Ye Mo approached Li Qiang's corpse and looked at the broken needles on the ground.

"I prepared those in secret for the time I would face a powerful opponent. They couldn't be used against the likes of Shen Xue, Qiong Lieyu or Gao Lixin as they are either all-rounded or defense oriented in their battle style so they probably possess a good poison-averting battle skill. Someone like Li Qiang or Jin Hao Tian was perfect, now they can't be used anymore."

Although it worked as intended and aligned with his goal, Ye Mo couldn't help but feel regrettable over losing the needles.

During the first night, he and Bing Jia placed their life on the line fighting like enraged beasts for a long time, Ye Mo barely won thanks to the hidden Qi blades, leaving the scene with a broken body. However, this time, after a bit of tactic, he was able to strike Li Qiang with concealed poisoned needles, immediately ending the fight after it started.

His opponent was the heir of the Li clan and one of the strongest Qi Gathering cultivator of the city, no one in the competition would feel assured against him, but now he layed lifeless on the ground so abruptly after the fight began while Ye Mo instead, beside a few cuts on his arm, was unscathed.

The needles worked so well that even he felt a loss looking at their fragmented bits glistening under the sun rays.

If he didn't use them against Bing Jia, it's because at first he wasn't aware of his identity when he attacked him and even though the other party told him later on he was one of the strongest student of the Sky Martial Institute, Ye Mo still had to fight and find wether it was the case or not rather than taking him to the word.

He could hold his ground and defend himself without too much trouble against Bing Jia and only when this one used the peak-tier Starfall battle skill was Ye Mo truly in danger, but at this point, they already reached the climax of the battle and it's issue was settled with the next few moves.

Using the needles when Bing Jia spent all his cards and was almost devoid of Qi would simply be a waste by then, Ye Mo sensibly preserved them for another occasion.

Moreover, it was only the first night at this time so at most, he would only gain a few thousand points even if he killed him, spending his trump card for such a low prize would be like throwing it away.

He also didn't wish to use them against Ma Shinfei, actually, he is the only person Ye Mo would rather avoid killing if given the chance. The flame grandmaster that taught him was very mysterious and his cultivation was hidden behind a veil, although it was evident he was at least a powerful Inner Core realm expert since he fought and held off the Gao clan patriarch the day he arrived in the city, incuring his wrath was much too dangerous and uncertain for Ye Mo to risk it.

"When I think about it, Li Qiang probably didn't show everything he was capable of, he died quickly after being surprised by the needles. His last battle skill was the most powerful, it destroyed my golden bell in an instant, if it was anyone but me, he wouldn't have left in one piece."

Ye Mo thought back to the highest point of his bout with Li Qiang. At this time, the swordsman jumped and used the Godly Sparkle battle skill, although it looked like a bright drop of water, it was no less than a peak-tier sword technique, when it reached the light of the Buddha Golden Bell battle skill, the barrier immediately shattered.

If Ye Mo could endure the attack unharmed compared to Bing Jia's Starfall battle skill which left him seriously wounded, it is because the Godly Sparkle battle skill focused on one point of destruction where it lacerated everything on its path whereas Starfall would spread Qi arrows in a large area before falling down.

Towards Starfall battle skill, he could raise his wrist guards and protect his vital spots, but the rest of his body had no choice but to directly withstand the several arrows that fell on his position sustaining deep injuries, however, when facing the Godly Sparkle battle skill, he straightforwardly raised his peak-tier spiritual weapon against the light drop, no matter how much power held this sword technique, it was unable to even scrath the iron on Ye Mo's forearms.

Of course, just the impact of the strike alone would be enough to crush someone down, but this pressure was only a fraction of the battle skill's true power, Ye Mo was more than fitted to endure it.

The earth cracked, the trees were cut and dust rised, yet he remained upright like a rock withstanding the waves.

Li Qiang was familiar with the Buddha Golden Bell battle skill and this is with experience that he used the Godly Sparkle martial art to overcome it, this factor turned into even greater astonishment when he was attacked and witnessed Ye Mo leaving the cloud of dirt intact.

How could he realize the wrist guards were an uncomparably resistant peak-tier spiritual weapon, where could he learn the depths of abilities a body refined by a high-tier Star Class martial art could yield?

This was Ye Mo's greatest strength in this competition, he might be slow, his battle skills predictable or his attacks of low level, but his best advantage over his peers was his unshakeable resilience.

Between Buddha Golden Bell battle skill, his spiritual weapon and his powerful body, he was like an unpenetrable fortress inexorably moving forward. Even if one could wound him after going through all that, there was still Endless Vitality to heal him, the greater the injury, the faster the recovery, bringing despair to his opponents.

"Li Qiang believed breaking my defensive battle skill was enough to deal with me, but it was only the first layer of protection, there are still more to pass before one can envisage killing me."

During the five days Ye Mo have spent in the Jade Forest, the students that weren't immediately killed with a few strikes all underwent the dilemma he represent, many racked their brains in distress, but were unable to find a way to deal enough damage to him before hopelessly falling under his fists.

Bing Jia and Li Qiang both went through this as well, the first finding no other solution but using Starfall battle skill, while the latter only started realizing how tough he was when he died poisoned.

"With few choices, I always prioritised survivability, I achieved minor success in this aspect, but when it comes to killing top students, I have to put all my mind and think everything through to get rid of them. Obviously, not losing and actually eliminating your opponent is completely different, the efforts necessary for the second one are much greater, then if I had to capture someone alive, it would be even more difficult. Hopefully, I will gain the peak-tier battle skill and increase my strength quickly."

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No one knew his strenghts and his shortcomings better than himself, being clear of your limits and knowing when advancing or backing down is a fundamental aspect towards survival.

Quickly, he released the Qi blades of his wrist guards and cut out the cords attached to Li Qiang's token in one swing before he picked a stick and pushed it away from his remains. Again with the stick, he flipped it open then sighed in relief seeing the white token was not contaminated by the black blood.

If it was the case, he would have to wrap it in tissues and search for a stream to clean it before being able to touch the token and increase his score, it would waste a lot of time to do so then return here, fortunately, the poisoned blood only fell on Li Qiang's chest and the ground.

Ye Mo didn't even have a low-tier poison-averting battle skill, if he was just slightly contaminated, it would be a certain death. Dying from your own weapon, how laughable would that be?

He picked up the token and transferred all the points Li Qiang accumulated without any emotions.

His score suddenly increased by more than forty five thousand and his place in the leaderboard was sure to rise as quickly.

Yet, his mind was away, reflecting over his situation.

"With Li Qiang meeting his death from my hands, his clan is bound to make a move. If the father is like his sons, then he won't even wait for the end of the competition to come here and cause a ruckus, I must prepare myself."

"In this situation, the Tiger Martial Institute is forced to protect me, as one of their student and without breaking any rules, they must ensure my safety against the Li clan no matter what. If they let anything happen to me, not only they will lose their reputation, displaying a weak side as they were unable to keep their member away from harm, they would also be seen as an organisation that can be bossed around by the clans, losing all their prestige. This is something none will want to see in the institute."

For organizations of the righteous path, reputation was always the most important, even before the lives of their own members. This is taking it into account that Ye Mo planned his every actions, he knew the Tiger Martial Institute's higher-ups couldn't back down.

Ye Mo didn't even consider the clans and institutions wouldn't know what happened, such a thing couldn't be hidden or the institute's arrangements would really be disappointing.

He wasn't afraid either, if he killed Li Qiang, of course, he was willing to face the Li clan's relentless pursuit.

"Li Qiang was strong and held a special status, his death will attract a lot of attention. The more I stay in this city, the more I risk getting exposed and killed, but I should be safe until the end of the competition. I really wish to see how Hong Li will fend off the Li clan patriarch." Ye Mo smiled coldly.

Nonetheless he wasn't naive, he knew that if the institute could find a pretext to hand him over and avoid a conflict with the Li clan, they wouldn't hesitate. He was just an insignificant piece of the board in their view, it was on him to be irreproachable and not give them a reason to act against him.

"The world is hard to predict, but it is precisely this that makes it interesting." Ye Mo turned around and walked away, leaving Li Qiang's body behind.

Soon, blood beasts will swarm to devour him, dying from the poison in turn.

During this time, in a room near the entrance of the Tiger Martial Institute, an instructor loudly fell down from his chair.

He was deeply pale with fright while two other instructors in the room beside him looked at him questionningly, yet the first one ignored them.

After some time, he climbed back on his chair and looked at a pure white disk placed on a desk in front of him.

On the disk appeared the name and the score of all participants still competing in the Jade Forest.

"Impossible..." The instructor mumbled as he looked dumbly at the disk.

These instructors were the people in charge of relying informations and updating the leaderboard on the banner outside. The disk was laced with small formations that were linked and working in tandem with the formations on the token of the participants, with this, the instructors directly had access to the score of the tokens and the identity of their wearer without any delay.

When there were changes in the rankings, one of them would go outside and use the painting ink battle skill to modify the content of the banner.

"What is wrong with you, stop this disturbance at once!" The instructor with the highest cultivation among the three, and who instructed the other two when necessary, was quite upset with the sudden behavior of his comrade.

"Look... It disappeared..." The one acting oddly said with a trembling voice, pointing at the disk in front of him.

The senior instructor, rather than standing up to go take a look, remained in place and stared at his own disk.

In a short time, his eyes were wide open in shock and his jaw dropped frozen.

On the disk, Li Qiang's name that stood at the 8th place was nowhere to be found no matter how much they searched back in the rankings.

Noticing the commotion, the last instructor looked at his disk as well before his lips parted in disbelief, staring blankly.

"Could it be there is a dysfunction with his token?" The first one noticing the change in the leaderboard suddenly asked, uncertain.

"There is no way, the tokens have been covered in small formations by a master. It can detect the life force of the surrounding blood beasts and give points when they are killed depending on the quality of the life force varying between the ranks of the blood beasts. However, it can also identify the life force of the token holder, we have used them several times spanning in years and there has never been a problem, if the name disappeared from the rankings, it means the wearer died." The senior instructor was categorical, yet he was reluctant to accept this truth as well.

In the meantime, beside the entrance of the Golden Martial Institute, one of their instructor modified the leaderboard, giving a fright to one Li clan member present.

This modification quickly raised an uproar among the crowd looking at the banner, but the Li clan member only gave a second look before swiftly scurrying away.

In a short time, he arrived in the Li clan headquarters, asking to see the patriarch urgently.

With him, there were several other members of all ranks, yet all of them wore the same panicked expression, asking the same thing. Even a female elder was present, requesting an audience.

Hierarchy obliged, she was the first accepted in the hall where sieged Li Cheng and Li Qiang's father.