The sword was placed in the course of the fist's path as it neared closer to Shen Xue's chest, yet at the last moment, the fist suddenly veered down and opened into a claw.
Ye Mo took hold of the token tied on Shen Xue's waist and snatched it in a flash.
It only took a thought from him to transfer the points to his token, reaching a colossal one hundred sixty one thousand points.
Shen Xue looked down with bulging eyes, realizing this was Ye Mo's intention from the start. When he raised his head, this one was already sprinting away, the token devoid of points still in his hand.
For cultivators, a few meters was nothing and Ye Mo covered them in an instant, breaking through the wall of smoke and distancing himself from the precipice.
Qiong Lieyu who just landed down after launching his greatest attack was not in a much better state than Shen Xue.
He breathed raggedly as if he just escaped drowning, he was in a very weakened state after his amplification battle skill wore off.
His amplification battle skill along his strongest move, the final form of the Ruling Saber made for an exceptional attack that had the power to easily kill even second or third layer Foundation Establishment cultivators.
There had to be some drawbacks and as expected like many amplification battle skill, Qiong Lieyu was drained of his vigor looking at the result of his strike on the environment with tired eyes.
Unfortunately, Shen Xue was no ordinary cultivator either and using the Ice Tomb battle skill, he was able to retain his life also due to the Ice Bone Frost Blood body refining technique.
Ice Tomb was a peak-tier Yellow Class battle skill he took when he was allowed in the last floor of the battle skill tower by Hong Li after he defeated senior students and cultivated in the fourth floor of the pagoda.
If the Buddha Golden Bell battle skill distinguished itself for its formidable defensive capacities among high-tier battle skills, Ice Tomb was renowned as the greatest shield above any defensive art of the peak-tier level in the city, a battle skill that could hardly be broken by anyone matching your strength.
Even if the opponent could make a dent in the ice with his battle skills, ice would quickly grow back over it to form the same round sphere once again so if you couldn't break it in one powerful strike, hitting it would only serve to waste your Qi.
The final form of Ruling Saber with its deadly qualities, still wouldn't have been able breach it if it wasn't for the amplificition increasing the power of the battle skill.
Of course, Ice Tomb wasn't perfect and when it is used, the cultivator could only lay frozen inside the ice boulder and wait for it to break on its own after some time to be freed when the opponent wasn't able to destroy it. Whatever happened in the exterior, you couldn't see nor do anything about it till the ice released you.
While he observed the dust cloud for any signs of Shen Xue, Qiong Lieyu noticed a bronze-skinned shirtless youth escaping its borders and running away, a token in hands.
"Who is this guy, I watched over the surroundings since I used the final form yet, I haven't seen anyone approach the epicenter of the blast, where does he come from?" Qiong Lieyu was quite puzzled by this scene, asking himself many questions.
Shen Xue tightened his jaw in anger and anxiousness as he pursued Ye Mo, escaping the column of smoke in turn with much greater speed.
He grew very close to the target when Ye Mo suddenly tossed the token he held on the side and kept on his way.
Witnessing this scene, Shen Xue stopped in his tracks in hesitation.
If he went to pick his token, he would lose Ye Mo and won't recover the points he stole. His week of efforts and ruthless killing would be wasted and his final position miserable, it was already the final day, there was no way he could salvage himself at this point no matter how much he would try.
If he went after Ye Mo instead, someone could go pick his token on the ground and break it, in this case there was no need to even think about Ye Mo, his points or anything else, he would immediately be eliminated and sent to the Rallying Stone Plateau.
He stood there in uncertainty, his gaze shifting between Ye Mo's back and his token for an instant.
Ma Shinfei stared at Ye Mo appearing out of nowhere and disappearing as fast as he came, tongue-tied.
In the meantime, Jin Hao Tian and Zhang Xuanhan already resumed fighting, the first engaging while the second helplessly went with the flow.
Qiong Lieyu who watched the scene unfold was shocked to see Shen Xue survived his attack when an understanding suddenly struck him, "This is his token!"
Battling the exhaustion, Qiong Lieyu rushed at the token laying on the ground like an hawk poucing on a duck.
Although he saw Ye Mo holding the token previously, hinting he probably stole all the points it contained already, Qiong Lieyu didn't care.
His objective wasn't the points, but to eliminate Shen Xue, his biggest enemy, this dark-skinned youth was not important.
Qiong Lieyu worked tirelessly and gathered an enormous amount of points, in his perspective, it was very likely he was already sitted in the top position. Maybe Shen Xue was slightly ahead previously, but even if it was the case, with his points stolen, Ye Mo would be the one to take his place.
Towards this person, Qiong Lieyu had no thought. He never saw nor heard about him and he was merely an 8th layer Qi Gathering Realm weakling, he shouldn't have obtained that much points in this week, but probably hide himself most of the time to survive the wild competition. After he was done with Shen Xue, Qiong Lieyu could quickly surpass his score in the remaining day and take the first place or increase the gap if he already reached it.
Seeing Qiong Lieyu promptly approaching his token soaked Shen Xue in a sense of urgency and with one last murderous glare at Ye Mo, he urged himself to recover it.
Despite Qiong Lieyu being further, he had a headstart over Shen Xue and this one wouldn't have the time pick up his token before the first would reach it so he decisively targeted Qiong Lieyu instead, attacking his back with his sword.
Qiong Lieyu had no choice but to pause right beside the token and turn around to parry the blow.
"I am disappointed, how could you lose your token against this guy?" Saber and sword were entangled as Qiong Lieyu mocked openly.
Shen Xue didn't say anything as he stepped toward his token and tried to crouch down in an attempt to grab it when this time it was Qiong Lieyu's turn to hack down, preventing him to take it.
Whenever one tried to take the token, the other would strike forcing the first to defend himself as they locked each other in battle.
The two were soon joined by Ma Shinfei who had the time to recuperate enough during their previous clash. This one had no desire towards the token on the ground, but only wished to defeat these Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu were in such a bad state that Ma Shinfei could keep the rythm and wasn't pushed back as easily as before.
Ye Mo instead already reached the woods and vanished in the shadows, distancing himself from this chaotic battlefield.
"There is no point to fight and kill compulsively, only by gaining the first place will I benefit the most. Now my objective has been reached."
When Ye Mo led Shen Xue towards the precipice where Ma Shinfei and Jin Hao Tian remained, he knew Ma Shinfei wouldn't resist the urge to attack Shen Xue, allowing him to escape.
However, Ye Mo didn't go far and lingered in the vicinity, on the lookout for a chance to take advantage of the situation. Without Ma Shinfei and Jin Hao Tian to fight with him, Ye Mo had no more solution to quickly increase his score and be assured of the number one position, he was unwilling to leave yet, and prefered watching over instead.
Initially, he hoped Ma Shinfei and Jin Hao Tian would fight together to give themselves a chance against Shen Xue, he was dissatisfied seeing the first struggling by himself while the spear wielder stood on the side as a spectator.
Ma Shinfei couldn't handle Shen Xue on his own and at the second when this one's defeat would seem inevitable, Ye Mo would have raced away without turning around in case Shen Xue still decided to go after him.
He was happy to see Qiong Lieyu suddenly arrived and fought against Shen Xue.
At this point, there was still the question of how he could profit from the situation.
There were three problems in his mind, to begin with, Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu were too strong. If he attacked like that, they could easily dispose of him and continue their bout.
Secondly, the sun beamed over the precipice and its surroundings, there was no vegetation or darkness that could stem from it which he could use to approach them stealthily. If he simply went there by foot, he would be noticed even before being close enough to attack and dealt with accordingly.
Lastly, even if he could find a moment to creep up when their vigilance was low and they wouldn't remark him, there was still Jin Hao Tian nearby who had a clear view of the surroundings and could intervene in case someone exterior tried to interfere.
The most important was to find a way to approach sneakily, strike in a flash, then escape.
Jin Hao Tian's problem was resolved when he attacked Zhang Xuanhan who had the same idea as Ye Mo, with such a fierce fight, it was evident people would be drawn to it, the first were just Qiong Lieyu and Zhang Xuanhan.
The crucial moment was when Qiong Lieyu used his strongest attack.
The force of his move was so powerful that the earth buckled and heaved as massive chunks of soil and rock were torn free, hurtling skyward amidst a whirlwind of shattered grass and debris.
For a short moment, these covered the area with many dots and patches of shadows which Ye Mo used at this instant to travel under Shadow Walk until he reached the blast point where stood Shen Xue.
This one's injuries were very severe and was still considering the extent of his wounds so he didn't think he would be immediately assaulted after enduring such a blow.
He was so surprised and vulnerable when Ye Mo attacked that he only thought of protecting himself, reacting in self-preservation and allowing Ye Mo to easily pick his token.
The reason he didn't break it to eliminate Shen Xue when it was in his hand was to use him as the focal point of attention while he escape unperturbed. If he broke the token and Shen Xue was sent away, Qiong Lieyu wouldn't need to fight him anymore and Ma Shinfei would be enraged to lose this occasion.
At this point, where would they direct their attention? Their prime target would become Ye Mo, Qiong Lieyu will pursue him for his points while Ma Shinfei will fight him both because he meddled in his fight but also because he was interested in his abilities.
It is very probable that Zhang Xuanhan would mark him as well and chase Ye Mo once he is done with Jin Hao Tian. Leaving Shen Xue in the competition instead gave everyone too big of a threat to focus on anything else, much less an unimportant person like him.
"I have enough points to be assured of the first place, now I only need to hide and wait for the competition to end then claim my rewards, I will also have to deal with the Li clan's whinings. In any case, if I don't attain the top spot with my current score, I am ready to believe fire is wet and water burns like oil." Ye Mo declared sarcastically as he ascended a hill, traveling towards the border of the forest where he knew there wasn't much students and none powerful.
In the city, it was a scene of deathly silence, the passerbys looking at the banners flabbergasted by the leaderboard's new update.
Ye Mo at the first place, had close to double the score of Qiong Lieyu at the second place, Shen Xue instead was nowhere to be seen, concealed in the flood of names at the lower end of the banner.