Ma Shinfei rushed at Shen Xue once more, stick and sword flying around, but after a moment, Ma Shinfei was kicked in the gut and pushed back.
"Let me assist you." Suddenly, Qiong Lieyu arrived beside Shen Xue, a nine-ringed saber in his hand as he slashed out.
Ruling Saber first form - Sky Falling Saber Dominance
With one attack of his weapon, saber shadows blazed, carrying a whelming killing aura that swept out in Shen Xue's direction like tidal waves.
"Scumbag, don't butt in my fight!" Ma Shinfei shouted furious but helpless as he watched Qiong Lieyu attack.
Shen Xue was calm as he raised his sword and used a defensive battle skill to protect himself, yet the saber shadows were too numerous, so he mostly focused in preserving his vital spots.
Most of the saber shadows were deflected, but a few were able to cut his arms or graze his shoulder.
It was the first time since the start of the competition that Shen Xue has been wounded.
They were only minor injuries, but it was enough for Ma Shinfei to humanize what seemed like a flawless and unmovable wall till now, taking all his strikes lightly, balanced in every aspect, never showing a single weakness.
As for Qiong Lieyu, although it didn't seem like much, it was only the first step towards his plan to defeat Shen Xue. One small step forward would lead to many others and minor injuries will develop in major injuries while defects should turn into defeat.
"Shen Xue is my biggest rival in this competition, no one should have been able to come close to our scores, as long as he is eliminated, my victory is assured." Qiong Lieyu thought fervently.
However at this time, an unexpected scene occured before their eyes.
Shen Xue stared at Qiong Lieyu, motionless, his skin lightly cut at several places, but at the moment where blood was about to flow down the wounds, the blood quickly froze up, covering the cuts in a small layer of ice.
"What is this?" Qiong Lieyu exclaimed in a frown while Ma Shinfei was at a loss for words, but not far from them, Jin Hao Tian sighed in understanding.
"So he did cultivate a body refining technique."
Indeed, Shen Xue became a body refining cultivator not long after joining the Tiger Martial Institute.
Remember, when he obtained the first place in the recruitment competition, he obtained various rewards, the visit in the institute armory was one of them, but he also gained entry to the third floor of all three towers to retrieve a martial art for each one of them.
Usually, cultivators don't bother with body refining to focus on the condensation of their Qi and Shen Xue was no different, but with a free access to a body refining technique, what reason did he have to refuse, increasing his strength could only be helpful.
He was greatly nurtured both by the Shen clan and the Tiger Martial Institute and was very gifted in every way, neither lacking resources nor talent, if even he couldn't cultivate a high-tier Yellow Class body refining technique then who could?
That's how he came to allot a part of his time to the cultivation of the Ice Bone Frost Blood body refining technique.
This technique, beside increasing physical performances, gave the body uncomparably sturdy bones like compressed ice and the blood, once injured, would freeze upon the base of the wound, preventing any blood loss and accelerating the recuperation to a certain degree.
Jin Hao Tian who was close by spectated everything and had his doubts from the start.
It was often said that when you're not in the middle of an activity, but just watching as an onlooker, it was much easier to analyze everything and think of the best action to take.
Jin Hao Tian didn't take part in the battle, but could understand every intricacies between each one's actions.
At the beginning, when he stood at the top of the precipice, he saw Shen Xue repel Ma Shinfei back to the rock cliff with only one swing of his sword.
Ma Shinfei fell down with great momentum and used a powerful battle skill to turn his hands into volcanic claws, his strike was exceptionally heavy as he attacked Shen Xue. Even if this one was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, without using a battle skill, he would have a hard time enduring the assault alone much less pushing him back this easily.
Nonetheless, Shen Xue didn't use a single ounce of Qi as he forcibly forced back Ma Shinfei with one swing.
Since then, Jin Hao Tian had his suspicions about Shen Xue's physical abilities which were just now confirmed.
Of course, the Ice Bone Frost Blood body refining technique was only a high-tier Yellow Class martial art, if you only considered physical abilities, then Ye Mo would snap him like a twig and it was still taking into account that this one was only at the second revolution of the Nine Revolutions Fiend Body while Shen Xue was much more advanced in his cultivation of the Ice Bone Frost Blood technique.
"Hmph, it doesn't matter even if I can't kill him, the most important is that he has been fighting for quite some time and used multiple battle skills while I just arrived and my reserves are full. I only need to keep him here fighting and he should be transported back to the Stone Plateau in no time going past half his amount of Qi." Qiong Lieyu was still very confident.
This is with these thoughts in mind that he initially joined the battle. Winning or losing a fight, this was pointless, the real victor will be the one gaining the first place in the competition.
"I am not done yet!" Qiong Lieyu was still establishing a good battle plan for himself when Ma Shinfei charged at Shen Xue without a second thought, stick in hand.
"This fool will help me." Qiong Lieyu smiled as he stepped back and launched saber rays from the distance when Ma Shinfei was pushed back or seemed at a disadvantage.
"Bastard, I will kill you!" Ma Shinfei threatened Qiong Lieyu seeing that he kept attacking Shen Xue during their fight, but the heart of his preoccupations was still the Shen clan young master at this time.
Against another Foundation Establishment cultivator like Qiong Lieyu, the pressure was completely different and Shen Xue couldn't be as laid back anymore, while fighting Ma Shinfei, he had to use his own defensive battle skill and raise his sword to block the saber lights.
The first form of the Ruling Saber battle skill was always used at an opportun time, preventing him to deal a decisive blow to Ma Shinfei or to distance himself.
The Ruling Saber battle skill was a martial art that was separated into six distinct forms, each with their own specifity.
Learning the six forms was akin to possessing six different techniques in one.
Qiong Lieyu spent several years to completely master the Ruling Saber battle skill placing much time and efforts in its comprehension which in return, gave him less opportunities to acquire different techniques. Compared to other top students of the three institutes, he learned much less battle skills, but the gradual improvements he made in the Ruling Saber art alone made him rise to the number one student of the Golden Martial Institute.
The first form of the Ruling Saber was the most fitting at long range and wasted less Qi than the other forms, but was also the less powerful, though it was still mightier than average battle skills of this level.
The three of them were locked in battle for some time while the bored Jin clan young master decided to respect Ma Shinfei's will, resisting the urge to go in.
They spent much time together and he knew how seriously Ma Shinfei took the matter of defeating Shen Xue with his own strength. This implied a duel where he wasn't helped in any way.
"Good, keep using your battle skills, you will go past half your Qi soon enough." Qiong Lieyu, laughed coldly witnessing Shen Xue repeatedly using a defensive battle skill to endure the saber rays.
At some point, Shen Xue grew irritated and changed his mind.
He pushed Ma Shinfei back once again with a palm strike then took a stance for an instant before he waved his blade, lauching a wide arc of sword energy at Qiong Lieyu.
This one smiled as he raised his nine ringed saber at his shoulder and willed his Qi.
"Ruling Saber third form, Sea Stirring Saber."
The saber shone brightly as it fell on the energy blade, the collision kicking up a tempest of dust, debris, and raw energy that shook the earth.
Ma Shinfei, not far, coughed blood after the last palm strike he received as he planted his stick on the ground to resist the shockwave rippling outward from driving him away.
Much to his reluctance, he had to admit without Qiong Lieyu's repeated interventions, Shen Xue would have beaten him up and steal his points already, which only increased his anger, a rage that was directed towards himself.
When they fought in the past, it was rather close between them, but although he worked hard all this time, such a big gap was created.
Ma Shinfei didn't accept or more accurately wasn't satisfied by the fact holding his own this long against a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator like Shen Xue was already prodigious. If they were on the same realm of cultivation, this fight would have been completely different.
The eruption of smoke and residual Qi lingered in the air when Shen Xue charged in with his movement battle skill and immediately reached Qiong Lieyu on the other side, hacking with his sword that the other parried with his saber.
"Something is not right, from my calculations, he should already have been sent away by now, how could he still have not gone past half of his Qi after releasing so much high and peak-tier battle skills?"
Qiong Lieyu wavered with uncertainty and suspicion at this moment.
They had been fighting for quite some time already, and from the Qi waves and the commotion he felt before reaching this place, Shen Xue unleashed powerful moves long before he arrived.
He knew for sure that, at his place, he would not have been able to endure the expenditure before being sent away possessing less than 40% of liquid Qi in his dantian, yet, even if Shen Xue had a bit more than this, he should have been eliminated by this time.
At this moment, the ordinarily untalkative Shen Xue opened his mouth and spoke in a detached voice, "Do you think I didn't understand your aim all this time? Unfortunately, you are destined to be disappointed, when I broke through the Foundation Establishment Realm, I used a Nine Circlet Qi Condensing Pill offered by the dean and obtained more than 300 drops of liquid Qi in one go. Currently, near 60% of my dantian is filled and I can use almost 30% of it so you will have to do more than that if you want me to reach my limits."
Terrific!
Shen Xue brokethrough only two months ago, but he was already closer to the second layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm than the first layer thanks to this inestimable pill generously given by Hong Li to nurture him.
The Nine Circlet Qi Condensing Pill's function was to significantly increase the success of the Qi condensation during a breakthrough but more importantly, to use its enveloping energy to generate an absurd amount of Qi through the condensation.
Ordinary cultivators, when they are succesful in reaching a new level of power, often are only able to condense their Qi to one digit of the next layer amounting to less than 1% of their potential, then they would have to cultivate like everyone else to fill the rest of the space in their dantian with more Qi over a relatively long period.
By using the Nine Circlet Qi Condensing Pill, Shen Xue could condense a whole 300 drops of Qi, filling nearly 10% of his dantian at the moment he took a step in the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Without talking about the leap towards the next layer, this was a completely different scope compared to cultivators who doesn't use one, usually, after one breakthrough, they are forced into solitary cultivation for some time to fill their dantian with a certain amount of Qi so they can sustain a fight at a moment of crisis, but Shen Xue with his 300 drops could fight immediately after breaking through without the need to cultivate at all as the liquid Qi of a Foundation Establishment cultivator contain ten times the essence of the gaseous Qi from Qi Gathering cultivators.
The Nine Circlet Qi Condensing Pill was as difficult and beneficial towards cultivation than a Meridian Purifying Pill but more rare and valuable than this one for one simple reason.
The Meridian Purifying Pill could be used only once to enhance the meridians before it would lose any effect on the person while the Nine Circlet Qi Condensing Pill can be used every time you attempt a breakthrough with the same results.
Hong Li probably used the last one stored in the Tiger Martial Institute as the Nine Circlet Qi Condensing Pill doesn't circulate in Azure Water City, showing how supportive he was of Shen Xue, the Tiger Martial Institute fully nurturing him without looking at the expenses
Qiong Lieyu trembled at the news.