As Yáni was about to reach Chen Feng, a boundless killing intent suddenly surged from the red-haired youth before her. Simultaneously, Chen Feng’s eyes snapped wide open, the muscles in his right arm bulged, and his hand shot out like lightning, grabbing Yáni’s shoulder.

In truth, Chen Feng had almost fallen for it too. When the opponent lunged, at the critical moment, the Dark Cyclone began to spin wildly on its own, and a surge of violent energy built up in his chest, instantly bringing him back to his senses.

“Using an illusion technique? You’re courting death!” Chen Feng declared, giving a casual flick with his wrist!

“Ah…” Yáni shrieked. This time, truly like a fairy, she was flung directly off the stage, landing heavily below with a miserable thud.

“Kuzushi-tobi?” Chen Feng’s eyes shone brightly. Recalling the move, he realized this single throw had allowed him to grasp yet another technique.

Kuzushi-tobi (↙↘+A or C) was a move where, at close range, Iori would use his incomparably powerful grip to throw the opponent. In the game, it involves tossing the opponent from one side of the body to the other. If combined with Oni Yaku, this technique could lead to infinite combos, draining the opponent's health from full to zero. It is a favored move among players in The King of Fighters games (Old Ya often uses this to pull opponents from the right to the left before executing the Ya-Chome, which feels more satisfying to execute…).

After tossing Yáni off the stage with Kuzushi-tobi, Chen Feng hesitated for not a second, quickening his footwork, and with one Kuzushi-tobi in each hand, hurled the other two maidens out of bounds as well.

“Thud…” “Thud…” The two crisp sounds coincided with two pained cries as the remaining two girls also fell heavily onto the floor beneath the stage, devoid of their earlier grace and elegance.

It seemed that when beauties fall, they are no different from ordinary people; their postures are hardly becoming…

Once the three were thrown offstage, the mesmerized crowd simultaneously regained consciousness.

“What… what is happening?” Everyone present was momentarily stunned.

“Where is the Dancing Fairy Yáni? Ah, why did she fall off the stage? And headfirst, with her feet up…” Discussion buzzed in the stands. No one knew what had just transpired. The crowd only remembered that amidst their surging emotions, a strange sorrow filled their chests. They felt as if they had drifted into a slumber, into a dream—a dream of a fairy descending to the mortal realm—and then, nothing more.

Yáni exerted considerable effort to rise from the ground. She wiped the blood trickling from a cut on her head, ascended the competition stage, and approached Chen Feng. Bowing her head, she said, “I lost. I never expected Mr. Iori Yagami to remain lucid amidst Yáni’s ‘Heavenly Dance Magic.’ Yáni accepts this defeat wholeheartedly!”

“Heavenly Dance Magic?” Chen Feng frowned slightly.

“Yes. Heavenly Dance Magic is actually a branch of mental magic,” Yáni admitted, seemingly unconcerned by her loss. “Our magic relies on music and dance to hypnotize people. Nearly anyone who watches the dance and hears the music falls unconscious. Mr. Iori Yagami is the first person I’ve encountered who was not affected!”

The hypnotizing power of music had been confirmed by scientific theories in his previous life. Music combined with light, graceful dancing, watching a beauty while listening to music—this is when human willpower is at its weakest. Deploying mental magic attacks at this juncture naturally yields unexpected rewards. This seemed to be the principle behind Heavenly Dance Magic.

“Is that so?” Having understood the mechanism, Chen Feng replied calmly to Yáni, his tone lacking any hint of triumph, as if he had merely done something trivial. He turned, pointed toward Judy and Angelica, who were still lying on the ground, and commanded, “Wake those two up!”

“Yes!” Yáni bowed deeply, her admiration for Chen Feng now genuine.

Others might not grasp the true power of Heavenly Dance Magic, but Yáni certainly did. With her current level of dance mastery combined with the music, even a powerful expert at the Ninth-Rank Dou Shi level might succumb if caught unaware. The fact that over a hundred thousand spectators in the entire arena were mesmerized was testament enough to this magic’s strength.

Yet, such potent magic had absolutely no effect on this seemingly unremarkable youth! This was what truly earned her admiration.

I must never make him my enemy, Yáni mused inwardly, touching the wound on her head. She walked over to Judy and Angelica, extended her slender, jade-like fingers, and gently touched their bodies. A faint energy fluctuation flowed into them like water. Immediately, both figures moaned softly and gradually woke up.

“Where am I? What happened?” Judy stood up, clutching her head, her expression changing as she took in her surroundings. “We were competing? I… why did I suddenly faint?”

Chen Feng shook his head and sighed. He had seen foolish people, but never this foolish; knocked to the ground and completely unaware. If this weren't a competition, they might have already been killed.

He couldn’t be bothered to explain to such simpletons. Thinking this, Chen Feng placed his hands behind his head and turned toward the resting area, leaving behind only a bewildered and helpless Yáni.

Back in the lounge, it took a long time for everyone to snap out of their daze. They still didn't know what had occurred. Finally, after the host questioned Yáni, he loudly announced that the Mercenary Team had won and successfully advanced!

Perhaps this was the most inexplicable match in the history of the New Talent Selection Tournament…

Yáni later explained the situation to the others. If Chen Feng hadn't intervened at the last moment, their run would have ended in the quarterfinals.

The next match featured Long Xiaojiang’s team, and since their match was in 42 rounds, Chen Feng paid attention.

Long Xiaojiang’s partners were two Seventh-Rank Dou Shis, whose cultivation was not high, meaning the main assault fell almost entirely on Long Xiaojiang himself.

Their opponents were a formidable team, boasting a Third-Rank Demonic Beast, two Eighth-Rank Magicians, and one Seventh-Rank Dou Shi. Yet, they still lost in the end.

Long Xiaojiang’s explosive physical power was truly overwhelming. At times, relying solely on brute strength without even using Dou Qi, he made the Seventh-Rank Dou Shi struggle to hold his ground. However, this Chen Feng could accept. What astonished him most was that during the match, Long Xiaojiang was struck four times by a Third-Rank single-target magic spell and stabbed once in the shoulder by the Seventh-Rank Dou Shi’s blade. If he had been wearing armor, it might be understandable, but he wore none. These five attacks left him covered in blood, yet he still secured the victory.

“He’s injured so severely; he’ll probably miss the next match. That way, our group advances directly to the finals,” Chen Feng mused. “But this Long Xiaojiang is indeed a ruthless character. To persist through such heavy injuries—that level of endurance is not something ordinary people possess!”

After the match concluded, Chen Feng did not return to his lodging but went straight to Elder Yi’s laboratory.

Upon entering, he noticed a pungent smell. Looking closer, he saw Elder Yi mixing components for a potion. He had accidentally mixed two reactive potions together, causing a small fire that would have destroyed the lab if not for his Magister-level cultivation instantly extinguishing the flames.

Chen Feng watched the busy Elder Yi and asked, “How many batches of potion did you mix?”

Seeing Chen Feng, Elder Yi’s face broke into a wide smile. “Potions? I just finished two batches, they are right over there. You supplied plenty of the medicinal herbs, so I can make another dozen or so. You’ll have to wait a bit longer for the rest, but you can take the two I just made,” he said, pointing to a table not far away.

Chen Feng followed his gesture and saw the table laden with various bottles, filled with potions of different colors—a dazzling array.

Chen Feng searched around. Many bottles were similar in size, but only two matched the color of the light-green potion from last time.

This must be it! Chen Feng picked up a bottle, casually slipped it into his water canteen, and called out to Elder Yi, “I’m taking these potions. Send the rest to me once they are refined.” With that, he walked out of the laboratory.

The agreement for refining the potions was that Chen Feng would provide the rare herb Southern Bright Snow Pear, while Elder Yi sourced the rest of the materials. Afterward, they would split the final product three-seven, with Chen Feng taking seventy percent and Elder Yi taking thirty.

Therefore, once Chen Feng confirmed which potions were his share, he took them without ceremony.

Excited by the potions, Chen Feng went into the spherical training space and sparred until his vortex energy was completely depleted. Exhausted, he returned to his room, sat on the edge of the bed to circulate his internal energy for a while, and slowly took out the two bottles of potion, placing them by the bedside.

I hope it doesn't get consumed by the transparent liquid droplet like last time, Chen Feng muttered to himself, then uncorked both bottles and downed the contents in one go.

…………………………………………………………………………

Although Elder Yi was tired, he was visibly excited. To be able to successfully formulate such a powerful potion was the ultimate satisfaction for an alchemist.

He carefully transferred the newly brewed potion into small vials, managing to fill exactly three small bottles this time.

Not bad. With continuous practice, the success rate is climbing, nearing 40% now! Elder Yi thought to himself.

Even for an alchemist, brewing potions is not a one-time success. Even for the same medicine he has formulated multiple times.

Brewing a single successful batch requires numerous steps: baking the herbs, balancing the measurements, controlling the timing, managing temperature and humidity… all these factors are crucial to whether the medicine will be successfully compounded.

Even after brewing so many potions, Elder Yi couldn't guarantee success every single time; achieving a 40% success rate was already quite a good result.

Placing the small vials on the table where Chen Feng had taken his portion, Elder Yi suddenly froze.

Why didn't this kid take the potions? Oh, blast it! I forgot to label the one I refined recently—he took the potion that temporarily increases physical strength… Elder Yi realized upon seeing the two missing bottles on the table. I hope he hasn't drunk it yet; the properties of that medicine haven't been tested yet!

With that thought, Elder Yi hastily set down his current vials and flew toward Chen Feng’s residence.

PS: Sigh, 255 monthly tickets, only 5 more needed. If we hit 275 monthly tickets today, Old Ya will update five chapters! Keep pushing! Also, as mentioned yesterday, if you are able, please subscribe to Chapter 106, "Entering the City Lord’s Mansion"—the first chapter after it goes premium. Old Ya wants to aim for the highest single-chapter subscription record; it has nothing to do with money. I heard that if the highest single-chapter subscription exceeds a certain threshold, a massive front-page recommendation will descend from the heavens… So, I’m begging you! (To be continued. For future developments, please log into www.wwn.com for more chapters and to support the author and legitimate reading!)