"Clang!"
"Clang!" Li Yuan's spear moved swiftly, blocking three sharp claws that came at him one after another.
Then, he suddenly rolled, his movements incredibly agile, dodging another two claws aimed at him.
It was a close call.
"Poof!" As he rolled back to his feet, Li Yuan quickly thrust his spear, the tip striking like lightning into the eye socket of a fish spirit warrior who couldn't dodge in time.
He pulled back immediately, but the spear had already pierced through, destroying the brain.
Bang~ The warrior fell to the ground.
"Kill count +1," the system's notification chimed.
Compared to his previous four attempts in the promotion match, Li Yuan's spear skills hadn't improved much.
What had improved the most was his movement technique, allowing him to face the attacks from the fish spirits more calmly.
"Too clumsy," Li Yuan thought to himself. "In terms of physical constitution, these fish spirits are probably all at level eight or even close to nine, much stronger than me."
"But their skills seem to be at the peak of the second stage."
If it were a one-on-one fight, Li Yuan could take down a fish spirit in one blow.
But there were just too many of them.
Even ants can kill an elephant, and these fish spirits had claws that struck with a force of over a thousand kilograms.
"Roar~"
"Howl!!" The fish spirit warriors roared, their anger rising as they saw their companion fall, their crimson eyes fixed on Li Yuan, wanting to kill him.
"Poof!"
"Poof!" Li Yuan dodged and blocked, occasionally launching a powerful thrust with his spear.
Most of the time, he was on the defensive.
However, whenever he found an opportunity to strike, the fish spirits either died or were injured.
"They seem numerous, but with the space constraints, at most three or four can attack me at once." Li Yuan kept using their strength against them.
Time passed second by second.
"Kill count +1"
"Kill count +1" The system kept reminding him.
In less than a minute, six fish spirits lay dead in pools of blood, and the pressure on Li Yuan continued to lessen.
Suddenly,
"Wow!" One fish spirit let out a strange scream, its four arms flailing wildly, claws like knives brushing against the end of Li Yuan's spear.
"Bang~" The spear was jolted, the force exceeding Li Yuan's expectations, numbing his arm and slowing his evasive movements.
Being half a beat slow in a life-and-death struggle could mean the difference between life and death.
"Whoa!"
"Whoosh!" A wave of green figures lunged at Li Yuan, leaving him no space to break free from their encirclement.
Six claws, sharp as knives, came rushing from all directions.
"Clang!" "Clang!"
"Bang!"
Li Yuan held his spear and swung it twice, blocking two claws, but then he felt a terrifying force slam into his back.
It felt like being hit hard! It left him numb all over, and his vital energy surged.
"Poof~" He spat out a mouthful of blood.
Whoa!
Li Yuan steadied himself, trying his best to gather all his strength, pushing forward with the claw's momentum to dodge the next claw that came rushing at him.
But more claws were coming, just as Li Yuan was out of strength from his previous efforts.
"Not good." Li Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.
He sensed a life-threatening crisis.
In his previous four attempts at the promotion match, he had been beaten to death in the first two.
In the third, he killed three fish spirits.
In the fourth, he killed five.
He thought that with his improved movements, he might have a chance this time, but he realized he had underestimated the difficulty of the Falling Star promotion match.
After killing six fish spirits, the remaining six seemed to enter a frenzy, their speed and power becoming even more exaggerated.
"Kill!"
"I need to go faster! Faster!"
Li Yuan's eyes turned slightly red, completely losing control, knowing he had little hope of survival, he unleashed his spear technique with all his might.
In that moment, Li Yuan felt his blood boiling.
It was like an instinctive burst of energy when facing death.
His entire strength seemed to be activated, his spirit, will, and body all reaching their peak, achieving a mysterious combination.
"Whoa!"
At that moment, Li Yuan felt as if he had broken through some boundary in controlling his body, shattering the shackles.
The power flowing through him felt incredible, a sensation he had never experienced before.
"Boom!"
Li Yuan's spear suddenly surged in speed, its might increasing significantly.
The spear tip traced a half-circle in the air.
"Poof!" "Poof!" One thrust swept away a claw, and the tip sliced through the throats of two fish spirits, blood spraying everywhere.
"Kill count +1" "Kill count +1"
Two system notifications flashed one after the other.
"Boom!" "Bang~" Several other fish spirits' attacks finally landed, their claws striking hard against Li Yuan's body.
One claw, especially precise, came rushing down from the air, aiming straight for Li Yuan's neck.
Poof! A dizzying sensation overwhelmed him.
The intense pain registered in Li Yuan's mind, and in an instant, he vanished from the spot.
Falling Star promotion match, fifth challenge failed.
Kill count: eight!
...
In the Star Combat Network, in his personal space.
"I."
"What just happened?" Li Yuan stood there, not feeling disappointed at all about failing the Falling Star promotion match.
On the contrary, his eyes were filled with excitement and joy.
"That last explosive thrust?" Li Yuan recalled that final thrust.
In the face of life and death.
Under unprecedented pressure, all he wanted was to be faster! Faster!
He didn't deliberately use any techniques; it was just a crazy instinct to "bite off a piece of flesh from the opponent even if he died."
In that madness, Li Yuan's strength was fully mobilized, reaching a truly perfect and complete state.
This allowed him to counterattack in a desperate situation and take down two fish spirits first.
"The power transfer was perfect, without any hindrance." Li Yuan focused.
His gaze swept over the skill level section on the Divine Palace Panel.
Skill Level: Spear Technique (Stage 3, 99%), Movement Technique (Stage 3, 99%), Fist Technique (Stage 4, 0%)
"Indeed, I broke through."
"My fist technique has reached the fourth stage," Li Yuan's eyes brightened. "Fist technique is the combination of body and mind, focusing on control over the body, so it was bound to be the first to break through."
"Hahaha!"
Li Yuan couldn't help but laugh out loud, feeling an unprecedented sense of freedom: "My fist technique was at Stage 3, 99% three to four months ago."
"My spear technique reached Stage 3, 99% two months ago."
"In the past few months, I have been training my spear technique like crazy." Li Yuan's eyes sparkled. "But I couldn't break through, struggling to make progress."
"Last night, Teacher Xu told me to try figuring things out on my own later; maybe I would break through at some point."
"Who would have thought?"
"That so quickly, a promotion match would lead to a breakthrough?" Li Yuan felt incredibly satisfied.
Failing the promotion match but breaking through in martial arts skills.
Li Yuan knew this wasn't a life-or-death breakthrough; after all, it was just a virtual battle, and deep down, he knew there was no real danger of death.
The breakthrough was more about the countless times he had trained in spear and fist techniques, the accumulation of experience and understanding, and finally, a bit of luck.
With this breakthrough, he stepped into a new realm.
"Master."
"Congratulations, Master, your ranking on the Blue Star Youth Ranking has surged into the top 1000," a girl beside him giggled. "Your current rank is 996."
"996?" Li Yuan was taken aback.
His gaze then caught a system notification.
"Guardian Yuan, you killed eight guardians in the promotion match, and your ranking on the Blue Star Youth Ranking has risen from [1132] to global [996], Xia Country [243], Jiangbei District [9]."
Li Yuan had been too excited earlier, focusing on himself and not noticing this message.
"996?"
Li Yuan muttered to himself: "The uncle I met earlier also had a score of 996."
"Could it be that I have some connection with 996 today?"
"But I clearly rolled a 007." After a moment of self-criticism, Li Yuan stopped paying attention to the ranking.
996?
This Blue Star Youth Ranking is determined by rank points and performance in promotion matches.
In his previous four attempts at the promotion match, each time, Li Yuan's rank had skyrocketed.
This time, he had successfully entered the global top thousand.
This was already an impressive ranking.
After all, Li Yuan glanced at a piece of data regarding the Blue Star Youth Ranking: "36874" people were ranked in the 2042-2043 period.
In just half a year.
The Blue Star Youth Ranking had surged from over four thousand when Li Yuan first appeared to more than thirty thousand.
Li Yuan couldn't see the specific list but could see the total number.
This was to give every martial arts genius on the list a rough idea of their standing, so they wouldn't be blindly arrogant.
"If I could try the promotion match again, I should be able to pass the Falling Star rank match," Li Yuan thought. "Too bad there's no chance now."
After failing a promotion match, the cooldown period is seven days.
"Xiaoyu, how many have reached the Falling Star rank on the Blue Star Youth Ranking now?" Li Yuan casually asked.
"As of today, there are 164," the girl in blue replied. "The list cannot be disclosed."
(End of Chapter)