32: third?

Lin Mo's first-round opponent was a Disciple wielding a spear, with a Minor Achievement in Tendon Transformation and fierce spear techniques.

However, as soon as the battle began, the opponent realized something was wrong.

His spear struck Lin Mo's parrying arm, yet it actually produced the sound of metal clashing, and the recoil made his arm go numb.

After ten moves, Lin Mo's seemingly ordinary punch collided with the spear shaft; the shaft, forged from refined iron, was actually smashed into a visible curve. The opponent's tiger's mouth split open, and the spear flew from his hand.

"I yield." Lin Mo withdrew his fist, his breathing steady.

The opponent looked on in horror, staring at his trembling hand and the bent spear before lowering his head in defeat. A low murmur rippled through the sidelines.

In the second round, his opponent was a Disciple who cultivated palm techniques, and his palm winds were scorching.

Learning his lesson, he no longer fought head-on, attempting to win through kiting and scorching the opponent with Internal Energy. However, Lin Mo's footwork seemed simple, yet he always managed to evade the core of the attacks by a hair's breadth.

After twenty moves, the opponent landed a palm strike on Lin Mo's back. He was initially overjoyed, but his face quickly turned deathly pale.

The point of contact felt as if he had struck hundred-refined steel. The scorching palm force vanished like a clay ox entering the sea, while the recoil caused a stinging pain in his palm and a scorching backflow in his Meridians.

Taking advantage of the disruption in his opponent's qi, Lin Mo delivered a casual backhand elbow strike, sending him back over a zhang until he stumbled and sat down.

Two battles, two victories—both appeared unremarkable but were actually total dominance. On the high platform, Sun Changqing's hand stroking his beard paused slightly as he exchanged a glance with Zhao Zhenshan.

In the third round, Lin Mo faced a true test.

A master of external cultivation who specialized in the Copper Armor Technique, with a cultivation at the Peak of Minor Achievement in Tendon Transformation: Zheng Shan.

"Junior Brother Lin, please!" Zheng Shan's voice was like a resonant bell. His skin took on a bronze luster, and his blood qi surged.

"Senior Brother Zheng, please."

Zheng Shan let out a low roar and charged like a wild elephant, throwing a punch that stirred the air. This time, Lin Mo did not dodge, meeting it with a punch of his own.

"Bang!"

As the two fists collided, a dull metallic thud rang out. A shockwave exploded outward from the two of them.

Zheng Shan retreated three steps, the stone slabs beneath his feet shattering. His right fist trembled slightly, his eyes filled with disbelief.

His Copper Armor Technique had reached Minor Achievement, and his fists could shatter stone. He had used eighty percent of his strength just now, yet he had actually been suppressed in a direct clash!?

The opponent hadn't even used any advanced Martial Skill, just a simple straight punch!

Lin Mo's body only swayed. He shook his hand and nodded in praise, "Senior Brother Zheng has some impressive hard kung fu."

He had used about thirty percent of his physical strength just now, and it felt like hitting raw iron wrapped in cowhide.

Zheng Shan's expression turned solemn, his disdain vanished. With a great roar, his internal qi erupted, the bronze luster intensified, and he lunged forward again.

The two fought intensely, the sounds of their fists and feet clashing incessantly, like two bronze statues hammering against each other.

Thirty moves, fifty moves... Zheng Shan grew more alarmed as the fight progressed.

He felt as if he wasn't fighting a person, but hammering a piece of red-hot meteoric iron!

The opponent's body was unimaginably sturdy. When his heavy punches landed, the opponent seemed unfazed, while the recoil caused his own blood qi to churn.

Meanwhile, the opponent's fists were as heavy as mountains with every strike, shaking his muscles and bones until they were sore and numb, leaving his internal qi shield on the verge of collapse.

"Impossible! His internal qi is clearly not as thick as mine, so why is his strength so terrifying? Why is his body so hard?" Zheng Shan roared in his heart.

On the seventy-second move, Lin Mo spotted a tiny gap when his opponent was catching his breath. He stepped in close and leaned in slightly with his shoulder and back.

"Mountain Leaning Lean!"

A seemingly light lean landed on Zheng Shan's crossed, parrying arms.

"Dong!"

Like a giant hammer striking a bell.

Zheng Shan felt as if he had been hit head-on by a frenzied battering ram. His arms screamed in pain as if about to break, and he was lifted off the ground, flying backward more than two zhang.

He landed heavily and slid several feet before he could barely steady himself. A mouthful of blood welled up in his throat, which he forced back down.

The entire field fell silent.

Zheng Shan, renowned for his hard external kung fu, had been sent flying by someone in a head-on collision!

"I yield, Senior Brother Zheng." Lin Mo cupped his hands. His breathing remained steady, with only a light sweat on his forehead.

Zheng Shan struggled to his feet and gave a bitter smile while cupping his fists, "Junior Brother Lin... your Divine Power is astonishing. I am impressed!"

He knew clearly that the opponent had definitely held back on that last move; otherwise, his arms would likely have been broken.

On the high platform, the cold-faced female Instructor finally looked moved: "Elder Sun, this boy's Physical Body... is strange."

A sharp light flickered in Sun Changqing's eyes: "It is no ordinary external cultivation. His blood qi is so vigorous and his physique so solid that it far exceeds his internal qi Realm. I'm afraid... it's some kind of lost ancient Body Refining method."

After three rounds, Lin Mo made it into the top ten.

In the final ranking battle, he took the initiative to challenge Zhou Chen.

Under the opponent's exquisite and rapid Mystic Wind Formula, he held his ground for twenty moves before suddenly erupting. Using a move that fused the concept of Bedrock Fist with the spirit of Willow Catkin Steps—the Stone-Shattering Wind—he broke through Zhou Chen's protective wind vortex.

A punch landed on his chest, knocking him off the stage. The force was measured perfectly, causing injury without being severe.

Afterward, he lost to Liu Qingli, who already had half a foot in the Marrow Cleansing Realm, but he held out for a hundred moves. Though he lost, it was an honorable defeat.

Final rankings: Liu Qingli first, Li Kuang second, Lin Mo third.

As the competition ended, Sun Changqing announced publicly, "The top three may enter the Secret Land of the Back Mountain to meditate for three days. Depart immediately."

In the back mountain canyon, mist swirled. Two elders with auras as deep as the sea stood guard before a stone gate covered in ancient vines.

After verifying Lin Mo's purple token and Jade Slip, a black-robed elder said indifferently, "Attendants stop here. The secret land only allows Disciples themselves to enter."

His gaze swept over Fang Han, leaving no room for negotiation.

Lin Mo nodded to Fang Han, "Go wait for me at the guest house over there."

Fang Han bowed and withdrew.

The stone gate rumbled open, revealing a deep passage. Lin Mo stepped inside alone.

Inside the secret land, it was a world of its own.

Under a dome like a starry sky, dozens of stone tablets stood tall, exuding an ancient and weathered aura.

Lin Mo's goal was clear. He first walked toward the ancient inscriptions carved in non-contemporary script, secretly comparing them with the beast-skin parchment fragment and the metal piece in his bosom.

Then, he found the tattered leather map depicting the "Seven Peaks Circling the Star" pattern and firmly etched its terrain into his mind.

As his finger brushed over the strange Star Peak symbol in the center of the map, the rusted sword and the metal piece in his bosom simultaneously emitted a faint, imperceptible warmth.

Finally, he stopped the longest before the stone tablet of the True Explanation of Marrow Cleansing.

The inscriptions described "unity of blood and qi, bone marrow emitting light" and "internal qi generating spontaneously, the beginning of transcendence," which cross-referenced with many mysteries of his Aperture Condensation Method, causing many bottlenecks to suddenly clear.

The Qi Sea Acupoint accelerated spontaneously, and his internal qi became increasingly refined as it surged. The barrier to Major Achievement was now as thin as a cicada's wing.

On the evening of the third day, as Lin Mo was immersed in the insights of the final "Grandmaster Concept Diagram," the rusted sword in his bosom suddenly jolted, and a fragment of thought several times clearer than before was transmitted:

"...Earth Fire... Seven Peaks... Door Key... Blood and Gold... can open the first gate..."

Almost simultaneously, he sensed a resonance originating from the same source as the rusted sword, coming from deep within a pile of seemingly cluttered rocks in the southeast corner of the secret land.

Without showing any emotion, he noted the location.

The time was up, and the teleportation light lit up.