Chapter Eight: The Contest for Entry to the Valley of Fallen Demons

After Sect Master Heng Yi finished speaking, beams of light immediately split across the Celestial Ascent Platform, partitioning it into a series of square spaces, isolating each into its own arena. The disciples who had registered were divided in pairs, each assigned to one of these spaces.

Li Ruoyu found himself paired with a vibrant young woman named Xue Yu, who hailed from the lands of Yan.

“Fellow cultivator, please,” Xue Yu said with a smile.

Though she wore a gentle smile, her actions were anything but soft. Even as she spoke, Xue Yu launched her attack. She unleashed a technique she had mastered: nine streams of divine white light wove together to form a blade, which hurled itself toward Li Ruoyu.

Xue Yu appeared delicate and gentle, but her assault was the opposite—fierce and aggressive, brimming with a potent aura of slaughter.

As the blade swept toward him, Li Ruoyu could feel the force of its aura bearing down. He hurriedly summoned the Chains of Order, blue chains radiating a light unlike ordinary chains, intertwining into a bell—small at the top and wide at the base—which he set before himself as a shield.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Nine thunderous crashes echoed through the space. The devastating might of Xue Yu’s Ninefold Chain technique shook the bell with each strike, yet in the end, the bell withstood the onslaught of her technique, “Endless Blade.”

Having blocked her attack, Li Ruoyu wasted no time. He shifted from defense to offense, wrapping himself in the Chains of Order, and hurled his fist at Xue Yu. She responded instantly, again unleashing her “Endless Blade,” evidently determined to fight to the bitter end. “Endless Blade” was a formidable and terrifying technique—the more blades it conjured, the greater its power. Within the Mortal Refinement realm, the maximum was nine blades.

Xue Yu had clearly honed this technique to its utmost limit for her realm. Li Ruoyu didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh—his very first match had landed him against such an extraordinary young master, one who defied ordinary logic.

Fortunately, Li Ruoyu’s fist managed to withstand her “Endless Blade.” “Thank goodness I once refined the Star Divine Metal into my Chains of Order,” Li Ruoyu thought, deeply impressed by the extraordinary nature of this ultimate weaving technique from the Scripture of Crossing Demons. It surpassed even the highest weaving arts of order in the world.

At this moment, Li Ruoyu became a being of blue light, clashing repeatedly with Xue Yu.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The collisions continued. Suddenly, Xue Yu ceased her attack, darting aside and declaring, “Fellow cultivator, your strength commands my respect. Few in the Mortal Refinement realm can withstand my ‘Endless Blade’ without employing a major technique. Now, I’ll use my strongest move to decide the victor.”

Li Ruoyu’s heart tightened. He watched as Xue Yu activated her “Endless Blade” again, but this time, she did not strike at him. Instead, the nine streams of blade aura merged into one, so tangible it seemed to become solid.

“Breaking through the ultimate limit.”

Xue Yu had forced her “Endless Blade” past its previous limit, granting it power beyond what the Mortal Refinement stage should allow. Yet Li Ruoyu could see that, after this strike, she would have no strength left to fight.

Now, Li Ruoyu transformed his Chains of Order back into the great bell and grasped its handle, facing Xue Yu’s assault.

A thunderous boom resounded, and Xue Yu fell to the ground on the Celestial Ascent Platform. Instantly, she was transported away.

“Thank you for letting me win,” Li Ruoyu said, then sat down on the platform to recover and await his next match.

The rules for the Outer Sect Grand Competition dictated that matches would stop short of serious injury, and the first round was fought in pairs until only the top hundred remained. Over three thousand disciples had signed up this time. The time between defeating one’s opponent and the completion of all other matches served as a rest period.

Back in the days of Daoist Tianheng, the methods were exceedingly harsh and bloody, making this competition’s rules unusually brutal. “With over three thousand participants, that means I’ll have to fight five more rounds,” Li Ruoyu mused.

He sat cross-legged to recover, taking from his pouch a rare medicinal herb he had gathered earlier, chewing it bit by bit to speed his recovery.

Before long, the three thousand participants had all been sorted into winners and losers.

Soon after, a burly young man was transported before Li Ruoyu. Like Li Ruoyu, he was at the Spirit Convergence stage, his arms corded with muscle in a way uncommon for someone his age.

Without a word, the burly youth charged at Li Ruoyu. His assault was violent, swinging a massive axe forged from the Chains of Order in broad, sweeping arcs—pure, brute force, wild and relentless.

Li Ruoyu gave no ground, wielding his bell-shaped chain weapon against the youth. The bell and the axe clashed ceaselessly. The burly youth was surprised that Li Ruoyu could go toe-to-toe with him; his first opponent hadn’t lasted three swings, but after over thirty exchanges, Li Ruoyu was still holding firm.

“Yin-Yang Axe!”

The young man finally unleashed his signature technique. The Yin-Yang Axe was designed for the top-tier dual-energy weaving method, powerful and versatile, overcoming the limitations of the axe and making it a remarkable art.

He held the great axe in his right hand for offense, while his left wielded a smaller hatchet in seamless coordination. The dual forces of yin and yang surged between the two axes. His attacks grew faster and more complex, blending offense and defense, clearly intending to overwhelm Li Ruoyu with this combination of steadiness and ferocity.

Li Ruoyu countered with sheer force, a relentless barrage with his bell, attacking rather than defending. With the supreme regenerative and tempering power of Primordial Energy coursing through him, he pressed the burly youth hard.

As their roles reversed, the burly youth began to feel that Li Ruoyu was the true powerhouse here. Despite his lean frame, Li Ruoyu’s constitution far surpassed his own, his attacks even more domineering, relying purely on overwhelming strength.

Their brutal contest stretched past fifty exchanges. The burly youth unleashed a wave of axe-light, the powers of yin and yang entwined within. Li Ruoyu met it head-on with his great bell—no matter what the youth tried, Li Ruoyu crushed it with his bell of order, displaying the first hints of his own fierce, domineering battle style.

Finally, after eighty bouts, Li Ruoyu gathered his divine power, focused his strength, and defeated his opponent.

With time pressing on, Li Ruoyu immediately sat down to recover his losses.

He had thought his rest would be brief, but this time he was granted even longer than after the first round.

“After all, anyone with the courage to sign up must have real skill, and half have already been eliminated after the first round. Those who remain are certainly no weaklings,” Li Ruoyu reflected.

After a short recovery, Li Ruoyu was transported once more to another part of the Celestial Ascent Platform.

This time, his opponent was an enchanting young woman. Though not yet old, she already possessed a beauty that could topple kingdoms—her figure exquisite, her eyes bright, her teeth gleaming, her youth radiant, and her long, silky hair draped over her shoulders. Moreover, she was at the Sky-Connecting stage, a full realm above Li Ruoyu.

Her name was Ni Yaoruo. Before the competition even began, Li Ruoyu had heard her name; she was ranked third among the Outer Sect’s Ten Beauties, her status very high, her looks rivaling even those of Feng Ruoxian, another famed beauty. She had joined the sect in the same batch as Li Ruoyu, but her talent was extraordinary. Most of those who entered with Li Ruoyu were still at the Spirit Convergence stage, while Ni Yaoruo, like a select few prodigies, had already advanced to the Sky-Connecting realm.