112: Chapter 112 Rampage

In the vast Virtual Arena, hundreds of thousands of eyes, and observers from the Four Great Factions—all gazes converged upon this final triangular area.

The air was so stagnant it felt as if even the ability to breathe had been stripped away.

Fine beads of cold sweat slid down Zhou Kai's temples.

His roar shook the surrounding air as his heavy blade, carrying an unparalleled fierce wind, swept toward Li Wen continuously like a surging tide.

However, no matter how frenzied Zhou Kai's assault was, the figure opposite him remained like a rock, like flowing water.

Li Wen shifted his footsteps slightly; with every parry and lead of his long blade, he used only the smallest movements and most precise angles to skillfully deflect and shed the momentum of an attack capable of shattering stone.

That ordinary blade seemed to possess a life of its own in his hands, always managing to steadily intercept Zhou Kai's strikes at their most powerful yet weakest points.

After another dozen or so exchanges, not only had Li Wen not been harmed in the slightest, but Zhou Kai felt as if his movements were trapped in an invisible, viscous web, becoming increasingly sluggish and heavy.

An uncontrollable shock rose within his heart.

He, a Prodigy ranked 18th in the Provincial First Mock Exam, was actually unable to move this guy from Qingshi County—who had previously been seen as merely on the threshold of the top twenty—by even a fraction.

Li Wen completely ignored the change in Zhou Kai's state of mind.

His gaze was as sharp as an eagle's, piercing through the intense battle to remain firmly locked on the most dazzling combat circle in the center.

There, Chu Feng's dark silver spear was as steady as a mountain, yet it erupted with a space-tearing shriek whenever it pierced forward.

Nangong Xue's ice crystal longsword danced with a sky full of desolate and beautiful cold light and snowflakes—beautiful yet deadly.

There were also the figures of Wang Shuo and the others, struggling desperately.

Whether he could take a top-three spot in the province and seize those coveted s-rank contract resources depended on whether he could surpass Chu Feng,

Nangong Xue, and those few others.

Half a minute seemed incredibly long in the middle of a chaotic melee.

Figures from the three sides continuously dissipated into white light amidst the flashes of blades and swords.

The most tragic was undoubtedly the loose third-party Alliance that Li Wen belonged to.

The roars and the clashing of weapons coming from Wang Shuo's side showed they were enduring the immense pressure of a joint strangulation by the forces of Chu Feng and Nangong Xue; every second, someone was being eliminated.

It's about time; I can't wait any longer.

A decisive light instantly erupted in Li Wen's eyes.

If he continued to hide until his third-party allies were completely cleared out, he would fall into a desperate situation where he would be besieged by Chu Feng and Nangong Xue, and all hope would be severed.

He had to act!

Although it wasn't yet time to reveal all his trump cards, it was enough to deal with the Zhou Kai before him.

In the flash of a thought, a surge of Mental Energy, undetectable by ordinary people and originating from a powerful Primordial Spirit, suddenly permeated the area.

An invisible "sight" precisely pierced through Zhou Kai's wild Intent, scanning every inch of his body's power trajectory and every tremor of his muscles.

In an instant, several extremely subtle flaws in Zhou Kai's seemingly thick and fierce Blade Technique—flaws even he himself hadn't noticed—were clearly reflected in Li Wen's mind.

“Clang!”

With a flick of his wrist, Li Wen's long blade cut in at an inconceivable angle, once again easily parrying a strike from Zhou Kai.

At the moment of contact, he didn't resist the massive force head-on but instead skillfully guided it away.

Zhou Kai's violent Aura inevitably choked for a moment, and a tiny, split-second opening was exposed at the junction of his waist, abdomen, and arm movements.

Now!

Li Wen's eyes narrowed, his entire Aura suddenly shifting as a highly condensed killing Intent erupted.

The long blade previously used for parrying and shedding force suddenly pivoted, turning from defense to offense. The blade light was like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, carrying a piercing shriek as it stabbed with unerring precision into that newly exposed, infinitesimal flaw.

“Puff!”

The blade edge touched a weak point in the defensive Source Power, making a soft sound like a bubble bursting.

The thick layer of Protective Source Power on Zhou Kai's body vibrated violently, instantly losing its balance and fluctuating wildly like a punctured soap bubble.

A strong sense of losing control surged into Zhou Kai's heart.

“Not good!” Zhou Kai was terrified and hurriedly tried to pull back his blade to defend, but his center of gravity had already been slightly thrown off by that stab.

How could Li Wen give him any room to breathe?

Moving like thunder!

The long blade slashed out continuously like a torrential storm, each strike as fast as lightning and as fierce as a thunderbolt!

These flashes of blade light were no longer probes or parries, but cold edges that existed only for the sake of termination.

Following the fundamental flaws locked onto by his Primordial Spirit's detection, each strike was faster and heavier than the last, accurately hammering into the support points of Zhou Kai's unstable center of gravity, the sluggish areas of his Source Power circulation, and the momentary gaps when he was recovering his breath or switching moves.

“Clang! Clang! Clang—Puff!”

After a dozen or so sounds of clashing weapons and cutting flesh, so dense they nearly merged into one, Zhou Kai was left in a wretched state.

The durability of the virtual armor on his body was completely exhausted by those continuous, precise slashes. His defense collapsed entirely, and his blade movements became completely disorganized.

A final cold light flashed and vanished.

Rushing Shadow Form!

This ultimate technique, which had once killed a demon wolf in an instant and was faster than most could track with their eyes, reappeared.

This time, the target was a person!

The gray blade glow suddenly contracted into an almost invisible fine line of death, and space itself seemed to be sliced open by a microscopic fissure.

Zhou Kai only felt a chill at his neck before his vision suddenly spun.

He even saw his own headless body slowly falling, his face still frozen in disbelief and bewilderment.

He couldn't understand why the heavy blade he regarded as a divine weapon and the fierce Intent he took pride in were so fragile before that man.

Those flaws—how did he find them?!

[Zhou Kai has been eliminated!]

A cold announcement rang out over the Virtual Arena.

Simultaneously, a thick white light surged from Zhou Kai's dissipating body and merged into the point pillar above Li Wen's head.

The numbers instantly soared! As one of the top twenty on the leaderboard, half of Zhou Kai's points was an enormous amount.

Li Wen's real-time ranking numbers jumped and rolled, instantly surging up from below, breaking through the top twenty threshold in one go and stabilizing at 20th place.

“Hiss—!”

Zhou Kai's elimination was like a ladle of cold water poured into a boiling pot of oil.

The intense battle came to a temporary standstill.

Chu Feng forced Wang Shuo back with a spear strike, his cold brows furrowing tightly for the first time as his gaze pierced over like lightning: “Zhou Kai... was killed by him? Just like that?”

He had seen Li Wen's combat footage and estimated the other had the potential to break into the top twenty, but to solo kill Zhou Kai, who specialized in defensive Blade Techniques and was ranked 18th? It should have been impossible before.

On the other side, shock also appeared in the beautiful eyes of Nangong Xue, who was surrounded by sword light, and the offensive of the ice crystal longsword in her hand slowed by a beat: “This Li Wen... was hiding his strength?!”

The sound of her companions gasping for air also came from beside her.

“Good! Beautifully done!” Wang Shuo, who was currently in a wretched state resisting Chu Feng's pressure, saw the white light Zhou Kai had turned into. It was like a shot of adrenaline; he roared hoarsely, hope reigniting in his eyes.

The spirits of the third-party members, who had already been in despair, were also lifted.

The sudden and powerful combat strength Li Wen displayed forcefully pulled back the scales that had been tilting toward collapse.

“Whoosh—!”

The public viewing area instantly boiled over.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators witnessed this scene with a mix of shock and excitement.

The students of Qingshi No. 3 Middle School jumped up in excitement, waving their arms and shouting frantically. Many of them, their faces flushed red, announced loudly to those around them: “Look! That's from our Qingshi No. 3 Middle School! Senior Li Wen!!”

The pride of sharing in the glory echoed through the clouds.

Even within the exclusive space separated by an invisible energy barrier, where representatives of the Four Great Factions and observers from China's top martial arts universities gathered, it was impossible to remain calm at this moment.

“What terrifying insight,” a high-level deacon of the Kindling Hall from Qingshi City couldn't help but praise. “As expected of a Technique Awakened with an Awakening direction in insight; to be able to instantly lock onto the flaws of a defensive Blade Technique of Zhou Kai's caliber in such an intense melee environment is simply inconceivable.”

“It's more than just an insight talent,” a martial arts university observer dressed in a military uniform with a sword insignia on his shoulder straps added in a low voice, a sharp light flashing in his eyes. “His control over the rhythm of the battle and his grasp of timing are what's truly terrifying. Seizing a momentary flaw in his opponent and delivering a continuous barrage until a shield-breaking kill—”

“This level of calmness and ruthlessness... is not something a normal high school student should possess. He's more like a frontline veteran who has experienced countless life-and-death battles.”

Another observer from Kyoto Martial Arts University nodded slightly, examining Li Wen's image on the field with a serious expression: “Based solely on the instantaneous burst of combat intelligence and control shown in this battle, an A+ evaluation is beyond doubt. However—” He changed his tone with a hint of caution, “To aim for a higher-tier s-rank contract, he needs to show more stable and comprehensive potential.”

“The shackles of a Technique Awakened are, after all, an issue. Let's see more; let's see how he performs in the higher-level competition that follows.”

The other observers either nodded or fell into thought; clearly, this evaluation was generally accepted.

On the stage, Li Wen, who had slain Zhou Kai, did not pause for a second.

He knew well that the balance briefly established was extremely fragile.

With a tap of his toe on the ground, his figure shot out again like a ghost, his target aimed directly at a nearby third-party teammate who was caught in a bitter struggle

and was about to be eliminated by two members of Chu Feng's team working together.

“Reinforcements!” The Momentum Realm student being besieged was overjoyed.

Li Wen charged into the fray, his blade light suddenly appearing.

With an equally exquisite and deadly surprise attack, coordinated with his teammate's desperate counterattack, the grayish-white blade glow instantly swept through. The two members of Chu Feng's team, who had originally held the absolute upper hand and were attempting to harvest points, were caught off guard and instantly forced into a frantic defense.

One of them failed to defend in time, and Li Wen's blade light grazed his shoulder. His armor value instantly plummeted below the warning line, forcing him to retreat in a wretched state while the other was also pushed back.

The pressure was instantly reduced.

Li Wen's arrival was like a sheet of icy rain falling into a raging fire.

His speed was fast, his entry angles were tricky, and every strike hit a vital point. He always managed to precisely interrupt the lethal encirclements by the teams of Chu Feng and Nangong Xue against the third-party members, or use his powerful attacks to force back opponents and create a chance to breathe.

Under his high-speed weaving and precise strikes, the third-party force—which had been at an absolute disadvantage and retreating steadily—stabilized its position and even organized several counterattacks.

Under Li Wen's conscious control, the ratio of eliminated members among the three sides began to shift quietly.

While the elites of Chu Feng's and Nangong Xue's teams were undeniably powerful, their casualties were also silently increasing under the precise strikes of this “disruptor,” Li Wen.

Meanwhile, the losses of the third party were effectively controlled within an acceptable range, allowing some of the stronger seeds to be preserved.

The battle situation gradually tended toward a balance.

Time passed in this cruel tug-of-war.

The number of figures on the field grew fewer and fewer.

Finally, when a blazing spear shadow carrying Chu Feng's signature steady and domineering Aura pierced through another Prodigy ranked 12th in the Provincial First Mock Exam—at the cost of withstanding a desperate strike from Wang Shuo—the entire super stage was suddenly cleared.

Of Chu Feng's team, only Chu Feng remained.

Of Nangong Xue's team, she alone also remained standing independently with her sword.

Not far away lay the white light of the last besieger's body, whom she had just seized an opportunity to defeat by breaking through their defense with her heavy sword.

As for the third-party Alliance—

Only two people remained on the field.

One was Wang Shuo, covered in blood and with a somewhat withered Aura, but with eyes that remained fierce and unyielding.

The other was Li Wen, standing with his blade held high. Although he bore a few traces of battle, his Aura remained as steady as ever.

He had remarkably become one of the only two surviving members of the third party, and his condition was clearly stronger than that of Wang Shuo, who had just exerted himself.

At this moment, the number representing the real-time ranking above Li Wen's head had already surged into the top three.

Dead silence!

In the vast Virtual Arena, the hundreds of thousands of spectators, the representatives of the Four Great Factions, and the observers from various martial arts universities—all of them held their breath.

Their gazes focused on these four survivors.

Chu Feng pointed his long spear diagonally at the ground, a pressing Aura flowing along the dark silver shaft. His gaze calmly swept over Wang Shuo and finally landed on Li Wen, showing a look of genuine importance and a hint of inquiry for the first time.

On Nangong Xue's beautiful face was the pallor following a fierce battle and a hint of cold killing Intent. The ice crystal longsword in her hand flickered with cold light, and her gaze similarly paused on Li Wen's blade edge, her eyes filled with complexity.

Wang Shuo panted heavily, looking at Chu Feng and Nangong Xue opposite him, then at Li Wen beside him who was in good condition, a mixture of tragedy and hope in his heart.

He knew he was at the end of his rope, but Li Wen... perhaps he still had the strength for one more battle? He tightened his grip on his weapon.

Li Wen stood straight, his expression calm and rippleless.

The situation on the field was precisely the result of his far-surpassing Primordial Spirit perception intentionally guiding and controlling the field during the melee; he needed balance, and even more, he needed a reasonable stage.

A brief stalemate.

Just as this delicate balance and frozen Aura reached a breaking point—Boom!

Chu Feng moved!

“Go!” A low shout erupted from Chu Feng's throat, and the dark silver spear suddenly burst with eye-piercing light.

Without any warning, his entire being seemed to transform into that long spear, charging straight ahead.

The target—Wang Shuo, one of the only two remaining members of the third party.

He wanted to use a thunderous strike to completely eliminate Wang Shuo at this moment while the latter was still catching his breath and was extremely weak.

A sharp light flashed in Nangong Xue's eyes. Almost as Chu Feng started, she also shot out like a streak of icy light, her target aimed directly at Li Wen.

She knew well the principle of capturing the leader to defeat the followers; Li Wen was the true core threat of the third party at this moment.

“Damn it! Come on!”

Wang Shuo roared, stirring his remaining Source Power to prepare to face Chu Feng.