Consciousness connected.
Upon entering the virtual network, Li Yuan chose to go straight to his personal space in the Starry Skies Fighting Network.
“Master, you have finally descended.”
“Exclusive assistant Xiao Yu, at your service,” the girl in white cheerfully said.
Li Yuan smiled and went straight to the point, “Display individual combat records for the ranking matches.”
Shwoosh~ A holographic screen formed:
Ranking Matches: Gold Stage.
Points: 990 (1000 points needed to participate in the promotion matches)
Win rate in the Stage Matches: 88%
——
“990 points, I hope I don’t face anyone from the Fallen Star Stage. It would be best to get 10 points in one go,” Li Yuan thought to himself. “Otherwise, I’ll have to waste a bit more time.”
Two months ago.
Li Yuan’s Spear Technique had improved to 99% of the Third Stage. A week ago, his movement technique also smoothly advanced to 99% of the Third Stage.
Ever since his Spear Technique reached 99% at the Third Stage, Li Yuan had already been among the elite in the Gold Stage rankings on the Starry Skies Fighting Network.
He often went ten ranking matches without a single loss, which sent his win rate soaring from just over 50%.
A week ago, his movement technique reached 99% of the Third Stage.
On the day of the ranking matches, Li Yuan achieved a horrifying streak of 56 consecutive wins, which pretty much affirmed his status as ‘undefeated in the Gold Stage.’
Then — Li Yuan was sanctioned by the matchmaking system.
Three matches in a row!
In each one, Li Yuan was paired with a master from the Fallen Star Stage.
Except for one match where he barely managed to fend off more than a dozen moves, the remaining two were straight losses, not even close to the same level.
“Let’s start,” Li Yuan’s hand reached out to click, setting up his weaponry configuration.
Beep—Match successful.
“You are about to enter the ranking match, your opponent is at the Gold Stage (996 points). Please prepare for combat,” the system warned: “Entering the combat space in 10, 9…”
“996 points? Could this also be a master? Is my luck really that bad?” Li Yuan muttered to himself.
A flash of light.
Li Yuan appeared out of thin air in the center of a huge arena, with not a single spectator around.
On the distant stage, a middle-aged man also appeared, holding a spear in his right hand and a shield in his left.
“Spear Shield?” Li Yuan gripped his Long Spear tightly.
There were many Martial Artists who used a weapon combination like the knife-shield or spear-shield.
The spear, also a Long Weapon, tended to be shorter than a spear used alone, since it was meant to be wielded with one hand, and thus, wasn’t as agile.
With a shield, survivability greatly increased, as did the margin for error in life-threatening fights.
However.
Those with shield weapon combinations invariably had one weakness — they weren’t agile enough.
Li Yuan didn’t fancy using a shield.
With his long spear, he believed he could lay waste to everything in his path.
“Boy, once I kill you, I can participate in the promotion match,” the middle-aged man declared with a laugh: “I’ve already had ten consecutive victories today.”
“Ten consecutive victories?” Li Yuan was slightly surprised.
“Yes,” the middle-aged man nodded, saying with confidence: “You won’t be a match for me. You might as well just surrender now to avoid being killed and taking a mental blow.”
In the Stage Matches, it was permitted to surrender proactively.
The advantage was that one’s mind wouldn’t take damage, but the downside was that the point deduction would be more severe.
“Uncle, I know why you matched with me,” Li Yuan suddenly cracked a smile.
“Why?” the middle-aged man asked, puzzled.
“Because the system sent me to sanction you!” Li Yuan laughed loudly, his figure suddenly moved, shooting out like a swimming dragon.
Strength, speed, both fully unleashed!
“This fast? Does he have a Physical Quality of 8.0?” the middle-aged man was instantly shocked, realizing that this seemingly young opponent was not to be trifled with.
In the virtual network, one could freely alter their face and outfit.
However, to prevent fraudulent activities, each person’s identity information was bound, and they were not allowed to change their gender, and changes to their appearance could not exceed a five-year age difference.
Boom! The middle-aged man moved as well, instantly springing into action. Having made it to over nine hundred points in the Gold Stage, his skills were not inferior.
“Huff!”
The middle-aged man used his shield to block, changing his steps and angling his body, trying to deflect Li Yuan’s thrusting spear to the side.
“Bang!”
The spear made contact with the shield.
“Blocked it,” the middle-aged man had just revealed a brief smile when a look of shock appeared on his face.
“Rip~”
The big spear that should have made a powerful impact against the shield seemed to carry little force and stuck to it instead.
Then, the spear tip retracted, scraping along the shield, and let out a piercing noise.
The next instant.
“Boom!” The Long Spear that had retracted half a meter in a flash, lunged forward again like lightning, aiming a Straight Thrust.
It already bypassed the middle-aged man’s shield.
Such a lightning-fast spear technique was too quick for the middle-aged man, who felt a sense of dread.
At that moment between life and death.
“I’ll stab too!” The middle-aged man’s long spear suddenly left his hand, propelling directly toward his target.
With this strike.
If Li Yuan were to thrust straight at the middle-aged man, he would certainly be pierced through the chest and killed, resulting in a likely tie.
“Clang~”
Li Yuan, without any hesitation, retracted his spear and stepped back, channeling his vigor throughout his body, unleashing a terrifying force that knocked the flying spear away.
“Buzz~” As the spear flew off, it heavily struck into the ground outside the arena.
And on the stage.
“Bang!” After deflecting the spear, Li Yuan spun his long spear and executed “Steady as Mount Tai,” bringing it down fiercely on the middle-aged man.
“Boom~”
The middle-aged man defended with his shield, feeling a terrifying force bearing down on him, involuntarily stepping backward.
“Go!”
Li Yuan retracted his spear, stepped back to unload the force, then changed his footing and launched a central-level thrust at his opponent, the spear striking like lightning.
“Clang!” “Bang~” “Boom~” The sounds of consecutive impacts echoed.
The middle-aged man, holding the shield with one hand, became even more agile, successively blocking Li Yuan’s spear attacks.
After all, he was also a skilled practitioner with over 900 points in the Gold Stage, whether it was his movement technique or shield technique, both were of Third Stage high-rank level.
But!
Strong as he was, Li Yuan was stronger. Whether it was physical control or mental acuity, or even his movement technique and weapon handling, Li Yuan had achieved the Third Stage to perfection.
“Pfft~”
On the nineteenth spear thrust, Li Yuan finally seized his chance, blasting the shield aside and piercing directly through the middle-aged man’s throat.
Blood splattered.
“I lost?”
“So brutal, where does this Martial Path genius hail from?” These were the middle-aged man’s last thoughts, his body instantly vanished from the spot.
“Not bad shield work.”
“But the coordination with the spear isn’t quite there, and the control over the body is lacking,” Li Yuan mused silently, instinctively critiquing his opponent: “Unable to unleash the full strength of the body.”
Li Yuan had defeated hundreds of such opponents in the past month or two.
At this moment.
Li Yuan received a system notification: “Congratulations, Guardian·Yuan… Points +10.”
“Your stage points have reached 1000, and cannot increase further, would you like to participate in the advancement test?” the system asked again: “Friendly reminder, the cooldown for the advancement test is one week.”
“If you fail, you will lose 50 points.”
“If successful, you will permanently advance to the Fallen Star Stage.”
The rules were always reminded once.
“Participate in the advancement test,” Li Yuan made his choice.
Buzz~
His figure instantly disappeared from the arena.
…
This was a small sea island, shaded by green trees, with tumultuous waves in the distance.
“This is the fifth time.”
“I wonder, now that I have perfected Third Stage movement technique, do I have a chance of passing this time?” Dressed in light armor and holding a long spear, Li Yuan appeared on the island, scanning his surroundings.
This was his fifth visit.
Swiftly.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Sounds came from the distant jungle, as twelve humanoid creatures quickly emerged.
They varied in height, the tallest over one meter eighty, the shortest around one meter seventy, all with four arms, their skin a bluish tint, their hands and feet tipped with sharp talon-like claws, and their backs adorned with fin-like tails.
“Fish Spirit Clan,” Li Yuan muttered to himself.
Indeed.
The Starry Skies Fighting Network’s advancement tests were not matchups against other martial artists, but battles against ‘Star Realm Creatures’ set by the system.
For each stage advancement, there were various Star Realm Creatures to choose from.
Every time Li Yuan came here, he chose the Fish Spirit Clan.
“Roar~”
“Howl~” “Waah~” Upon seeing Li Yuan, all twelve Fish Spirit Clan’s eyes turned blood-red, their bodies surged with energy as they swung their blade-like arms and charged toward Li Yuan.
As if they had encountered their mortal enemies.
“Every visit, it feels so real, this virtual network setting, they’ve even maxed out these simulated creatures’ sense of hatred,” Li Yuan thought to himself.
Amidst these thoughts, Li Yuan met them head-on with a lightning-fast spear, his form shifting as he thrust toward the tallest Fish Spirit Clan member.
The long spear trailed afterimages.
Thrusting straight at the adversary’s throat.
“Clang!” The Fish Spirit Clan member reacted swiftly, slashing at Li Yuan’s spear with its clawed arm, making contact.
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
With variable spear techniques, Li Yuan was incredibly fluid, clashing three times with the creature’s claws and taking advantage of the gap between its four arms to thrust straight into its chest like lightning.
“Spurt~”
Blood spurted out as Li Yuan’s spear pierced through the chest of the Fish Spirit Clan member, causing its body to stagger immediately.
Yet, Li Yuan did not follow through to kill it at once. Instead, he swiftly withdrew his spear, his weapon swinging like a heavy stick, sweeping to the right to block a vicious swipe of a claw.
There were twelve of them, after all.