Chapter 152: A Sudden Ending

"Hand over your essence cores, or die!"

After slaying Mo Yun, Li Jianshan cast his icy gaze upon Sun Yiqiu’s faction.

Hearing these words, every disciple from the imperial city shuddered deeply.

Meeting Li Jianshan’s frigid eyes, many trembled in terror. Ultimately, unable to withstand the overwhelming fear, they surrendered their essence cores and departed in dejection.

Yet, a few stubborn backbones refused to yield.

To give up their essence cores meant their scores for this trial would be completely wiped out. When that happened, forget about entering the Class A tier; even Class C would likely reject them.

These imperial city disciples had always been arrogant and condescending, looking down on all other peers. To be relegated to the lowest Class D alongside ordinary disciples was a fate far worse than death.

"I am Wang Yuanfang. We were blind to Mount Tai earlier and offended you. However, since you have already slain Sun Yiqiu, could you please show mercy and spare our lives?"

Among the crowd, a handsome, striking man slowly stepped forward and cupped his fists respectfully toward Li Jianshan.

Li Jianshan showed no sign of softening. He didn't even spare him a glance, speaking with absolute coldness: "Hand over your essence cores and get lost. I will not repeat this a third time!"

Being ignored so completely, Wang Yuanfang instantly flew into a rage. "Hmph! Even if your combat prowess is monstrous, you expect to strip all of us of our essence cores? Do you really think you can fight a hundred of us?"

Li Jianshan had demanded all their essence cores. These imperial city disciples were proud and haughty; how could they submit so easily?

Once they revolted together, Li Jianshan would undoubtedly be outmatched—this was precisely why Wang Yuanfang dared to act so arrogant.

"Do you really think defeating Sun Yiqiu makes you invincible under the heavens?"

Wang Yuanfang glanced back at his men and shouted, "Brothers, let's charge together! I want to see how he intends to withstand a hundred of us!"

Boom!

The hundred-plus people behind him simultaneously unleashed their overwhelming momentum, sending towering waves of terrifying energy surging into the sky.

"Brother Li!"

"We'll help you!"

Zhang Dabao and the others hurried over from the side.

"No need. To deal with these apathetic mobs, my solitary self is more than enough!"

With that, Li Jianshan charged forward, accompanied by a howling gale of fierce and sharp aura.

"Arrogant! You think a single person can annihilate a crowd of us? How utterly naive!"

Wang Yuanfang bellowed. He had a hundred cultivators behind him, every single one of them at the Foundation Establishment stage. Even a true Martial Monarch would have to weigh their strength carefully against such a force.

No matter how heaven-defying Li Jianshan might be, the power of one person could never crush a collective of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"Heh, then I shall kill you first!"

Li Jianshan wore a demonic, charming smile as he materialized directly in front of Wang Yuanfang in the blink of an eye.

"Oh no!"

Sensing Li Jianshan's gaze, Wang Yuanfang felt his soul leave his body, and he turned to flee instantly.

"Thinking of running now? Don't you think it's a bit too late?"

Before Li Jianshan finished speaking, he had already blocked Wang Yuanfang's path.

Slash!

A flash of sword light swept across Wang Yuanfang's neck, and a torrent of blood erupted into the air.

Wang Yuanfang, slain with a single sword stroke!

Hum!

Li Jianshan's figure moved once more.

Boom!

Forming a fist with one hand, he unleashed a surge of raw power. The sound of whistling wind echoed, and a mist of blood splattered across the area!

Another life extinguished.

Ten zhang of spiritual energy erupted violently outward!

In the snap of a finger, spiritual energy radiated everywhere, thunderous roars burst forth, and blood stained the earth!

The cold sword left its sheath, spanning across heaven and earth!

With a single lift of his hand, the divine sword trembled, plunging the world into darkness where neither sun nor moon could shine!

Gouts of bloody mist permeated the void, instantly painting the entire landscape red.

Within moments, Li Jianshan had already slaughtered over a dozen people.

Like a god of death, he rapidly reaped lives.

"We... we are willing... to hand over all our essence cores. Please spare our lives!"

At this moment, Li Jianshan's dual pupils were frozen, radiating a piercing killing intent that struck terror into the hearts of the inner disciples. Any thought of battle had long since vanished; survival was their only remaining hope.

Li Jianshan swept his chilling gaze across them. "Now, it is too late."

"Run!"

Trembling violently with bone-chilling fear, the crowd panicked and scattered in all directions.

"This is bad! If this continues, that brat is going to slaughter all the fresh seedlings of our academy. End the trial immediately!"

Inside the Azure Dragon Academy, the Grand Deacon had been observing the freshman trial through a Mind-Peeping Mirror.

Initially, he had watched with complete composure, but upon witnessing Li Jianshan's frantic massacre, he could no longer sit still.

"However, there is still an hour remaining before the trial in the Lost Forest concludes. Ending it early like this... wouldn't it be a bit rash?"

An elder asked worriedly.

"What rashness are you talking about at a time like this? If we don't end it now, this fellow is going to wipe out this entire generation of geniuses!"

The Grand Deacon cursed outright.

"I... I will handle it immediately."

Cold sweat beaded on the elder's forehead; it was his first time seeing the Grand Deacon fly into such a furious rage.

"Hum!"

Inside the Lost Forest, beams of astonishing light plummeted from the sky, instantly enveloping every single student.

"Huh? What is happening?"

"Isn't there still an hour left before the trial ends?"

"I haven't even gone all out yet; I haven't gathered enough essence cores..."

Many hearts were filled with confusion and reluctance.

"Heh, have the fellows at Azure Dragon Academy finally decided they can't bear to watch anymore?"

At this moment, Li Jianshan was the only one who understood what was going on.

Although the numerous freshmen he had slain moments ago possessed questionable character, they were all rare geniuses. Naturally, Azure Dragon Academy could not tolerate Li Jianshan slaughtering their academy's talents so wantonly.

Yet, the rule allowing unrestricted killing within the Lost Forest had been set by the academy itself, and furthermore, Li Jianshan possessed monstrous, peerless talent—an exceptional prodigy the Azure Dragon Academy would never abandon no matter what.

Thus, weighing their options, the academy's higher-ups had decided to terminate the trial early to halt the slaughter.

A cold smile suddenly crept onto Li Jianshan's lips. "However, I don't feel like leaving just yet."

...

Before long, the students participating in the Lost Forest trial were successively teleported back into the academy grounds.

All of them handed over the essence cores they had harvested.

Soon, the Grand Deacon led several elders in tallying the totals.

Shortly after, the Grand Deacon began to announce the results of the trial.

"Tenth place, Qian Cong: harvested three hundred first-tier essence cores and thirty-five second-tier essence cores."

As the Grand Deacon announced this, he nodded slightly toward the youth named Qian Cong.

The other cultivators felt no particular surprise upon seeing Qian Cong secure tenth place; his strength ranked quite high among the freshmen.

"Ninth place..."

As the Grand Deacon continued calling out the rankings, everyone's hearts surged with excitement.

They were immensely eager to discover who would claim first place in the trial following Sun Yiqiu's demise.

"Fourth place, Xu Yan: harvested four hundred and sixty-six first-tier essence cores and one hundred and ninety-six second-tier essence cores."

Announcing this, the Grand Deacon looked at Xu Yan with a hint of surprise.

That this fellow had surged into the top five of the trial truly exceeded his expectations.

Following the announcement, many people looked at Xu Yan with great curiosity, their eyes filled with perplexity: how could he possibly have secured fourth place?

Under the gaze of so many, Xu Yan awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"What's going on, Big Man Xu? Why are your essence cores so few?" At this moment, Zhang Dabao looked strangely at Xu Yan and Zixuan with a puzzled expression.

"I remember your count shouldn't be this low."

Suddenly realizing something, Zhang Dabao asked, "You didn't go and give your essence cores away, did you?"

The honest Xu Yan nodded, pointed at Zixuan, and said, "I gave some of my essence cores to Zixuan."

"Wow, you traitor favoring a beauty over a friend, why didn't you give any to me?"

Xu Yan froze, utterly speechless...

"Fourth place, Zixuan: acquired five hundred and sixteen first-tier essence cores and two hundred and twenty-seven second-tier essence cores."

The Grand Deacon quickly called out the fourth rank.

Hearing this, everyone stared at Zixuan and her companions in utter shock.

These few individuals possessed merely Foundation Establishment cultivation, yet they had broken into the top ten!

One must know that nearly ten thousand students participated in the trial. Amidst such a brutal slaughter involving ten thousand people, for a group with their meager strength to reach the top ten was simply miraculous.

"They seem to be part of the God of Death's team."

Someone suddenly exclaimed in realization.

"No wonder they made it into the top ten; turns out they hitched a ride on the God of Death's coattails..."

Realizing that Xu Yan and the others belonged to the same team as the plague of blood, the crowd felt a sudden sense of understanding. No wonder people of their caliber entered the top ten—they had an expert backing them up...

Simultaneously, profound awe filled their hearts. Not only was the God of Death overwhelmingly powerful on his own, but he had even dragged his teammates up with him, pushing ordinary individuals into the top ten.

By now, their admiration for Li Jianshan deepened further, effectively elevating him to the status of a living legend.

"Second place, Li Huazhan: harvested five hundred and fifty-eight first-tier essence cores and three hundred and ninety-one second-tier essence cores."

Continuing down the list, the Grand Deacon called out the runner-up position, casting his gaze toward the youth named Li Huazhan.

Hearing this, everyone turned their eyes toward Li Huazhan as well.

"Isn't that person a disciple from the imperial city?"

"Good heavens! Despite the God of Death's massacre of the imperial city disciples, he actually managed to secure second place? Incredible!"

Earlier, under Li Jianshan's frenzied slaughter, Sun Yiqiu's lackeys had long since been scared out of their wits, and even inner imperial city disciples unrelated to Sun Yiqiu had trembled in terror.

At that time, those individuals cared nothing for competing over essence cores; they had fled in utter panic.

Furthermore, under Li Jianshan's blade, the vast majority of imperial city disciples had surrendered their essence cores. It was fair to say that in this trial, the imperial city faction had suffered an unmitigated, crushing defeat.

Yet, against all expectations, amidst such a climate, an imperial city disciple had still managed to clinch second place in the trial.

"To think he was a dark horse all along. Is he even stronger than Sun Yiqiu?"

Right now, their curiosity toward the youth named Li Huazhan grew increasingly intense.

Soon, however, that curiosity was instantly swept away as the Grand Deacon announced first place.

"First place, Zhang Dabao: six hundred and sixty-six first-tier essence cores, and four hundred and fifty-three second-tier essence cores."