of the arena!”
They shouted angrily, all eyes turning to a person in the back.
Jifa’s number one—Ling Zhou.
Li Yunxian followed their gazes and looked at him.
He’d arrived late, only after Gu Qingmei took the stage.
It was perfect timing.
He’d managed to watch the entire fight between her and Gu Qingmei.
Only a few seconds—but he caught it exactly.
Some people really are blessed by fate.
Unlucky Li Yunxian quietly curled her lips.