In the Ghastly Ruins, Murong Yu was firmly ranked first. It’d been a long time since anyone had posed a challenge to his position.

However, as he was training, he was suddenly alarmed by the sound of explosions, so he came to find the source.

Upon reaching his destination, Murong Yu realised that the sound was from Nie Li, who was hunting ghouls. Nie Li kept opening his mouth and spitting out black and white orbs, which exploded upon collision with the ghouls. Each orb instantly swept over several hundreds or even thousands of ghouls. It was a frighteningly fast hunting speed.

Nie Li was far inferior to Murong Yu in terms of strength, but Nie Li’s hunting speed was still much faster.

Murong Yu couldn’t help frowning. To think there’d actually be someone who’d integrated with a demon spirit as lowly graded as the Fanged Panda. Even in the smaller realms, the Fanged Panda was considered a low-grade demon spirit that no one wanted. However, who would’ve thought that this particular Fanged Panda would be so powerful and knows such a weird and powerful energy bomb?

At this pace, Nie Li’s ranking would definitely surpass his own before long!

Nie Li looked at Murong Yu, as he’d sensed a powerful aura just as Murong Yu appeared. What was he planning?

The two of them eyed each other. One was the strongest geniuses of the previous year, Murong Yu; the other was the strongest from the new year, Nie Li. What was going to happen between the two of them? Their confrontation incited the attention of several others nearby. Aside from Hu Yong’s underlings, Hua Ling’s men were also among them.

However, none of them had fully comprehended the situation yet; therefore, they didn’t dare make unnecessary moves, such as approaching the two. After all, Murong Yu’s strength wasn’t something they could match against.

“You’re Nie Li?” Murong Yu looked over his opponent with scrutiny. Nei Li still hadn’t made a breakthrough to the Heavenly Fate Realm yet, but for a newcomer of this year, his strength was pretty decent.

Nie Li looked at Murong Yu. “That’s right. Who are you?” Although Nie Li could sense the tremendous pressure bearing down on him, he didn’t lower his head.

“I’m Murong Yu!” he proudly announced. A good majority of the younger experts were well aware of his name.

Murong Yu? Nie Li suddenly realised who he was. Before they’d entered the Ghastly Ruins, his name was the first one ranked on the hunting board!

But now that Murong Yu had appeared, what was he planning to do?

At that moment, someone from among Hua Ling’s underlings suddenly shouted from afar, “Senior Brother Murong, we’ve all been looking forward to meeting you! Every one of us absolutely respects you! However, there were some newcomers who were disrespectful to Senior Brother Murong. Nie Li here said that you were a pile of dogshit who he’d soon crush beneath him! We couldn’t accept such words, so a dispute occurred between us. However, our strength isn’t on part with his!”

Murong Yu’s narrowed his eyes as his expression turned cold. A vast wave of aura bore down on Nie Li. Murong Yu coldly snorted and asked, “Is that true?”

His cultivation was at least of the 5-fate Heavenly Fate Realm, or perhaps even stronger. His aura pressed down like a mountain, as if it was trying to tear Nie Li’s body apart. After all, Nie Li hadn’t reached the Heavenly Fate Realm yet; the distance between him and Murong Yu was too vast.

Nie Li instantly understood Murong Yu’s intentions. With Murong Yu’s intellect, there was no way he’d actually believe the words of Hua Ling’s men. What Murong Yu needed was an excuse to suppress Nie Li, and Hua Ling’s underling had just provided him with the perfect one!

The geniuses of each class year always feared challenges from the next year’s geniuses. If they won, then it’d be a given; however, if they lost, they’d be reduced to stepping stones. That was also why Murong Yu kept challenging the genius of the year before him, Li Xingyun.

Nie Li was the most outstanding genius of the new class year, whereas Murong Yu was the most outstanding from the previous one. Before long, Nie Li would certainly challenge Murong Yu; therefore, Murong Yu had to make the first move and beat Nie Li down before that happened!

“If you’re intent on condemning someone, why bother with a pretext? With your intellect, you wouldn’t believe those guys anyways, right?” As Nie Li spoke, he gathered his Heavenly Energy to resist Murong Yu’s aura. Now that Nie Li understood the vital points, he began to come up with countermeasures for it.

However, it’s a pity that he was stopped at the top of the Earth Fate Realm, only a step away from Heavenly Fate Realm.

Even though Nie Li’s cultivation speed was extremely fast and he’d reached the top of the Earth Fate Realm in just a single year, there was still too much of a difference between himself and Murong Yu.

Murong Yu’s powerful aura forcing Nie Li’s down, it was obvious that he was trying to bully the weak with his strength. However, at that moment, there was nothing that Nie Li could do about it.

In the Draconic Ruins Realm, there was no dignity for the weak! Nie Li had displayed powerful talent; therefore, he’d received the attentions of many higher-ups. At the same time, he’d also made many enemies from his own generation. They all fervently wished for someone to come along and beat Nie Li to the ground!

A general is made from the bones of thousands of soldiers. To walk the Dao of cultivation, you must step over others! Murong Yu was well aware of this; by stepping on Nie Li, he’d be able to receive more attention and more cultivation resources!

Dignity only comes with strength. No matter how loud the weak scream, no one will hear it!

Murong Yu heavily snorted. “Are you telling me that those brothers were framing you?”

*Bang!*

A surge of powerful aura swept over Nie Li and he felt like someone was hammering on his chest. He almost suffocated under the pressure.

Wrath!

An endless sea of wrath surged forth. Nie Li tightly clenched his fists and merged with the Fanged Panda. His fur turned scarlet red.

“Looks like you’re quite unconvinced!” Murong Yu coldly looked down on Nie Li. “In that case, I’ll make sure to teach you a good lesson today. If you want to stay in the Skysoul Institute, then you’ll have to learn to respect your elders first!” When Murong Yu barked, his voice had turned into sonic blades and flew towards Nie Li.

Murong Yu hadn’t even drawn his sword yet, but there was already sword intent contained in his voice.

Nie Li felt death lunging at him through the impending sonic blades.

Nie Li furiously roared and spat a Yin-Yang Blast toward these sonic blades.

*Boom!*

The Yin-Yang Blast exploded in the sky, shattering many of the sonic blades. However, one made it through the explosion and shot towards Nie Li, moving as fast as lightning.

Nie Li saw the incoming sonic blade and immediately dodged sideways. “Dammit! The difference between our cultivations is too great. Unless I use a secret technique, it’ll be impossible for me to deal with him!”

*Fwoosh!*

The sonic blade grazed past him, leaving a three to four inch wound that spattered fresh blood.

The shockwave sent Nie Li rolling several times before he finally managed to steady himself. He held his wound and furiously glared at Murong Yu. The difference between them was too great; it’d be impossible for Nie Li to win. If he remained here any longer, he’d only suffer more humiliation!

This had always been a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Since Murong Yu had obtained his chance, he definitely wouldn’t let Nie Li go so easily!

Murong Yu looked down at Nie Li from his position in the sky and continued to suppress Nie Li, as if he was trying to crush his body. Murong Yu made a slight beckoning motion with his right hand and Nie Li’s bag of soul scales flew towards him.

Murong Yu caught the bag in his hand and coldly laughed. “Your strength is just mediocre. You haven’t even reached the Heavenly Fate Realm, but you’re using such cheat-like methods to collect so many soul scales. These don’t rightfully belong to you. I’ll be confiscating them!”

Nie Li had spent five hours gathering those twenty thousand soul scales. What cheat-like methods? The Ghastly Ruins didn’t even have rules on what methods could or couldn’t be used to collect soul scales. Obtaining soul scales in the first place was the proof of real ability! Murong Yu wasn’t a law enforcer of the Skysoul Institute; what right did he have to confiscate Nie Li’s soul scales?

However, this was a world where only strength mattered!

In his current state, Nie Li didn’t have enough strength. It was impossible for him to face Murong Yu!

Strength! Strength!

Without strength, you can’t protect your dignity. That was the rule of the Draconic Ruins Realm! In his previous life, Nie Li had faced far more and worse humiliations.

Nie Li slightly narrowed his eyes. Someday, he would definitely take back everything that Murong Yu has taken from him today. He would make sure that Murong Yu paid the price for this humiliation!

Murong Yu wore a mocking smile as he swept his palm in a slapping motion towards Nie Li. “Junior Brother, you don’t seem terribly satisfied. But so what if you’re dissatisfied? Now, I’m sure you’ve learned how to respect your elders! Otherwise, this lesson would’ve been a waste of your Senior Brother’s good intentions!”

Murong Yu wasn’t going to let the matter end here; he’d already decided to ruthlessly humiliate Nie Li, until Nie Li could never raise his head towards others again. He wanted to leave his shadow in Nie Li’s heart, impeding his cultivation, so it would never rise!

Nie Li sensed the slap whistling towards him. The moment Murong Yu let his guard down, a chilling light flashed through Nie Li’s eyes. He suddenly dropped the Fanged Panda transformation, while simultaneously merging with the Shadow Devil and activated its void-form.

Nie Li’s figure disappeared into thin air. Murong Yu’s palm of energy swept through the spot where Nie Li had been standing, but only impacted the ground and caused a deep crater.

Murong Yu frowned briefly when he saw his palm energy land a miss. He scanned his surroundings, searching for traces of Nie Li; however, he couldn’t find Nie Li’s location. Just what was going on? How could that fellow suddenly disappear?

In the split second before Nie Li disappeared, it looked like he’d merged with another demon spirit. Just what exactly was going on? Had there ever been a person capable of merging with a second demon spirit?

Who would’ve thought that Nie Li actually had such methods up his sleeve? Murong Yu never imaged that he’d lose his target in such a way. He was furious as he continued to search for traces of Nie Li.

Ever since Nie Li’s cultivation had risen, the time limit on his void-form had increased, allowing him to maintain the transformation for longer periods of time. Nie Li gradually moved to an area where there were more buildings. Despite the extension, there was still a finite time limit to the void-form; therefore, he had to think of other ways to hide from Murong Yu.