Chapter 337: Your Strength Is Not Bad

Chapter 337: Chapter 337: Your Strength Is Not Bad

CRACK! CRACK!

CLATTER! CLATTER!

Another clash. Levin gritted his teeth so hard he bit through his lip, his face twisting with the effort.

His body grew incredibly heavy, his bones creaking and groaning.

It felt just like when he cultivated in a nine-times gravity environment.

His body couldn’t hold up, and his feet stumbled backward uncontrollably.

Just then, the hair on his body stood on end as an inexplicable fear surged from the depths of his heart.

WHOOSH—

Before his very eyes, Lin Qi fearlessly thrust the Black Great Spear in his hand. It pierced the air, and space itself seemed to freeze.

"It’s over!"

He was still at his peak, his Qi Blood surging and a terrifying Evil Qi swirling around his body.

Levin’s eyes widened. In his view, the Lin Qi before him was simply terrifying.

SHIIING!

The Black Great Spear in Lin Qi’s hand was like a black dragon, tearing through the surrounding air as it lunged to devour him.

His mind reeled. He desperately tried to control his muscles, wanting to swing his black warhammer to block.

’Move faster!!’

Only now did he realize how terrifying an opponent Lin Qi was. Not only was his strength immense, but his speed was also incredible.

A cold glint flashed before his eyes.

PFFT—

The spear tip drove forward, piercing flesh. Levin felt an excruciating pain in his heart, and he could no longer suppress the blood that sprayed from his mouth.

THUD!

The warhammer in his hand dropped to the ground. The three-hundred-kilogram weapon smashed onto the concrete floor with a heavy crash, cracking the surface.

Levin himself was sent flying, collapsing onto the ground with his body completely out of his control.

He knew he had lost.

He had been utterly defeated in a head-on clash with Lin Qi from Xia Country. The strength he was so proud of had been completely unable to stand against his opponent.

"Levin Madison, your strength... is not bad!"

Lin Qi said earnestly as he slowly walked forward.

As soon as the words fell, Levin’s body on the ground dissolved into nothingness, dissipating into the air.

[Match 3: Lin Qi (Xia Country) is the victor!]

"Ladies and gentlemen, let’s congratulate contestant Lin Qi from Xia Country for successfully defeating contestant Levin Madison from the White Eagle Federation."

"He has successfully advanced to the top 8!"

Xu Wenji’s voice echoed throughout the entire arena.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

The stands instantly erupted with thunderous applause and a tsunami of cheers.

"He won!!"

"He won again! Lin Qi from Xia Country won again! He really made it into the top 8!"

"He’s made history again! Even someone as powerful as ’Vajra Hammer’ Levin Madison lost."

"Is he really not Awakened?"

"Could he have already Awakened? How else can you explain how strong he is?"

In the White Eagle Federation’s section of the stands, Wims wore an expression of disbelief.

’Levin actually lost?’

His good brother Levin had actually lost to Lin Qi?

The other contestants around him also couldn’t accept this result.

And in their minds, the Lin Qi who had defeated Levin had become even more unfathomable.

Meanwhile, Levin, who had been teleported back, covered his mouth and shook his head in disbelief at the blond Havier beside him:

"Havier, you were right about everything!"

"Lin Qi from Xia Country... his strength is truly terrifying."

"His body is like it’s forged from Delta Alloy. I exchanged several blows with him, and he seemed completely unharmed."

"His strength is even greater than mine!"

"Are you sure he hasn’t Awakened?"

He was completely crushed. The strength and defense he was so proud of were utterly useless against one person.

Lin Qi’s words, "not bad," even echoed in his mind.

Havier, the number one SS-class genius of the White Eagle Federation’s new generation, frowned and said:

"It seems he’s an extremely powerful opponent!"

"The most critical thing is that he has also mastered a Little Divine Power."

"In other words, his actual strength will be even greater."

"It seems we’ll have to add this Lin Qi to the list, alongside Yu Zhuoran from Xia Country and Victor from Bear Country."

...

In the Bear Country’s section of the stands, the powerfully built Victor watched Lin Qi in the arena, his eyes shining.

He clenched his fists and said:

"Now that’s the kind of opponent I want! His strength is incredible. I can’t wait to fight him and see whose power is greater."

...

「The VIP Stands」

In the White Eagle Federation’s area, a blond, powerfully built middle-aged man had his arms crossed, sighing as he watched Lin Qi in the arena.

"What a genius. Levin is already a rare, top-level genius."

"And yet he couldn’t beat this genius from Xia Country named Lin Qi!"

Then he sighed again.

"Why couldn’t a genius like that be from our White Eagle Federation?"

...

In the Xia Country’s VIP section not far away.

"Old Liu, this Lin Qi is just too amazing! He actually won again!"

"Congratulations are truly in order. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Lin Qi an SS-class genius now."

A group of leaders looked at Dean Liu with envy and jealousy.

Who could have imagined that a once-ordinary genius would now defeat several SS-class geniuses in a row to enter the top 8 of the Global Freshman Competition?

It looked like he even had the ability to compete for the championship.

Dean Liu chuckled and said:

"I’m also very surprised. Student Lin Qi’s Talent far surpasses that of an ordinary S-class genius!"

"When the Dean and the Principal return, we’ll discuss it with them. We should promote Lin Qi directly to an SS-class genius. Even if he hasn’t Awakened, his current Talent is more than enough."

The others nodded. He could already defeat other SS-class geniuses.

It would be unreasonable not to give him the title of SS-class genius at this point.

Of course, this was a matter for the Red Dome Martial Arts Dojo.

Many of the leaders at Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy were also high-level executives at the Red Dome Martial Arts Dojo. Whether he could be upgraded to an SS-class genius still required their approval.

...

「Xia Country’s Spectator Stands」

"Brother Qi is a real beast! He won again!"

"He’s this strong without even using his Little Divine Power. Is he aiming for the championship?"

Wan Ming gasped.

"Xiang Long, are you still going to compete with Lin Qi?" Xia Lian said with a smile.

Xiang Long, not far away, fell silent. He was also shocked. He had been eliminated long ago.

But Lin Qi had not only entered the top 8, he had won with ease.

He gave a bitter smile internally, recalling what Lin Qi had said: "Without your Special Ability, you are nothing!"

He suspected that even if Special Abilities hadn’t been banned, he still wouldn’t have been able to beat Lin Qi.

Yu Zhuoran nodded to himself. For him, this meant another rival for the championship.

...

In the Azure Sky Sixth Institute’s section of the stands, Lin Qi was teleported back, greeted by everyone’s thumbs-ups and gasps of amazement.

Everyone was almost numb to it by now. Before they knew it, he had already fought his way into the top 8.

’Is he really going to compete for the championship?’

Hiss...

Thinking of this, everyone gasped.

Lin Qi, however, was replaying the previous battle in his mind. Levin’s strength was considerable. The Ninth-Level Calamity Beast, the Titan Giant Ape, possessed monstrous physical power.

But it still wasn’t enough against him.

’His Fist Power was at most a little over 8,000 kilograms!’

’It was a far cry from my own, and the difference in our speed was even greater.’

’As for Martial Arts, there wasn’t much to say. Although he had broken through to the Tier Three Mid-stage, he was still inferior to me.’

’In terms of overall physical fitness and Martial Arts, Levin was inferior to me in every way. The fact that he could trade a few blows with me really did prove his strength was not bad.’

...

The Round of 16 matches were still ongoing, and every single one was spectacular.

The battles between SS-class geniuses were the main course of the Global Freshman Competition.

Only in matches like these could the millions of geniuses watching appreciate what a high-level battle truly was.

Match 4, Victor from Bear Country advances!

Match 5, Alex Freck from the Sunset Country advances!

Match 6, Yu Zhuoran from Xia Country advances!

Match 7, Erica Schmidt from the German Empire advances!

Match 8, Havier Wright from the White Eagle Federation advances!

Wang Mingxi from Shanyu Martial Arts University was ultimately eliminated by Havier. He was a Spiritual Mind Master.

He had no advantage at all against Havier and was ultimately defeated and eliminated.

In the stands for Shanyu Martial Arts University, the cheerful Wang Mingxi looked somewhat dejected. Listening to his classmates’ words of comfort, he shook his head with a smile:

"This is my limit!"

"For us Spiritual Mind Masters, this virtual competition is too much of a disadvantage."

"This just goes to show how incredible Lin Qi is!"

"I don’t know how he’s made it this far."

The other students nodded. They were all eager to see just how far Lin Qi could go. The semifinals? Or would he stop at the quarterfinals?

...

In less than half an hour, all eight matches were over.

The Round of 16 was officially complete, and the list of the top 8 contestants was finalized.

Xia Country had claimed three of the spots, causing many in the audience to sigh in admiration.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the quarterfinals."

"Let’s congratulate our eight contestants! They have successfully passed the eighth round to reach the ninth, becoming the eight strongest competitors!"

Xu Wenji’s projection appeared, pointing at eight small virtual figures on the ninth level of the Pyramid.

"In the upcoming ninth round, only four contestants will be able to advance to the semifinals."

"They will also each receive a prize of one hundred million Xia Country Coins."

As his voice fell, the stands erupted into a frenzy. Although everyone coveted the one-hundred-million-Xia-Country-Coin prize, it was too far out of reach for them; it was practically unattainable.

In comparison, they were more interested in watching the competition between masters.

"Without further ado, let’s begin!"

BOOM!!

With a wave of Xu Wenji’s hand, eight crimson balls of light flew out from his palm, descending from the sky and landing on the black chessboard below.

The balls of light exploded, transforming into eight Ninth-Level Calamity Beasts: the Nine-headed Serpent Emperor, the Earth-Shaking Dragon Elephant, the Red Flame Bird, the Platinum Evil Tiger...

The eight Ninth-Level Calamity Beasts formed chess pieces, arranging themselves into four matchups before finally turning back into eight virtual figures.

Behind each of them was the phantom of a Ninth-Level Calamity Beast, making it seem as if the Calamity Beasts themselves were fighting on the battlefield.

Lin Qi instantly spotted his own Platinum Evil Tiger. Among the top 8, he was the only one who cultivated the "Platinum Evil Tiger Evolution Method."

[Match 1: Yu Zhuoran (Xia Country) VS Alex Freck (Sunset)]

[Match 2: Lin Qi (Xia Country) VS Miyamoto Genichiro (Sakura)]

[Match 3: Havier Wright (White Eagle Federation) VS Erica Schmidt (Germany)]

[Match 4: Victor Christopher (Mao Bear) VS Kong Ruoxuan (Xia Country)]

...

Lin Qi instantly saw his opponent: the sole SS-class genius from Japan, Miyamoto Genichiro.

His opponent’s strength was also ranked among the top five.

After looking at the match-up chart, he knew these were the contestants who would be able to enter the semifinals.

The system hadn’t matched the four contestants who had mastered a Little Divine Power against each other in the quarterfinals.

It was clearly set up to let them fight it out in the semifinals.

And Miyamoto Genichiro was destined to be eliminated in the quarterfinals. That was something no one could change.

At the same time, the other quarterfinalists had varied expressions after seeing the match-up chart.

...