Chapter 1457: I Challenge You

At that moment, a new round of the selection matches began.

The one who stepped onto the stage was Yuwen Changkong.

After Kang Huailie, the original captain of Yuwen Changkong's team, had died in the Dead Soul Devil Abyss, Yuwen Changkong took his place and became the new captain. Naturally, he also wanted to fight for a spot in the Hunting Battlefield this time.

His luck seemed quite good. He had already won his first two matches. In this third round, his opponent was also an Extreme Second Stage Human Emperor.

Although the battle was hard fought, Yuwen Changkong ultimately secured victory, achieving three consecutive wins. With that, he obtained qualification for the Hunting Battlefield.

Of course, this was only qualification. Whether he could truly enter the Hunting Battlefield still depended on being selected among all the qualified disciples as one of the strongest hundred.

To put it simply, this round was only a preliminary screening. That was precisely why those veteran elite disciples had room to manipulate things behind the scenes.

Yuwen Changkong's success was not due to luck at all. It was because his cousin, Yuwen Liang, had already arranged everything in advance.

Next, a Great Emperor leapt onto the stage. He picked up a numbered token and grinned.

"Which one is Li Fei? Get up here and fight me!"

"It's him again!"

Feng Ling's eyes flashed coldly as she gritted her teeth. "He's the one who injured me earlier!"

Li Fei's phoenix eyes snapped open. She clenched her fists and prepared to leap onto the stage, but Ling Feng pressed a hand onto her shoulder.

"Junior Brother Ling..." Li Fei bit her lip. "I-I can still fight!"

"If this were a fair draw and you met a strong opponent, then it would just be bad luck. That would be fine. But this situation is clearly deliberate targeting. You don't need to fight!"

Ling Feng gave a faint smile and said calmly, "Rest well. Leave this to me."

A warm feeling rose in Li Fei's heart. She looked at Ling Feng's calm and resolute face, then suddenly smiled and nodded firmly.

"Senior Brother Chu, take care of the others."

After speaking, Ling Feng stepped out from the crowd and leapt onto the stage.

"

Hm?

"

The Great Emperor on the stage, Wu Jian, frowned and snorted coldly.

"My opponent is Li Fei. What are you doing up here, brat?"

Ling Feng ignored him. He walked step by step to the center of the arena, stopping ten paces away. His eyes locked onto Wu Jian with a cold gaze.

"

Hm?

"

Wu Jian's expression darkened as he roared, "Are you deaf? Get down here now!"

Ling Feng stood with his hands behind his back and replied calmly, "The rules say that three wins out of five matches are enough. For the first match, I will challenge you. What do you think?"

"Insolence! Do you think you get to decide the rules of the selection?"

Wu Jian erupted like an enraged lion. His aura surged outward, whipping up a violent gale.

Ling Feng turned his head toward the high platform and fixed his gaze on Donghuang Xuanyi.

"Senior Brother Donghuang, is that not allowed?"

Donghuang Xuanyi let out a dismissive smile. He slowly stood and called out to Wu Jian.

"If that's the case, Junior Brother Wu, go ahead and spar with him."

If Ling Feng truly had the strength to defeat Wu Jian, then he could barely be considered a worthy opponent.

Donghuang Xuanyi was no fool. He could clearly see that Yuwen Liang had used connections to instruct certain Great Emperor level disciples to target Ling Feng's team. However, he had allowed it to happen.

After all, those people were insignificant in his eyes. The only one who truly caught his attention was Ling Feng.

Now that Ling Feng had stepped forward to challenge Wu Jian himself, it saved him the trouble. If Ling Feng could not even pass this test, then he was not worth being his opponent.

"

Heh,

fine. Since Senior Brother Donghuang has spoken, I'll exchange a few moves with you. But you'd better prepare yourself. I won't hold back!"

Wu Jian's expression relaxed slightly after hearing Donghuang Xuanyi's words, but his eyes were filled with disdain.

A mere ninth level Spiritual Sea Realm cultivator who had not even reached the Human Emperor stage dared to challenge a Great Emperor?

Ling Feng glanced at him indifferently. "Good. I won't hold back either."

"

Heh heh heh...

"

Wu Jian let out a strange laugh. "I heard you managed to withstand three moves from Senior Brother Donghuang. I'm curious how many moves you can survive against me!"

"To be blunt, you are not qualified to be compared to Donghuang Xuanyi."

Ling Feng sized him up and spoke in a calm tone.

"

Hmph

. I only need enough strength to deal with you!"

Wu Jian's brows furrowed. It was true that he was not as strong as Donghuang Xuanyi, but that did not mean a mere Spiritual Sea Realm cultivator could point fingers at him.

"Even that might be more than you can manage."

Ling Feng stood tall. The Dragon Elephant Divine Strength within him surged wildly. In an instant, an overwhelming tide of vitality condensed into a dragon elephant illusion that coiled behind him.

At the same time, the seven Qi-Refining Primordial Locks within his body were completely released. His strength and speed both rose to their peak in an instant.

So what if the opponent was a Great Emperor?

Today, he would use absolute power and ultimate speed to crush one!

He would show everyone that the gap of the Great Emperor realm was not insurmountable!

"Arrogant!"

Wu Jian's eyes burned with fury. He had clearly been provoked into real anger. With a shake of both arms, he unleashed his strongest technique.

"Raging Tides!"

His figure moved like thunder. He charged forward like a surging river, unstoppable and violent.

Crash!

As he advanced, his robes snapped loudly. The air itself roared like crashing waves.

Aura and momentum fused perfectly, as if an entire river was bearing down, ready to shatter everything in its path.

Even the spectators in the stands felt the pressure from afar. Their hearts tightened, and their chests felt heavy, as if they could not breathe. They only wished for the attack to end quickly.

Fierce winds whipped through Ling Feng's hair, revealing his deep, cold eyes.

Boom!

Facing that overwhelming punch, Ling Feng did not dodge. He did not evade. He simply threw out a normal punch of his own!

"What?"

On the high platform, Donghuang Xuanyi, who had remained calm until now, suddenly felt his eyelids twitch.

In just three days, Ling Feng's strength had risen significantly again.

He was not using any of his signature Soul Dao techniques. From the very start, he chose to clash head on with a Great Emperor.

"This brat is not simple! Good. Let me see just how far you have progressed!"

A sharp glint flashed in Donghuang Xuanyi's eyes.

The strength Ling Feng displayed did surprise him, but only to that extent.

Author's note: Let me clarify something. As I mentioned before, the cultivation system in this novel is divided into three paths: qi refinement, body refinement, and spiritual refinement. On the surface, Ling Feng's cultivation realm may not seem high, but in terms of spiritual refinement and body refinement, he has already far surpassed the Human Emperor level and can stand on par with early-tier Great Emperors. If you focus only on qi refinement and claim that Ling Feng's realm is low, that he skips too many levels, or that his progression is too slow, then you should compare how many levels he has surpassed others in both spiritual refinement and body refinement.