"Who's this kid? How can he hold so long taking my arrows, even if he is a body refining cultivator, he should have been broken apart a long time ago, I have never seen such heightened physical abilities." Bing Jia watched Ye Mo from afar blocking his arrows with his wrist guards, a mix of impatience and bewilderment in his eyes.

His Qi reserves were falling dangerously low, yet he didn't make any progress in piercing his opponent's iron defense.

Since his match against Zhang Xuanhan, Bing Jia didn't make any waves and lived reclused in his dwelling, removing himself from public attention while focusing on training his battle skills and increasing his own strength.

Beside major news that traveled across the city like the four young masters joining the Tiger Martial Institute, the reveal of Jin Hao Tian's identity, or the breakthrough of Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu to the Foundation Establishment Realm, he barely heard anything from the outside world.

Naturally, he never heard about Ye Mo even after this one gave him his name, so the abilities he displayed were ever more of a surprise to Bing Jia.

At this point, only two options layed in front of him, retreat or putting every last bit of Qi he had in himself to bring an end to this.

Manifestly, Ye Mo didn't have a powerful movement battle skill or he wouldn't bother to block the arrows, but would directly avoid them or at least he wouldn't have so much difficulty breaking the distance with Bing Jia.

If the latter used the Sky Ascension battle skill to quickly scurry away while he still had enough Qi, Ye Mo wouldn't be able to catch up with him.

However, at the second this option crossed his mind, Bing Jia immediately discarded it.

From what he could see, Ye Mo was much younger than him and wasn't an important member of the Tiger Martial Institute, how could he run away from this youth.

Losing against Zhang Xuanhan was one thing, but he couldn't run in front such a young outsider.

No matter what, Bing Jia still had his own pride.

"How could I have the face to show myself in front of others after I ran away from this kid. If I can't even defeat him, then without talking of Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu, Ma Shinfei or Yan Mei are out of the question for me. I could as well break my token and give up the competition this instant."

Thinking about it, Bing Jia's heart raged and his Qi churned in his dantian.

His main objective in this contest was to defeat the strongest and most famous participants while ultimately achieving a better place than Zhang Xuanhan in the rankings, returning to the limelight at once.

At this point, even if he doesn't directly defeat him, everyone would be forced to recognize him as the strongest student of the Sky Martial Institute and since he didn't directly hinder Zhang Xuanhan, the dean and the instructors would find nothing to complain about, they might rather praise and reward him for upstanding the reputation of the institute by himself!

The glory that would accompany him would be greater than it had ever been in the past and those who forgot his existence would realize he's still the greatest Qi Refining cultivator of the city.

Bing Jia's gaze turned resolute and inflexible, he decisively chose the second option.

After firing a few more arrows to keep Ye Mo at bay, he raised his bow to the sky and moved his hands at an unconceivable speed, shooting countless arrows straight in the air.

After blocking the initial Qi arrows the senior student fired, Ye Mo rushed at him using this novel moment of respite in what has been nothing but a battering till now, to attack Bing Jia while he was still launching arrows above his head.

In only three breaths of time, over a hundred Qi arrows were shot in the sky.

This action alone consumed 18% of his Qi which attained a critically low level.

The next three moves would decide the victor of this fight.

Ye Mo reached Bing Jia at this moment and kicked, but the latter who just finished firing arrows, used his movement battle skill and launched himself in the air, a split-second away from being crushed by the young body refiner's leg.

He landed on the ground, afar, and when Ye Mo began charging at him once again, Bing Jia raised one finger, pointing at the sky with a knowing smile.

Seeing his opponent's motion, Ye Mo looked up and saw untold minute lights in the sky. These lights seemed to hover in the firmament like stars, but after an instant, Ye Mo realized the stars gradually grew in size.

They were arrows falling down at extreme speed towards him!

Starfall - Yellow class peak-tier battle skill!

As soon as he noticed it, the Qi arrows were already before him, crashing in a large area all over the plain.

In Ye Mo's surroundings, not one patch of grass was spared as the arrows violently fell down like a brutal rain made from heavens wrath as a tribulation to punish these foolish mortals.

They fell successively, hitting the ground over and over.

The earth was smashed to smithereens in the zone the arrows fell, rocks were crushed and a large cloud of dust rose over the plain.

"With this, he's done for. It was close, I only have enough Qi for one more use of Sky Ascension or to maintain Thousand-Eyed Spider and Piercing Night Cat Vision two more minutes. I should take his token and go into hiding for the rest of the night to recover my Qi." Bing Jia breathed a sigh of relief, immediately planning his next actions.

He truly didn't believe he would struggle this much in the first night.

This would serve him as a warning for the rest of the competition, this land is full of hidden talents, one can't lower his guard a single second.

Bing Jia walked forward, nearing the core of the crash site.

He didn't expect to find Ye Mo's remains in one piece, but his token should still be around.

Suddenly, a dark mass took form behind him, shaping itself into Ye Mo's figure as it punched.

Stone Breaking Punch!

Bing Jia's heart throbbed at this instant, a mixture of fright, incomprehension and disbelief.

He felt death looming over his soul, Ye Mo's fist nearing his back, and on pure reflex, he used Sky Ascension and jumped, narrowly avoiding the strike.

Bing Jia's Thousand-Eyed Spider and Piercing Night Cat Vision's battle skill were still active, but at this moment, he had relaxed.

He didn't think a single instant Ye Mo could have survived nor attack him and was completely caught by surprise by this sudden assault, his reaction visibly delayed.

"How is he still alive, is he a celestial cultivator putting an act? Or a blood beast in disguise? No, there should be nothing more than rank 1 blood beasts in this part of the forest, they don't have the ability nor the intelligence to do that." Bing Jia's astonishment, in the spur of the moment, made him draw absurd assumptions.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Starfall was a peak-tier battle skill, to survive it, usually, it would require the ennemy to have a technique of the same level or a greater cultivation.

Ye Mo didn't display any of those, Bing Jia thought in a flash but couldn't understand how he could endure his trump card and still have the strength to put up a fight at that.

As Ye Mo completely left the shadows, his condition was closer to the realm of death than the living.

His once proud and battle-hardened body was now a canvas of suffering, marred by deep, jagged wounds that crisscrossed his flesh like a grotesque web. Blood seeped from countless gashes, staining his torn robes a dark, ominous red.

The unabating force of the battle skill had pierced his flesh, exposing a part of his ribcage on one side.

Yet, the most severe injuries were still on his legs, riddled with gruesome, crater-like wounds where the arrows had struck. These gaping holes varied in size, some no larger than a thumbprint, while others were wide enough to fit a fist.

The bone of the left leg shattered under the merciless fury of the Qi arrows, hanging limp and barely responsive at the side.

His vision blurred, eyes clouded with exhaustion and agony, yet he held on, his gaze fixed on his foe, driven by willpower and a deep seated killing intent.

When the arrows rained down towards him, he first used Buddha Golden Bell battle skill to defend himself, but after 4 arrows, the golden bell broke down and Ye Mo was left with no other choice than use his wrist guards to block them.

He raised his spiritual weapon in a cross-guard above his head to protect his vital organs like his brain or his heart to be pierced, but the rest of his body still had to bear the brunt of the battle skill.

Arrows fell incessantly and to avoid being crushed by the sheer force of impact, Ye Mo spread his legs and took a horse stance, remaining deeply rooted on the ground. In this situation, his legs unavoidably took more space and were the less protected by the wrist guards, it was no wonder they were those who took the most damage.

If he could hold on, it was only because Starfall was a battle skill with a wide area of effect and although many arrows fell over the plain, in reality, less than twelve truly targeted Ye Mo or else there was no way he could survive this ordeal.

While the Sky Martial Institute's student was still in the air, Ye Mo retrieved a rock from his pouch and threw it, with all the force he could muster in his current condition, towards him.

When Bing Jia saw the projectile, he triggered the special ability of the Sky Ascension battle skill as he pushed on the air with his foot and, as if taking support on something, hopped in another direction and evaded the rock.

Sky Ascension battle skill could allow the user to propel himself in the air, but also enabled a single aerial maneuver without the need to touch the ground before landing back down.

Because Bing Jia didn't need to use it until now, it was the first time he displayed the aerial maneuver in this fight.

With this last use of Sky Ascension, Bing Jia's Qi reserves were completely emptied and his dantian was a desolate void.

The eyes on the surface of his body quickly disappeared as well, turning back into fair white skin.

"I have no Qi anymore, should I flee? But I can't use any battle skill anymore, if he apply one to increase his speed, he can easily catch up to me."

Bing Jia thought of many options in distress, but when he finally gave one good look at Ye Mo in the distance, he quickly eased up at this dismal view, a wide grin creeping up on his face.

"Flee? Hehehe, why so, this guy is on the verge of death, a gust of wind could make him trip and end his life. As I thought, taking on my Starfall battle skill head-on is suicidal, in this case, your points are mine."

Ye Mo started running awkwardly towards his ennemy, although he was surrounded by wind currents, they weren't as stable as usual, his figure swaying left and right behind them.

Each step he took, blood spurted out of the wounds on his legs.

Seeing him still take support on his broken left leg to push forward with his right would cause anyone to grimace of discomfort and uneasiness.

The arrows raining down, Ye Mo's sneak-attack and Bing Jia's aerial maneuver took time to describe, but it actually all happened in an instant, and although Ye Mo was also using Endless Vitality after surviving from Starfall battle skill, in this crucial moment, it couldn't shatter common sense and no matter how grave his injuries were, it had no time to heal him enough in this final confrontation to make a difference.

Bing Jia pressed a certain place on his bow and beside the handle, two rows of razor like steel blades rose on the limb, one on the left and one on the right.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The bow's two rows of razor blades started to move violently, emitting a wild sound, causing others heart to shiver upon hearing.

"Don't underestimate me!" Bing Jia lunged at Ye Mo with a hint of madness in his eyes.

Ye Mo was still moving towards him to the best of his abilities, his black eyes were deep and silent, his emotions concealed, he approached like a cold-blooded killer.

One had exhausted all his Qi, but conserved a healthy body.

The other still had a sufficient amount of Qi, but his body suffered disastrous damages and was on the verge of collapse.

At the point of meeting, Ye Mo suddenly poured his Qi in his peak-tier spiritual weapon.

The small curved blade on the side of his wrist guards glowed in a pale blue light and using them as the base, two light blue blades of Qi grew over a meter long on the side of his forearms.

These two blades of Qi looked like half a moon crescent each, first growing opposite to Ye Mo's body before bending upward, the tip pointing at the sky.

"Huh?" In this split-second, Bing Jia could barely process what happened, an ominous feeling creeping at his soul.

Ye Mo lightly leaped forward with his right leg and rotated his body in the air like a spinning top with knife like edges launched at high speed.

The saw-teeths like blades on the bow, meeting the Qi blades, were sliced like gutter in an instant before Ye Mo passed by Bing Jia and landed on the ground behind him, falling on his knees, his remaining forces abandoning him.

On the other side, Bing Jia looked at the horizon, his gaze fixed and his eyes wide open in shock, his body immobile.

All he saw was a flash of light.

After an instant, a fine red line was drawn on his neck, and with the wind blowing in the plain, his head tilted on one side and fell down, soon followed by his body.

Ye Mo had unleashed his trump card!