79: Chapter 79: Three Consecutive Losses, The Curtain Falls!

On the Spirit Gathering Crystal, Qin Huang on the fourth arena began to challenge Ji Changkong on the third arena.

Two burly New Students clashed head-on in the arena; the fierce power of the Thousand Jin Stalwart Body collided with the chilling cold of the Son of the Harsh Winter, and the fist wind and ice shards exploded into layers of white mist.

In the end, Ji Changkong used his more refined ice control techniques to lock Qin Huang's wrist, forcing him to concede—the third and fourth rankings remained unchanged; Ji Changkong held onto third place, and Qin Huang remained in fourth.

Immediately after, it was Feng Yingcai's turn from the ninth arena to fight.

As the pride of the Feng family, he had once considered himself firmly in the upper ranks, but after being knocked down from fifth to ninth place by Ding Siyi, he had long become a private laughingstock among the other New Students.

At this moment, looking at Wu Xuan on the sixth arena, his eyes were full of unwillingness.

"Wu Xuan, don't think that holding onto sixth place makes you special!"

Feng Yingcai forcibly raised his spiritual power, wind energy whistling around him as he attempted to regain face in front of his peers.

However, his previous defeat had left his spiritual power unstable, and his Wind Blade actually trembled slightly when he slashed it out.

Wu Xuan stood in place like he was cast from iron; although his Profound Iron Bones talent was only A-grade, he had trained it to be incredibly solid as a fellow New Student.

He let the Wind Blade slash against his body, only producing crisp "ding-ding-dang-dang" sounds.

"Student Feng, your wind seems to have gone soft."

He finished speaking in a muffled voice, then suddenly lowered his body and lunged forward, his shoulder slamming into Feng Yingcai's chest like a battering ram.

Feng Yingcai hurriedly condensed a wind shield, but he was knocked back repeatedly, a sweet taste filling his throat.

Wu Xuan did not let up, throwing his fists out like raindrops, each punch carrying a steady force rarely seen among his peers.

"Bang!" Feng Yingcai was hit in the abdomen by a punch, his whole body curling up as he flew backward and fell off the arena.

As fellow New Students, the positions of sixth and ninth did not change—Wu Xuan defended his sixth place, while Feng Yingcai added another failure to his record in the ninth position.

"He can't even beat Wu Xuan? Didn't he say that the Forming Realm was very powerful?"

"They are all New Students, why is the gap so big..." The discussions under the stage pierced into Feng Yingcai's heart like needles.

The last challenge was Solitary Blade from the seventh arena launching an assault on Wu Xuan from the sixth arena.

The two New Students engaged in a life-and-death struggle on the arena, the blood aura of the Blood-Drinking Bone Blade colliding with the hardness of the Profound Iron Bones.

Every time the rusty blade slashed down, it carried a man-eating red light, actually managing to leave shallow bloody marks on Wu Xuan's arm guards.

After three moves, Wu Xuan was struck on the neck by the back of the blade and staggered off the stage—sixth and seventh places were swapped, Solitary Blade rose to sixth, and Wu Xuan fell to seventh.

From beginning to end, Li Menger and Wan Hao, the arena masters of the eighth and tenth arenas, did not challenge again, and the light of the Spirit Gathering Crystal gradually stabilized, finally fixing the rankings:

First arena, Zhang Wen, SSS-grade Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder;

Second arena, Zhao Ya, SS-grade Crimson Flame Dancer;

Third arena, Ji Changkong, SS-grade Son of the Harsh Winter;

Fourth arena, Qin Huang, S-grade Thousand Jin Stalwart Body;

Fifth arena, Ding Siyi, S-grade Crimson Pearl Immortal Fire;

Sixth arena, Solitary Blade, S-grade Blood-Drinking Bone Blade;

Seventh arena, Wu Xuan, A-grade Profound Iron Bones;

Eighth arena, Li Menger, S-grade Soul Dream Whisper;

Ninth arena, Feng Yingcai, S-grade Wind Whisperer;

Tenth arena, Wan Hao, A-grade Wood Leaf Pupil.

Feng Yingcai's name remained in the ninth position; as a New Student, this ranking was not bad at all.

But combined with his previous statement, "No matter how high the talent, it cannot defeat the Realm," and seeing that he couldn't even beat Wu Xuan with an A-grade talent, it became the most vivid laughingstock of the whole arena.

Feng Yingcai stood outside the crowd, clenching his fists, looking at those eye-catching names, and finally understood.

Among this batch of talented New Students, no one would think more highly of you just because you had achieved a Breakthrough a step earlier; strength was the only right to speak.

Meanwhile, Zhang Wen and Ding Siyi had already left the Martial Arts Field side by side, the setting sun casting long shadows of the two New Students.

The rankings on the board were nothing more than a fleeting scene in their journey as peers.

The noise of the Martial Arts Field gradually subsided, and the list on the Spirit Gathering Crystal was like solidified stars, reflecting the complex gazes of the whole venue.

"Hiss—this batch of New Students... truly bizarre." A senior student with a beard smacked his lips, the iron ring in his hand being squeezed until it creaked.

The companion beside him nodded repeatedly, his gaze sweeping over the list repeatedly.

"Zhang Wen's Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder, Zhao Ya's Crimson Flame Dancer, just these two SSS and SS-grade talents are scary enough, yet the ones following them, Ji Changkong and Qin Huang, which one of them isn't a ruthless character who can stand on their own?"

"Ruthless character? Didn't you see Wu Xuan's punches just now? A-grade Profound Iron Bones being able to hard-carry Feng Yingcai's Wind Blade; in previous years, this kind of toughness would have long been treated like a treasure."

Not far away, several teachers responsible for recording also gathered together to discuss, among them an old man with graying temples stroking his beard, his eyes full of amazement.

"Not to mention that Solitary Blade, the Blood-Drinking Bone Blade took down Wu Xuan in three moves; this kind of killing aura, how is it like a newly enrolled New Student?"

"The key is the Realm..."

A teacher could not help but sigh, his voice filled with unbelievable emotion.

"In previous years, if our entire freshman year could recruit one Forming Realm, we would have to hold a banquet to celebrate for three days, fearing that this seedling might get bumped or bruised."

"But look at this year? Everyone who fought on the stage just now, which one isn't in the Forming Realm? Even Feng Yingcai, who defended the ninth place, would have been a solid top student in previous years, but now he has become a laughingstock—it's not that he's weak, it's that this year's batch is just too outrageous!"

As soon as this was said, there was a chorus of agreement around them.

Many senior students remembered the difficulties they had when they achieved their own Breakthrough to the Forming Realm, and then looked at the posture of these New Students clashing head-on in the arena, their faces felt hot.

"I've finally understood."

A middle-aged man wearing deacon attire shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"From now on in this academy, if you aren't in the Forming Realm, you'll be too embarrassed to tell people you are a New Student. This isn't recruitment? It's basically digging for hidden Dragons!"

The setting sun gradually sank, casting long shadows of the stone pillars of the Martial Arts Field.

The light of the Spirit Gathering Crystal remained bright, and the names on the list seemed to still be emitting a sharp aura.

The teachers were discussing re-formulating the New Student training plan, while the senior students secretly clenched their fists—the emergence of this batch of New Students undoubtedly brought an invisible pressure to the entire academy, but it also ignited the fighting spirit in more people's hearts.

And at the center of all this, those few New Students who stirred up the winds and clouds had already gone far away.

For them, this ranking battle was just the beginning; the real competition had only just begun.