A profound, ringing silence held the arena in its grip long after Li Wei had left the circle. The sheer conceptual weight of his Fist Intent had left a spiritual vacuum, making the resumption of the other battles feel almost trivial.
On the Azure Lotus Sect platform, the three elders had not moved. The air around them crackled with silent, intense communication.
"Fist Intent," Elder Kwan finally breathed, the words laden with a respect he had not shown for any other contestant. "Not a wisp, not a nascent comprehension, but a fully formed, domineering Intent. At the Qi Gathering realm. This is not something taught. This is something remembered."
Elder Mei nodded, her sharp eyes gleaming with the thrill of discovery. "His foundation... it's not just solid. It's a bedrock upon which laws themselves could be carved. To project such a concept without the corresponding cultivation to fuel its physical manifestation... it speaks of a soul-depth that defies explanation."
Elder Han, the leader, steepled his fingers. The decision was clear. "The examination is a formality. He is accepted. The only question that remains is which peak lord will fight to take him as a direct disciple. He is the diamond we came to find amidst the rough stone."
Their gaze shifted from Li Wei, whose outcome was now a foregone conclusion, to the other two circles where the battles, now tinged with desperation, raged anew.
In the second ring, Li Jin was on the verge of collapse. The brief but terrifying glimpse of Li Wei's true power had shattered his concentration. The teamwork between Bai Ye and Yun Yang, once a tense alliance, became ruthlessly efficient. They no longer fought just to win their group; they fought with the frantic energy of those who knew they were competing for a distant second place.
Bai Ye became a phantom of lethal precision, his attacks now solely aimed at draining Li Jin's dwindling energy and creating openings. Yun Yang, seizing the distraction, wove his most potent illusions yet, causing phantom blades to lash at Li Jin's mind while spectral chains of mist solidified just enough to slow his movements.
With a final, desperate roar, Li Jin unleashed a sweeping sword arc, a technique that drained the last of his Qi. It forced both opponents back and scored a shallow gash on Bai Ye's arm and shattered Yun Yang's primary illusionary talisman. But it was his last stand.
As the technique faded, Bai Ye slipped inside his guard and delivered a sharp, precise strike to his dantian, not enough to cripple, but enough to disrupt his energy flow completely. Li Jin crumpled, his body hitting the ground with a finality that echoed his shattered pride. Gasping on the floor, he was out. Bai Ye, breathing heavily and clutching his wounded arm, stood as the victor of the group, but his triumph was hollow, his eyes shadowed by the knowledge of the monster waiting in the finals.
All attention then turned to the third ring. The clash between the three women had reached a fever pitch. Bai Zixin's storms and Yun Lian's mist were relentless, but Li Yue, the quiet prodigy, was a revelation.
Where Li Wei was an unstoppable force, Li Yue was an immovable object perfected. Her defense was a masterpiece of economical motion and precise Qi control. She flowed between their attacks, a willow in a hurricane, her own strikes were not overwhelming, but they were flawlessly timed and devastatingly accurate.
She finally revealed the depth of her hidden power. As Bai Zixin gathered the energy for a final, cataclysmic lightning strike and Yun Lian blurred into a dozen misty copies, Li Yue's serene composure finally broke into a look of intense focus.
"Enough," she stated, her voice clear and resonant.
A pulse of pure, dense wood-attributed energy erupted from her, not as an explosion, but as an expanding domain. Vines of solidified emerald light shot forth, not to pierce, but to bind and disrupt. They entangled Bai Zixin's lightning, grounding the furious energy harmlessly into the arena floor. They pierced through Yun Lian's illusions, finding her true body and wrapping around her limbs, severing her connection to the mist.
In a span of heartbeats, the storm was quelled and the mist was scattered. Bai Zixin and Yun Lian both fell to their knees, bound in glowing emerald vines, their energy suppressed. They had been defeated not by brute force, but by a superior, more profound comprehension and control.
The arena, still reeling from Li Wei's display, now erupted in applause for Li Yue's flawless and powerful performance.
Even Li Wei, watching from the sidelines, gave a slight, respectful nod. She is strong, he acknowledged inwardly. Her foundation is impeccable, her control exceptional. She is a master of the orthodox path. She was the only one here, apart from himself, who deserved the title of genius without reservation.
The preliminaries were over. The three finalists stood revealed: Li Wei, the enigma with the power to shatter concepts; Bai Ye, the wounded and cunning strategist; and Li Yue, the peerless master of orthodox cultivation.
The final round awaited, but in the eyes of the Azure Lotus Sect and everyone present, only two contestants truly mattered. The battle for first place had effectively already begun.