Chapter 50: Blade Qi Piercing the Body

As the breath was fully expelled, his chest cavity was empty, and he could clearly feel a wisp of Qi rising from within.

It circulated through his entire body, over and over again.

A full thirty-six times.

This was the thirty-six heavenly cycles.

Absorbing new Qi, he clearly felt a slight heat in the soles of his feet and, without hesitation, gripped the long blade at his side.

Boom!

One strike, two strikes. Gradually, sweat seeped from Li Rui's forehead, and his clothes were soaked, but his expression was incomparably calm. He didn't feel tired at all, didn't even pant, only feeling the Qi circulating through his body becoming hotter and hotter, finally becoming as scorching as a flame.

Bang!

At a certain moment, Li Rui slashed out, and the wooden table ten steps away collapsed with a crash.

Blade Qi!

Li Rui's eyes shot out a brilliant light.

An extremely faint but incomparably sharp current of air circulated through his body again and again.

This breakthrough to the Eighth Rank had inadvertently allowed him to cultivate Blade Qi, something only martial arts experts above the Seventh Rank could comprehend.

Blade Qi piercing the body!

He had actually comprehended it just as he stepped into the Eighth Rank.

A peerless prodigy could do no better.

Perhaps it was because he had once sensed the true meaning of a wisp of Profound Clear Qi that he was able to master Blade Qi ahead of time.

Soaked in sweat and smelling of sweat, Li Rui's eyes were brighter than ever before. Even though it was recorded in books, it was written by others after all, and it was far inferior to experiencing it personally.

Refreshing!

At this moment, blood and Qi circulated through his limbs and bones, his entire skeleton was washed again and again, removing impurities, and the texture became harder as time passed, eventually reaching the terrifying level of being able to catch weapons with his bare hands.

Not only that, his strength and speed had also doubled.

Combat power greatly increased!

"No wonder there are so many martial arts fanatics in the world; this feeling is truly great!"

For a long time, his mood hadn't been this stirred. Li Rui felt his mindset had become much younger, and he almost couldn't resist the urge to look up and roar.

However, he didn't become complacent or unrestrained because of this.

The Eighth Rank was merely an admission ticket to Qinghe's high command.

Martial artists who had entered the ranks like Wu Tu could only be considered high-level thugs. In a force like the Heaven and Earth Alliance, they were just wage earners. Even if hired by wealthy families like the Zhu family to guard their homes, they were ultimately making money for others.

But after breaking through to the Bronze Bone Realm, the situation was vastly different.

Like the martial arts hall masters in the city, as well as the leaders of the Chai Gang and the Yu Gang, they were all at this realm.

In the Heaven and Earth Alliance, only those above the Eighth Rank were qualified to compete for the position of Deputy Helmsman.

The Helmsman, Dao Xiong, was also Eighth Rank.

It was just that he had very deep seniority in the Eighth Rank, and his foundation was incredibly solid; ordinary Eighth-Rankers were far from being his match.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to suppress the four Deputy Helmsmen under him.

Above the Bronze Bone Realm was the Willow Sinew Realm.

The vast majority of martial arts masters would stop at this step, and very few could reach a deeper level; at least in Qinghe, no one could do it.

Therefore, the Willow Sinew Realm was often called the "Detain Person Realm."

Wanting to step from Bronze Bone to Willow Sinew... difficult, difficult, difficult!

It required not only transcendent talent but also a massive accumulation of resources; otherwise, one would have no hope even after practicing for a lifetime.

"It seems I have no choice but to fight for it."

Li Rui had originally been unwilling to get involved in the disputes of the examination.

But now, the pitiful ten-tael offering from the Hun Tian Yi Hall master clearly could no longer satisfy the appetite of an Eighth-Rank martial artist.

However, Li Rui didn't intend to fully expose his strength.

As long as he could secure a job with good profit, he could still make money. There was no need to be stubborn about face and expose all his trump cards to fight for a Deputy Helmsman position; he had long since stopped caring about fame and status.

The Qinghe branch helm's grand examination arrived as scheduled.

As early as five days ago, a massive arena capable of holding a hundred people had been built in the center of the branch helm's martial arts field.

The branch helm disciples arrived at the martial arts field early.

Heads were moving everywhere.

On the high platform, nine chairs were placed, and nine people sat on them.

Li Rui was undoubtedly below the platform, at most not having to mingle with the ordinary disciples.

Wu Tu stood beside him.

"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect that the one coming for this examination would actually be Deputy Alliance Leader Tang."

Li Rui cast his gaze on the middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache and a profound temperament sitting in the very center.

According to the rules of the Heaven and Earth Alliance, for a branch helm grand examination, the headquarters needed to send a Deputy Alliance Leader to supervise; this was the convention.

"Deputy Alliance Leader Tang is the strongest person under the three main Alliance Leaders; he is an expert of the Seventh-Rank Willow Sinew Realm. It seems he hasn't come out to walk around for many years."

Wu Tu was very knowledgeable about the situation of the Heaven and Earth Alliance.

Li Rui narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the three people sitting on the very edge.

"Why did they come?"

He saw that besides Helmsman Dao Xiong and the four Deputy Helmsmen, the three from the Huaqing Sect were also sitting on the high platform.

On the high platform.

Zhu Yue sat upright.

The feeling of looking down on others was indeed great.

Unlike Han Qin and Jiang Yan, he had lived in Qinghe since he was a child and understood the Heaven and Earth Alliance much deeper than the two of them.

In Qinghe, forces like the Heaven and Earth Alliance and the Blood Tiger Gang were things that even the wealthy Zhu family couldn't afford to provoke.

Since he was small, he had been warned by his father, Zhu Ping.

"When you meet people from the Blood Tiger Gang, never provoke a conflict."

But now, he had not only become a distinguished guest of the Heaven and Earth Alliance but was even sitting on equal footing with the Helmsman and Deputy Helmsmen; this was something he hadn't dared to imagine when he was young.

He glanced at the eight people beside him.

Of the nine people on the high platform, he was the only one who wasn't Eighth Rank.

The reason he could sit in this seat was merely because of his Huaqing Sect identity. As a major sect of Anning Prefecture, the Heaven and Earth Alliance naturally had to treat them with courtesy on the surface.

Zhu Yue was even more glad that he had been able to enter the Huaqing Sect back then.

Otherwise, he might just be one of the vast crowd of disciples below the platform, looking up at the people on the stage.

Seeing that everyone had arrived.

Helmsman Dao Xiong coughed lightly and turned to look at Deputy Alliance Leader Tang Sheng, who was sitting in the very center.

"Alliance Leader Tang, this time in Qinghe, there are still quite a few good seedlings, and..."

He glanced at Han Qin and the other two with his peripheral vision.

"Thanks to the appreciation of the Huaqing Sect, Qinghe can exclusively occupy one spot for a Huaqing Sect disciple, and the age limit can be relaxed to thirty-five. The two people ranked highest in this examination can obtain the qualification to participate in the trial."

"Oh?"

Hearing Dao Xiong's words, Tang Sheng showed an interested expression.

"Huaqing Sect, huh..."

How precious the spot for a Huaqing Sect disciple was, went without saying. Not to mention the strict examination, the key was the high requirement for age; they only recruited genius disciples under fifteen.

For a major sect like the Huaqing Sect, they didn't lack disciples with innate talent, so they valued loyalty more.

A disciple cultivated from childhood naturally had a higher degree of loyalty than one who joined halfway, and they were more malleable.

Some humble people took shortcuts and exhausted their potential early.

Even if their strength was decent, the Huaqing Sect wouldn't look upon them favorably.

This spot thus appeared even more precious.

Tang Sheng specifically turned his head to smile and greet Han Qin and the other two to express his gratitude.

The Heaven and Earth Alliance being able to have someone become a Huaqing Sect disciple was something the high command was happy to see.

Tang Sheng finished his greetings before saying to Dao Xiong:

"Alright, let's begin."

(End of chapter)