"Another day to Wu Prefecture City's annual Prodigy Summit!"
Within the span of a few days, Li Ye had elevated his state to peak Level Five. Level Six was barely within reach, but that final push was hindering him from breaking through.
"Looks like I need to reach a breaking point!"
In less than two months, he went from being an uncultivatable piece of waste to peak Level Five cultivator. Everyone believed that Li Ye had endured silently in pain a few years back, then achieved a miracle and slowly erupted in strength.
However, he was the only one privy to the fact that he underwent those changes within two months!
The excessive continuous breakthrough almost made him forget the difficulties of cultivation. The sudden slowing down was actually a very normal incident.
Were there any breaking points that could help him break through?
Out of the blue, Li Ye heard some noises outside.
"What's going on?"
The yard where he lived was quite close to the residences of other inner disciples. When he opened the door, he heard noises and even the sound of fighting coming from outside.
He went out and saw a few familiar faces staring angrily at a few strangers. Among them, Li Ye even saw Li Yuanjia, whom he was relatively familiar with. At that time, he was surprised to see a trace of blood in the corner of Li Yuanjia's mouth!
"Li Yuanjia, you're still as crappy as last year. You can't even withstand my ten moves. Can I advise you something? Don't go to this Prodigy Summit. You'll never get the top ten!"
An arrogant voice was clearly picked up by Li Ye's ears. On closer look, three strangers were standing right opposite a group of inner door disciples headed by Li Yuanjia.
The person who spoke was a pale-faced young man. He smiled coldly and had a haughty expression.
Li Ye went out just in time to see the outcome of the young man's battle with Li Yuanjia. The latter turned out to be slightly less skilled than the young man and was therefore injured as a result.
"Wu Hao! If you're that great, why not settle scores with me during the Prodigy Summit!"
"Yeah! Exactly! You made a despicable sneak attack just now. How is that worthy of a heroic good man!"
Some of the inner disciples complained, but the young man sneered and said, "You must be kidding. A sneak attack? That's because you're not vigilant enough! It's such a pity that you don't understand such basics even though you're an inner disciple! Shame on you!"
Those remarks elicited glares from the Li clan's disciples, but unfortunately their fear of the three young men were evident and they did not dare to strike back on a whim.
"What happened?"
Li Ye approached and asked a question.
The person nearly got angry, but when he turned around and saw that it was Li Ye—the amazing newcomer who broke into the top ten—he put aside his anger and began explaining softly.
After listening to everything, Li Ye learned that the three guys were from the other two great clans in Wu Prefecture City. Among them was the Wu prodigy Wu Hao, who had struck and injured Li Yuanjia. As for the other two, one was also a Wu clan disciple while the other was from the Yuwen clan.
"Wu Hao is one of the top prodigies in the Wu clan. His strength is second only to Wu Batian, one of the four prodigies of the previous Prodigy Summit. Wu Hao's position in the Wu clan is very high!"
Li Ye looked at the pale-faced young man who had injured Li Yuanjia. He was about twenty years old, and gazed mockingly at the group of Li's clan disciples. He did not seem to care that he was actually on the Li clan's turf.
"Are there still any decent ones here? Li Yuanjia is such a piece of trash, yet he's second-place among your Li clan's disciples. How disappointing! There doesn't seem to be anyone worthy in your clan except for Li Mo!"
Wu Hao remarked flippantly and did not even seem to take the Li clan seriously.
"Wu Hao! Don't you cross the line! This is the Li clan's turf! Not yours!"
An inner disciple yelled but was afraid to do anything. Li Yuanjia suffered injury after just a few moves, and the rest were aware that they were too weak to step forward.
After careful questioning, Li Ye finally realized that Wu Hao visited the Li clan compound not too long ago with the other two. The first thing that came out of their mouths was to challenge the inner disciples.
"This Wu Hao is undoubtedly one of the top ten in the last Prodigy Summit. None of us can last three moves when facing him."
The inner disciple questioned by Li Ye looked bitter. Li Ye looked at Wu Hao's vital force. It was around peak Level Eight and was just short of breaking through to Grandmaster.
Wu Hao turned out to be the sixth strongest in the previous Wu Prefecture City Prodigy Summit. His strength was much better than that of Li Ji, the former second inner disciple. On that occasion, he came directly to challenge Li Yuanjia.
"Li Yuanjia, you and I are the second disciples of our respective families, but unfortunately you're too weak! You're no challenge at all! Why don't you all just have Li Mo show himself? Show me how far one of last year's Four Great Prodigies has grown this year! "
Insanity! It was utter madness!
No one on the Li clan's side dared to say anything. Despite Wu Hao's unbridled arrogance, his strength warranted respect.
"Wu Hao, you're not fit to let Li Mo show himself! I can deal with you myself!"
There Li Yuanjia took a deep breath and pushed away the others who were supporting him. Coldness sprung from his eyes. Unfortunately, someone held his shoulder, and spoke into his ear, "Yuanjia, tend to your injuries first. Leave him to me!"
It turned out to be Li Ye that was holding him. Li Ye noticed that the earlier confrontation had led to internal wounds even though Li Yuanjia looked fine. If Li Yuanjia did not get rest and recuperation, the injury would worsen and it would affect him in the Prodigy Summit the next day!
"Li Ye, his strength isn't something you can handle!"
Li Yuanjia found relief when he saw Li Ye but quickly shook his head instead. Although Li Ye—who had defeated two great Martial Masters in Li Gei and Li Xuan—had eye-catching performances and become the seventh inner disciple, there was still too great a gap between their realms!
A mere glance was enough for Li Yuanjia to notice that Li Ye was merely at peak Level Five, despite improving a lot in the past few days and had a speed that was completely awe-inspiring. The fact still remained however, that the disparity was just too big!
"Although your strength can compare with a Level Seven Martial Master, the gap between a Martial Master and an Eminent Master is not as small as you think!"
"Don't worry, I know what needs to be done!"
Li Ye smiled slightly. If it was ten days ago, he might not feel confident to fight an Eminent Master, especially not someone who was in the top ten of the last Prodigy Summit.
Things had changed since then. He had the Cloudflip Palm, the Ice Crystal Fist, and the Windstorm Kick. All of those techniques had been cultivated to lesser attainment and their strength had more than tripled. Coupled with the Footstep Mirage that he had cultivated to greater attainment, he was confident that few anyone below the level of Grandmaster would not be a threat to him.
Of course, if things did not work out, he would still have two trump cards in his bloodpupils and Sword Control Technique. He was far from weak!
Li Yuanjia hesitated but soon nodded and whispered, "Be careful!"
For some reason, Li Yuanjia felt confident too after seeing Li Ye's confident look. Li Yuanjia was even eager to watch Li Ye conjure up miracles once more, just like the ones that happened during the battles between inner disciples.
"I'm your opponent."
Taking Li Yuanjia's place, Li Ye faced Wu Hao head-on. Once he truly faced him head-on, Li Ye knew why Li Yuanjia was reluctant to let him do anything earlier. The vital force belonging to an Eminent Master was a lethal stifling force for those with low states. The overwhelming pressure was akin encountering a predator. Four-fifths of a ten percent strength was already good enough—the greater the gap between states, the greater the suppressive force would be.
Li Ye however, felt no discomfort. The imposing manner of the opponent was nothing more than child's play to him. It had absolutely zero effect on him at all.
"Which piece of trash are you? Get off! A peak Level Five dares to challenge me, Wu Hao? I don't know if you're stupid or you're eager to die!"
Wu Hao dismissed Li Ye as soon as he saw him. It felt like such a hassle to even make a move.
"He is Li Ye, our current seventh-placed disciple!"
Someone shouted at once. That was despite many of them being unaccustomed to Li Ye stepping on their heads, as Li Ye had overtaken them even though he used to be trash. At that moment however, they hoped that Li Ye could work wonders again in the face of those foreign enemies.
"Seventh-placed inner disciple? A measly little Level Five kid?"
Wu Hao had an odd expression when he heard it, but then he laughed. "Are you kidding me? Has your Li clan turned into such rotten garbage now? Let's not even talk about your crappy Li Yuanjia, the second inner disciple. You even let a Level Five kiddo become one of your top ten? "
Subsequently, the two people behind him snickered and showed the contempt in their eyes.
None of the Li clan's kids knew how to refute that statement. Were they supposed to say that Li Ye's fighting ability was more abnormal than that of the Level Seven Martial Masters? Or that he could learn Yellow Rank Advanced techniques by just seeing their execution once?
Whether or not they were willing to say that to tell the Wu and Yuwen clan, the Wu and Yuwen clan would nor even believe them if they said so!
"Are you going to fight or not? If not, then get the hell out of the Li clan compound!"
Li Ye frowned, then muttered to himself, "The Three Great Clans of Wu Prefecture City have been struggling for hundreds of years. Everyone has tried to rule Wu Prefecture City, but they have been restraining each other. Now it seems that the Wu clan and the Yuwen clan are targeting us at once?"
If that was the case, then danger was certainly lying in wait for the Li clan, even if they claim to be the head of Wu Prefecture City's Three Great Clans!
After all, the strengths of the Three Great Clans were not much different from one another. Once two clans chose to unite and deal a blow to the remaining one, it was likely to break the status quo in Wu Prefecture City for the next century!
"Who do you think you are? How dare a piece of Level Five garbage talk to me like this!"
Wu Hao's face became cold, along with a sudden surge of killing intent.
"Garbage? Well, if you're afraid to take on a Level Five cultivator, then your Wu clan is the real garbage here!"
Faced with Li Ye's harsh retort, Wu Hao was no longer able to keep his composure. He roared angrily and thrust his palm out!
"Kiddo! You're looking to die!"
The terrifying air current from his palm was accompanied by a loud whistling! Li Ye's face turned serious immediately. He might have been casual with his words on the outside, but deep in his heart, he knew that Wu Hao was the strongest opponent he had faced so far. Wu Hao's strength could outdo even Li Huangran's!