As a B-level martial art, Wave Decapitation's training difficulty was much higher than Godspeed Steps.
Selmore had made great efforts to cultivate this martial art, and it had only been a few days ago that he was able to display this skill with full play to his strength.
Thus, he was extremely shocked when Li Jiye suddenly used Wave Decapitation, the skill he had gone to great lengths to cultivate with the strength of the Ring of Resistance.
Two sword auras mixed with endless stamina collided on the ring, and waves swept up immediately, forcing the students with weaker cultivation foundations to retreat a few steps.
At this moment, besides Selmore, even the audience was also discussing in astonishment.
"Li Jiye used Wave Decapitation?"
"It's another B-level martial art… How did he master these skills…?"
"Li Jiye followed Selmore and summoned Wave Decapitation later than him, but the sword aura actually hit first… Could he be…?"
Ignoring the discussion in the audience, Li Jiye raised the long knife in his hand and pointed it diagonally at Selmore. Although the two of them appeared to be evenly matched, Li Jiye was in fact already holding the upper hand.
The power of his Wave Decapitation was a little stronger than that of Selmore because his replication skill had given full play to this skill.
Selmore was inexplicably surprised. He knew better than anyone just how difficult it was to be proficient in Wave Decapitation. Seeing Li Jiye accomplish this, he was rendered speechless for a moment.
"I… surrender."
After a long time, Selmore sighed and raised his palm in defeat.
From this day onwards, the discussion about Li Jiye in the academy was unstoppable. Speculations about him came thick and fast, and some even said that he was a martial arts genius. No matter what martial art it was, he could learn and display it after only watching it once.
Li Jiye couldn't help feeling embarrassed when he heard Alice relay such rumors to him.
Needless to say, the students in Polar Star Academy were extremely radical and had thought out of the box. Their guesses were extremely close to the truth behind his replication skill.
Two days later, the quarterfinal matches came to an end. As the only Tier 2 intermediate-level student to ascend to the top four, Li Jiye suddenly became a highly anticipated contestant. The battle of the top four dawned soon after.
There were only two arenas in the school field. Today's semifinals would be held at noon at the same time.
Escorted by the freshmen, Li Jiye once again arrived at the place, his long knife hanging at his waist.
Coincidentally, his opponent was Benzema, the Fire Element martial artist who had easily defeated Alice in the knockout round.
"Li Jiye! If you can avenge me, I'll treat you to dinner for a whole week!"
Alice glared at Benzema.
Standing at the side, Daphne couldn't help but tap her head.
"Don't take it to heart, Li Jiye. Remember not to put too much pressure on yourself in this match. As a Tier 2 intermediate-level student, being in the top four is already an impressive achievement."
Smiling respectively at Alice and Daphne, Li Jiye lightly leapt onto the ring with turquoise waves at his feet.
Benzema was a black-haired young man who wasn't very tall. When Li Jiye came up, he turned to look at him a little disdainfully.
"You managed to get to this stage with a Tier 2 intermediate-level strength… You're very lucky. Unfortunately, your luck ends here."
Li Jiye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Alice had already warned him that although Benzema was indeed extraordinarily strong, his words weren't the most pleasant to hear. Now, he understood what Alice meant.
"Senior, I look forward to our exchanges."
After seeing him bow slightly to Benzema, the referee at the side nodded slightly.
"The semifinals begin— now!"
Right after he gave this order, Benzema threw an orange flame at Li Jiye.
Li Jiye remained calm when he saw this. He had already gained insight into Benzema's strength and had made some plans in advance. Thus, he didn't dodge at this moment.
Sure enough, the flame thrown by Benzema was just a trick, and his real ultimate move was after the flame.
"Phoenix Flash!"
Following the orange-red flames, Li Jiye immediately noticed several blazing winged knives made from the Fire Element shoot towards him.
"Falling Leaves Deadly Knives!"
The turquoise fallen leaves and the crimson winged knives exchanged blows. With the might of wind and fire, massive exploding sounds rang incessantly and lingered on the ears.
After blocking Benzema's martial art with Falling Leaves Deadly Knives, Li Jiye immediately lowered his body and made his way past an explosion that was still emitting heat. While using Shadow Wind Steps in the midst of the flames, he had long unsheathed his long knife and was already holding it in his hand.
"Senior, be careful!"
As the turquoise halo of Shadow Wind Steps was immersed in the layered flame vortex, Li Jiye's voice seemed to sound from all directions at the same time. Benzema frowned at first, but then the corner of his lips curled up in a mocking smirk.
Everyone in the audience watched with widened eyes as a group of sun-like flames burst out from his body.
"Glare of Sunlight!"
Li Jiye was completely shocked by this turn of events. He was already prepared to use Mad Knife Slash with the long knife in his hand, but Benzema's Glare of Sunlight was indiscriminately expanding towards him.
The B-level Fire Element martial art, Glare of Sunlight, was extraordinary. In an instant, Li Jiye could only evade it by retracting Shadow Wind Steps.
He continuously slashed with the long knife in his hand and shot out turquoise energy, thus successfully blocking the Glare of Sunlight at this moment. Upon seeing this situation for the first time, Benzema's face turned a little more solemn.
"It seems like it wasn't just luck that got you here… But what's your next move going to be?"
As soon as his voice fell, the Glare of Sunlight flames that emerged from his body expanded again. At this point, Li Jiye had already pushed his elemental energy to its limit. The fierceness of the fire seemed irresistible and continued pressing on him incessantly.
But every martial art has a limit… As a B-level martial art, Benzema's Glare of Sunlight is extremely powerful, but the energy consumption is definitely not small. Since I have two elemental skills and Knife Mastery, I don't believe he won't consume more energy than me! Thinking of this, he continued avoiding the fire with Shadow Wind Steps and slashed the long knife in his hand up and down. The Mad Knife Slash he had previously used to ignite the knife energy was now turned into the even more powerful Wave Decapitation.
Each layer of the four radiant waves of knives was more powerful than the other. In this second exchange of moves, Benzema's complexion became visibly pale. Upon seeing this, Li Jiye was delighted. He immediately knew that the elemental energy in his opponent was quickly running out.
"I will end the match here!"
With a slash forward, Li Jiye suddenly exerted his full strength. Solid turquoise knife energy from the long knife surged forward, and in the next second, the red flames surrounding Benzema disintegrated into shards of radiant light and dissipated into the air.