Chapter 674: A Thousand Battles, A Thousand Victories; Fame Springs Forth

How could this be anything less than a meteoric leap forward?

Watching the information reflected within the star-curtain, Li Yuan felt as if he were drinking fine wine, quite a bit tipsy.

Three years. From initial success in entering the Dao to the perfection of He Yi, five spells, each cultivated at least to the ninth layer, the highest at thirty-one layers!

Over three years of bitter cultivation, with almost uninterrupted spirit-food and spirit-pills invested, what he was looking at now was hardly information projected by the Grand Void Divine Realm—it was plainly the harvest of his own diligent labor.

One must know that ordinary cultivators of the Er San Jing, even after bitter cultivation for several decades, might not be able to push a single spell above the thirtieth layer; those who cultivated spells to this level were usually San Jing cultivators.

Moreover, these spells of his were all superior spells drawn from great scripture-level Gong Fa.

"Progress is swift, but the expenses are great too."

Recalling the Xiao Gong invested over the three years, Li Yuan felt his progress was still not fast enough.

Thanks to his god-demon-level talent and the augmentation of the Soldier Register, spirit-pills that ordinary cultivators would need ten days to half a month to digest, he almost had to swallow one or two every day.

This was only the 'Shan Xuan Shui Dan' used to enhance magic power cultivation; the 'Ming Shen Dan', 'Wu Fa Dan', and 'Shui Xing Dan' used for cultivating spells had likewise never been interrupted.

Thus, nourished by the many spirit-pills and spirit-foods, Li Yuan reckoned his cultivation speed had already approached the limit of god-demon-level talent.

Only then did it live up to the expenses of these three-plus years.

But…

"After the perfection of He Yi, to maintain this cultivation speed, the Suo Xu Shan Gong will simply be too much…"

Li Yuan had long anticipated this.

Taking the Great Fortune as an example, He Yi could be called a Grand Master; in Jianghuda Sect like Dragon-Tiger Temple and One-Qi Mountain Manor, each generation would have at least one, at most two or three.

But the Divine Palace realm, not counting Wan Wan Zhuliu, in over ten thousand years had only four people!

This was certainly because the Great Fortune heaven and earth were sealed, lacking complete inheritances, yet it also showed the difference between the Er San Jing.

This gap was also reflected in spirit-pills; for the same kind of pill, the price difference between the Er San Jing was several-fold, and for some rare ones, it could even differ by ten times.

"The ranking on the Battle Ranking should be pushed up a bit too."

Li Yuan flicked his finger lightly; everything was proceeding methodically according to his plan, which gave him a peculiar sense of satisfaction.

Hum~

At the thought, the Battle Platform already sensed it; in less than an instant, he had transformed into a streak of starlight and plunged into the Battle Hall.

……

The Tian Shi Yuan continent had ninety-three Xiancheng.

These ninety-three Xiancheng were all opened up by great powers with great divine powers, coexisting in the present world and the You Jing; any cultivator could enter the Opening Gui Xu to explore through the Xiancheng, so cultivators were mostly willing to reside there.

But no matter how large the Xiancheng were, they could not accommodate all cultivators; therefore, the holy lands and grotto-heavens, with these ninety-three Xiancheng as their core, built one great city after another.

Looking down from an extremely high point of the Tian Shi Yuan, one could even see the ninety-three clusters of cities, gathering over seventy percent of the Tian Shi Yuan's racial cultivators.

At the extreme west of the Tian Shi Yuan lay a mountain range that seemed boundless.

The mountains stretched endlessly at a glance, with countless strange peaks and perilous peaks, like divine swords piercing the heavens.

This place was called the Sword Spirit Xiancheng, one of the ninety-three Xiancheng of the Tian Shi Yuan; among these endlessly stretching mountains, countless cultivator cave-dwellings had been built.

"Hoo~"

At dawn, wisps of incense smoke rose in the Sword Spirit Xiancheng; sparse at first, they soon gathered into a vast expanse, slowly spreading, enveloping the Xiancheng that resembled endless mountains.

Within the fog-like incense smoke, one could faintly hear the rising and falling sounds of chanting.

That was many cultivators in their daily worship of the Sword Spirit God.

"Sword Spirit God above, bless me to leap to a third-rank Battle Fighter in one go!"

In a quiet little courtyard backed by a mountain and beside water, the burly and tall Wang Wang Luan bowed to offer incense, with quite a bit of piety.

Before him was a divine altar, upon which was enshrined a statue carved from Bai Yu; the statue was in the likeness of a plain Daoist, bearing an ancient sword on his back.

It was precisely the deity of the Sword Spirit race, the Sword Spirit God.

After the daily worship, Wang Wang Luan took out his communication sphere to check his battle record.

【Current: 877 wins, 3,963 losses】

"Just eleven more battles and I can advance to a third-rank Battle Fighter; the rewards from the Battle Hall are secondary, the income from spectating is the main haul."

"I hope the Grand Void Pavilion won't be too much of a scoundrel!"

Wang Wang Luan muttered darkly in his heart.

A third-rank Battle Fighter seemingly required fewer than nine hundred wins, but there was actually a restriction: within five thousand battles, if one could not advance to the third rank, the record would be reset to zero.

If it were only this, he would have long since advanced to the third rank; but alas, the Grand Void Pavilion was a scoundrel, for whenever he was close to advancing, he would encounter tough opponents one after another.

"Just eleven wins short—I don't believe every match after will be a tough one!"

After calming his emotions, Wang Wang Luan tapped open his communication sphere.

Wooo~

A flash of light.

Wang Wang Luan had already landed on a desolate mountain; glancing around, he found this was a second-rank Battle Platform, his brow furrowing slightly as he looked at the starlight before him.

【Bai Wan Li (Second-rank Battle Fighter)】

【Race: Human】

【Realm: He Yi Perfection】

"He Yi Perfection, a second-rank Battle Fighter?"

With just one glance, Wang Wang Luan sensed something was off; his thoughts turning, he nearly cursed out loud.

"It's him!"

Wang Wang Luan instantly recalled who this person was, and also recalled the entire process of their last clash.

This was not because his memory was extraordinary, but because that battle back then had many spectators, and he had earned a few thousand yuan-coins…

"It's only been two years, and he's already reached the perfection of He Yi Jing?"

Wang Wang Luan's heart jolted. Two years ago, when his realm was half a stage higher than his opponent's, he had still lost. This battle was shaping up to be a brutal, hard-fought struggle.

But the next instant, his face went green, and he nearly suspected he was seeing wrong.

【Current: 862 battles, 862 victories】

"?!"

Wang Wang Luan drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

Given the Grand Void Pavilion's utterly inhuman random matchmaking, just how good must this person's luck be to win every single battle…

There's no damn way this is just luck!

"An old acquaintance."

On a desolate mountain in the distance, casually pinching the starlight before him into Nine-Colored Smoke Silk, Li Yuan also recognized the person opposite — precisely one of the troublesome opponents he had encountered two years ago.

But now, though…

"The Grand Void Pavilion is still pretty humane — after consecutively matching me against Wei San Jing cultivators, it knows to ease up a bit."

Nine-colored smoke silk flowed around his body as Li Yuan eased his spirit.

Five hundred consecutive battles, including several Wei San Jing cultivators — even he needed a slight breather, and the opponent before him was perfectly suited for that.

Boom!

Wind and thunder churned in the distance.

A streak of sword-light shot skyward, rending the sea of clouds, and Yu Yu Xuanji's wondrous sight unfurled — within it, mountains and rivers towered, divine swords stood like a forest, and the thick aura of weapons and slaughter spread for thousands of li.

"Seems like no real progress."

Gazing at the wondrous sight, nearly identical to what it had been over two years ago, Li Yuan stepped out leisurely, letting the myriad sword-lights rain down upon him like a storm.

Two years ago, facing this move, he had still needed to activate the Nine-Colored Smoke Silk and the Sky Peng Dun Fa to shift and dodge, repeating this many times before finally summoning the Jin Chi Peng bird to end the fight.

But now, he didn't even need to dodge.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle~"

Ten thousand swords rained down like a storm, rending the void, leaving sword-marks that nearly covered the entire firmament — at a glance, it seemed as if the sky itself had been sliced into ten thousand pieces. 'Why isn't he dodging?'

The instant he drove his swords to rain down, Wang Wang Luan keenly sensed something was wrong, and the next instant, his pupils contracted sharply.

The young Daoist neither avoided nor dodged, strolling calmly through the rain of swords as if it were a spring outing rather than a life-and-death battle. The sword-lights he shot out, powerful enough to tear apart mountains and rivers, struck Li Yuan's body yet only splashed up tiny ripples.

"A protective spell above the Shi Zhong Fa tier?!"

Seeing this scene, Wang Wang Luan's heart went cold.

The spell he used to drive ten thousand swords raining down was called the 'Sword Rain Art.' He had cultivated it for a hundred years and had already reached the forty-third Fa tier — and it was precisely by relying on this move that he had achieved eight hundred and seventy victories.

But now…

"The Kun Ming Ten Thousand Layers Armor is still pretty useful, it just consumes a bit more magic power…"

Strolling through the rain of swords, Li Yuan appeared quite at ease and unhurried.

If Wang Wang Luan cultivated a Dharma Eye, he would have seen that every time a sword-light fell, a ripple would flash across Li Yuan's body.

This signified that Li Yuan wielded this spell with complete freedom, and his control of the battle was just right — with almost no wasted magic power.

"Still not sharp enough — every time I activate the Kun Ming Ten Thousand Layers Armor, it has to cover my whole body. If I only applied it to the spot where the sword-light lands, the consumption could be reduced tenfold. But it doesn't seem necessary to be that frugal…"

While Li Yuan was pondering this, he noticed the sword-light had already stopped.

"I concede!"

Not far away, Wang Wang Luan gave a bitter smile and conceded. Even as the light and shadow before him dispersed, he still found it somewhat hard to believe.

In just two short years — even those legendary demon-god-level prodigies among the monstrous geniuses — couldn't possibly have made such terrifying progress, right?

【Combat Victor: Eighty Thousand Li】

In the starry sky formed by the Combat Palace, Wang Wang Luan stared blankly for a long while before giving a bitter smile and shaking his head:

"Where did this monster come from?"

Clearly having only fought one battle today, Wang Wang Luan actually felt utterly exhausted. He delayed his second match for a long time, and instead opened the Grand Void Myriad Manifestations, exhaustively searching for Eighty Thousand Li.

"Aside from the undefeated record on the Combat Platform, there's no information at all… a fake name, it has to be a fake name!"

After his exhaustive search, Wang Wang Luan's heart instead found relief.

He felt this Eighty Thousand Li must certainly be a true disciple of some holy land or great clan — otherwise, such terrifying progress would be impossible.

"Buzz~"

At this moment, Wang Wang Luan heard a tremor and discovered it came from 'Spectate.' He had only just finished fighting Eighty Thousand Li — and someone was already spectating?

He instinctively opened the spectating area, glanced up and down, and saw a rather conspicuous spectating notification.

【Undefeated in all battles, suspected to be a demon-god-level monster from outside Tian Shi Yuan!】

"Hm?"

The moment Wang Wang Luan tapped the entry, several hundred battle notifications cascaded down like a waterfall, and the very top one prominently read 'Human cultivator Eighty Thousand Li battles Wind God Clan cultivator Feng Feng Xiuqi.'

"…Thirty thousand spectators?"

Wang Wang Luan spent some yuan coins to watch the battles.

Before long, having watched several dozen battles in a row, he exited the spectating with a Solemn expression, now fully certain this person must be a demon-god-level monster from some holy land!

"Two years ago, his cultivation was at most just entering Unity, and his spell use was still a bit raw. But now…"

Wang Wang Luan felt a twinge of shock.

He watched a battle between Eighty Thousand Li and a Wei San Jing cultivator — the man had been in complete control throughout, his fundamentals solid and his spiritual sense sharp, and he had won in the end, looking every inch a battle grandmaster.

From raw to seasoned, from just entering Unity to the perfection of Unity.

"And it only took two years!"

Wang Wang Luan opened his own battle record, and his heart jolted again:

"He's already Tier Three?"

"Wait…"

Wang Wang Luan came back to his senses, flipped through the 'Eighty Thousand Li Battle Summary' compiled by that Wind God Race cultivator, and after reviewing it, arrived at a startling conclusion.

"His eight hundred-plus victories that earned him promotion to a second-rank Battle Fighter were all won in one go!"

Fighting on the Battle Platform does not consume a cultivator's magic power, and because the Battle Hall contains the 'Time' divine prohibition, the flow of time inside is far slower than outside. As long as one is willing, one can even fight a full thousand battles in a single day.

But the spiritual exhaustion from battle is real and substantial; even cultivators with deep foundations rarely manage to fight a hundred bouts in one stretch.

Let alone eight hundred?

Moreover…

"He's still fighting!"

Wang Wang Luan couldn't help staring as he watched him fight from eight hundred up to nine hundred, and when the battle count finally stopped rolling, it had already accumulated to a thousand battles!

A thousand battles, a thousand victories!

……

【Battle Victor: Eighty Thousand Li】

【Obtain 5,000 Yuan Coins】

【Two thousand victories grants promotion to fourth-rank Battle Fighter】

【Current: One thousand battles, one thousand victories】

"Hah!"

In the star curtain, having accumulated a thousand victories, Li Yuan let out a long breath and did not fight again. Even with his foundation, he truly could not endure much more.

Nine hundred consecutive battles—even though the vast majority were overwhelming sweeps, the spiritual exhaustion was truly immense; he even felt his Kun Peng spirit image growing somewhat listless.

Especially in the battle for promotion to third-rank Battle Fighter, and the final battle of his thousand victories, the Grand Void Pavilion had randomly assigned him two fourth-rank Battle Fighters—truly unconscionable.

"The seven-rank division of the Battle Platform is actually related to innate talent…"

Li Yuan pondered thoughtfully.

After finishing a thousand battles and even encountering two fourth-rank Battle Fighters, he had more or less figured out that the grade of a Battle Fighter is roughly based on innate talent!

Like the two fourth-rank Battle Fighters he encountered, they should be cultivators of fourth-rank innate talent, whose combat power at the Dao San Jing realm should be…

"If we calculate it this way, the value of this Battle Leaderboard is truly very high. Those at the top are uniformly sixth-rank…"

"But then again, Tian Shi Yuan encompasses who knows how many tens of thousands of life stars; it would be abnormal if there were fewer. Still, there seem to be only three or four seventh-rank?"

"Is that a lot, or a little?"

Li Yuan divided his attention, soothing his spirit while also reviewing the gains from his consecutive battles.

Gains—if one had to name them, it would be that his control over combat and his deployment and coordination of spells had improved considerably. Beyond that, his greatest takeaway was about this Battle Hall itself.

"The Time divine prohibition is truly a fine thing. Too bad it can only act upon the divine soul, and likewise consumes lifespan and spirit. Otherwise, the value of this Grand Void Illusory Realm would soar a hundredfold more."

Nine hundred battles—even though Li Yuan fought very quickly, the time taken was far more than a day, but in fact, less than a day had truly passed outside.

This was naturally because of the 'Time' divine prohibition within the Battle Hall!

"The number of spectators is surging!"

Feeling the Yuan Coin balance jumping continuously, Li Yuan instantly felt his spirit improve a great deal.

Just as he had estimated, an undefeated record across all battles draws far more attention than merely a thousand victories—and besides, he had won those thousand victories in one unbroken stretch!

"Less than a day, over thirty thousand spectators—that's roughly half a Xiao Gong… calculating it this way, it doesn't seem like much."

Li Yuan did some quick mental math and felt a pang of heartache.

The Grand Void Pavilion takes half as commission, the remaining half is split evenly between the two combatants, meaning he actually only gets a quarter…

"Lucky that the five great cavern heavens of Tian Shi Yuan don't take a cut, otherwise there wouldn't even be a quarter."

Li Yuan's mood was still quite good.

An income of half a Xiao Gong per day may not seem like much, but accumulated over time it adds up to quite a sum—far exceeding the stipend of an inner disciple, let alone the fact that this is only the beginning.

【Battle Leaderboard Star Board: Rank 500】

Li Yuan looked at the Battle Leaderboard. On the Star Board, his ranking was already not low—the sole third-rank Battle Fighter among a sea of uniformly fifth- and sixth-rank Battle Fighters was truly eye-catching.

"Five hundred is still not high enough. If only I could reach the top of the board…"

Li Yuan closed the Tongshi Orb.

Dawn had broken; he still needed to pay a visit to Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen.

(End of chapter)