However, this was clearly not the time to ponder the mystery. Wang Hao pressed his palm against Li You's palm, his strength increasing, forcing the other to slide backward.
"Bang!"
Li You staggered back more than ten meters, crashing into the trunk of a large tree, and coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"Your strength is even greater than mine! You are doomed to die today!" Li You's face twisted into a ferocious grimace as he roared, "Blood Qi Condensed Beast!"
Immediately afterwards, the blood inside Li You's body seemed to ignite, and a large cloud of blood mist appeared behind him. Within the blood mist, a huge wolf shadow, two meters tall, condensed.
This is a unique mark of the late stage of the Profound Realm: Blood Qi Condensed Beast.
For martial artists in the Profound Realm, with each advancement in their realm, their blood and qi increase significantly, resulting in various degrees of miraculous changes. Martial artists at the Great Perfection Realm can even transform their blood and qi into spirit.
Each stage unleashes a surge of powerful energy and blood, which can dramatically increase a martial artist's strength, but it also places a tremendous burden on the body.
At this moment, Li You's power doubled, and all the blood vessels in his body became prominent. With a single palm strike, Wang Hao was knocked back ten feet due to his carelessness.
"Whoosh!"
Li You gave Wang Hao no chance to catch his breath, and once again drew his sharp sickle. He was even faster than before, and in an instant, he was in front of Wang Hao.
A blinding crimson light erupted from the scythe, carrying a sharp blade aura, as it slashed towards Wang Hao's neck.
"Whoosh."
When Wang Hao's head was severed, Li You was overjoyed. But then, Wang Hao suddenly vanished, and his expression changed drastically. He hadn't expected that he had only struck an illusion.
"May you rest in peace."
Wang Hao's voice came from behind Li You. The Purple Cloud Sword pierced through Li You's throat, and blood gushed out like a small fountain.
Li You's eyes widened, filled with resentment. His whole body trembled violently, and blood kept gushing from his mouth.
With a "thud," he fell to the ground.
The Li family's second-best martial arts genius after Li Xu has fallen. If he hadn't provoked Wang Hao, he might have become a martial arts legend and reached the Heavenly Realm in forty years.
"Whoosh."
With a whooshing sound, Wang Hao turned around and saw Li Xing burst into speed, turn around and run away. He was so fast that Wang Hao didn't even have time to react before he disappeared into the woods.
"You run really fast." Shi Mengqi walked over slowly, and none of the seven martial artists survived; they all died by her sword.
Wang Hao did not continue the pursuit, but instead began to clean up the battlefield with Shi Mengqi.
Li You had a two-star VIP card from the black market and thirty-eight spirit crystals. Spirit crystals were formed from true qi. Although they were not as good as spirit stones, they were the main items for martial artists to improve their cultivation.
Wang Hao didn't have much hope for this black market VIP card. In a technologically advanced place like Tianxing, it was impossible for someone to claim it on behalf of the original owner.
Of course, if one can obtain the blood of the other party's immediate family member, it is also possible to withdraw the money from the VIP card through some special means.
"This sickle is pretty good. Keep it; you can sell it for a good price later." Wang Hao put it into his storage ring.
The two then pocketed all the beast eyes, weapons, and spirit crystals from the seven warriors. But before they could rejoice, Wang Hao's expression suddenly changed.
"Run!"
Wang Hao grabbed Shi Mengqi and darted into the woods. With a wave of his hand, he swept up a fallen leaf to cover her and then turned around to pin her down.
"how..."
Before Shi Mengqi could speak, Wang Hao gently shushed her. Shi Mengqi blushed and peered out through the gaps in the leaves.
Li Xing and a man in white stood on the back of an adult Azure Scaled Eagle, surveying their surroundings. Li Xing's eyes were icy as he coldly snorted, "They still managed to get away."
"The Li family has suffered too many losses this time. Even Li You and Li Leshun died at Wang Hao's hands. If they are not found, the Li family will truly lose face!"
Standing on the back of the two-headed snow vulture, Li Leyao's eyes were also icy cold as he said, "Wang Hao, right? He killed my brother. I will make him pay a heavy price."
“Now that they have escaped, I should leave too. If other inspectors find me with you, they will definitely report it to the elders and accuse me of favoritism.”
Li Leyao is Li Leshun's older brother. His cultivation has reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining Realm. A year ago, he was already an outer disciple of the Burning Lamp Academy. Moreover, he is one of the inspectors for this exam of the Burning Lamp Academy, responsible for rescuing candidates who encounter danger.
Li Xing nodded and said, "Then senior brother should go back first. They were lucky this time. They'll have plenty of time to kill Wang Hao later. Once they kill him, that girl surnamed Shi will have no choice but to obediently submit to the Li family."
The two then mounted their mounts and headed back in the direction they had come from.
After waiting a moment and confirming that they had really left, Wang Hao got up from Shi Mengqi. Looking at her flushed face, he couldn't help but chuckle, wishing he could take a bite.
Although the two survived this ordeal by the skin of their teeth, they also gained a great deal.
The eighteen beast eyes collected from Li You, and the twenty-six beast eyes collected from the other seven martial artists, plus the fourteen beast eyes that Wang Hao originally had.
He now has a total of fifty-eight beast eyes, which is equivalent to having hunted twenty-nine second-tier low-level ferocious beasts.
The beast eye in Shi Mengqi's hand was enough to allow her to exceed the mission requirements.
The two found a cave to begin recovering their cultivation, and they didn't wake up until evening. Wang Hao spent another spirit stone to completely stabilize his cultivation.
During his cultivation, he was surprised to find that when the spiritual energy was sufficient for his cultivation, the excess would be transformed into more true energy through his dantian and enter the martial arts meridians he had opened up.
However, Wang Hao was somewhat puzzled by the changes. He only knew that after the spiritual energy entered the yellow mist in his dantian, it turned into a vast amount of true energy when it came out again.
He tried to convert his true energy into spiritual energy, but found that the yellow mist was completely beyond his control, and the seeds that the destroyed Primordial Chaos Lotus had transformed into were also beyond his control.
They acted like a bunch of old men, occupying his dantian (energy center) and not taking him seriously at all.
With their current cultivation levels, Wang Hao and Shi Mengqi would be among the most powerful even if they entered their respective academies. However, they did not intend to let the Li family go so easily.
Before we knew it, dusk had arrived again.
As darkness fell, night soon descended once more.
This is the last night of the first round of exams!
That night, screams echoed once again throughout the Twin Peaks Mountains, and some examinees even crushed the Azure Dragon Ball, sending up Azure Dragon smoke.
However, by the time the inspectors arrived, the examinee was already dead, and the murderer had vanished without a trace.
"This is really strange! This year's exam is so brutal. At least twenty young martial artists from the Li family have died," said the patrolman holding a long spear.
Another inspector stood with his arms crossed next to the corpse and said, "I'm afraid there are far more than twenty people."
"Anyway, the Li family suffered heavy losses this time. I wonder who they offended?"
"Let's go! It's the last night anyway, the exam ends tomorrow at noon!"
The two patrolmen, riding on two-headed snow eagles, transformed into two enormous shadows and flew away from the place.
The massacre continued until noon the next day, with fifty-nine martial artists dying at the hands of Wang Hao and Shi Mengqi.
The strongest members of the Li family's martial artists had already been killed, and the rest were no threat at all. However, they had not been able to find Li Xing's whereabouts, which was a great pity for them.
With half an hour left before the exam ended, Wang Hao and Shi Mengqi arrived at a cave to begin clearing out their spoils. At the same time, Wang Hao was carrying a black-clad man who had been knocked unconscious.
Shi Mengqi sorted out the spiritual flesh, spiritual crystals, and so on, while Wang Hao stretched out his right hand, grabbed the head of the man in black, and began to search his soul.
A moment later, Wang Hao slowly released his grip, and the man in black collapsed limply, lifeless.
"So, are these two assassins in black also from the Li family?" Shi Mengqi walked over, her tone very calm, but the murderous intent hidden within was obvious to everyone.
Wang Hao's face was somewhat gloomy. He nodded and said, "This assassin is named Xu Gou, and the one you killed earlier was named Hai Zhu. They were both secret guards of the Li family."
“From a young age, they were trained to be obedient and emotionless killing machines. There were twelve bodyguards in total, but they were just the two weakest ones, assassins who directly obeyed Li Xu’s orders.”
Shi Mengqi frowned slightly and said, "The Li family is really persistent. I heard that there are also members of the Li family in the Burning Lamp Academy. You should be careful then."
"If you want to assassinate me, you'd need to be a master of the Earth Realm. On the contrary, you need to be careful at Dragon Phoenix Academy in the future, so you don't give them any leverage." Wang Hao sighed.
He was even considering asking his old colleague Liu Jinlin if he could transfer him to the Dragon and Phoenix Academy, since he cultivated both immortality and martial arts, so it didn't matter where he was.
"Don't worry, I'll be living with Xiaoyi at the academy. It's almost time for us to part ways..." Shi Mengqi said with some reluctance, as she didn't know when they would meet again.
Although they are both in Tianxing, they are not in the same academy.
Wang Hao pulled her into his arms and laughed, "We'll see each other again soon, and then I'll make sure you can't get out of bed for a day."
Shi Mengqi blushed, but instead of refuting, she softly hummed in agreement...
The two ran towards the outside of the Twin Peaks Mountains. Wang Hao first sent Shi Mengqi to a safe area before heading towards the meeting point of the Burning Lamp Academy.
Not long after, Wang Hao returned to the meeting point and, led by the silver-robed elder, went back to the West Courtyard Martial Arena. Three or four hundred young cultivators had already gathered there, many of whom were injured and looked dejected.
Others, however, appeared to be in high spirits, chatting and laughing, clearly having completed the first round of testing, hence their confidence.
Inside the martial arts arena, the crowd was buzzing with discussion, mostly about their thrilling experiences hunting ferocious beasts, describing them vividly.
"It is said that during this year's exam, a magical cave appeared, causing bloodshed in the Twin Peaks Mountains. Many young martial artists and cultivators went there, but it seems that they all returned empty-handed."
“I’ve heard about it too! There’s a terrifying fat man who bites anyone he sees, and he’s even swallowed dozens of people alive. He seems to be a disciple of our Burning Lamp Academy.”
"Is it that scary? Looks like I'll have to be more careful from now on. I also have some inside information: it seems all the Li family's examinees were wiped out this time, killed by two mysterious figures..."
Amidst the chatter of the crowd, Wang Hao smiled faintly as he walked past the young cultivators, handing over twenty beast eyes to the student responsible for counting them.
As for the extras, he kept them all. Although these ferocious beasts did not develop intelligence, their eyes could be used to make medicine and pills, and they could be sold for a considerable price.
It was now noon, and the first round of the academy exams had ended.
On the high platform in the West Courtyard Martial Arts Arena, Elder Shangren held a scroll of animal hide roster and began to read out the list of those who had passed the first round of the academy examination.
"In the first round of the academy exams, a total of 377 people passed. They are: Yuchi Jiade, Ji Baorong, Yue Bifeng..."
After Elder Shangren finished reading the announcement, those who passed the first round of testing stayed, while those who failed were sent back home.
"Those who pass the first round of assessment will stay here tonight. Tomorrow morning, they will participate in the second round of the battle tower challenge. The top 100 performers will stay, and the rest will be eliminated."
"Tonight, your two senior sisters will be in charge of maintaining order here. Anyone who dares to cause trouble before the 'Battle Tower Challenge' will be severely punished."
After saying this, Elder Shangren stepped down from the high platform and left the West Courtyard Martial Arts Arena.
After Elder Shangren left, two beautiful women, one tall and one short, emerged from the ancient buildings and entered the West Courtyard Martial Arts Arena.
The outer palace students of the Burning Lamp Academy, upon seeing the two women, all showed a hint of fear on their faces and immediately bowed in respect.
"Greetings, Senior Sister Qingran and Senior Sister Yanqin!"
"Greetings, Senior Sister Qingran and Senior Sister Yanqin!"
Wang Hao's heart stirred, and he turned to look. He saw that Senior Sister Qingran was very tall and slender, with long, dark black hair that reached her waist. Her breasts were very firm, and her skin was very fair and delicate, like the petals of a pear blossom.
The girl named Yan Qin looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old. She had very delicate features, long eyelashes, and bright eyes. Although she looked young, she had a very impressive figure.
Most importantly, both women were extremely beautiful, possessing stunning looks that could topple kingdoms.
The two women climbed onto the seven-zhang-high stone platform, glanced at all the young cultivators in the martial arts arena, then sat cross-legged on the platform, closed their eyes, and began to cultivate.
In the West Courtyard Martial Arts Arena, everyone's attention was completely drawn to the two women, and they couldn't take their eyes off them.
Those outer palace students who had already spent a year or two at the Burning Lamp Academy didn't dare to look at the two women at all, their faces showing a look of apprehension.
Wang Hao was astonished and exclaimed, "They're actually wearing brocade robes!"
Generally speaking, disciples of the outer palace of the Burning Lamp Academy can only wear white robes.
Only disciples of the inner palace were allowed to wear brocade robes.
My old colleague Liu Jinlin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and whispered, "As long as you become a martial artist on the Heavenly Star Ranking or accumulate enough merit points, even an outer palace disciple can wear a brocade robe."
Wang Hao asked curiously, "What is the Celestial Star Ranking?"
"It records the strong in the four realms, divided into the Yellow List, the Profound List, the Earth List, and the Heaven List. The Heaven List is self-explanatory, as it only has a few people."
"However, the Xuan Ranking and the Di Ranking are very prestigious. The Di Ranking has no age limit, while the Xuan Ranking only records martial artists and cultivators under the age of fifty. Your enemy, Li Xu, is number one on the Xuan Ranking."
Liu Jinlin chuckled, clearly knowing quite a bit about Wang Hao's affairs.
Wang Hao nodded, not surprised. Li Xu's fame in Tianxing was naturally due to his strong talent in martial arts.
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