Gao Wu: From Martial Arts Student to Star Emperor

Chen Lie returned to his position at the rear of the waiting area and sat down.

Nearby, Tao Yunshu, who was also in the same arena, saw Chen Jingjing being defeated by Chen Lie in a single move and couldn't help but ask, "Chen Lie... could it be that you've already broken through to the fourth level of the Qi Gathering Realm?"

She knew Chen Jingjing's strength; she was in the mid-stage of the Qi Condensation Realm and her combat power was not weak. Even at her peak, it would be difficult to defeat her in one move.

Chen Lie said, "No, how could it be that fast?"

"Too……"

Tao Yunshu nodded slightly, but it was also an undeniable fact that Chen Lie had made great progress in martial arts.

Two months ago, when they participated in the promotion mission together, Chen Lie was only at the first level of Qi Nourishing Realm. Now, even if he is not at the Qi Gathering Realm, he is probably at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm. His martial arts realm is already above hers.

Having a martial arts instructor to guide me is great; my progress in martial arts has been surprisingly rapid.

"Brother Chen, you're amazing! It seems you really have a chance to be among the top ten in the entire Martial Arts Department."

Hou Yutan, standing next to Chen Lie, gave him a thumbs up. Chen Lie had taken down a Qi Condensation Realm martial artist in one move. Even if Chen Lie wasn't quite at the Qi Gathering Realm, he was probably close. With that kind of strength, he was naturally a contender for the top ten in the entire Martial Arts Department.

Chen Lie nodded.

Qiao Xuanxi glanced at Chen Lie from a distance. She no longer wanted to compete with Chen Lie. Knowing that she couldn't beat him, forcing a comparison would only cause her unnecessary trouble.

The battles continued on the arena in the competition area.

It took almost a whole day for the first round of the martial arts competition to be completed.

Of the 800 participants in the second competition, only 400 remained after a round of martial arts competition. The 400 eliminated participants will directly enter the revival competition.

The revival match begins midway through the first round of martial arts competition and takes place simultaneously with it. If a participant in the first round of martial arts competition fails, they will immediately participate in the revival match on the fighting stage at the edge of the second arena.

After the first round, another 200 people regained their qualification to participate in the martial arts competition through the revival competition.

The second round of the martial arts competition, involving 600 participants, has officially begun.

On the field at the central campus, announcements came from all directions.

"The second round of the martial arts competition begins."

The first match was between Zhao Jingtao from Class 5 of the Martial Arts Department and Hou Yutan from Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department.

The second match was between Tian Sisi from Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department and Lu Xi from Class 19 of the Martial Arts Department.

Please have the four students come up on stage immediately for the competition.

……

In the waiting area for the 17th Martial Arts Class, Hou Yutan announced, "My turn!"

He stood up and walked onto the battle platform in the middle of the arena.

Zhao Jingtao, Hou Yutan, Tian Sisi, and Lu Xi quickly took to the battle stage.

After the announcement that "the competition has begun" was broadcast, Tian Sisi defeated Lu Xi in just one move, while Hou Yutan narrowly lost to Zhao Jingtao from Class 5 of the Martial Arts Department.

After the two martial arts matches ended, the broadcast announced the start of the next match.

After Hou Yutan returned, he sat down in front of Chen Lie without saying a word.

After a long silence, he said, "Brother Chen, I'm afraid I'm doomed. It's only the second round, and I'm already going to be eliminated."

It seems unlikely that we'll make it into the top 100 of our department.

"It's just a loss in a martial arts competition; there's always a chance to be revived in the knockout stage."

"All the people competing here are freshmen. As long as you're not too unlucky, you still have a chance to make it into the top 100 of your department," Chen Lie said.

"I hope so. If I encounter a strong opponent in the knockout stage, I guess I'm just unlucky," Hou Yutan shook his head.

Chen Lie sat at the back of the waiting area, watching the competition unfold in the arena.

For Chen Lie, these regional competitions were like children playing house.

The vast majority of people in the second arena are ordinary second-tier Qi Refining Realm cultivators, with very few third-tier Qi Condensation Realm cultivators. After the previous round of competition, Chen Lie only saw a person named Tian Sisi, who had the strength of a fourth-tier Qi Gathering Realm cultivator, but this was still not enough to impress Chen Lie.

For Chen Lie, the competition for the top ten in the martial arts category was only just beginning to get intense.

As the second round of martial arts matches came to an end, the broadcast finally called on Chen Lie again.

"Next match: Chen Lie from Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department vs. Su Rongrong from Class 6 of the Martial Arts Department."

"Please, both students, come up to the stage immediately for a martial arts competition."

As soon as the broadcast ended, Chen Lie immediately got up from his waiting area and walked towards the battle platform.

On the other side, Su Rongrong walked up from another direction.

Chen Lie and Su Rongrong arrived at the battle arena and stood opposite each other.

"Chen Lie, I saw your performance in the first round on the battle stage. You've improved so much recently, much better than you were in the Demon Hunting Grounds!"

Chen Lie said, "You're not bad either!"

"I'm probably no match for you. Let's stop here, okay? We're all acquaintances. You can't make me lose face in front of everyone."

"nature!"

After Chen Lie responded, the announcement "The martial arts competition begins" rang out.

Su Rongrong quickly took out a long sword from her storage bag and immediately began to use her swordsmanship.

"Behold my Whirlwind Sword Technique!"

Su Rongrong swung her longsword, and a sword aura instantly slashed towards Chen Lie.

With a "whoosh".

The sword energy that Su Rongrong unleashed was swallowed up by an unfathomable true energy the moment it approached Chen Lie.

"How is this possible?"

Su Rongrong looked incredulous. She had used eighty or ninety percent of her strength in her sword strike, yet Chen Lie had neutralized it without even moving.

"Take this!"

Seeing that Chen Lie was acting strangely, Su Rongrong thrust her sword at him.

Seeing Su Rongrong stab open with her sword, Chen Lie raised two fingers and caught the blade of Su Rongrong's longsword.

Su Rongrong was stunned. She tried to pull back her longsword, but the blade was held firmly by Chen Lie's fingers, and she couldn't move it even with all her might.

Seeing this, Chen Lie changed his fingers and flicked the blade of the longsword. With a "bang", the blade made a crisp sound.

Su Rongrong, the one wielding the sword, instantly felt a shockwave coming from the blade, which threw her away, forcing her to discard the sword.

Chen Lie snatched Su Rongrong's spirit-grade longsword without breaking a sweat.

"Shall we continue?"

Chen Lie threw the longsword to Su Rongrong, who caught it.

"I give up!"

She shook her head and sighed. What was the point of comparing them? The other person hadn't even moved before taking her sword away. This showed that the gap between her and Chen Lie was far greater than just a little.

As expected of the number one in the Eastern Star Region, his martial arts have already surpassed hers by so much in such a short time.

As a native of Canglong Star with family support, she can probably only surpass Chen Lie slightly in the first three months of Starry Sky University's opening. It's likely that the gap between her and Chen Lie will only widen as time goes on.

"Chen Lie from Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department vs. Su Rongrong from Class 6 of the Martial Arts Department. Chen Lie from Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department wins and advances to the third round."

After the broadcast started, Chen Lie stepped down from the battle platform.

"Next match: Hua Jianying from Class 2 of the Martial Arts Department vs. Zhu Jingfei from Class 8 of the Martial Arts Department."

"Please come up to the stage immediately for the duel."

Chen Lie had just returned to the waiting area and sat down when he heard the broadcast from the battle platform.

The opponent in this competition was actually someone from the Eastern Star Region.

Hua Jianying, a Muyuan Star person, and Zhu Jingfei, the fifth prince of the Great Yan Dynasty of Chiyan Star, are both people Chen Lie knows.

Not long after the competition began, Hua Jianying and Zhu Jingfei started fighting.

Neither of them had any weapons, but each displayed powerful martial arts skills.

On the fighting stage, fists and palms clashed, and the five elements of true energy collided, creating an astonishing display of power.

Although Chen Lie was far from the battle arena, he could still tell that Hua Jianying and Zhu Jingfei were already at the early stage of the third-order Qi Condensation Realm, which was indeed a very fast progress.

Hua Jianying and Zhu Jingfei are both top-tier individuals on their respective planets. They probably entered the Martial Arts Realm in the month they entered Starry Sky University. Reaching the Qi Condensation Realm in half a year is fast, but normal.

As the battle progressed, Hua Jianying and Zhu Jingfei quickly determined a winner, with Hua Jianying emerging victorious.

The two arenas held martial arts competitions simultaneously. The second round of 300 matches ended quickly, and 150 of the 300 eliminated participants regained their eligibility to compete in the revival round.

The third round of martial arts competition has officially begun.

In the third round of the martial arts competition, a total of 450 participants will compete in 225 matches. The two battle arenas will be open simultaneously, with more than 100 matches taking place on each arena.

The previous rounds of martial arts competition were not difficult for Chen Lie at all; he mainly felt that waiting here was a waste of time.

After all, with nearly 110,000 freshmen participating in the martial arts competition, even if the competition is divided into more than 100 divisions and more than 200 battle stages are held at the same time, it would still take a lot of time for everyone to go on stage and compete.

Chen Lie waited for almost two hours for the third round of the competition.

His opponent in the third round was a freshman in the late stage of the Qi Refining Realm from Class 2 of the Martial Arts Department, who was knocked off the fighting stage by him with a single punch.

By this time, it had already gotten dark.

There were quite a few second-tier Qi Refining Realm martial artists present, and many of them had not yet opened their Heavenly Apertures during the Qi and Blood stage. Although these people could see in the night, their vision range was limited to a few hundred meters.

As darkness fell slightly, the satellite eye suspended in the sky seemed to open its eyes, transforming into a small sun that radiated light, illuminating the central campus as if it were daytime.

Chen Lie finally understood that the two-day Freshman Martial Arts Competition was held day and night without interruption, and the competition would continue as usual even at night.

The third round of martial arts competition has ended, and the fourth round has officially begun.

By the fourth round of the competition, there were 190 people left in the second arena, while 610 of the original 800 had been eliminated.

The martial arts competition has reached its fourth round. Among the 190 participants, there are not many second-tier Qi Refining Realm martial artists left; most are third-tier Qi Condensation Realm martial artists.

However, at this level, the strength of each martial artist is very close, and it is difficult to determine a winner within a few minutes.

In the fourth round of martial arts competition, Chen Lie was called up for the first match.

"The fourth round of martial arts competition begins."

The first match was between Xu Nianqiu from Class 12 of the Martial Arts Department and Chen Lie from Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department.

The second match was between Tian Sisi from Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department and Wang Yinuo from Class 7 of the Martial Arts Department.

Please have the four students come up on stage immediately for a martial arts competition.

……

After the broadcast started, Chen Lie, Xu Nianqiu, Tian Sisi, and Wang Yinuo all came to the battle stage at the same time.

As soon as the announcement "The duel begins" rang out, Chen Lie and Tian Sisi almost simultaneously threw a punch on both fighting platforms, forcefully blasting their respective opponents off the platform and ending the battle.

A red dot flashed in the sky above the satellite, instantly capturing the scene and beginning to broadcast the competition results.

"In the first match, Xu Nianqiu from Class 12 of the Martial Arts Department defeated Chen Lie from Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department, advancing to the fifth round."

"In the second match, Tian Sisi from Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department defeated Wang Yinuo from Class 7 of the Martial Arts Department and advanced to the next round."

……

As the two voices fell, Chen Lie and Tian Sisi stepped off the battle platform at the same time.

Tian Sisi glanced at Chen Lie on the next battle platform, a thoughtful expression on her face.

She had been paying attention to this person named Chen Lie since the second round. He defeated his opponents almost every time he stepped onto the stage, which showed that his strength could crush his opponents.

"Interesting. Besides Yang Qi, there's actually someone like this in Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department."

Tian Sisi murmured to herself, then returned to Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department and sat down next to her martial arts teaching assistant.

Tian Sisi's martial arts teaching assistant is named Li Yaxian, one of the six martial arts teaching assistants in Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department at the Tian Er Campus.

As soon as Tian Sisi entered Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department, Li Yaxian, the martial arts teaching assistant of Class 1, took a liking to Tian Sisi’s talent. She was also looking for a teaching assistant to tutor, so she took Tian Sisi in.

And Tian Sisi lived up to expectations. In a short period of time, her martial arts skills improved by leaps and bounds, and her strength surpassed that of her peers.

As soon as Tian Sisi sat down, Li Yaxian said, "Sisi, you really need to be careful about Chen Lie from Class 17 of the Martial Arts Department."

"If you want to break into the top ten of the entire Martial Arts Department, this person will likely become a major obstacle for you."

"Will he become an obstacle for me? Does that mean he has the strength of the mid-stage Qi Gathering Realm?" Tian Sisi asked.

"He didn't make a move much, so I didn't realize it either, but his strength is at least at the early stage of the fourth-order Qi Gathering Realm."

"Sister Ya Xian, you're overthinking it. Even if he's at the early stage of the fourth level of Qi Gathering Realm, he's no match for me."

Tian Sisi spoke with great confidence, completely disregarding the teaching assistant's reminder.

Upon seeing this, Li Yaxian said, "Don't underestimate Chen Lie from Class 17. As far as I know, his martial arts teaching assistant is Huang Yuxi."

"I agree with Huang Yuxi. I heard some time ago that a martial arts genius on the Hidden Dragon Ranking wanted to become her teaching assistant, but she refused. Instead, she chose Chen Lie. Doesn't that further demonstrate his extraordinary talent?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Sisi's expression became much more serious, and she asked, "Then, Sister Yaxian, can you discern Chen Lie's cultivation level?"

"His true energy is well contained. Not to mention me, even a tenth-level Celestial Master wouldn't be able to tell unless they looked closely. But judging from the strength he showed in the previous rounds, he is no weaker than the Qi Gathering Realm," Li Yaxian said.

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out if I get matched with him on the battle stage." Tian Sisi nodded.

……

On the other side, Chen Lie also returned to the waiting area of ​​Class 17. This time, Chen Lie sat down in the front row.

Huang Yuxi looked at Chen Lie and said, "The battles before the merger of the ten major competition venues of the Martial Arts Department of Tian Er Campus are not difficult for you, it's just that the waiting time is a little long."

Chen Lie asked, "When can the competition venues be combined?"

Huang Yuxi said, "Based on previous years, it will probably be tomorrow morning."

Today, over 100,000 freshmen from the three major departments of Xingkong University competed simultaneously in 120 different arenas.

Everyone on Canglong Star knows that today's competition is a large-scale elimination round, so it's not very entertaining.

After the competition zones are merged tomorrow, the stands will be full.

The heads of the three departments—Martial Arts, Mental Strength, and Kendo—will all be present for the final competition, and even the president of Starry Sky University may be in attendance.

Chen Lie grunted in agreement. It didn't matter whether anyone was watching or not, as long as he got the reward.

Knowing he would have to wait another night, Chen Lie closed his eyes and began to rest in his seat.

About three or four hours later, the fourth round of the martial arts competition was completed, and the fifth round began.