Chapter 86: Casting Speed! The Rumor Is Debunked!

Just as everyone thought Lin Mo was about to say something threatening, he spoke:

“Who’s first?”

Everyone: “…”

Behind him, Long A nearly lost his balance and slid off the bench, then gave Lin Mo a thumbs-up:

“Bro Lin, only you could pull this off!”

Haha.

For Lin Mo, why choose a harder path when he could pick one-on-one?

The reason new recruits resolve matches so quickly is that most focus their cultivation time solely on raising their cultivation base, leaving their spell repertoire severely limited.

Aside from exceptions like Chu Wange, even the top twenty prodigies on the Immortal List who master two or three mid-grade spells to perfection—or even the Peak Realm—are already exceptional.

Because of this, most new recruits possess offensive spells but lack defensive ones.

So when they clash, the chance of failure is extremely high.

Take Ji Feng’s recent battle against three challengers: if his spell-casting speed hadn’t been just a fraction faster, and if those opponents hadn’t all been spell-focused, the outcome might have been uncertain.

So everything still hinges on “stability.”

The three challengers across from him, including Ye Chen, were caught off guard by this.

But Ye Chen reacted quickly and immediately said: “Hmph, I—”

“Then it’s you, Tang Lei!”

Lin Mo cut him off again, addressing Tang Lei beside him.

Ye Chen clenched his teeth: “Lin Mo, you—”

“What? Now it’s my arena.”

Lin Mo interrupted impatiently again: “If you’re unhappy, you can challenge someone else!”

He had zero patience for Ye Chen.

Did he really think he was the “protagonist,” and the whole world owed him attention?

He’d long been disgusted by Ye Chen’s attitude.

Ye Chen’s expression shifted, but he ultimately held back, his demeanor only growing darker.

Tang Lei glanced between Lin Mo and Ye Chen, unsure whether to step down.

Lin Mo said to him voluntarily: “Please, Brother Tang Lei?”

Tang Lei finally exhaled, nodded, and leapt onto the arena.

Just as Lin Mo was about to descend, Chu Wange—who had remained silent until now—turned her head and said to him:

“Lin Mo, good luck.”

Everyone turned to look again, but weren’t surprised.

For the past while, Chu Wange had been constantly “hanging out” with Lin Mo.

They used “hanging out” because before her enlightenment, she never left the Enlightenment Platform.

But since she exited deep enlightenment, she rarely sat on the platform anymore, and was seldom seen even during daily enlightenment aura sessions.

She hadn’t vanished—she simply followed Lin Mo and Long A to the training grounds to practice standing stances, or showed up punctually at the cafeteria to grab the first pot of sweet-and-sour spare ribs.

From outsiders’ perspectives, Chu Wange’s interactions with Lin Mo over this period seemed to confirm the rumored claim.

Lin Mo smiled faintly and nodded: “I will.”

With that, he activated his movement technique and landed lightly on the arena.

Tang Lei, already standing on the arena, bowed respectfully: “Brother Lin, please instruct me!”

“Please instruct me!”

Lin Mo returned the courteous bow.

At that moment, the announcer Li Feng’s voice echoed through the air:

“Contestants, prepare! Combat begins when the countdown ends!”

“10, 9, 8, 7…”

As the countdown ended, Lin Mo and Tang Lei both formed their hand seals simultaneously.

“Heaven’s thunder rumbles, Earth’s thunder darkens. The Six Jia and Six Ding, hear my name…”

“Wind and fire command, winds and rains of the eight directions, at my will…”

Whether on the stands or among viewers beyond the Mirror Flower and Water Moon, all focused intently.

If Ji Feng’s battle against three challengers was a mismatched clash,

then Lin Mo and Tang Lei’s was one that appeared evenly matched on the surface.

Both combatants were at Qi Refining 8th Layer, so their true qi reserves were nearly identical.

Moreover, Tang Lei ranked among the top tier among the fifty qualifiers—he wouldn’t have chosen a ninth-layer enlightenment platform prodigy as his opponent otherwise.

Even if that prodigy was Lin Mo.

For Qi Refining late-stage clashes, most viewers beyond the Mirror Flower and Water Moon couldn’t understand the details.

But the Immortal List prodigies on the stands and the team leaders in the bamboo pavilion clearly could.

Long A rubbed his chin, analyzing as he watched:

“The density of their true qi—it’s clearly mid-grade spell level.”

Zhang Cai beside him chuckled and added: “Since both are mid-grade spells, it comes down to casting speed. In my opinion—”

“Lin Mo is faster.”

He hadn’t finished when Chu Wange interrupted from ahead.

Her tone was certain, but given their relationship, no one could tell if this was objective analysis or blind favoritism.

Amid the crowd’s astonishment, Lin Mo in the arena had already completed his hand seal first:

“One sensation, one response, unified as one—Heavenly Thunder Spell—Go!”

“Crack!” A bolt of lightning shot from his hand, streaking toward Tang Lei.

Tang Lei’s pupils contracted sharply; even though he’d braced himself and dodged sideways, the lightning struck his arm precisely.

“Puff!”

His half-formed hand seal shattered, and most of his gathered true qi dispersed.

“Hss~!”

The pain in his arm made him gasp, but he refused to yield.

As he struggled to maintain his willpower and tried to complete the remaining hand seal with one hand, he suddenly saw Lin Mo smiling at him—then pulling a standard Dao sword from behind his back.

“!!!”

Tang Lei realized his mistake and retreated, but Lin Mo moved faster.

“Kui Star Step!”

In a flash, he closed the distance and raised his Dao sword, launching a basic sword technique.

Ten seconds later…

“Shhh!”

Tang Lei, now missing one arm, was swiftly pierced by Lin Mo’s sword and dissolved into a streak of white light on the arena.

[Winner: Lin Mo.]

As the arena’s announcement echoed, the crowd on the stands finally reacted.

“Bro Lin’s got something! That casting speed is insane.”

Long A said, slightly surprised.

He’d seen Lin Mo’s footwork before, so it didn’t shock him—but this was his first time witnessing Lin Mo cast a spell.

From casting to impact, not a single hesitation.

The hand seals were as fluid and practiced as if performed thousands of times, with perfect timing and precision.

It struck Tang Lei’s casting arm directly, disrupting his rhythm entirely.

As for the close-range follow-up, there was nothing more to say.

At that moment, Feng Ji, who possessed a mutated Thunder Spirit Root, added:

“That thunder spell is Perfection Realm!”

Hearing this, everyone finally understood.

Long A nodded, his earnest face breaking into a grin:

“Now it makes sense.”

His words carried dual meaning.

It referred not only to Lin Mo’s victory in this match, but also to the rumors surrounding him.

Leaving aside everything else, just this Perfection Realm mid-grade spell alone gives Lin Mo a chance to score a perfect mark in the Immortal Exam’s secret realm.