“Do you think this guy named Lin Xiao can make it to the next round?”
“Hard to say. It all depends on luck, nothing to do with him.”
“If he advances to the next round like this, it’d probably be the most bizarre thing in the history of the Southeast Region Youth Summit.”
“Sticking with two points unchanged for three days and still having a chance to advance? That’s pretty impressive. If I’d known, I’d have just hidden and done nothing. Maybe I could’ve advanced instead of being eliminated.”
“Who’d think of such a strategy? Lacking ambition and waiting for half the people to be eliminated? Even if given another chance, you probably wouldn’t have the guts.”
“True, that kind of ‘guts’ isn’t ordinary.”
“I’m not so sure. The later it gets, the more illusion beasts appear. Hiding from people is possible, but completely avoiding beasts is tough. They seem to be everywhere. I don’t know how this guy kept his points static.”
“Now everyone else’s points are barely moving. No matter what, this guy’s doomed to be eliminated.”
A buzz of discussion arose. Besides talking about the top ten rankings, the crowd’s focus was on Lin Xiao.
Keeping two points unchanged for three days, holding out until the final moment, was arguably the most bizarre event of this Southeast Region Youth Summit.
Lin Xiao’s name had become “famous” at the summit.
Meanwhile, inside the illusion array space.
In a unique spatial pocket, Lin Xiao was still locked in battle with the Three-Clawed Divine Dragon. Man and beast had fought for three days and two nights.
Lin Xiao had used nearly every technique in his arsenal.
Even the Devouring Spirit Finger had been unleashed multiple times, blasting the Three-Clawed Divine Dragon into a bloodied mess each time, yet it never died.
Under Lin Xiao’s onslaught, the dragon only grew stronger. Its physical body, defense, attacks, and vitality were simply too overwhelming. Lin Xiao had exhausted both of Ziling’s Yang-Reviving Clear Pills and all his Essence-Replenishing Pills.
In the end, Lin Xiao was completely spent, gravely injured, and on the brink of death.
The Three-Clawed Divine Dragon wasn’t much better off.
But as a divine dragon, its physical condition was still far superior to Lin Xiao’s.
“Do you know what I hate most?”
Staring at the bloodied, barely alive Lin Xiao, the Three-Clawed Divine Dragon roared in anger, “What I hate most is when someone gives me hope, then lets me down.”
“I thought you could kill me, fulfilling my wish. But you’ve disappointed me. In the end, you’ll die by my hand!”
With that, the dragon surged with towering rage, charging at Lin Xiao.
“Then go die!!!” A thunderous roar erupted from the dragon’s mouth as a terrifying fist smashed toward Lin Xiao’s chest.
“Shh!” In that instant, Lin Xiao activated his Heaven-Sealing Stone Hand. His arm began to petrify, turning to stone as waves of petrifying power surged within.
His dantian’s elemental force and his mind’s spiritual energy were nearly depleted, leaving him unable to fight.
But the Heaven-Sealing Stone Hand, which he had held back until now, was his final trump card.
“Boom!”
In a flash, Lin Xiao’s stone fist thrust forward, clashing with the dragon’s massive fist. The unique petrifying power surged, pouring into the dragon’s fist.
“Shh! Shh!”
Instantly, the dragon’s entire fist, arm, and body began petrifying at a visible rate.
Finally, the dozens-of-zhang-long, bloodied Three-Clawed Divine Dragon turned into a stone statue, plummeting downward.
“This should finish it, right?”
Spitting another mouthful of blood from the impact, Lin Xiao weakly sighed, watching the falling dragon.
The Three-Clawed Divine Dragon was too powerful. It was the strongest opponent he had ever faced, unmatched in every aspect.
Even a level below him, it was the most formidable same-tier opponent he had ever encountered, bar none.
“It seems there’s still a gap between me and a powerful race like the divine dragon,” Lin Xiao thought bitterly.
Roar!
But just as he thought he had defeated the dragon, an angry roar echoed. Cracks appeared on the petrified dragon’s surface, blood seeping from the fissures.
“Kid, you hid another trump card, but you still can’t kill me! You humans will never kill me, argh!!!”
The dragon roared thunderously, charging at Lin Xiao again, its massive fists swinging with even greater force than before, clearly its final desperate strike.
If he took it head-on, he’d likely be shattered.
This time, the dragon didn’t attack with one fist but both, clenched and swinging simultaneously.
His Heaven-Sealing Stone Hand could block one, but what about the other?
With both fists coming at once, he faced certain death.
In the blink of an eye, the dragon closed in, its two massive fists smashing toward Lin Xiao’s body. A booming roar echoed from its mouth, “Kid, die!!!”
“Shh!”
But at the critical moment, a thread-like beam of light shot from Lin Xiao’s brow, piercing the dragon’s body.
The beam entered through the dragon’s head and exited its back, flashing into the sky.
Black smoke rose from the dragon’s body, which began charring from the inside out.
Finally, the entire dozens-of-zhang-long dragon body turned to black smoke, dissipating into the air.
Until the last moment, the dragon’s face held an expression of disbelief, tinged with a hint of liberation as it vanished.
“Thunder Dragon Heaven-Extinguishing Light, I actually mastered it!”
Coming to his senses, Lin Xiao’s heart surged with excitement.
At that life-or-death moment, he had desperately activated his spiritual energy to unleash the Thunder Dragon Heaven-Extinguishing Light, and it succeeded.
The technique required compressing vast thunder energy into a thread-like beam, akin to condensing an entire thunder dragon into a single line—an immensely difficult feat.
Though similar to the Devouring Spirit Finger, he had never dared practice it, only rehearsing it mentally.
He had planned to attempt it only after becoming thoroughly familiar.
The technique was dangerous; a single mistake could cause his brain to explode, fatal.
But in the illusion array, he had an extra life. Even if his brain exploded, he wouldn’t truly die.
And in that moment of life-or-death, he’d either die by the dragon’s fists or risk it.
So he attempted the Thunder Dragon Heaven-Extinguishing Light.
In the face of mortal danger, he unleashed all his potential, successfully executing the technique.
The strike hit the dragon’s head, killing it instantly.
“Shh!”
After the dragon vanished, the space around Lin Xiao seemed to dissolve. His body suddenly appeared in a picturesque mountain landscape, restored to his initial state upon entering the illusion array.
He felt his injuries had healed, his elemental force and spiritual energy fully replenished.
“My injuries are healed?” Lin Xiao was stunned, but realizing something, his heart raced, “Oh no, time’s almost up.”
He quickly checked his left palm. The point ranking displayed nearly made him spit blood.
