Liu Ying grasped the golden hilt at her waist and drew out a three-foot-long fish-scale soft sword.

  The sword light flashed, and all the silver needles were knocked down.

  "Ding Ding"

  Zi Yan's speed-type martial skill unfolded, her steps as light as a clear breeze, constantly changing direction, sending out silver needles one after another, transforming into wave after wave of needle rain.

  Liu Ning's eyebrows furrowed, wanting to attack Zi Qian, but was forced back by the needle rain, and could only continuously swing his sword to defend, resulting in a rapid consumption of true energy within his body.

  A stalemate has emerged on the challenge stage.

  "Is she a hedgehog? How did she hide so many needles on her body?" Du Mu Xingling looked at Zhang Ruochen with a hint of a smile and asked.

  "How am I supposed to know?" Zhang Ruochen said.

  "You don't even know" Du Mu Xing Ling was extremely surprised.

  Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head and continued to stare at the challenge stage. He had already seen through Zi Yan's tactics, knowing that she was no match for Liu Bing, so she used the silver needle to consume Liu Bing's true energy.

  If Liu Ying couldn't break through Zi Yan's Silver Needle Rain, then Liu Ying would definitely lose.

  As expected by Zhang Ruochen, a moment later, Liu Bing's true energy was greatly consumed and he was ambushed from behind by Zi Yan.

  When Liu Jing came back to her senses, Zi Yan's sword was already placed on her neck.

  Challenge victory.

  "She's so fast with her sword, it's impossible to achieve such speed without tens of thousands of practices. I feel like she's a professionally trained assassin." Duanmu Xingling narrowed his eyes, feeling that Zixia's swordsmanship was somewhat similar to the assassins from the Netherworld Sect.

  Zi Yan had deliberately hidden it, but still left a mark that Duanmu Xing Ling was able to discern some clues.

  Zhang Ruochen's heart skipped a beat, and he smiled: "If she were really an assassin, wouldn't I have been killed by her long ago?"

  "That's also true." Du Mu Xing Ling nodded slightly.

  Zi Yan's final sword, was indeed very stunning, simply invisible and intangible, only the top-ranked martial artists could see the trajectory of her sword, other martial artists, all did not see clearly.

  Zi Yan defeated Liu Ning and naturally became the new ninth master of the Western Courtyard.

  Liu Ying dropped down one place to tenth.

  Mo Qing Long was squeezed out of the top ten and became eleventh.

  Next, many people went to challenge the top ten warriors, and the most challenging was Zi Yan, as everyone thought her strength was the weakest.

  But none of those who went to challenge her succeeded.

  Many people's strength is actually stronger than Zǐ Qiān, but they just muddle along and lose to her. When they come to their senses, Zǐ Qiān's sword is already pointing at their necks, making them dare not move.

  A seventeenth-ranked Western Academy senior, after being defeated by Zi Yan's sword, walked down the challenge stage with great annoyance: "How could this be? My strength is obviously stronger than hers, how could I lose to her?"

  Only those who have experienced the mysterious list of martial arts can see the ferocity of Zi Yan.

  Firstly, her speed is her greatest advantage, with an unpredictable sword style that leaves opponents defenseless.

  Secondly, her eyesight and hearing are far beyond those of ordinary people. She can perceive danger ahead of time and hear the sound of an opponent's attack beforehand. Then, within the shortest possible time, she makes the most correct response strategy.

  Thirdly, her combat experience is very rich, in this aspect, it's much more formidable than other students.

  Zhang Ruochen also nodded. Originally, Zi Yan had a weakness too - her physical constitution was slightly inferior to those top geniuses.

  In the past three months, she refined five and a half Sacred True Liquids, making up for this shortcoming. Her strength also made rapid progress along with it.

  Under the gaze of the crowd, Zǐ Qiàn walked towards the challenge platform and stood to the right of Zhāng Ruò Chén. The scholar Duān Mù Xīng Líng had his hands clasped in front of his chest and said, "Aren't you going to take on the challenge?"

  "It's almost time"

  Zhang Ruochen walked towards the challenge stage and stood on it, saying: "I want to challenge the seventh place."

  The seventh-ranked disciple of the Western Sect was named Sī Kōng Shù.

  He was an old life of the Western Academy eight years ago, and his martial arts cultivation reached the peak of Xuanji Realm's Great Perfection four years ago. It was also because he wanted to enter the intermediate ruins that he had not broken through the boundary all along.

  With Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation level, even if he were to challenge the fifth-ranked Jiu Haolan, he would still have a great chance of winning.

  However, Zhang Ruochen didn't want to be so high-profile, being able to obtain the qualification to enter the intermediate ruins was enough, there was no need to push himself to the forefront.

  Seventh place is relatively conservative.

  Although he wanted to keep a low profile, challenging the Sky Void Technique as a newcomer still caused quite a stir. Many people rushed over, wanting to watch this battle.

  "One of the top 50 students from the previous year said, 'Do you think Zhang Ruochen has a chance to succeed in the challenge?'"

  Another student who reached the extreme realm of Dharma said, "If it were before Zi Yan made her move, I might not have believed it. But since even Zi Yan can defeat the eighth-ranked Liu Bing, Zhang Ruochen's strength is above Zi Yan's, and there's no guarantee he won't be able to defeat Si Kong Tu."

  "Yes, the newly born have a high innate talent, their strength cannot be measured by simple martial arts cultivation."

  "This year's freshmen are too powerful, they just entered the school for three months and defeated the top ten masters in the college, how can we old students who have been in the college for several years bear it"

  More and more disciples gathered under the challenge stage, even the deputy deans of the three colleges and the dean of the Western College rushed over, standing not far away, gazing in the direction of the challenge stage. It was clear that they were also looking forward to this battle.

  The better Zhang Ruochen performs, the better it is for Wu Shi Xue Gong.

  Genius is the most important resource for any force.

  Sikong Shu was robust and strong, with a tiger's back and bear's waist, his body like an iron tower, all over his muscles were sturdy, although he was only twenty-five years old, his face was full of beard, looking like a rugged man.

  He held a black iron rod in his hand, climbed up the stairs and stood ten steps away from Zhang Ruochen.

  Boom

  He slammed the iron rod onto the ground, and the ground immediately let out a loud rumble, shaking violently once.

  "Zhang Ruochen, I know your cultivation is very strong and your natural talent is high. You helped the West Yard win first place among the new students of the four yards, and I admire you for that. But you're also getting a bit too arrogant, daring to challenge me. How confident are you that you can win?"

  "Perfectly done." Zhang Ruochen said.

  "You also look down on Shixiong too much" Si Kong Shu said somewhat unhappily.

  Zhang Ruochen said calmly, "For a martial artist, since you've chosen to challenge your opponent, you must have the confidence to win. If you don't even have that confidence, then you've already lost half the battle before it's even begun."

  "It's well said. If you don't challenge, then so be it; but once you do challenge, you must have the conviction to win."

  Sī Kōng Shù gave a mysterious smile and said, "However, you've chosen the wrong person today. You're destined to lose at the hands of your senior brother. Come on, let's show my senior brother just how strong the new first-year student of our Western Academy is."

  Zhang Ruochen felt a strong surge of power fluctuations on Si Kong's body, so he didn't dare to underestimate him and became even more cautious.

  Each of them has real skills and can enter the top ten in the Western Academy. If they are slightly careless, they may be defeated on the challenge stage.

  Pinched the Flash Soul Sword, and injected the Jade Pure True Qi into the sword. The fourteen inscriptions in the sword were all activated.

  Four "Power" seals, four "Ice" seals, four "Electricity" seals, two "Light" seals.

  This is Zhang Ruochen's first time activating all of the Soul Sword's inscriptions, reaching its strongest state.

  The originally fifty-three catty Shanhun Sword, under the blessing of four-tiered force inscriptions, reached a weight of four hundred and fifty-three catties.

  At the same time, cold air, sword light and electric current shuttled on the sword body, and a stream of sword energy flowed around Zhang Ruochen's body, as if it had completely merged with him.

  "This is the realm of Jian Sui Xin Zou Gao Jie"

  Sī Kōng Shù knew that Zhang Ruò Chén had reached the high-level realm of Jiàn Suí Xīn Zǒu, his face turned serious, and he poured his true energy into the tungsten-cold iron rod in his hand.

  Tungsten Star Cold Iron Rod is a fifth-grade True Martial Treasure, one grade higher than Zhang Ruochen's Flash Soul Sword.

  There are twenty-one engravings on the stick, of which fifteen are "power" engravings and six are "ice" engravings.

  The inscription on the Zhenwu treasure, the purer it is, the stronger its power.

  Tungsten Star Cold Iron Rod has only two kinds of inscriptions, which can be considered very pure. Therefore, among the five-tiered True Martial Treasure Equipment, it is also a top-notch war soldier.

  Twenty-one seals activated, the weight of tungsten star iron rod reached one thousand six hundred and eight catties, extremely heavy, placed on the ground, as if it could crack the ground.

  Sī Kōng Shù swung his tungsten star iron rod with one hand, and a chill ran down the spine as a cold air emanated from the rod. On the challenge platform, snowflakes began to appear, and on the ground, a layer of white frost condensed, causing the temperature in the entire atmosphere to drop rapidly.

  A seemingly casual stick, yet contains exquisite martial arts skills.

  "Not good, Si Kong Shu has also hidden his strength." Du Mu Xing Ling began to worry about Zhang Ruo Chen, saying: "With the strength that Si Kong Shu has shown so far, he is no weaker than Ju Hai Lan who ranks fifth, and may even be stronger than him."

  The master of the Western Courtyard's eyes also slightly narrowed, revealing a hint of a smile, saying: "I didn't expect that Si Kong Shu would actually cultivate the Tai Ah Cold Ice Technique to the eighth layer. With his strength, he can already contend with those martial artists ranked lower on the Mysterious List."

  The Deputy Master of the South Institute smiled and said: "Congratulations, Master. The West Institute has another student who is a Xuanbang Wuzhe level cultivator."

  "What a pity for Zhang Ruochen. If Si Kong Tu hadn't broken through to the eighth layer of Tai Ah Cold Ice Skill, he would still have had a chance to win. As it stands now, he doesn't even have that." The vice master of the East Wing sighed and said.

  He seemed to be lamenting, but in fact he was secretly laughing coldly.

  It's all because of Zhang Ruochen that the East House is only ranked third this year, so the deputy master of the East House naturally dislikes Zhang Ruochen. Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was about to fail in his challenge, he couldn't help but say a sarcastic remark.

  The master of the Western Courtyard smiled faintly and said, "Even if he fails in the challenge, it doesn't matter, after all, he still has another chance to challenge."