Feng Qiang stood proudly in her designated area, basking in the warm glow of admiration.

"Feng Qiang, you are just too strong!"

"Yeah! You put that Gu Xuan in his place with ease!"

"If it weren't for that monstrous Eli Shan, then you would have been our real que..." He suddenly paused, his eyes scanning the faces around him. The glares from others bore into him, making him realize that he was about to say something forbidden.

Even Hao Yu, the most arrogant person, didn't have the confidence to fight against Gu Xuan. But Feng Qiang defeated him without any effort, earning not just victory but also an increase in respect from him.

Now, it was time for the remaining students to face the formidable participants from the Five Element School.

Soon, the fight began and Hao Yu won his fight easily. But other students weren't lucky enough. They fought against five element's students but they were evenly matched. Both sides had nearly equal power, leaving them with a big setback. Every member of the Five Element School was eliminated, and on the holy school side, only three students left - Feng Qiang, who had won the most difficult fight. Hao Yu, the person who easily destroyed his opponent. And lastly, Eli Shan, who hadn't participated even in a single battle!

Every school that was eliminated from the tournament was watching the battles from the first floor, a place designated for the schools that had been eliminated from the tournament.

Soon, everyone's attention turned toward the stage where the host stood and announced, "Every school can continue their fights. However, they are not allowed to challenge the Holy School anymore, as they have already been challenged!"

With that, the battles resumed between the remaining schools, some were exciting and some were boring, not worth mentioning.

As the battle continued, the most exciting battle was when Lin Feng stepped into the arena. No opponent could withstand even a single punch from him. He alone kept destroying all schools, swiftly ranking up his own school.

In the audience, Eli Shan's parents wore a worried expression. They knew that even though Eli Shan hadn't fought yet, but soon he would need to fight against these monsters!

"These opponents are incredibly strong. Do you think our son can fight against them?" Yui Shan expressed her worries.

Huang Shan embraced his wife and responded with a calm assurance, "Don't worry, he is our son; nothing could happen to him."

Even though Huang Shan comforted her, deep inside, even he was scared a bit.

Shortly after 40 out of the 50 schools were eliminated, the host reappeared on stage, declaring, "Now we have our top ten schools! Their battles will begin tomorrow, so don't forget to watch the last match! Everyone is now allowed to leave."

Eli Shan stood up along with the rest, nodding towards his parents with a warm smile, and then quickly made his way back to his room.

Inside his room, Eli Shan sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and immersed himself in his soul power, vanishing from the room in an instant.

In the soul world, he found himself before a massive dragon, its eyes fixed on him.

Eli Shan respectfully cupped his fist and smiled at the dragon. "Big brother dragon, why did you call me here?"

The big dragon nodded and said, "Since the last time you left, I've been sensing something strange from inside that cave. Do you want to check it out?"

Eli Shan thought for a while before deciding to go inside. He quickly reappeared before the sword cave and ventured inside.

The dark aura that was lingering everywhere before was now gone, revealing clearer surroundings. However, there was nothing remarkable to be seen.

Undeterred, he continued walking deeper into the cave. After a while, he reached the spot where the stone tablet had been placed during his previous visit. This time, however, he was taken aback by a shocking discovery – there, a passageway had appeared out of nowhere!

"I'm sure there was nothing here last time. How did a passage open up?" he wondered.

He tried to look inside but due to the dark sword aura, he could not see anything. "Sigh, looks like I have to go inside to discover what lies within."

He stepped inside the passage and suddenly the sword aura enveloped him completely. Feeling the pressure and sharpness of the sword aura, Eli Shan couldn't help but smile like an evil. "Finally, I can again get more stronger!"

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He began to walk inside and absorb the aura of the passage. But after covering half of the passageway, he felt the sword aura suddenly intensifying, slicing through every part of his body. "This sword aura... it's much stronger than what I have encountered before," he thought with a solemn face. "I should cultivate a bit and return later."

With that, he turned around to go back but just as he was about to leave, he felt something from deep inside the cave influencing his blood. Feeling this strange sensation, his expression changed.

"What is this? What could influence my blood like this?" Eli Shan was perplexed, but he had reached his limit and couldn't go any further. And even though it seems like a small time, but in reality he had spent the entire night exploring the passage.

"Let's return to my room."

Closing his eyes, Eli Shan attempted to connect with his soul power to exit the universe. However, a sudden change in his expression indicated a problem. "Why am I unable to leave?" Sitting in his place, he closed his eyes again, attempting to harness his soul power. Yet, before his soul power could merge with him, an unseen force promptly dispersed it. "Don't tell me I am trapped in this universe now?"

With a horrified expression, he ran outside of the cave at full speed. When coming inside it took time because of the sword aura in the passageway, but there was no threat to exit.

Soon he appeared before the big dragon and expressed his concerns. The dragon listened to everything and responded, "You tried to leave from inside the cave, right?"

Eli Shan nodded, "Yes, I tried from inside."

The big dragon nodded thoughtfully, "This cave is strange, even I can't understand its mystery. Now that you are outside, give it another try now."

Eli Shan nodded. He closed his eyes and once again gathered his soul power. Suddenly, a dark aura emerged out of nowhere and enveloped him, sending him back to the real world.

Looking around, he found himself sitting on his bed and took a breath of relief. "Finally, I am back. So, the reason I couldn't return was the cave?... How mysterious!"

Outside, it was already time for the schools to exit their passageways and return to their resting places. Eli Shan didn't have any time to prepare for anything. He hastily wore his long black coat and ran out of his room, joining Feng Qiang, Hao Yu, and the headmaster.

When the headmaster saw Eli Shan had finally come, he took a breath of relief. "Where were you? I looked for you everywhere but could not find you anywhere. I thought something happened to you and got a bit scared."

Eli Shan bowed his head to ask for forgiveness, "I am sorry, teacher, I ran into some important work and lost track of time."

The headmaster shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I am just glad that you are safe." Then he turned his gaze toward the three of them and stated, "Remember my words, survival is the priority. Don't put yourself in danger to win, but give it your all, understand?"

The three of them nodded seriously and shouted in unison, "We understand, headmaster!"

The headmaster nodded with satisfaction. "Let's go then." He took the lead and went to the holy school resting area.

When all the schools finally reached their resting place, the host suddenly appeared on the stage and announced, "After a long fight, only the top ten schools are left to be ranked, and today will be the last day of ranking!" Then he looked at every school and boomed, "So, don't forget to fight to your heart's content!"

Hearing the host, everyone felt their blood boiling. Especially the audience, because this year they got to see something unexpected. Under the top ten schools, two new schools had entered! And what everyone was looking forward to was the fight of Lin Feng! Because he was alone challenging all the strong schools, and that's why the holy school was easily able to reach the top ten schools too.

That's why many people thought that the holy school had entered the ranking of the top ten by pure luck and nothing else. Even though everyone thought that Feng Qiang was strong, at most she had the cultivation of the Tian realm, meanwhile, the king of the top tenth-ranked school was already in the Zun realm!

But now everyone was happy because of another announcement from the host, "Now all arrangements will be done by us so that the top ten schools get proper ranking. So, the first fight will be between Rock Dragon School and Holy School."

When everyone heard it, they knew that this was going to be the holy school's last fight because there was a big difference between the other nine schools and the holy school.

While everyone was guessing, the host heard a voice calling out to him, "Respected sir, can I challenge Zhang Wei, the king of the first-ranked school, instead of the holy school?"

When Feng Qiang and Hao Yu heard it, they felt that Lin Feng was looking down on them.

But what could they do about it? Did they have enough power to retort it? No! They were really not his opponents, so they could only be silent.

The host thought for a while before nodding, "If that's what you want, then that's it. But remember that if you lose, your school rank will be at the tenth position. Do you still want to continue?"

Lin Feng nodded, "Yes, thank you so much."

Suddenly, another voice echoed through the arena, "I object." Zhang Wei walked toward to stage and locked his eyes with Lin Feng, "I recognize you as a strong cultivator. You are even stronger than the king of the second-ranked school, whom I have already eliminated. So, you don't deserve a tenth rank."

Hearing this, Lin Feng clenched his fist and glared at Zhang Wei in anger. It was clear to Lin Feng that Zhang Wei held an unwavering confidence in his own abilities, underestimating Lin Feng's strength.

Just as Lin Feng was about to say something, he stopped due to another sentence said by Zhang Wei, "Therefore, I want to eliminate some extra schools here that have reached this stage by mere luck. Holy School, come up to the arena!"

The crowd erupted into uproar.

The strongest student of King School wanted to eliminate Holy School!

Well, it was nothing new.

Lin Feng looked at Eli Shan and pondered for a while before finally taking a step down with a laugh. "Zhang Wei, I wanted to fight you, but it looks like we can't fight anymore. Goodbye!"

Confusion spread among everyone. Did Lin Feng mean that he was withdrawing from the battle? Or did he believe that Holy School could defeat Zhang Wei?

Eli Shan glanced at Lin Feng and smiled a bit. Lin Feng smiled back and returned to his resting place. He looked at his perplexed headmaster and revealed all of his teeth. "The real battle is about to start