Just as Sun Xiaoyan won the stunned admiration of the entire arena, Lin Zhengli, having awakened from his unconsciousness, was quietly complaining behind his elder brother.

“Why did you concede for me? If you had woken me up then, I might not have been unable to fight!”

“And then what?” Lin Zhengren asked without turning his head.

“If I hadn’t been careless, how would that barbarian have had a chance? Not to mention this fellow from Maple Forest City, he hasn’t even established his Foundation! I am unwilling to let him take the first place!”

“Even if you beat him, he’d still be the top of the first-year students based on points. It’s meaningless. Besides…” Lin Zhengren’s lips slightly curled, “What if you lost again?”

“How is that possible!” Lin Zhengli looked around, then lowered his voice again, unwillingly saying, “You don’t believe in me? I would lose to him?”

“Who knows?” Lin Zhengren smiled casually.

Lin Zhengli felt a surge of anger from being looked down upon, especially since he had been pinned down and brutally beaten in front of so many people.

Just as he was about to say something, Lin Zhengren suddenly turned around and grabbed his collar.

“Remember! You have already made an enemy with your foolishness.”

He lowered his voice and said, “If you don’t have absolute certainty, don’t give your enemy the opportunity to fulfill himself. He didn’t defeat any of you completely; his championship is far from perfect.”

He released his grip, letting go of his younger brother, and turned back to watch the competition. No trace of gloom could be seen on his refined face.

“Don’t help him succeed.”

……

In the round-robin stage, Maple Forest City had good luck with the draw; no internal conflicts occurred in the first round.

Li Jianqiu received a bye, while Wang Changxiang and Sun Xiaoyan fought in the first match.

Neither side intended to change their fighting styles.

Sun Xiaoyan still charged forward recklessly, while Wang Changxiang still started with his mist technique.

“What’s going on! More mist again!”

“Yeah! Can’t see anything!”

Unable to see the match, the onlookers didn’t give the Wang family any face.

However, the audience’s opinions were clearly not a concern for Wang Changxiang.

Sun Xiaoyan bumped around in the mist, missing every attack. After the completion of the Dao incantation, the wind rose and scattered the mist.

That gentle breath, passing through the finger-formed area, instantly turned violent, transforming into a tornado! It roared, smashing through the dense fog, and slammed directly into Sun Xiaoyan!

“Ah!” The little fatty roared, his voice as threatening as a squealing piglet.

But his strength was undeniable. He still tried to charge forward in the raging tornado!

His clothes were torn to shreds by the wind, and his face turned red.

His feet firmly gripped the ground, but the floor tiles shattered piece by piece as he retreated step by step.

Stepping outside the line meant defeat.

Sun Xiaoyan began to form incantations. It was extremely difficult for him to do so in such a tornado, but he still managed to succeed.

A stone wall appeared in front of him, but it was shattered in an instant.

The rubble struck Sun Xiaoyan, causing him to completely lose control. He was sent spiraling into the air and thrown out of the arena.

The Earth Skin Drum technique was indeed strong in defense. Even in such a powerful tornado, he still had no visible injuries. The rubble that struck him didn’t even leave a bruise.

But he still lost.

Sun Xiaoyan’s defense was almost impenetrable at this stage. If it were a real battle, Wang Changxiang might not have been able to do anything to him. But this was a competition; being blown out of the arena meant victory.

Jiang Wang sighed softly because he suddenly realized that he didn’t seem to have any good methods against either Wang Changxiang or Sun Xiaoyan. The Four Spirits Body Refinement was clearly not as good as the Earth Skin Drum in defense, and the Purple Qi East Comes Swordplay was certainly sharp, but it probably couldn’t break through their defenses. If he had a good weapon, he might have had a chance. As things stood, he couldn’t beat the little fatty.

As for Wang Changxiang, as soon as the Breath Tornado came out, he could only run away.

That was a Grade A Dao technique! In the entire Maple Forest City Dao Academy, how many people, including the instructors, could use it?

A freak!

“Wind Finch.” The hunchbacked old man spoke again. “His Dao Meridian True Spirit should be the Wind Finch. He has a natural affinity for the wind element. That’s why he can use Grade A Dao techniques beyond his level.”

This was the first time Jiang Wang had heard of the Wind Finch True Spirit. In the Dao Academy’s lessons on Dao Meridian knowledge, the instructors had only described the Earthworm True Spirit. Jiang Wang had once thought that all Dao Meridian True Spirits were Earthworms.

Knowledge often indicates strength.

Jiang Wang and the others exchanged glances, their attitude towards the seemingly sleazy old man becoming much more respectful.

“May I ask for your esteemed name, senior?” Huang Azhan coughed, his attitude polite and respectful.

Perhaps remembering Huang Azhan’s earlier smart-aleck remark, the hunchbacked old man was very rude to him. He snorted coldly, not responding.

“Yeah, Grandpa, what’s your last name?” Jiang Anan suddenly turned around, her big eyes filled with curiosity. “I always see you, but I don’t know what to call you.”

“Gui!” The little girl Qingzhi had just opened her mouth when the hunchbacked old man interrupted with a radiant smile, “My surname is Gui. Just call me Grandpa Gui.”

“The surname Gui is very refined,” Huang Azhan said, shaking his head and starting to savor the name.

His subsequent flattery was about to be endless.

Even Jiang Anan and Qingzhi quickly turned their heads, focusing their attention back on the arena.

The second round of the battle had already begun.

Wang Changxiang versus Li Jianqiu.

Whether based on their rankings on the Dao Merit Board or the combat power they had displayed so far, Wang Changxiang had an overwhelming advantage. But for some reason, Jiang Wang felt that Li Jianqiu was more than what he seemed.

“Senior Brother Wang, can we not use such a shameless technique like the Breath Tornado?” Li Jianqiu asked before the battle began.

Wang Changxiang, having already replenished his Dao energy reserves and being full of vigor, simply smiled upon hearing this, “Junior Brother is joking.”

As always, gentle and mild.

The Dao incantation was already formed in his hands, and the mist dispersed.

Li Jianqiu also spread his arms wide at this moment, and a gust of wind suddenly rose.

Grade C Low-Rank Dao technique, Wind Summon!

This was not the mist of Little Forest Town. Ordinary wind could disperse it.

In the end, the mist was not an unsolvable Dao technique. What was truly unsolvable was the Breath Tornado. In the previous two battles, his opponents didn’t lack the means to break the mist; they had simply chosen to defend themselves first, but they hadn’t expected to be destroyed with a single blow.

In the arena cleared of mist, Wang Changxiang continued to form incantations, his voice gentle, “Junior Brother Li was never interested in wind element Dao techniques before.”

The world of Dao techniques was vast and boundless; specialization was better than generalization, and mastering one was better than knowing many.

Li Jianqiu’s Dao incantation was complete. He flicked out two fire swords with both hands, tipped his toes, and his body shot like an eagle soaring through the sky.

“I learned it for Senior Brother!”

At this moment, he was in the air, his momentum like a rainbow.

Wang Changxiang’s expression remained unchanged. He clasped his hands in front of his lips. The index and middle fingers touched, and the thumb, ring, and little fingers were joined together. He opened his mouth and exhaled in the triangular area formed by the middle and ring fingers.

Breath Tornado!

That strand of breath instantly turned into a tornado. Li Jianqiu had already pounced close, and without any leverage, suddenly did several backflips in the air.

“Good!” Huang Azhan clapped and cheered!

Except for very few cases, it was almost impossible for humans to fly in the flesh before opening the Gate of Heaven and Earth. The levitation ability Li Jianqiu displayed was already quite amazing.

But the people around looked at Huang Azhan with the eyes of idiots. Huang Azhan clapped a few times, then sheepishly shrank back.

Because although Li Jianqiu’s aerial backflips were stunning, they flipped him out of the arena, almost tantamount to admitting defeat.

Li Jianqiu landed, dispelled the fire swords he held in both hands, his face showing surprise, “Your Breath Tornado can be completed so quickly?”

He couldn’t help but be surprised. Any cultivator with a little insight could see that the only chance to defeat Li Jianqiu was before he completed the Breath Tornado, but no one knew that he not only mastered a Grade A Dao technique, but also mastered it so skillfully, so quickly, that he could even shorten the incantation time!

This also meant that in the previous battles, he didn’t need that much preparation time at all. The mist was just a trivial smokescreen, blinding opponents like Li Jianqiu.

“If I were any slower, I felt like something bad would happen,” Wang Changxiang said with a gentle smile.

Li Jianqiu was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled in relief.

“I lost.”

The champion of the three-city Dao contest for the third-year students was thus decided. Wang Changxiang won both battles and returned with honor.

After this battle, Wang Changxiang got a new nickname, Wang One Blow…

Meaning that no matter what opponent he met, he could finish them with one blow. Of course, it also expressed that he only had the strength for one blow.

In Huang Azhan’s words, it was short but fierce.

The subsequent battle between Li Jianqiu and Sun Xiaoyan no longer affected the outcome, and their battle was also very perfunctory.

Although it seemed intense to the watching crowd, Li Jianqiu almost perfectly demonstrated the fierceness of fire element Dao techniques, chanting incantations as fast as he could. Sun Xiaoyan also recklessly charged around again, relying on his Earth Skin Drum. Before they came into close combat, Li Jianqiu gracefully stepped outside the line, admitting defeat again.

But in Jiang Wang’s opinion, Li Jianqiu had not given his all. Because from beginning to end, the ancient long sword at his waist had never been drawn.

The crowd left the field, making way for the five-year students’ battle.

As a familiar junior brother, Jiang Wang naturally went up to comfort Li Jianqiu.

But Li Jianqiu spoke first, “I had prepared a surprise, but I didn’t have a chance to perform it.”

Jiang Wang knew he was talking about the astonishing completion speed of Wang Changxiang’s Breath Tornado.

“Why didn’t Senior Brother try using it against Three Mountains City just now?”

Although the battle just now was dazzling, everyone with eyes could see that Li Jianqiu had no intention of winning.

Li Jianqiu smiled wryly, “Firstly, I might not have been able to break through his defensive Dao technique. Secondly, second and third place are meaningless.”

He turned and walked away.

“The competition is about to start!” Jiang Wang reminded him.

Li Jianqiu had already walked away, his hand on his sword, “I’m not watching.”