His body shot into the air like a thrown spear.
The crowd gasped at the sight.
Even Li Meiran's pupils narrowed. He immediately retreated, as his instincts screamed danger.
Ryan then twisted midair, gripping his right arm with his left hand, right elbow tucked tight.
Then...
The elbow descended like a meteor.
Li Meiran leaped backward with everything he had.
But then...
BOOOOM!!!
Ryan's elbow struck the platform itself.
The marble floor, built to withstand Elite duels, shattered like clay. Cracks radiated outward in a spiderweb pattern, stone chunks flew, dust burst into a towering plume, and shockwaves blasted across the ring.
A roar like thunder swallowed the arena.
Even from a distance, disciples staggered from the force.
Silence gripped the entire audience.
Not a breath.
Not a whisper.
Only the echoing clang of shattered marble and the low groan of the wounded Li Meiran.
Ryan's Sky-rank technique hadn't even hit Li Meiran directly. Just the shockwave had launched him across the ring like a ragdoll. He lay at the very edge, with his chest heaving, and his blood gushing from his mouth in a red fountain that rose half a meter high.
Even the air seemed to pause in fear.
So that… was earth-rank martial arts? They thought.
No one had seen such force before, not from any young disciple. Not even many elders could replicate that destructive power.
"What kind of martial… what kind of martial technique is that…"
"Just the aftermath injured the Seventh Young Master so badly…?"
"I… I didn't even see how he moved…"
Whispers trembled through the hall, but most mouths stayed shut in pure terror.
Meanwhile, Ryan stepped forward, dust settling around him like mist. His gaze locked onto Li Meiran, cold as winter steel.
"I warned you not to force me," he said. "You didn't listen."
Li Meiran's already pale face drained of the last trace of color. "You… you can't kill me!" he gasped, shaking violently.
"Oh?" Ryan tilted his head faintly. "So now you want rules?"
Panic seized Li Meiran. "There are people watching! If you touch me, my grandfather will kill you! The elders won't let you go!"
Ryan frowned slightly.
The mission required that Li Meiran die. But with all these witnesses… and after the first attack, only severely injured him… killing Li Meiran openly would not be easy to justify.
Even if it is a so-called life and death battle, it just means killing by accident is allowed, not intentional killing when the opponent is down and defeated.
Ryan's eyes flickered in thought for a second, and in that single heartbeat, Li Meiran's own eyes turned venomous.
He moved.
A subtle, trembling hand slipped into his embroidered robe, taking out a poisoned needle.
He moved slowly, carefully, with the precision of a man who had planned murder before.
Most of the audience was still stunned by Ryan's power; they noticed nothing.
But one person did.
Li Xue.
Her eyes had never left Ryan since the duel began. The moment Li Meiran's fingers twitched inside his sleeve,
"Wei-Ge..." she cried.
Too late.
"YOU DIE FIRST!" Li Meiran roared hoarsely and hurled the silver needle.
A fatal strike aimed between Ryan's brows.
If it landed, even an Elite would die instantly.
Ryan's instincts screamed then.
In that split instant, the Phantom Step surged under his feet. His body twisted, blurred, divided like an illusion, one, two, four shadows flickering at once.
The needle sliced through the space he'd occupied half a second earlier.
A single black hair drifted down in slow motion… cut cleanly in half.
Ryan's breath came out harshly. "That was close…"
If not for Phantom Step, he would already be a corpse.
His gaze shot back to Li Meiran, now trembling uncontrollably on the ground.
"You tried to kill me," Ryan said quietly. "But you failed."
"Li… Li Wei, listen... listen to me for a second!" Li Meiran stammered, scooting backward until his back hit the ring edge. "I, I lost! Alright… I made a mistake. I surrender! Please, please forgive me! Don't kill me!"
He kowtowed so hard that blood smeared across the ground.
"Everything.... everything before this happened between us, I will forget it… I will also stop chasing after Li Xue... I swear! Just spare me!"
He didn't care about pride.
Didn't care about dignity.
Didn't care about the entire Li Clan watching.
He just wanted to live.
But for Ryan?
There was no mercy left in his eyes. There was no reluctance anymore. Ryan no longer cared about consequences.
"You tried to sneak attack on a life-and-death stage," Ryan said coldly. "That means you've already accepted death."
Li Meiran's eyes widened, screams lodged in his throat.
Ryan flipped his hand, and a thin, translucent jade-green blade appeared in his fingers.
The moment Wind Blade appeared, Li Meiran shrieked, "NO, NO, NO, DON'T!"
He scrambled, but his injuries made crawling impossible.
Ryan didn't hesitate.
"Die."
His fingers flicked.
Shhh, CRACK.
The Wind Blade flew like lightning, slicing cleanly through flesh and bone.
Li Meiran's head lifted into the air, spinning once, then thumping heavily onto the ground several meters away.
His headless body toppled like a tree, spraying blood across the marble.
Silence. Absolute silence.
No one breathed. No one moved.
Even the elders watching from a distance froze in shock.
Then...
Someone screamed first.
Another stumbled back.
The entire ring dissolved into chaos.
"You... he... he killed Li Meiran!"
"Li Wei actually killed him! In front of everyone!"
"Head… his head…!"
The Li Clan disciples were stunned, trembling, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Some looked at Ryan as if he were a demon that had just climbed out of hell. Some looked at the lifeless corpse with disbelief and fear.
And some… felt relief.
Li Meiran had long crossed lines even other disciples avoided. Seeing him fall… didn't feel entirely wrong.
But above all...
There was one absolute truth:
Li Meiran was dead.
And Ryan… was the one who killed him.
Meanwhile, a cascade of crisp system chimes exploded in Ryan's mind.
"Ding! Congratulations to the player Ryan for killing a Six-Star Elite Warrior. Gained 10,000 experience and 10 God of War points."
"Ding! obtained five 'Power Pills.'"
"Ding! You leveled up. Current level: 16 (Six-star Elite)."
"Ding, mission complete. 'Send Li Clan's Seventh Young Master to Hell.'
Reward: 30,000 experience, 30 God of War points."
"Ding! Obtained martial art: Tianxing Palm."
"Ding! You leveled up. current level: 17 (Seven-Star Elite)."
"Ding! You Leveled up. current level: 18 (Eight-Star Elite)."
"Ding! You leveled up. current level: 19 (Nine-Star Elite)."
Ryan's eyes widened. "Four levels?"
Four levels in one instant.
The power surged through him, blood boiling like fire, tightening his muscles, and expanding his meridians.
"Too fast… this is too fast!" Ryan muttered under his breath, although ecstatic. Compared to grinding monsters all night, killing one enemy and completing one mission had sent him rocketing upward like a comet.
Nine-Star Elite.
One more step, and he would break into the Upper Elite realm.
But his joy lasted only a heartbeat.
Because…
"Li Wei! YOU DARE KILL MY GRANDSON! YOU COURT DEATH!"
A thunderous roar ripped through the ring.
The Seventh Elder descended onto the stage in a flash of fury, his white hair flying, and his killing intent surging out like a storm. His hand clawed at the air, unleashing a tearing force that made the air scream.
As a three-star Upper Elite realm expert, his attack could shred boulders, tear trees out by the root, and kill average Elite disciples in a single strike.
Ryan's heart tightened, not just because of the powerful force, but also because he had already used two of his Sky rank skills. He needs to recover a bit before he can fight a superior warrior like this elder.
He didn't retreat blindly; Phantom Step burst beneath his feet, four afterimages flickered, blurring his figure. The Elder's claw tore through where Ryan had been, ripping a long crack through the air.
Ryan retreated several meters and then stared at him coldly.
The Elder froze in shock.
This boy… dodged my eight-layer Eagle Claw?