Chapter 54

Consciousness connected.

Entering the virtual network, Li Yuan chose to go straight to his personal space on the Starry Sky Fighting Network.

"Master, you have finally descended."

"Exclusive assistant Xiaoyu is at your service, Master." The girl in white said with a giggle.

Li Yuan smiled and said directly: "Display personal record of the rank tournament."

Whoosh~ A light screen formed:

Rank tournament: Gold rank.

Points: 990 (1000 points required to participate in the promotion tournament)

Rank win rate: 88%

——

"990 points, I hope I don't run into a Meteorite rank; it would be best to get 10 points in one go." Li Yuan thought to himself: "Otherwise, I'll have to waste more time."

Two months ago.

Li Yuan's spear technique improved to Third-Stage 99%, and a week ago, his movement technique also successfully improved to Third-Stage 99%.

From the moment Li Yuan's spear technique reached Third-Stage 99%, he already belonged to the top tier in the Gold rank qualifying tournament of the Starry Sky Fighting Network.

Often, he wouldn't lose a single game in ten rank tournaments, causing his rank win rate to soar from the previous fifty-plus percent.

A week ago, his movement technique reached Third-Stage 99%.

In that day's rank tournament matching, Li Yuan created a terrifying record of 56 consecutive wins, which could basically be considered 'invincible in the Gold rank'.

Then—Li Yuan was sanctioned by the matching system.

Three games in a row!

Li Yuan was matched with top experts of the Meteorite rank.

Except for one game where he barely blocked a dozen moves, the remaining two games were killed in a few moves; they were completely not on the same level.

"Let's start." Li Yuan reached out and clicked, setting up the weapon configuration.

Beep—Matching successful.

"About to enter the qualifying tournament, opponent is Gold rank (996 points), please prepare for battle." The system issued a reminder: "About to enter the battle space, 10, 9..."

"996 points? Could it be a top expert too? Is my luck really that bad?" Li Yuan muttered to himself.

Light flashed.

Li Yuan appeared out of thin air on a huge arena, with not a single spectator around.

In the distance on the arena, a middle-aged man also appeared, holding a spear in his right hand and a shield in his left.

"Shield and spear?" Li Yuan gripped his long spear tightly.

There are many martial artists who use weapon combinations like sword and shield or shield and spear.

A spear is also a long weapon, but it is often shorter than a single spear; after all, it is a single-handed long weapon, and it is not as flexible when wielded.

With a shield, the ability to save one's life is greatly increased, and the fault tolerance space for life-and-death combat is much larger.

However.

Weapon combinations with shields, without exception, have one weakness—they are not flexible enough.

Li Yuan is not used to carrying a shield.

A single long spear, Li Yuan believes, is enough to sweep away everything.

"Kid, kill you, and I can participate in the promotion tournament." The middle-aged man laughed loudly: "I've already had ten consecutive wins today."

"Ten consecutive wins?" Li Yuan was slightly surprised.

"Yes." The middle-aged man nodded, quite confidently: "You won't be my opponent; it's better to just admit defeat and surrender, so as not to be killed by me and cause mental trauma."

Rank tournaments allow for voluntary surrender.

The benefit is that the mind will not be traumatized, and the disadvantage is that the point deduction will be more severe.

"Uncle, I know why you were matched with me." Li Yuan suddenly grinned.

"Why?" The middle-aged man was puzzled.

"Because the system sent me to sanction you!" Li Yuan laughed loudly, his figure had already moved suddenly, the whole person darting out like a swimming dragon.

Strength and speed, fully exploded!

"So fast? Is he at Level 8.0 physical fitness?" The middle-aged man was shocked; he realized instantly that this opponent, who looked like a teenager, was not to be trifled with.

In the virtual network, one can freely change their face and attire.

However, to prevent fraud, everyone binds their identity information, and changing gender is not allowed, and the changed appearance cannot exceed their own five-year range.

Boom! The middle-aged man also moved directly; he could reach over 900 points in the Gold rank, so his strength would not be weak.

"Whoosh!"

The middle-aged man used his shield to block, his steps changed, and his figure leaned to one side, trying to use the momentum to blast the spear Li Yuan thrust toward one side.

"Bang!"

Spear and shield touched.

"Blocked." The middle-aged man had just revealed a look of joy when a trace of shock appeared.

"Rip~"

The long spear that should have collided heavily with the shield seemed not to contain much impact, sticking directly to his shield.

Following that, the spear tip retracted, sliding along the shield and exploding with a harsh sound.

The next instant.

"Boom!" The long spear, which had retracted half a meter in an instant, burst out again like lightning, thrusting straight over like a thunderbolt.

It had already avoided the middle-aged man's shield.

This lightning-like change in spear style was truly too fast, so fast that the middle-aged man felt fear in his heart.

In the moment of life and death.

"I'll thrust too!" The long spear in the middle-aged man's hand suddenly left his hand, actually blasting out directly.

This strike.

If Li Yuan thrust straight at the middle-aged man, he would definitely be pierced through the chest by the spear and die, and it would very likely be judged a draw.

"Clang~"

Li Yuan didn't hesitate to retract his spear with a backhand and retreat, his whole body's strength operating, terrifying force erupting, directly knocking the flying spear away.

"Hum~" The flying spear was thrown away, heavily piercing into the ground outside the arena.

And on the arena.

"Bang!" After knocking it away, Li Yuan turned his long spear and had already performed 'Rock Settles the Universe', slashing heavily at the middle-aged man.

"Boom~"

The middle-aged man used his shield to block; he only felt a terrifying force crushing over, making him involuntarily retreat backward.

"Go!"

Li Yuan retracted his spear and stepped back to unload the force, then changed his steps, performing a middle-level thrust, the spear attacking like lightning.

"Clang!" "Bang~" "Boom~" Successive explosive sounds of collision rang out.

The middle-aged man held the shield with one hand, actually becoming more flexible, successively blocking Li Yuan's spear attacks.

He was, after all, a Gold rank expert with over 900 points; whether it was movement technique or shield technique, both were at the Third-Stage High Tier.

Only!

He was strong, but Li Yuan was even stronger; whether it was physical control, mental consciousness, or movement technique and weapon control, Li Yuan had reached Third-Stage Perfection.

"Puchi~"

On the nineteenth spear, Li Yuan finally seized the opportunity, blasted open his shield with one spear, and directly pierced through the middle-aged man's throat.

Blood splashed.

"I lost?"

"Truly ferocious, where is this martial arts genius from?" This was the middle-aged man's last thought, and his body instantly disappeared from the spot.

"Shield technique is not bad."

"But the coordination between spear and shield is not in place, and the degree of control over the body is also a bit poor." Li Yuan thought to himself, subconsciously commenting on his opponent: "It's hard to exert all physical strength."

Such opponents, Li Yuan had killed hundreds of them in the past month or two.

At this time.

Li Yuan had received a system reminder: "Congratulations, Guardian·Yuan... Points +10."

"Your rank points have reached 1000, points cannot continue to increase, do you want to participate in the promotion tournament?" The system asked again: "Friendly reminder, the cooling time for the promotion tournament is one week."

"Once failed, 50 points will be deducted."

"Once successful, you will be permanently promoted to the Meteorite rank."

The rules are reminded every time.

"Participate in the promotion tournament." Li Yuan made his choice.

Hum~

His figure disappeared directly from the arena.

……

This is a small island, lush with trees, and the distant sea is surging.

"Fifth time."

"I don't know, compared to last time, this time my movement technique is at Third-Stage Perfection, is there any hope of passing?" Li Yuan, wearing light armor and holding a long spear, appeared on the island, his gaze sweeping across all directions.

This was his fifth time here.

Quickly.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Sounds came from the distant jungle, and twelve humanoid creatures darted out quickly.

They were of different heights, the tall ones over 1.8 meters, the short ones about 1.7 meters, all growing four arms, their skin blue, their fingers and toes evolved into sharp webbed claws, and their backs had long tails similar to fish fins.

"Fish Spirit Clan." Li Yuan muttered to himself.

That's right.

The promotion tournament of the Starry Sky Fighting Network is not matched with other martial artists, but fighting with 'Star Realm creatures' set by the system.

Each rank's promotion tournament has a variety of Star Realm creatures to choose from.

Li Yuan comes here, and every time he chooses the Fish Spirit Clan.

"Roar~"

"Howl~" "Wah~" The twelve Fish Spirit Clan members, the moment they saw Li Yuan, their eyes turned scarlet, their bodies erupted, waving their arms like sharp blades, rushing toward Li Yuan.

It was as if they had seen a life-and-death enemy.

"Every time I come, I feel the virtual network is set up so realistically, even the hatred of these simulated creatures is maxed out." Li Yuan thought to himself.

While thinking, Li Yuan had already met them with his spear like lightning, his figure changed, and the long spear suddenly burst out, thrusting at the tallest Fish Spirit Clan member.

The long spear turned into afterimages.

Thrusting straight at the opponent's throat.

"Clang!" That Fish Spirit Clan member's reaction was also extremely swift, waving its arm claws and slapping directly onto Li Yuan's long spear.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

Li Yuan's spear technique changed, extremely flexible, colliding with the opponent's claws three times in a row, and then he had already passed through the gap between the four arms, thrusting straight into the opponent's chest like lightning.

"Puff~"

Blood splashed, Li Yuan's long spear directly pierced through the chest of this Fish Spirit Clan member, making the opponent's body stumble.

However, Li Yuan didn't take the opportunity to kill the opponent directly, but suddenly retracted his spear, the long spear like a heavy staff, sweeping horizontally to the right, blocking a claw that slashed down heavily from the right.

The opponent had a full twelve members.

(End of this chapter)