Chapter 553: Heart-Refining Array, Harvest

"Boom!"

"Pfft! Cough, cough."

On the No. 18 battle platform, Jun Moyan, who had been moving at high speed, suddenly came to a halt. He looked at Li Taibai, who was not far away and had already lost his combat capability, and bowed slightly:

"Brother Li, you concede."

At the same time, he felt a sense of relief in his heart.

As their battle ended, enthusiastic cheers erupted from the many supporters of Jun Moyan among the spectators outside the plaza:

"Jun Moyan!" "Jun Moyan!" "Jun Moyan!"

"As expected of a new-generation powerhouse born in our Dongxuan City. With Jun Moyan's combat strength, the position of champion for this new generation is secure."

"Exactly, exactly. Jun Moyan did not let us down."

"Hmph, wait until the next new-generation Qi Refining Realm grand competition; it will definitely be my world."

"Alright, we get it. Little brat, move aside."

"You—"

On the No. 18 battle platform, having just finished the fight, Jun Moyan shook his head slightly upon hearing the cheers around him.

The two of them had maintained this battle for a full half-hour; his victory was not as easy as it looked.

If Li Taibai had not launched attacks and had focused on evasion instead,

it would not have been so easy for him to take down Li Taibai so smoothly.

Moreover, although Li Taibai's attacks could not break his defense, blocking them required him to push his physical strength to the limit, consuming a great deal of energy.

Fortunately, Li Taibai did not avoid the fight but kept launching attacks at him.

During the battle, although Li Taibai's footwork was light, in the full half-hour of fighting, he had taken advantage of Li Taibai's frequent offensives to strike him three times.

It was precisely these three successive strikes that left Li Taibai severely injured and unable to continue fighting.

Otherwise, the outcome between the two of them would still be unknown, and perhaps they would have remained in a stalemate for some time longer.

Opposite him, Li Taibai had recovered after a brief moment of regulation. He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, looked at Jun Moyan, and said very calmly:

"This battle, I lost. It is also my first defeat among the new generation."

Standing up, Li Taibai took a deep look at Jun Moyan and said in a flat tone, "I hope you can win the champion title for this session!"

After saying this, Li Taibai put away the long sword in his hand and flew off the battle platform.

This defeat was one Li Taibai accepted wholeheartedly, and it did not affect his state of mind.

Although, if he had avoided the fight and focused on maneuvering, he could have lasted longer.

But if he had not launched fierce offensives to consume Jun Moyan's strength, he would never have had a chance to win.

Moreover, the pride in his heart did not allow him to avoid the fight.

So, if it happened again, he would still launch fierce offensives against Jun Moyan.

This time he lost, simply because his sword was not sharp enough.

Next time, it would be unknown.

Thinking of this, Li Taibai, who had already flown off the battle platform, revealed a look of determination in his eyes, and the sharpness radiating from his body became even keener.

Seeing this scene, Jun Moyan, still on the battle platform, narrowed his eyes slightly. After watching Li Taibai for a moment, he flew off the battle platform with the fighting spirit still burning in his heart.

At this moment, the other contestants looked at Jun Moyan and Li Taibai, who had finished their fight, in silence, their eyes flickering uncertainly.

Even Xiao Yuexian from Liyan County City, who until now had maintained a perfect record alongside Jun Moyan and Li Taibai, revealed a look of hesitation in her eyes.

Although she could also erupt with Foundation Establishment Realm combat strength, the emotional fluctuations of the crowd did not affect the progress of the grand competition.

After the battle between Jun Moyan and Li Taibai ended, the text on the scroll suspended high above the battle platforms began to change and reorder again.

Once the new round of battle pairings was out, fierce battles erupted again across the fifty battle platforms.

In the subsequent rounds of fighting, Jun Moyan and Li Taibai, having already exposed their strength, swept through, defeating one opponent after another.

During this process, Xiao Yuexian was successively matched against Jun Moyan and Li Taibai.

But there were no surprises; although Xiao Yuexian also erupted with Foundation Establishment Realm combat strength, which made everyone's eyes light up,

she ultimately lost to both Jun Moyan and Li Taibai.

Perhaps, when Xiao Yuexian faced Jun Moyan and Li Taibai earlier and felt hesitation in her heart, her failure was already destined.

Just like Li Taibai.

After Xiao Yuexian's cultivation base reached the peak of the Qi Refining Realm, she did not directly break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm in order to participate in this new-generation Qi Refining Realm grand competition.

Instead, she began to cultivate secret techniques to expand her dantian and refine the quality of her spiritual power in advance, hoping to accumulate enough foundation and combat strength to win the champion title for this new generation.

It was a pity that although Xiao Yuexian's combat strength reached the level of the Foundation Establishment Realm as she had hoped, she was still no match for Jun Moyan and Li Taibai.

As time passed, round after round of battles went by, and soon the ninety-ninth round of battles also ended smoothly.

During this period, Shi Huang from Shi Village experienced several more defeats, completely missing out on the top ten of the grand competition.

Shi Huang's talent was no lower than some of the opponents who had defeated him, and he was even slightly stronger than some of them.

It was a pity that Shi Huang's cultivation time was too short, and the resources he enjoyed in Shi Village were far inferior to those of other new-generation cultivators. It was already quite good that he could fight until now and achieve a record of eighty-seven wins and twelve losses.

After all, the contestants who could come to participate in the grand finals were not weak. Just the contestants with the same seven-element spiritual root talent as Shi Huang numbered as many as seven.

And it was not as if there were no contestants with talent surpassing Shi Huang's.

So, for Shi Huang to achieve his current record in the grand competition with only three years of cultivation time was already very outstanding.

Although Shi Huang felt some regret about losing the chance to advance to the top ten, he was not disappointed.

Participating in this Star Fall Continent new-generation Qi Refining Realm grand competition, he had experienced battle after battle without restraint, and the growth he had gained already exceeded his previous imagination.

Therefore, although he lost the chance to advance to the top ten, Shi Huang was not too disappointed or concerned about the gains and losses.

After the ninety-ninth round of battles ended,

Jiang Wen, who had been resting with his eyes closed on the floating platform, suddenly opened his eyes, stepped forward, and a vast amount of spiritual sense surged out.

Under the control of his spiritual sense, Jiang Wen instantly activated the Heart-Refining Arrays on the fifty battle platforms. Then, Jiang Wen scanned the hundred contestants below and said solemnly, "This is the Heart-Refining Array personally set up by the City Lord. After entering the Heart-Refining Array, your consciousness will enter a special space."

"In this special space, a replica will be created that is identical to you in every aspect, including cultivation base, spells, and even appearance. What you must do is defeat your own replica."

"There are only fifty battle platforms, so you will be divided into two batches to enter the Heart-Refining Array one after another to challenge yourselves."

Having said this, Jiang Wen paused for a moment, scanned the hundred contestants below again, and said in a slightly softer tone, "I hope you can overcome yourselves and win the final round of the competition."

"I announce that the final round of the Star Fall Continent new-generation Qi Refining Realm grand finals, the Self-Battle, officially begins."

Following Jiang Wen's words, the text on the floating scroll changed again, directly dividing the hundred contestants into two batches.

In the first batch of contestants, the names of Jun Moyan, Li Taibai, Xiao Yuexian, Li Gexiao, Bing Ruyi, Zi Dutian, Yuan Qingcheng, and others were listed.

After seeing their assigned battle platforms,

the first batch of contestants flew towards the Heart-Refining Arrays on their corresponding battle platforms.

Xiao Yuexian, lagging a few paces behind, looked at the figures of Jun Moyan and Li Taibai, a trace of unwillingness flashing in her eyes.

Then Xiao Yuexian looked towards the direction of the Heart-Refining Array ahead, a look of determination appearing in her eyes, and she thought to herself, "This time, I will not lose again."

Soon, the first batch of contestants had all entered the Heart-Refining Arrays on the battle platforms.

Not long after entering the Heart-Refining Array, the consciousness of these contestants was pulled into a special space by the power of the array.

In this special space, the contestants' consciousness bodies controlled the same power as their physical bodies.

And the contestants' opponents were another 'self' replicated by the Heart-Refining Array.

With the start of the final round of the Self-Battle, the fifty battle platforms looked calm, but fierce battles had begun within the fifty Heart-Refining Array spaces.

This time, because the contestants were evenly matched with their opponents, each battle lasted a very long time.

To end the battle,

either the contestant had to make a breakthrough, turn the tide, and defeat their replica,

or they would exhaust their energy in the intense battle or make a mistake and reveal a flaw, being defeated by their replica.

This battle was extremely difficult even for Jun Moyan, Li Taibai, and Xiao Yuexian; in fact, it was much harder for them to defeat their replicas than for other contestants.

They were strong, and their replicas were equally strong.

Moreover, the foundation accumulated by the three of them had already exceeded the scope of the Qi Refining Realm; without making a breakthrough in their realm, trying to advance further in other aspects was undoubtedly harder than hard.

Time passed slowly.

Half an hour later, contestants began to wake up one after another on the fifty battle platforms, leaving the platforms with exhausted faces.

Among these contestants leaving the platforms, some had joyful expressions, while others were dejected.

Fortunately, this was the grand final of the Star Fall Continent new-generation grand competition, and the new-generation powerhouses who could enter the grand finals were not lacking in any aspect.

Coupled with the tempering of nearly a hundred fierce battles, although the process of the Self-Battle was difficult, the contestants who overcame themselves and won the final victory still accounted for the majority, roughly seventy percent.

An hour later, Jun Moyan, Li Taibai, and Xiao Yuexian also successively defeated their replicas and woke up on the battle platforms.

Although they all radiated obvious exhaustion upon waking, the will revealed in their eyes was even more resilient and pure.

Clearly, their harvest in this Self-Battle was not small.

Once the first batch of contestants had all woken up and finished the Self-Battle in the Heart-Refining Array, the second batch of contestants could not wait to board the vacated battle platforms.

Shi Huang, Ying Wuqiu, Yan Ruyan, Wang Teng, Yue Xiling, Leng Ren, Nangong Ji, and others were among this second batch of contestants.

After the second batch of contestants entered the Heart-Refining Array,

only ten minutes later, the first contestant to wake up appeared, and this person was Shi Huang.

Shi Huang was the youngest among the hundred contestants, and his cultivation base and spells had not yet reached the limit of the Qi Refining Realm.

These were his shortcomings in the previous grand competition battles, but in the Self-Battle, these shortcomings became his advantages.

In the special space of the Heart-Refining Array, although it was the consciousness body fighting, the process also stimulated the contestants' bodies and influenced the improvement of their cultivation base and spells.

So, not long after entering the Heart-Refining Array, Shi Huang's cultivation base, which had already been stimulated by successive battles, improved again.

After all, during the successive battles of the Qi Refining Realm grand competition, Shi Huang had taken various elixirs prepared by Dongxuan City every time he was injured; these were elixirs Shi Huang had never taken before.

Although most of the medicinal power of these elixirs was for treating and recovering the contestants' injuries,

the energy from these elixirs merging into the contestants' bodies also influenced the progress of their cultivation base improvement at different levels.

Especially for Shi Huang, who had never taken elixirs to improve his cultivation base before.

That was why Shi Huang was able to raise his cultivation base to the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Realm in this grand competition and still have his cultivation base improve again in a short time.

Although he failed to break through to the ninth layer of the Qi Refining Realm as he had hoped, the improvement in his cultivation base indirectly influenced Shi Huang's combat strength.

Therefore, Shi Huang was able to be the first to defeat his replica and end this final battle shortly after entering the Heart-Refining Array.

Half an hour later,

Ying Wuqiu, Yan Ruyan, Wang Teng, Yue Xiling, Leng Ren, Nangong Ji, and others also woke up one after another and finished the battle.

Among them, except for Ying Wuqiu, the others all defeated their replicas and won the final Self-Battle.

It must be said that although Wang Teng had been excessively touted by his father, Wang Teng's talent and aptitude were indeed among the best in the entire Star Fall Continent.

Being able to fight his way through and enter the grand finals of the Star Fall Continent new-generation grand competition already exceeded ninety-nine percent of the cultivators in the Star Fall Continent.

It was just that, compared to the talent touted by Wang Teng's father, Wang Teng's actual talent was indeed somewhat eclipsed.

And through this Star Fall Continent new-generation Qi Refining Realm grand competition, experiencing battle after battle in the grand finals allowed Wang Teng to recognize his own talent and strength.

The initial failure might have been hard to accept, but after a hundred battles, Wang Teng himself felt much more relieved.

The arrogance originally brought about by his father's daily touting had now been worn away completely.

Compared to the arrogant Wang Teng from before, the current Wang Teng was undoubtedly much more calm and introverted.

Perhaps,

the one who gained the most in this new-generation grand competition was not anyone else.

It was Wang Teng.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 554 =====