91: Entering the third level

November 6th.

Prism.

In the hall, almost all the key personnel of Prism were gathered.

They had recently been staying inside Prism, mainly because the virtual connection pods that Fu Mingyu had acquired were there. They were all participating in the Martial Arts Ranking Tournament’s preliminaries, so apart from missions, they spent almost all their time there Cultivating and fighting.

The connection pod slowly opened, and a heroic young girl, looking a bit dispirited, jumped out of it.

"How is it, Sister Wan?" Yan Ling saw her in a bad state and quickly went forward to link arms with her.

Although she was older than Tao Wan, due to Tao Wan's reserved demeanor, she still habitually called her 'sister'.

Tao Wan rubbed her forehead and shook her head, "I lost. My opponent was at least a mid-stage second-rank. I fought him for dozens of rounds, but he still found a flaw."

She had also been participating in the current preliminaries, and today marked her 10th defeat, officially eliminating her from the competition.

Yan Ling was a bit downcast but quickly smiled and comforted her, "That's great, Sister Wan! You're only at the high-stage first-rank, and you managed to get close to 20 wins, more than me, who is at the early-stage second-rank!"

"Don't push yourself too hard. This Martial Arts Tournament isn't very friendly to us first-year students. Give us another year, and we won't be any worse than anyone else," Zhao Yuanyue also encouraged her from the side. She was quite fond of this girl who usually enjoyed practicing with a gun.

Tao Wan nodded and smiled, "I'm fine. Thanks to joining Prism, I wouldn't have been able to make such great progress in such a short time.

It's a pity I couldn't break into the top 10,000, otherwise, I could at least enter the rankings and bring some glory to our Prism."

Beside them, Zhu Yulin recorded Tao Wan's combat record and said, "Currently, including Tao Wan, a total of 7 people from Prism have finished their preliminary rounds. Unfortunately, none of them were able to enter the rankings.

There are still Fu Mingyu, Tang Wu, Li Cunxu, and Zhao Yuanyue left. When do you plan to finish your last few matches?"

All of them had already participated in over 30 matches, with more than 20 wins each, but their losses had also reached 7 or more, very close to the 10-loss elimination limit.

In fact, they were almost there.

For example, Fu Mingyu, with his 22 wins, after those 22 wins, his opponents were almost all high-stage second-rank and Peak second-rank.

The situation was similar for the others; they all felt a bit helpless facing their upcoming opponents.

After a period of intense Cultivation and combat training recently, their combat power was impressive. Except for Li Cunxu, who was already at mid-stage second-rank, the others had also Broken Through to early-stage second-rank.

This was only achieved by fully exploiting their potential and overdrawing resources during this recent period.

Everyone had really pushed themselves for these preliminaries.

However, they were still stuck here, unable to advance.

Fu Mingyu was a bit helpless and said, "Let's wait a bit longer. We still have a few days, don't we? I'll refine my Martial Skills a bit more and see if I can grind out another win."

Li Cunxu nodded. His thoughts were similar. The rewards for these preliminaries were very generous; for each additional win, the Federation's rewards would increase.

In addition, their respective teachers would also give them rewards.

The school was also quite committed to these preliminaries, offering generous rewards to those students who could achieve many wins.

Zhao Yuanyue and Tang Wu, who hadn't appeared in a long time, were also similar and didn't plan to end their preliminaries just yet.

"Is that Chen Qing guy even going to participate in the preliminaries? He's been cooped up in his room for a month now, hasn't he?

He hasn't come out for anything, not even to eat or drink. He hasn't suffered Qi Deviation, has he?" Fu Mingyu clasped his hands behind his head, somewhat curious.

The others were also very curious. No one Cultivates Martial Dao like this; there should always be a balance between work and rest. Constant arduous Cultivation can easily lead to mental abnormalities.

"I don't know," Zhu Yulin said suspiciously, "That guy recently asked me to help him buy a bunch of Cultivation resources, even some third-rank Medicinal Pills. Do you think he might have Broken Through to the third-rank?"

Everyone was startled but quickly relaxed.

From second-rank to third-rank in one month?

You must be joking!

They almost fell for it. Anyone who actually believed such nonsense would truly be suffering from Qi Deviation.

However, someone present spoke up suspiciously, "Don't say that, it's a bit similar!"

Everyone turned their heads, looking at Fu Mingyu as if he were an idiot.

Are you crazy? You believe such things?

Zhao Yuanyue felt a bit of sympathy. Could this guy really have been so traumatized by Chen Qing that he became agitated?

Fu Mingyu ignored what they thought, recalling when he first met Chen Qing. That time, Chen Qing had also been in seclusion for a long time, and when he came out, he had made a huge improvement.

It was too similar to this situation!

The longer this guy held out, the bigger the 'product' he would release!

Moreover, Chen Qing's Cultivation speed was eerily fast. He reasonably suspected that this guy was about to enter the third-rank... In the Cultivation room.

Chen Qing sat motionless on the meditation cushion.

Spiritual Qi swirled and dissipated around his body, and a faint aura of malevolent Qi densely covered the area around his head, which was very peculiar.

"Just a little more!" Chen Qing murmured.

Having spent the more than 4,000 academic credits obtained from his last mission, plus the rewards for killing Yao Beasts in the Ice God Space, his vitality rapidly increased over the past month, just a step away from the third-rank!

Chen Qing's palms flipped, and the last Spirit Pill entered his stomach.

The next moment, his bones crackled, and his Qi and blood surged like a furnace. As the medicinal power of the last Medicinal Pill integrated, the Spiritual Qi was instantly absorbed and converted by him.

"Whoosh!"

Vitality flowed through his body like a tangible substance, repeatedly scouring and baptizing his limbs and bones.

Life, like the surging waves of a great river, raged and churned. This was the description of a third-rank Martial Artist.

In Chen Qing's perception, his physique was stronger than ever before!

Third-rank!

Chen Qing opened his eyes and felt the surging vitality filling his entire body.

He casually threw a punch.

"Bang!"

A faint sonic boom subtly echoed in the air.

"Such powerful vitality!"

He had no doubt that a casual strike from him now could easily kill the 'him' from a month ago!

The vitality of an early-stage second-rank Martial Artist had only just exceeded 3, while the vitality of a third-rank Martial Artist started at 10 points!

A chasm-like difference!

He now somewhat understood why almost everyone on the special training class roster was a third-rank Martial Artist; because third-rankers didn't even need to participate in the preliminaries!

A third-rank Martial Artist participating in the preliminaries would be no different from 'fishing with dynamite'.

Now he was no longer worried about losing his academic credits again. If he were to take on missions again, the speed at which he earned academic credits would increase by several levels!

"Heh heh, do I still need to participate in the preliminaries? Oh, right, how long have I been Cultivating? Has the preliminary period for the Martial Arts Tournament already passed?"

He quickly pulled out his phone and checked the time.

November 7th.

"I remember it ends on November 10th. I need to hurry."